Homies.

Reminder: Super heavy with pictures entry.

This post is a reminder, to me, and to you girls, to show how far our friendship has gone. 

10 years and counting.

 

Last 16 months were great, amazing, awesome, wonderful, memorable, cheerful, beautiful and [insert any positive adjectives you could think of] because of these people. We did so many new things together. Out of 10 years of friendship, I must say, those 16 months were the best. I am blessed, Alhamdulillah.

October 2010- First roadtrip to Melaka

December 2010 - Bike riding @ Taman Botani Putrajaya

December 2010 - Our first IKEA meatball 

I swear it was a different white top, just the same shawl ;P

January 2011 - Izral's birthday @ Look Out Point, Ampang

Ni je yang ada semua. Blur pun bantailah.

January 2011 - Aizat's concert @ Bentley Music, Damansara

Our first time @ Wondermilk Cafe.

March 2011 - First musical theater; Terima Kasih Cinta @ Istana Budaya

March 2011 - Karaoke session till wee hours @ Wangsa Walk

March 2011 - Breakfast @ Levain

April 2011 - Second musical theater; Lat Kampung Boy @ Istana Budaya

April 2011 - Bee's Bachelorette Party

April 2011 - 12 hours roadtrip to Melaka (we just love Melaka ;P)

May 2011 - Kota Kinabalu, just the two of us :P

 

May 2011 - Bee's Wedding

June 2011 - My surprise birthday celebration @ Chili's KLCC

We were supposed to go to Penang in July, but everyone was busy :( Then came Ramadhan and Syawal. InsyALLAH we'll go to Penang someday.

September 2011 - Yuna's DFP Spotlight @ Dewan Filharmonik Orkestra

Malas beratur amik gambar dgn Yuna, dgn Sharifah Amani pun jadilah.

Last but not least,

September 2011 - My surprise farewell picnic @ City Park Seremban 2

 *

You girls are too kind.

I can never repay whatever you did to me.

I cherish our friendship so much.

Till death do us part.

Thank you mucho!

xoxo

p/s: I miss you all :(

Wordful Wednesday

A new place,  a new beginning.

Sounds cliche, right? But that's the truth, at least to me. I have been waiting for the opportunity to start anew. Last time when I decided to come back to Malaysia a year earlier than I was supposed to, I had my reasons. I wanted to leave that dark life I had in the States, and start a new chapter back home.

Now, I am in a totally new place, I am opening a new chapter of my life book. 

Being in a new place gives you a whole lot of different opportunities for you to play around with. But it all come down to, do you want to be better, or do you want to be worst? 

I choose to be better. InsyaALLAH.

You might ask why do you need a new place, just to better yourself? You can do it anywhere. Judgements, that's what I want to avoid. No, I'm not saying people back home are judgemental. I was the judge. I was being judgemental to myself. Something in me said it's hard, it's not doable. I was the staring eyes to my own self. 

Now that I'm in a new place, those staring eyes are no longer there. I am free to do what I want. The judgemental me is still here, but minus the staring eyes, I feel better about bettering myself, if that make sense.

I promise to myself, this new journey of mine, will not only reward me with the most sought-after title, but it will also bring me closer to my Creator. So when I come home in three years time, I will be the all-rounded person that PhD training should produce, and also a better Muslimah, InsyALLAH.

p/s: Tomorrow marks a month of me being here. Looking forward to the 35 months to come :) 

Do you know that..

1. The Brits also eat kek batik? Had it during our weekly lab group meeting today. Used to promote it as 'Malaysian Brownie' to the Americans. RIT peeps, kek batik tak 'Malaysian' sangat dah lah hehe.

2. The Brits also have pasar malam? Well not really like our own pasar malam. They sell used items, just anything everything. Langsir, baju, buku, carpet, frames, kasut, bags, pinggan mangkuk, make ups, toys just name it. Ada juga benda baru, like sale items they bought long time ago and never worn/used. Got myself two pashminas for 1 pound each. My housemate bought a raincoat for 2 pounds. Good bargain seh. Oh, actually the familiar term would be 'carboot sale' but then the one I went to just now takde cars, tapi sebijik macam pasar malam, ada khemah and meja bagai. Ada snap gambar tapi malas nak transfer pulak. Sambutan amat-amat menggalakkan. Almost everyone either carried a big shopping bag, or a shopping trolley yang mak-mak bawak g pasar. Maksudnya diorang memang pergi dan berniat untuk angkut banyak barang. Wonder if it'll work the same in Malaysia. Baju bajan maybe dah ada la kot, those bazaars kat KL yang fashionista dok jual baju diorang tu, nampak macam laku je.

.

Ni takde kaitan dengan title.

3. Tadi first time start buat lab work after tinggalkan for more than a year. Nervous sampai pegang pipette pun tak betul. And first time jugak deal dengan blood sample. I survived Hybridoma class di mana bunuh mice tetiap minggu adalah rutin, so I should be fine with blood, just this time it's human blood. Grrrrr

4. Ayah is now a pensioner. Pagi-pagi buka laptop baca offline YM message Ayah hantar, it made my day. Ayah wrote,

'Hi baby, sorry tak reply message. Today Ayah officially retire from government service. See you later alligator'

Part 'See you later alligator' yang made my day tu. Penat ajar Mama Ayah cakap these two phrases:

'See you later, alligator' and jawab 'In a while, crocodile'. Mama asyik lupa je. Bila orang cakap dia sengih sengih lupa nak jawab apa. Tak sangka Ayah ingat :))

Selamat berpencen Dadi! Enjoy your retirement...NOT! Ayah landed himself a job with Pharmaniaga. He will be doing some software programming with them, I think. Dari kecik barang kat rumah penuh dengan Pharmaniaga je, dari ubat, sampai towel, pen, t-shirt sampaikan multicooker yang guna untuk masak pun cap Pharmaniaga. Corporate gifts katanya. Tapi harus ke multicooker letak cap Pharmaniaga??

Multicooker 

(gambar hiasan courtesy of Pak cik Google)

Answering the call.

Salam,

Being a minority makes you appreciate things more and teaches you to be grateful.

I'm very happy to know that there is a prayer room in the hospital I'm working at. It's spacious, clean, well-maintened and the best thing is it comes with a proper ablution area. In fact, in all 3 campuses of University of Nottingham, there is at least one Muslim prayer room. I'm yet to find out if they have prayer rooms in the shopping malls, but I kinda doubt that. If they do, MasyaALLAH that's the best thing ever!

Last time, when I was in the States, I used to pray in fitting rooms! That is one of the many experiences I won't forget. We would take a random baju and just go into the fitting room. Of course, we were smart enough to find a departmental store that is less famous, meaning not many people shop there, so people won't question why we used it for a long time. We did have our favorites, you know :P

Another experience that I won't forget is that one time where I had to pray on the stairs! I was on a trip to New York City, I was in Macy's if I'm not mistaken. I'm not sure what happened, either we couldn't locate a fitting room, or it was too crowded in there, but yeah we settled for stairs instead. We took turns, as we needed to 'guard' those who were praying. 

Solat duduk dalam kereta, solat berdiri atas jalan tar kat tepi pintu kereta, solat kat depan Hard Rock Cafe in Georgia bersejadahkan kertas, solat dekat tepi bush dekat Disneyland/Universal Studio-I've experienced all that.

And because performing ablution was very hard i.e sink is too high and people would stare if we put our feet in the sink etc, we normally would jaga our wudhu' for as long as we could. Siapa dapat tahan ken*** paling lama tu, memang champion lah :P

Moral of the story is, be grateful that we live in an Islamic country where we can practice your religion without any difficulties. Also, just because we are majority, does not mean the world revolves around us. Respect the minorities as well.

And most importantly, do not miss solat :) Note to self as well.

Had it easy...

Assalammualaikum..

Alhamdulillah I have safely arrived in Nottingham; endured the 13 hours flight, thanks to my previous experience of almost 24 hours flight to the States, 13 was pretty easy.

Before I came a lot of people have been telling me how I'm going to compare life in the States and in the UK, in which they prefer the States. But so far, I must say they are even. I hope I won't compare as much, because you know, why waste time comparing and complaining what you had before, and what you don't have. After all past is past, just live your present life lah kan?

But allow me to just make some points here. I've just moved into my permanent housing this morning. I know it's too early to make comparisons, but there are clear differences between what I had in the States, and what I'll have here in Notts. I'm just gonna sum up before I even lay out those points..

I clearly had it easy in the States.

1. Last time I lived in on-campus accommodation. Now I live about 20-minutes bus ride away from campus, and have to take two buses to reach campus. However, I chose to live here because my lab will be based in the City Hospital, which is just 2 mins away by bus, and 10 minutes walking.

2. I paid about $300 a month for accommodation in the States, inclusive of utility bills (water, electricity and internet). Here, the house is 450 pounds per month, shared with 4 people, utilities not included. Plus utility bills, I might pay up to 200 pounds per month. 

3. It makes a lot of difference if your rent is inclusive of utilities or not. Usage of heater during cold seasons really gonna poke a hole in your pocket, kalau tak berjimat. That said, I'm now typing this post with a sweater on, socks on, and I'm covered with duvet from head to toe. Reason? We want to save up on electricity bill so no heater until it's really really really cold. 

4. Last time, we had a laundry room outside the house. We had to share it with the whole community within the same housing complex. During winter, some of us even ran out of clothes to wear because we were so lazy nak redah sejuk and snow, so we waited until it's really really necessary to go out and do laundry. Here, the washing machine is in the kitchen, so yay! no problem during winter, but nayyyy we don't have a dryer! Now that sun is still shining, okay lah nak sidai baju dekat luar. I'm yet to figure out how I'm gonna dry my clothes during winter. Some said they just dry their clothes by hanging them on the heater. Hurrmmmm..

5. Oh about transportation, since I lived on-campus, transportation to the campus was FOC. I could also walk if I missed the bus. Now it's all different. I have to load some amount of money onto my Student Card to use as bus fare daily. I saw a promotional ads on-campus the other day, 179 pounds for all-year-long. Gonna catch the promotion before it ends.

That's pretty much it, so far. 

I'm not complaining, really. My friends from other unis back in the States, they had experienced all that. I guess me and my friends at RIT really had it easy. Now that I'm in their shoes, I'm thankful for the easiness Allah gave me before, and I'm even thankful that I get to have a totally different experience here. 

May I take the best out of this experience, InsyALLAH.

Au revoir.

Salam,

Honestly, I meant to write something proper before I leave. A post about how I spent my final week before boarding that very airplane to Nottingham, and another post about how awesome my year has been. However I don't think I have the time to sit and write. Preparation has been overwhelming. Plus, I've been busy with a cousin's wedding in Ipoh this weekend. I wanted to take later flight, but since I found a friend who is traveling on the 19th, I just had to change my reservation for convenience purposes.  

InsyAllah if I have the time I'll pay my writing debt. Even after I've safely landed in Nottingham. But for now, I'd like want to thank everyone that has made my year so wonderful, I feel so blessed. I came back from the States in June last year, and now I'm leaving again. I must say I achieved/did a lot of things in this one short period of time that when one day if I reflect upon my life, I will surely remember this year vividly.

Also I would like to say sorry for all my wrongdoings, tersalah kata, tersilap laku, terlebih terkurang, dan halalkan makan minum. 

Dear friends, please pray for a smooth-sailing journey for me, like my ex-boss said, 'Doing PhD is like entering a lonely planet. You'll surely feel so lonely and vulnerable, because it's a long and winding road'. I pray that each one of you reading this will have a successful life, no matter what you guys are doing. 'Let us lean on each other when the hopes are fading' (quoting an inspirational blogger I once wrote to).

Terima kasih daun keladi.

Ada masa kita jumpa lagi.

Eid-ul-Fitr 2011

Salam,

Raya this year is so much different from previous years.

1. After so long, finally the six of us got to celebrate Raya together. The complete family set. Alhamdulillah. But sadly, I won't be around next Raya (kalau gigih taknak balik la). InsyaALLAH, my place will be replaced with a newcomer in the family, my first ever nephew!

2. Our Raya routine this year is slightly different. Normally we would spend Raya eve at my dad's kampung in Tambun. In the morning we would help out in the making of The Great Rembau Rendang. But since we left our house in Ipoh for quite sometime, you know lah siapa yang datang bertandang, HABUK! Balik Ipoh hari Sabtu, sampailah Isnin tak siap-siap kemas rumah lagi. Nama pun rumah tinggal, banyaklah benda yang rosak. Lampu nak kena tukar, water tank kat atas roof top tu pun sampai dah penuh lumut, kena panggil orang datang cuci. So yeah, we had to ditch our relatives and stayed home cleaning all day long. 

3. Unlike previous years, we spent more time at home than at kampung this year. It sure was a relaxing Raya; my Raya was spent watching tv hihi. But I must say, Raya shows this year were BOO-RING!

4. My dad's friend came over to our house few days before Raya and handed him two Malaysian flags. First time pasang bendera dekat tiang rumah. First time ada Merdeka spirit at home. 

5. First day of Raya, all six of us marched to the studio to take our first ever family picture. That was after I kept on grumbling about the fact that it's been a year since I graduated and we still hadn't taken the 'typical' graduation picture. So yeah, it was Raya and Graduation picture combo. I think the next time we are going to get another round is after Mama and Ayah have 5 grandkids, kot? 

6. Alhamdulillah, my nazar to host a doa selamat at home was fulfilled on the night of second Raya. Mama was the hero of the night. She insisted on cooking on her own for 60 over guests that night. We could have just settled for a caterer but Yong said let Mama practice if she were to run her own catering business. Alhamdulillah ramai yang datang malam tu - relatives, friends, neighbors. I must thank Mama, Ayah, Yong, Abg Lan and Angah for making it happened, and to those who came, thanks a bunch! Your presence really made my night.

7. First time merasa friends coming over untuk beraya, and also pergi beraya rumah orang. Tapi still tak dapat join the big convoi, InsyALLAH next time. My house mengamalkan dasar 'rumah tertutup' for 9 years sebab Mama was away and kalau orang datang, serious taktahu nak hidang apa. So most of the time Raya kat kampung je. Budak 'assalammualaikum' pun tak pernah singgah kot, sebab tengok rumah macam takde orang padahal orang ada je kat dalam. Bad bad practice :P Now that Mama is back for good, barulah best nak ajak orang datang rumah hehe. Next year, if saya tak balik raya, jemputlah datang rumah. My mom would love to host you guys. Hehe

8. On the fourth day of Raya, my mom and I with relatives from my mom's side went on a trip to Terengganu-rombongan menghantar mempelai. First time pergi Terengganu. My cousin brother got married to orang Ganu :P Oh you don't wanna know berapa banyak 'jangan ler kawin org jauh-jauh dah' I heard during the whole trip. Haha. Actually my cousin brother was the second to get married, first was my sister. My sister kahwin dengan orang taman sebelah taman kitorang je kot. So it was the first time semua orang experience hantar rombongan kahwin jauh jauh. Yelah yang pergi pun orang-orang dah berumur, and they had to endure 8+ hours journey in the bus, mestilah mulut tu potpetpotpet complain. Kesian Yeop! Dah jodoh kan, nak buat macamana. Tapi harap-harap jodoh saya orang dekat-dekat je hahaha! 

9. Before Raya I asked my brother to fulfill my Raya request, which was to have pelita and lampu kelip-kelip for our house in Ipoh. No he didn't fulfilled my request, but my parents did! Terharu! One evening both of them went out to bazar Ramadhan, and after a while and dah nak dekat berbuka they were not back I got worried and called where they were. Rupanya after beli kat bazar, they found an electrical shop and went there to get lampu kelip-kelip for me! Geram je dengan Tesco, iklan tak boleh blah kata akan restock kalau barang raya habis. When we went there and asked whether they'd restock lampu kelip-kelip and pelita, the staff said, 'Lagi dua tiga hari nak Raya kak, buat apa nak restock'. Grrrrr cakap tak serupa bikin. Nasib baik our neighbor baik, tolong carikan dekat kedai runcit kat mana tah, dapat lah 10 pelita :)

10. (Sebab nak cukupkan 10 point) First time balik raya drive sendiri. And alone! Mengantuk pun kena tahan sebab takde teman borak. Mula-mula cuak je because orang cakap drive time Raya ni lain sikit, kalau nasib tak baik stuck in jam for long hours. Pastu tengok berita pasal Ops Sikap segala, sape tak cuak first time nak drive balik raya. Alhamdulillah traffic that day was not that bad, kaki pun takde lah lenguh sangat kena tekan brek. It took me 3+ hours from Seremban to Ipoh. First time la drive jauh-jauh, if you are an avid reader, you would know about me and driving. Hehe

That's a wrap!

All in all, I'm thankful that I had a great Raya this year. It was so meaningful. I got to celebrate it with my loved ones dengan sungguh meriah. Alhamdulillah.

Selamat Hari Raya!

Minta ampun dan maaf kalau ada terkasar bahasa, tersilap laku dan lain-lain.

Have a great Raya everyone! *Raya kan sebulan :P*