Irrashai Nakatani san

Nakatani san with Ilhan
Good turn out..

A couple of weeks ago, we (former students of Wakayama Dai) had a mini reunion. The occasion was to meet up with our 'okasan' from Wakayama. Nakatani san is the head of a volunteer group can WIN Concord. Thegroupd wasset up with the hope of fostering ties with foreigners living in Wakayama and who else to represent this than we, the international students.

See, Nakatani san and the other member of WIN really took good care of us when we were there. We would be lying if they have not more than once helped us out or did us a favour or two during our stay there. Be it from organising trips, looking for apartments, providing basic ammenities to sorting things out when we got in trouble with police and that kind of stuff.

IT was no surprise when most of us who were available that day did not hesitate when I told them she was here and wanted to meet up. With the exception of Belle, Kadok, Chipoet and Intan (note the similaritie - all from East Cost and it was the Aidil adha break), we managed to meet up at Just Thai in 1 utama.

Nakatani san was happy to see that we have progressed well ( as she was really worried how some of us would turn out, hehe, we were young once..) and to see so many kids around..

For Nakatani san and other friends from Japan, you are most welcome to Malaysia and this time, let us return the favour to you guys..

Start em young..

Ever since we have not had a maid, moving aroud has been a bit of a hassle. Firstly, if both of us were around, then at least Ilhan can sit in his seat and Sue and hold Laila. Well, for the whole of last week, it has become slightly more tricky. We sent the kids to a nursery at KJ, having gone tired of waiting for the maid and considering our commitment towards work - taking too many leaves..

So, Sue was left to ferry Ilhan n Laila all by herself after dropping me off at the LRT. We got another car seat, slightly larger for Ilhan and Laila can now have Ilhan's seat. Alhamdulillah, Ilhan is used to sitting in a child seat, so he doesn't mind, and Laila's still too young to complain, hehe..

So far so good, mother and child have been traveling well and reaching the destinatons safely...

Lim Tong Gong

I was supposed to take the day off to babysit the kids while there was still no maid. Sue had taken a few days off and I hadto take a couple here and there to do my part. On this fine day, well actually it was raining slightly, Sue was on her way to work, when Mr. Lim (the tonggong is added cause memang tonggong lah dia ni) had hit Sue from behind. Nasib baik slow..Worst thing was, so happened she was driving my Audi that day..

So, spoke to the guy, told him to follow Sue back to TTDI where I took it from there. Brought him over to my workshop, assessed the damage, then he went to assess the damage on his Iswara.. ended up sending his car to my workshop as well..

All in all, spent half a day attending to this, and got the car back the next day. Check out the pics of the damage - grateful that Sue was ok, and how sturdy the Audi is, at least know that the wife and kids would be safe in the event of any minsfortunes, nauzubillah, take place.

Ha, ada pun...

Many were surprised with my observation in my earlier post 'Do you do this?', on the way people hold their mobiles. I see it everyday, and I fnally got a specimen to show you... Takkan tak pernah tengok kot? Dun even ask me who this is, I have no idea..hehe

Of maids n gangsters..

My maid finally had to be sent back as her work permit expired on the 21st of december 05. Was told that a replacement is available. As this maid was on temporary basis, assumed that the replacement was to be provided to me on my existing contract. To cut the story short, i was asked to pay another RM 4900, and some more money was requested to send the maid home and some other dodgy stuff.

With all due respect to my agent (no need to mention who lah kan), I told her to keep the maid, give me back whatever was due back to me, and settled whatever was needed to send my maid back.. To be frank, it wasn't very nice how they were being treated.

Nevertheless, my take on this one is that it is the nature of the biz, no transparency, demand is so much greater than supply, lack of quality on the product delivered, weak governance, lack of protection on the employers that makes one resort to certain tactics, albeit some form of gangsterism.

I believe many have gone through similar experiences. One area i'd like to learn is how to introduce a certain level of protection for the employers in the event maid lari. Sekarang ni maid dtg kerja 6 bulan then lari, dah lah kita kena bayar fine, kalau nak replacement kena top up the 4-5000 needed for a new one. Some say simpan gaji maid, some do other stuff.. So kalau ada insights, do share..

So, Sue and I have been without a maid for almost a month. Having to balance work, the kids and domestice chores has in a way affected our movements and activities (have not played futsal since ;) ) But, we're hanging in there...

I'm back!

Have not been posting for over a month now. Have been bogged down with so many things that just lost the mood to post... Can't tell how many times i've got to this page and wanted to post, but for one reason of the other, tak jadi.. anyway, i've decided to base my year on the lunar calendar this year - so that means my new year will start on Feb 4 this year. Things that I plan to do for the new year:

1. Get my new year's resolutions done..
2. Do my financial planning for the year
3. Plan and actually go for holidays
4. Return to MDC?? (watch this one)
5. Get the MLPC2 (Watch this one, literally)

Ok, will post wuick updates to make up for lost time and for all (if there are still people who visit my blog) to catch up on whats been going on...

I'm back! (not like i was gone in the first place)