'Cikgu' Again!

It has been a hectic couple of weeks... I've got myself a job! Having been 'unemployed' for the past year, we decided it's about time I become 'financially-independent' again... Also, it got kinda boring staying in a room all day with just the computer for company. Plus, sitting around all day is certainly not good for one's cardiovascular's health. Anyway, I always have people calling me "cikgu" (teacher) even when I was a homemaker and had never considered a teaching career. Even later, when I found out what my actual life's calling is, teaching still gives me deep satisfaction... Thus, here I am, teaching again, only this time the students don't call me "cikgu" but "puan(g-local accent, lol)" or sometimes, "madam".. It's quite a convenient arrangement actually: the hubby's workplace is just almost across the street from the college; we go out and come back together - less than 10 minutes drive from 'home' and no traffic jams at all (utter bliss!). We are even considering staying in the 'homestay' for the duration of our stay in KT; after the exhausting weeks of work and not having the energy to do much housekeeping and cooking...! Here's a picture I took of one of my classes:

By the way, it's the first of Muharram tomorrow - start of the new year of the Hijriah calendar. So, Happy New Year and may the new year brings Hidayah and Peace to everyone!

Rainy Days...and TTI

It has been raining and raining and raining these past few days. Actually the rainy season started about a month ago and we do have sunny days once in a while; like on Eidul Adha, Alhamdulillah. Some people may find rainy days like these depressing but some like me may find it 'invigorating' somewhat. The days are cooler and refreshing to the senses. Of course, too much rain bring floods and destruction but curiously enough, people in the East Coast deem the monsoon season as a time for festivities and actually look forward to it! Hard to believe, but there you are.

Anyway, about 2 weeks ago the daughter came to KT as she had completed her 5th semester and wanted to spend sometime with us before she commerce with her practical early December (which is today actually). It is fortunate that the Friday when we took her to the Taman Tamaddun Islam (Islamic Heritage Park) the day started clear although rather cloudy. However, after about an hour there it started to drizzle and pour... Nevertheless, the Park is quite a remarkable place to visit actually. There are replicas of mosques from all over the world, including the Taj Mahal... Very impressive. Here are some pics, although we didn't manage to look at all of them in detail (due to the rain):

This is the Kubbah As-Sakhrah of Baitul Muqqaddis, Palestin (from afar)...

You can even enter it and see the 'hanging rock'...

Another view of the Dome

I think this is the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan

Front view of the Badshahi Mosque

Another view?

This one is Al-Haram Mosque from afar:

The Taj Mahal...

Kudus Minar, Central Java, Indonesia

Another view of the above...

Of course there are many more to see in the park, so if you ever come to KT, you must come for a visit. I think it's worth the RM10 entrance fee (of course try to come when it's not the monsoon season and you may enjoy it even more!)

Close Encounters of the Furry Kind...

Our home in Klang is breeding squirrels... Yup, that's what we found out when we went home for the Eidul Adha last Thursday. Of course we have had our fair share of resident rodents/creatures sharing our home for the last 13 years or so. Let see, we have had the occasional rats, bats, snakes and adding to the list - squirrels! Encounters with rats are usual - only you'd find me jumping on the the nearest table and commanding their disposal from there... As for bats: believe me, nothing is more terrifying than having a furry squeaking creature suddenly swooping down from the attic (yes, we have an attic unfortunately...that's one of the reasons we have so many little tenants...) and scaring the daylights out of you! Fortunately we haven't had bats for ages now. Don't get me started on snakes (it's either rats or snakes; one is the predator of the other?). I remember the one that curled up on the book-shelf which I thought at first was a toy snake propped there by one of my sons to play a joke on me.. Anyway we called up the fire-station and got some firemen to come and take it away. There was another one where the hubby found on the undercarriage of our car and he drove the kids to school with it (it was morning rush hour) hoping it will drop somewhere en route. Unfortunately it hanged on for dear life and so the hubby drove it to the fire-station (to the amusement of the firemen over there). So, anyway, squirrels are breeding in drawers and vases and we don't really know how to chase them away... Looks like they'll be staying when we are not...(sigh) Pictured below are not the squirrels we have in our home but I bet that's what they do when we're not around..lol!

(picture: courtesy of 6dependents.wordpress.com)

27th Anniversary

Yesterday (11/11) was our wedding anniversary; our 27th year together... Praise be to Allah, we are blessed with a happy marriage and 4 wonderful children. Of course, we went through the ups and downs of married life but with the Grace of Allah we are still in one piece (or two pieces...). What can I say about the hubby... he has always supported me in anything I do, never a harsh word and is always there for me or the children (God, there's a lump in my throat now...) As we usually do annually on this special day, we went out to dinner to a fancy restaurant...well, what can one expect in KT...we decided to try out the cafe' of a new hotel in town (Sumai). We usually order Western Cuisine; something I'm not usually inclined to cook at home. Unfortunately, the food is nothing to write home about... On the bright side, we didn't leave hungry and the dessert was lovely - fried ice cream. Ever had one of those? Absolutely yummy! However, I made the hubby promise to take me out again when we go back to Klang for a proper fancy restaurant food! Anyway, our most memorable anniversary dinner was the one we had for our 25th anniversary which was in Beirut. It was a belated one because we weren't together for the exact date so we had it the next year... well it was only 3 months later. The food was... different. The hubby loves Lebanese food, well anything Middle Eastern, actually. Here are some pics of the dinner date:

May the rest of our days together be blessed by Allah, always... love you hubby!

Home for two days...

Two days off for Deepavali found us on our way home to Klang after about a month leaving the old place. We were expecting the rambutan trees to be ready for picking but the fruits are not quite ready yet... The fish in the pond greeted us happily enough, though our good neighbour Kak Nab probably has overfed them. Look at them...they're Tilapias - not too troublesome to take care, breeds easily and what's important... they're good to eat.. In fact two of them ended as lunch, yummy!

One of the rambutan trees; though heavy with fruits, are not quite ripe yet to be picked...

However, ripe ones peeked here and there... this is the yellow variety - sweet, even when they're still green...

After picking, there you are, we gathered more than a basketful! The red ones are less sweet, I think, and they still need a week or two to really ripen but since we're not coming home until Eidul Adha, we picked them anyway. After distributing them to the neighbours, we still had plenty so we took a full basket to a good friend's open house on Saturday night and even the greenish ones were quickly gone!

Now, here's a picture of our lone dragon fruit just waiting for us to come home! We have only the one tree and for the past 3 years has borne us only about 3 or 4 fruits! Pathetic, I know, but it has been pretty neglected for much of the time...

The pic above was taken on Friday, the day we arrived home and the one below, the next day, the day we returned to Kuala Terengganu... isn't it amazing, how quickly it ripens? Just right for the picking!

The mangoes are still not quite ready yet - probabaly by Eidul Adha we'll be able to pick them, InsyAllah...

I simply love 'balik kampung'...*sigh*..

Eid Feasts!

It's been quite a while since this blog is updated. I've not been that busy really, but not having much to do tends to make one not want to do anything...if that makes sense to you! Anyway, we're still in the month of Syawal which means the Eid celebrations are still going strong. By the way, today is our last day of our non-obligatory 6 days of after-Ramadhan fasting. We've left them a bit too late, due to unforeseen circumstances... One of them being having to attend Eid feasts. Like the one we went to last Monday; it was held by PERMINT for its employees. It was quite a grand affair, located at the Taman Tamaddun Islam (I have yet to explore this interesting ground). Here are some pics from the event:

The cendol stall..

Riverside views...

One of my favourite; the tapai (or fermented glutainous rice - God, that sounds scary..)

The amazing way the tapai is wrapped - must be only in Terengganu...

Not one of my favourites - the jala emas (literally golden net?). Made from egg yolks; tastes too 'eggy' and of course laden with cholestrol (no offence Terengganuans and Kelantaneses!)

Some of the 'food-stalls' - they have nasi beriani, nasi dagang, nasi minyak (no nasi kerabu..aargh!), lemang, ketupat, bla,bla...

Now, this is another feast we attended - by accident! Last Friday we went for our usual exercise at the park, and lo and behold, everyone there is invited to an Eid feast organised by the park's Recreational Society! As the saying goes 'Rezeki jangan di tolak...' No wonder there was an extraodinary number of people at the park that day! However, we made sure that we cover an extra round of walking to get rid of the unexpected calories we were about to consume...

Eid Mubaraq!

Good bye Ramadhan - let us hope and pray that we will be able to greet you again next year, God willing... With the end of the fasting month, it's a time for joy and celebrations - actually only for those who had succeeded the tests of Ramadhan (not many, I bet!).

Same as last year, there are only 3 of our immediate family celebrating the Eid-ul-fitr in Malaysia; the hubby, the daughter (Kak Lang) and I. The eldest son (Bang Long) and his family are in Adelaide, the second son (Bang Ngah), in Melbourne and the baby (Adik) in Cairo. Friends used to ask me whether I'll be sad with most of my children so far away, especially on this special day... to tell you the truth, watching the tearjerkers they usually air on tv during the Eid-ul-fitr weeks had me crying my heart out more! I supposed with the advance of the communication technologies, the world has become smaller, so to speak. The boys telephone (don't know why it's cheaper to call from Australia to Malaysia than vice-versa) most of the time apart from text-messaging and we have a family yahoo-group to keep up with what's everyone up to, not to mention facebooks and blogs... and to think I used to count the pennies just to make a long-distance call from UK to Malaysia as a student during the holiday seasons 30 years ago! There was only another means of communication at that time, and that was writing a letter. (I actually begin to question the point of teaching how to write an informal letter at school when people usually never bother to write or send one). The art of letter-writing is gone, extinct...(just like some of the vowels in the English alphabet, some say - if u knw wht i mn...)

A couple of pics taken at the hubby's family home in Bukit Mertajam:

The whole clan - well, probably missing a few nieces and nephews..

Hubby and daughter

Anyway, here's wishing my Muslim readers Eid Mubarak and may Allah bless us on this happy occasion! (tried to download a video-clip of eid nasheed a few times but...never mind, just don't ask..it seems I'm still stuggling with technology..*sigh*)