My 2008 ESOL Students Who Touched My Life

ADESIYAN IYABO PAYSAT
Nigeria

OMER CEPALO
Bosnia

YASOTHAN RAJARATNAM

Sri Lanka

WU NI NI
China

WONG ZHONG JIE
China

WONG ZHONG HONG, WAYNE
China

S A MADHUSHANI NILUSHIKA
Sri Lanka

ZAMEER AHMED
Pakistan

ABDIWALI ABDI HUSSEIN
Somalia

VENESSA YAO YE
China

PARIA EBRAHIMI
Iran

PAREHATI MAIMAITIREXIATI
China

TONG THANH NGA
Vietnam

NEZHAA QUALID
Morocco

MAZIN MAHAMOUD
Sudan

LINDA ZHAO LIN
China

KADER ABDULKADIR SAID
Somalia

JAVAD DELPAZIR
Iran

MUHAMAD FAIZAL IBNIL HAJAR
Malaysia

ELAINE JIANG
China

CHRISTINA TAN FANQI
China

BILLY TEO KOK GUAN
Malaysia

AWIL SAID ABDI KARIM
Somalia

AUDREY KHIN THIDAMIN
Myanmar

ALI REZA NATEGHI
Iran

JEVITHAA A/P BALAN
Malaysia

AHMED ESSA OMAR
Somalia

ABDULLAH AL-TAMIMI
Saudi Arabia

My 2007 ESOL Students Who Touched My Life

SINAAN IBRAHIM
Maldives

OMER CEPALO
Bosnia

LINDA ZHAOLIN
China

ISIS HERNANDEZ
Venezuela

ERIC ZHA NE
Cameroon

BILLY TEO KOK GUAN
Malaysia

BIDJA PATRICK JEAN BLASE
Cameroon

ARACELIS LARREAL
Venezuela

ABDULLAH AL-TAMIMI

Saudi Arabia

Laughter Fundamentals

28 October 2009, Wednesday (9 Zulkaedah)

Did you know that?

• It takes 17 muscles to smile and 43 to frown
• The number of times per day an average pre-schooler laughs - 400. The average number of times per day an average adult laughs - 15 

Laughter Therapy

28 October 2009, Wednesday (9 Zulkaedah)

Laughter is healing and a good laugh is therapeutic. Did you know that when you laugh, your brain secretes chemicals that act as antidepressants?

Laughter even gives your immune system a boost and is a great stress reducer. Yet, in the midst of our hectic routines, we too often forget to laugh.  We become so serious that we lose touch with our sense of joy and become sombre and stale, neither of which is good for our overall sense of well-being.

Start to see the humor in the ironies of everyday life.

Remember, when all else fails, laugh!!!

Gratitude Inventory: 28 October 2009

28 October 2009, Wednesday (9 Zulkaedah)

Today, I am grateful that/of:

1. Almighty Allah has kept me alive so that I could still devote time and service to my family
2. Almighty Allah sent Amir Hussain to me to be my soulmate
3. Almighty Allah provided me with not just one, but four bundles of joy
4. Almighty Allah's bounties, big and small 

(And when your Lord made it known: If you are grateful, I would certainly give to you more, and if you are ungrateful, My chastisement is truly severe.) (Ibrahim 14:7)

My Daily Victory Log

27 October 2009, Tuesday (8 Zulkaedah)

Today's Victory Log

1/ Got up extra early to prepare Cucur Udang for breakfast for my family
2/ Managed to complete painting a miniature tea set as a gift for a friend in Myanmar
3/ Entertained my eldest sister who came by the house
4/ Cooked Mee Mamak and Sambal Tumis Telur for dinner for my family
5/ Had an English class with my student, Siti Sarah
6/ Imparted Useful Life Lessons to my student, Siti Sarah
7/ Packed my luggage for my trip to Mynamar (1/2 way done)
7/ Completed 4 postings for my blog

Gratitude Inventory: 27 October 2009

27 October 2009, Tuesday (8 Zulkaedah)

Today, I am grateful that:

1. Allah has blessed me with this family, i.e. my hubby of 26 years, Amir Hussain Md Ishak, and my four kittos, Khairul Amirin, Khairil Syazwan, Khairina Izzati, Khairi Imran
2. We are contented and fun loving as a family
3. Allah chose me to be Mak and Ayah's daughter
4. I've imparted some useful Life Lessons to my student, Siti Sarah in the hope that she will use that as part of her learning curve.

I Come First......... At Least Some Of The Time

27 October 2009, Tuesday (8 Zulkaedah)

I am getting my priorities right. My life reflects my deepest held values and beliefs.

So many women live by the mantras "I have to be the best for my husband," "I have to be a perfect mum to my kittos," "I have to keep up," "I have to work harder," "I have to prove my worth."

While many of us thought that we left peer pressure back in our school/college/varsity, it's still very much alive and buzzing in our adult lives.

Many women have one unmistakable priority: get through the day. No doubt! No one would deny the importance of that, but that's simply inadequate. We go through life on autopilot. We hardly ever pause long enough to mull over and reflect how we spend our time and energy.

It's important to find a natural rhythm to our day-to-day life that will create an atmosphere of fulfillment. It's crucial to balance our responsibility to others with responsibility to oneself, obligations with enjoyment, work with play, and activity with rest. It means getting our priorities right.

Hence, my decision to quit from my job, after slogging in the rat race the last 27 years.

It was one of my hardest decisions, but one which I've never once regretted. Since I started working, my dream and fantasy was to retire before I reached fifty.  And amazingly, with God's grace, I managed to do just that.

And now, not only am I able to devote more time for my family, but I have abundance of amazing time for myself. I am learning to balance the wishes and expectations of my husband and children with my own needs and desires. I am holding my priorities sacred, without compromising my family's needs.

I am reorienting my life around what is important to me, and I am comfortable with my decisions. And the most wonderful thing is, I come first, at least some of the time......

And, what is fabulous is that I have time to smell the roses, admire my loved ones, and I even have time to look at the traffic passing by from my bedroom window, and see the birds fly by, high in the sky.