Happy Birthday...

Happy nineteenth birthday kerol. I started teaching in Sek Rendah Al-Hidayah when Kerol was 45 days old. In the beginning, I brought him to school because it was difficult to find a good day-care at that time. A few months later, a good friend of mine agreed to take care of him while I was away at work.

At school I wasn't popular because the students said I was 'garang'. Well, I have to. If I talk softly to them and just let them do whatever that pleases them, then they hardly do any work! I gave them loud and clear instructions, my e-mail address and even my phone number so that they could contact me if they have any problems. Alhamdulillah, every year it works. Last year more than 75% scored A's with 97% passes in Mathematics. I just hope this year the students did better insyaAllah.

You win some and you lose some. Most of the time I got carried away at home and use the same method to discipline my children. So, they became not the soft-spoken type. That's why cik Tutor joined USM debating team because we were always talking at the top of our voices . After all these years, I decided it was time to change.

Cik Tutor is alone in Armidale so she calls everyday, usually around 7 pm.A few weeks back, I decided to answer the phone in my sweetest, sexiest voice. Actually, it was not fun because I was trying to be other people. But I persevere because only Allah knows, how good the intention is .

One day, the phone rang and I answered it with my 'tak cukup makan suara'.
'Hey, gedik kat saper tu?' said the voice on the other side. It was my husband's.

'Sori, sori. I thought it was Khadijah,' and we laughed our hearts out.

I wasn't put off. I still answered the phone with the sweetest voice I could mutter.