From 50 Kids

i've got mail!

mr. khairul came home from work, bringing this exceptionally fat parcel.

for me?
and i saw the sender:

mohana.
from malaysia.
from my old working place.

hmm.

i ripped it open.
and my mouth dropped.
my eyes buldged.
my heart flutters.
my smile, just.

it was a parcel filled with no less than 50 little letters from my kids back at work!


i was speechless.
this was a really thoughtful gesture from my colleagues.
and a really really cute effort from the kids.

these are individual enveloped letters, made from recycled magazine pages, assembled and put in one pos laju pack to be sent all the way to dubai. in this kids' centre, each week they do a new theme and this week they're doing recycling, so in the words of one of the kids,

"..we decided to recycle the magazine to make an envelope. this can help save money and papers. it is also colourful!"

these are letters from 5 year old to 13 year old. simply wonderful, they take your breath away. i was "awww..." "waaa.." "hihihi.." all way through.

it seemed that mr. khairul had known about this 'surprise' for quite awhile, since mohana needed his office address to send the parcel. thanks, honey. never knew you had it in you too keep surprises from me! (he used to suck at keeping surprises)

the kids amused me with their anecdotes on chinese new year holiday activities, they share their new year's resolution and even enlightened me on the 3R - reduce, reuse, recycle!

a cute drawing of what will happen if we do not take care of our beloved earth by KL

• "do not use too much electricity or the earth will be sick and the ozone layer will be thinner."
• "trees have lives, so if we reuse paper we can save the trees."
• "remember to switch off your computer when you don't want to use it, but not throw it."
• "don't buy too many toys you can take old toys for kahfi."
• "we need good earth, not dirty earth."

apart from the anecdotes and stories they share, they posted a few questions for me:

1. kahfi looks like chinese boy, does he? yes, mata sepet maa..
   
2. where did you get kahfi's name? click here
   
3. has khaleef been a good boy? one word : naughty! but he's been a great brother
   
4. what is the most expensive thing in dubai? my guess is the properties?
   
5. how big are the islands? BIG! huge!
   
6. can you buy shawarma for me? sure. it'll be basi by the time it gets to you, though.
   
7. can you come back and teach us? i'd love to!
   
8. what food do you miss the most in malaysia? right now? char kuey teow!
   

..and share their 2-cents on life in dubai after reading my account in a letter to them.

• "i like the dessert of dubai because i can see a lot of dinosaur bones."
• "i like the bus-stops in dubai because it has aircone."
• "..most interesting are....spinning (spinneys) and lulu.."

..and of course, well-wishes and hopes (haha) - i miss you too, kiddos!

• "we have read your letter, until our tears has come out."
• "i miss your fake spider."
• "i wish for you to be healthy forever and ever."

it took quite awhile to read all the letters, and yet i did not want it to end. reading their handwritten letters are a sight for sore eyes - weird loops, smudgy handwriting and all. it stopped time for that one brief moment, for me to go back to days where there's a thin line between patience and going totally berserk - and loving it!

there was this one little poem that is too cute not to be shared with you guys penned by one of the kids.

your days in malaysia are not over,
you can still visit us sooner or later,

having a wonderful time in dubai?
there are many places to visit, maybe too many, oh my!

we are delighted to have you around,
i wish you can come back to malaysia safe and sound!

~RL

the packing
i took these pictures from mohana's facebook. taken while they were preparing the wonderful parcel for me. somehow i can't take my eyes off mohana's socks...


god willing, i will be back middle of the year - hope to see all you then. thanks for everything, girls. and millions more thanks to the kids. this has made my day. from dubai with love!