It was AidilAdha yesterday. so how did i celebrate it this time? buffet @ coventry hahahaha so instead of having malaysian dish, we had asian dish! everything was oiishi!!!

Item 1

back-dated to wednesday 18 nov. previously received an email from d office, saying that there’ll b a group meeting on wed n they’ll discussing a study related to this group of Malaysian tesl students who are now in their year 1. so of course la wa went 2 uni earlier coz d email said something like “will any Malaysian please join d meeting” ola? cakap la direct. wa sorang je Malaysian yg senior kat situ. iskh.. berlapik-lapik pulak. anyway went to see my tutor n he said that actually some tutors are interested in getting these students as research subjects oopss research participants n he was not really keen about it. so wa was not involved pun. ceh! luckily wa met him. if i had waited for d meeting, most probably i’ll arrive in Leicester at 6pm. itu dah isyak. dahla hujan je seminggu dua ni. heavy rain. some areas dah flooded pun.

anyway wa got d 2pm bus so arrived there around 3.30pm. soooo hungry coz I only ate banana n drank coffee in d morning. met Kam on d way 2 city centre n we ate fried rice wit chicken masak pepper hehehe kat this Chinese restaurant. halal food is everywhere kat Leicester. so convenience.

Item 2

that night, tgh syok layan this Japanese movie kat internet, tiba2 ada chocolate cake landing dpn laptop. la…bila masa dia pg downstairs ambik cake? nasib baik it was not so chocolaty. wa bukan makan sgt cake yg fancy2 ni. yg paling wa x suka – cheese cake n black forest. nasib Kam x buat surprise beli those. wa sanggup pi hantar balik kedai n bought donut je hahaha

got a nice card n of course a nice birthday present. balik umah today n got another nice card n presents from my housemates.wah…dah 3 kali sambut birthday kat sini. tahun depan x sempat kot. insyaAllah dah selamat siap everything by that time. cewah..macam la rajin sangat hahaha

Item 3

To all my friends who sent me good wishes on my birthday, thanks a lot u guys! Terima kasih sangat2! Arigatou gozaimasu! Efkharisto! Syukran! Xie-xie! Shukriya! Kam sia! Kamsamnida! Merci! Grazie! err… that’s my limit, i guess ;)



pic1- in front of our house, d parade on remembrance day, i think..

on tv (bbc1 kot?), d royal family...
william

n my present! specially ordered by Kam wit all our pics in Prague. lovely!

semalam on d way to town, mamat tu telefon. dia ada classes kat graduate school. tu yg dia dtg. n asked me out. tapi wa dah janji dgn dahlia. x kan nak back-off sbb dah plan since last week. dahlia ok je tp wa yg x nak. plan tu tiba2 je. pastu kalu x layan, senyap sunyi sampai 2 minggu. childish pulak. susah jugak bila x tau position kat mana. tp bila ingat balik, boleh je kalu dia dtg n x telefon wa langsung. pegi je kelas n then balik umah. so apa actually motif dia ni?

anyway kebetulan hujan n wa pun puasa semalam. laaaagi la maaaalas nak kluar dgn dia after dah outing ngan dahlia. wa ada text n dia pun ada phone balik, cakap it's ok. may b next time. so hopefully, next time dia means the same thing ngan next time wa. lain kali bag tau la AWAL2!!!!!!!! MENDOKUSAI!!!!! ( apparently my favourite word nowadays! )

really2 love this picture!!

item 1

it's getting colder nowadays. today it's 8C. probably colder than last year, this time. i've skipped some classes. need time to revise n also a bit tired after re-reading my writing. my supervisor is confident that i'd finish everything as scheduled hahaha that's her, not me. but let's just say that i'm just partly convinced hehehe

item 2

my sister got a new job. good for her. i heard that it's a permenant one this time. i'm waiting for her to settle everything and may be, may be i'll buy a house somewhere near her office. just may be :)

btw, postal service is on strike. looks like no letter coming in or going out. for d time being. mendokusai ne? whatever.


pic: wit shu-er @ abbey field. it's almost maghrib, around 4.30pm. had to rush back coz isyak is around 6.30pm. apparently autumn is withering huhuhu

item 1
do i still want to write about my visit to istanbul? not in the mood... hmm may be later as in later next month? hehehe

item 2
i have started attending the classes. actually they're for the MA students so i just tag along. tired of looking at my writing n may be my laptop is also tired of looking back at me :-) anyway it was refreshing. listening to lectures, having discussions etc. sounds boring but after months of solitary writings, it's good to join the crowds. btw d group of malaysian tesl students are at my centre now. when did they arrive? early this month? may be. they seem to settle down pretty quick, may be coz they're in groups and have known each other for some time. okla kot.

item 3
my friend is going to be busy with her new tv show. hope she's refreshed as well after d trip. i was hoping that we could cover more places but time constraint. what to do. may be next time we can plan a longer trip elsewhere. insya Allah. good luck beb!

item 4
yup, confirmed. my supervisor is leaving by christmas. berat jugak dugaan Tuhan this time. but everyone was saying that she's still supervising all d final year students, watashi included, so hopefully everything will be ok. insya Allah.

item 5
my cousin is getting engaged to my former student! i taught her when she was 14, i think. a small world indeed.

item 6
surprise..surprise..mamat tu mintak hantar jadual kelas coz dia pun nak join. aisey, baru nak kena usha ngan mamat lain. tapi same country. kenapala wa x jumpa yg dari jepun??? kenapa??? hahahaha


random: am listening to kinki kids's song, anniversary. comforting...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aedNm8pd5Kg&NR=1
apparently it's not linked. type je la ek.

anyway , happy listening!

item 1
terasa malas nak update pasal turkey. next time la ek.

item 2
* my friend went back last friday after 2 weeks here. took her around je coz we planned to go to paris on d second week. takut budget lari. where did we go? hmm...she really loved stratford sampai pegi sana twice dalam 1st week. hahaha selama wa dok sini, x pernah lagi pegi sana selang dua hari tapi x pe, layan je. i also like d place :) anyway shakespeare centre dah up-graded so tiket pun naik sikitla.

ini dah kali ke berapa puluh wa masuk centre tu, wa pun dah lost count. 2007 punya tiket valid for one year that's y kalu pegi je sana mesti saja je masuk rumah shakespeare tu, tulis nama kat guest book. kalau ada org tgk betul2 mesti menyampah tgk nama wa. every month ada hahaha

terserempak pulak ngan makcik ni yg bwk anjing dia jalan2. ada masalah tu yg naik stroller. cute kan?

* she arrived on saturday ptg. d next day she seemed ok so i took her to coventry. aisey byk pulak borong. hahaha belum lagi 24 hours touch-down kat uk hehehe

* also took her to birm. as expected, mmg dia suka bull ring tu. besar kan n of course yk shops, but setakat window shopping je. 
kaki yg penat mengukur keluasan bull ring :)

* pegi mana lagi? aa..ada bwk dia jalan kat kenilworth n  pg jugak tepi (ehem...tepi je) kenilworth castle. ruins je pun. x yahla buang duit. lagi pun we're planning of going to blenheim palace kat oxford.

* during d weekends she stayed kat another friend's house so wa stayed kat library la from pagi sampai petang on sat n sunday tu.

* sempat juga keluar ngan mamat tu so kawan tu kenala tinggal kat umah sorang2. hehehe sori ya beb! kalau dia stay sini je, mmg wa x tinggalkan u tapi dah dia pun dtg dr jauh, so layannnn :D

* on monday, kam arrived fr msia tapi x sempat nak fetch her kat airport coz we went to oxford that day. kesian pulak. selalu kalu wa balik dr malaya pun, dia akan tunggu kat airport. heathrow ke, birm ke. maklumla beg kan banyak. tp dah janji hujung minggu nanti i'd go to leicester to visit her.

* pegi oxford kan on monday n trus ke blenheim palace. ada offer for one year ticket so ambil peluang la. lain kali bole masuk free coz pas tu valid until oct 2010. fuh best. anyway wa x jalan inside dgn my fren tu coz dia dah masuk dlm tour kat dalam. wa pegi tgk cinema pasal churchill kat bangunan sebelah. best juga tgk movie pasal dia. setakat baca info je mmg x interesting.

finally we went off around 4 coz nak kejar bus pukul 5.30pm. sempat lagi jalan sekejap kat town oxford tu. balik umah dah almost malam. weii esok flight to paris!!!

* next day took a cab coz coach pukul 6.30am. sampai kat luton, this n that, dah departure time. yg x best, my beg (yg my fren bwk, kesian dia) x lepas. gila betul la ea*y je* yg x easy tu. wa balik dr istanbul hari tu flight tu jgk tp lepas je. agaknya coz org x ramai so saja cari pasal suruh byr. hontou hontou hontou mendokusai!!!!!

* paris was lovely. 1st kat airport almost x ada queue. dulu dgn dahlia we queued for almost 2 hours utk immigration counter tu. so cepatla kita org ambil luggage n trus beli tiket. this time we stayed near sacre-cour. wa x pernah stay kat sana tp jalan tu mcm familiar. Alhamdulillah x sesat, sampai dgn selamat. bilik pun ok , ensuite n in good condition. sempit sikit tp x pe. bukannya nak tido dalam tu. petang tu jugak wa bawak my fren pg concord. sampai sana trus tunjuk kat dia eiffel tower. rasa happy bila tgk dia happy sgt2. bahagia rupanya kalu dapat tunaikan hajat org ya. ceewah!!!

sempat lagi berkenalan ngan amoi2 dr taiwan :)


* so jalan la sampai louvre n bwk dia pg shop kat situ. dah bekenan pulak kat beg longchamp. nasib malm tu x mengigau hahaha. after that jalan sampai notre-dame. on d way tu, jumpa this malaysian family yg on vacation jgk. kami panggil kakak je. entah2 tan sri n puan sri? hahaha nasibla. x  cam sgt. mlm tu sempat la ambil gambar kat moulin rogue n shopping food kat supermarket dekat hotel. bukan tesco..apa nama ek? lupa pulak.
kat taman on d way to louvre

*next day pagi2 dah pegi eiffel tower. ingatkan queue panjang coz dulu dahlia n i beratur almost 3 jam lebih baru dapat beli tiket. this time? x sampai 3 minit!!!! org pun x ramai. smpi boleh pose mcm2 gaya hahaha i like this one..

* after that we walked sampai hujung n had lunch wit eiffel as background ewah!

* then we went to arc de triomphe. ambil gambar lagi hehehe then continued walking sampai kedai LV. biasala setakat tgk je la harga beg yg ratusan n ribuan tu. agaknya peti kayu yg jadi hiasan pun mahal coz ada cop LV hahaha
yeay paris panas, boleh buang coat!

 * penat jugak jalan x berenti tp jalan jugakla. so after that we went to printemp. tempat shopping (lagi hahaha) this time dia mmg x tahan lagi so after 10 kali pikir, angkut beg longchamp satu hehehe ok la souvenir utk diri sendiri kan.

* petang tu sempat la beli souvenir sikit2 n jalan kat sacre-cour tu. balik hotel kjp n then pi lagi kedai cari food. kebetulan pulak mlm tu heavy rain so kemas barang n tido awal. next day dah flight balik uk.

finally gambar makan mesti ada :)

* balik uk on 8^th. 9^th petang my fren dah kena naik coach pg stantead coz jauh jugak. dlm 3 ½ jam. sent her off from coventry je n balik umah. sedihla pulok bila dia x ada coz 2 minggu dok gelak je buat lawak wit her. Alhamdulillah dia pun dah selamat sampai Malaysia. byk keje tunggu tu. all d best beb!

In summary, it was a PLEASURE having u here! I balik nanti (insyaAllah after finish everything) kita pegi travel lagi ok!

Turkey in 10 days

Istanbul

(seems like years ago...)

we came back from cappadocia via nevsehir airport n by the time we arrived in attartuk airport, d van was already waiting for us n drove us to our hotel. good. that afternoon, our first inspection was d istanbul archeological museum n topkapi palace. just browsing around. that evening we went to d blue mosque, which is 2 minutes walk from our hotel for maghrib prayer.

(as viewed from our hotel, so dekat)

it felt sooooo good to pray in a mosque with all d jemaah. Alhamdulillah. actually i had this idea of praying solat hajat at 7 mosques in istanbul since there are lots of mosques there. i mean, we're going to visit them anyway, so why not pray as well. so that was one of our quests over there, apart from shopping hehehe

in summary, u need at least d whole day to visit ALL d buildings in topkapi palace. sekian, terima kasih hehehe

called my family last night to wish them eid Mubarak. it was 2am n was still wide awake. woke up around 6am after about 2 hours under d duvet, trying to get some sleep. n today is d MOST depressing raya EVER! just heard that my supervisor might be leaving d department. it could be rumour but it still bothers me. need to see my coordinator tomorrow to get d real story.

mendokusai!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's Aidilfitri morning already. I miss my family :(


just luv d song+lyric+singer

語り継ぐこと (Hajime Chitose)

作詞: HUSSY_R 作曲: 田鹿祐一

なみだ いくつ 零れて
新月の夜 ひとつ海が生まれた
遠く紡いだ言葉
語りべたちの物語の中に

むかし だれかが ここで
張り裂けそうな胸をそっと開いた
歌に奏でてずっと
どんな場所にも携えてゆけるよ

消さないで あなたの中の
ともしびは連なりいつしか
輝くから

語り継ぐことや伝えてゆくこと
時代のうねりを渡って行く舟
風光る 今日の日の空を
受け継いで それを明日に手渡して

指に 額に 髪に
あなたの向こう 垣間見える面影
もしも時の流れを
さかのぼれたら その人に出逢える

この世界 生まれてそして
与えられたあらゆる名前に
願いがある

いとしい笑顔に心動かして
嵐に揺らいで立ち止まる時も
守りたい すべてを捧げても
思いは力に姿を変えるから

語り継いで 伝えてゆくこと
時代のうねりを渡って行く舟
風光る 今日の日の空を
受け継いで それを明日に手渡して

credit to: http://www.cherryblossom-garden.com/2/hajimechitose3.html#kataritsugu

Cappadocia

Day 3 Part 1

After breakfast, went down 3 wait for d tour. Bee did not join us this time n we were surprised to see Nihat coz he mentioned yesterday that he wont be around. Eee? He looked a bit tired so dahlia was saying “apa activity dia semalam” hehehe

Just d family from Istanbul n us. First stop was Devrent imagination valley. D camel n seagulls were easy but when Nihat asked us 2 look 4 napoleon n d lion, it was quite difficult. But at last, we could ‘see’ them :)

  see unta at our back

  apparently topi napoloen

 

hehehe

Second stop was d Zelve open-air museum. U could see houses carved in rock (of course la not perfect) but u could sort of imagine d living room, kitchen etc. most of d places are now occupied by d pigeons. D locals would come once a year 2 collect d *tuuuut* as fertilizer hehehe

used to b houses 4 people

n now, pigeons :)

U could also see remain of a seljukian mosque; a bit of mimbar carved onto d wall.

 

D walking was not as tiring as yesterday but d day was still hot ma!!!! Gelap aku :(

 

Then we went 2 Pasabaglari or fairy chimneys. Again formation of rocks left by d lava long, long time ago. I didn’t take many photos, only these…

 

U can check out this website. Good pictures :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jordicarmona/2450716533/

 There was also one unta for rent, n yes, it’s smelly hahaha

 D fourth stop was at Avanos where we saw a demonstration of pottery-making using hittie technique. After that they showed us around d show room…

 

but then dahlia asked whether they have any exclusive displays of ceramic so they took us to a different room. Of course everything was more pricey but definitely exclusive.

D lunch was in Urgup, in a cave-like-restaurant. As expected, biasa aje. X sedap pun tp janji kenyang okla…

  

(I couldn’t upload more coz of some restriction so ja, matta ne :))

to be continued ....

 

Cappadocia

Day 2 Part 2

After lunch (yg x sedap tapi jadila) we went to Yaprakhisar where d u can see d volcanic rock outcroppings shaped like cones. It’s part of d Ihlara valley, I think.

close-up

Then we headed to Agzikarahan where one of 13^th century seljukian caravansary is. D place was used to accommodate d traders during d silk road period. Since it’s closed now we couldn’t see what’s inside but u can check d website below; d pictures look good.

(http://www.galenfrysinger.com/agzikarahan_turkey.htm)

                                                                      This’s only d entrance pict.

That was  last stop in red tour n we went back to goreme 4 dinner. Watashi… waiting for sunset at our balcony ehehe

btw d book is good; turkish odessey; lots of info on turkey from byzantine period

 

along wit dahlia n our visitor :)

ok that's d end of D2P2. to be continued!

You Are Seductive and Ruthless

You are the total package - suave, sexy, smart, and strong. You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know. You don't always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don't have as much going for them as you do. You are a very lucky person. Things just always seem to go your way. And because you're so lucky, you don't really have a lot of worries. You just hope for the best in life. You're sometimes a little guilty of being greedy. Spread your luck around a little to people who need it. You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out. Success comes rather easily for you... especially in business and academia. Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. You're a strong person. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are balanced, orderly, and organized. You like your ducks in a row. You are powerful and competent, especially in the workplace. People can see you as stubborn and headstrong. You definitely have a dominant personality.

hmm..most of d statements seem quite accurate. now..is that a compliment?

Cappadocia

Day 2 Part 1

This would be my 1^st time experiencing hot air balloon ride. Hmm..scary jugak coz I’m afraid of heights hehehe d driver came to fetch us around 5am n we had some drinks before going to d balloon site. There were others too n some have already taken off.

 

There were 18 of us in one basket n no, we didn’t know each other :)

There were lots of them, see...

Lucky there were not many people within our sub-basket (I don’t know d term, sorry hehehe) so we could take a lot of aerial photos n nice ones too. I particularly love this one… d blue sky n everything *sigh*

our shadow :)

N this was when we went higher n I was a bit gayat ehehe

D pilot was a funny person, making jokes all d time but he was very serious of our safety. At times, he scolded some young ones who tried to tip-toe over d basket. X sayang nyawa kot? Hehehe at one time d balloon was like slanted to one side n he said “Ok people on d right, be prepared. We’re going 2 crash but if u can reach d apricot tree, feel free 2 pick up d fruits” ehehe ada ka bole bg idea mcm tu?

  bila masa tangan dia kat bahu aku pulak?

It was only one hour but okla, once in a life-time. N we got certificates after that. Wonder if it could included in cv? Hmm…

 

After breakfast, d tour agency sent a coach to fetch us for d day tour. Our tourist guide was Nihat, a nice young man who speaks English fluently. He’s Turkish but I think he could be Jewish, based on his surname. Wallah hu a’lam. There was a woman sitting in front of us n a family at d back. We greeted everyone n then Dahlia said “dah start huru-hara” n suddenly d woman turned around n said “Malaysian?” we said “Yea” n she shouted “Me too”! hehehe of course la we started chattering n Nihat kept smiling n shaking his head, may be because we talked non-stop hahaha

The family was from Istanbul; father, mother, daughter, son n daughter-in-law. They were probably shocked seeing us making all huru-hara in d coach  hehehe

D first stop was d Derinkuyu underground city n it used to be a city!

People actually lived there. We could see different areas such as d kitchen, living room, church, school, stable etc. It was quite spacious so I didn’t feel trapped even though I am claustrophobic.

After that we went 2 this lake which was something u would not expect around Cappadocia. It was picturesque.

(should have written down d name when Nihat told us..iskh..)

D third stop was d Ihlara canyon. Not as vast as Grand Canyon but ok la :)
Nihat was explaining about d trek to d family...

U can see d formation of valley made by d lava long, long time ago..

We were supposed to walk 4km (under d shades, thank God!) to Belisirma village. Along d way there were some small churches with fresco drawings. Mostly on Christ n his life-story. It was so tiring though, walking for more than 2 hours but everyone kept making jokes so it was rather entertaining and Bee suddenly said, “Abang, bila nak sampai ni?” Dahlia n I burst out laughing coz it’s been so looong time since we last heard someone said “Abang”. Of course Nihat didn’t realiase that Bee was talking to him hahaha

 Finally we arrived at d village n had our lunch by d river bank.

Resting, after lunch wit lovely company… hehehe

 

To be continued....