My new title.

It's nearly 5pm and I'm all set to head home. I just wanted to write down something here since I have another 15 minutes of 'working hours' to go hehe.

Being a working mom (2 days and counting) is not as hard or as scary as I thought it would be. Granted, my new job is actually very simple; typing names into the database, updating claims from employees, I've always thought that working in an office would be like trying to navigate through traffic during rush-hour. Or maybe I watched too many sitcoms. Hehe. Anyways, my presence here is more like to be the 1st clerk's helper. She gave me stuff to do, I complete them then I 'try' to be helpful by tidying up in the office.

But my boss did warn me that there would be ups and downs with the workflow here. There would be days where things came piling up and rushing through and there are days where the clerk can just take her sweet time completing her tasks. We are currently in the latter mood. Who knows what tomorrow might bring?

Well, can't wait to see my boys. Miss them so much already. Though when I stayed at home with them 24/7, I sometimes feel like bashing my head on the wall due to their naughtiness. :D

Need a to-do list, quick!

I have lots of things floating around in my head today.
The things I'm worried about most are household related since next Monday, I won't be around to do them.
Laundry; washing, airing/sun-drying and folding them, dishes in the sink, sweeping/mopping. You know, everyday things that I have been doing all these while, while Ahmad snores away till noon. *Urghhh*
Come Monday, who's going to do all that?

I'm worried the most about the boys. They are used to having me around, especially Nazrin who still breastfeeds. When I'm at work (still can't believe I'm going to work next week, heh), who is going to make Shahrin's formula? And make sure Nazrin eats his food and not play around with it after he's full?
Who is going to break up their fights over toys?

Ahmad and I had discussed these things, briefly anyway, since he's never really at home for a proper discussion. From what have been talked about, he would take care of the children and some (just some) of the household chores. He would send Shahrin to pre-school and pick him up at noon. He would stay at home with Nazrin and feed him and bathe him and put him down for his nap. During the evening when Shahrin is home, they would spend the time watching TV or maybe go for a ride to the playground. Ahmad has also agreed to hang the laundry out only if I've put them in the washing machine. But he doesn't do folding or the windows or the sweeping or the mopping.

*Aiiiiiyaaiiiyaiiyaaiiii*

Anyway, I need to list down the things I need to prepare for Monday. I think I need to iron 5 pairs of my baju kurung, in preparation for the whole week. Then, I need to do a check-list for Ahmad, so that he knows what to expect when dealing with the boys, though personally, I've always winged-it with them.
Hmm..need to rummage through my 'download folder' for all the cute free printables I've collected so far. I know there's quite a number of them that are cute.

Great news!!!

Sorry for not being around for the past 4 days. We had to go back to my parents house from Saturday to Monday for Shahrin's post-op follow-up on Monday. I did brought back my lappy but the broadband connection there was crappy. Plus I didn't have time to blog since my father hogged my lappy, watching Sumeyye Eddeb reciting verses from The Quran (don't know how to place the YouTube video of her in here *sigh*).

Anyways, in the short 4 days, I have quite a lot of news to tell. Ready? Ok, let's so this hehe.

Great news #1
My father (Baba) bought me a Hewlett Packard notebook!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yay Baba!!!!!!!!!!!!! This has been my mother's doing. Back when we had to stay in Alor Star during Shahrin's recovery, I said in passing, while drooling over a notebook/lappy advertisements in the local news paper, that wouldn't it be nice to have a new lappy? This current one is a Fujitsu P Series Lifebook, a hand-me-down from my younger sister Ateh. She gave it to me to use while I was completing my MSc since she wasn't using it then. I love this lappy because it's small, light and hasn't given me any trouble (not much). But as the saying goes, "Kecil tapak tangan, nyiru saya tadahkan" (Since my hands are small, I'll hold out a basket instead) hehehehehe. Unfortunately, the new lappy is with Ateh's husband for formatting. Baba had wanted to install Quran recitals in it but the salesperson said that they couldn't do so. That was why he gave it to my BIL, so that he can install it in for me. Can't wait to meet my new lappy but have to be patient due to great news #2.

Great News #2
My youngest brother is finally coming home for good in June.He has been studying at Vanderbilt University in the US of A since 4 years ago. He's finally graduated and will be landing at KLIA on 3rd of June 2011. My parents will be going there this weekend and pick him up. Then, they will travel back together and will come by here to give me my #1 great news, hehehehehheheheheh. This is because Ateh & her family lives in KL and my parents will be staying over at her house during this weekend.

Great News #3
Just this morning, my teacher's boss called me and asked me to join their English class at SoLLAT, USM. Since I am their RA (Research Assistant), I will have to be the replacement teacher should any of the project members couldn't teach. Apart from that, she also wanted to introduce me to her Uncle and discuss.....

MY NEW JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes! I have been employed by my boss's Uncle! This is the greatest news of all!!!!!!!!!!!
I start this coming Monday, from 8.15am to 5.00pm. I felt a bit rattled while doing the 'interview' since it has been ages since I last attended any. Can't believe I have a job now. Granted, it's only a clerical position but it's better than nothing at all, right?
Plus, I still get to keep my RA position with SoLLAT (School of Literature, Linguistics and Translation) where my boss (old boss) will call me if ever they need me.
Syukur, alhamdulillah. Hopefully, our financial situation will get better after this.

And I still have one more news to tell, about a new business venture I'll be taking part in but enough news for tonight. I'm saving this one when I have more to show.

Till later, folks!

Part 3: Felt cratfs I made!

Well, after proclaiming my eagerness to update my Crafting Craze projects, I went and slept very early last night. 10.30! I was already asleep by 10.30! Man...I must have been very tired, making all these crafts. Ahahkss..

 This is the latest one. I did it yesterday evening when the boys were 'busy' watching BabyTV on Astro. It was very easy to make and quite comforting. The lull of pushing and pulling the needle through the felt gave me a sense of control. I now understand how some people could say that cooking or sewing or craft-making soothes them. Although, personally, I don't think cooking can be relaxing since Malay type of cooking requires a lot of preparations. But that's just me heheh. 

 This key-chain is a very basic craft. I cut letters from a pink felt and sewed them onto a purple felt. The instruction called for just glue but I've had bad experiences with it, so that was why I had sewed my letters. I do think that doing that gave my letters some character. In case you are wondering, the little button at the bottom is a whale and I sewed him on too. Then, all I needed to do next was to back-stitch all around the purple felt. I did leave an opening for the stuffing/fiber to go in as well as to put the key-chain in. That was all. Now I have a personalized key-chain cum rocket. <---Shahrin took it and pretended that it's a rocket. *sigh* At least it was mine for about a minute. Heh.      

.

 These 2 loves were for Shahrin's pre-school teachers. I didn't know what to get them, so I thought these could be my first felt project. I mentioned in Part 2 that the starter kit came with instructions as well as cut-outs for the projects they had in the module. So, I used the love shapes to make these.

 
These are the finished project. As I said before, I do not trust glue, thus the untidy sewing lines along the edges of the loves. These I made into hand-phone straps, complete with tiny bells that rang every time the loves move. Cute, aren't they?

These are flowers I made 3 days ago, following the tutorial posted on Kedai Sus's blogshop. I bought the starter kit from them. The flowers are called Kemboja in Malay, but I don't know the name in English. I made these by making small circles and cutting off a small part from each circle. Then all I needed to do next was baste each petals, five of them, together and pulled the thread tight. When the form was just as I wanted it to be, I tied it of with a button. Then, I sewed the flowers onto my new sling-bag. On the left there is me, modelling my new bag with its new decorations. I'm loving this! Heh. 
Here they are, stuck on my bag. I deliberately made them unaligned for 'artistic' purposes. As if, heh. I had originally wanted to put one flower at the bottom right corner of the bag but since it was so easy to make, I made two. Then, since 2 flowers at the bottom corner looked awkward, I placed them at the top instead. All in all, I think they look better like this, right?

This one was made by tracing the flower shapes provided in the module onto different colored felts. The bottom 2 were of the same size while the upper part was smaller. All that was left was to stack them up and sew on a button. It was that simple. 

At the back here I glued on a safety pin. I know, I know, I hate glue but I was in a hurry while making this so I had to resort to using glue. I will sew the pin when I have the time. On the right is where I put this flower brooch. I love the pop of color on the brown-ness of the bag.




Well, that's all folks. The projects I've been making in the last week. I'm going to buy more felt and buttons and cute shapes. I have a business project coming up with felt crafts as the centerpiece. Got to go play housewife now. See you later!

Part 2: Felt craft starter kit.

As promised, here's the second part of my Crafting Craze.
I've been wanting to do some sewing/crafting since forever. I know I love to sew, I just don't have the time and the machine to do that. Excuses much? Maybe. Or maybe because I don't want to be criticize by my mom since I'm supposedly the 'brilliant' one in my family and sewing/crafting would be a 'waste of my brilliance'.
I don't know. 
Plus, I'm not original. I love checking out other people's crafts and try to match their creation because I can't come up with an original idea of my own.

Anyway, I was checking out some handmade-blogshops and stumbled onto a felt craft blogshop. They offer starter kits at RM 60 which includes:

Different colored felts, a marker, another marker, glue and a tweezers.

This is the crafting 'module'. In it, the blogger showed how to make felt key-chains, hand-phone straps.

Some cute buttons, needles, treads, scissors, key-chains, bells, hand-phone straps.

All of the above items were sent over via PosLaju in this file.

I'm having some fun making stuff with this starter kit. It also can just in time for Teacher's Day. So, I had time to make 2 hand-phone straps for Shahrin's pre-school teachers. Though I have to admit that before we got to his school and gave the HP straps to the teachers, I was feeling very proud of myself. 1- because I actually made the gifts myself and 2- I remembered to bring something as appreciation to the teachers.
But, when we got there and I saw all the other gifts/presents other parents had brought over, my pride burst. *POP*
Well, beggars can't be complainers. I seriously couldn't afford the other presents. Hopefully the teachers know that it's the thought that counts, right?

Well, the last part is going to be fun. I can't wait for tomorrow night, heh. 

Part 1: Upcycled T-shirts. (Crafting craze!)

Well, now that I've finished proofreading the thesis my 'client' gave me, I would be able to post about some of my crafting projects. The Crafting Craze will be done in 3 parts; Part 1, upcycled t-shirts, Part 2, felt crafts' starter kit and Part 3 is the actual craft I made myself for my son's preschool teacher. Oooouuuu..can't wait to tell you guys all about them but I have to be smart & divide the news in parts to make sure that I would have more posts for the next few days. Hahahah....

Ahem..

Anyway, regarding the upcycled t-shirt, I found 2 lovely t-shirts that if I were skinny, I would've worn them every single day. I love the texture, color and the stripes on the t-shirts but they were too small for me. Plus, I can't wear horizontal stripes, they would make me look even bigger, right? Basic fashion rule.

Ahmad said I could have them (they were in our bundle stash) so I decided that if I can't wear them, I might as well do something else with them.

Blue shirt with dark blue stripes, wide round-neck collar. Love it!

Brownish shirt with a collar.

So, I took out my scissors and began to hack away at the sleeves and some of the bottom part of the T-shirts. Again, I'm not doing a tutorial here, just telling you guys what I did with these lovely shirts that I can't wear (buhuhu...). I used the long sleeves of the blue one to make a long strap and I kept the bigger bottom portion of the shirt for another project. Since the brown shirt has short sleeves, I had to cut strips out of the bottom part to make the straps. Then, I turned them inside out and sewed down starting from the opened sleeves area till the bottom. I sewed the bottom part too and made 2 triangle shapes at both ends. Not really sure what they are called among tailors/seamstresses, though. So, have you figured out what they have turned into yet? 

Yes! I made sling-bags out of them! Aren't they cute? I especially LOVE the blue bag, with its round-neck as the opening and the clean stripes. I can't wait to use them. This had to be the easiest project ever. Maybe next time I rummage through Ahmad's bundle stash, I'd find more shirts to be turned into bags. Yay! :D

So much to update but so little time.

I am the worst procrastinator ever!
It's already Sunday & I've got plenty more pages to go. Ughhhh!!!
Why do I keep doing this to myself?

I also want to update on several projects that I've been doing.
Hopefully, I'll finish proofreading early & can update but I'm skeptical.
Anyways, I've turned off the TV, the boys are down for the night & I'm all revved up!

Yes.

Any minute now.

JUST DO IT ANIS!!!!

Ok, ok, I'm really going!

Waiting....

I'm still waiting for my parcel to arrive.
I bought something online 2 days ago, from a blogshop based in Kelantan.
When I tracked the parcel via Pos Malaysia's web, the record shows that its already here at Bagan Serai's Post Office. However, the postman is still not here.
He should've been here by now.
I can't wait to start my new project!

Please hurry up, Mr. Postman!

Found.

I wanted to update just now but Blogger crashed or something. This post was supposed to be up on Thursday (12/5) but the whole day was spent being busy with stuff. Wanted to post it today (technically, yesterday, Friday the 13th since it's already 1.05am Saturday now) but MIL is here, so had to play busy bee for a while.

Remember this post? I mentioned at the bottom part about my neighbor's son who went missing on Tuesday.
Well, they found his body on Thursday morning, after searching for 2 days.
On the day he went missing, only close family members and neighbors were notified. Of course a police report was filed too but it wasn't until the day after that the fire department and RELA were notified too.
According to what I've heard, the search parties had gone looking for him around the area he was found quite a few times but they didn't find anything.
The bomoh kept telling them that he is close by and is being held by mythical creatures we call Bunian (like fairies only with human form). That was why the search parties couldn't find him. Then on Wednesday night, his family organized a Yassin recital, with hope that ALLAH will guide all of us towards Kimi's whereabouts.

Then, on Thursday morning, after a light rain, RELA went out again to look for him. The firemen were here too so when news of his body's discovery went out, things went quite smoothly. The police was involved too and they sent over a forensics unit. Kimi's body had been found in a ditch about 1 kilometer from his house, which is quite a long way from our house too. He was found in between a pineapple orchid and a palm oil plantation. His body was rushed to Hospital Parit Buntar, supposedly to be autopsied but given the circumstances; him being mentally challenged and there was no evidence of foul-play, his body was released to the morgue to be prepared for burial. He was found around 10am and his body was buried at 3pm amidst the rain. The morgue at Parit Buntar had settled everything for his family; they bathe him, kapan, performed solat jenazah (praying for the dead) and put him in a coffin, so the villagers only had to prepare his grave.

I stayed home with the boys through the whole day so I don't know much about what went on at the cemetery. All in all, it was a great relief for the whole community to have finally found him. Even though he had died, finding his body had given his family a closure of sorts.

May Kimi be blessed by ALLAH.

Al-Fatihah.

p/s: This is the 3rd death in their family; Kimi's 15 year old nephew, his mother and now him. May they all be in ALLAH's mercy.

A car & a woman driver's drama.

Our car has recently returned to us, thank you ALLAH!!! 

I'm like a bird without wings without my car. 

Yes, it's MY car!

Hehe.

I had to go a whole month without a car and I was miserable the whole time. :(

Back in March, we couldn't afford to renew our road-tax and insurance coverage 

(RM548 for both!) so I've had to ride the motorcycle instead.

I sent Shahrin to pre-school, went shopping, went to writing class, took out the trash etc.

all on the motorcycle. So undignified, hehe. 

The undignified part is when I always have to bring Nazrin along,

wherever I go and the only 'safe' place to put him was in the motorcycle's basket.

Poor kid. Luckily, he's on the smallish size, so sitting in that basket was no big deal for him.

There was one time I had to bring him along on a trip to Parit Buntar and

on the way home, after a busy day, he fell asleep! that's right, he slept! in the basket 

while I had to drive slowly & avoid all the bumps and potholes along the way. *sigh*

Anyway, in early April, we finally had enough to get the road-tax and insurance for our car.

The day we got the road-tax, I took the car out for an all-out car-washing experience. 

For the car, not me, I waited at the nearest Mamak stall with Nazrin.

The car looked so shiny and smelled so nice, I almost didn't want to take it out anywhere after that. LOL.

Unfortunately, a week after that, while we were driving home from a Doctor's appointment for the boys,

the car began making screeching sounds and letting out smoke.

Ahmad was driving that day, so I was off the hook. If I had been in the driver's seat that day,

I wouldn't hear the end of it.

Just as Ahmad pulled into our driveway, the car's engine went dead, 

as if finally giving up after trying so hard to get us safely home. 

Aaaaa...thanks Car, I love you!

When Ahmad popped the hood, we saw that the pipe linking the water tank to the engine (or something, I don't know, I don't do mechanical talks :p) has burst open an steam was coming out of it.

Ahmad checked the water but it was in the safe level, so we don't really know 

how and why that pipe burst like that.

It looked like someone had taken a knife and tore a long gash along the pipe.

Ahmad knew a mechanics and we were informed that the repair would cost around RM300 - RM500.

Again, the car had to be put to rest and I was back to riding the motorcycle.

We even had to travel back to Alor Setar for Shahrin's hypospadias correcting operation by bus, 

as I had posted here.

So, I had to stay miserable for a few more weeks, but thanks to my excellent teacher who had recommended me to do proofreading for a couple of Masters students, we were able to send the car to car-hospital.
As of Sunday (8th May 2011), I am the proud driver of my little old car again
and the repair only cost us RM370.   

So, today, I am back zooming on the streets of Bagan Serai, going from one bank to another.
This is the case of robbing Paul to pay off Peter for a new project I'm looking forward to. More on this later.
Anyway, as I was approaching a Maybank branch here, I got stuck at the parking lot
due to another driver's stupidity. The parking lot allocated slanted parking spaces and there is a tight spot between the main area and the curve leading to the bank and to more parking spaces.
A moron had parked a Mercedes at exactly that tight spot where cars were supposed
to be able to pass through to the bank easily.
I honked and honked because I didn't want to risk ruining the car's perfect paint-job and I waited for the owner to come but to no avail. I got a little panicked because there were more cars lined up behind me
and I honestly thought that my car can't pass through. Luckily, an older man at the bank saw me (actually everybody outside the bank saw me, heh) and came over to help me.
He gave out directions while I very, very slowly and carefully drove my car past the Merc.
Thank GOD for good Samaritans!
He was as angry as I was over the stupidity of the Merc's owner for parking there.

After I got through and managed to find a spot to park my car, I got out to witness the cars behind me
breezily past through the tight spot, without the hoolabaloo I had gone through.
*ugghh*
I was pretty sure all the eyewitness at the bank had this going through their head:
Noisy woman driver!   

Oh the shame!!

Fever fever.

First it was Shahrin. Man, he was such a bad patient. *sigh*
But then again, he's always like that, whiny, no matter what his health condition is like, heh.

Then, this afternoon, just when I thought it was over, Nazrin got it too. Ughh..
Poor baby, he was practically shivering just now, even in this sweltering heat.
Thankfully, he is a better patient than his brother.
Hope this fever week pass soon because I can't stand watching my boys sick.
I'd take all their sickness if that was ever possible.



Anyway, my neighbor's son went missing this morning. He's a grown man but with mental disabilities.
He'd never leave his house before, he'd always just stand there in his front yard, by the roadside, watching the cars zoom by. The police has been notified but you know how it goes, if it's not been 24 hours, they can't file an official report.
His father (who has a heart problem, very recently released from the hospital) discovered his son's disappearance when he couldn't find his son anywhere around 10 this morning. They both are early risers & when his son still didn't 'wake up' by half past 9'ish, he went looking for his son.
Ahmad's out there now, somewhere, trying to locate the missing man. The men in this village had organized a search party, hoping to find Kimi (the missing man) in the various palm oil plantations around this area based on a clue given by a bomoh (medicine man?).
I pray that he will be found soon and that he would be fine. Why would anyone would want to hurt someone like Kimi? He'd never hurt a fly.

Please pray for his safe return. 

Foiled by the rain.

Last night before I closed my eyes, I had made a mental list of chores I wanted to do today.
I was feeling quite proud of myself for having one because my usual MO is to just do whatever I feel like doing for the day.

Here's my list:
1- Send comforters to the cleaners (they can't fit into my washing machine).
2- Throw out trash (dumpster truck don't come our way so we've had to go into town to throw our trash which are mostly diapers).
3- Go to the bank.
4- Grocery shopping.
5- Pay the bills.

Then, it started raining.
At least the air is cooler now. For the past week, we've had to keep 2 stand-fans on all night just to keep cool.

Anyway, looks like the rain is going to stop soon. Might as well get ready now.

Have a nice day folks.

Pictures of my cooking adventures.

Simple dishes, just the way I like them. So says the wife who doesn't like to cook, hehe.

Soy sauce, minced onions, chili, sugar and a splash of vinegar. (Chicken dip)

 

 Chopped cabbage with sauteed onion, garlic and chili. Sort of soupy but with a taste of hotness.

These are my latest trial runs. Sometimes, I do get the urge to try something new. 

I got the idea to make these from Expect the Unexpected, Adik's blog.

Well, these chicken nuggets are so simple, I wonder why I didn't learn how to make them sooner.

All I did was boiled 3 medium potatoes, mashed them up, mixed them with some minced chicken meat and onions (she used the leafy bit). Add a bit of salt, mixed them well and then make patties out of the mix.

I dipped the patties in egg wash and fried them. That was it!

Still have some more patties in the freezer, will make more of these tomorrow.

Yummy!!

If at first you don't succeed?

Try and try again!

I keep telling myself that I need to change but I feel like I'm still stuck within myself; unhappy, not contend, angry, restless, pitiful and etc. In short, everything ugly that a person can feel about themselves.

I have tried my hand at being an online businesswoman but based on my current situation, looks like my bait is not getting me any 'fish'. I'm envious of other bloggers/Facebookers who are reeling in the dough while no matter what I do, seems not enough.

I have tried to be flexible with Ahmad and his family, but all I'm getting are more problems. Plus, he's not doing anything to help me regarding HIS family matter. Ughh.

I have tried not to involve my parents into my financial problems but my mom is persistent. She always seems to instinctively know the moment I'm all dried out. One of them would then call/SMS telling me that 'Hey, there's RM*** in your account, go spend it on a nice pair of shoes'. Though not exactly that sentence but you get my point, right?

But, as Dibo The Gift Dragon said, "If at first you don't succeed, try and try again!"

I know that success doesn't come rolling (direct translation from a Malay proverb; kejayaan tidak datang bergolek, hehe) but it sure isn't even crawling my way. *sigh*

I need to focus more on getting my 'business' out there. I know I CAN DO IT!
INSYA ALLAH.....

Etiquette to be observed at the hospital.

Hi all.
I've finished proofreading the theses 2 days ago. Still haven't got paid though.
Hopefully they'll pay me today since I need that money to repair my car.

I'm currently kind of stuck on what to blog about since I've been incognito for the last 2 weeks.
I did bring home (to my parents house) my lappy but the broadband coverage was crappy & I couldn't log-in.
Then, after we've come back here to Bagan Serai, I started doing the proofreading project & couldn't find the time to blog. Today, I just don't know what to blog, even though I no longer have any other projects to do.

But I do remember wanting to write down my piece of mind regarding hospital etiquette that everyone should observe. 6 days with Shahrin at the ward with all the other hospital visitors really opened my eyes about 'being considerate' and 'thinking of others'.

Elevator rules.
The new-ish Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah has a 7-floor building used as wards. Shahrin was placed on the 4th floor in the surgical ward, for women and children. They do have 2 special rooms for children in that ward but they were full, so we had to stay with the ladies instead. Anyway, while doing the day-shift, I did find myself having to use the elevator a few times a day, to get to the cafeteria or the convenience store located on the ground floor. There are 4 elevators which are mostly empty except for during visiting hours. Here's a few rules I think should be posted on the elevator doors for 'visiting hours only':

1- Wait for your turn.
During visiting hours; 12.30 - 2.00pm and 4.30 - 7.30pm, the number of elevator users surge exponentially. The closer to the end of visiting hours, the more people come to visit loved ones at the numerous wards. They all think that they deserve to get into the elevators first and the moment the doors open, everybody would rush forward, slamming into those who are trying to get out of the elevators. Please wait for your turns! It's like watching primary students rushing to get onto the school bus. Sheesh people. Couldn't you wait 30 seconds till everyone who are trying to get off, have gotten off? Don't make me suggest to the management to post a sign saying: PLEASE Q UP!

2- Be considerate.
When you see that the elevator is already crammed with people, Please wait for another elevator! No matter how crowded the elevator already is, there are still individuals who would inconsiderately push their way into the already-full-to-near-capacity elevator. I mean, things can get really awkward in that situation, especially when everyone has been sweating a lot.

3- Think before getting on.
There are indicator lights above the elevator doors, telling its passengers where the elevator is headed for. If you are going down, Don't ride on the elevator that's going up! People think that just because the elevators are there, they (the people) can just ride them up and down, as many times as they like. They are not thinking about the other visitors who are waiting to get on and visit their relatives/loved ones/friends in that hospital wards too.


Ward rules.
There are sections in a particular ward (at least the 2 wards that we went to) and usually 4-5 beds are placed in each section. For the convenience of the patients and visitors alike, a toilet and a bathroom are located nearby. Unlike the old hospitals where for the whole ward, the toilets are placed at the end of the long hallway and patients have to waddle/walk (depending on the type of injuries) slowly in order to use it. There are also curtains hanging from the ceiling for those moments of privacy for the patients.Observe these rules, please:

1- Flush it!

I hate it when people just leave the toilet without flushing. I mean, all you have to do is Press the flush button! (or pull the pump or whatever necessary to flush the toilet) & it will be clean for the next user. But for some people, flushing a toilet is far beneath their capabilities and why bother doing it when there is somebody else who's going to do it for you.

2- Clean it up.
When visitors flock to see the patients, most of them would bring home-made foods along. It's like having a picnic while visiting a patient. For the industrious individuals, they would wash their dishes at the sink in the toilets provided after they have finished their meal. Unfortunately, many of them would just rinse all the leftovers into the sink and leave it full of filth after they are done. Clean up after yourselves, people!

3- Use of garbage bins.
All around the wards are strategically placed bins for different 'garbage/trash'. When a patient is admitted into a ward, a nurse would inform the patient and the person who is going to take care of him/her of the rules to be obeyed while in the ward. One of the rules is the different use of different bins; yellow bin is specially reserved for biological waste i.e. bloodied cotton swabs, diapers, gloves, wipes. The other bin can be used to throw other types of ordinary waste. However, most visitor just ignore the sign showing exactly what can and cannot be placed into the yellow bin. To them, a garbage bin IS a garbage bin, regardless of its color.    

4- Observing the drawn curtain policy. 
When a patient needs a little privacy or when a doctor needs to exam him/her, the caregiver/person waiting on them/nurse can draw the curtain, offering a little private space to do whatever it is that needs to be done behind drawn curtains. However, there are some visitors who do not respect this policy. Though they came to visit somebody else, they sometimes wander around and mingle with the other visitors. The mingling somehow gave them the justification to ignore the fact that some patients do not want to be disturb, thus the drawn curtains. To them, every patient are open for discussions or should be looked into because, you know, it might be interesting. Please, next time you visit someone at the hospital, do not rudely poke your head into a section with drawn curtains.

Well, that's all I need to write about hospital etiquette or what I feel visitors should observe while visiting a patient. All of the above are just common curtsey, things that people should/shouldn't do if they really pay attention to their surroundings. These etiquette are not to burden anybody, just to ease everybody's business.  

Quick update.

I'm still busy doing proofreading but I am quite excited about a new project I wish to try.
Though I think I still owe you an entry on hospital etiquette right?
Will be doing that soon, hopefully. My current work is due tomorrow, so, better get back to it.