Mixed Feelings

Idlan joined SSU - Sekolah Sri Utama - back in 2008 in kindergarten. He spent 3 years in pre-school before starting primary school, finishing off with his UPSR last year. He left a couple of weeks after the exam to join the school he is at now.

Irfan also joined as a 4-year-old back in 2010 and will be leaving in September. It looked like we would be completing our 9 year association with the school soon and I was there today to pay for Irfan’s term fees, which would eventually be the last for him. With that fee paid, it meant that this may be the last bit of business I would be doing with the school except for collecting the school bond when Irfan leaves later.

Over the years, it was clear that the school was heading for a decline. They were actually lucky as there were a number of schools nearby that had completely closed over the years. SSU was still surviving, but I fear for their future. The quality of the teachers had deteriorated. They had a number of headmasters recently, with one only just recently resigned. Most of the teachers were local - the last headmaster was Caucasian. With a PhD. I didn’t think that he was a perfect fit from day one.

One of my main gripe was the fact that the school do not have a Parents-Teachers Association. Dissemination of informations had been weak over the years, much to my frustration. And there were no avenue for us to voice our concerns. I did write a letter to the then headmaster when Idlan left, and he did reply back. From the tone of his email, I could sense that he was just as frustrated with the arrangement at the school.

The school Idlan - and later Irfan - would be moving to was way different to Sri Utama. They put a lot of emphasis on parents’ participation, their activities were great and Idlan had definitely moved on from. He was miserable in the last couple of years at Sri Utama. We told the teachers about that but unfortunately they weren’t at all interested.

I still have a soft spot for Sri Utama. It was convenient when we were living in Gombak before. Time has changed and the school had certainly been left behind .... We were still in contact with some of the teachers from yesteryears. They still remembered the two boys, and how they had grown over the years .... I still had the photo of Idlan’s first day at Sri Utama in 2008 framed on the wall at the house in Gombak.

A Long Morning

The day finally arrived when Irfan had to sit for the interview for the new school. That started off with some essays and aptitude test. After a short break, it was an interview with one of the teachers. Irfan said that it was easy .... Well, we shall see.

He is not due to change school until next September by the way. For the interview, he had to wake up early and follow us along to the school with Idlan on tow. We stayed at the office with Irfan after Idlan started his class, waiting for his name to be called. He looked rather nervous then. In fact, he slept in our room the night before.

While waiting for Irfan to be calledThe school sure had a long history ...Quick breakfast while Irfan was insideWhile he was doing his essay, we went for breakfast wondering what he was going through. It was all done by 11, when I had to make my move back to Subang. He looked quite confident after and enjoyed the rest of the day off at home.

When asked what the exam was about, he said that he was upset that he didn’t know trigonometry. He had not learned it yet in school. Otherwise, the interview was straightforward and he could do the essays. He was looking forward to change school, so hopefully things would fall in place ....

The Glasses Were In

Irfan was so excited am Friday afternoon that I had to leave early from work - I didn't have that many inpatient anyhow. The call came in during lunch that his glasses were ready for pick from the optician and he had been pestering Anita all afternoon.

So, got off with and I straight away took them out, still in school uniform.

He couldn't stop beaming all day after that....

Irfan Needs a Pair

Irfan had always been known to use his iPad too much. And I think it was taking its toll.

Last week, his spot in his class was moved to a row behind. Since then, he had been complaining that he couldn't see the whiteboard as clearly as he used to. He said that everything went blurry. I suspect that he needed to wear glasses.

So, we ventured to the optician tonight and sure enough, his sight was improved a lot after trying some lenses. Eye test done, and he chose a slick frame. The pair of glasses would be ready in a week.

Pulut for Irfan

Another milestone for Irfan. He has finished his muqaddam and is now reading the Quran. And as per tradition - something which we completely missed for Idlan - we have a doa and a small meal - usually in the form of pulut kuning.

Pulut kuning literally translate to "yellow glutinous rice", and it was just that. In full coronary stent-blocking glory!

Managed to escape early from work to get the transport organised. Puan Anita made sure of all the other stuffs were done. Pretty happy with the results. We had our usual caterer which my Mum used to order from to do the cooking. We also had pretzel from our friend added in.

Idlan finishing off the rest of the pretzelsPuan Anita was just doing the final packing before we take it across to the school.

The worry now was I thought we under-ordered. I might run the risk of not having any left for dinner ....