Want, am and will be doingWantSurprisingly I don't have that much craving on food compared to the last holiday. I mean sure I ate some durian and rambutans but I remembered I gobbled up just too much last year. And as for food, hmm, there's nothing much that I couldn't eat back in Qtar,. I mean Kak Zah made excellent nasi dagang. And she cooked it with love and all. So comapred to the ne I bought here the other day, cit jauh panggang dari apilah. And Kak yati made roll-your-eyes nasi kerabu. Unless of course one of you guys yang masaklah. Yum yum. Yang tu gua tak tolak. Oh but still the satay here is way better.Nak nak satay muar yang kecik manis. And I still go for kerang rebus, kerang bakar, kupang, lala, siput sedut masak lemak cili api and all that. ABC and cendol. What I want coming back home is to get some books. Particularly Agama Islam reference book for the kids. I just cannot find it anywhere. There are activity books of course but there are only questions in them, no notes whatsoever. I need some notes, text book like. You know to guide me to teach them. Sure I can look up for notes and set soem questions but its just too much work and I err not sure whether I would be good enough. AT least a text book can be my guideline while I use other resources as well. Can you suggest me what to buy and where. If any of you have standard 1 to 5 text books, and are not using them, I would love to purchase them. Kalau ada sila email hudishh@gmail.com. preferbally before Thursday because after that I am going to KL and thus no internet access. AM I am in my most lepak mode ever in Muar. Apart that I have to drive everywhere for my dad, which is really no different from what I have been doing all these while anyway. But so far no cooking at all for me. Yalah saya sekarang duduk rumah bujang. Tak kuasa baru nak start beli barang mentah. The kids played PS2 nearly all day long and I watched tv to my heart content. We went to PD the other day tapi unfortunately, I ran out of camera battery and I also realised that I didn't bring my charger. THE HORRORS!!! So my 3d2n stay in PD has virtually no photos. Tapi adalah sikit2 ambik gambar. 
 Click HERE for more pictures yang tak banyak sangat tu. The trip was really good. My dad came along. I took the old road pengkalan balak and sort. Alot of stops along the way. The kids get to run like crazy and the atok get to really spent time with them. This can be an annual thing for us. Last year was gunung ledang. I spent my time reading as well and managed to finish Ayat-ayat cinta. Mantap. There are moments that I cried reading the book. Hmm I can't remember which passage. Tapi ada satu part ni funny. Masa dia kata rakan2 dia yang ngaji dengan Sheikh tu kasihan kat dia sebab dia murid kesayangan cikgu dia. Kelakar aku rasa. ACtually banyak gak funny moment. Saya tengah menteleah kali kedua ni. I like the book becaue I can feel what the writer says about the summer heat and the winter cold. I can relate to the arabic convo (especially helped by the footnoteslah of course) and it certainly remind me of the recently married couple in Qtar hari tu. The groom pun Indonesian gak. Tak taulah ramai awek rebut dia ke tak. he he mungkin harus ku tanya sama dia. And after that I sent sms to lover in Indonesian mode. "AKu perlu bicara sama kamu" "Sesuatu yang sirius" "Apakah kau sudah tiba di rumahmu?" and after that he gelabah-gelabah open the YM and asked me what happen I said "Apa yang kamu ribut-ribut begini" Hahahha. entah betul ke tidak. I want to get the other malay/ Indonesia book yang femes amat tu. Tasbih something. Apa ah tajuk dia? I managed to get one session of facial. Sakit nak mampus! Nasib baik dia kata tak banyak yang nak di korek tapi muka banyak bekas jerawat. Huhuhu. Will Well I am going to shop for certain things. Like I prefer buying skirts in Malaysia because I can at least find my size i.e. my length and I prefer the design here. tak gaudy. Books. Barang penjagaan muka. Tudung. he he.. rempah ratus. Nak jumpa kawan-kawan. And I am thinking of selling our car. Mazda Premacy year 2004 Color red mengancam. SPorty look. Good condition. Accident free (So far, Insya Allah) Any takers? Email me if interested. mengarut betul entry ni. bebel tak henti-henti. Breeding PhilanthropistsI have finally agreed to myself that I DO want to give the kids some allowance (monetary) sometime ago especially after THIS episode with Sya. But still it wasn't an immediate thing, but alas it was something that I felt like giving in the hope of teaching them other things, Insya Allah.So we sat down and discuss the list of things that they must complete every week in return with some "salary". The earnings is really little actually. Seriously. It's only half of daily allowance to some people. But to them it's really big. You should see their exhilarated look on their face when they put that amount of money into their respective wallets and guard them precious paper, like its the whole gem in the world. This allowance also come with a warning. If any of the task is incomplete or work is not done to par (my standard), I won't hesitate to cut off 50 dirham of each of the task. There will be checking day which is on Tuesday where preliminary warning is given. Come Friday, if the task is still not completed, I would cut their allowance. And believe me I have done that. There are times that they only get QR1 a week. I am yet to execute that they got none. You would see them really cleaning up after their Fardhu Ain class on Friday. And you may also witness one of them would complain that the other is doing nothing (always Sya) or that one is doing extra job (always Sya again). Extra jobs, if considered worthwhile, will be rewarded with bonuses and this is solely my discretion. Ohh I am so powerful. I also reward things for extra good behaviour: like when they behave when we entertain people, being brave : when they pull out their tooth themselves, when they show tremendous progress : naik juz quran and also doing well in their studies. Ad these will all be recorded in a balance sheet. A simple one with amount, credit and debit column and balance. And the last check, Batrisyia had her balance sheet not balanced. She had lost her money and also the other week she had more money than what she recorded. Isk isk. I think I need to concentrate on her adding (and subtracting) the bigger number (which is not lah so big). So far so good. The room was way better than before and the cooperation (and reporting of lack of work) has also increased. But I am also doing this, because I WANT to give them allowance and to have them feel the idea of managing money and earning (somewhat).However, so far they have not been using it. So the balance sheet has always been in the adding column. But Haziq has been planning that when he has reached certain amount, he wants to spend it on something. Well he earns it. The other day, Sya's school asked if we would like to donate to the fire victims in the Industrial area here. This area also housed rumah kongsi labourers. They lost everything. Their savings. Living quarters. Food. Everything. So I looked for dried food that can be given like flour, sugar, salt, biscuits, milk and also blankets and shirts. I also gave some money. Then a thought crossed me. I asked the kids, whether they are willing to part with some money to give to these poor people. Amazingly, they said yes without any hesitation. Sya gave half of what she had. Haziq gave slightly less but was still alot. I was seriously taken aback. It is not easy to part with money especially they did have much to start with. You can tell, I was extremely pleased. And that was the beginning of a bracketed number in their balance sheet. Sya kept on asking whether Allah would be pleased with her. Oh Sya also mentioned that she took months to collect those. Heh heh. Ada jugak tu. I seriously wanted to reward them. At first I thought of returning the same amount of money and doubling it. Then I thought it would not be so good. It might take away their "ikhlas" in the future. My lover suggested that we reward them extra during eid without direct mentioning to this philanthropic behaviour. I know this is only one thing. Doesn't qualify them as anything. But I hope to encourage them to have this value in their life. And pray that Allah makes it easy for us to part with our worldly belonging to help others and eventually help ourselves in the world after. Seriously that day. I learnt from them. Mak kahwinkan akuuuDr. Azh@r is a very prominent figure among the Malaysians here in Qtar. In fact not only among the Malaysians, but also the relevant figures in Qtar. I remembered when I was about to go to Qtar, many people asked me to look out for Dr. Azh@r. One of them is PB (Primary Basic)'s mum. They were close friends back in the UK and were also neighbours in Malaysia. When I was taking care of my mum in the Hospital besar Mu@r, even the hospital director asked me whether I knew Dr. Azh@r.My first encounter with Dr. Azhar was when I attended one of his talks of his mission with MERCY , I can't remember where, was it Bam Iran, or Peshawar or Kabul. But it was a place of calamity. I began to know him better when I was in the ASS and later on we took off with our numerous trips to the dunes. Dr. Azh@r is a highly respected man due to his knowledge and his humbleness and his community get together. Everyone admires him and his family for all the good reasons. Thus it is not surprising that when he announced that his daughter is getting married, many jumped to help. I am telling you, everyone really looked forward to help. Sampai ada yang tertanya-tanyalah, kenapa tak panggil-panggil lagi ni suruh tolong. And Dr. Azhar also has set up an AJK commitee to sort out this walimah thing. The real purpose of this entry this time round is to tell that I was asked to help. he he. They wanted me to take the wedding photos. Whoaaaaaaaa!!! I was nervous of course for when someone asked you to do something, the whole taking pictures thing become more serious. Not just the clickety click that I have been doing all these while. I was even more nervous to take the solemnisation photos because the aqad was done at Sheikh Ab@ssi Madani's (ex president FIS party in Algeria and a very prominent figure here in Qtar) house. I was worried about being the female going about taking photos. Somehow this nerve wrecking thoughts did limit my freedom. So I tried my best to take from far angles. The dim light was a true challenge for my lenses are not fast enough. Hu hu hu. It was really frustrating. Sesiapa nak donate lens NIKKOR f/2.8 (or better)70-200?  He he felt like putting in the tok kadhi picture sebab hensem. I remembered the tok kadhi when he asked about the mahar and got a shock of his life. The bride's mahar (mas kahwin)was our normal standard (definitely waaaayyyyyy more than the minimum Johor's mahar RM22.50) but was too little in normal Q@tari standard. The Q@taris would usually ask for serba tinggal, with a big villa fully furnished come with maid and driver. Tu diaa. That does not include cash and jeweleries of course. So the kadhi was asking the bride whether she is really sure for more than three times. Still not satisfied with the bride's answer (yang tersipu malu ketika itu), he asked whether you want to put any condition to the mahar. When the answer remained a sweet no, the kadhi exclaimed, SUBHANALLAH! Reminds me of an entry by Saifulislam about mahar in Jordan. Read it here. I spent many nights sleeping late editing the photos and putting it into videos with songs. And that was one experience that I tremendously enjoyed. And it also taught me what I am lacking off (which are many) and where I can improve (which are plentiful). And then there was the wedding day itself which poses another challenge initially. they separated the male's venue and the female's. Thank God, they asked someone else to take pictures at the guy's place. I cannot imagine splitting myself to two. The photographers at the male's side were Mr. Zulu Leader and my lover. Tee he he. It was a really tiring day doing all the standing and walking and clicking and more days editing, but it was best best best. Too bad I can't show you the pictures of the bride, which is really the crust of taking wedding photographs, and kind of disappointing because there goes my portfolio (macam bagus) but I suppose these links of photos of the day are good enough. Aqad Nikah Rewang Walimah belah lelaki Walimah belah perempuan  Both my lover and I were busy that walimah week (24/5/2008). Because I had to take photos of the bride and the rewang, I went out early in the morning and stayed late. He had to help with the tables on the guy's side. We forgot something very important. I only remembered the following day and quickly texted him, "Guess who has been married for eleven years?" Ada orang guilty. Haziq Grins Haziq's school rewards those who tops the core subjects with a certificate and a 50Riyal book store voucher. The core subjects are English, Maths, Science, Arabic, Islamic Knowledge (they call it Quran)) and French.
Haziq got a 100 Riyal voucher yesterday. It was Maths and science. Ruffles Haziq's hair. Well done Haziq! Alhamdullilah. The Ps and the BsReferring to my last post.As most of my readers are able to read the arabic font (assuming all are Malaysian. Mostly Malays. Muslims.) you would know that the arabic font does not have certain letters as the roman ones. Like for instance they do not have the letter "P", "C", "G" "V" and some other letters that I am too lazy to think for you. Arabic letters do have similar letters like roman ones like Ba(ب) for B, Kaf (ك) for "K" Zai (ز) for "Z" and many more letters that I am too lazy to type here. So sometimes when they want to make a direct copy of a name, they would substitite the missing letters to an arabic letter somewhat closest to it. For instance, refer to this pizza hut banner.  Even though pizza starts with a letter "P". But like I said, Arabic font (the hijaiyah not the jawi) doesn't have a "P", they substitute it with a "B" or the letter BA (ب). And thus pizza hut is spelt BIZZA HUT. The same goes with things like petrol becomes BETROL and err apa lagilah tak ingat. Another thing is Arabic font does not have the letter "G". If in jawi we use the letter GA like Kaf with a dot on top. Over here they use JIM (ج). And also in jawi we have the letter nga, which is ain with three dots on top. Thus we can use the word king with better effect. Over here, anything with G is substituted with the letter JIM. refer to this burger king picture.  Notice the Gs in the Burger King becomes a J (as in JIM) However, when I went to Oman, I met this guy in Nizwa. We were talking about the mejestic Jabals in Oman. Jabal (جبل)means mountain. But he did not pronounce it as Jabal instead he pronounced it Gabal. I asked him why you said Gabal, is it not spelt with a Jim. Yes with a Jim but the pronunciation is Gabal. Hmm I was later told by my teacher, certain dialects use Jim as a G. Especially in Egypt. Anyway saja nak relate a story about a friend of mine who went for his driving test. Before that, a background knowledge for you. When you take a driving test, you do the theory first, then they would test your parking, naik bukit segala tu dulu. After that if you pass, you get on a bus with your fellow comrades where they will take you to drive on the road. So my friend has completed his parking test and all that. No poles were hit. Reasonable reversing and all. Then the policemen (polis yang test kat sini) started calling out names for people to get in the bus. There were a few buses. But my friend's name was not called. "Why me no go on bus?" My friend asked "You?!! You no bas" The police said. "No bus?" wondering what he meant by that since there were buses not completely full. "When will there be a bus?" "You come tomorrow. Tomorrow bas" Presumably the police said that there will be a bus for him tomorrow. I know I know. How leceh things are. Sometimes you just do not want to argue. Mainly because of language barrier. So my friend came the following day and asked for the bus. Another officer checked his particulars. And said, "When you want to take test again?" "What take test again?" My friend exclaimed. "You take test again. You no bas." "The other man said I take bus today." My friend said. "No! No! You no bas! You failed!" "Ohhhhhh I no pass" Blearrghhhhh. Hahahhahahhaha Having said that, I just saw a documentary about the Islam missionaries in the old days after the death of Prophet Mohammad. Indeed they covered Europe and went to China. The documentary also said, because the arabic language requires one to use nearly all the vocal organs like the tongue, the throat, the sides of the mouth and the lips, it was relatively easy for them to learn new languages. These certainly helped the missionaries to somewhat blend in and spread the good word of Islam. Indeed, now that I am learning arabic and tajweed (with an arab), I am practising a lot of throat exercise. the letter like Kha (ح) and Kho (خ) and Ain (ع) and Dzal (ذ) and Tha (ث)and Dzo (ظ) requires a bit more practice and tongue and throat exercise. Oh if you couldn't read the banners that I put in the previous entry, do not fret, for the english version of it is everywhere. So you will never miss your favourite fast food. Learn your fast food jointsin arabic that is.err elisa dengan neeza and those working in the middle east takleh teka. tak aci. :p 
 Sapa teka first yang paling tepat dapat hadiah. :D  Exam akhir tahun sudah selesai. That includes Haziq and ME.
Dengan itu saya nak buat pemberitahuan yang saya tlah lulus dengan cemerlangnya dalam peperiksaan bahasa arab hari itu. Markah penuh telah saya sambar. Alhamdullilah. Campur-campur markah lama untuk final marks dapat 99 and a quarter dan seterusnya telah berjaya menggondol tempat pertama dalam kelas. Nah saya saji sikit trifle. So class habis for now sehinggalah lepas raya tahun depan. Tahun depan Insya Allah, naik satu takuk atas. Dah tak ada relax-relax macam tahun ni. Nampak serious aje pelajar-pelajar dalam kelas tersebut. Gulp. Next year Jack will go to school fully, which means I can go to more classes. Fuyo! and perhaps take up something else too. But for now I want to share with you this phrase. Ana Rabbatul Manzil (أنا ربّت المنزل) I am a domestic Goddess. he he eh teka tau gambar kat atas. When Zachary Turns FourZachary is somewhat the same like when he was three except magnified those a thousand times. He chatters more (with familiar people). He is still a pleasant boy to be around with. A favourite among the uncles and aunties and also the teenagers.One of the major milestones that Zachary has achieved before reaching four is that he has weaned off me. Now I am not sure whether it is his milestone or mine. I think it's more of the latter. It was hard for me emotionally to wean him off. The thing is if I want and really put more thoughts and energy I can do it..but I don't really want to. Zachary is my last child (if Allah wills) and I felt hard to let go the bonding of breastfeeding knowing that there won't be anymore for the rest of my life (unless Allah wills it otherwise). My lover prefers that we stop at three. I have always wanted to breastfeed ever since I got pregnant with Haziq. With Haziq I had a hard time to lactate him. Especially when the hospital was not breastfeeding friendly (year 1998) and compounded with Haziq who had to be left at the hospital for several days for jaundice. Having been fed nothing but bottle (sometimes my milk whenever I come), it was hard to reintroduce to him the wonderful milk of mine. All these was made worst because I had a hard "berpantang". It was the most merimaskan time of my life. And Haziq just refuse to sleep. I didn't have support from my parents. To them let's make life easier and thus the bottle. It's a hard batttle to fight because the odds are all against me. I persevered and finally I managed to fully breastfeed him a few weeks before my maternity leave is due. Oh I remembered the aches of retaining the milk throughout the working hours. I certainly remember the pumping session in the ladies' surau. *Smiles at Gart*. Now comes that Haziq turns two, another fight need to be fought. I need to wean him. The thing about me I like things in order. My order. I get stressed up when things do not abide to my unwritten rules. I wanted to conceive another one when the child turns two, but before that I want to make sure that I must wean the child first. Weaning was hard on me emotionally. I cried when Haziq cried. I remembered putting nescafe on myself to make it look gross and sick. But he continued suckling it. I suppose nescafe and milk is a good combination. I managed to wean him off eventually only to find him constipated with the bottle milk. There are always things to learn raising the kids. With the two years experience of breastfeeding, feeding Sya was a breeze. I can hold her in one hand feeding and still cook. I was also emotionally ready to wean her off when she turned two. As for Zachary he turned two when we are here in Qtar and I am not a career woman anymore. This made it hard to wean him as the hanging bottle is always in sight. But the bigger issue was me. Surely if I had wanted to wean him, I can. Lacking of discipline and being emotional made me delay it. But how did he wean finally? It must have triggered from school. Zachary was promoted to a bigger class and he was really proud that he is now a BIG boy. I slowly mentioned that big boy don't drink susu from Ibu anymore. This did have an effect on him. Initially he would deny and would claim that he is still small when it comes to susu time. He was three He only takes milk when we travel in the car or sleeping time. So I asked lover to put him to sleep. Zachary loved it. He enjoyed cuddling to his father too. The only problem was lover dozed off together with Jack. Ceh! And suddenly he exclaimed to us that he doesn't take susu anymore because he IS a big boy. When he wakes up at night, I knew he wanted susu, but he would think first and just cuddle under my armpit. I confess sometimes I did offer him. You know for last time, but he was steadfast that boy.  Hu hu hu. But because I know this is for the best and he was already three plus by then, I let it be.
I still miss it though. He still cuddles alot but I miss the eye. The way he looks at me or look at nothingness when he milks. Having cuddle so close I can sniff his hair and stroke him to sleep. Indeed breastfeeding my children is definitely one of the best achievements in my motherhood cycle. I am thankful to Allah who provides me with abundance of milk. Alhamdullillah. Allah is most generous. Oh another thing. Zachary can still fits in his two year old jeans. The waist is fine, but the length is short. His small waist (and size) makes it difficult to find jeans for him. The length is good, the waist is small. I would go for those jeans with the adjustable belt on the waist. Anyway, on his fourth birthday one of my friends invited us for breakfast at their place. Since this is one of my closest buddies, I asked her whether I can bring over a cake and do the birthday stuff. *tak malu menumpang rumah orang*. I recommend cake Sultan from Bateel. Sedap gilos. 
Bebudak berebut cake decoration of chocolates and chocolate filled biscuits Relevant reads Jack Turns three. Look how he does his tahyat Jack turns two : An interview with a two year old Jack turns one : Read how he comes out of me Also read my "concern" of weaning him Mother's Day : Zachary I bought Zachary a little hummer the other day. Actually I bought it with his own money. He got himself a QR50 Carrefour voucher. In fact Haziq and Batrisyia each got one too because they represented Malaysia team during the ASEAN Bazaar day sometime ago. They modeled the Malaysian clothes. Basically pakai baju rayalah. The pictures HERE.
So I got him a little hummer and even a littler (he he) ambulance. You know these car models in boxes, they usually tie up the car with wires to a board so that the car won't move around in the box. But this little hummer was not tied up with wires instead it was screwed to a plastic board. Zachary wanted to play with it immediately we got home and asked me to unscrew the car off the board. Alaaa I am really lazy you know. Sure I can unscrew and screw for that matter. I can solder too. But I really do not want to go in the cramp storeroom. I have to half stand in the dark claustrophobic room to get the toolbox. And I am lazy to open up the toolbox. My lover also has extra bits in the toolbox that when you open it, you have to rearrange the things in order for the box to be closed properly. And I have no patience for all that. So I told him wait for ayah. he said ok. But just look at him. Patiently pushing the car still on its board. No complaints and no tantrums. Just slight disappointment. And I am a mother after all. So I took the toolbox. half standing in the dark dingy room. Opened the box and took out the philips screwdriver. Come Jack, let me open it for you. And he gave me that look. That indescribable look. The look of thanks. Little hummer :QR35 Littler ambulance : QR5 The look : PRICELESS Mother's Day : BatrisyiaWhen I picked Batrisyia from school the other day, Batrisyia's teacher told me that she wrote something in Batrisyia's message book. It is something about the reading session is cancelled the next day because the kids have a field trip.That night when I wanted to start with Batrisyia's reading and spelling and maths work, I told Batrisyia to bring to me her bag. But what Sya did was she first gave me only the reading book. I said i want your whole bag with everything in it. Then she brought me her spelling sheet. Without her blue message book. I said I want your bag Batrisyia. Then she brought me her bag but still without her blue message book. Now where is your blue book Batrisyia? She immediately said, there is nothing new in the book. Nothing. Mrs. Carla didn't write anything. Huh? Why is she acting defensive? "Batrisyia", I said, giving her a really angry look narrowing her eyes on her. You don't want to give me this look. Ever! "Mrs. Carla just told me she wrote something for me. Bring me the blue book now!" I could almost swear Sya turned white when I said this. Ho ho ho ho. Look who is caught with her pants down. Naughty little Sya was caught lying to me. Then she guiltily gave me the book. "Stand there." I said. I slowly read the message and frowned just for the drama. Of course the message still say about canceling the reading session. I turned to Sya and asked her, "What did you do?" She slowly told me that at school she used Zoe's (her classmate) pencil and Mrs.Carla told her to use her own. Eh? That's all. I think she must have thought that since Mrs. Carla told her to use her own pencil (probably in a stern tone), I would be angry at her. "Why didn't you use your own pencil?" I asked. She said, in my own words, she is lazy to get her own pencil. "Why did you lie to me then?" I asked her this because the lying part is my greater concern. No answer. But can you imagine her face? The scared guilty face. "Really Batrisyia, using Zoe's pencil is nothing compared to lying to me." And suffice to say she got a lecture of lying to me and something that all mothers will found out about their children lying. Mothers have 100 eyes and millions of senses. Macam-macam.  Mother's Day : HaziqI have been slightly cross with haziq a few times. Mostly because he did something , which I can't remember what it was, but definitely something that deserve to be barked at. Many times after that I told him casually that you should come and apologise to me. But he never did.Last week, i got cross with him again. Again couldn't remember what it was about. i told him sternly after that, I am waiting for you to come and apologise. he did not. I even heard Sya told him, when are you going to say sorry to ibu. i didn't hear his answer though. So last Sunday, which coincidentally was mother's day, I called him after maghrib prayer. I was alone in the room still in my telekung and on the sajjadah. (pergh macam dramalah pulak). I talked to him about apologising to me whenever he did something wrong that is whenever I am cross with him. I told him, a mother's forgiveness and blessings must always be seeked by a child. For without it, life is without barakah. I am not sure about this actually. But there are countless stories (which I didn't narrate because I need to be sure of the actual story. Kalau cerita tanggang tu macam overlah pulak. Plus I told him the story before) of a child who has difficulty to die even because his mother did not forgive him for his wrongdoing. It's time to collect these stories. Can you pass me the stories, if you have any? Don't let ego overcome you.The longer you wait, the harder it'll become. And believe me not, if these continue to repeat, they will become habit that will turn as a norm. And what am I then? Just another person in your life? You have been saying about kissing the heaven under my feet. Now Haziq, this is what it meant. My blessings. A mother's approval. I want you to remember what I said today forever. Even when you are old. When you are 50. Even when I am not around in the world anymore. Haziq cried. I think he will be alright. It is just the sign of the emerging teenagehood.  I took it offSalute I must to most of the ladies here. They are indeed the truest domestic goddess to the very T. I am only a wannabe who is not putting any effort. Some of the ladies here are active in persatuan-persatuan kewanitaan which organise activities to fill in the otherwise "quiet" time for the ladies here. They have bowling, kelas masak-memasak, kelas menari which includes pocho pocho (however you spell it), kelas agama and macam-macam lagi. One of the most popular activities must be the morning coffee activity which I rarely go because of the limited time I have and most of the time not invited to any. :P.But I was invited to one the other day, which I went. Now this one is organised by the Mistress of the domestic goddess. Siap ada theme segala. The theme of the day is blue and white. Wear anything blue and white. As expected the party was coloured with various shades of blue and white. Now now, with my currently very limited choice of wardrobes, I really have nothing to wear. Then I decided to wear my frilly ala ala tudor white top and a slightly below the knee blue skirt (which i really love) and a band of white pearl necklace. But of courselah now I cover all those under the abaya, he he. And took it off only at the all girls morning coffee. Hooray for abaya! One of the teachers at my school do that too. She wears the niqab, but at the all girls centre took it off to show off her stylish self. And not to mention the minah-minah arab during all girl parties. Woo all out. Dengan make up and baju yang harusnya sexy dengan rambut besarnya. (not necessary I agree with the fashion). So, that's what I did. I think this is the best deal for me because I have now have the power to do that. And because I can, kan? Do you know that..Elisa is in Doha now. :DShe is here for a week because Taufik has some course. But she is not staying at my place because she has a place in Marriot. Lagi best tuuu. But it is school week over here so I couldn't entertain her much. Her highlights of the week are 1. she had to masak nasi because I had to rush to pick up the kids and we still had not have lunch yet. And I claim I am a goddess. 2. Then she washed the dishes also. *malunya* 3. I masak pun cincai-cincai je. Tak spesel pun. 4. She followed me to pick up the kids. Adus panas. 5. She went to the Aspire. The plan was the kids to play with the bike and Izani is to be let loose and run around the jogging track while the mummies exercise (hahahah) and Elisa click photos of Izani. But Izani slept all the way. 6. She had to endure the river of smelly dirty sewerage water that has turned into a small stream at my house. Izani had also accidentally fallen into this "river". I HATE MY HOUSE!!!! Hu hu hu. Malu sangat-sangat dengan tetamu. Rasa nak nangis dah ni. 7. I had to complete decorating Sya's hat for her school's green day project. Guess whose help did I ask to put the fake fruits on the hat?  
  But then we 1. Went to a small fort/ watchtower in Umm Slal Mohammad. 2. We went to souq waqif. 2. Have a little picnic at the corniche (I didn't cook anything. Semuanya beli sahaja.) We let the kids play while we sew the fruits on the hat. 3. Elisa wanted to go to this shop selling lace that some of her friends bought here in D0ha. I have never been there but my oh my. Juling mata dibuatnya tengok lace-lace tu. And so cheaplak tu. 4. We went to this 6 riyal shop selling mostly err 6 riyal stuff. And I spent so much there. Ahaks. Dan tengoklah pasangan bercinta ini. :D  Stomping the Singing DuneLast weekend, my friends and I went to the dunes. From the pictures you would think that it would be just another dune series. But this particular dune is quite special. It is called the singing dune.There are about thirty singing dunes throughout the world. A few in the states, Mongolia, China, Morocco, Chile and other places that I didn't find in my google search. And of course one of them is in Qtar. To appreciate the singing dune, one really has to be there. They say on a really really dry and perhaps windy day you can hear the low-pitch humming and sometimes roaring sound of the dunes as far as 10km away. The older days the locals around this area used to associate this sound to djins. Marco Polo in the 13th Century said the singing sands, which he ascribed to evil desert spirits, "at times fill the air with the sounds of all kinds of musical instruments, and also of drums and the clash of arms. However, science explains that this sound is caused by the friction of the sand. It emanates from crescent shape dune or the barchans. The avalanche movement or slumping of the sand is usually triggered by passing wind or even walking. This movement if occurs particularly at the middle of the crescent will amplify the sound due to the natural amphitheater shape of the dune. There are many theories to it of course, too complex, to be read and told. In fact, there is still no conclusive findings to this phenomenan. Initially we didn't hear any sound. I am disappointed. I was hoping to hear the humming sound the moment I stepped out of the car. Actually we did hear some humming low decibel sound and was temporarily excited. Alas to find jet fighter and army planes zooming above us. Ada YOU ASS punya kem tentera dekat-dekat situ. Camp ni lah yang supposedly shown in the movie transformer kena serang dengan decepticon yang canggih itu. Tapi dalam movie tu tipulah. Qtar mana ada gunung ganang macam dalam movie tu. Nampak macam Oman adalah. Anyway, I was disappointed of the lack of sound but not surprised, because it has been drizzling in Qtar. Yes yes you read it right. It drizzled a bit that week. I read that any presence of moisture will reduce the sound production of the dune. So I just took a walk on the dunes. As I was coming down running, I could feel the sand vibrating beneath my feet and sometimes I managed to produce a squeak or two. That discovery was an opening for more discoveries of the dune singing. Later on we began to discover how to produce the sound better. Suffice to say that we managed to make the sound by sliding ourself downwards from the top of the dune. But still not as much. I feel that we need to go again so I could take a video of us doing it. In the middle of the crescent with a lot of paddling movement and continuously going down. The more the merrier. To appreciate the sound, I attached a recording of the sound produced by other people somewhere in the desert of Chile. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN THE DUNE SINGING  As usual some pictures HERE. Progress Kelas Hazihi suratu usrati.
This is a picture of my family. Hazihi - this is suratu - picture. the spelling is صورة usrati - my family أُسرتي dalam bahasa arab usrah (أُسْرَة) maksudnya family. bila kita addkan huruf ya (ي)jadilah usrati (أسرتي)maka jadilah maksudnya my family. dalam observation yang pendek ini taulah kita kalau kita addkan huruf ya kepada kata nama jadilah ianya sesuatu yang belongs to you. Contohnya kalam (pencil) - kalami (my pencil) kitab (buku) - kitabi (my book) zauj (husband) - zauji (my husband) habib (lover) - habibi (my lover) berbalik kepada gambar di atas. Minal yamin from the right haza zauji wa habibi. Hua mohandis This is my husband and my lover. He is gorgeous (hahahahha) Hua (هو)means he. Thuma, waladi saghir zachary then, my youngest son Zachary wa waladi Haziq and my son Haziq and finally the one sitting down waladati or you can use binti Batrisyia. (he he banyak tak tau maknanya dalam arab) waladi - my son waladati/ binti - my daughter maaf mungkin banyak tak betul kat atas anyway saja nak report progress. my arabic class have been going on well. exam hari aku dapat 59.5 out of 60. half mark telah dipotong on my reading. maybe i tend to suka panjangkan bacaan yang sepatutnya pendek. but my written test dapat full marks. yes! yes! let's pull confetti. kali ni exam ada sikit susah..tapi nampaknya skill main hentam masih ada lagi pada diriku..and Alhamdullilah yang hentam tu menjadi. I've always told haziq especially, when you are in doubt in your exam, hentam sajalah. jangan di biarkan kosong. untung sabut dapat gak markah. I have improved slihgtly on my makhraj (ح). However I am rating it 40% only. sebab I did well kalau (ح) tu ada sukun atau baris atas. tapi kalau baris bawah macam (الرحيم) atau baris depan, kekadang jadi kekadang tak. Tak apa cuba lagi. Baca surah dah sampai AlAdiyat. terus terang aku tak pernah hafal juuz Amma tu sampai sini. Tapi yalah kena recitekan. Walaupun asalnya hafal sebab takut kena soal, tetapi adalah juga kebaikannya. Adalah variety sikit surah dalam bacaan sembahyang aku. Lagi satu, sekarang ni jadi macam aware pulak surah2 atau ayat2 yang pernah hafal tu betul ke huruf yang aku sebut. Tengok balik ayat kursi mana (ح), mana (ع) mana (dzal(asal dzal ni aku takleh taip pakai keyboard ni hah?)) dan macam-macam lagi. It certainly has open my eyes. Jadi bila dah selalu kena refer kekadang bila hafal tu macam nampak that particular page depan mata. Lebih aware. All in all. The class has been going on tremendously well. I have added fiqh class as a must go. But can't story much about that one. Saya budak baru belajar. The more you learn, the more you know that you don't know. Silalah minum air mango lassi. Saya jamu. Kita score exam bahasa arab hari tu. Making the shaytan go awayI wrote in my previous entry about the kids listening to a scary story by Master Potty. Naturally they got slightly jittery.Batrisyia was relieved though that she has memorised Annas and AlFalaq. She said, I can recite this before I go to sleep, no shaytan will disturb me. Haziq boasted that he can already recite Ayat Kursi. Zachary, then realised that he didn't have any ammunition. And not wanting to be the only victim to this terrible situation, he exclaimed, "You know you know. if you read Bismillahirahmanirahim, the shaytan will go away." He he. He is truly an original. Today I thought him the use of Alistiadzah. (I seek refuge with Allah from Shaytan the cursed one.) Bolehlah tu for a start ek?  Sya is seven Sya turned seven last 8th April.
I must say this is one of the reasons I like to blog. So I can note down her progress as she grows older. Let me see now, how is she doing so far. She reads very well and can gauge on her own the longer and difficult words. She likes reading on her own too. She is also doing well with her maths but I suspect that she might find it not challenging enough. If you have been following me, you would know that she is in the wrong year for her age. She is close with this girl, Lena. I notice she tends to stay away from crowd and prefer a one-to-one friend. Even the teacher notices it. The teacher told me, batrisyia helps Lena alot. Lena has improved tremendously. That makes my heart swell. I smiled when I heard it. It's the kind of feeling that I know she is a good person. Ask what she wants to be when she is older. She would probably say a teacher, because she likes teaching. But most of the time she said she wants to be like me. She wants to be a homemaker. Err betul ke ni Batrisyia. I really should be proud of myself in a way. She must really like what she is observing. Haziq, the anal one, has been calculating and discussing with Sya, just how much pahala I am getting for cooking for the whole family and Sya just couldn't wait to get the same pahala too. Sometimes she really wants to be handy in the kitchen. Sometimes I get annoyed because she is slowing me down. Sometimes I would call her in the pretense that she is the one cooking. Especially the simple food. The one that requires campak2 and stirring. The other day she made scramble egg. Well at least she stirred the egg. But is this right? Is it ok not to want to aim for the sky? But well she is only seven. Let's check this entry when she is seventeen. Her Iqra' reading has been progressing well. Actually I am slightly emberassed to tell you this because it is not as much as what she should be. The only reason is because I am the teacher. *hangs head in shame*. However she is progressing and this year the momentum is catching up. That reminds me not to stop the lessons during the summer break. 2 months is too long. She is reading Iqra' 4 now. She has memorised four soorahs, Alfatehah, Ikhlas, Annas and AlFalaq. These have definitely been put on good use. When doing solat she can read the fatehah and the soorah part. i think she reads fatehah even during tahyat. hahahha. You know the other day, Master Potty told them a scary story. The kids are scared actually. Master Potty was teasing sya too. But she said it's ok, I am reading Annas and Al Falaq before I go to sleep. And I have memorised too. the Syaitan will all go away. I think she is slightly worried that she has not mastered Ayat Kursi. But the point is, she believes. She believes that to seek refuge only to Allah. And Allah has bestowed us with these Soorahs. I think that is a tremendous step. To believe. She is now in the midst of memorising Al MAsad and ayat Kursi. Slowly but Insya Allah surely. Oh, just to note down here. She is still a messy girl. She never hangs her clothes or fold it nicely. Its always on the floor. geram betul aku dengan anak dara aku sorang ni! I have devise something about this. This links with weekly allowance. Another entry perhaps. I didn't do much on her birthday because you know I am lazy. Tak yah cita lagilah kan. But I called up some friends to go to Aspire and play there. We brought the kids' bikes. Batrisyia was so proud to show her skills that day. I made tiramisu, brought some drinks and chips. And my friends brought food too! Dah jadi macam a small picnic. Asalnya I cuma ajak dia orang main-main aje. Anyway, dear Sya, I pray that you become wholesome person and excels in all aspects of life. the worldly one and the eternal one. Pictures at Aspire HERE. Compare her progress When she is FIVE When she is SIX. Exploring Qatar Man! I haven't been going around Qtar for quite sometime. I think this mostly was because I was busy with the ASS, meetings and events and all that. There never seem to be a quiet weekend. And then there was also the dunes. But it is so hot now, I dread to go to the dunes and get my skin burnt under the hot desert sun.
let me check when was the last time I went somewhere new n Qtar. Hmm..Ahah! It was the camel trip. HERE. Goodness! That was August 2006! Anyway it is hight time to go places that we have never been. So I said to lover, why not go to the north. And he said why not. He then decided to get some friends to go with us as well. So to the north of Qatar we went. As usual, a map to guide you along. We went to Zubara which is about 90km to the North west of Qtar. There is a fort there called surprise surprise Zubara Fort.  I wrote a little about the history in my multiply. Then we drove up further north and stumbled upon ruins of village. We were leading the entourage (cewah) because we were the only one with GPS. Mr. Fath was trying to persuade Mrs fatah to get a GPS. I must say to travel in the middle east, it is quite a useful gadget to have. Because the tourist map is not sufficient and the signboards are almost non existent. I read in someone's blog about his trip to Zubara and they got lost and took pictures at the backyard of someone's house which they actually thought were ruins of the fort. You can see the map I attach here. The tourist map is almost like that. It shows a straight road to the fort, whereas to go to the fort requires you to make a sharp u turn and turn at a junction which looks quite insignificant plus there were no signboard. *roll eyes*  Anyway my lover loves the ruins. We came up with theories to what happen to the village. The village is just a walking distance to the beach. I can almost imagine what it was like in the old days. I imagine the children running to the beach day in day out, collecting shells, going further into the sea because the beach is so shallow, swimming to their heart content. Their fathers are most likely fishermen or pearl divers. They have sheep and perhaps a few camels. Their life was simple and everyone goes to the mosque to pray. Their mothers bake their own bread, make their own labban and goat cheese. They wove their own rugs. And they shout calling their children to come home for their dinner. Digress. We stopped for a little picnic at the most northern tip of Qatar, Al Shinowee. It's a quiet beach with a little fishing activities. the children collected small shells while we ate. Mrs Adub brought, what she claimed, an express food. nasi lemak bungkus in daun pisang and homemade karipap. *terbeliak mata* Itu express food ka? pengsan. I brought only fried noodles and keria. When it gets dark, we moved on and pray at a little mosque and continued our journey home. We stopped at Al Khor first to meet up with our Al khor friends. And makan some more. I thought I was quite full, but I managed grilled hamour (garoupa) with butter lemon sauce. Boleh? Everyone enjoyed this sweet day to the extent one of them suggested that we go for a convoy somewhere next time. Somewhere meaning places like UAE or Oman. Hmmm hmmmm hmmmmmmmm They are really great pals. I do enjoy being with them. The thing is I have never done convoys. I prefer small. When I went around UK, the most is four in a car. Backpacking in Europe is just me and my chum. Turkey, me and my chum again. I am even willing to travel alone. You see, I am inefficient, slow and I like things my way. I like doing the planning and enjoy being wrong executing them. Remember when I went to Oman and got myself in the mountainous road to nowhere? read it HERE. That is my kind of traveling. I am not sure whether everyone is up for it. Oh for pictures click HERE. It is like a date!The two weeks spring break are nearly over for my kids. Soon they will get back to their routine of sleeping early and waking up early. No more watching heroes for them too. Nyeh nyeh.Batrisyia had a longer break. her school took one week off to facilitate them moving to a different location. And as usual, I let her watch TV to her heart content. Play the computer games as much as she wants, without either her brothers wanting the computer too. She had to follow where I go as well. i took her to my arabic and tajweed class. I took her to a morning coffee at one of the ladies' house. Psst I made tiramisu. On the last day of her break, before the other two boys break loose in the house, I decided to give Sya a treat. After sending Jack to school, I took her for breakfast. Not in any shop but in a nice fancy restaurant. And just my luck they have kids meal there. He he. Lasagna with one cupcake and two pieces garlic bread on baguette and a box of juice for QR10. Oh was she happy. She just realise that she could have me all for herself. No jackjack all over me. No abang stealing all the conversation. No ayah who talks to me all the time. Hmm its amazing how i can handle all these attention seekers at one time. How I do it? Well you mothers should know it by now. Then we went to have her hair cut, which was very much needed. And we cherried the day with a little shopping for her. Ada sale mothercare!! We went through the normal process. She chose. I scrutinise. Fitting room. Size changing. testing. Twirling and all those things. It was a girly day indeed. She said to me, it is just the two of us today. It is like a date! I just realise we have never done this before. me and her. I did it with Haziq before she came along. I am always with Jack, but never really with her. The two of us. Sya, my only daughter. My middle child. A mother should have mother-daughter day more often I think. Oh! We did those digital scrap booking. I'm printing it so she can scribble something and we'll have it bind in colourful ribbons and she can paste stickers and loves and whatever she likes. Syioklah!  
  Pelaburan untung berlipat kali gandaIt has been two years today that my mum left the worldly life to meet our AlKhaliq. I still miss her the same. But it is ok now. I can talk about her bravely. I still cry to myself when I remembered her smile in the ICU seeing me. I still cry when I pray for her. Those prayers that you sit and raise your hands and you really really beg to ArRabb for His continuous rahmah on my mother (and me).As you all already know, Allah, with his tremendous mercy, gives us the very chance to increase in manifold our rewards even after our death. Imagine that! And we all know this beforehand, so we can start putting up investment at this very minute! The investments come in the form of giving charity, spreading beneficial knowledge and leaving the world with children of righteous qualities. My mother, with little money that she had, was not a philanthropist. However, I pray, that her Quran teaching to the neighbour's kids will be a delicious reward for her. And if these kids (who are grown ups by now) continue to teach even their own kids, her rewards will increase, and if their kids continue to teach and read themselves, the reward will go on forever down to the very last downline till the end of the world. This is MLM at its best. Kalau kat dunia ni dah kira boleh dapat Mercedes sebijik. I also pray that her teaching masak-masak such that a family, with the knowledge that my mum taught, can earn some living can be considered as spreading knowledge. Allah knows better. I am praying that the little things and monetary that she gave will be rewarded accordingly. I believe that Allah is fair. Its good that we can be generous like Mr. Syed Mokhtar. But I am sure economies of scale applies. All children who care about their parents should be grateful to Allah that He being AlRahman AlRahim has grant us a chance to do our last deeds for our parents. Punyalah sayangnya dia kat makhlukNya ini. Sampai macam tu punya peluang Allah kasi kat kita. If we are righteous the reward go to our parents too. Woo peluang baik ni. Mari kita rebut! And as parents ourselves, we can start the investment with our children so that we can die happy, in the knowing that, Insya Allah, what we leave in the world will continue to work for us. And that last one worries me most. Oh and another thingAnd actually there is another thing that is making me smiling from ear to ear. Sya can now ride the two wheelers. The other day I helped a friend to move house from a big villa to a nice cosy apartment. (Ini kes kena suruh keluar by the landlords). He had to give away many things and the bikes are among them. He gave us two bikes which are good enough for Haziq and Sya. Alhamdullilah. Pity his kids had to let their bikes go though. Thank you friend. Penat berleter kat lover suruh beli basikal tau...tak beli-beli.. The only problem was the bike for Sya is slightly too tall for her. But she still manage to ride and balance it even though she had numerous falls trying to keep herself from failing. It must be quite mind boggling to practice thinking to paddle, to align the handle and to remember to brake when approaching an obstacle and also to balance and not fall. Initially I had to help her hold the bike first before she proceeded to balance . But the other day, I showed her how to go off on her own. A bit hard, because the bike is tall, but yayy she did it. And of courselah we don't want to leave Jack alone. We bought a proper bike for him. He has never paddle you know. Never ever. Mana nak kayuh basikal selama ni? He is nearly four and he still cannot paddle. My kids are deprived.  But kids learn it easily and there you go. Look at Jack happily riding his bicycle. And he can use the brakes too. Ibu happy.  But Ibu is tired. To let them have a go on the bike is really an effort tau. I have to load all the bikes by MYSELF. Tak termasuk kalau nak bawak skateboard atau scooter. Drive all the way to Aspire and take the bikes out. Nak ikut hati, malas aje! But weather is still good. And I know I know it is good for them. Infact for me too. I had to sprint to chase Sya the other day. Rasanya turun sekilo..NOT! Ahaks.
Hip hip hooray for Sya and Jack! For more pictures of them click HERE. { Last Page } { Page 1 of 15 } { Next Page } |
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