To Class We Go

One more day before classes resume again tomorrow. Luckily my class schedule is only in the morning this semester and I'm teaching the same subject like the last. So I am well versed with the syllabus. But these days that is not enough. Gone are the days of the lecturer speaking in front and the students taking notes, or instructor-centered learning. We are required to get the students involved in the lecture, what is now called student-centered learning. Now we need to get the students to do activities while learning the topic, let them discover the main ideas and continue to teach them until they get it. This is well proven because when we do it ourselves, we learn faster don't we?

So, last week I have been researching active learning methods like asking the students to argue on a certain topic, or asking them to read up on a topic and then give the lecture on it and then I correct them if they are wrong. But the thing I'm having trouble with is getting the students to respond. Do you have any ideas? Or was there any particular type pf lecture which you remember the most that helped you to learn?

P.S: the picture is of Maisarah when she followed me to work. If only working as a lecturer was as easy as watching Barney.

Mandatory Course

Starting today I will be attending the first of the Mandatory Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) Course. UNI*TEN has been kind enough to pay for the course and Institute of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) are also kind enough to send their trainers here so that we won't have to go to IEM. This course is only mandatory for engineers who have registred with BEM after January 2005. Hence, I, whom registered at the end of 2005, have been given the mandatory 'sentence'. (I usually hear the word 'mandatory' when it is followed by 'death sentence' so I kind of feel like the BEM course is a 'sentence' to new engineers)

Anyway, it is not a 'sentence' in a bad sense because the course is actually very useful. It's broken up into three modules:

• Module 1 – BEM Safety & Health At Work
• Module 2 - BEM Engineering Management Practice
• Module 3 - BEM Code of Ethics/Regulations

Today and tomorrow I will be attending Module 1. Module 2 will be held next week and Module 3 the week after. I've also got to complete final exam grading by the 15th and also prepare for next semester's teaching. So, there is no rest for me during this end-of-semester holiday.

Short post

Classes has resumed so life is hectic again. Wait a minute.. life was hectic even during the 3 months break! The break this year went by in a flash. Three months was filled with a few weeks of holiday (Langkawi and lounging at home), followed by a month of curriculum review and the last month filled with report writing. The accreditation season is here again. And to make it worst, classes started on Monday. I need to finish proof-reading the report by today so that we can print it tomorrow. But I wanted to write something here first as it's been too silent here on abumblebee.

I promise once the report is done, I'll find some time to write on our impromtu weekend break at E*quitorial Bangi last Friday. So till then, toodles!

Away on a Two-week Course

Since Monday this week Shah and I have been attending a course on Nu*clear Engineering. It's actually called a Summer School because it lasts for two weeks. Luckily it's held in U*K*M so we dont have to be away from the Baby Bee. And lucky to the management agreed to send us both to the course so we can go there together and not have to take separate ways in the morning. The course tarts at 9 am so before that we have time to drop by the office and hence, I;m using this time to write an entry today.

So far, the past two days have been interesting but tiring. I have learnt lots of new things but it's like going back to University all over again. Lot's of notes to take down and knowledge to absorb. But it's more tiring since it starts at 9:00 am and ends at 5:30 pm. We do get the occasional 10-15 minutes break after one or two hours of lectures and the one and half hour lunch break so that is good enough for us to refresh and regain our energy.

OK, I've got to stop now. See ya!

Two days of tiredness

I have to conduct a two day course on Electric Drives this week. Today was the first day. I gave a lecture and conducted some class activities to about 150 students all by myself from 9 am right up to 4.30 pm. The only break I had was for lunch from 12 to 2 pm. Standing and talking for almost 6 hours has me aching all over and I also have a sore throat. I've got another full day of lectures tomorrow. I wonder how other people do it. I think I'll stop now. My eyes are starting to close. Night night.

What is all this non-sense?

I'm busy grading exam scirpts. I'm hoping to finish 60 scripts today or latest tomorrow morning and then get on with another 20. Hopefully I'll be done by Wednesday. Grading week is not a good time as I have to face lots of non-sense written in the scripts. Although the non-sense comes from few of the students but they tend to get to me. Of all the things I have to to as a lecturer, grading is the most boring task.

Well, break is over. Back to grading.

Trojans invade

My laptop has been invaded by 2 kinds of Trojans. I have been battling to get rid of them since 9:30 am this morning. You see, my laptop initially was installed with Nor*ton Anti-Virus but the subscription ended few months ago (well actually about 6 months ago) and I have been too busy to install a new software. So today, I finally had the time to install Av*ira Anti-Virus software (the free version). Once it was installed, it immediately bleeped several times informing me about the invading Trojans. I wonder how long they have been lurking on my lappie. I can't seem to get rid of them under normal mode so I have resorted to Safe mode and have been scanning my lappie since 11:30 am. So far, the software has informed me that it has detected 5 files containing the Trojans and they have been quarantined. I need to delete those quarantined files and then I'll revert back to normal mode. Hopefully, it will be clear after that. But from my readings, the Trojans that has invaded my lappie are cunning. One of them resides in the Temp folder and switches to another file after the initial file has been quarantined. Oh God, I hope I can shake them off. If not I will have to get professional help for my lappie.

On another note, I had initially 'deleted' this blog by changing the URL and not allowing any search engines to trace the blog. I did this because I thought I have been betraying the blog by not putting up any posts. Furthermore, I have been having some difficulties keeping up with my duties as a mother, wife, homemaker and careerwoman. So I had to stop for a while and relook at my priorities. I am still working on improving myself and I hope those around me will be patient with me. Please know that I am not perfect, I have lots of flaws and I need to find a way to become a better person soon. I am also in dire need of supplements to give me more energy to get through the day. I am always flat once I reach home and when I put Maisarah to sleep I end up sleeping myself. The thing is I am so bad at keeping to the schedule of eating my daily vitamins. I wonder how other moms keep their energy up. Those out there reading this, care to share?

Ok, I've got to get one with work. Please pray that my lappie is Trojan free.

P/S: I have rebooted my lappie under normal mode and am 40% through scanning the C drive. So far no Trojans detected. Hpe it stays that way. But another big problem has come up. I just found out that I can't access my C drive from My Computer. This is certainly not good news. Hope Abang wont get angry with me!

P/P/S: During the past week I did a marathon session of Gossip Girl season 1 and I am hooked. Is this good or bad?

Panicking!!

Classes will start in 3 weeks and I have yet to start my preparations. I'm seriously panicking!! (And yet I've still got time to write a post here!) I've got to teach 2 subjects this coming semester. One new and another I've taught for twice. Even so, the subject which I've previously taught has undergone a syllabus review and there are 3 new chapters to be included. So I've got to prepare new notes for both these subjects. Guess what? I haven't even started making the notes. I'm in serious sh*t. I've promised myself that I'd start doing the notes since last April but nothing has materialized. Now I've set aside the whole of next week to do them. Although, next Monday and Tuesday is filled with an e-learning course and department meetings. So that leaves me with Wednesday till Friday to get some notes done. I really hope I'll get to do notes for a few chapters at least. The rest will have to be done during the semester itself. Oh gosh! I hope I will be able to get it all done. If not I'll jeoperdize my students hopes of doing well in the exams.

Apart from teaching, I've got a consultancy job which will end next month. I hope all the work required will be done on time. But that leaves me with the paperwork. We need to submit a report and I've yet to start on that! Don't get me started on my research work. I've got to organise the purchase of experimental equipment by the end of July and supervise my Masters student's work. Can I do all this in time? I'm starting to hyperventilate. To top it all off there are more management work to be done! We're having a Programme Review Retreat on the 23rd of June and a Research Retreat on the 26th and 27th. Then there will be an ISO audit and another accreditation exercise some time in July, but this time by the Institue of Engineering Technology of the UK.

Ok, more panick attacks coming! I think I better stop now and get started on some work.
FYI, I'm on emergency leave today as my mum has a physiotherapy appointment at the hospital and there is no one to take care of little Maisarah.

Busy month

The last few weeks has been very hectic for me. We're currently going through the accreditation process for the engineering programmes at Uni*en and the report needed to be sent to the accreditation panel today. That's why I have yet to put an entry in here. Everyday of the last 2 weeks was spent finishing the report and compiling all the info. Finally, last Friday we managed to print and bind it.

Inspite all that I still managed to find time to express milk for my cute and chubby baby. Luckily Shah's classes finish at 7pm on 3 out of the 5 week days so I manage to wind down after 5:30 pm and continue expressing to meet Maisarah's daily intake of 20 oz per day. Although since the last 2 weeks of February Maisarah has started to drink less. Normally, before I leave for work I will nurse her and according to my mum she will then spend the morning sleeping and drinking only 2-4 oz of milk. Then during the afternoon she will drink about 8-10 oz more. So in total, she's been drinking about 12-14 oz per day for the last 2 weeks. When this first happened, Shah and I panicked a little and went to buy different teats and alternative feeding devices (feeder cup and a bottle with a spoon at the end) thinking she was having nipple confusion. But my mum said that Maisarah still didn't want to drink a lot even with the different teat. But I found that Maisarah now started to drink more at night. So I guess she is reverse cycling. This is ever since Maisarah started to co-sleep with Shah and I and she has easy access to her milk factory. I don't mind her co-sleeping with us as this means that I wont have to get up to feed her every night and I can continue sleeping while she feeds. Another plus point is that since she is drinking less than 20 oz, the extra expressed milk can be added to my frozen stock for use on 'rainy' days. I'm so worried that I'll be sent to any team-building course and I can't bring Maisarah along.

Anyway, back to the accreditaion process, we've got about 3 weeks before the panel comes for their visit. Within this 3 months, we've got to gather all the evidence and information written in the report for them to scrutinize and view if needed. So lots of things needs to be done. I guess until the end of the month, I'll still continue to run around like a headless chicken (well, maybe not up to that extend). I must make sure I will keep to my pumping schedule (8am, 1:30pm and 5:30pm). I had to cut down my pumping sessions from 4 to 3 times due to the workload. Hope this will not affect my breastmilk supply.

Hmm...I seem to notice that whenever I start off entries, I tend to revert back to Maisarah or my quest to breastfeed her. I guess from now on most of my entries will be this way. I hope this will not be a bore. I started this blog as a journal of my life with Shah. But I guess this will evolve as my role changes from a wife-cum-PhD-student to a wife-cum-career-woman and now a wife-cum-mother-cum-career-woman. I also hope this blog becomes a journal of my breastfeeding journey.

Barney on Maisarah!
Originally uploaded by ABumbleBee.

Before I end, I've got to put a note here that Maisarah has successfully turned (is this the proper English word for 'meniarap'??)!! Last night, Shah and I were talking while I was about to pray Maghrib. At that time, Maisarah was laying face up on the bed and was grumbling for one of us to pick her up. Whenever, she's angry or frustrated she will try to turn but everytime she will only be able to half-turn her body but not her head. Last night, in her furstration she was able to turn all the way to her right, lift her head and free her left hand from under her body. Luckily the camera was nearby, so we managed to capture this. I'll try to upload the picture and video soon. We're so happy we managed to capture her turning. She also can now laugh when we make funny noises or 'agah' her. I need to get this on video too. Maybe it's not a bad idea to invest on a camcorder soon. Anyway, all these things that Maisarah does makes all the morning sickness I had to endure worthwhile.

The Princess is now 3 months ...

Exactly 3 months today our little princess came into our lives.

First outing
Originally uploaded by ABumbleBee.

Updates on Maisarah

• Weight: 5.91kg, height: 59.5 cm, head circumference: 42 cm (my baby is growing up fast and for sure she'll be taller than me later on)


• She can now smile and laugh. Every time I smile and acknowledge her, she will surely smile back.


• She is loving her cot mobile. She keeps looking at all the animals going round and round. She is also very attentive to the music (selection from Bach, Mozart and Bethoven). When she is very excited, she will make noises at the animals.


• She is also starting to turn. My mum says she turned once but from what I've seen she's 80% there. Just need to get her head up and free her bottom hand. She does this especially when she is frustrated and wants to be picked up.


• Her neck is very strong now. The doctor pulled her hands to get her up from lying position and her head followed.


• She is bald now! On 24th January my mum and dad shaved off her hair while Shah and I were at work. Kesian anak mummy! But her hair has started to grow back. I wonder how it will be.

She certainly has brought lots of changes. Some we've managed to tackle with ease and some we're still learning to handle.

Sleep

I no longer need lots of sleep and am easily awakened by Maisarah's slightest whimper. My beauty sleep which usually can not be less than 8 hours uninterrupted has been reduced to roughly about 4-5 hours with interrutions in between. But the beauty of life is that Allah has planned it such that any woman will adapt to the changes brought on by motherhood (I think!). And now that I have started working, I've been getting more sleep ever since I've mastered the skill of nursing while lying down.

Workwise

Yes, I've started working for almost 4 weeks now and have managed to still exclusively breastfeed Maisarah. I'm now bestfriends with my Av*ent I*sis iQ Uno pump. In order to keep up with Maisarah's appetite of 4 oz of milk every 2-3 hours or so, I need to pump 4 times at work (one more than the normal 3 times recommended by most lactation consultants and websites on expressing at work). This is mainly because we are now commuting from PJ and we have to leave home at 6:30 am and arrive back home at 7:30 pm. So, I'm away from Maisarah for almost 13 hours every day and during this time she consumes about 20 oz total of milk. Every day, I managed to pump almost 16-18 oz at the office and this will be followed by another pumping session at home after Maisarah has gone off to sleep. I've also mastered the art of writing emails and reading while pumping at work to make sure I get my work done for the day. Lucky for me I have no classes this semester and am free from teaching until July. So I'm only left with research, consultany and management work. I'll only stat teaching in July and by then Maisarah will be 6 months. I pray to Allah that I can continue to exclusively breastfeed Maisarah till she is 2 years old.

Couch Potato no more

I used to be a TV addict. Always in front of the telly watching movies on HOB, Cinemax and star Movies and TV series like Heroes, House, CSI, not to miss reality shows like American Idol and One in a Million. Now, with Maisarah, I'm no longer watching all these. By the time I reach home from work, I need to freshen up, pray and eat quickly before nursing Maisarah and putting her to sleep. She usually sleeps at 9:30 or 10 pm. Then I go on to pump a bit more before going to the kitchen to wash and strilise all the pumping equipments and feeding bottles and preparing all the things needed to bring to the office the next day. I fnish all this at around 11 pm and then only go to bed. Weekends is the only time left for me to watch a bit of TV.

Outings

First ride
Originally uploaded by ABumbleBee.

As most of parents know, going out now is not as easy as it used to be. Lots of preparation is needed. Maisarah's first outing was on the 9th February to The Cur*ve. She sat in her baby carrier/stroller for the first hour or so. Then she was hungry so I took her to the Baby Care room and fed her. The Baby Care room at The Cur*ve is so nice. The room has a section for baby changing and 2 private rooms for breastfeeding. Anyway, after feeding and changing Maisarah, we continued to walk around. By this time Maisarah was no longer sitting in her stroller but is being carried by Shah. after 2 hours at The Cur*ve we decided to go home as Maisarah was cranky and wanted her nap.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/abumblebee/2278021015/
Originally uploaded by ABumbleBee.


Baby Care Room
Originally uploaded by ABumbleBee.

Her 2nd outing was last Saturday to Midv*alley and The Gar*dens. This time we brought along my sister (Mama Ya to Maisarah) and my mum (Baba to Maisarah). We also brought with us a baby carrier for Shah to wear just incase Maisarah was bored sitting in her stroller. True enough after 1/2 an hour in her stroller, Maisarah wanted to get out. So Shah carried her in the baby carrier and within an hour she was fast asleep. I guess, we'll be making more use of the baby carrier than the stroller from now on. This time Maisarah's was out for about 5 hours. One interesting find at Ise*tan at The Gardens is their Nursery Room which is much nicer than the one in The Cur*ve. It's more spacious and even has a microwave to heat up baby food. (I guess you must have figured out that I now go crazy whenever we find a Baby Changing Room.) Pictures of this outing is in my sisters camera. I'll try and get hold of them soon to upload here.

Well, I guess that's some of the changes that I can remember. Even so, words cannot describe the love and happiness Maisarah has brought into our lives. I miss her so much at work and can't get enough of her smile. I wish I can stay at home with her everyday!

Not so good...

...the internet connection at my mum's house that is.

That's why I've been sending posts via email and have not been able to update the ticker up above! I've already made a new 1'st birthday ticker for Maisarah but I can't change my layout. What more upload any pictures of Maisarah. Just have to wait until I get back to work later this month to do all that. Luckily I won;t be having any classes until July. Weehooo!!

Although, talking about getting back to work, I can't believe my maternity leave will end in 2 weeks. How am I going to be away from Maisarah???

Got to continue later. Maisarah just woke up and wants her feed.

I'm a bad girl for not blogging enough

I've been nagged by my husband many times for not blogging. He keeps telling me to shut this blog down coz I'm never putting up any new posts. But I refuse to do so. I will keep on blogging, I hope. I've just been very busy. Work has been piling and so has my weight. The baby has been growing well and the doctor says that everything looks normal, alhamdulillah. We're already 6 and 1/2 months into the pregnancy. Not long to go but it's starting to feel like November is never going to come. I'm starting to feel the backaches, especially after a long day of lectures and lots of standing up. The baby is also kicking fiercely and frequently. If I sit still and just watch my tummy I can see it move when the baby kicks. But I'm used to it now and I like the feel of the baby kicking. Although, every time Shah puts his hand on my tummy the baby never ever kicks. I guess that is just normal for most daddies right? We've also started shopping for the baby. But there's still lots more to get. I've got a page full of things to buy and we've only started surveying the prices. I'm hoping to shop for them in the next few weeks before the Mega Sale ends.

Apart from the baby, lots of things have been happening. Shah had been admitted to hospital, gone thorugh a laproscopic operation to remove his gallblader and appendix and have been in recovering well. I took a week of from work to tend to him during his stay at the hospital. But during the night time, his parents were kind enough to stay with him. I couldn't sleep on the chair in the hospital in my condition even though I wanted to. But alhamdulillah, Shah is feeling much better now and I hope he will continue to do so and feel normal again. Workwise, I've been busy with classes, research and consultancy work. We're also currently in the process of getting our degree programme accredited by the Institute of Engineering Technology (IET), UK. So I've been busy with lots of paperwork and meetings. That's why I've not been blogging. By the time I reach home, I'm too knackered to even switch on the computer.

Anyway, I'll try my very best to put up more postings here.

The cycle begins again

Classes commmence next Tuesday and to tell you the truth I haven't been doing much preperation. Luckily I'm not teaching a new subject so basically I have all the notes prepared. I just need to do some modifications and prepare a teaching repository website so that I can just ask my students to get the notes from there. Basically, I've decided that I wont have much time running back and forth from the printing department to get their notes printed. Hence, the creation of the website where the students will have to download the notes and bring them to class. If they don't do so, then too bad. They'll have to copy it all down. Howevevr, I'm having some problems uploading things up on the site. I just hope I'll be able to get it all ready by next week.

I started off wanting to write more. But a movie has just started on TV and it's quite rare that As*ro shows a movie that I've never watched and interesting at the same time. So I'll write again soon. Bye!

Ramadhan..it came & it's almost going...how sad..

* picture courtesy of nas and taken from stock.xchng

It has been 16 days since the start of Ramadhan. This year will be our 2nd Ramadhan and eid in Malaysia since 1998. Plus it's my first Ramadhan while giving lectures and I must tell you it's not an easy feat. After each lecture I'm left feeling so very thirsty particularly when the lectures are late in the afternoon. Coincidentally this is the first semester where I have a two-hour lecture every Wednesday afternoon, 4 to 6 pm mind you. By the end of the lecture I'm almost too tired to think. I do pity the students too as I know they too can't concentrate the full 2 hours. So I usually end the class by 5:30 pm. I just hope whatever I've taught them is subconciously absorbed by their tired minds.

It's almost the end of the semester and I've got a couple more lectures before the syllabus is finished. But I've still got a stack of test papers which I haven't even started marking. I hope I'll be able to get through half of them by this weekend. And I'm hoping it'll all be done before the festivities start. the students are given 1 week holiday starting from Deepavali day until 29 October. Then the semester exams will start and we'll all start to get busy again. Anyway, I just hope I'll get thorugh all the exam script marking speedily and with very little problems.

Gosh.. I can't believe that we're almost half way thorugh Ramadhan. I didn't even realise it whiz by. Before we know it Ramadhan will be gone. I feel as though I haven't even gotten the most or done my best to make full use of this month. I've been too caught up with work and too tired by the end of the day to even do anything else. I feel so ashamed of myself. I hope I'm not too late and will be able to do my best and get the most out of the last half of this month. InsyaAllah.

Anyway, in preparation for Eid, my sister and i have baked 3 types of cookies. I don't think I'll be able to bake more of them in the coming weekends as I've got to work this Saturday and next weekend shah and i will be heading back to Kangar for Eid. This year we'll be spending eid with shah's family. Shah is very excited to go home and I am too as it'll be nice break from work.

Well, I guess that's all for this time. Hopefully all of us will make full use of this blessed month of Ramadhan and pray that we'll be able to meet it again next year. And to all of you, Selamat Berpuasa and Selamat Menyambut Aidilfitri.

Oh well...

Just when:

• you are psyhced to go on a holiday, work comes tumbling your way each due during your scheduled holiday.
• you had a wonderful body massage during the weekend, your body start aching again come next midweek.
• your are relaxing since there are no classes, the boss tells you you've got to start proposing some topics for research.

Oh well, what can you do. Just have to go with the flow. My 'To Do' list is full and I'm slowly ticking off one at a time. I just finished my first Masters viva as an examiner this morning and it went ok. I hope the student felt that way too. Now I just need to get through 2 more Masters thesis and viva before the start of next semester.

Apart from work, I am excited to go see a few movies that are coming out in the coming few months. I still haven't watched 'MI3' even though it looks very interesting. But what I'm really waiting for are 'The Da Vinci Code' and 'Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest'.

Well, it guess that's it for today.Must get back to work..

Will it be a reflection of my performance as a lecturer?

Yesterday my students sat for my paper. I have to say I felt a bit nervous for my students. I'm not sure if it is a normal feeling so I never bothered to ask anyone else. I just hope my students are able to perform well. Everyone was present for the exam, which I am thankful for as this means I wont have to worry about any make-up exams. Now comes the task of grading all 117 scripts. I haven't started yet as I am feeling rather unwell today and I have a few deadlines to meet by the end of this week. InsyaAllah, tomorrow I will make a start at marking the papers. I hope all (well maybe most) of my students will pass the paper and at least 20% of them will get an 'A'. But what if many of them fail? Will that be an indication that I am a bad lecturer? Or is it the students whom are weak? I guess I won't know until I'm done marking the papers.

From my talks with other lecturers, it does seem like the quality of students now are not as good as it used to be. It's either they don't care or they are really weak. I presume its more of the former than the latter. These student are so lazy, they just don't want to think for themselves. As long as there is a lecturer present, why bother thinking? Just ask the lecturer! Mind you yesterday during the exams the student had the nerve to ask me to explain a term in the question when they should understand it themselves. It's not like they've never seen a slightly different form of the term being used in one of my tutorial questions. Its just goes to show that they never even bother to do the set of exercise questions I have compiled for them. and there was this one student who brought pens that all ran out of ink the moment he started the exam. Luckily I had a pen with me that he could borrow. And imagine a student coming into the exam hall knowing that the exam paper requires lots of calculations but never bringing a calculator? Well that happened too! It is just so absurd! I can't even begin to imagine what are going through the minds of students these days.

Anyway, before I end my rants this time, I'd like to post a link to an interesting article written by an academician regarding his views on the current situation of the Universities in Malaysia. I quite agree with the writer. Personally, I think that some universities in Malaysia are lacking in resources and facilities. And in terms of ensuring our universities to reach world-class status, we certainly DO NEED to take only THE BEST candidates and NOT just anyone who can afford to pay the price we set even though they are academically weak.

Has it been 2 weeks already?

It's been almost 2 weeks of lectures. So far it's all going quite well. But at the end of the day I feel so very tired. My throat becomes very dry and I feel very thirsty. I guess that's what you get from talking for at least an hour. Today I have three hours of lecture and tutorials back-to-back. So I will have to bring some water supply to keep me from dying (excuse the exxageration..hehe) of thirst.

During classes, while I'm explaining things, I swear the students eyes seem to glaze over as though they're dreaming of some far away land or as though I am talking some crazy languange they don't understand. But their hands keep moving as my notes require them to fill in lots of blanks that I purposely put in (to make them come to class or else they'll miss out chunks of the notes). I just hope that when they get back home and look through the notes they'll understand it all. My doubts regarding students attendance so far has been proven to be wrong. The class is almost 80% full which I am so happy about. I just hope it keeps up.

On the personal side of life, I have applied to become a resident fellow at the halls of residence here. The interview is next week and I hope I'll be able to impress and get the position. If I do get it, insyaAllah, then both Shah and I will be able to stay within campus and we can save on rent. Apart from that we'll be able to use the sports facilities. I am in dire need of some sort of exercise to help me shed the kilos of weight my body seems to accumulate.

Well, guess that's it for now. I've still got tonnes of lecture notes to prepare and I swear since I started teaching the day seems to fly by ever so quickly. I feel like I'm always rushing here and there. So if I find the time, I'll write summore.

Panicking...

It's been too long..I know.

First things first, our Eid celebration. It was good spending Eid in Malaysia. The first day we just stayed home and entertained my father's friends. The next day we left early (5:30am to be exact) for Kangar, Perlis and on the way we dropped by my kampung in Selama , Perak. We were in Perlis for 4 days and during that time I ate a lot and went shopping at Padang Besar.

Work was resumed on the 10 November but I got sick that weekend. I was struck by a terrible cough. Each time I had coughed it got very bad and at times I ended up vomiting a bit of what I ate. So I went to the doctor and got some medicine. Then my eyes were infected by conjunctivitis and I was ordered by the doctor to stay at home for 2 days. So that was the first time I got medical leave from work.

So my full week at work after the holidays started earlier this week. And since I start lecturing tomorrow (28 November) I was panicking and worked like mad everyday. I had to finalise the handouts that I was going to give my students and prepare the lecture OHP slides. I only managed to send the handouts to the printing office last Thursday afternoon and I told them that I will collect them on Saturday (yesterday) morning. At that time I didn't know that I had to attend an induction course for new staff on Friday and Saturday. So as of yet, I have still not collected the handouts and my first lecture is scheduled for Monday morning 9am. Hence, tomorrow morning people in UNITEN will witness a panicking lecturer running to the printing office to fetch the handouts and then running to the lecture hall to present her first ever lecture. I just hope I'll make it through the lecture in one piece.

I don't think I'm anxious about lecturing in front of 60 students but I am worried about certain prejudices that I have in mind about Malaysian students. Things like Malaysian students are generally lazy, expect to be spoon-fed and are always looking for loop-holes in the system or ways to avoid having to work hard. I need to find ways to encourage them to think, to strive to learn and to be interested in what I am teaching. I'm not too sure how I'll be able to do all that but for tomorrow I'll just go to the lecture hall and take a laid back approach to teaching. I'll be sure to tell tham that I won't entertain lazy students and I'm despise tardiness in a person's attitude. But I'll try and be laid back in my delivery of the material so that they will enjoy the lectures and hopefully listen and maybe absorb what I'm saying. So wish me luck ok?

New experiences

Last Thursday Shah and I started our first day at work. We had lots of paperwork to fill and had to do our medical check-up. We are given our own rooms so later int he day we just waited in my room for 5pm to arrive so that we could punch out and go home. Today is our 4th day at work and we still have nothing much to do. It's official that both Shah and I will have to lecture next semester (Nov '05-Mac'06). He'll be teaching Numerical Methods whilst I'll be lecturing the Electrical Machines and Drives subject. I've just got the syllabus this morning, so I've got to refresh myself on DC motors and synchronous machines. Every lecturer on this subject will have to make their own notes, so I've got to start writing them up soon. I guess that will be what I'll be doing at the office from now on.

Something else is new. Our car has arrived!! It was driven to PJ from Alor Setar by Shah's dad. I've personally never drove the car yet but riding in it is nice. I'll have to start driving it soon because I pity Shah having to drive every day a distance of 60km in total (30 mins each way if there is no traffic jam). If we each drive one way of the PJ-UNITEN-PJ journey, then we wont be too tired at the end of the day. Our search for rented accommodation has not properly kicked off. We've been told that the staff quarters in the University campus has no vacancies. But there is still a chance of us being able to stay within the campus if I decide to become a residential fellow in one of the halls of residence for female students. There are many plus sides to doing that:

1. Nothing to pay for accommodation...it's true..zilch. All the bills are paid for by the University.
2. There'll be fast internet access and most importantly it'll be FREE!
3. We can wake up later then currently as the office will be minutes away.
4. They have a nursery on campus if and when Shah and I have a baby of our own.

In short we'll be saving alot. However, the minus side to it is that I'll have to deal with student affairs at the halls of residence. I hope it won't be too bad because the pros do outweigh the cons. So tomorrow, Shah and I will pay a visit to the Accommodation Office and enquire aboyut the possibility. I hope they will let us view one of the residential fellows' apartments. and I'll have to chat with one of my colleagues and try and find out how it is like to be a residential fellow.

Well, I've got to stop now. I must trun in early for the night because I've got to wake up early in the morning in order for Shah and I to arrive at the office at 8am.