Understanding The Drama In Life

Quarantine Day...lost track of the days now... The government has prolonged the lockdown, or to be more specific MCO, Movement Control Order as they call it here. Whatever it's called, lockdown or MCO, the government is doing the right thing. Schools especially, should not be opened yet, not now. Even though some companies are allowed to continue with their business, strict measures have been taken to ensure the employers/employees are free from the deadly virus. I am beginning to enjoy my staycation at home. I imagine myself being a retiree in the next few years. This is how I am going to feel, sometimes forgetting the dates and days. Now, I have ample time to explore few things; things I wanted to do before but couldn't due to time constrain. I try out new dishes, bake 2 kinds of cake in one night, cook a lot till my kids tell me to stop because they have been eating a lot these days, spend more time reciting Al-Quran, listen to more talks and preaches which amazing

Quarantine Day 14 I was browsing my Facebook page earlier. Man...things people do when they get bored! Some are creative, they came up with their own hilarious dance video. And there was one teacher who sang beautifully, dedicated to her young students. Some posted cooking videos, which I find them very helpful in providing me some ideas on what to cook these days. I stumbled upon a music video today, a kids' song. Pretty catchy. As much as it is humorous, the song delivers a very important message to young children; that is to stay clean by washing your hands frequently. This song brings me back to my early teaching years. As far as I can remember, we have been teaching our students about cleanliness at a very young age. And not only we teach, we also make sure they practice what we have thought them.  Anyways, here's the song. It's fun, I know kids enjoy it and as for the adults,  I treat this song as a reminder to how important cleanliness is to us. Co

Quarantine Day 13 Life is funny. Before all this chaos, I used to complain a lot. Mostly about the amount of work and the deadlines and the endless meetings. I used to complain how my legs hurt due to too much walking and standing. I used to complain about how naughty and noisy my students can be. Normally, one week of school break feels like a blink of an eye. Time flies so fast when we're having fun, that's what I always say to myself. And now, when I can be at home for another 2 weeks, I feel like it's taking forever. I am not alone. Most of my friends keep sending messages in our WhatsApp group saying how we miss each other, how we miss doing things we used to hate before, how we miss eating and laughing at our pantry, how much we miss entering our classes, how much we miss complaining how exhausted we were at school...and the list goes on. Everyone is getting restless. Sitting at home for too long, doing work online is not a thing for most of us. The be

Quarantine Day 11 Today my husband and I are quite busy trying out the new program "Eye Level On Air" for our students. Due to the Movement Control Order, starting this April, teachers will do online coaching. I am not that hi tech, to be honest I don't really favor this kind of platform to coach my students. I have been battling with myself, trying to adopt and adapt to this method. I know I have no choice. I have to go with the flow and learn to love this way of teaching. Maybe after awhile, once I get the hang of it, I should be fine. Tomorrow we will have 5 students for a start. I hope everything goes well.  159 new cases reported today and the death toll is at 27 now. For a small country like Malaysia, that is a big number. And the number of cases are expected to rise higher in mid April. The government is building makeshift hospital as a precautionary measures just in case there are more cases. And it is expected to be ready by tomorrow. And recently

Quarantine Day 10 Today is Friday. And today is the second time Friday prayer is cancelled due to the pandemic. Yes, everybody is talking about the pandemic daily, we hear nothing from the news in all channels but this painful issue. My routine is like any other days in the quarantine period. Wake up in the morning, prepare breakfast, disinfect the whole house, busy replying messages and do some clerical work online. Then comes afternoon, cook simple lunch and pack some food for my son before he goes to work. His factory still has to run, otherwise there will be a shortage of dairy products, and that is not a good thing especially during this time. At 3:00 p.m. today, Malaysia's Prime Minister has announced a handsome RM250 billion Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package which benefits all Malaysians. It is intended to help the people who get seriously effected economically. As he had mentioned earlier, no group will be left out, no one will be left behind. True enough

Quarantine Day 9 How do we cope with this pandemic? I feel trapped. Being cooped up indoors with no place to go but to the living room, dining, kitchen, bedrooms, then back to the living room again and revisited the entire house all over, makes me a "traveler" inside my own house. Listening and watching to news are depressing, all you see is death all over the world. Malaysia alone has more than 2000 cases now with 23 deaths, as we speak. I think by the time when the pandemic is over, there will be an increase in mental health problems. People get depressed, bored, lonely, felt like there's no more contact with the rest of the world. Today, my friend texted me telling how stressful she was. She is "trapped" in her hometown with her two kids and sadly her husband is not with her. She said she didn't bring her work along and that she is worried once the school reopens, she won't be able to finish her work on time. I was taken aback and could feel