Exams have long ended and my holidays have long begun.

These holidays, apart from the mandatory duties of a domestic robot, i found myself spending plenteous amounts of time with the family. Was atleast out thrice a week doing favours for the ibu, ayah, sisters and the nieces. Almost drained me of energy but it was bliss to meet up and spend time with them.

that's daddy-o, mummy-o and the oh-so-notorious nieces. Ayah went for a short holiday to Bangkok with his colleagues. It was a sponsored trip by the company with the exception of shopping expenses of course. With him away for four days, I was given the liberty to 'hijack' his new mitsibushi. But of course there are hidden requests to upkeep it (to clean, to pump and to send it for service).

Shaza was more than happy to have me driving the car. She gets to sit infront and snap silly pictures like the one above. She had set the camera on timer mode and left it on the dashboard. The mitsubishi was a nice drive, cos it's still all new and had not gone all rebellious yet... just give it a few years... Having used to drive manual cars and when suddenly pushed to drive an auto car, i made so many silly reflexes which. Kept wanting to change gears and unnecessarily looking for the clutch which has become habitual.

We spent sometime touring the airport to entertain the kids before and after ayah have checked in. Had a short breakfast at BK, just a light one to keep the stomachs quiet and mostly because the nieces were promised macdonalds, which means we have to make a trip to terminal 2 after ayah have checked in. I shall not describe the nitty-gritty details - let the pictures talk...The following were the recorded moments:

The kids had a terrible fight at MacDonalds, both unforgiving and unbending. They were fighting to sit on Ronald's lap. It was hard to pacify them. But the sweet thing about that day was, every one sent Ayah off... haha,, though it's only a 4-day hols and not 4-years....

After sending the crappy kids home, our day did not end. We have dropped the kids and ibu at kak ina's home..... and the rest of us. to kak ina's school to help her clean and get ready teaching resources for the forthcoming academic year. Noteworthy here school holidays are not afterall really school holidays for the teachers. That's a fallacy! Holidays are the time when teachers could catch up with administrative duties which have been possibly put on hold to attend to other manadatories....you see...there's more to teaching than just teaching...

I drew and painted the above words for her notice board.

How the board looks like...

The notice board at the back of the class has a garden concept. I was instructed to paint a garden setting for it.

Me looking all tired and unkempt for the hard day work. Am preparing number stickers for the 'garden' notice board.

That's the outcome. It has a number trail incorporated in it.. it's a maths room..that's why...

That's another project. Creating fences at the corner of the class. Kak ina has something in store for this area..

whilst i did all the art-related things. Shaza helped out with some menial tasks. Arranging and the labelling of teaching resources, cleaning up, preparing learning packages (cutting, pasting and so forth..)

and that's kak ina, writing the duty list on the whiteboard for us to take note what is to be done for the day.

We came back to kak ina's school more than once. What we have done in total is something that is not possible for kak ina to accomplish alone. She's very grateful to have us. She's definitely is so in love with her maths room now and felt eager and energized to start the new semester.

I ardently believe that a conducive classroom is imperative for both the teachers and the students. It contributes to an effective learning environment for both parties. With proper teaching and learning resources all in place, it puts the teacher at ease to reach out for the necessary resources when needed. And with so many motivating and inspiring visuals, games and rewards system all around the classroom, the students would feel like home and inexorably find learning enjoyable....that's just why i try very much to find time to help her. It gives me some sense of achievement though i am not the one teaching the kids.