Waikato

this post dah berkulat in my lappie.. never mind.. dah lama pun I'll post it anyway

The last few days in Christchurch were hectic.. things were falling apart and didn’t go as I planned. Unwelcomed ‘surprises’ made wanted to bang my head on the wall. I didn’t sleep for 48 hours before I left.. redoing some of the inaccessible work. PADAN MUKA.. lain kali buat lagi kerja last minute!

Lin caught me on camera stealing 40 winks at the airport cafe

I closed my eyes the whole way to Hamilton.. but I couldn't sleep.. my head already spinning. Arrived in the small Hamilton Airport, smaller than KT airport. Glad that Mrs Turkey Political Scientist was in the same flight, at least I could spend time talking to her while waiting for Mrs Kiwi Religion Researcher who was flying from Otago. Malas nak tunggu.. dalam otak dah nampak katil jer but I already replied her email saying I don’t mind waiting for another hour. Tunggu je la.. at least we can go dutch and get cheaper cab fare.

I love this lively Taiko Drum show by Wai Taiko during the opening, my heart beats faster with the rhythm.. the Conference Convenor was in the group, cool giler.

The conference went smoothly. I feel sorta out of place at first because my field is rather different from theirs. I only did a short presentation due to time constraint.. they squeezed in this year’s and past years research travel award winners into one morning session. Everything went well, my big thanks to NZ@sia & VUWChair of M@lay Studies for the sponsor.

darling P@ige

Mrs Kiwi Archaeologist brought her baby, P@ige to all session and good P@ige behaved well throughout other conference presentations. Perhaps P@ige had stage fright that she began to wail once her mom started her presentation, holding her in one hand… no worries, SuperNanny Ubi came to the rescue and took her away. She started to smile again in my arms.. ahhh.. heavenly. She looks like one of those babies in Pumpkin Patch catalogue. Looking at her, I wished I could get Mat Salleh hubby so can get cute white baby like her.. keh keh… on second thought, nahhh.. cannot, Mak is totally against that.

I'm now spending my lazy days at home until the weekend, I prolonged my stay.. the days filled with makan, attend kenduris, and cuddling the little ones.. and make fun of myself in front of the kids... I'll be away again starting this weekend. Take care everyone!

bye kiwis

This could be my last post before I leave Aotearoa.. am leaving to Waikato for a conference on Sunday, to Auckland and KL on Wednesday, and to Ganu on Thursday. I'll be around Malaya for a few months. I hope I'll get to to see everyone in the family within the first 3 days coz I'll be away from home most of the time after that. We'll have a family get together on Friday, I think.

Congratulations to my dear niece - Mawaddah Sobihah.. she got 5A for her UPSR. I know it's not a big deal, but I remember when I was her age, getting that UPSR result meant the world to me.. I really wanted to go to a girls' boarding school.. so the result was sort of a ticket to get me my Malory Towers dream.. in my case it was Sekolah Seri Melur fantasy (I read the Malay translated version, my English was very very poor, not that it is good now either!). Now I need to find sometime tomorrow to buy a present for Waddah and perhaps grab some souvenirs to bring home. Ops.. need to check how much do I have left in my Cashflow card.

Had 2 cups of coffee already.. how come I'm still sleepy??

Still a lot of things to do... haven't pack anything yet.. things are still here & there, haven't rearrange computer files to bring home from the office pc, my office still bersepah.. haven't prepared my conference presentation.. aiyoo... die die die!!

*something I forgot earlier:

My mum selalu pesan, "kalau nak jalan jauh.. mintak maaf dengan semua orang.. kita tak tau kalau...", so to all readers.. my apologies to all of you.. takut ada tersalah silap. Mintak maaf bukan masa raya je kan.. kan.

Born day

Your Birthdate: December 26

You lucked out the the skills to succeed in almost any arena. Put you in almost any business or classroom, and you'll rise to the top. You're driven and intense, but you also know when to kick back and cooperate. Your ability to adapt to almost any situation is part of what's going to make you a success. Your strength: Your attention to detail Your weakness: You can be a little too proud of your successes Your power color: Turquoise Your power symbol: Arrow pointing up Your power month: August

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

That doesn't sound like me *pondering*

cinta

Cinta - Melly Goeslaw feat. Krisdayanti

menapak jalan yg menjauh
tentukan arah yg ku mau
tempatkan aku pada satu peristiwa
yg membuat hati lara

di dekat engkau aku tenang
sendu matamu penuh tanya
misteri hidup akankah menghilang
dan bahagia di akhir cerita

cinta, tegarkan hatiku
tak mau sesuatu merenggut engkau
naluriku berkata, tak ingin terulang lagi
kehilangan cinta, hati bagai raga tak bernyawa

aku junjung petuamu
cintai dia yg mencintaiku
hatinya dulu berlayar, kini telah menepi
bukankah hidup kita akhirnya harus bahagia

cinta biar saja ada
yg terjadi biar saja terjadi
bagaimana pun hidup hanya cerita
cerita tentang yg meninggalkan
dan yg ditinggalkan
cinta...

Certain Indon songs can make me feel so mushy mushy lovey dewey.. It makes me feel good.. feeling like I'm so in love eventhough in reality l-o-v-e is just something out of reach.

me, myself & Irene

I cooked for my final raya guests yesterday. No more guests after this, enough. The last guest- my previous flatmate Irene who will go back to China for good next month. She came with another girl who's name also Irene.

I had 11 flatmates moving in and out of my previous flat within a year. I didn't get to choose them, the Accommodation Office did it. I like Irene. We only spent 3 months living in the same flat. She's a good friend that made me feel at home right on the first time I stepped into the flat. She's very clean, considerate and caring. There were days when I spent so many hours at the office and didn't go home.. she would come knocking on my office door to give me food, would make sure that I don't skip meals, took care of me when I was sick - almost like a mom, but no, she didn't nag. She was a flatmate from heaven! She used to brighten up the flat with fresh flowers she picked daily from around the flat & campus.

Irene has no religion but she tries her best to be good and treat others in the best way she could. When I look at her, at times, rasa malu sendiri...Aku ni.. tau yang Tuhan monitor 24-7, tapi still ada niat2 tak baik & buat bende tak baik.

Irene gave me a parcel when she was about to leave yesterday, and she did say that she wanted me to eat a lot to fit myself into that thing in the parcel. I opened it - a bright red Cheongsam.. size L! Tried it on, loose.. ok.. will eat more to fit myself into it... but nahh.. I can hardly gain weight. My weight never go beyond a certain number since the last 10 yrs. N'way, whatever the size, I love the gift!

Now.. I have nothing to give her in return.. am thinking of giving her my recent baju raya. baju dah pakai sekali bagi hadiah kat orang ok or not? Ubi the cheapskate!

enough of raya

nasi tomato (x3)
nasi ayam
nasi rampai
nasi beriani (x2)
nasi impit kuah kacang
nasi lemak
mi kari (x2)
mi goreng
laksa penang
lontong (x2)
roti jala
rendang
lasagna
spaghetti
lemang
samperit
batang buruk
almond london
tumpi
popia
mini popia
kek lapis serawak
kek lapis rempah
countless cakes & biscuits
etc etc etc..

Ubi went on eating rampage and ate them all in just 3 days... hang gila ka apa, Ubi?

After a sleepless night getting ready for Ubi's own open house (at a flat Ubi tumpang), days of eat, eat and eat at other ppl's house , Ubi suffers sore throat and coughs endlessly.. wishing she could stay in bed all day. *cough cough*

Eid prayer at Hagley Park on a drizzly Friday morning


Didn't go to Firework Show at New Brighton.. had my own in the backyard after our 'open flat'.

to raya or not to raya

Most parts of the worlds are having their Eid today. I’ll have mine tomorrow. I was in the dilemma whether to raya today or not. This raya issue has driven the Malays in ChCh apart.

We have a close knit Malay community here. I treat them as one big family. A week ago through our mailing list, some of the heads of the Malays announced the decision to have the Eid on Thursday and already arranged prayer and gathering for the Raya celebration on Thursday morning. At the same time the ChCh Mosque also plan for the Eid celebration and decided to have Moon Sightings to determine the Eid… if no moon seen, the Eid will be on Friday.

Earlier, part of the Malay community already have their final breaking fast and takbir to celebrate Thursday’s Raya while the other Malays decided to join other ChCh’s muslims waiting for the final decision from the mosque. Now the moon is nowhere in sight, the mosque committee announced that Eid will be on Friday. So there’ll be two groups celebrating Eid on different days in the same city.

I have no knowledge on hisab or rukyah or whatever method that people use to determine the Eid. I’m ignorant on that. But when I have to choose between the two, whether to follow the Malay gang or the mosque, I choose to follow the Christchurch Mosque decision. I don’t mean to show any disrespect towards the elders of the Malay community, I just decided to not to follow their decision this time. I’ll still join them in any future events. Just not today’s Eid. I mean, I just don’t see the justification why we have to detach ourselves from other Muslims (within the same area) and make separate decision when it comes to religious matters. There is only one Mosque in Christchurch, so I see the mosque as the centre of any decision regarding religious matters. I’ve made my decision, but just to make sure I’m doing the right thing I’ve been making calls asking opinions from family and ustaz in M’sia.

So I’ll be joining the mass Eid Prayer at the Hagley Park tomorrow… together with other Malays who are still fasting today and other brothers and sisters in Islam.

I really hope this disagreement among the Malays would not end up with masam muka.. after all Aidilfitri is supposed to be a day of forgiveness and to strengthen ukhuwah. Let us be one big family again.

Selamat Hari Raya & Maaf Zahir Batin.