‘Aaqil now in Year 6 and ‘Arfaan in Year 1. Surprisingly first day of school for Year 1 here in Cairo was really easy and laid back. Compared to if we were back home. People here take it so normal like just any other day. Haha
Kita pulak segan nak bergambar dgn anak. Ye lah Year 1 tu macam Darjah 1. Kita org Malaysia kena la rakam saat manis dan hari bersejarah kan. Lol. Walaupun I knew that this will be repeated when we moved back to Malaysia and ‘Arfaan will be Darjah 1 in 2024 insyaAllah. Dejavu. Funny but true.
Boys are settling well. With routines and friends. Although ‘Arfaan will be a bit anxious about swimming next week. Hmm. We’ll see about that. Also his bff is no longer in school (moved to Dubai) so he was quite sad. Hope he will get over that soon. ‘Aaqil is coping well as usual. I didnt get to take picture with him on the morning of first day. The moment I settled ‘Arfaan at his class ‘Aaqil already move to his classroom.
selfie laju2 masa pickup petang
Well done boys. Lets make this ‘final year’ in NCBIS (Cairo that is) the best and full of fun memories insyaAllah
A day before the last day of school, ‘Aaqil told me he wanted to get something for Ms Imam, his class teacher. But its already 3pm and we are on our way back home and he has yet to pray zohor yada yada… So I told him why dont you make something as a farewell gift like a card or something. He didnt respond back as he still thinking of getting that “Best Teacher Award” trophy that he saw at the Party Station shop few months ago.
Later that evening after maghrib, he was really quite in his room few mins later he showed me he made a ‘farewell card’ for both Ms Imam & Mrs Eman (teacher assistant). Awww melts my heart. It was a work in progress but i can already see his sincerity. He made it with all his heart. All the words came from his heart. ‘Arfaan also joined the bandwagon – he made one card each for Ms Elaine, Ms Hannah & Ms Sophia all his Reception teachers for REH class.
Back in the days, every farewell at school I would try to make it a point to give some tokens to the teachers – a sign of thank you for all the guidance and care and love they have showered our kids, semoga ilmu berkat. But this time around I truly feel something from the kids themselves would mean the world for them teachers. And also coz theyre big enough to make something special rather than some random gift at shop.
From ‘Arfaan
‘Aaqil made few pages – the first two with his wishes and the remaining pages with his doodles. And last page he said he managed to get some of his classmates to put their signature on, before handing it to his teachers.
My sweet boy
The next morning i packed some chocs and oreos for them to give to their teachers, together with each letters.
One special thing about this school is the same teacher will teach all core subjects ie Primary – Maths, English ie Reading&Writing, Topic and same goes to Reception. And this teacher wont be teaching other classes. Their focus is on these 20 students for the whole year. Hence the bond they have with these kids and vice versa was very close. Anything they will mengadu to this class lead. For non core subjects eg Drama, PE, Music itll be the same teacher for all year groups.
Last day of school, ‘Aaqil cried so bad during pick up. He said he will gonna miss Ms Imam. Sobs.
Its the final week of Reception for ‘Arfaan and Y5 for ‘Aaqil. The reports of achievement also issued. Allahumma baarik alaikk. They both did great masyAllah. Well considering been absence for more than a month due to covid and unplanned homeleave last year. Amazing boys.
The school also been very thoughtful. They arranged amazing activities for them kids approaching the year end ie summer break.
Celebration of learning (or back home we called ihtifal) were done in separate session for each year group. So for Reception it was held on the 19th and Year 5 was on the 26th. It was a very short and sweet session, only 1-2hrs considering it is weekdays and parents are working so its great and meaningful.
after the show
For Reception groups, there was performance from all 3 classes. ‘Arfaan was very excited about his performance. His class performed some poetry basket and Rocky Mountain song. Afterwards, the whole were invited for Hokey Pokey song and dance. There were also short video of kids pictures for whole year. All were invited for a picnic at respected classes. Weather was quite hot so we just eat in their class hhehe
For Year 5, the kids have to select one scholar to be presented in their final year project. They did this under Topic subject entitled Baghdad the House of Wisdom. ‘Aaqil chose alKhawarizmi the father of Maths as his scholar. It s amazing to see them kids really put their effort and passion into it. Us parents got to visit and listen to their creations. MasyaAllah. Such an opportunity for our kids to experience this first hand. ‘Aaqil did amazing as usual. Couldn’t be prouder.
There also arab sweets and drinks served for the parents at the corner of the hall. The session last for only an hour, then we took some pictures and thats it. Short sweet and really intimate. We had fun get to know other kids and parents too.
This week has been very hectic. With water plays, birthday parties, kids bringing back all school stuff (hahaha). Good job my boys!! Now lets gear up for Year 1 and Year 6!!
‘Aaqil has developed an interest towards football since mid last year i think. The interest is soooo genuine that he would say no problem to staying up late to watch certain match. He’s a true Real Madrid supporter btw. To this date im still puzzled how one person intially select their football team and stick to it for the rest of their lives lol.
And everytime the TV airs a football match regardless of whatever cup or team or clubs either at home or restaurant, he would be glued and watch with full interest. By now he knows almost all the whatever terms in football rules. He has football friends at school i think that quite helps a lot. During breaktime he would join the boys for football. Its just natural for him. He doesnt care whether its super hot or chill, he.would.play.
Come back home he would paksa ‘Arfaan to play football together. We have one small ball in the house but space is limited.
One day he said he wants to ask Aarav and Yeho (his classmates who are living in the same compound) for ‘training’ at the lobby. Starting from that, every single evening he would ask to play football with them. Now he has new neighbour friends who also play along.
I knew that this interest is soooo genuine. And natural. So we search for few academies nearby our house. There is one called Barca Academy (within Hayah Sports compound) where most of his classmates went. But unfortunately the timing is daytime hence they will be closed for summer. Will only open again for registration in mid Aug.
So another option is Strike Football Academy. Just few minutes away from Hayah. We checked the schedule, itll be open during summer but the classes are 7.30-9pm 3 days a week – Mon, Wed, Sat. ‘Aaqil went for a free trial class and he loved it.
Half time training & half time match (‘Aaqil in white bib)
For now we gonna try for a month until summer break. So far he’s happy and looking forward for every single training. MasyaAllah. Everytime if i ask him are you okay? Are you tired? Because its a bit overwhelming considering extra activity added to his daily schedule. What more weekdays he needs to also focus on class. But he affirms that HE IS SUPER OKAY. Allahumma baarik.
One good thing that I can see is he became more matured, and his body looks a lot fitter. Before this he’s a bit chubby (well blame winter too #stayin lol) and all but now he seems leaner. And few shades darker ha ha. Its okay on your way to be tall dark and handsome 😝
Masih ingat lagi dulu masa nak pilih sekolah utk ‘Aaqil darjah satu. Kriteria penting kami letak mesti ada subjek diniyyah, ada selit aktiviti solat jemaah dan sebagainya. Persekitaran dan rakan2 yg baik. Alhamdulillah rezeki kami bertemu sekolah SRIAAKL ketika itu. Dan rezeki berpindah ke Kuching pun ada cawangan sekolah yg sama. MasyaAllah aturan Allah hebat betul kan.
Bila berpindah ke Mesir, saya cuba juga cari international school yg ada selitkan ilmu alquran, dan sebagainya. Memang sejak plan nak pindah tu terus actively searching for good islamic international school but unfortunately tak bertemu jawapan. Mungkin ada tapi jauh dari tempat kami tinggal dan ofis suami. Saya pasti ada tapi serius, mmg dalam goggle results tak ada. Kalau ada pun, mesti berbahasa lokal ie arab.
No doubt some of the teachers and students at the boys’ school now are Muslim. But their curriculum are purely academic. Takde islamic learning even as option. But the boys took MFL, Arabic as second language as one of their subject.
Cabaran utk kami sebagai parents utk kesinambungan ilmu agama utk anak2. Kat sekolah memang takde apape pengisian. Kalau di Malaysia ada juga kelas Kafa ke hantar ngaji ke, pendidikan islam ke kan. Sini memang zero.
Antara yg boleh diusahakan utk anak2 yg membesar ni adalah apabila di rumah,
Baca qur’an. Macam ‘Arfaan sudah habis Iqra’ sekarang dah masuk alQuran dan baca suku page selang beberapa hari. Alhamdulillah dah 2 juz and ongoing. Slowly but surely. ‘Aaqil pula sambung dari kelas Syeikhah last yr summer break dan kalau tak silap tinggal lagi 5juz nak khatam. ‘Aaqil punya KPI adalah 5page/week
Saba’ ulang. Yang ni utk ‘Aaqil. Masa di SRIAAKL ‘Aaqil ambil tahfiz sebelah pagi. So byk sebenarnya surah yg dia dah hafal. Sayang betul dia byk dah terlupa. So yang ni pun buat daily insyaAllah
Hafal doa. Doa2 yg saya kira lazim utk dihafal dan diamalkan esp utk ‘Aaqil yg semakin remaja dan banyak aktiviti di luar. Ayat 1000dinar, sayyidul istighfar, alkahfi 1-10 etc. Moga boleh menjaga dia
Amalan membaca doa. Terutama sebelum keluar rumah. Dan sebelum tidur. Ritual utk ‘Arfaan sebelum tidur dia akan bac alfatihah, 3x alikhlas dan doa “bagilah ‘Arfaan tidur lena dan jangan bagi ‘Arfaan mimpi yg tak best. Dan jgn bg ‘Arfaan kencing sampai subuh 😅 dan bg ummi walid abg arfaan atiyyah masuk syurga firdaus terus tq Allah jaga semuorg” Senafas je dia baca sambil mata dah tutup memang anak syurga niii 🥹 Nota : what i learned from Ustzh Asma Harun, amalan biasakan anak baca doa ni boleh tingkatkan kebergantungan kpd Allah dan aqidah anak, without them knowing. So they know Allah is watching Allah is protecting them always and not us parents.
‘Aaqil bacakan doa selepas solat jemaah bersama
Baca Quran bersama2 selepas maghrib, beserta terjemahan. Alhamdulillah dah masuk round ke2 juz 8 tak silap. Moga istiqamah 🤲🏼
easter break haritu ‘Aaqil habiskan buku aktiviti Musleh (aqidah akhlak seerah fiqh) darjah 3
Untuk ‘Aaqil , we only allow him 2hrs a week utk main game. Weekend sahaja. So weekdays he must complete 5pages of quran & 5mix of saba’ ulang & doa tasmi’ to ‘unlock’ his 2hrs . Sebenarnya in a way kita as parents pun kena istiqamah sebab apa yg kita nak anak kita buat/jadi, kita kena buat dulu. Huhu. Moga kami menjadi contoh yg baik buat anak2 dan bukan sekadar menyuruh dan mengatur masyaAllah. May Allah guide us all ❤️
Last week the boys had a non uniform day at school celebrating the 70yrs of service for Queen Elizabeth – Platinum Jubilee. So they can wear anything in red blue and white.
Also, the primary kids ie ‘Aaqil and friends had a ‘Very British Picnic’ whereby the kids were given a special cucumber sandwich treat during snack break at school. Hehe cool kan. I was wondering what is so special about this sandwich haha.
So apparently the Early Years kids ie ‘Arfaan & friends able to make the sandwich themselves! Of course by the help of them teachers. So ‘Arfaan said its a slice of bread, spread with cream cheese and then put slices of cucumber on it then put another slice of bread. And he likes it. Woww. Talking about encouraging kids to eat vege clap clap
Infact the boys loved it so the other day I made the sandwiches for their lunchbox. Senang dan sedap!
Btw this cream cheese is so delish! The brand is named ‘Kiri’ . We got to taste it the first time during our stay in Dubai last month. They served this everyday for breakfast. Yum!
Few weeks ago we had a parent teacher meeting (virtual) with ‘Aaqil and ‘Arfaan teachers. This was the 3rd one since they enrolled here in NCBIS.
For ‘Aaqil, he is now starting to come out of his shell. He is comfortable with his classmates. More open in class. Alhamdulillah. Still trying to fit in with the boys tho – every now and then he will bring stories from school about his friends not wanting to talk to him. Or even if his football friends coz they rarely pass the ball to him. Well i think its normal la as long as he doesnt get into a fight. And im glad that he express his feelings instead of keeping it to himself. We need to know everything first hand kan parents 🥲 Moga ‘Aaqil bertemu dgn rakan2 yg baik. Ms Imam proposed us to arrange a playdate with the boys to develop friendship and that very weekend he was invited by Seba for a playdate at Bounce Cfc with 3 other boys. Hehe. And the following week we arranged a football practice with Aarav, Yeho & Raef. Aaaand just recently he came back from a 5d4n school trip to Luxor-Aswan and he definitely has loads of bonding time with his friends insyaAllah.
‘Arfaan now in Reception. Ms Elaine said he is so ready for Year 1 – ultimately based on his reading progress. He needs to improve in making proper english sentence – make it longer using ‘and’ ‘so’ & such. He has good friends named Jingran, Samy & Noor. Sometimes he mentioned Jia, Carla, Pablo, Rasheed & Adriana. They will have poetry basket songs every now and then. Every Wednesday he will bring back 2 books to practice phonics & story telling. Every Thursday is library day – kids get to borrow 2 books weekly. Alhamdulillah he is coping very well with school. No more crying in the morning he he
Few more weeks to end Term 2. New term will begin after EidulFitr insyaAllah 😊
Hello 2022! Hehe. Rindunya la nak post kat sini. Just realized so many things happen but I kept on delaying the updates in ig nor blog then in the end no post at all. Boo
Lets start of with what happen yesterday. Otw back from school ‘Aaqil casually told me that he performed his zuhr prayer with Raef. That was the first time I heard this name. So nak dijadikan cerita, Raef ni mmg satu kelas dan kawan football ‘Aaqil. Cuma baru minggu lepas ‘Aaqil berborak dan rapat dengan Raef.
Apparently this boy tanya ‘Aaqil solat zohor tak. And bila dia tau ‘Aaqil solat, dia kata dia nak ikut. So ‘Aaqil ajak la dia sekali ke library masa lunch break and they solat together. My heart just melts. Feels like all the reminders (or was it nags?) to find time to solat, dont forget your sejadah, ask teacher where can you solat etc membuahkan hasil… masyaAllah. I can see that he no longer feel like performing zuhr at school alone, is a hassle. Alhamdulillah we are in a muslim country. Only that this is an international hence performing prayer is uncommon. Moga Allah tetapkan hati anak ummi utk solat anywhere, any condition. A lesson to us as adults too.
Now that Zuhr is longer (winter almost over) so he can pray at home once back from school. But I encouraged him to zuhr at school during break so that he doesnt have to rush once arrive home (only 20mins to shower and solat until ‘Zuhr time is over)..
Thank you ‘Aaqil for teaching us the meaning being a good muslim. I know it is hard to have the courage to ask your teacher, and everyday to take wudhu and bring your sejadah to library alone – and then perform zuhr alone. Haza min fadhli rabbi..
Khamis lepas 24 Jun adalah hari terakhir ‘Aaqil di Year 4, alhamdulillah. Start sekolah 1 Jun hari tu tapi asik tangguh nak blog about it hehe. Sampai habis term dah pun.
Kisah nak register sekolah ni panjang. Encik suami yang buat dari register online sampai lah ke beli uniform etc. Alhamdulillah dipermudahkan. Untuk kemasukan ke sekolah NCBIS ni, salah satu requirement adalah cikgu sekolah lama kena fill up an evaluation form in order to proceed wit application. And mind you this is between schools and we were not in the loop so that the previous school will give unbiased assessment.
Settle application, bayar utk assessment then – ‘Aaqil has to make an essay without any guidance and help. Few days later, online assessment soalan berbentuk IQ, english, maths. Hah masa ni kena on video sekali sebab nak make sure takde bantuan dari luar hehe. So kitorg tinggalkan ‘Aaqil sorang2 dalam bilik sampailah settle.
Alhamdulillah in less than a week rasanya dpt offer. Phew. Pastu tak habis lagi. Kena buat registration payment dulu barulah boleh dpt date admission. 1 June lah tarikh hari pertama ‘Aaqil bersekolah di New Cairo British International School, NCBIS. Jarak dalam 15min dari rumah kami.
Posing hari pertama
Alhamdulillah ‘Aaqil sangat mudah sesuaikan diri. Berkat banyak kali pindah sekolah dan bertukar tempat agaknya. Kat Al Amin dulu pun tukar kelas tiap tahun. Siapa sangka kan pengalaman lepas utk bg dia bersedia utk kat Cairo ni.
Kalau nak diikutkan serba serbi lain kat sekolah baru ni. Dari cikgu, subjek, silibus, sistem, kawan2, cuaca, bahasa….sebab tu rasa kagum ‘Aaqil takde masalah malah sangat positif. Mungkin sebab dah lama sangat tak dapat attend sekolah fizikal.
Paling ketara silibus Maths yang sangat advance. In Year 4 they already learned about angles, surface area, symmetry etc. English pulak ada pecah kpd guided reading, spelling & writing. Ada jugak kelas Music, Drama, PE, Science. Utk 3rd language ‘Aaqil ambil Arabic sebab sebelum ni kat Msia pun dah belajar Arab.
Parents waiting area
Lainnya sekolah ni tak pakai buku teks. So tiap hari tanya ‘Aaqil hari ni belajar apa lol. Bagitau dia kalau tak faham apape tanya teacher. Kalau segan, tulis pastu bwk balik tanya kat kami. Tapi so far semuanya ok. Cikgu pun kata dia ok.
Hari terakhir ambil ‘Aaqil kat sekolah sempat jumpa his class lead, Mr Trevor. Kira guru kelas la. He gave positive feedbacks on ‘Aaqil and told me not to worry about Year 5 as ‘Aaqil is on the right track. Coz i did asked him for syllabus summary of Year 4 since ‘Aaqil already missed 2 terms huhu. We also received a 2 page summary on ‘Aaqil’s performance for each subjects. Overall he did great and no issue on any subjects alhamdulillah.
Dear ‘Aaqil, if youre reading this do know that we are proud of you and no matter how big and amazing youll become, we will always have your back. Thank you for being the amazing person that you are ❤️♥️
Pagi 2 Syawal kami bertolak ke Hurghada, somewhere to the west of Cairo. A city nearby to Red Sea. Ada banyak resort kat situ sebab tourist spot, ala2 PD.
5hrs journey from Cairo to Hurghada
Plan asal nak stay in hotel je. So the day before raya tu pegi shopping board games sebab nak kill the time kat sana. Imagine sure ramai orang sebab tgh cuti raya kan. so better duk dalam bilik je
Sampai sana tgk bilik nya tak brp menarik pulak kalau nak stay in je. Kami ke sini dgn satu family lagi (anak 5) so dia ajak jom la reramai kita pegi boat trip ni ada diving snorkeling island hopping. Ermmm
Okla kitorang pun pegi la usha pakej dia. Murah ok 500LE/pax 9am-4pm incl lunch then dia bg 2 spots utk snorkel and diving. Tanya la jgk psl covid SOp bagai kat staff dia tp jawapan dia “when u hav sun, no covid”. Oooookkaaayyy cukuplah satu soalan memang tau dah camne SOP atas kapal tu. So kalau nak signup memang kena pandai2 jaga social distancing, sanitize etc
Lagi satu kami concern psl bwk baby naik kapal. We did some research kt gugel katanya no problem asalkan makesure jgn lama sgt expose baby to sun (kalau ada indoor, duk dlm je most of the time). Also makesure ada infant size life jacket. Haa yg ni diorg tak sediakan. So memang we toom our risk bringing ‘Atiyyah onboard. Memang doa tak putus sepanjang pergi dan balik.
All 12 of us ready for an adventure!
Apparently all of us enjoyed the trip so much. Husben pun sempat la snorkel tho lepas tu dia mabuk sampai tidooo je x larat.
Husben & ‘Aaqil ready to snorkel!‘Aaqil first snorkeling experience ❤️‘Aaqil (left) with Asraf (right) 🏊🏻♂️ snorkeling in Red Seaaaaa
Paling excited was ‘Aaqil dan Asraf (anak kak Ammal umur 11yo) snorkeling kemain lagi. Geng adult dah naik diorg masih kat dlm laut. Hehe. Yg instructor tu pun happy melayan diorg.
Me ‘Atiyyah and ‘Arfaan spend most of our time indoor je. Alhamdulillah they both behave really well dan takde pun tanda2 mabuk. Syukur sesangat..
Lepastu ada sesi tgk dolfin pulak. Wah eksaited eh memasing. Lama jgk dlm stgh jam tggu kemunculan dolfin. Cuma masa ni ‘Arfaan tidur jadi dia frust bila semua cerita pasal nampak dolfin 🥲
3 dolphins (one of em was still babyy)My boys & Laut Merah – hope we can have more trips like this when theyre bigger amiin
Hope next trip ummi pulak boleh turun snorkel hehe. Dan harapnya masa tu dah dpt vaksin so takdelah rasa concious sangat nak pegi tempat mcm ni yg agak byk ‘social contact’ yg kita tak tau diorg nye asal usul dari mana etc huhu…
Cant resist the Red Sea view…terlalu cantik rasa nak terjun (L-R : Aishah, Kak Ammal, Fauzi, ‘Atiyyah & Me)‘Atiyyah loves the sea breezeeee ❤️
Hotel ni harga all in dengan food sekali. Bfast till dinner alhamdulillah so takyah nak pk nak keluar cari makanan ke apa. Cuma bilik je tak berapa selesa hhhuhu sebab malam2 byk nyamuk – ‘Arfaan ‘Aaqil jadi mangsa gigitan. Lepastu lock pintu depan tak function. Ada la bbrp yg buat turn off sikit tp hati terubat sebab food all in n view cantik. Gituh
Dinner buffet ada 2 tmpt boleh pilih. So kami pilih kat tepi pool ni sebab kurang sesak and open airMacam Hawaii kanDepan bilik kami
Alhamdulillah atas rezeki staycation ni. Sebenarnya sejak last yr lepas MCO lifted kejap dulu (was it July?) ada plan nak bawa the kids for babymoon (was still pregnant) tapi tangguh2 sampai sarat sampai bz nak pindah ke rumah baru sampai beranak sampai husben pun dah pindah Cairo sampai kami pun dah ke Cairo hehehehe. So rezeki kami staycation cum delayed babymoon (with baby) at far far away land while everyone still wishing to travel overseas we are travelling to the sea 😅🇪🇬
No doubt im quite worry if we are close contact to covid during the trip but Ya Allahu Haafiz, may He protect us all bismillahillazi la yadhurru maasmihi syaiun fil ardhi walamfissamaa’i 🤲🏼
