Why did we go to England in January 2020?
When I was 8 years and a half, my mother got an offer to further her studies in PhD in London, England. I remember feeling so excited to go to London. Well, to be honest I didn't really know where it was or anything about it but I knew that the country would be cold and people speak English. Our family left for London in April 1994. My dad had to leave his GP practice to his brother to manage and Mom was on full scholarship.
During our first few weeks in England, we had to look for a house and find a school for us. We settled down in Finchley Central and my siblings and I went to Manorside JMI Primary School. Gosh, I still remember how awkward it was for me to enter a school that was unlike anything in Malaysia. Nobody was wearing anything the same, and the tables and chairs were not arranged in a uniformed manner as they were arranged in groups facing each other instead of all facing the teacher. My headmaster spoke thick English accent that I found so difficult to understand initially. The children in the classroom were kind of friendly but the language barrier made it challenging for me to understand them. I finished Class 4 for around 4 months and then it was Summer Holidays.
We stayed in London until I was in Year 7, and I attended Copthall Girls Secondary School in Mill Hill. I liked the school and had made some friends, but unfortunately in December 1997 we had to go back to Malaysia, 4 months earlier than planned. I was really getting the hang of secondary school and enjoyed my French Classes with Mrs Flemmings.
I have fond memories of my childhood in London, I just loved it there. My teachers were nice, my friends were kind and the whole town was just so nice for me. When I came back to Malaysia, I remember feeling a bit lost especially in class. I could understand my teachers but couldn't grasp what they were teaching. In Copthall Secondary School, every subject had a different classroom and we would change classrooms for each subjects. We had a homework diary and a timetable for homework it was organized. So we knew what homework we would be getting each day from which subject. We would then need to get our parents to sign our homework diary at the end of the week when they have verified that we had completed them. I loved D&T which was Design and Technology, the lab was well equipped and I learnt how to make a fridge magnet. The teacher didn't just jump into teaching us how to make a fridge magnet, rather we were taught on how to design, plan and then make our fridge magnet. We had to plan the packaging and marketing for our magnet. We had to always wear protective garments whenever we were working with machines and tools.
So in summary, I have clear and vivid memories of my time in the UK. Even though my mother was busy with her PhD and work, I didn't realize that she was busy as she made time to be at home for dinner and also brought us on short vacations whenever we had a holiday. I spent most of my time at home with my sister, my late brother, my late grandmother and my father. My father used to send us and fetch us from school every single day.
This is like 26 years ago, yet I still feel so close to London and wish that I can live there even for a short while with my family. People close to me would most likely feel that I'm rather obsessed with London, as I keep on talking about my memories but I can't deny my feelings for it. :)
So now, let's go back to why did I visit London in 2020? On the 24th December 2019, my beloved son Muhammad passed away. He was 2 and half years when he left us and this made me and my family completely devastated. We loved him so much. He was such a special boy, not just in the physical form but also his spiritual side. I miss him until today as I write. My domestic helper told me that she wanted to go back to Indonesia for a break, as she missed my late son so much that she can't move on if she's still in Malaysia. In fact, I was glad that she wanted to go home as I was worried for her and also felt sad when I saw her as she was always with my late son. She reminded me a lot about him for his last 1 year as before that I was his sole caretaker with my husband. I also decided that I needed a break with my family, I wanted a change of atmosphere and be able to be with my family elsewhere. We wanted to go to Turkey, but then after much thought I said that I wanted to go to London. At the same time, my sister in-law who lives in Nottingham messaged me and said that her house is always available if we needed a hideout. So within a few days, we arranged for our whole family to fly to London and stay there for a month. I left with feelings of sadness and excitement. I was excited for my three daughters to enjoy a lovely holiday yet my heart was aching as I was still not over the fact that my son had passed away.
We arrived in London on the 2nd January 2020, and stayed in an airbnb in South Kensington. We chose this place because it had a 50% discount and was close to the Natural History Museum. We stayed in London until the 14th January 2020 and drove to Nottingham to Abg Long's house. We stayed in Nottingham until the 29th January 2020 and flew back home.
I will be writing about our whole holiday in other entries, and will stop here for now.
Alhamdulillah I am glad we went on that holiday, it was healing and a good opportunity for us to bond as a family.
Until the next entry insyaAllah I will write more.
During our first few weeks in England, we had to look for a house and find a school for us. We settled down in Finchley Central and my siblings and I went to Manorside JMI Primary School. Gosh, I still remember how awkward it was for me to enter a school that was unlike anything in Malaysia. Nobody was wearing anything the same, and the tables and chairs were not arranged in a uniformed manner as they were arranged in groups facing each other instead of all facing the teacher. My headmaster spoke thick English accent that I found so difficult to understand initially. The children in the classroom were kind of friendly but the language barrier made it challenging for me to understand them. I finished Class 4 for around 4 months and then it was Summer Holidays.
We stayed in London until I was in Year 7, and I attended Copthall Girls Secondary School in Mill Hill. I liked the school and had made some friends, but unfortunately in December 1997 we had to go back to Malaysia, 4 months earlier than planned. I was really getting the hang of secondary school and enjoyed my French Classes with Mrs Flemmings.
I have fond memories of my childhood in London, I just loved it there. My teachers were nice, my friends were kind and the whole town was just so nice for me. When I came back to Malaysia, I remember feeling a bit lost especially in class. I could understand my teachers but couldn't grasp what they were teaching. In Copthall Secondary School, every subject had a different classroom and we would change classrooms for each subjects. We had a homework diary and a timetable for homework it was organized. So we knew what homework we would be getting each day from which subject. We would then need to get our parents to sign our homework diary at the end of the week when they have verified that we had completed them. I loved D&T which was Design and Technology, the lab was well equipped and I learnt how to make a fridge magnet. The teacher didn't just jump into teaching us how to make a fridge magnet, rather we were taught on how to design, plan and then make our fridge magnet. We had to plan the packaging and marketing for our magnet. We had to always wear protective garments whenever we were working with machines and tools.
So in summary, I have clear and vivid memories of my time in the UK. Even though my mother was busy with her PhD and work, I didn't realize that she was busy as she made time to be at home for dinner and also brought us on short vacations whenever we had a holiday. I spent most of my time at home with my sister, my late brother, my late grandmother and my father. My father used to send us and fetch us from school every single day.
This is like 26 years ago, yet I still feel so close to London and wish that I can live there even for a short while with my family. People close to me would most likely feel that I'm rather obsessed with London, as I keep on talking about my memories but I can't deny my feelings for it. :)
So now, let's go back to why did I visit London in 2020? On the 24th December 2019, my beloved son Muhammad passed away. He was 2 and half years when he left us and this made me and my family completely devastated. We loved him so much. He was such a special boy, not just in the physical form but also his spiritual side. I miss him until today as I write. My domestic helper told me that she wanted to go back to Indonesia for a break, as she missed my late son so much that she can't move on if she's still in Malaysia. In fact, I was glad that she wanted to go home as I was worried for her and also felt sad when I saw her as she was always with my late son. She reminded me a lot about him for his last 1 year as before that I was his sole caretaker with my husband. I also decided that I needed a break with my family, I wanted a change of atmosphere and be able to be with my family elsewhere. We wanted to go to Turkey, but then after much thought I said that I wanted to go to London. At the same time, my sister in-law who lives in Nottingham messaged me and said that her house is always available if we needed a hideout. So within a few days, we arranged for our whole family to fly to London and stay there for a month. I left with feelings of sadness and excitement. I was excited for my three daughters to enjoy a lovely holiday yet my heart was aching as I was still not over the fact that my son had passed away.
We arrived in London on the 2nd January 2020, and stayed in an airbnb in South Kensington. We chose this place because it had a 50% discount and was close to the Natural History Museum. We stayed in London until the 14th January 2020 and drove to Nottingham to Abg Long's house. We stayed in Nottingham until the 29th January 2020 and flew back home.
I will be writing about our whole holiday in other entries, and will stop here for now.
Alhamdulillah I am glad we went on that holiday, it was healing and a good opportunity for us to bond as a family.
Until the next entry insyaAllah I will write more.
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| Me with Sofiya, Surayya and Samiha outside Buckingham Palace. |
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| With Aiman on the way to our airbnb. |
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