note of thanks

Hi N,

Thank you very much indeed for the marks. Spot on time.[I look forward to receiving the next lot from M  on Tuesday]

R

R  is the module leader for final year Procurement module which is split into 4 sections - estimating, risk, procurement and programming and shared among me, R and M. we are supposed to return the scipts and marks to R by today, tapi si M  tu slow betul.. dah ramai orang bengang dengan dia. dont know what he's been doing, nak kata mengajar banyak, orang lain mengajar lagi banyak hours than him but managed to meet  the deadline. and now term break, patutnya take advantage of the non teaching days to get on with the marking..

it took me 2 gruelling weeks (equivalent to 5 solid days) to finish marking 150 scripts; so far the shortest time taken to mark courseworks. not long after i finished the last script and sent the mark sheet to R, i got the above email and  my reply to him was "i'm glad to get that done & out of the door!". when your work is done & appreciated even with a short thank you note, the tiredness just dissapeared...

i had a 15 minutes breather and got on to marking the first year coursework; managed to get 10 scripts done in 2 hours... ohhh what a productive day !!!

Sweet Innocence

Just got back the photos from school. This is one of them. I just wish that she would pose for us like she does with the school / professional photographers. It's the same with kakak too.

pure & evil indulgence

i got these this morning from our neighbourhood bakery/confectionary...sinful eh?? soon as i posted the pic on fb, ramai betul orang mengomen terliur. ever wondered why  i dont lose weight haha...but this whole tray is for everyone in this house.

an array of custard tart, apple tart, blackcurrant tart, cream bun & cream scone... yummy!!!

hobby kumpul mengumpul

when i was a young girl at primary school, one of my hobbies was collecting stamps. at that time, everybody relied on snail mail, sampai ada lagu Mr Postman by The Carpenters. different states in the malaya land have different stamps, kalau ada pen pal from overseas, lagi la seronok sebab dapat stamp ober the sea gitu.. but now, almost everybody in the urban area communicates  via email or text messages but i still send cards occassionally via snail mail to my friends & relatives here or back home. i find it more personal.

now my hobby has diversified to collecting discount vouchers ..asal ada guests datang and going to legoland, madame tussauds, london eye, warwick castle is in the itinerary, awal2 lagi i would start collecting 2 for 1 vouchers from the back of Persil detergent box/bottles or from tesco clubcard or whsmith. memang banyak saving especially when we go in big groups. imagine kalau pegi legoland, entrance fee for adult is £41 standard/£37 online and child/senior citizen cost £31 standard/£26 online ..so kalau one family of 2 adults & 2 children would cost £144/£116 but with the voucher, we just have to pay half the amount! thats a LOT of saving...

fuel price pun dah naik. when we first came in 2006, the price of petrol was just £1 per litre, now paling murah £1.26 per litre; at some stations can cost  as high as £1.35 per litre. supermarkets such as Tesco and Sainsbury's give  5p per litre off petrol vouchers from time to time to clubcard members if we spend £50 (per transaction) or more instore or online. last month we collected quite a few from Tesco, today Sainsbury's just started its petrol voucher promo, need to shop from today till 12/4, voucher valid for 2 weeks. sempat lah nak kumpul voucher for the coming break..



to our near future guests... 2 for 1 vouchers nak pergi Madame Tussauds, London Eye (kalau tak gayat), Warwick Castle for all 7 of us dah cukup; tinggal lagi nak gi kutip petrol voucher kat Sainsbury's next weekend.

Aircraft Marshalling

Just another one of those things that you feel you must share because it's so good.
This was done in aid of Cancer Research UK.

makan, makan, makan

its after 5pm here and 1am sunday morning in msia but yet few of my close cousins & my sister are still widely awake and were virtually talking about food..thanks to technology and fb.

it started with Ilyas aka Abg E who posted some pix  of seafood galore he had with his wife & friends at Umbai in Melaka.  (picture hijacked from his fb) he said the ikan is just ikan bakar tawar, cicah dgn kicap, bawang &  limau nipis.

then another cousin Wana posted on her status "tak ngantok. Buat roti kurma, ada lg 1/2 hour nk bunyik 'ting!!'....zaassss...". at that time, i had 2 trays of kuih bakar pandan in the oven, so i responded to her " in 10 minutes, bunyi beep beep ..my kuih bakar pandan will be ready"

selepas bunyi beep..beep.. yang menandakan kuih bakar pandan dah siap...(recipe in my other blog - weightwatchers Nott)

then her brother Ja  said he had  naan cheese TTDI terbaek punya.. and i told Ja that we also had naan with lamb karahi & jamaican jerk chicken for lunch - halal ready made meals bought in Tesco.

i posted the photo of our lunch and tagged my cousins and one by one started responding :

my sister said she could hardly sleep cos she's still full after having sirloin steak & hot chocolate; another cousin Ilani, Ilyas' sister said she had steamboat at Ikano.. which reminded Wana of the wonderful time she had with Ilani, my mom & my niece during buka puasa last year - wana was then pregnant with her second child  and wheelchair bound  for a while due to health problem. (her son is now 3 months and she's up & running).  aaahhh bless all of them!!  

so basically us cousins & siblings are telepathic and have lots of things in common and one thing for sure  - we enjoy our food and love eating anytime of the day, selagi belum tidor!!

Primroses=Evening Primrose Oil??

primroses, snowdrops and daffodils are the early signs of spring. i never knew that the native primrose  are the pale yellow ones and the colourful ones are hybrids. i learn something new today..

why are they called primroses (or in latin primula)?  Its name comes from the Latin for "First Rose". Used in ancient times to treat paralysis and gout and was believed to be a flower originating in Paradise. The flowers can be made into jam and wine. The five petals represent birth, initiation, consummation, repose and death. Six-petalled Primrose brings luck in love and marriage. Also known as Butter Rose. Name comes from prima rosa, meaning first rose of the year.  read this.. http://www.englishplants.co.uk/primrose.html

yesterday i bought few pots of different colour primroses from our neighbourhood shop - pot of 4 cost £2.99, single ones cost 75p each or 3 for £2. i made sure i got as many colours as possible. it was such a lovely morning and i spent an hour weeding the flower bed (which was ruined by the winter frost) and planting the primroses around the daffodils which are blooming well. wish we have more space to plant  the flowers. the soil at the back garden is quite hard and most of the back garden is covered by the huge willow tree.

 the front of the house is completely paved, no room for flower bed or borders. petang semalam bought few more to plant in pots to put in front. (yang hitam2 on the flowers tu soil dust, pics taken after re-potting)

evening primrose oil however doesnt come from the primrose family... Evening Primrose Oil, (EPO), is extracted from the seeds of Oenothera biennis, which is not actually a member of the Primrose family, but is part of the Willow herb family. The plant acquired the primrose name because its bright yellow flowers resemble primrose flowers, and its flowers open in the evening, hence its current name..read this: http://www.femalehealthissues.co.uk/benefits-evening-primrose-oil.html

WAH ramblings

what i love most  about my job is to be able to Work At Home during term break or non teaching days  during term time (in my case on monday & wednesday afternoons). most of the time is spent either marking courseworks or preparing lecture material. working at home is flexible but needs self disciplined, good time management and most importantly kena honest otherwise you wont get anything done. i heard from friends who teach  in msian higher institutions, they still have to go to the office during term break,  no such things as WAH sebab kena punch card/sign in/thumb press. not having to go to the office means i can save on travelling time, bus fare and probably on food.

yesterday was productive by my standard - i marked 20 scripts & achieved  my target. day started after everybody left for work/school, i went to the neighbourhood shop to get some primroses for our flower bed. did some gardening till 10.00am.

then jemur kain, then had coffee & started work, broke off at 12.30 to fetch the little one from preschool. after lunch, put my head down again and finished at 4pm. it doesnt matter if we dont sit at the desk from 9-5, as long as we get work done and we are AT HOME..i get more things done at home  than working at the office with all kinds of disruption. our office is one BIG room macam call centre which fits all 16 academics. yang paling tak tahan with this one colleague. dia berasal dari negara timor, terkenal dengan rumah pangsa tinggi2 macam pigeon holes, bila sebut L jadi nya R eg nak sebut glass jadi grass!!. . this guy sits in front of me;  bila dia menguap, kuat yang amat, mengaum macam singa lapar; macam dia sorang ada anak kecik. why cant he ask his wife who's not working to look after their 3 months old baby at nite? hope he sleeps better when the wife bawak balik baby ke kampong halaman next month. enough about him.

yesterday was the last day of the term, students get 2 weeks break from monday and i will be spending those 2 weeks working at home - apa lagi, marking..marking..marking..every lecturer/teacher's nightmare! i've got to get 150 final yr estimating coursework scripts out of the way by tuesday morning (so far done 100 scripts); then sambung balik marking 120  2nd year measurement coursework yang terbantut sebab nak kena siapkan the final year punya dulu; and lastly about 70 1st year measurement coursework - tak banyak tu sebab dah share dengan 2 other colleague. ALL that to be completed before new term starts on 12/4. feedback will have to be given on the first week back. 3rd term is short with only 5 weeks of  teaching & learning before the students sit for their exam in mid may. lepas tu another nightmare - more marking which need to be completed by mid june. this year's exam board is in early july and will be chaired by the dean.. haiyaa..why la he wants to chair this year??  at the same time, i have to work on my post grad teaching portfolio - they have given me an extension till june which i cant defer anymore or i wont get my cert! immediately after that, i have to start writing up my thesis. yeah yeah, i had to defer my submission from april to september atas sebab2 tertentu, so kalau tak de apa2 aral melintang or menegak, november nanti Insyaallah complete both courses...

lunch time walk

i had a good hour stroll at the arboretum at lunch time. the park was swarmed with students from the uni cos its just 5 minute walk from the campus. terasa overdressed even tho i was cladded in jeans & light jumper over a tshirt while  most of the students were already in s/s tshirt and shorts/short skirts. and icecream van was really tempting but i had to tahan dugaan sebab puasa ganti..

apple blossom

 narcissus

 gugusan hari hari.. indah bersama mu camelia...

 sun bathing..

 field of daffodils

 apple blossom - up close & personal

 pink rhododenderon - more to come in may.

 2 birds flew right infront of me when i was taking this pic.

spring sprang sprung

spring is definitely here !!! more of our daffs and narcissus have bloomed. kalau nak tunggu gadget baru to take pix, by the time gadget sampai, bunga pun dah gone... so berpuas hati dengan gadget yang ada.

this post is dedicated especially for kakak, my SIL who just loves daffodils and also my mom who loves gardening...

narcissus..look like daffs but smaller.

few different species of daffodils..

my flower bed kembali ceria...

esok start working from home for 2 weeks - term break starts next monday. hajat dihati pagi2 esok nak gi beli primroses and pansies kat kedai depan. gardening for an hour or so before getting into the tedious duty of marking courseworks for 2 solid weeks..urgghhhh!!!  

maybe this could be our last spring here..Wallahualambissawab. Hanya Allah yang maha mengetahui. so saviour the good times while they last.

apa ada kat sana?

hari ni kena pergi Barnsley, in South Yorkshire.  i've never been there, people always associate Barnsley with its football club, dont know how famous is it. Barnsley is described as  an urban area, besar sikit dari kampong (village), kecik sikit dari bandar (city). so lebih kurang macam pekan lah. kalau en suami, mesti dia cakap besar sikit dari Yong Peng.

i was there visiting one of my placement students who's based at the Shafton ALC (advanced learning centre, something like a special school) construction site.

see the shadows?? thats me with my student on the roof top.

i learned a lot while going on tour round the building which is 80% completed. honestly, i miss going round construction sites!!

last nite, i wrote : "apa ada kat Barnsley?? if only kena pegi Londeng ke, seronok jugak...".

then my longtime friend kak senah said "for us souls residing in hot humid kg. pokok tinggal sebatang and the likes, gi cool barnsley pon arait dahh  ..i dont really like Londeng anyway, tapi kalau dah terlanjur kesana, kalau ada masa terluang, sempat jugak melencong sekejap 'menjamu mata & membeli tingkap'.

one thing for sure, the coach station which is annexed to the train station is so modern and colourful, compared to  coach station at my kampong.

and the taxi drivers are locals (meaning omputih),  unlike kat my kampong where the taxi drivers monopolised by suku sakat pa alif kap ya. i may have unsur2 sifat perkauman sikit, walaupun sedar diri ni pun kaum minoriti..so maknanya Barnsley tu  masih lagi kampong omputih sejati, unlike my kampong which is metropolitan yang ada macam2 bangsa terutama bangsa yang tersebut diatas but not as bad as Bradford sampai ditukar nama menjadi Bradistan...

  

just opposite the train/coach station is the 700 years old Barnsley Market, with 300 indoor and outdoor stalls. kira nya thats one of Barnsley main attraction.  i text my friend EFS that there's a market and maybe ada jual fm, she replied "haaa.. tu la, Londeng is not the only interesting place!". as i had some time to kill  while waiting for the next train home, i went in for a quick browse. ok lah jugak. there are a few clothes stall, baju murah2 like £5 each, lebih kurang macam kat pasar siti khadijah or rantau panjang. but the flowers, fruit & vege stalls are really good because they sell local produce.

 the weather was really good, temperature went up to 17 deg. biasalah orang kat sini, dah panas sikit mula la dedah sana sini.. but apparently the temperature will drop to below 10 deg this weekend.