Ignorance…

Hi everybody. Quite a long pause from me this time, so I feel I need to update. Thank you Mas for calling this morning, I realize that I have been very quiet lately. The first most important thing is I should mention is that I am with child. So, the sickness, the tiredness, the business of a working and studying life does effect my health. First time in my life I got a lot of MCs. Secondly, I started my formal education as a paying student for semester 1 in UKM, hence labwork results should be presented in 5 weeks time. I have no idea how to do that since the lab is going to be renovated for two months starting next week! Third one, I have started teaching chemistry for pre university level since mid June, it is fun but very time constraining. Each class is only 1 hour and there are usually 7 application and mathematical questions to be discussed. And the student are not cooperative nor responsive except for some. In my opinion, this batch is really different from the previous ones. And they lack communication skills. I have a student came to me and use Kelantan dialect to ask question assuming that I understand her. I found it rude because I never speak to them in Malay, let alone Malay with certain accent. They dont know how to speak to people other than themselves. Shy is not the word, its ignorance. They ignore the society. They ignore other people. They refuse to think about how well they should blend themselves in public. I dont know. We were taught to be self centered, so dont mind the surroundings. If your neighbour is sick, dont bother. If your neighbour’s car broke down in the early morning, just ignore it and do your thing as usual. If you help them, you will be troubled. We just dont mix around, let alone going to the surau to perform all 5 prayer in jamaah. Jauh sekali!  We are more attached to the computer than to our mother! Ask ourselves all these questions…..

A generalization on Malaysians.

This topic is very serious. I was on my way home from the laboratory in UKM, heading towards the library, PTSL (because I was supposed to meet Mas for her to return the MUET books she borrowed from me) when I saw a coloured girl walking down from the PPS road in front of the Dewan Gemilang. I stopped, and asked her where she wants to go. 

“Where are you going?”

“Outside”

“I want to go to the library, can I drop you somewhere?”

“Yes, at the Canselori”

Then she sat next to me in the car.

“Where are from?” 

“Sudan. Are you Malaysian?

“Yes. Of course I am. Why did you ask that? How do I look like to you?”

“It is weird. Malaysians never did this. Very weird”

Silent. How disgrace it is to have a foreigner took note of something like this.

“Well, I think I am different. I have been there, staying in a foreign country, walking very far everyday …. ”

“That explains it”

I need to change the subject, I dont want to condemn my race.

“I know a Sudanese, his name is Khalid. Do you him?

“Yes”

We arrived in front of Canselori building.

“I will drop you here”

“OK, thank you. God bless you”

Moral of the story:

1. People around you observe and judge. We are getting international, and if the foreigners can easily make this kind of generalization, we should think and act. It is true? How can we change this?

2. Why do other people think we are very self centred, and never care about others? Maybe because we never help others in need? So, think my fellow friends. What one thing that we do today, does not give benefit to us, but to others? Try making a list.

I miss you, Ayoh!

Whenever I miss my dad, I would browse through his website: http://www.matzakaria.com. This weekend, I am not going to see him, as my mother and Asri the Pok Su is going to Trg. He is a great man, and I wish I can become like him. He comes from a poor family, and manages to work hard and changes his life with a lot of help from a lot of people. He told us stories about his childhood, which I could not imagine because it is unimaginable. His kampung life, his friends, his (our) relatives, all effected the transformation. He wants to help his people now, his 35 years being away from Trg, learning and searching, gaining experience has finally being recognize, he is on a mission to make his people to ‘wake up’.

The following is  written by him, in searching for a true friend who once gave him a few cents for school expenses.

A Little Too Late for So Little for So Much

But at last I did it. That had made my memory a bit “unstressed”. 2009 Mar 30 Mon ca. 10.30 pm. While strolling to Pengkalan Maras with MoktarMekAbang, my boy-time folkmate, and a cousin, for an ‘ikan bakar’ treat, told me that his workmate who I knew as Mahat, a distant relative of my father, had a elder brother who had passed away, ca four months ago, aged seventy plus. His elder brother, the one no other than that who had carved permanently in my memory. Which had been unweathered to this day by the heat or the cold of the night, or by the acid or monsoon rain. The elder brother who I knew as AbangWel who had lived nearby my father’s sister place Batu 6. Who had played such a vital ‘devine’ role in the making of my life during the period I was a timid boy walking to and fro in the mid-day heat, or wet of monsoon rain, to Sek Keb Bukit Tunggal to finish my primary school in the early 1960’s. And during this period of time, whenever he crossed me (and my brother) swarming with school folkmates on the tarmac road, on his bicycle either heading to Bukit Datu ferry for work in Kuala Terengganu, or going home, he never failed to drop for me a few cents. He never failed every time he crossed, even once. The few which was so much to me then. He was like MakSuCheBah who fed me in the school canteen whenever she saw I was hungry, and centless. So, while Mahat was stepping off from the back seat of the V6, I grabbed from my rear right pocket the smaller pack. Perhaps two or may be four, or may be more hrm, and asked him to pass it on to AbangWel’s widow. It was very little for once so much. It was a great relief, feeling like just arrive home from a long oversea away. A little too late though.

From his pages:

http://www.matzakaria.com/fototeks/a_2009.html

Bagan Lalang & Talentime Show

Hi everybody. Thank you for coming, reading and commenting. I do enjoy communicating virtually, because I find talking in real life sometimes easily lead to bad mouthing and complaining etc, which is something that I tried to avoid. So, here I am writing again. One of my students, Azri asked this morning, ‘Where did you get the idea to write all these stuff?’ I replied; ‘What I am writing is my thoughts. It is not difficult to get in touch with your feelings and then write it down. Write whatever is in your mind. It is easy.’ and then he started writing his blog.

Now, back to my stories. We went to Pantai Bagan Lalang in Sepang last weekend, on the way in the bus in front of Bandar Enstek, we saw a lot of traffic police going towards F1 Sepang. We went to accompany and create a rehlah programme for pre tamhidi students from China (all of them are muslim from birth) and we had a good time. Half of them have never been to a beach, and as soon as they stepped out from the bus, they were in the water. I am really greatful that we did not decide to bring them to the East Coast because they might drown!

My girls loves the beach as well. I have no problem at all with Arifah, she just tag along with the Chinese students, but Aidah as usual is on me all of the times, except when I am in the water. We created games, who get the most ‘kepah’, bowling using mineral bottles, building sand castle, army games and running on the beach. We even had to do group discussions in the water! Can you imagine, they wont go into the lecture room for indoor activity and discussions. During the night the activity is eating, because the director of the programme Ust Muhammad Ridhwan Rajendra bin Abdullah had bought and marinated lots of fresh meat, chicken and fish. We had a great BBQ with a lot of baked beans, bread and salad; Madinah style. Ust Ridhwan stayed in Madinah for 10 years before he decided to come back and work here. Anyway, it is nice to know his wife, Pn Yusnita. She teaches Arabic languange too, but to adult students in Subang Jaya. We arrived home, at 4 pm the following day after another swim and play in the open sea.

Now, the next event for me is the Program Penutup Aktiviti Pelajar yesterday. The students called it; Tamdidians Talentime Show. Most of my students performed; English choral speaking, Arabic pentomin, nasheed etc. I took this opportunity to snap a few pictures of Cikgu Fatimah and Cikgu Rahim, my ex-teacher from matrik but now becoming my collegues. I am going to compile all my teachers photo in my FB soon. OK, that is all for now. Good luck my students; I hope you will get good results.

A week’s summary

This week, I did not over stressed myself. On Tuesday, I went to Nilai 3 after work, to buy 12 metres more of our theme fabric / colour for Muzani’s wedding this July. The date is just around the corner, yet no physical preparation were made on the house. I need to initiate something soon especially Mynie’s ‘thing’. Now, I had a nice stroll just for an hour . Have a look at some baju kurung siap, lining ones, which cost only RM20. On Thursday I went to the bank, finished some official monthly business and then went to Pasar Tani. I havent been to one since like 5 years ago. It is quite different now. The stalls are nicer, more colourful with new theme. The products sold were improved from last time. Added ones are, pizza (RM1.50 for slice and RM12 for the whole box). At least two stalls are selling cakes, some frozen kuih, kerepek etc. 2 stalls sells lauk pauk. 2 stalls sell nasi ayam and nasi minyak, 2 stalls sell chicken… come to think of it, there are only two stalls for everything. Every hawker wears the same apron. I bought 2 kuih pau (ayam and daging), a cooked ikan duri for Eddy to break his fast, a very moist chocolate cake and 3 RM1.20 jagung for the girls. Today, ust Ridhwan invites me to be the judge in the students’ Arabic Pentomin, but I rather stay at UKM to do some reading because I am not planning to do any experiment yet. Oh, my student Ihsan gave me a savoury from Mesir, its delicious, thank you!

A trip to Port Dickson.

The bus arrived late. The registration of the students is supposed to be held at 3.30 pm that Friday, but we arrived at Kem Brindley, Kolej UNITI, Port Dickson at 5.30 pm. They had their briefing, ice breaking, leader selection, division of LDK groups etc and we had our dinner at 6.30 pm. Then I checked in the so called Chalet Pulau.

Both the girls were excited to see the open ocean and the beach. They cant wait to get their feet and hands on the sand. So, I let them be just before the sunset. It was heavenly. Later, we rushed back to the chalet, have a shower and went to the surau for the kuliah by Ust Nizam (staff of Kolej UNITI) until Isyak. The girls were cooperative, reciting the wirid together, and in one occasion asked to be ‘toiletted’. Then we had a ceramah motivasi on team building by En Saiful, also a staff of Kolej UNITI. The event finished at 11.30 pm. It was raining cats and dogs, but the night walk is on. Each students had to walk alone in the dark into the jungle. They are only guided by a string of ‘tali rafia’, and from what I have told, some boys just bumped into a large tree and hurt their heads. They finished at 1.30 am, but I did not join this activity.

The next morning, I knew they woke up early for their Subuh prayers and kuliah, buat I arrived at their ‘senaman pagi’ session at 7.30 am, alone because the girls are still sleeping. I followed their ‘poco-poco’ for 15 minutes and then rushed to the chalet to get the girls ready. At 8 we were having our breakfast in the dining hall. Later, we met at the Laman Uniti for briefing on how to use the compass. Apparently, they are going into the jungle again and they are going to get lost. And with only the compass as their guide, they have to find the way out. I joined them just before after they vanished into the woods. Aidah was bitten by the mosquitoes very badly, that I had to put the ‘balm’ all over her body. She did not complain a bit, as long as she has me to carry her… Arifah by the way, kept asking when she can play on the sand again. We dropped by at the Hutan Lipur Pasir Panjang by foot on the way back to the chalet. We were exhausted by the hill climbing that after we had the shower, the three of us took a good afternoon nap. I was awake at the noise coming from my phone. One of the students called, it is time for lunch. We had lunch, then head for Zohor prayer, and off we went to the beach. Arifah and Aidah played a lot of sand. .

 

Later, the students gathered and they were taught on how to build a raft using empty drums and bamboos. I played with the girls at the beach and found ‘remis’ by accident. Later, when the rafts are ready, we climbed on the speed boat and went to the open sea. It was great. The breeze, the scenery, the shouting of the students, trying to beat one another. 

Later, we went back at the chalet. Arifah was so tired and she is being so nice. I can tell from her face that she is very tired, but she just follow what I told her to do. We went to PD Sanctuary Resort for a treat of a BBQ dinner from the camp organizer, and stayed there for the night.

The next morning, Arifah played in their Sukaneka event and won two towels!! Way to go girl! I am very proud of you. After that I let them played in the pool, and at 11.30, we were all set up to go back to the camp. I was not able to attend their closing ceremony because, Arifah after being so active, has a very high temperature. After lunch, the bus came and we arrived in Sutera Indah at 4.00 pm. What a trip! I am glad that my girls had fun at the beach and on the bus.

Angau

I am still obsessed about the latest paperback I read last weekend. It is called Mad about the Boy by Maggie Alderson. I know I should not spend a lot of time on this. So yes, I did not read it like 10 times, but I flipped through the scenes so many times, I can picture the whole act in my head. In fact that particular book is still laying under my pillow. How James is very sensitive of Antonia’s emotion, how they are really mad about each other, how everything is so wonderful when they are together. Antonia met him at the gym, in her effort to get slim again after a painful break up with her husband which turns out to be gay. Their encounter was a coincidence, they become friends and suddenly she realizes she is having a teenage crush on him. When I was reading, I was laughing and smiling and becoming jelly all at the same time. I enjoyed the book so much, that I tried to explain it to my other half. I looked up the author, and her other books. I would certainly read them. The last time I feel like this is when I read The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella in Stoke on Trent! I cried on that particular night because it is so touching… and my focus there would be the relationship between her and him. It is an art. I mean, you look at your husband and then you ask him: Can you guess what am I thinking right now? Most of the times he got it right, and sometimes it is not quite right, but what I am saying is; how many of us has somebody who knows you with just one look? I am lucky in this sense, because not only my husband can read my mind, my parents and a couple of names can too. I am so transparent, some people would say. Because I dont keep inside what’s bothering me, I tell people in my own different way. For example, I tell my students almost everything. I hope they can learn from it. Yesterday, I killed my 2 hours time while waiting to be their judge in an Islamic english song competition by going to Pusat Sukan to join the senam robik. And guess what, there is a gym there. And I tried all the machines, imagining that I am the Antonia, and James is beside me… their conversation… I played it all… So, that’s it. I dont know when I will be over this crush on James… wishing that my other half would read this book which I dont think he will, and understand why I am so crazy about this James fellow. So, moral of the story: dont read romance novel, you would end up like me!! ha ha

What a day!

Let me tell you what happened to me last night. We went shopping at the hypermarket in BBN and it was after Maghrib when we were on the way home. At the UIA Campus traffic lights, my husband realized that the temperature of the car is very high. Then, we stopped at the petrol station nearby before entering Nilai Toll. My husband tried to fix the problem, opening the air tube connected to the radiator, putting water in place etc. Nobody stopped and asked us what went wrong, may be because we parked at a parking lot for tyre pumping.

Half an hour later, a gentlemen stopped and asked what happened but then left. Later, an Indian came, he introduced himself, and wow! He is a mechanic. He said our water pump broke, and because there is no more water, the pipe below the radiator leak and he can fix it straight away that instant, if we follow him to his workshop. My husband asked him what is the price of the water pump, he said he dont know. My husband asked when should we replaced the water pump, he said should be after 2 years. Responding back to the mechanic, my husband said “I am sorry I cant come with you because once you have touched the car, I cannot claim from the insurance, because probably this damage is cause by the accident we had last month which was fully insured. The man was upset, he fled with his Kancil immediately. Later, I asked my husband. “What make you so sure that the man was trying to cheat you?”. My husband said,” Firstly, the man doesnt know where the water pump is. This is understandable because not all mechanics know about the features of a BMW, but he doesnt even know that there are two tubes connected to the radiator. That man touched the opener to add water and didnt bother about the other opener next to it for air outlet. All this man wanted is to get the car to his workshop, and open something up and then said you can not go home with this car, the part will be bought tomorrow etc….. So now I understand. My husband said the price of a new BMW water pump is RM1000+ and it can last up to 5 years, and we have 2 more years to go before we should replace this one.

Later, the owner of the petrol station came, asked us what happened, he gave us a torch light and some water to drink. We are still alone and I am depending on my husband to decide what to do, for I am occupied attending to the girls. They understand what is happening because I said: “Arifah Aidah, mari kita main dekat sini sekejap sebab kereta Abi rosak, Abi kena baiki dulu, kita tunggu ya…..”. I am grateful that the weather is good (not raining) and the sky is clear (we sang twinkle twinkle little star so many times).  At times like this, I always remember the Italian movie called Life is Beautiful. The father manage to make his son imagine that the whole World War I is a game of hide and seek. The boy is happy all of the times, hiding for hours and hours, up until the moment when he won the so-called prize: riding the tank, without realizing that the father is about to be sentenced to death on the other side of the place. This is what I am trying to do. Be happy girls. Abi and Ummi will solve this problem.

By the way, it is already 10.15 pm. Then a man approached, he offered to hold the torch light while asking what was wrong to my husband. And one thing lead to another, he was going to escort us back to Bangi, no matter how long it takes. We took a lot of water in mineral bottles complimentary of the petrol station owner, and then we started the journey. After we got to the toll and “logged in”, we stopped for 45 minutes, and then under the fly-over junction to KLIA we stopped for 30 minutes… so I was thinking, God knows when are we going to reach home!

At Km 285, I saw the emergency phone and gave an idea for the PLUS tow truck to come and send us home, or at least to the nearest toll. Instead, two Polis Bantuan PLUS came and help us. He said the amount of water in the radiator in not enough and in order to fill in the water there are certain techniques…etc, he end up teaching my husband about the cooling system of the car. Half an hour later, we arrived home nearly midnight and the temperature of the car is under contol and normal the wholetime. We still have to send the car to the workshop, though.

Interesting enough, this man who escorted us happened to be a marine engineer, my husband’s junior in PUO, also a senior of my brother Zidni in SAS, whose fiancee is a friend of Zidni’s wife!!! He stayed the night at our house and when I left for work this morning he was eating the nasi lemak I cooked for us. 

Moral of the story:

1. Being streetsmart saves money, a lot of money, we might loose at least RM500 to the mechanic at that petrol station. So, start learning about surviving skills (Kemahiran Hidup), like gardening, fixing the bulb or painting the walls etc..  

2. And the world is small, anywhere you go, you will meet somebody who is connected to you somehow. So be good to everybody especially on the road. You dont want to hit a car and then realize that the driver is your ex-teacher or your ex-girlfriend’s mother etc…

3. Dont put the pressure on the children in whatever situation you are in. Be happy and every problem has the solution. Senyum sokmo!!!

Yoga

What are the odds of this things happen to you.

I was reading the news, and then I came across MM’s blog writing about how ridiculous it is for the Majlis Fatwa Kebangsaan to forbid Yoga for muslims … I am quite surprise by this views, it is like they are questioning and condemning our ulama’s whose the Pengerusi is my big boss, Yg Bhg Prof Dato’ Shukor Hussin. I was furious. I was about to send the link to his secretary when I decided that I am not in the position of doing this sort of things (who am I?) when my mobile rang and somebody on the other end was trying to persuade me to come and enjoy a RM100 Yoga class for free in Mid Valley. Is this a coincident? Yes, I think.

Ramadan Mubarak and Happy Eid

Salam everybody.

OK mynie, I will try to update more frequently. But sometimes I dont like updating without any picture. It would take me longer, to get the camera, uploading it and so on…

Now, about Ramadan. I cant believe that it has been 10 days now, how time flies. We are delighted, having to fast and iftor in our own sweet home. Yesterday, I went to the Bazaar Ramadhan in Seksyen 16 for the first time, and I dont like it. I prefered to have home cooked meal. I think I have food poisoning this morning by having the so-called kebab (I missed UK’s kebab!)and murtabak.

We had our tarawikh at home, never missed. The girls were jumping on the bed, playing with their toys and dolls, always excited with all the playing because we have converted the 3rd bedroom to become their play room. The utility room downstairs has become my study room. They are active at night for sure. They dont seem to bother about us praying, but sometimes Aidah would come beside me and pretend that she perform the rukuk and sujud. Sometimes she would sit on my lap and perform the doa.

I think that’s about it. This year we would celebrate Eid in Trg after 3 years having it in the UK (2 times) and Bangi (1 time). Happy Eid to everybody.