A week experience in school

2013 has already reached its 24th day.

That means baby porcupine has been to school (I mean real school with serious teachers writing serious stuff on the whiteboard) for 21 days. And since the very beginning of her school episode I have been worried sick on how she will cope with her new environment. It made me feel insecure from within, knowing that she has never been parted far away from me for many hours a day. I should have not worry because I know teachers will look after her. Of course they will, because I am the only mother who went to see every teacher available in school irrespective of whether they teach my girl or not and came up with a long list of do's and don'ts for them to remember.



On the first day of school all first year pupils sat for a simple
reading, writing and counting test. Aida scored 4/70 and was
really happy about it.... *scratch head*

Nevertheless, Aida is calm and happy in school. It is I who made her looks like she's so fragile. That's how my dear hubby assess the situation.

"She is no longer a baby. You'll feel better when you stop calling her baby porcupine" he tossed my head and smiled.

Perhaps I should admit that I have overreacted. But Aida will always be my baby porcupine. Full stop.



During assembly, when the headmistress gave her speech
 to the first year pupils. Can you guess how many of them
 really listen and understand what the headmistress was
trying to convey on stage?

The education systems here in Malaysia is sometimes confusing. There are many different types of schools you can choose for your child(ren). There are Malay-medium national schools, Indian-medium national schools, Chinese-medium national schools, private  schools,  boarding schools,  Islamic religious schools,  excellent cluster schools, sports schools and to a certain extent, home schooling is also made available. I'd rather not explain in detail each of these schools here, just enough to inform that Aida now has quite a tight daily schedule because in the morning she attends the religious school (I refer to this school as the morning session) and right after lunch she goes to the Malay-medium national school (the afternoon session). In other words, she leaves home as early as 7.15 am and comes back only after 6.45pm. In between the two school sessions, she stays at a nursery next to the schools where she'll take a bath, change uniform and eat lunch.

During the first week of school I have been following her to the classroom without her knowing it and kept an eye on her from far away. I watched her when she talked and laughed with her classmates, when she did her work in the exercise book, when she drew a silly-looking elephant and coloured it purple and also when she suddenly fell asleep. I then followed her to the nursery and watched her manage herself quite successfully and prepared herself for school once again. Alhamdulillah. After 21 days, I think she'll do just fine in school. I really need to shed this worries away.



Cried too much that she forgot how to smile beautifully...!

Anyway, let's review some incidents that took place in the first week of school:

Day 1: Cried... cried... and cried... all day long.

Day 2: Lost (or rather, misplaced) her pair of shoes. Lost her chamisole. Teachers frantically searched every inch of the nursery to find them.

Day 3: Lost her pencil case. Came back home wearing another girl's uniform, which has faded in colour and was relatively much smaller than hers.

Day 4: Lost her water tumbler. Found about 4-5 cloth hangers inside her school bag which definitely were not ours.

Day 5: Lost her set of colouring pencils. Lost her exercise books.

Day 6: Gave all her spending money to 'a friend in need' whom she did not even recognise and sufferred from 3rd level hunger till she came home.

Day 7: Lost her panty and survived afternoon session without telling anyone about it.  *faint*

Aida, several seconds before she started to cry again...

My dear child, I leave you under the protection of Allah the Almighty. I pray you'll be safe wherever you go and what ever you do. I believe a mother's prayer is a powerful one and that Allah will always listen to me all the time. May you grow up to become a good-mannered, brilliant and pretty muslimah. Ameen.