Mission Bay

Pantai!! I want to go there badly. Especially during this summer.It is a beautiful place where Kiwis go, especially on weekend. But no one there 'mandi pantai' like we did in Malaysia. Most of them went there with their family and friends. Some of them played ball, sitting around eating and at the same time chit-chating while another half of them just relaxing along the beach. I love to see the scenario there.

Eating ice-cream. That is the most enjoyable thing I did there. The ice cream taste so good, that I actually dont want to finish it. Just love it. Look at my face eating ice-cream, hahaha sampai tertutup mata. Teringat pulok kat ayah man=) kirim salam ye.

Emm apa lagi ek yang menarik?? Emm semua nya biasa je. Pasir? emm dekat sini pasir die tak putih and lembut macam pasir dekat malaysia. Pasir die banyak cengkerang yang dah pecah. So bila pijak pasir tu agak dakit lah. Ombak? ombak die pun kecik. eh kecik takpun tak ada. emm lebih kurang macam tulah. Tapi alhamdulillah, cantiklah pemandangannya. Subhanallah.

Then kami jalan-jalan tengok rumah. Dekat kawasan pantai ni je baru nampak rumah besar-besar sikit. Kalu tidak nampak rumah yang biasa-biasa jek. Canttik jugak, sebab rumah area tepi bukit.

Then kami pun pulang dalam pukul 8.00pm kot, emm tyme tu baru nak masuk maghrib. Jadi kami pun mengambil bas dan berakhirlah perjalanan di siang hari itu. Kemudian pada malamnya, kami mengambil tempat di hadapan laptop pada jam 1.30 pagi untuk menonton Juara Lagu. And rasanya tak sia-sialah bangun and tonton malam tu, sebab grand sangat persembahan semua=)

I am a MALAYSIAN

Malaysian..yes that is who I am And I am proud to be one. A frequently asked,

Dialog 1

They: Are you from MAlaysia?

Me: "Yes I am" (I replied proudly)

They: It is a very WONDERFUL & NICE country

Me: Yes it is=)

Dialog 2

They: Where are you from?

Me: Malaysia

They: ogh, 'apa khabar'

Me: Khabar baik (wow they know how to speak our language)

Dialog 3

They: Where are you from?

Me: Malaysia

They: Ogh I love ASEAN, especially MALAYSIA

See, there are few responses I got from Kiwis and other people I found here around Auckland. They love Malaysia. And I am proud to be one. I love Malaysia and once Malaysian forever Malaysian. "MALAYSIA boleh"

Antara Cita2 dan Rezeki

Cita-cita vs rezeki. I had my own story bout it. it has been fifteen years I said to myself that I want to be a doctor who treat others well and cure anybody who have disease especially skin disease. When I was 7, I went to Hospital Kuala Lipis almost every week to take madicine. I took antibiotic regularly since I have what we call 'kudis buta'. Everyweek my mother wih all my sisters walk down the hill to get there. But I hate the doctors there. They dont even dare totouch us and see our luka and all those properly. "macam sentuh tak nak sentuh'. I hate that attitude. But stil I have to see them to get my medicine. And that is when I berazam to be a medical doctor (apart from seeing their nice smart white coat).

I keep it to myself since that time. All games I played will relate to doctor. I will be a doctor, Nana will be at home cooking and Eti will be our small sister (that sort of thing we play, it is so FUN). Everytime I bought an 'alat mainan', it will be a doctor kit. And I keep my ambition till I was in my secondary school, Sekolah Seri Puteri. I know that I am not among the bright student there, but still I have do faith in myself that I can be a doctor. It never change for one and a half decade.

But everything is not like we thought we're going to have. After my SPM result, I am grateful for that result Allah gave me. Alahamdulullah. BUt I dont know why, at that moment, I loose my confident I build up all these while. With 9A and 1B, can I take madicine in University. Can I survive there? I dont even get full A1 in SPM and can I score in a course which is the hardest course everyone mention about? Every bright student (not every but almost) will apply for that course, and am I crazy to apply something that I have a very small chance to get in? All sorts of question (basically negative thought came) were in my mind. Then suddenly, just at the right time there is an article in a paper bout the tension and heavy workloads suffered by doctor. I dont know to call it a coincident or what. But that is another reason why I reconsider to be doctor in my life.

I dont know how to describe it. But that is how I feel. Feeling down and I dont know what else to do in my life since that is the only thing I wanna be. Then I meet a job advisor ( I think that is what people call him) and he propose me to be a teacher. And my mom also suggest the same thing to me. Something that I never imagine to happen in my life. Almost every moment I said to myself in my school that I dont want to end up as a teacher. But he said that we have to consider all factors, such as job opportunity, our qualification and our interest. And the most important factor among the three is 'pasaran kerja'. As you could imagine, at that state, I cant think of anything and I can decide what is the best thing in my life. And I do take his suggestion and mark 'tindikan matematik' on the scholarship application latter. Do I regret myself?

I do ask the same question to myself over and over again. My grandfather disagree with my decission, my aunties also, my uncles, my friends and almost everybody who know me well. Everybody was saying, to be a teacher you dont have go oversea, just do it in 'maktab' like 'tok ayah' dulu. I do wish to be the first doctor in my family, to be the first daughter to go oversea like my abah and I also wish to be a doctor obviously. But I dont know at that moment Allah tak beri keyakinan waktu itu. Even when I am accepted to go to Kolej Mara Seremban (KMS), I still cant believe that I will be a teacher, something that I dont want to be in the first place. I took a long period that all these is happening and this is it and I cant change the decission I made.

Eventhough my 'tok ayah' always said that 'tulah suruh jadi dr tak nak', Iknow he is upset coz he rely on me to the doctor within the family, but I need to be strong. Maybe itu bukan rezeki. Walaupun dah lama kita meranceng sesuatu, mungkin itu bukan yang terbaik buat kita. Mungkin Allah tahu aku tak mampu lakukannya dan mungkin Allah ada perancangan yang lebih hebat buat ku. Eventhough all the characters are within myself, but I know I cant be a doctor anymore. Now I am a teacher going to be. Teacher. Another thing I realise, we cant hate certain thing badly cause maybe it will come to us sooner or later. Just like this. Sama seperti ( I couldnt remember a sabda or from Ayat quran) yang maksudnya, bersederhanalah kamu dalam islam. Yeah, that is true.

Itulah kisah antara cita-cita dan rezeki. Kita hanya mampu merancang, namun hanya Allah yang akan menetapkan segala-galanya. Hanya percaya pada takdir dan Qada' dan Qadarnya, pasti ada hikmah di sebalik apa yang telah DIA tetapkan. Moga aku menemui hikmahnya suatu hari nanti, AMIN.

Cabaran as a Muslim

Muslim in a foreign land. that is what I am now. It is a bigger challange than what I could imagine. Previously in Malaysia, we could get almost everything we want to eat easily. But now everything has change. Even to get halal chicken and meat we need to take a bus and it took us about half an hour to reach there. Alhamdulillah. It is better than nothing. Muhammad. It is an Indian stores and I thik I should Thank him. Without him, maybe I wiould end up as a vegetarian, which is something I dont want to happen. Cant imagine myself eating green leaves everyday. And since it is quit fat from our place, we bought a stock that will last for a month, something that I never seen umi done before. But yeah, we have to.

Then previously I am so happy when I stepped into a hypermarket, especially at the food department. But now, it is totally different. Even to buy a packet of biscuit, we need to check the ingredient first, afraid if it contains E471. Oh not only that, the list goes down. There are about 30numbers to remember which indicate that the food is non-halal. I once feel so hungry after my statistics class and I ended up stepped in a convenient store nearby.I grab a sandwish that look very attractive. But when I reach the counter, the lady (a muslim) told me that the bread is non-halal. And sadly I had to put it back and all things that I could do is stare at it blankly. Feeling frustrated at that moment.

The challenge not limit at the food only, but it also includes many other things. Here in University of Auckland, there are a lot of international students that could come from all over the world. Some of them might not familiar with muslim image and all. Some of my friend had received few questions from Kiwis about our tudung and our clothing. They asked what are we wearing (she means the scarf) and why are you wearing that? Is it because of faith or believe? It looks similar doesn't it? Really make us confused. Then some of them also asked us about our clothing. Why are we wearing long sleeves and long pants? The funny thing is my friend get shocked with the question asked and she answered because she didn't bring lots of cloth. And that guy automatically give a direction to the nearest cloth stores. Very Funny=) But the main points is, we need to tell them truth and let they know the beautiful of Islam. Maybe with our little explanation, hati mereka terbuka untuk lebih mengenali Islam. Who knows??

Thus now, I am not only being a Malaysia duta kecil only, I juga membawa tanggungjawab yang lebih berat dalam membawa imej Islam yang murni. Moga perjalanan hidupku disini diberkati Allah dan sentiasa dalm perlindungannya, AMIN.

Makan Buah langsat

Kelantanese use a lot of these kind of words to deliver a negative message. In a way to make it more positive. Beside, we believe that setiap patah perkataan itu adalah doa, thus we try our best not to say a negative word. This is a simple example. 'Makan langsat' is a symbolic to 'sesat' and 'tanam anggur' means 'menganggur'.

Ok back to the main story. Yesterday, I went to foodtown (we get our groceries there, kind of hypermarket but much smaller than Giant we have) and a 15minutes journey had become double. Tiring yet I still consider it as a sight-seeing, just to make it sound positive=)Here are some snap that I grabbed on the way there.

Look at the first picture, just focus on the road. That kind of road are all around Auckland. Berbukit-bukit. I wonder when I would have the courage to drive here? Emm I need to have a very high confidence first right. Another think I love about the picture is the cloud. Feel like touching it=)

The second pic on the left, just to focus on the bus stand. I like the bus stand here, made of glass. Have a modern touch there. One thing bout the public transport here, they are very efficient. Similar to our LRT system in Malaysia, they have a fix timetable and a digital information board. Where are all the cars? I see none of them and it just makes me comfortable to walk by. Whats more with no 'mat rempit' around=)

Symon Street. That is the name. And those kind of signboard are everywhere in the campus, indicating each faculty/building. And this is a commerce building. Look at the trees. The branches and the color of the tree shows that it is already old. Tapi best. Redup and relaxing.

Lastly, my own photo with k.husna resting after a very tiring walk, up and down the hill. Ignore the pimple k

Oh yeah, as I am walking by, a man sitting there suddenly give me a salam. Emm what should I do? Just to show my respect on him I nodded my head. Hopefully that is enough.

Picnic Time

Auckland Domain. That is where we're heading to last Saturday. We are exited about it, picnic, sounds great isn't it? I wonder what that place is? A beach I guess. Where else could be better?

Auckland Domain

2 comments

We walked for half an hour and still our senior keep this place a secret. And the beautiful about secret is that, we are free to imagine anything, and of course I imagine a beautiful beach crowded with people. But since we're walking up and down the hill, i am confused. It seems like we're getting further away from the beach. And I was right, the beach is now far behind. Auckland domain is obviously not going to be a beach.

After passed by block after block, finally I saw a 'pintu gerbang' written Auckland domain on. Owh it is a park=) I entered with smile from ear to ear. there was a huge green field where people always play cricket (that is what our senior said). Then we passed by a lake full of ducks, not one or two but a lot, maybe nearly a hundred of them. They were sleeping at that time, and they are so cute. But what I am curious about is, why dont they feel afraid? The same things goes to the birds here? Why dont they fly away when huamn are around? emm I wonder, and still dont have the answer.

Then, from far I could see a beautiful building up on the hill. It is a very big builing and look kind of old. Look like a white house, but it is in brown. Tak sempat nak tanye, the senior already answered the question. It is a museum. hahahaha yes it does fix the characteristic=)

Not far from the museum, I could see another senior sitting there preparing the food we going to have. As we reach there, we gathered around and start our majlis with Al-Fatihah. Then she tell us a short story and we played some game. It followed by eating. They planned it well and prepared it all. And we do nothing, just enjoy and have a great time there. Oh God, they are just too kind and I kind expressed it in word. Would I do the same thing if I have a new batch coming in? Emm I wonder.

The best part of the picnic is playing rounders and visiting the winter garden. Rounders is a game I haven't play for ages. I dont know if I still have the skill or not. When my turn came, I pray that Allah will help me. Dengan lafaz bismillah I hit the ball and I made it=) We won with 3-0 scores, and I am one of the person who help us to win=)

Next is winter garden. The most wonderful place I've seen in my life so far. It is magnificient and the flowers just awesome, full of coulurs. I wish umi abah nana eti fadhil n ijah could see all these through my eyes. I really wish so. Subhanallah. Indahnya ciptaan mu. See these yourself.

It really nice isn't it? If it is isn't, the fault belong to the photographer=) There are a lot more, but I dont have enough time to snap them. Panjang umur ada rezeki bleh pegi lagi, hopefully the next time will be with umi abah and everybody, amin.

Cooking Time

Oh no. Today is k.husna and fatihah turn to cook. That is what stated on the fridge, which is accidently become our notice board. Oh my god, I do feel afraid. What am I going to cook? Even when I stayed for 6months holiday I didnt make anything (like what nana said), how could I cook a complete dinner. Seriously, I am afraid. But alhamdulillah, I am not alone, at least I have somebody to coach me, and what makes me even more fortunate is that she is married and of course she had experienced in all these. Alhamdulillah. But I tried not to depend on her a lot. I try my best.

Emm that day I choose to cook 'daging kicap' (something that I cooked to fadhil and Izzah when umi n abah is not around, but actually it doesnt work that time). but at least I do know how to do it. After adding this and that, I just 'redha' n serve it on the table.

My heart couln't stop bumping when all my friends took their sit and put everything in their plate. When they start eating, no words are coming out their mouth. No comments at all. My mind begin to make my own conclussion, "oh no I failed again, dont want to cook anymore, and many more negative thought". Then suddenly I heard one of my friend voice, "emm tehah it does taste good, seriously. Ada rasa. manis kicap, pedas lada n sedaplah" That is what she said. My heart was like a flower who just feel the taste of water after a long drought. That is what I feel. I dont know wether that is the truth or not since only one of them spoke at that time. But I am thankful for that compliment. Thank you chikorn. I'll try my best in the next attemp. But at least I manage to cook and just feel proud of that=)

Wellesley Student apartment

Welcome to our new home, 2D-1,

That is my new room number.Located at the second floor of 14 floor building. A beautiful furnished apartment, that is my first impression. No wonder we have to pay 800 dollars monthly (mind you that is for each person not per person). It is complete with a set of sofa, tv (something that make me extremely happy), kitchen, dinner table, oven, heater, and the most essential point, it does make me feel at home. It was complete. Even all 'periuk' and things use in cooking like 'senduk' and 'sudip' was provided. But obviously that not everything can be use straight a way, especially cooking tools. And that is when I am grateful that I follow Umi's suggestion to bring those periuk, thank you umi=) Eventhough it sounds good but I still feel that the price is too much for a student. Imagine, for each apartment, they will get about 4000 dollar each month(there are 5 persons in each house) and that is a lot.

Since our house is at the second floor, I missed a wonderful view of Auckland city. The only thing I could see from my window is the basketball court outside and thats it. Nothing interesting. Another to make it worst, I can't open my window. The only moment my room could feel the softness of the sunshine is when I am at the university. At least there is a moment, much better than nothing at all right?

1st~Wellesly is on the left, pretty nice building here in Auckland

2nd~ View from a friend of mine house, nice=)

3rd~ From my window, a basketball court. Wish to play there one day.

In my house=)

1st~ full of blue, remind me of my sister nana. She must love it I bet

2nd~ my new place to test my cooking skill. Haha I'm not in the picture, my friend is busy, step out.

But after all, I do satisfy and alhamdulillah for such a beautiful home=)

Kia Ora

For the first time ever in my life i stepped my foot in New Zeealand at 1.30pm on 2nd January 2008 and my new journey automatically begin. How do I describe my feeling that time?exited?no, I am not.Happy? not really actually.Afraid? Worry? yeah maybe that is more suitable. My responsibility as a daughter, as a muslim, as a student, as a MARA scholars, and Malaysian trully begin here. that is quit a lot. But I know deep inside that god had specially choose me because He know that I can manage it, and if He believe in me, why I myself must have doubt within me??

When I first entered the airport, I couldn't stop myself from looking around. Yeah, I do feel like 'jakun' but just let it be. This is my only chance to look around and see what others country have. I do agree with some of my friend who said that our airport are the best compared to others. They do look ok but it is quite small and look ordinary. Not like our KLIA, looking huge and sophisticated. But I do not have any pict to prove that, sorry. Still not in the mood of taking picture at that time. The most important step at the airport is going thru the immigration. I am scared and my mouth couldn't stop from selawat and any other ayat that I could remember at the moment, hoping that everything will be ok. I need to declared some, not some actually, most of the food I bring including 'ikan bilis', sardin, serunding and etc. From behind I could see my friend's food being thrown in the basket. And I become more afraid. Then my turn arrive, they open my bag and start checking. And alhamdulillah everything was ok. I asked my friend, what did they throw? sadly they said, "serunding". Ya Allah, kau telah selamatkan serunding mek. Terima kasih banyak Ya Allah. My heart couldn't stop from saying alhamdulillah, Thank You Allah. I am the only one who are save and I am grateful for that.

When all the process finished, the university representative came to say hello and welcome us to Auckland. They bring us to our new home which take about 20min from the airport, The Wellesley Student Apartment. I'll continue bout it in the next post, need to rush to class. see ya=)