Workshop at School

Idlan's school was the type which approach children education holistically and there were plenty of investment into the pupils home environment and getting the parents to be involved with the school activities and mantra. Anita went to a few courses - mainly how to use the Google Suite as well as utilising the school library. Last Monday, I went to a workshop on bilingualism.

The school wanted us to us Bahasa Malaysia - or our mother tongue - as much as possible as the children's command of English would be upgraded in school anyway. Both Idlan and Irfan could converse in English without any issues and the feeling was that the children would be missing out if their mother tongue was left behind.

The workshop explored our concerns and the advantages of speaking in our mother tongue at home environment, how it actually enriches their command of English rather than curtailing them. Something which I find quite interesting on the whole.

So, cue a few awkward conversation on the dinner table in the coming weeks ...

Reindeer Aplenty

For this year, the theme at BSC was reindeer. But this wasn't any ordinary reindeer. These were girl reindeers. With heels!

I thought those creatures looked too tall when I first theme, and hen looking back from a distance it struck me, they were all females. One of them wearing a tutu. Not sure what that meant! Female power maybe.

But as usual, their Xmas decorations here were pretty creative and amazing. Shame that space was at a premium, hence it wasn't easy to manoeuvre around the lobby where the decorations were. They also spilt over to the sides, making the already narrow walkway even smaller.

Like last year, the view was much better from the upper floor, and certainly there were plenty of details to be spotted. Kudos for the effort ....

Smitten

I finally had the chance to have a go at the latest offering from Apple, the new MacBook Pro, the one with the touch bar at the top of the keyboard.

The 13-inch model looked the one for me, but the problem now would be to get going with the right dongle. Armed with 4 USB-C connections, I had to employ another way of utilising my MacBook.

Currently I have both the 11-inch MacBook Air from 2010, and the 2013 15-inch version of MacBook Pro Retina. The 11-incher was the one I always had with me, although I did flirt around a bit with the Microsoft Surface - which I still use occasionally at the coffee shops.

I plan to get the higher spec 13-inch model in the near future. But first, I had to wait fir the dongles to be available in Malaysia ....

Wedding at the Marina

Last weekend, Syahril invited us to attend his sister’s wedding. It was a two-day event, the Saturday being the akad nikah as well as aqiqah for his daughter, followed by a reception on the Sunday. I was stuck at work on the Saturday and was not able to go. However, we were able to join them for the reception.

The reception was held at a new restaurant at Marina Putrajaya called Bora Ombak. We were quite familiar with the Bora Ombak branch in Ampang, but this was the first time we were at the new outlet. It was a decent-sized hall, catered for wedding right at the marina offering a great vista of the beautiful surrounding.

Some advert for the place ...The pelamin"Forever starts today"Gamelan is readyBeing Putrajaya, access from KL was straight-forward and the venue offered ample parking. I had been there a few times - before the outlet was open - to fly my drone before.

The food was great and we got ourselves a great spot at one corner of the hall. Since we left the boys at home, we were able to enjoy the food and the occasion without worrying about them.

It was full houseSyahril making sure everything was in orderAnita also wanted to get her photos done at the boothThe happy couple cutting cakeSpeech from the father of the bride ....A great day out actually and the unique venue offered a new perspective. It was a hall best used for daytime event as the natural light coming through the large glass windows really spurred up the place.

The marina was located right next to Pullman Putrajaya, and Syahril and his family actually spent the evening there. Not a bad place to hold a reception actually .....

Season Three

The fourth season of House of Cards had just been released on Netflix and I was still struggling to finish the third. Too busy basically and not enough time to spend an hour per episode with Frank Underwood....

Best to make time as I have been hearing great stuff about the fourth season.... More scandal and now that Frank managed to plot his way to the Presidency, a lot more cover ups and dodgy dealings awaits....