About me

My Photo
Phy
Former makeup enthusiast and bookworm. Currently adopting a minimalist lifestyle. Contact me at phylliciarobert@gmail.com for inquiries.
View my complete profile

Friday, March 22, 2013

Footsteps In The Dark..

Hi all,
I was at my parents house for a week to spend time with my princess and as you know, taking care of an active toddler is no walk in the park. To top it off my parent's home isn't baby proofed so there are a lot of restricted areas and things that Sophia is not allowed to touch. That in it self keeps me utterly occupied during Sophia's waking hours.

With that being said, it is easy to conclude that the only free time I have is when Sophia is asleep especially at night. I would use that time to read and play computer games (what? I am a modern mother after all). That one night I was lost in the game of Cake Mania when I suddenly hear the sound of footsteps. It was loud enough for me to hear through my Beats Audio earphones (if you have Beats Audio earphones, you'd know how they render you almost deaf to background noise once you have them on).

I took off my earphones and listened intently for a moment. There was that sound again. It sounded like someone was walking on the verrandah outside. What's more, the sound is exactly like the way my dad walks around with his sports shoes. The thing is, my dad is sound asleep in the room. On top of that, our verrandah is grilled all around and locked so no outsiders could possibly enter. So who on earth was making that noise?

I was thinking of opening the door to peek out and see who it was but I decided against it. I thought of waking my dad so that he could check but again, decided not to. During that few seconds of me trying to make up my mind on what to do next, the footsteps continued to fall outside. In the end I just switched up my laptop and scuttled to bed because deep in my heart I knew who or rather, what it was making the noise outside.

You see dear readers my house is haunted. I am not sure how many ghosts we have in residence. What I know is that it's favorite past time seems to be imitating the way my dad walks whether it is in the house or, as that night proved, outside the house. I remember something that happened years ago when I was a teenager. I was in my room when I heard my dad's footsteps walking from his room along the living room pass my door to the kitchen.

I wouldn't have given it much thought except the fact that my parents were out and I was home alone so my dad couldn't possibly be walking around in the house. I locked myself in my room and tearfully called my parents to hurry home because there was an intruder in the house. Needless to say, my parents came rushing back home only to find the door unbroken and no intruder in sight. Ooppss.

There were also times when I was in the kitchen and I would see someone walking across the living room from the corner of my eye, yet when I look up nobody's there. The same thing had happened in different rooms in the house as well. It doesn't occur everyday, just once in a while. Initially I thought it was my imagination.. Until my sister told me that she experienced it too.

We have come to (grudgingly) accept our ghostly patron in our own individual way. Me and my sister live by the principle of "As long as it doesn't bother us physically (and personally, as long as it doesn't show itself to me) we will just leave it be". My parents choose not to believe in it (although just recently my mum admitted to have asked a healer to 'see' if there were ghost in the house and received the response "Yes, many ghosts but all good ones").

 If only all ghosts can be as cute as this.. Photo courtesy of Google.

Is your house haunted? Have you have any encounter with a ghost?

Until the next post. Cheers!

Love,
Phoebe

P/S: Don't forget to give some love to my Twitter, Facebook page and Instagram. All three are Phoebe_Sophie.


Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Cikgu! Apa Khabar?

Hello all...

This morning I had breakfast with my family before going to the bus terminal to go back to the Big City when I saw a familiar face coming out of a book store. It was my Math and Science teacher Cikgu S. He was one of my favorite teachers of all time during primary school and without hesitation I immediately called out to him, "Cikgu!" When he turned around I held out my hand to shake his and proceeded to ask how was he, where is he currently teaching and all.

I could see that he didn't recognize me immediately but he smiled and chatted amicably just the same. I think he only began to place me when he saw my parents. Then my sister greeted him. He had been her teacher as well. Then guess what? This random Chinese guy passing us stopped and greeted him too! "Apa khabar cikgu?" he asked.

It struck me right then and there just how much people this great man in front of me had touched during his life as a teacher, just how big his influence was and still is in the community. Oh, how huge his blessings must be as in Islam we believe that when a person teaches no matter how small or simple *teaching in this sense is not confined to the classroom*, he or she will get blessings or pahala. He or she will also get pahala when the person he or she taught passes that knowledge to another person and so on. In other words by sharing knowledge with others, we get cumulative blessings as long as we do it with pure intentions.

I don't know why but meeting my former teacher today set me thinking how lucky teachers are especially those teaching young children the basics of counting reading and writing. These basic skill are what we as human beings use every day in our lives, whether it is to count how much is the price of an item after discount during sales season *ahem* or stringing two words to make a sentence, a paragraph, a blog post, etc. Each time we use these skills, whoever it is that taught us get blessings. How cool is that?

To all the teachers out there, the world now is not as it was during our time and certainly not like the times of our parents. There are new challenges in facing this new generation of young people that you call students. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to be a teacher at this time and age. If you can, please persevere. You have no idea how much power, how much influence you hold in your hands. What you are doing is a noble thing.

One day, most of the monsters students who once had snot running down their noses/whom you had sent out of your class at least 5 times in a month will grow up to become distinguished and learned gentlemen and ladies and you had a hand in making them as such. One day you will be just like Cikgu S, and have your former students coming up to you to greet you, shake your hand. If all else fails in giving you motivation, just think that one day they might even be teachers themselves and they will know what a pain in the behind it can be. (^^)

Until the next post, cheers peeps!

Love,
Phoebe