Tirana Trip

Dah berminggu balik baru hari ni teringat nak write something about Tirana. hehe. Satgi tak tulis kang, takut tak ingat plaks kenangan.

ANyway, the Tirana Trip was my first trip with Aaron alone to a foreign country. Needless to say, I was a bit apprehensive. Yela. tak leh imagine how the country is like and etc.

SO, earlier on, when I booked the hotel, I booked the airport shuttle as well. SO, sesampai je, memang ada orang tunggu kat arrivals with my name on a piece of paper. Neway, I tulis point form je lah ek.

- Tirana is clean!
- The place reminded me of Kota Bharu. Its small and the main attractions are within walking distance.
- Aaron was hot stuff kat sana! Kejap2 kena gomol dan kiss by strangers.
- I heard azan berkumandang in Tirana because its major population are muslim. Ironically however, Halal stuff are not that easy to find.
- Tirana tak ada KFC atau McDonalds. Shopping complex pon macam tak de! Brands that we usually see in EU like H&M, C&A pon non ado! Its still not really opened to the outside world. And, it was soooo difficult nak cari souviner kat Tirana. Ada...tapi memang limited choices. I punya habit when travelling is to post postcard to my boys...Usually I would have a hard time to choose the postcards cos banyak cantik2. Ni, hard time to choose sebab banyak yang tak best. ihiks.
- Bas kat Tirana masig guna kondukter yang kutip tambang tu!
- I see people walking everywhere in Tirana. Orang dia banyak berjalan.
- Iskandar Zulkarnain or Alexander the Great is know as Skanderbeg in Tirana. He is a national hero!
- Tengok orang solat Jumaat sampai bentang2 tikar kat luar masjid. Rasa sayu masa tu sebab tak sangka boleh tengok keadaan macam tu di negara asing.
- Sebab tak banyak pengaruh luar, even the museum is not that tourist friendly. Most of the exhibits lack english explanations.
- Kat sana banyak kedai Italian food!! I had one of the best salmon pasta there. :)
- I saw a kid tidur kat pavement on a box. :( Kat Tirana banyak Gypsies and they are the ones yang beg for money. Kinda scary jugak cos if you are not lucky, they will tug on your shirt sleeves! I kena sekali but I buat dek ajer!
- In Albania, remember to angguk when saying no and geleng when saying yes. Ada orang tanya if I was from India and I geleng...terus dia excited and cakap..yes...you are from India. sigh
- banyak barang made in china kat its market! Banyak counterfeit products as well...ala-ala petaling street gittew!
- i bought sarung bantal trimmed with lace for about rm10 satu. Murah ok!
- Food is cheap! I bought a slice of pizza for less than 80cents (euros) and a scoop of ice cream is only about 30cents. Kat Vienna, se slice pizza is paling murah pon 2.50 and se scoop ice cream is 1 euro!


I wished I had more time dan kudrat to explore the countryside dan naik gunung. Masa kapal terbang land tu, I could see that Tirana was surrounded by mountains. Cantik. Cuaca pon best because I didnt even wear my jacket kat situ. hihi.

If not for the conference, I wouldn't have dreamt of going to Tirana. Tapi, Alhamdullillah, ada peluang and I am so grateful! It is nice to visit a country yang lain. It is soooo different from KL and jauh berbeza dari Vienna. Its probably, like I said, macam KB but tu pon, KB lagi modern sikit kot. Maybe its like KL in the 80s kot.

Would I go again if given a chance? yes, I think so. Cos like I said, I would love to explore the countryside...the castles and etc. Also, I would love to go on the Skanderbeg trail. Mesti best kan.

oh..btw, the conference presentation went well. Aaron was looked after by a Malaysian (I baru kenal masa kat conference) and one of the conferencce organisers. Alhamdullilah, he behaved himself. :)

bibik or no bibik?

Hmm....dah dekat nak balik ni, macam-macam pulak lah idea Dr Sunshine.

Firstly, dia tetiba cakap tak nak hantar Dani to SRAI. There goes my keinginan. :( So, sekolah kebangsaan it is. But, I am going to try and get him placed in one of the smart schools, inshaAllah.

And now, he asked me to think about having a bibik. Sigh. I don't know. His argument (to have bibik) seems to make sense. BUt on the other hand, I don't like to have another person living in my house. So, how?

Why should I have bibik (menurut dr sunshine)
-the amount we are going to fork out for daycare + weekly cleaner is more than what we would fork out if ada bibik (who will be able to clean the house everyday)
- if mak or MIL datang, ada la teman kat rumah
- house will be clean.
- I would not be tired sangat sebab ada orang tolong buat house chores.
- we can go out for late night movies and mamak, without having to carry the boys (yang tengah tidur)
- can go for bike rides.
- senang mak to datang stay with us (we are trying to pujuk her to stay with us..hehe...along with my Along. :))

why i don't feel like having a bibik
- because I don't like having a stranger in the house
- i have trust issues and takut nak tinggalkan my boys with her.

so cemana sekarang ni uols?

to have bibik or not?

i was thinking, if nak ada bibik, Dr Sunshine kena install cctv so that i can see what she is doing.

hmm...if you were in my shoes, nak bibik ke tak??

Pasal politik masa belajar

Hmm...lately, ada keluar berita pasal students buat demonstrasi sebab nak AUKU tu dihapuskan. Jerit-jerit, tak nak dengar cakap polis, blame polis. Bila polis nasihat baik2 and give them 15 minutes to bersurai, tak mo..pastu polis use force, mengamuk dan even cakap "media ambil gambar!", padahal they have been warned!

I tell you, dorang ni sebenarnya tahu ke tak apa yang diperjuangkan?

Tahu ke apa yang termkatub dalam AUKU?

Kenapa nak AUKU dihapuskan?

Apakah kebebasan akademik yang mereka maksudkan??

Honestly, I think they have been approached by some political parties. Sebab, kenapa baran sangat? Whats the reason?

Tapi ini teori konspirasi dari saya. Yang stemmed from what I heard from friends long ago, when i was still in uni.

Masa dulu, saya bertuah, kerana terpilih untuk mengikuti satu lawatan sambil belajar ke luar negara, fully sponsored. About two people from each university were choosen for the trip. They were the creme of the crop (except me, obviously!!). Some of them graduates as pemenang pingat emas canselor (I think 3 of them). Others went on to do their postgrad at ivy league unis, cambridge, oxford and etc. Kebanyakan dorang tu, bukan calang-calang orang (I still wonder why I was chosen..hehe)

Because depa bukan calang2 orang, they have been handpicked by some parties, to bertanding dalam mpp, well this was what I was told la. Dont know if they were making it up untuk sound glamer ke apa kan. But, bukan sorang je yer. I rasa ada dua orang in our group to (from different uni) have met people who are willing to sponsor their campaign untuk pilihanraya uni okeh!! But the students ni, tak minat la pulak. Whatever it is, dari uni lagi, depa dah cuba infiltrate.

So, thats why, i buat teori konspirasi yang all this gung ho thingy nak perjuangkan kebebasan akademik and etc tu, semuanya ada puncanya.

Cuba tanya budak yang kena tangkap tu, what is it in AUKU yang seocifically dia tak suka? Why? How does it affect him? Have he ever thought if that specific akta/rule tak ada, how would it affect him and other students? Apakah yang dimaksudkan dengan kebebasan akademik?

Come on lah. If ini betul suatu perjuangan mahasiswa/i, jangan politicize benda ni. If betul ini akan benefit the mahasiswa, jangan bangkitkan hal-hal politik. Instead, tengok kat the issue in a neutral stand.

Pastukan, korang demo sana sini tu, tak pulak pikirkan keselamatan orang lain. Ada fikir? Ada fikir how it menyusahkan orang dengan create traffic jam bagai? How you make your parents risau?

Please, concentrate on your studies and make your parents proud!

menarik!!!

one of the things that i have been doing these past few days ialah to browse the internet cari conference. And, I just found out that some conferences allows virtual presentations! How cool is that?

You see, I mmg terasa nak present paper buy my biggest worry ialah, siapa akan jaga Aaron during the duration of the conference. There is such a thing as flying nanny offered at my uni, in which a babysitter from the kinderbeuro will ikut kita ke conference tu and help care for our child tapi keringlah poket ai if nk kena bayar fir their flight, food, accomodation n child care charges kan? That sort of stopped me from sending out abstracts n etc.

Tapi, dengan konsep virtual presentation ni, ai tak payah risau pasal siapa nak jaga anak n also the flight tix and accomodation. Its much much easier on my pocket and you are still considered as a presenter walaupun tak de kat sana in real life. :)

So far, I came across two conferences which i am interested in yang offer virtual presentation. So what would a virtual presentation be like? Well, satu tu, dia suruh kita record our presentation and upload it in a specific channel on youtube. Satu lagi tu, kita kena submit poster and if ppl are interested in our paper atau research, they can email to ask the questions.

Best kan??

Ok...I better start writing my abstracts.

p.s: lepastu, nak look at my chapter 6 yg dah seminggu diabaikan. but on the bright side, i finished my book review!! i plan to submit it to a journal as well, inshaAllah. :)

my wedding playlist

I found my wedding playlist while reading through my old blog!!! I have been looking for the playlist for ages. I compiled the list sebab masa tu my bridesmaid nana ditugaskan untuk cari lagu-lagu tu dan burn kat cd supaya masa reception boleh main lagu-lagu ittew!!!

all the songs have special meanings to me and actually reminded me of the times that i spend with my friends, my bf. Semua lagu tu memang ada kenangan. anyway, here's the list....

Mel C's never be the same again: I have always always felt that it was our song. That song came out when we just started dating and its about friends who became lovers. jadi sangat seswai ok untuk jadi lagu tema! (altho haku je la kan rasa macam tu...wakakakak)

You''re still the one by Shania Twain: Lagu ni, reminds me of gang projek yang always there for me, especially during my difficult phase ittew. They supported me all the way! An also because my kisah percintaan penuh ranjau berduri (chewah) and the relationship had to go through one of the most horriblest (if there is such a word) phase. Tapi, I thank god that afz was strong and had confidence in us and pulled me back up. :)

Jangan bersedih lagi, Anuar Zain: Lagu that I used to cry to in the car on the way to work, on the way back from work, or any time i felt like it during the difficult phase of our relationship. Memang kena ok lagu ni dgn iols!!

All my life, K-ci and Jojo: I always consider this my song with my KT girls, my best friends since standard 1. Thank you for being my sisters. *teary eyed*

Because you love me, Celine Dion: afz pernah nyanyi lagu ni for me masa kitaorang dating dekat the weld. (ohemgee, my memory is so kuat okeh..wakakak...another song that he used to sing for me was a better man by robbie williams)

Percayalah, ct nurhaliza: lagu ni selalu pasang masa lepak main that ball game on wani's pc, while waiting to buka or nak pergi dinner. lagu ini juga selalu berkumandang semasa saya rindu gila kat afz yang semasa itu belajar di kelate (padahal every 3 weeks kot jumpa..wakakakak)

swear it again, westlife: lagu ni, reminded me of my first year. masa dgn gang bib. mek. mesyuarat tangga. masa frust dapat tahu adam is dating someone else. tapi tak lah frust sangat pon uols...mak ada bf lain shorlt after that. wakakakak...

manisnya senyumanmu, elite: lagu bila mak karoks dgn gang2 bib. also lagu masa intai ali. wakakkaak...oh..i miss my old roomate, sue and bib.. ingat tak masa kita intai2 ala.....haih..the stuffs kita buat masa 1st year. heheheh

thank god i found you,mariah carey: lagu yang i perasan is lagu i dgn afz. wakkakaka..tapi honestly, thank god he 'saw' me. memang la i found him, tapi if dia tak sedar kewujudan mak nothing will happen, right? hehehe

This I promise you, N Sync: lagu masa rindu2...wakakak..dan juga reminds me of tet. Tet, if ko baca ni, ingat tak lagu ni tet? ingat tak kita suka nyanyi lagu ni kuat2? Lagi satu, kita suka nyanyi lagu bsb dalam toilet. lagu apa ek? haa..from the first daaaayyy...that I saw ur lovely faceeee...honey i knew that we will be..together forever......

I turn to you, Christina aguilera: lagu masa 2nd year...reminds me of the days i used to squating kat bilik wan cin. then lpepak bilik yani kecik and wan rose. then i moved to my own room..hehehe

Gadisku, Search: reminds me of ieja. and..reminds me of my guy friends, ejam, mucher, wark, arwah pau...they made this tape for me and sang this song...i will never forget it!

so in love, all-4-1: sri aman daysss....yc, my, mh, aw, mt, mm. i miss uols.

mencintaimu, Kris D: entah kenapa, this song ada dalam list i. hmm..maybe sebab ni lagu kawen kot...wakakakak

Sunshine, gabrielle: gang lepak sampai subuh, iaitu wan cin, wan rose, grunge, najeeb, norman, di feringghi...lagu ni mmg buat aku ingat kat korang....lagu thong song pon ingatkan aku kat korang jugak..wakakakak..

flying without wings, westlife: lagu ni, afz slalu juga nanyi...this song reminds me of him.

because of you, 98 degrees: ni lagu dgn nana....and also ingat zaman kmk..heheheh...

So, whats your lagu???

when the going gets tough...the tough gets going

hrmm...am still working on my chapter 6. At the same time, I have this book review thingy which I would have to submit. blearghh...

anyway, i was talking to dr sunshine yesterday he told me of his plans for the future.

Lepas dah buat masters, kena posting somewhere outside the Klang Valley and he is actually thinking of applying to somewhere in the Borneo. Lepas two or three years in the borneo, nak apply buat subspecialty pulak. nanti 3rd year of sub, he will have the option to be attached to a hospital abroad for 6 to 9 months. lepas tu, balik semula and hopefully dapatlah kerja somewhere dekat2 rumah.

Ok. the question is. Where do I fit into all this??

Haih. no 1. Mak tak rela dia pergi ke Sabah or Sarawak without me! no way jose dia pergi sorang-sorang ok. *matilah posesive* So, adakah i kena cuti tanpa gaji? Or, is there any way that I can request to be seconded to one of the unis there?

No 2, masa pi overseas tu nanti. How? Ok..tu mungkin I boleh request untuk sabatical kan. So, tak la berapa risau sangat.

hmmm.....honestly, I thought that nanti I dah balik next March (yeszaa...harus visualize ye yang saya akan balik in March), tak de dah la episode duduk berjauhan dari suami dan anak-anak. Apa pon, I can only pray and hope for the best, kan?

Ok..back to my chapter 6.

bahasa ibunda

Last saturday, ada makan-makan at rumah one lady ni. Kat sana,I met this lady who has lived here for almost 30years. She has a 24 year old daughter yang hardly ever balik Malaysia. They ols balik Malaysia maybe once in five years or something like that.

Anyhoo, one would think that the kids (that lady has 2, one boy and one girl) sure tak reti cakap Melayu. Or, if cakap Melayu pon pelat-pelat or ada slang Austria, kan?? Ya Rabbi, I was so suprised that the kids, (yang muka memang mcm mat salleh) fasih berbahasa ibunda uols!!!!! Siap cakap "depa" lagi (becos the mama orang perak!). And she can campur cakap BM and BI in one sentence as well, like a typical Malaysian.

I was so proud of her. Yelah, walaupun jarang-jarang sekali balik kampung mak dia, and living in a place where people mostly speak Deutsch, she can cakap Melayu really well.

Whats the secret? Well, Mak dia memang usually converse in Deutsch with the kids but she also makes a point to speak to them in Malay. I think it is important to make sure our kids know how to speak Malay. Sungguh pon we brought them up overseas (tak kisah lah France ke, German ke, UK ke) that does not mean that they have to adapt to the locals punya language sahaja. We should encourage them to speak in their mother tounge. Yang I notice, Malaysians and especially Malays are particularly proud if their kids can converse in English or other European languages. Well, there's nothing wrong in that, because I try to teach my kids Deutsch as well. Cuma yang ralatnya, bila they just concentrate on English sahaja dan lupakan Bahasa Melayu. Sayang betul.

After all, Bahasa Jiwa Bangsa, kan?

only in kmk

when i was 18, i was shipped of to a godforsaken place (at least that was what I thought lah masa tu) to do my matriculation. I cried buckets before leaving. My attempts to request for a transfer from my Daddy was to no avail. Nak tak nak, terpaksalah ai berkampung kat Kulim for 8 months.

Being schooled at sekolah biasa, I didn't know what to expect. The only thing that made me happy was the fact that my bestfriend will be there as well. So, tak de la lonely sangat kan. And as she was also from the same school that I was in, adalah gang kan. ihiks.

Maka, berbekalkan bag besar termasuk bantal peluk dan ration macam orang yang terperangkap dalam rumah sebulan, i made my way to the place. I was, indeed, very out of place. Everybody knew that my bestie and i were 'budak bandar' because of how different we were. We didnt blend in, at first. Yelah...orang pesan turun solat subuh, we ols, dah start kuliah subuh baru turun. Mana la tahu kena turun before azan!!! hih hih. My first week there, I dah crave for mcDs. haha. mengada betul.

Anyway, when I was there i learnt a lot of stuff.

1. i learnt how a good friend can betray you just because of a guy

2. i learnt how devastating it was to get my heart broken

3. how it felt to be cheated

4. how to 'lompat pagar'.

5. how to survive eating food from dewan makan

6. that a good friend would wake up and make you tea for sahur despite the fact that she does not eat sahur. *i love you tet*

7. it was also my first time makan nasi goreng daging merah!!!

8. how to escape dari dipatuk itik kampung. hihi

10. how to defend a friend's honour

11. that dreams do come true

12. bercinta masa 18 years old doesnt mean that you'd end up marrying that guy.

13. minat-minat dari jauh can end up in a happy marriage. :p

14. how to basuh baju guna tangan.

15. the trick to dapat the shower stall pagi2 is ironically to bangun lambat. tak yah rebut because everybody else seem to bangun awal. but then, bila bangun lambat, there's a possibility to miss breakfast at the dewan makan which was no big issue sebab tak de la sedap sgt pon. hihi.

16. being good in english gets you free burgers and abc

those were some of the stuff. gosh. i miss my young carefree days.

all over the place

1. perut sudah mula kerap mengeras. haih. it makes me feel breathless.

2. i feel heavy!

3. i think my tummy is huge. mungkinkah berkat rajin makan vitamin membuatkan baby saya sihat? Alhamdullillah. Saya memang mengimpikan baby yang 3kg ke atas, insyaAllah.

4. misteri betul la how my progress report asyik tak sampai aje kat uni. tadi sv kata dia sure sangat2 yang dia dah post. Maka ai just suruh dia isi lagik sekali dan ai cakap kali ni, biar ai post sendiri. Lagipon, ai nak hantar sekali dengan permohonan nak extend. tapi apa pon, tetap misteri okeh. not my first time borang hilang. so, kali ni, i nekad nak hantar kat my friend and minta tolong dia hantar by hand AND make sure dapat cop diterima and make a copy of it (with the cop).

5. best jugak bila buat kerja sama-sama dengan Dr Sunshine. Ai study dan dia buat case write up. We didn't really talk but I get to be with him. :)

6. It is amazing how AA can crawl in his sleep to find his papa and panjat nak baring atas peha papa.

7. It is also amazing that AD is the only one who is able to decipher what AA is saying. hehe. I think its Brotherly love.

8. My family is going balik kampung on thursday. And AD asked papa, baby ikut sekali tak (refering to the baby who is currently still in my uterus)? And papa said, no..baby will stay with mama.

9. Saya ada exam next week. Wahh..dah lama ok tak study for exams!!! Agak terasa cuak sebenarnya. I hope to get a good mark, insyaAllah.

10. Have to figure out what I want to do for my globalisation project. Actually I have kinda figured it out. Cuma nak kena dapatkan persetujuan dari lecturer.

11. mgtt this thursday. Cannot wait! Sebab lepas tu, dah tak payah nak diet bagai. Right now, ai teringin ayam masak gajus. Emm..sedapnya if makan dengan nasi panas. Ingat nak masak on Friday. But first, have to buy ayam. Hih hih.

12. Ada group discussion this Thursday tapi ai tak transcribe lagi interview. matilaa...now nak study. Takpe, insyaAllah sempat punya, kan?? caiyok!!!

13. Am in my 28th week. So, tinggal 6 more weeks je to go!!

14. What would be a good date to give birth? I was thinking of the 28th because 2 bday AA and 8 bday AD. Tapi I berangan la uols. Tak tau la plak nanti apa kata doctor kan.

15. Teringin mee goreng basah. *sigh*

potong kuku

Dalam keluarga uols...siapakah yang bertanggungjawab dalam hal-hal potong kuku anak-anak? For me, it has always been Dr Sunshine sebab ai takut la nak potong kuku budak kecik, especially baby. Dr Sunshine relax aje, yela..ada steady hands katanya. Tapi tetapla dasar surgeon, potong kuku, mesti rapat ke isi. Kadang-kadang berdarah jemari mulus anak-anak I. Masa tu, mulut I sure pot pet la...hehe...

But, ai juga ada kenal some people yang menyerahkan tanggungjawab memotong kuku ni to their pembantu rumah and their own parents (meaning the kids grandparents). Ok, mungkin uols katakan suruh pembantu rumah or atok depa potongkan is ok. Tapi bagi ai, hal-hal anak ni should be our responsibility. Not only potong kuku, malah nak tengok homework anak-anak, apa depa makan and etc. Sebab apa tau. Cuba uols pikir. If it was your husband, would you let your pembantu rumah cut his nails or prepare his air kopi? Kalau jawapan you tak, then why should let her do it to your children?

Hmm...i tell you. Honestly, I am not the best mom there is. What more since I am so faaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr from my babies. But when I am with them, I try to handle them on my own. Mandikan depa, suap depa, buat susu, potong kuku, check homework and the list goes on. When I am not around, the Papa does it. And, he is GREAT at what he does. We ol memang actually pay someone to help with the kids, tapi we still prefer to do those stuff ourselves, when we are around. maybe also because we are super fussy with matters concerning the boys..eheh

Yang buat I geram is because I dengar cerita pasal anak Cik Y ni yang suka mencakar dan menggigit si X. Sampai X tu lebam-lebam uols. Dan, seperti biasa, Mak X complain kat Cik Y, Cik Y cakap, biasalah budak-budak. Yang I kesian kat Mak X tu sebab, dia cerita, manalaa anak dia tak kena cakar, kuku budak kecik tu punyalaaaaa panjang!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pastu, Mak X sajalah cek kuku anak-anak Cik Y yang lain...ya Rabbi, even the 8 year old's kuku was soooo super long, siap ada taik kuku lagi!!! Subhanallah!!! When Mak X tanya budak 8 tahun tu, y are your nails so long? dia jawab: oh...sbb org gaji tak potong lagi. Atok pon tak sempat potong.

So folks, it is important to not really depend on outside help, especially when it concerns our kids. Yela...kita kan parents dia? Cuba imagine kalau kuku dah hitam macam tu, kalau dia makan, sure ada lekat2 kuman bagai kan? And what about masa dia basuh tangan after keluar toilet, adakah fingernails ittew betul2 bersih? haiyaaaaaaa.....

Oh, and lagi satu, if tak sempat sangat pon, you can always cut their nails masa depa tido. Well, at least that is what Dr Sunshine and I normally do. hehe.

how much is too much

i don't know why, but i seem to find many parents giving ipad as birthday presents to their children, yang sesetengah tu, baru je masuk 2 years old. well, i guess they are lucky and fortunate enough to have lots of rezeki walopon ada gak yg dok pinjam2 duit orang tapi tayang baru beli ipad for anak kat fb, to be able to provide for their child. i heard, some download flashcard apps and other 'educational' tools untuk their kids.

adakah saya akan succumb to pembelian ipad untuk anak juga? err...tak kot. sebab apa. at that age (two, i mean), dorang maybe tak reti jaga the barang properly. and for something so pricey (for me), pembelian barang2 gadget ni mungkin have to wait until they are mucccchhhhhhhhhhhhh bigger and can appreciate it at face value. heck, my laptop screen (its touchscreen) comot-comot dengan fingerprints dani when he uses it to watch his youtubes and etc. at one time, i was contemplating to get AD a kidstough digital camera, but didnt because its kinda pricey, and lets face it, at three (that was the age masa i thought of buying him that), he will only be interested with it for about a week. hehe.

lagipon, i think its good to let them be and act their age. main dengan kotak and periuk and happy even when i bagi main dengan sudu (or maybe thats just my boys. lol). sometimes, its just wrestling, or main tembak2 dengan imaginary gun. naik basikal. main bola. baiki kereta and motor. kissing machine (a game i invented with the boys). main slides kat playground. ha...ni bagus ye. i love to bring them to the playground because they would be so tired that lepas mandi, dinner terus zonked out! hehe.

AA with his imaginary gun

wrestling

tapi, that is just my two cents. would you get your toddler an ipad?

p/s: in an unrelated matter, Dr Sushine was driving home when dia dengar AA bising2 macam hentak2 somthing on the chair. he turned to find AA holding his (Dr Sunshine's tennis racket) with the right grip, ala-ala nak buat back hand. Needless to say, Dr Sushine was super happy and was bursting with pride. LOL.

car seat and tali pinggang keledar

do you make your children wear their seat belts in the car? and the little ones, do you make them sit in their car seats? or do you prefer to 'riba' them instead? or maybe, masa pergi kedai dekat, you just let your child sit at the front without his seat belt, sebab dekat je kan?

fact is, it is extremely dangerous to let your kids sit without car seats, and let alone, without seat belts. sangat bahaya uols.

ai terpanggil to write this because i just recieved a bad news from Dr Sunshine. My Uncle lost his 4 year old son in a car accident. Entah macam mana, the car terlanggar tiang tol. My uncle suffered from fractured ribs, his other son who sat behind was unhurt but his 4 year old who sat in front injured his hips and was not able to be revived when brought to the hospital. and, yes, he wasn't wearing his seat belt.

sedih uols bila i dapat berita ni. sedih sangat. i don't even want to imagine how it feels to lose a child. i don't think any parent could.

I also know and realize that ajal and maut sudah ditentukan oleh Allah. But, it doesn't hurt to take some precaution. It made me realize the importance of seat belts and car seats. Alhamdullillah, my boys have been trained since they were babies to sit in their respective car seats. AA, who didn't have the previlege of menaiki kereta when he was a baby (cos we always naik public transportation in wien), only made a fuss masa mula2 diperkenalkan dgn car seat when we were back in Mesia. But now, he is used to it. Alhamdullillah.

Aside from that, I remember cerita yg i pernah dengar. About a father yang bawa anak dia pergi kedai dekat. Anak dia was sitting kat seat belakang. And, masa father dia drive, anak dia berdiri in between the seats. Father drove really slowly. But a car tetiba terlanggar his car. His car only had minor scratches. Memang mcm tak payah nak ketuk balik or anything. Tapi anak dia? Anak dia patah kaki. Imagine, budak kecik patah kaki. Tak ke kesian???

So, I think, as parents, we need to be responsible for their safety. Biarlah anak kita melalak masa kita baru2 nak letak and biasakan dia duduk kat car seat tu. Lama-lama, he or she will get used to it. What is important is their safety.

Takziah to Uncle Mat and family. Al-Fatihah.

i was told to keep myself busy and i have it easy here because i just have to study and have no other commitments. katanya, orang lain ada other things to think of and take care of.

oh. macam tu.

i think its only natural to think of your family when you are alone, kan? but i guess it may be too much to want them to reciprocate cos they have their own thing to do.

Malay, Malaysian, Muslim and proud of it.

Hari ni, saya sengaja bangun awal untuk ke institut kajian antropologi untuk suatu seminar. Kenapa ai interested sangat nak pergi? Sebab, presenter tu, iaitu seorang non-muslim yang claimed that she was from Malaysia tapi mengajar kat uni seberang Mesia, was going to talk about Islam and Malaysian politics.

Now, i felt that it would be interesting to listen on a non-muslim view about Islam in malaysia, plus, before going, i wasnt sure if she was indeed malaysia so i wanted to make sure she got her facts right. (gittew...macam la ai ni arif sangat tentang malaysian politics and etc...but i do read about it ok, from both leftist and right-ist point of view). anyhoo, i found her talk disturbing. I know, she has the right to her own views and etc. but when this view affects the image of my country and muslims in my nation, i felt perturbed. perlukah uols question the syariah court and malaysian jurisprudence. okla...i mean, from her talk and her pictures which i saw was sourced from malaysian insider, i knew which side of the fence she is standing in. the way she pronounces mahath.ir pon dah semacam ok!

anyway, she actually put pictures of malays stepping on the cows head, the church bombings, the rally outside high court when li.na.j.oy appealed for the religion status to be changed in her ic, pciture of that mount everest climber who died and was buried as Muslim against his wifes wishes. She was talking about how more liberal Malaysian Muslims were emmigrating. Err.....to be honest, i wasn't really confortable with what she showed. To me, she was painting a picture as if our county are bombarded with this aggresive muslims who would bomb places or hold rallys when they are not happy with something. and she said, the government backed up this people.

So, dengan muka panas and berdebar-debar, I voiced my opinion. I was the last person to ask her a question and I said: I am a Malaysian Malay Muslim and I am really disturbed with the way you portrayed Muslims in our country. I would like everybody to know that not all Muslims in Malaysia are like that. Then I asked, what do you mean by Liberal Muslim? There's Muslim or non Muslim. We abide by rules stated in the Quran. Those are rules which some may not follow. But still, those are RULES.

And then, I told her, as in LJ's case, in Malaysia, the constitution clearly states that a Malay is someone who is a Muslim. Beragama Islam. Dan, because of that fact, her religion cannot be changed in the IC. If tukar agama dalam IC, maknanya nanti kategori atau pengkelasan Melayu di dalam perlembagaan Malaysia akan secara otomatik tukar. So, macam mana kita nak pertahankan hak-hak melayu yang ada? Religion, is the only thing that is left to help define us as Malay. Kalau bercakap bahasa melayu, any tom, dick or harry can belajar the language, betul tak? So, what will differentiate Malays from the other races? By our religion. Dan dalam IC, hanya Melayu sahaja yang akan ada tulis Islam kat dalam IC dia.

Lepastu, she also said Malaysia banned Arqam because it had political intentions. Err...excuse me. So, to that, I said, One of the main reason Arqam was banned was because the way they practiced Islam, not because of political intentions. Dorang anggap their leader was so special kan? Macam mengaggungkan sangat leader dia because he was believed to be the decendent of Nabi Mohamad S.A.W. Tapi, kita, sebagai orang Islam should agungkan Allah. Bukan ke macam tu??

Then, she said, as she was replying to my comments, that the malays portrayed in her slides are just a minority (ha..masa mula-mula presentation tak de pulak nak buat disclaimer macam tu kan?). She said that Mesia is a peaceful country and bla bla bla...and she didnt mean to offend me or what so ever. tapi , tetap dia tak jawab soklan ai pasal liberal muslim.

pastu ,masa sesi minum2 kopi, she came to me and said..oh, i didnt mean theres liberal muslim. there wasnt much time so dia guna je term tu. oh. ok. but i still think that doesnt make it ok. because she did sort of implied that more muslims are migrating because of the laws imposed on them (tak leh minum alkohol...yg sebenarnye mmg diharamkan dalam Islam kan??) and that they were not free. Pastu she said, interfaith talks should be encouraged so that people would understand other faiths better and etc. hmm...i guess the idea of interfaith talks is kinda ok. tapi honestly, i am scared if being too open about discussing pasal religion and ethnicity would bring back memories about bloody culture clashes and etc.

hmm..what say you?