8 years on

After 8 years, I am finally hanging up my aiguillette! I'm gonna miss the familiar grounds of the Istana, with its landscaped and manicured lawns, the white interiors in its resplendent glory. I'm gonna miss changing at the ADC's room, going up to Mrs Kwan's office to see her, having a quick bite at the canteen before duties. But most of all, I'm going to miss the camaraderie with people who have walked the path with me, the guys and gals from the SPF, SCDF, MFA and of course my brothers and sisters-in-arms across the 3 services. I've enjoyed the ride guys! Adieu... Till the next ADC Open House! :)

I was in and now I'm no more!

LOL! I was reading my brother’s blog to kill time while waiting for my flight out of Suvarnabhumi (that word took me quite a while to memorise!) Airport when I realised that my blog has been taken out from his links! Due to inactivity caused, according to him, Facebook and Twitter! And I gotta agree with him on that! I’ve not been updating my blog regularly. And for me it’s not only Facebook and Twitter. Foursquare, Foyage and a host of other location-based apps are sucking away my blog time! Not only do I not update my blog regularly, I do not even read other blogs with regularity. But come to think of it, with RSS feeds, that could be rectified... anyway... here goes...

It’s been a month away from the family... on my 6th overseas training with my current unit each lasting an average of about a month. That’s about 6 months worth in my 2 years here! Wow! A quarter of the time I’m away on overseas training! And whenever I’m overseas, my close family always helps out and for that I am thankful. From Abah sending my girls to their classes, to Boboy helping out and sending Mars and the girls for family gatherings, to Mak helping to look after the girls when Mars needs a bit of time out, I know my family can be depended upon. Plans have been set in motion for another big decision that will affect my family and those around me. Watch this space for updates! :)

I came across an article with an interesting phrase the other day that I thought was worth an entry somewhere in the future - “An Ode to the Temporary People in Our Lives”. In my almost 20 years in the Army (has it been THAT long!?), I have come across many, many people and came to know quite a few closely. My trainees, my cadets, my recruits, my men, my commanders. Some became close friends, some just disappear from memory. Some have been indelibly etched in my mind. People who were inspirational, people who motivated me, people who looked up to me, people who I looked up to. Then there were the clowns who would almost always elicit a smile when I thought of them. But none of them are ‘permanent’. I will always remember what my current boss said, “You are in the Army for at most 25 years, but you will be with your family until you die.” (or something to that effect!). When all is said and done, family is still the most important.

The training in Kanchanaburi has been tough both for the umpires and the unit under evaluation. They’re our Special Friends.... if you know what I mean! :) The day’s temperature readings were a killer 40 degrees on average, nights were clammy and the distances to cover were long. The language barrier even with our Thai liaison was an impediment but I’ve managed to pick up a smattering of Thai words to get by. I shall add that to my repertoire of Mandarin, Hokkien, French and Arabic. Shopping in Bangkok and holidays in Krabi and Phuket will never be the same! :) It has been a good experience training in Thailand. I love the rolling mountains and wide open spaces. I have fallen in love with the Mango Sticky Rice found at the night markets in Kanchanaburi Town (or K Town for those who know). I don’t know when I’ll be back training in Thailand but I’ll never forget those that I have met and made me feel at home even though I’m away from home. It certainly was a land of a thousand smiles!

Well, it’s almost boarding time. Even in the airport, I can’t really feel the aircon! Catch you guys some other time...

Congrats my girl!

We're so proud of our eldest for excelling in both secular and religious schools! Marha marha!

O Australia

O Australia, we meet you yet again
Far from our loved ones we are here to train
A land of riches, a land of beauty
Far are we from our beloved city

The long winding roads like rivers a'flow
Laden with gravel made the going slow
Gum trees spread out in an endless vista
From the plains to the shores of Sabina

Sunsets so gorgeous they can make one stare
Deep blue orange they are without compare
Bathing the landscape with her glow so bright
The full moon walked with us throughout the night

Skies a deep blue with not a cloud in sight
Skies so clear the stars brighten up the night
Days so hot under the shade we sit tight
Nights so cold the sun our only respite

Kangaroos caught in the cruisers bright light
Wandering wallabies jumping in fright
Ebullient emus escaping the glare
Wild horses and cattle, just stood and stare

Warm sleeping bags cocoon our cold bodies
The sleepless nights turned us into zombies
Cold morning runs on long dusty gravel
The fact that we did it, was a marvel!

From the cool of Sam to the dust of Growl
To buckin' broncos and leopards on the prowl
Chattering chinook and super puma
Unleashed airborne troops onto Atila

And now there are three...

Before there were two and now there are three
All together as one big family
Atan, Ibrahim and Moha are we
Young or old, together we are happy

Our first game together was just bowling
We had so much fun, it was exciting
Win or lose, first or last, we did not care
What's important was that we were all there!

Slowly but surely...

I was reading my sister-in-law’s blog about how fast her son is growing. And wishes that he wouldn’t grow up as fast as he is doing right now.

I guess this is what every parent goes through. It IS amazing how fast our kids grow. Sooner and later, we will discover that it is about letting go. Letting our kids grow up. These things creep up on you. Slowly but surely... First they start walking... then they start reading... very soon they start doing things that will further amaze you! As a parent, I know that we will go through different phases as we bring up our kids. And each phase has its own challenges. We were at Kiddy Palace just the other day and as we walked through the bottles and diapers sections I remarked to my BH about how we will no longer go through ‘that’ phase of buying those stuff again...with a tinge of sadness...

Just the other day, our two princesses did a ‘first’. We wanted some cheese to make dinner but it had turned bad (that is another story by itself, right dear!?). So I asked Kakak whether she wanted to go down with Adik to buy some cheese for us and both excitedly said, “Yes!”!!! And so, armed with $10, lots of advice about holding each other’s hands and not running, etc, we sent our girls out to the ‘world’ on their own. Oh, and I gave Kakak a walkie-talkie too! ;) We kept an eagle eye on them as they passed through the fountain area and disappeared into the club house. I had good comms with Kakak all the way. By the time both reached home, both were beaming with joy at their accomplishment!

I went for a talk by David Chiem, CEO of MindChamps at CMPB the other day and one of my take-aways from that very uplifting and inspirational talk was about creating ‘moments’ with your children. It is not so much about spending a lot of time with them, which of course is important, but more of creating ‘moments’ that they will remember for life.

What we practise in our family are ‘moments’ we hope our girls will remember for life. One of these ‘moments’ we picked up was from none other than Obama himself, from an article in the June 09 edition of Reader’s Digest. During dinner, which we insist on everyone sitting at the dining table, we would ‘play’ ‘Highs and Lows’. We take turns describing the highs and lows of our day to the rest. And we will then summarise what the other person has said. It is a very good way for the girls to do their own self-reflection of the day’s events and for us to discuss them further. And it teaches them to listen. They are so used to it now that they look forward to it and can’t wait to tell us their highs-and-lows! Another ‘ritual’ that we do as a family is to have a ‘Games Night’ on one of the weekday nights. Obviously the girls look forward to this and would do their homework, prepare their beds and school bags for the next day before they play the games, which they choose. We play Scrabble Junior, Monopoly Junior, Zingo, etc. I love these games too for it teaches the girls how to follow the rules, play fair, win and lose graciously. Another ritual we do at least once a week is the ‘Reading Night’ where we take turns reading aloud to the rest. This gives the girls confidence to ‘address’ a crowd and of course, to enjoy a good story at the same time! My ‘thing’ with them that I will not fail to do if I’m at home before they go to bed is to read them a chapter of a storybook. This takes about 15mins and they just love it! It gives me the opportunity to explain things to them. Adik will not fail to ask words that she does not know. We have finished the whole series of the Faraway Tree (one of my all time favourite book), a book on the Wishing Chair and many other shorter stories. I’m currently going through “The 7 Habits of Happy Kids” with them, dispensing to them some of life’s lessons at the same time!

Oh and another thing from David’s talk is that parents seldom say how proud they are of their kids. They may love them and say so but there is a difference between loving them and being proud of them. Kids need this encouragement. So, I personally, will always look for opportunities to say how proud I am of my girls. And of course, the recent ‘proud’ moment we had was when Kakak passed her NASSA Bronze Swimming Test. I was heartened by the effort she put in into passing her test. She told me that, “I told myself that I want to pass and that I want to do well!” You go girl! The mind IS an amazing thing...

Here’s a poem to sum up this entry’s topic...

It wasn’t too long ago

It wasn’t too long ago
I held you in my arms
Softly whispering in your ears
Allah’s name and His Greatness

It wasn’t too long ago
I would wake up in the dead of night
To comfort you when you cry
Until you drift off to sleep

It wasn’t too long ago
I would carry you in my arms
And lullaby you to sleep
Exhausted from the day’s play

It wasn’t too long ago
That you couldn’t swim
But now, my princess
Has passed her swimming test!

It wasn’t too long ago
That you couldn’t spell
But now, my princess
Devours books with gusto

It wasn’t too long ago
That you couldn’t play the piano
But now, my princess
Plays it with such confidence

As you go through
The trials and tribulations of life
And its pains and joys
Know that whatever happens
Whatever will be
I will always be there for you
I will always love you...

Effort

I am only one,

but still I am one.

I cannot do everything,

but still I can something;

and because I cannot do everything,

I will not refuse to do something I can do.



Edward Everett Hale (1822 – 1909)

American Author & Clergyman

On Children

You may give them your love but
not your thoughts,
for they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but
not their souls,
for their souls dwell in the house of
tomorrow, which you cannot visit,
not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but
seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries
with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.

- Khalil Gibran