Dream Orchard..

This picture was taken 2weeks ago when we went to Universal Studios of Japan, in Osaka. It was actually fruit note pads where children gets to write their wishes and dreams and they get to hang it there at the 'orchard' after that. Cute eh! I didn't get to read any of them as mostly they were written in Japanese! I wondered too, what those children had wished for and what their dreams were. When I was younger, I had always wanted and secretly wished to go to Disneyland or anywhere abroad...to "live' in those classical children stories...,(especially Cinderella)...but then when you are already 'here', what else would the children might have wished for? Papa & Mama would always said to me, "...well, study hard and excel...,and you'd deserve to go anywhere you like..
"Looking back, in a way it is true what they said about studying hard, but at the same time, I don't think it has got anything to do with studying hard...,it's all about the money....,whether your parents can afford to take you there or not. I've seen my cousins who wereo just 'normal' students, but they get to travel anyway, so that's how i figured out that it has got nothing to do with studies! (I was 10 or eleven years old then). But of course, if you'd get to go because you did your school exams in flying colours, the trip would have been sweeter!
My mum took me to Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, we went to Gold Coast's Movie World, Dream World and Sea World as a gift from Papa that I did well in my SRP. It was bitter sweet kind of trip actually...that i did finally get to go for a holiday abroad...but without Papa. He had succumbed to cancer and passed away then. There were 3 of us..,me, Mama and Afif. He was 2years old then.
Because of that, one of my dreams was to take him to one of these theme parks (USJ, Movie World, Dream World or Disneyland), when he grew up...Right there and then, I secretly wished that I could take him again someday, somewhere...as a 'gift' to replace Papa...,just like what he had done to me though he was dead then. I got to finally pay that 'debt' after 4 years...
When he sat for his UPSR, i had actually promised him that if he did well, I'd take him to one of these places one day, (Godwilling)...,and surprisingly, he did gave us a string of 12 A's after that (he was in ABIM, a religious school, so instead of taking the usual 4 papers, he had to sit for more)! As I was still struggling with my own life during the time, I couldn't have possibly take him then. So now I've done my part though a little bit late, I do feel relieved! After 4 years, i managed to collect some of my allowance and paid his fare to come here. And of course, Thank You Sayang for helping me out a little too!
To me, it was especially sweet that I got to fulfill my wish and came here not only with them but with my husband and son as well!
Afif came last 15th of August during the school holidays for 2 weeks. My mum was already here when he arrived. (She came on the 3rd of August for a month stay with us here in Japan). I guess, in a way, what i really wanted to do was to 'replace' Papa for Afif...that he didn't get to take Afif anywhere for a vacation, so atleast, I'd get to do it on his behalf...Afif had actually travelled far and wide before when he was younger, but because he was still small then, he couldn't remember about any of those trips that we took him on. So coming here, i hope it had broaden up his mind about the world. We actually made him travel and do sightseeing on his own as Nizam was working to take him anywhere. Nizam taught him how to use the train and where to get on and stop. It was okay actually for him considering that this is a non English speaking country, but he managed to get around. At one time he even lost his train ticket, but luckily before that he actually took pictures of that ticket and managed to convince the station master to let him go! If it was me, i would have turned white completely!!!