New Place, New School

Moving to the new house in Den Haag had not been an easy one for us. There are more cons as compared to the pros. Our main concern was the school. Ilham had enjoyed being at the International School of Amsterdam (ISA), he loved going to school, he liked the teachers and most of all, he had many close friends. Going to a new school means adjusting to new place, new environment, new friend and new teachers, to mention a few.

In Den Haag, we have a choice of The International School (ISH), The American School (ASH)and The British School (BSN). The ISH has very basic necessities and The BSN junior schools are quite small. There are 3 different Junior schools in 2 different places (2 of them are so close in proximity!!). I love the American School, its big and has a good ambiance. The library and the science lab are big and have many things that children (and their mummy) will love. In terms of curriculum, I think its more similar to ISA, which I like. But ASH is situated in Wassenar, the prestigious area where most foreign diplomats live. Its a beautiful area with lots of trees and canals and rather quite. The problem is there is no public transport in the area. They have bus services but there is no tram, no metro and no train!!! Bus service to Central Den Haag will take approx. 45 minutes. There are also not that that many shops around, and this and the transport element, make it not a very convenient place to stay. Whyyyyyyy !!!!! I love the area !!!!

Taking into consideration these elements and also becoz he wanted it (at the time), we chose BSN - Junior School Leidshenveen (JSL) as Ilham's school. It's a brand new campus situated in a new area. It was opened to students in February 2010. Prior to that, they had been occupying parts of Junior School Vlaskamp(JSV).

BSN Junior School Leidschenveen

Ilham thinks its cool and that it looks like a UFO has landed (his very own word)

The open space where the students play during lunchtime.


It will be a few more years before the trees will be big enough to provide shades in the summer and perhaps some protection against the wind. Lets just say that we will definitely not be here to witness it.


It has been 1 1/2 months since the new term/year started. Ilham still has this "ada benda" in his tummy every time we approach the classroom. When asked wether he was afraid of anybody or perhaps the teacher, he said not really... He likes his new friends except one, well maybe two annoying boys :)


I suppose he is adjusting well to the new school. Its his mama who is still having problem settling in and not too happy with the school

Visit To Space Expo

It's a school holiday !!

On Sunday, we brought Ilham and his friend Syafiq to the Space Expo in Noordwijk. Noordwijk is only about half an hour drive from Den Haag. It was a leisurely drive with hardly any traffic at all. It was their second visit, they had visited the place before during school trips. But they looked forward to the trip as if they had never been there ...

The Space Train. It's a shame we couldn't ride this because of the age limit. It is only for 9 years and above. Since they are both 8, they do not qualify :(

Buzy answering questions and testing the gravity theory

In the model of the ISS

The toilet and how an astronaut sleeps in the ISS



Model of first landing on the moon

Our future astronaut??

And, who is this ??? Not an alien ??? Ohh... Syafiq rupanya, hanya jari je yang nampak...



A rock from the moon - nearly 4 billion years old



Taking a break outside - what a wonderful sunny day.



More climbing...


And relaxing....

Catfood For Angelina and Brad

Angelina and Brad,

I'm sending this for you.... Enjoy !!!!

I have never eaten this version of otak-otak before, but looking at the photos in Meor Factor a few months back, I just have to try it....

Even though my version of it looked a wee bit runny and did not look the same as the original recipe (perhaps too much santan and not enough fish), but the taste was simply superb (if I may say so - ehem... masuk bakul ni). The recipe states 500g of fish, but I bought only one spanish mackerel weighing not even half kg and after the head was taken out, it became even less... :)

The leftover chilli paste that I made for the otak-otak (I didn't use all of it in case its too spicy for Ilham), I reused it the next day for my mussel recipe. It too turned out tasty.

Thank you Cats, we really enjoyed it :) It now has a new name in our household, The Meow Otak-otak.....