Aidil Adha....Pengorbanan is a MUST....

SALAM AIDIL ADHA BUAT SEMUA UMAT ISLAM

Aidil Adha ke 2 di Amman diraikan dengan serba sederhana. Seperti biasa pagi-pagi lagi anak-anak jiran berkunjung ke rumah. I hanya menghidangkan makanan ringan (kek/coklat/kacang goreng/wafer/fruits) untuk mereka kerana juadah Malaysia yang I sediakan seperti laksa Penang beserta nasi impit kuah kacang agak pedas dan memang lidah arab alah dengan makanan pedas. Jika tahun lalu ada yang mencuba lontong yang I sediakan sampai berair mata sebab pedas, tahun ni mereka awal-awal dah surrender tak nak makan laksa yang I sediakan.

This aidil adha terasa sepi tanpa my darling hubby, safiyyah and sumayyah. Gambar raya pun hanya tinggal kami berempat, I, zaid, izzat and mimi. Sayu di hati namun I pasrah dengan realiti hidup ini. I doakan agar the assence of aidil adha hadir dalam diri setiap ahli famili no matter where we are.

I call my darling hubby , dia tetap bekerja selepas solat sunat raya, malam tadi dia dan staff yang lain buat jamuan raya di kabin my hubby. He sounded ok , mungkin dah biasa bekerja semasa raya , dah tugas nak buat macamana.

Then I called my daughter Safiyyah, dia ada di counter supermarket di simferopol, shopping untuk small gathering and makan-makan esok. Harini raya tak de makan apa pun, baru lepas exam and tinggal 1 exam lagi, histologi.Dia bagitau supermarket penuh dengan ukrainians shopping for new year party and celebration tomorrow night.Dia pun bunyi happy je walaupun raya tanpa juadah raya etc.

Lastly I called Sumayyah, dia pun tak raya sebab ada kelas pagi tadi, kelas ganti krismas baru ni. Dia kata dia masak nasi goreng tuna dengan microwave lepas kelas tadi.First time raya haji di Daegu tanpa solat raya, juadah raya dan kawan-kwan nak beraya. A bit touchy but I really hope dia tak sayu and sedih.....

Raya kali ni I kurang ada mood nak ziarah rumah jiran-jiran Arab, mungkin cuaca yang sejuk menyebabkan I 'malas' nak keluar rumah. Cuma tengahari tadi I hanya sempat ke rumah Ustaz Mujahid, pelajar PhD di U Jordan di Sweileh.Sepanjang jalan ke sweileh baru nampak keadaan raya haji di amman macam hari-hari biasa dengan orang ramai di jalanraya , cuma bezanya kebanyakan kedai tutup . Setibanya di rumah ustaz Mimi yang paling happy sebab dah lama tak bertemu kak syahirah(anak ustaz ). Perbualan bersama ustaz dan isteri tertumpu kepada Saddam Husesein execution pagi tadi.Tak sangka begitu cepat hukuman gantung dilaksanakan, di pagi aidil adha pulak tu.

Aidil Adha ke 2 di sini membawa pengertian yang lebih mendalam tentang pengorbanan dalam kehidupan setiap insan Pengorbanan is a MUST for every human being. Semoga intipati 'raya korban' memantapkan diri masing-masing dan tabah menempuh dugaan dan cabaran .Pada ahli keluarga samada yang tinggal sebumbung atau tidak I mendoakan kesejahteraan kalian semua. InsyaAllah setiap pengorbanan yang dilakukan beserta niat ikhlas kerana Allah diberi ganjaran pahala dan syurga di akhirat kelak...AMIN.

bad news.. good news

It's been raining all night and according to the weather forecast it's supposed to be snowing today in Amman. Zaid has just got a message from his friend in Mutah saying it's snowing heavily in Mutah and Tafileh(not far from Mutah). Hoping for the snow to fall......

Yesterday zaid and I spent the whole afternoon in the city center and the weather changed drastically from bright and clear to cold ,cloudy and rain. We had to ride a bus to come back home since all taxis were full. We moved to three different spots to get the the taxi( we had to 'compete' with other passengers to 'snatch' a taxi !!) At last we hopped onto the long bus with 40 seats...I once took this bus with sumayyah early this year just to know how to use public transport in Amman....Yesterday bus-ride was like a sick-tortoise moving in the rain...gosh..it took 1hour 20mins to get from the city center to my house which usually takes only 15-20mins taxi ride. What made me mad when the bus driver stopped at every single bus-stand .....it moved so slowly and stopped every 20 seconds..I was thinking of getting off somewhere and then continue my 'journey' home by taxi, but it was raining and hard to get a taxi since it was also during evening rush-hour traffic jam.

The bus was packed with passengers especially after stopping by the university of Jordan where many students are staying at my housing area. All of a sudden, the driver yelled at a guy at the rear of the bus because he had not paid the bus fare (only 30 kurusy=rm1.60) since he got on the bus using the back door. That guy yelled back saying he couldn't pay the fare since he couldn't move to the front because it was packed with ladies(actually he could pass the money to the passengers until it reached the driver).. Not long after that, the bus stopped and the driver got off and went to the rear part of the bus from outside and asked the man to pay the fare there and then. Everybody became crazy and started making noise...there's a makcik arab grumbling and mumbling to the bus driver...." Yalla..bla,bla,bla........ it's been two long hours in this bus from the city center till now, I wanna get home, hurry up !!! If i take an express bus i'm sure I have reached Aqabah(which is 400km from Amman )..", everybody giggled and laughed.... I didn't really understand what's going on but lucky me, zaid was there to be my translator. Then only I knew that they were also mad with the tortoise-moving bus...I thought that was how the usual/normal slow-coach-bus-ride with very humble/patient passengers on board.No wonder whenever I glanced at my watch, the lady sitting next to me also took a look at her mobile phone to see the time. I finally reached home right before dusk, Alhamdulillah.

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This morning I got good news and bad news from my three daughters , Safiyyah,Sumayyah and Syamimi.


Bad news....
Today Mimi skips school again because of fever and cold. She told me she was asked to rest in class yesterday by her teacher when she didn't feel well.
Good news......I gave her medicine and she is now sound asleep in the living room,Alhamdulillah.







Bad news..."I couldn't answer both oral microbiology questions yesterday 100% correct, I didn't have enough time to do my revision, I have many exams this last two weeks , " Safiyyah in Simferopol, Ukraine told me this morning.
Good news... She passed, Alhamdulilah.







Bad news...."I have to be very careful with my tight budget now because I spent my winter break in Busan and Seoul," Sumayyah in Daegu, Korea exclaimed yesterday.
Good news... She scored high marks for her level 1 korean language and the university granted her with USDxxx scholarship ( cash money) this morning, Alhamdulillah.




I think we have good news and bad news every single day of our lives..It makes our life attractive and lively. Praise be to Allah, The Almighty God.

LATEST GOOD NEWS.....IT'S SNOWING NOW OUTSIDE, ALHAMDULILLAH.
bad news...camne izzat nak balik sekolah, harap kereta ummu khatif dapat jalan dalam snow..INSYAALLAH.

Islam ....25Dec....Christianity...

25 December adalah tarikh yang diraikan setiap penganut christian saban tahun tidak terkecuali penganutnya di bumi Jordan. Mungkin ramai yang tidak sedar dan tahu bahawa bangsa arab juga ramai yang beragama christian. Jiran arab sebelah kiri rumah I dan jiran selang 2 buah rumah di kanan juga arab beragama christian.

Bandar Madaba yang terletak 35km dari downtown Amman adalah sebuah bandar yang majoriti penduduknya beragama Christian. Terdapat berpuluh churches di Madaba dan salah satu church yang tertua di dunia juga wujud di Madaba.Pope juga pernah hadir di Mount Nebo, Madaba disambut ribuan penganut christian.Bagi pelancong Christian memang tidak sah lawatan ke Jordan jika tidak mengunjungi bandar Madaba .

Agak sukar membezakan antara arab muslim dan arab christian kerana dari segi fizikal tiada beza. Selalunya penganut Christian di sini hanya dikenali melalui family names(sukar juga!!). Pengalaman selama tinggal di Amman menyedarkan diri ini bahawa fizikal dan cara berpakaian tidak melambangkan agama yang kita anuti. Contohnya, sudah banyak kali I ditanya "Are you muslim?" sedangkan tudung di kepala dan jubah membalut tubuh yang bagi I secara jelas menunujukkan yang I beragama Islam. Tidak bagi mereka kerana bertudung dan berjubah hanyalah budaya arab yang kebanyakan arab mempraktikkannya dalam kehidupan seharian terutama di musim winter . Mula-mula terfikir juga , kenapa tanya , tak nampak ke yang I bertudung dan berjubah.... rupanya itu pakaian bangsa arab bukan pakaian untuk muslim women sahaja.

Kebebasan beragama amat ketara di sini dan masing-masing menghormatinya . Mereka hidup aman damai dan tidak mengganggu sesama sendiri.Di Abdali(downtown )Amman terdapat sebuah church yang besar terletak betul-betul bersebelahan Masjid Negara Jordan . Pelik tetapi benar, waktu subuh di kejutkan dengan azan dari masjid negara dan selepas matahari terbit kedengaran loceng berbunyi dari christian church di sebelah.

Walau bagaimana pun perlu diambil ingatan bahawa golongan orientalis dan golongan christian sendiri sedang rancak menjana dan menyampaikan dakyah fahaman masing-masing dengan tujuan melemahkan umat islam sedikit demi sedikit . Mereka mempunyai sumber dan sokongan yang padu dari pelbagai pertubuhan yang membolehkan mereka bergerak hampir ke seluruh pelusuk dunia.

Amat malang jika kita umat islam masih leka dan lalai dalam dunia yang mengejar material semata-mata tanpa mempedulikan kehinaan dan kejian yang dilemparkan oleh dunia kepada agama dan umat Islam itu sendiri. Kehidupan manusia dan umat islam masakini banyak di pengaruhi oleh agama lain terutama agama Christian dan Yahudi.

Islam sebagai the way of life wajib ditegakkan dan ianya hanya dapat dijelmakan melalui komitmen secara total di setiap lapisan masyarakat secara global.

Bundle Winter Clothing......

It's foggy and very cold indeed ..it's raining this morning . Feel a bless since it hasn't been raining for more than a month. In this time of season , it usually rains almost every other day, but not this year...Alhamdulillah, it finally rains.

This morning I read the online papers that many states in malaysia are being hit by heavy rain and flood...I'm hoping my house back there is/will not be affected,InsyaAllah.

Talking about cold winter season I can't help myself but to ponder and think of how the Palestinian refugees in Baqa'ah camp(I visited this camp last Ramadan ) are dealing with their life in their barely completed 'houses', I did mention that some of the houses didn't even have fully-covered roofs.How they survive, only God knows...feeling so sorry for them, I think they must be wearing so many layers of winter jackets and have their gas heater lit all day long in their 'shelters'.I have this idea in mind because winter jackets are easy and cheap here in Jordan.At least the chances of anybody to be deadly cold of nothing to wear is out of question. One can buy a thick and fairly good quality winter jacket for less than jd5(RM26) . No kidding at all..

Where can you get this low price winter jackets??

BUNDLE MARKET..yes the bundle market and bundle stores offer you all kinds of assential items at extremely low prices.

When I was in malaysia I never thought of buying bundle products due to my detest for the bundle(used shirts/shoes etc.)I had once tried to get a winter jacket before moving abroad at a pasar malam bundle stall..i couldn't bear the 'body-odour' from the bundle stall itself. maybe they sold the shirts without properly washed/cared, well i don't know. I have friends back then who even bought bundle bedsheet/bedspread and I was like...yucky.. they told me that those bedsheet were from luxury hotels and the quality was so irresistable but I didn't believe anything they said.

However, when I moved to Amman last year, I remember my eldest son Zaid brought me for the first time to ABdali Friday Bundle Market .... I was so shocked to see how the people of amman love bundle items..I call amman people because I could see many foreigners ( chinese/europeans/indians/africans and of course malaysians) were at the bundle market and were busy picking and choosing items sold there.My mind started to think ..wow !! bundle is not only for 'poor' people but it's going global.....You could see men in fully-well-built body and high -class attire are buying bundle jackets and boots/shoes...This couldn't be true... First visit there I ended up buying 3 new pairs of socks for mimi...(Memang tak boleh beli lagi bundle masa tu teringat yang pakaian tu bekas orang dah guna!! )

That was a year ago...

Yesterday I asked zaid to come with me to the bundle market...I bought mimi a very nice winter jacket for only jd3. I wasn't feel guilty buying used jacket for mimi because that jacket is a lot more expensive if I bought it from a shopping mall. As for me, so far I only have 2 winter coats and both are brand-new .Even yesterday I saw many beautiful, new-like winter jackets selling for only jd5 but I just wouldn't buy it , lagipun dah ada 2 dan nak pakai dalam masa 3 bulan je..

Other than clothing(including underwears??? zaid kata memang ada kawan2 dia beli 'original-levi's underwears' ) ,the bundle markets sell many other things like books/magazines, household items and so on. So yesterday I bought myself 3 old english best-selling novels and 1 hard cover documentary on the KIng of Jordan for less than jd7 . So next week I'll have a lot of reading on my way...

Let's come back to the baqa'ah camp refugees that I mentioned earlier..I really hope the NGOs (there are many NGOs there but still not enough) are continuously helping and assisting the refugees in this winter season in terms of providing better homes & clothing....

Without bundle life might be different for the people in jordan especially at this time of the year....BUNDLE SURE DOES HELP A LOT...

A wonderful summer holidays..

I've been so relax these past few days, 'hybernating' myself at home..it's so icy-cold outside but still no sign of snow....yet...

Last night before going to bed , I browsed through all my family photos , felt a bit touchy/emotional when I could feel the absence of my three loveones here in Amman; my darling hubby, my two lovely daughters, Safiyyah and Sumayyah. Oh, I miss them all...The last time we were all together as a family was last summer....almost one month(kira semua ada pada masa yang sama coz semua balik tidak sama masa..) It's better than 2005 where only a week to see each other under one roof. However, I'm still very lucky because I still have 3 more darlings at home.

We had such a wonderful summer holidays ...Our vacation started early June (without safiyyah) in Syria and Turkey until end of August(Jordan tour with safiyyah)..It was a bit sad coz safiyyah didn't have a chance to spend her holidays in syria/ lebanon because of the israel/lebanon war.

We decided to have all our journey by land....by bus from amman-damascus- antakya(turkey) -istanbul-konya-(by train )..back to antakya-aleppo(syria)by bus-amman...12 days journey full of great memories..I love istanbul so much..we went to all parts of istanbul by bus, tram and ferry. This city is so beautiful, clean, tourist-friendly, easy-access to any tourist destinations. Toilets are all clean .. a bit expensive(RM1.50 per person/entry..)

Day 1
Departed Amman 10am-arrived in Damascus 4pm
Check in Hotel
Visited Souq Hamidiah+Umawi Mosque+Maqam Nabi Yahya+Maqam Saidina HUssein+Maqam Salahauddin Al Ayubi+Maqam Saidatina Ruqayyah

Day 2
Military Museum
City Center
My students' house for lunch
Continued our journey to Antakya at 10pm

Day 3
Arrived in Antakya(turkey) 4am
Went to city center
Visited Maqam Habibunnajar(pejuang Islam di Turkey )
Bertolak ke Istanbul 11am via Adana and Ankara

Day 4
Arrived in Istanbul at 4.30am
Took a subway to Ansarai then took a tram to Sultan Ahmet station
Check in at youth hostel very near to the blue mosque
Visited the blue mosque+Haghia sophia+city center

Day 5
Visited Karakoy castle
Breakfast at italian restaurant
Took a ferry to Haydarpasya Train Station(bought tickets to Konya)
Shopping at Beyazit Grand Bazaar+ visited Sulaimani Mosque

Day 6
Visited Gulhane Old mosque+ Dolmabahche Palace+Egyptian Spice Market

Day 7
Took a ferry to Uskudar(di asia)..took a bus to Beyleybeyi, a fisherman town across the big bridge which separates asian/european parts of Istanbul..took a ferry to Basiktas and took a bus to Emonunu(city center in front of Sulaimani mosque)and took a tram back to Sultan Ahmet.Viewed beautiful sceneries of Istanbul from every angle....

Day 8
Checked out hostel .
Took a ferry to Haydarpasya train station(left our bags there)
Lunch at kadikoy+ Lepak di park in front of University of Istanbul
Took a train to Konya at 7.20pm

Day 9
Reached Konya at 9.30am* Konya is famous for its Maulana /Darvis/Sufi who perform zikr with music and dancing(it's hard to explain)
Visited Maulana museum/mosque + Maqam of several muslim scholars
So different from Istanbul coz you can see many muslims here(women wearing jilbab are hardly seen in Istanbul)

Day10
Check out hotel
My darling hubby and zaid went to the bus station (otogar) to keep our bags
Visited Sultan Aladdin Park+Aladdin mosque ( built in year 1200)
Took a bus back to Antakya via Iskenderun at 12.50am


Day 11
Reached Antakya at 9.30am
Took a van to Aleppo(Halep) , Syria.
Rented an apartment
Went to Halep Bazaar

Day 12
Visited Halep Castle+ the shopping bazaar
Took a bus back to Amman at 11.30am
Reached Amman11.58 pm ( kat border 3hours)

Tiring but happy...Alhamdulillah everything went smoothly as planned.

Thank you so much to my eldest son ,Zaid who planned the trip so well,it's because he'd been to Turkey 6 times and more than 20 times to Syria.)

Bedouins Tents vs. Arab Mansions

Today is Friday which means no school and I can continue sleeping after dawn. Actually I am not the kind of woman who sleeps after dawn.

Why??

Coz I sleep early at night and if I oversleep I'll get headache .........

Nothing much happens today, Izzat is recovering from cold and cough. Mimi spends her time colouring and playing outside even though it's cold now(she only plays in the evening).This afternoon I went to Safeway to get some groceries for next week.

On the way to Safeway(hypermarket) I pass through many kinds of housing areas including Jubayhah, Madinah Street, University Street and 7th circle. All these areas are well-maintained even though the buildings are almost with all the same colour, earth-tone. The most luxurious area is called Abdoun , where the rich of riches live.They are not living in houses but mansions, yes, large mansions.

I remember on my way to Bosra , Syria last Tuesday I saw a syrian taxi was full of so many stuff at the border. I wanted to snap a picture of that taxi but zaid forbade me from doing so because it was at the border, the police might delete the picture or take away my camera. I could not believe my eyes, the taxi was loaded with a lot of things including tents and firewoods(???). Then my taxi driver told us that the arab family was moving out of Jordan to settle down in Aleppo(Halep), Syria.There were four of them ;the father, mother and two teenage daughters . They were the bedouins, the modern ones because they moved abroad using taxi.

I was a bit 'confused' with what I saw....the arab land where thousands of rich the riches live, yet still many people live in tents.One can even see bedouin tents in many parts of Amman(no bedouins in Abdoun of course). Maybe it's their ways of life.....Are they happy ? They seem happy........

I'm bringing this matter up because I come from a different country with a different culture and lifestyle.I always think my life , my culture and my land are always the superb. However, little by little my thinking starts changing and accepting other people's values.For me, living in a tent is out of civilization, maybe for the bedouins , living in a mansion is against the will of nature.

Well, I guess it's not where you live or what you possess that make you better than the others.... Looking back at the seerah of our Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) I think the most important fact of the highest quality of life is when a person embraces ISLAM and IMAN.

Any Luck Today??........Nope..........

I still remember masa di sekolah dulu mesti ada tajuk karangan tentang ' the unluckiest day of my life'...At that time selalu merapu n mereka cerita sendiri sebab tak pernah pun ada hari yang sebegitu tidak bernasib baik......

Tak sangka pagi ni boleh lah dikira sebagai pagi yang kurang bernasib baik bagi I........

Izzat is having fever and has to skip school ,so I have to send mimi to school by following her in ummu khatif's car...kalau tak ikut dia tak nak pergi sekolah... After sending her to school, I kena pulak tunggu taxi nak balik ke rumah. Tunggu depan sekolah dah lebih setengah jam sebuah taxi pun tak lalu di situ. I nak jalan jauh dan tahan taxi di tempat lain susah sikit..nak tau kenapa? Harini pulak nak bergaya pakai winter boots hitam bertumit tinggi (2inci )yang sumayyah tinggalkan(mungkin sebab tinggi/lama dia tinggalkan),jadi nak berjalan turun naik bukit amatlah menyeksakan.

Tak lama lepas tu nampak ada bas yang menuju ke University Balqa' yang lalu tak jauh dari tempat I berdiri. I buat keputusan untuk naik bas n berhenti kat mana-mana ambik taxi pulak. Maka melangkah dengan hati-hati takut tergelicuk/terpeliot kaki sebab jalanraya banyak batu kecil...huh siksanya...belum sempat I sampai kat atas bukit bas tadi dah patah balik ikut jalan bawah bukit yang lain...nak lambai memang tak logik sebab bas tengah turun bukit memang laju dan jauh dari I......I turun pulak bukit dan terkedek-kedek jalan, kalau ada orang nampak rasanya memang orang ketawa, dahlah berwinter coat colar berbulu, boots bertumit tinggi, body I pulak boleh tahan, boleh jadi plus size model...hahhah....nak ketawa pun ada, geram pun ada ,selalu senang je dapat taxi depan sekolah mimi.

Nak hilangkan letih kaki turun bukit(susah nak control kaki turun bukit dengan kasut tinggi tau !!) I singgah kat a shop and bought susu, juice, pencils untuk mimi n biscuits. I tanya pakcik arab kat kedai tu senang ke nak dapat taxi, dia tak faham english, tapi faham the word taxi...dia kata ok, ok, and dia kata ada bas ke Ragdan(bas stesyen dekat city centre)..dalam hati I kata nak buat apa ke ragdan sebab rumah I memang very far from ragdan and different direction pulak tu. I decided nak tunggu depan kedai pakcik tu..tunggu taxi yang lalu semua penuh, bas yang lalu memang ke ragdan..ada sebuah taxi yang kosong..tup tup budak lelaki arab pulak yang tahan dan terus naik taxi tu..geramnya...mula ingat diaorang tunggu bas....

I buat keputusan nak jalan naik bukit yang menghala ke jalan utama.. Mendaki bukit semput dibuatnya, sejuk, berhabuk, kasut tumit tinggi, berat body lagi..tercungap=cungap sampailah jugak kat jalan utama...proses menunggu taxi bermula sekali lagi...bayangkan dah sejam I tunggu taxi dari awal tadi hingga kini satu taxi pun tak de yang kosong....dalam hati kata tak kira kali ni kalau ada bas yang lalu kemana saja bas tu pergi I akan tahan dan pandai-pandailah berhenti kat mana-mana dan sambung semula dengan taxi nak balik rumah.sedang berkira-kira macam tu lalulah sebuah taxi dan berhenti depan I ( alhamdulillah , legaaaaaa! !)I kata ada jugak rezeki nak balik rumah. Pakcik tu terus buka cermin pintu depan, dia tanya nak ke mana, I kata abu nuseir, dia kata boleh tapi kena pergi U jordan dulu, rupanya ada penumpang kat tempat duduk belakang...Ok, I kata . . I tak kisah asalkan dapat naik taxi sebab kaki dah menggigil dek kerana penat, naik bukit, turun bukit, naik bukit (serik pakai kasut tinggi)....I duduk depan sebab perempuan arab di belakang ada dengan anak dia sekali.

Lega sikit dapat rehat kaki dalam taxi. Bila dah dekat sampai round-about yang tak berapa jauh dari abu nuseir , pakcik kata tak pe ke dia kena hantar perempuan tu dulu ke Jordan University Hospital sebab anak dia sakit. I kata tak pa. Takkan I kata tak boleh sebab perempuan tu yang naik dulu dari I. Kenalah meredah early morning traffic jam...naik bukit ke University hospital...bayangkan hospital ini on top of the hill, memang besar hospital, siap dengan ramai polis yang mengawal lalu-lintas dalam kawasan hospital..(my 1st time here). Masa hantar perempuan arab dan anaknya di hospital, meter taxi jd3.050, perempuan arab tu nak bayar hanya jd2.50...mungkin sebab dia tau yang pakcik dapat extra money sebab dia ambik I sebagai extra penumpang. Dahlah berbalah pulak depan hospital sampai polis datang suruh segera beredar..I tak pasti berapa mak arab tu bayar sebab I dengar dia keluarkan duit syiling..... I tak faham sangat apa dia cakap tapi dia tak nak bayar penuh. Memang meter tu dia yang punya tambang sebab dia yang naik awal dari I.

Lepas dah hantar mak arab teruslah pakcik taxi hantar I ke rumah...sambil tu dia sembang2...tanya suami I arab ke ( semalam pun ada polis arab tanya I the same question, macamlah arab nak sangat kawin muka I ni..) I malas nak bercakap, dia tanya rumah I ke kat abu nuseir, I kata rumah anak lelaki I( kena 'tipu' jugak sebab arab ni bukan boleh percaya sangat!!),bukan rumah I .

At last, sampailah I ke abu nuseir jam 8.35 , exactly 2 hours after sending mimi to school..perjalanan pergi-balik ke sekolah selalunya ambil masa setengah jam saja... Tak habis lagi ...Pakcik taxi nak I bayar jd3.(biasa jd1.7 sekolah mimi ke abu nuseir)...I Mula ingat nak gaduh jugak macam mak arab tadi tapi I dah malas nak kata apa, keluarkan duit terus bayar dan balik rumah....I siap ucapkan syukran kat pakcik taxi sebab dia yang 'baik hati' ambik I jadi penumpang di pagi Rabu yang malang ini.........

Itu sahaja perkara yang tidak bernasib baik yang I lalui hari ni... THE END.

"VISA" trip to Bosra........

I just came back from a 'visa' day-trip to Bosra, Syria. I call it a visa trip since my tourist visa will expire tomorrow..that's why I have to go across the border to renew my visa. Actually , only mimi and I have to renew our visa every 6 months. Zaid and izzat have their student visas which are valid for a year.

It is easy for any malaysian to enter Jordan, by land or by air. You only have to pay JD10(RM52) at the visa counter at any Jordan entrance. That tourist visa is valid for a month of stay. Before it expires, you have to register yourself at any police station to renew your visa n usually they will permit you with 2 more months of stay. That means now you can stay up till 3 months, but if you plan to stay longer, you have to go to the Immigration Dept in amman and they will give you another 3 months visa and pay JD1. However ,after 6 months you have to leave the country (pay JD5 at the exit )before you are eligible for another term of stay. Once you are out of the country, you'll come back and you have to follow the same procedure all over again.The visa that I'm talking about is tourist visa for Malaysians.....


We started our journey at 7.15am...took a taxi from abu nuseir to abdali...took a 'servis'(taxi without meter) to Ramtha(the nearest jordan/syria border).....took another servis from ramtha to dir'aa( syria)..stopped at the border and cleared all the visa status.....took a van servis from dir'aa to Bosra and straight to Bosra Castle. Bosra castle is a place where our Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) had his first trading trip with his uncle Abu Talib years before his prophethood. Bosra used to be a very big romanic castle/city and its rome theatre is so far the biggest outside Italy which remains until today.The castle was built with volcanic rocks and stones and most of the sites are still standing like thousand years before .

We took a horse-wagon to go around the castle.We stopped along the way to see the Fatimah Mosque, The Umar mosque, The Byzantine church, The Romanic water reservoir.....and of course the Huge Rome Theatre (3levels) .We didn't have time to stop by the 'footprint' believed to be of Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) because it's far from the horse track.....

We had our lunch at the 'Eastern Sitting Restaurant'.....then got back to dir'aa and took a taxi to ramtha.....this time the driver offered us very low fare (why???) We agreed to hire his taxi but I told Zaid not to pay the fare until we reached Ramtha because I was afraid he would leave us at the border.

What happened then???

Not long after leaving dir'aa the driver stopped by a shop and started talking to another taxi driver and he told zaid that zaid had to ride in another taxi just for 200meter at the border because he might have a little trouble crossing the border. ( mimi and I remained in his taxi)..Later Zaid found out that any syrian taxi is not allowed to cross the border without any passengers.. actually both taxi drivers had to fetch a few students from (Jordan U of Sci. and Tech(JUST) to get back to dir'aa.....So they helped each other by 'separating/dividing' passengers just to get thru the syria/jordan border. It was so funny when 'my' taxi driver called zaid to 'join' back my taxi just 30 meters from the syrian check-point(all the policemen were still before our eyes!!!!) hahahah............

When we reached the jordan territory mimi and I went into a small room to have our bodies scanned...the policewoman asked me whether I'm a chinese(almost all jordanians think most malaysians are chinese...wonder why!!! )I told her that I'm a malaysian., then she looked at Mimi, and she asked me whether' my husband is an arab..( wow!! I was a bit shocked...ada ke pak arab nak muka macam I...mula nak perasan ...0 well , maybe and maybe Mimi is sometimes looks like an arab with her big round eyes and thick black hair .....Who cares, she's our (my darling hubby and I ) daughter lah.....

We got to Ramtha at almost 4pm....Hired another 'servis' back to abu nuseir....Then another 'perasan 'thing happened ....this time the servis driver asked zaid ..is mimi his daughter n i'm his wife....oh my god!... oh my god !! oh no, i tak nak perasan muda....tak nak, tak nak... zaid kata dia nampak tua sangat ke.. hehehe.............let's forget about the perasan perasaannnnnn..........

Alhamdulillah , we reached our house at 4.50pm...it's a fine trip and we are legal tourists for another 6 more months here in jordan, our beloved country...ceh ceh ceh...OUR BELOVED COUNTRY.....

1st. Anniversary.....

Today is my first anniversary leaving my homeland...........

I pun tak tau my feeling but one thing for sure I am now more relax and tenang. Bukan bermakna staying in malaysia tak seronok dan tak tenang tapi bila berubah angin n place memang suasana tenang yang I impikan....... and ...I got it here in amman, Alhamdulillah.

Happy anniversary!!!

SEJUK......bila nak snow????

Cuaca di amman semakin lama semakin sejuk hingga mencengkam tulang...tak tahan sekali sejuk di bahagian kaki, i pakai stokin sampai 3 lapis+fluffy slippers..sejuk sekali walaupun heater terpasang..memang kaki I cepat sejuk, kalau musim panas pun jarang I tanggalkan stokin terutama waktu tidur apatah sekarang musim sejuk..dulu ingat negara arab semuanya panas sebab adanya padang pasir ...rupanya tidak, winter is winter even though snow is only 'pouring ' down once or twice ..itupun mungkin in late january or early february....

I ingat my first experience lihat snow masa di DC..it was at night, my friend ,Rufina n I were studying near the clear glass window..we were also listening to the radio n we didn't realize it was snowing until the DJ said, 'It's snowing now in DC." We were shocked n looked outside the window n..."wowwwwwwwwwww, it's snowing lahhh", we screamed like crazy.

What happened next? You bet!!

Off we went, putting on our winter gear etc..we strolled the whole part of our beloved town of Rosslyn(situated by the Potomac River) It's like dream came true..I had been longing to feel snow , to touch snow,to taste snow n on n on n on............we dragged our feet where nobody had set foot on the white blanketed snow...it's like Rosslyn was ours(it's true coz tak de org lain pun kat jalanraya yang 'jakun' macam we all......tak kisah memang suka sangat masa tu....

On our way back to our apartment,ours was on the 9th floor of River Place (it's like 5* hotel ...miss u river place!!), we were so embarrassed when we saw a group of malaysian boys (who also lived on the 9th floor) were looking at us..even though it was at night but all the street lights were on n they could see us clearly....

Guess what??When we reached our apartment, one of them(a boy with nickname Apple ) called us n apalagi kena kutuk macam-macam coz malam-malam buta keluar main snow.......Biarlah asalkan kami bahagia... it was cool man!!!.

Itu kisah first snow in the USA dulu-dulu punya cerita...

Let me tell u the first snow in Amman...If I was not mistaken it's on the 4/2/06......the night before we experienced heavy rain n very windy.....after subuh prayer I went back to bed until around 6.30am I got up coz I had planned to cook nasi lemak that morning...( my hubby was on leave, so he was here in amman and one medic student from dublin , syafiq who was on holidays also spent a night at my house). Before I went to the kitchen downstairs, I said to my darling hubby maybe it's snowing n I looked thru the window.....It's all white outside..i couldn't believe my eyes, it was snowing, it was snowing!! I told izzat n sumayyah that it was snowing but nobody believed me....

.Why ??

Coz it's been so many times that I was only joking about snow...

When they found out that it was really snowing............macam mak dialah jakun first time nampak snow........Mimi, izzat, sumayyah, zaid, syafiq n my darling hubby pun keluar rumah main snow n they snapped pictures......I masak nasi lemak but i made myself clear to them...snow in my house backyard was mine, I would be the first to touch n set foot on it.....nobody else could..hahaha.After finished cooking apalagi I launched the 'pijak snow' ceremony in my backyard..dah dapat bergambar I pun 'serahkan' snow pada my kids...sukanyalah mimi n sumayyah main snow n buat pingu, nak buat big snowman tak cukup banyak snow ...dapatlah diaorang bergambar dengan pingu....

Itulah snow yang agak lebat, bertahan sampai tengah hari,.....yang lainnya sikit-sikit je tak cover jalanraya pun..........

Apapun I memang suka snow............when I think of snow , I think of my childhood dream............SNOW! SNOW! I LOVE U SNOW !!

Arab+Melayu=Arab........

Petang tadi my dear friend Lynn dengan anak-anak datang rumah I untuk ambil barang-barang yang dia pesan pada kak ana yang datang ke Jordan dari Malaysia baru-baru ni. Lynn is a Malaysian who married a British-born-Egyptian n dah tinggal di Amman selama 5 tahun. She married her arab husband when she studied in the UK. She's from Perak n now has 4 cute children.

Dulu i ada post dalam blog about malaysian/arab married couples yang tinggal di Amman and how their lives are..It's nice to learn that all of them spend their wonderful life together even though they come from two totally different races/culture/background/countries. What makes them bond to each other is ISLAM ....Isn't it wonderful??

They are lucky because their husbands are very Islamic n responsible to the families....Alhamdulillah. semua berkahwin semasa belajar di luar negara samada di UK or US....

I remember masa I studied di US dulu heboh kes seorang pelajar perempuan malaysia ,Mariam Jamilah,yang berkahwin dengan lelaki dari Iran yang berfahaman syiah yang berkesudahan si perempuan tidak menamatkan pengajian dan tidak kembali ke malaysia kerana mengikut suami kembali ke Iran. I sempat bertemu Mariam jamilah semasa dia hadir bersama pengikut syiah dalam satu program yang diadakan di pusat agama American U (universiti I belajar ) dan dia nampak ceria kerana pada pandangan I memang itulah jalan yang dia pilih iaitu bersama suami dan keluarga tercinta walaupun berlainan mazhab /negara / bangsa... Just wonder di mana dia sekarang ...

Kalau di jordan kaum lelaki jarang berumahtangga semasa usia muda ...20an..amat jarang..yang ramainya berkahwin dalam usia 30an-40an..Baru2 ni rakan sekelas zaid di british council yang berumur 29 tahun yang apabila zaid menanyakan bila akan berkahwin dia kata masih muda lagi dan tak tau bila baru berkahwin....Di jordan seseorang lelaki yang ingin berkahwin memerlukan JD20,000.00(RM104,000.00)+kereta+rumah dll urusan kenduri-kendara jika ingin menyunting anak dara untuk dijadikan isteri .

Bayangkan betapa tingginya harga sebuah perkahwinan. Oleh itu tidak hairan ramai lelaki arab yang masih belum berumahtangga walaupun sudah berumur 40an...Well, itu merupakan budaya dan adat resam masyarakat arab yang terkenal dengan kekayaan harta benda dan wang ringgit walaupun pada realitinya majoriti bangsa arab hidup secara amat sederhana especially di Jordan...

Satu yang I amati majoriti pasangan malay+ bangsa lain tak kira samada dengan arab/mat salleh/chinese/indian atau lain-lain bangsa akan melahirkan zuriat yang lebih cenderung mengikut genes dari sebelah yang bukan malay terutama dari segi fizikal............

*arab+malay = arab
*mat saleh +malay= mat saleh
*chinese + malay=chinese
*indian+malay=indian

(buktinya foto di sebelah....)

I think my observation ni betul kan??? Why?? Adakah genes melayu tak segagah bangsa lain sehingga dengan mudah di dominated???????

Louq Louq Tariq School

Ahad lalu I sempat menghantar mimi ke sekolah kerana izzat demam n mimi tak nak pergi sekolah seorang dengan Ummu Khatif (drebar mimi&izzat), so pagi tu i ikut mimi ke Louq Louq Tariq School, sebuah sekolah swasta dengan pengantar bahasa arab.Sekolah ni terletak dalam 15 minit perjalanan dengan kereta berdekatan University Balqa' .
It's a small school but clean n beautiful. Sekolah ni terbuka untuk kanak-kanak dari umur 4 tahun hingga grade 9(15tahun) sebab ianya sekolah yang agak baru. Di Jordan peringkat menengah yang paling tinggi ialah grade 12. Izzat studies dalam grade 7 n mimi peringkat tamhidi(taska) sebab baru 4 tahun. Walaupun baru 4 tahun tapi pelajaran yang diajar lebih kurang sama dengan peringkat tadika/raudhah. Kebiasaannya kanak-kanak mula masuk saf awal(darjah 1) semasa berumur 6 tahun.

Satu yang I admire this school kerana ianya diselenggara sepenuhnya oleh kaum wanita dari pengetua, guru besar ,kerani sehinggalah janitors semuanya wanita. Cuma lelakinya hanya pakcik-pakcik drebar bas sekolah(drebar mimi wanita !)

Hebat kan? Di tanah arab yang selalunya kita kaitkan dengan wanita dikongkong tetapi hakikatnya adalah sebaliknya, wanita diberi sepenuh kebebasan terutama di bidang pendidikan...

Di Amman sekolah swasta tumbuh bagai cendawan selepas hujan..samada sekolah swasta pengantar bahasa arab atau bahasa inggeris (international school) Katanya bukan rakyat asing sahaja yang suka menghantar anak bersekolah di sekolah swasta tetapi jordanians sendiri lebih cenderung menyekolahkan anak-anak mereka di sekolah swasta ...

Why ? No Comment!!Make your own judgement!!

Lagi satu yang I salute this school ialah di peringkat taska lagi guru akan menulis report harian dalam sebuah buku yang akan dibawa balik oleh pelajar dan semuanya lengkap dengan apa yang dipelajari dan homework untuk hari berkenaan..just imagine daily report sent to each single student...tak taulah i kalau di negara sendiri rasanya habis semua guru 'mengamuk' dibuatnya.

Bukan itu saja, laporan bulanan lagi lengkap siap dengan pencapaian/kebersihan/ kelakuan /interaksi dengan guru /kawan-kawan sekolah...siap untuk setiap pelajar. Baru minggu lalu mimi bawa balik surat pekeliling dari pentadbir sekolah berkenaan larangan memberi hadiah kepada guru sekolah dalam apa jua bentuk sekalipun..Kadang-kadang kita sebagai parents nak jugak bagi sesuatu sebagai tanda appreciation kepada guru yang mengajar anak kita selama ini..tetapi di sini dikira seperti rasuah kerana ditakuti guru akan terhutang budi dengan pemberian anak murid dan ibubapa. Memang di peringkat mana sekalipun hatta peringkat universiti, anak i zaid bagitau pensyarah tidak akan menerima sebarang pemberian dari mahasiswa sekalipun kopi secawan sebaliknya pensyarah yang selalu belanja pelajar minum , alangkah mulianya hati pendidik-pendidik arab/muslim di bumi anbiya ini.

Dulu sebelum berpindah ke amman ada jugak rasa gusar n risau macamana izzat n mimi nak bersekolah di sini, risau tentang sekolahnya/curriculumnya...bukan apa ingat sekolah arab 'out-of-date'...rupanya tidak malah ada subjects yang lebih updated dari sekolah di tanahair...di sini pelajaran sejarah (bukan sejarah jordan sahaja) tetapi sejarah tanah arab diajar di sekolah, pelajaran komputer jugak diajar bermula dari peringkat rendah lagi , bukan sebagai ko-kurikulum tapi termasuk dalam kurikulum sekolah, pendidikan jasmani juga diambil markah semasa ujian di sekolah...pendek kata lengkap sekali pembelajarannya....

Itulah sedikit sebanyak maklumat yang dapat i raih dari pengamatan /pengalaman anak-anak sendiri belajar di louq Louq Tariq School Amman......

Do You Know........

I just wanna share this lyrics which relates to our life......just ponder.......

Do you know
Where you're going to
Do you like the things that life is showing you
Where are you going to
Do you know?

Do you get
What you're hoping for
When you look behind you
There's no open door
What are you hoping for
Do you know?

Once we were standing still in time
Chasing the fantasies
That filled our minds
You knew how I loved you
But my spirit was free
Laughin' at the questions
That you once asked of me

Do you know
where you're going to
Do you like the things that life is showing you
Where are you going to
Do you know?

Now looking back at all we've planned
We let so many dreams
Just slip through our hands
Why must we wait so long
Before we'll see
How sad the answers
To those questions can be

Do you know
Where you're going to
Do you like the things that life is showing you
Where are you going to
Do you know?

Do you get
What you're hoping for
When you look behind you
There's no open door
What are you hoping for
Do you know

So long my dear friend.....

Petang ni my tetamu akan meninggalkan jordan ...sedihnya rasa , sekejapnya masa 9 hari berlalu...hope to see them again..pagi tadi kami mengimbau kenangan masa belajar di US...berkongsi nostalgia silam yang belum pernah di ceritakan......semoga pertemuan kali ini mengeratkan lagi tali persahabatan kami buat selamanya....

So long, farewell, goodbye, until we meet again, InsyaAllah.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Yesterday satu rombongan NGO Muslim Care dari Malaysia singgah lunch rumah i, diaorang baru balik dari menghantar bantuan kemanusiaan ke Palestine n Lebanon, singgah di jordan semalam dan dalam perjalanan balik ke malaysia...i tak sangka bertuah menerima kedatangan rombongan delegasi Muslim Care , thanx to firdaus , anak murid i juga kenalan zaid yang sudi membawa rombongan ini bertandang ke rumah....

Banyak pengalaman rombongan ini dalam menyalurkan bantuan kepada mangsa-mangsa perang serata dunia terutama di negara timur tengah yang tidak henti bergolak.

I jugak dihadiahkan sebuah buku terbaru tulisan ustaz Riduan Mohd Nor ( beliau juga hadir bersama ) dan Ustaz Ahmad Adnan Fadhil berjodol : SIRI SERANGAN PEMIKIRAN, Islam Liberal dan Pluralisme Agama, InsyaAllah i akan baca buku ni dalam minggu ni.. Thank you ustaz Riduan......

Semoga Muslim Care akan bergerak lebih aktif membantu sahabat-sahabat se Islam yang ditindas tanpa belas kasihan dan semoga Allah membalas jasa kalian dengan syurga di akhirat kelak, amin............

Daily life customs...

There's nothing much happening for the past two days..i've been staying indoor to avoid coldness ...my guests came back from syria and straight went to mu'tah n petra.. .will come back to amman late this evening. They only have 1 day left before going home this Monday. Really hope they enjoy their holidays here.

Let's forget about them for a while because today I like to post some jordanians daily life customs/culture which I've encountered for the past 11 months.

1. Visiting the arabs..

When u visit your neighbour, first let them know that u are coming(who/time)..
They will let u know whether they are available or not...
They will chat n serve u coffee or sometimes soft drinks . Usually they serve coffee in a tiny cup,thank god it's so tiny , why? It's bitter because the coffee is mixed with cloves(cengkih). When u do not want anymore coffee, all u have to do is to shake the tiny cup n they'll not refill , if not u'll have to sip some more bitter coffee..unless u like it. So far no one does.

After talking for a while, they'll serve u cakes or peanuts(they love all kinds of nuts , that's why they have strong memory..)

Then they serve u tea...meaning after this, take a leave.....


2. Arabs are caring n generous.

Arabs are not busy-body people .They are caring n loving.

Example 1.

Last winter the heater that we used ( using diesel ) was leaking but we didn't know, we thought the loud bang-bang sound (never used this kind of heater before )from the heater was normal..until muhammad's father came to see zaid n told zaid that the heater was leaking n he fixed it there n then...

Example 2.

Izzat was staying alone because all of us had some outside business to do..it was already dusk..Muhammad's mother ,muna came n invited izzat to stay at her house until we came back.Izzat said it's ok(he's already 12 years old), later muna came n offered izzat some veggie soup because she thought izzat hadn't had dinner yet.. Izzat said he had already eaten..

Example 3.

Muna used to be a nurse n now working at the ministry of health. She always offers us all kinds of medicine if we need any. I remember when my friend (mukrimah , she's now in malaysia ) who was sick, muna came n treated her everyday until mukrimah was getting better n went back to her house in Sweileh.

The arabs are surely very caring, generous n kind, Alhamdulillah.

3. Let's party..

Arabs like party..men with men, women with women..the party is clean.. women can take off their hijabs/veils n they wear pretty colourful dresses/skirts, they dance/chat/smoke(yes smoking, many arab women do)...

I remember Maha's high school graduation party (maha is muna's daughter ) many makcik arabs were also present, they really enjoyed the party, they danced n wore beautiful dresses (I was surprised because all this while they seemed very islamic , all covered wherever they go ) I wasn't ready to dance...actually it wasn't that difficult to dance the arab folk songs, but i wasn't ready ( i didn't wear pretty dress!!) Sumayyah got up n dance ...it was so funny because she wasn't dancing the arab steps, she seemed like dancing 'joget melayu' hahahaha....what a party...we couldn't find this party in malaysia...women here enjoy their life..........


There are many more arab customs to write but i'll reserve for next time...So far..I like being/living in the arab community....Hope i can stay longer, amin.

quite beezee.........

This week I'm quite busy entertaining my guests from Malaysia. The first two days we spent our time in amman(ashabul kahfi, balad, rome theatre, jabal qala'ah,wadi seer,qasr iraq al amir, maqam bilal ibnu rabah)... jerash, umm qays, ajlun, irbid.

Yesterday my friends went off to Syria with Zaid as their tour guide.

It's so nice to meet them ...we chatted and talked and giggled.. etc...so so so much fun being with one true friend indeed.

Ahlan Wa Sahlan.........

Harini kawan baik I since I first arrived in Washington DC 23 years ago (13/08/1983 , to be axact) akan datang melawat kami here in jordan for 9 days. 5 of them are coming n akan stay kat my house. mula diaorang nak duduk hotel, i offer them to stay at my place since bukan nak duduk rumah je, nak melancong , balik tido je, itupun kalau ziarah tempat2 lain termasuk syria memang tak tido rumah, so might as well jadikan my house station/transit.

My best friend, kak rohana or i call her kak ana is one year senior than i am , an english teacher in kuantan n her hubby ,Wan Khairuzaman is an engineer working for TNB in KL . Masa i pegi belajar di US dulu i pegi sekali dengan Rahayu, adik kak ana n kak ana yang sambut kami di Dulles airport. Tapi i baik n rapat dengan kak ana n kurang rapat dengan aidknya rahayu walaupun i n rahayu same batch, same u n ambik same course. Kak ana belajar di George Mason U , virginia, dalam sejam perjalanan from DC. Nak dijadikan cerita macamana i boleh rapat dengan kak ana.........., selepas 4/5 bulan being in DC i felt something missing inside of me...the life was so challenging/busy/hectic..i was so involved with all kinds of social activities ( ????remain secret) when it came to the point that i started to find/search for my true identity..."who am i? why am i here ? where should i go ? etc " I really thought i have to do something about myself. I have to come back to ISLAM...that's it!! Yes . that's it.ISLAM is the answer...not that i wasn't a muslim(Nauzubillah) but it seemed my life was away from the true teaching of islam. memang waktu awal 1980an adalah zaman kebangkitan islam(zaman dakwah),alhamdulillah Allah pilih i sebagai seorang yang kembali kepada islam waktu tu.

Hampir every weekend i (modern girl, skirt, tight jeans ,body pun very slim!! )akan ziarah kak ana(kak ana waktu tu berjubah, bertudung labuh) untuk observe life kak ana ...kira macam cari bahan buat assignment...i duduk je kat rumah dia n kadang2 tidur kat situ, kalau dia solat, i tengok je, kalau nak solat, i ikut kalau tak nak, tengok jelah. Satu yang i pelajari kak ana pandai main psikologi, dia tak de nak pakse i solat, tak sindir, tak marah i tak tutup aurat...dia macam buat tak endah je...sampai minggu ke berapa i tak ingat dah , masa i pergi rumah kak ana buat observation lagi...baru kak ana bersuara..." sarinah, u tak nak cuba pakai pakaian muslimah, bertudung, tutup aurat....Allah akan sayang kita n hidup akan jadi lebih tenang......" Waktu tu i gembira bukan main bila ada yang bertanya begitu sebab ingat dia tak kisah, padahal hati ni memang dah terpaut dengan cara berpakaian muslim /cara hidup kak ana yang nampak begitu tenang ... Actually i ada rahsia yang jarang i ceritakan sebab ramai orang akan kata i buat-buat cerita..tapi inilah hakikatnya, ....saban malam i dapat 'dengar satu suara' yang suruh i tutup aurat , kembali pada islam....sampai sekarang i mencari dari mana datangnya suara tu..only Allah knows..ini bukan drama , it's reality..

Semenjak hari tu hidup i mula berubah, i mula belajar apa itu islam , mula praktik islam yang sebenar walaupun ambik masa nak tutup aurat sebab masalah tak de baju kurung n tudung, kena impot dari malaysia . waktu tu family di malaysia 'gerun' bila dengar anak dia ni yang lincah/aktif nak bertudung,ingat mula2 call mak nak mintak kirim baju n tudung , first soalan yang mak tanya " ha, nak masuk dakwah?? "...waktu tu mak ayah (bukan my parents je, ramai lagiiii)seriau n takut sangat kalau anak-anak nak masuk dakwah sebab biasanya lepas masuk dakwah, akan berhenti belajar , yang perempuan akan kahwin( memang i kawin pun tak lama lepas tu haha, tapi yang penting i tamat dapat BSc.) , tinggal/buang mak ayah yang kononnya mereka jelah yang islam, mak ayah tak islam...n gerakan al arqam abuya baru tumbuh bagai cendawan...memang mak ayah takut betul tapi i explained to them that i takkan nak berhenti belajar because that's my ambition nak pergi belajar oversea.....USA pulak tu negara yang i idam-idamkan....kalau i berhenti teruklah my penjamin nak bayar balik pada JPA...........baru my parents cool down..sampailah baju n tudung...I chose 1st ramadan 1984 (lepas setahun tiba di US ) mula bertudung......Alhamdulillah kawan2 ramai yang bagi good response walaupun ada yang menyindir/perli maklumlah i bukan budak baik waktu tu... ada yang kata, alah ina tu nanti bukaklah tudung, bukan tahan dia nak bertudung kat sini...sampai ada one american guy, Michael ( my ex-sweetheart !!, who cares now..) dia terkejut bila dia jumpa i dah bertudung, dia bagitau..." You look so sweet in your veil, but it's not impossible that you'll take it off one day because before this you weren't wearing it" teringat dia cakap balik, macam iklan biskut lu, kejap ada kejap tak de..waktu tu i cakap balik pada " I won't take it off , InsyaAllah, I won't take it off ", and i meant it.

Itulah kuasa Allah dalam mengeratkan ukhuwah islam yang terbina , takkan padam cahayaNYa selagi masih ada hamba yang mencari redhaNYa. Salam ukhuwah yang terjalin kerana Islam takkan padam sampai bila-bila...

Kebetulan kak ana tinggal di kuantan n i di kemaman(45mins drive )dapat jugak jumpa walaupun tak setiap minggu/bulan...memang she's truly my best friend/sister ever...InsyaAllah...

I'll be going to the airport this afternoon to welcome my dearly/darling kak ana n family...
Ahlan wa Sahlan ya habibi, ya maulana..ya kak anaaaaaaa....

Souq Muqayyam, Irbid

2 days ago Zaid n I went to Irbid, as usual main reason nak cuci gambar(Zaid tak suka yang digital, kamera dia hebat, tak tau guna blur lah gambar..). Waiting for the photos to be developed, we went to souq muqayyam which is only 5 minutes by taxi from University (Yarmouk) Street or Syariq Jamiah.

Souq muqayyam atau 'Kem Pasar' is a palestinian camp found in Irbid, Jordan. This is like the Baqa'ah camp which I visited during last Ramadan but this one in Irbid is better in terms of infra-structure(still shabby houses!! ) n they have a street full with shops which sell mainly clothes/jubah n household items at low prices. I bought myself a new long winter coat/jubah with hood, easy to wear/very practical like many arabs do. If I buy this same jubah in Amman it'd cost JD20-Jd25, but here at souq Muqayyam i got it for only jd??, what a bargain, itupun I jenis tak pandai tawar n zaid only bargained sikit je(rugi,rugi..kena belajar bargain..dari muda sampai tua tak pandai bargain, takut!! )

Other stuff yang I beli, mainly for mimi since a lot of cute little gloves, snow caps, mufflers, long socks, long johns.. geram tengok, very colourful n more important, very cheap, tak sampai sedinar for a a pair of cap n muffler, mana nak dapat kat amman... Next time nak beli jubah casual yang murah di sini n teramat mahal di amman..No wonder many malaysian students go shopping here before they go back home to malaysia.....

Kem ni asalnya kem pelarian palestine n mana-mana kem pun walaupun dah berpuluh tahun wujudnya, the physical of the camps remain the same, macam rumah setinggan, kem di irbid ni nampak bersih sikit n orang-orang living here nampak lebih ceria/happy . Mungkin kehidupan di sini lebih bagus coz they have shops n market where thay can sell their goods( source of income ).. Nasib pelarian palestine ...kesian lihat hidup mereka di dunia ni...sayu ....

Last week masa naik taxi nak ke bus station besar untuk ke Mu'tah, the taxi driver told us that 75% of jordanians came originally from Palestine, he himself moved from palestine to jordan 50 years ago.He n his wife used to take a bus from Abdali to masjidil al aqsa in palestine every friday just to perform friday prayer . It took only 1.5 hours to get from abdali(downtown amman ) to masjidil aqsa..how nice if we can do the same thing now...The driver also said during 1940s( he wasn't in jordan yet !) a person could finish getting around the city of amman in only 5 minutes, the only street found back then was the street in front of king hussein's mosque. Nowadays, one may take up to 4-5 hours to do the same...

When you talk about jordan , u can never refrain yourself from talking about palestine because jordanians are palestinians n palestinians are jordanians...Souq muqayyam or other souqs are actually dominated by mostly palestinians, they are the merchants, jordan's economy depends on these people......they know they have to strive n quest for their survival.......

perginya bersama seribu kenangan..............

I baru je dapat call dari my darling hubby, biras i(my kakak ipar's husband), abg Piey baru kejap tadi meninggal dunia(around 9pm malaysian time ) setelah sehari koma akibat stroke.

Alfatihah......

My biras ( I think dalam umur late 60s) adalah bekas guru besar di sekolah-sekolah sekitar Parit , Perak...Memang dia pun berasal dari daerah Parit. He married my kakak ipar after her wife died long time ago. He has 4 children, 1 with first wife n 3 with kak noriah, my ipar.

Abang piee seorang yang peramah, kelakar, very humble , baik hati n dia memang terkenal di sekitar Parit sampailah ke Bota, memang nama dia famous.Selepas pencen masanya banyak dihabiskan di rumah dan masjid/surau.

Abang Piee sangat sayang pada cucu-cucunya dan saban minggu akan melawat anak cucu yang tinggal di sekitar KL. Satu yang takkan dilupakan loghat parit nya yang pekat yang banyak perkataan yang i pun kurang faham even though i asal Perak, tu yang selalu jadi kelakar bila bersembang dengannya.

Semuanya kini tinggal kenangan ...kenangan amat manis yang takkan dilupakan..

Semoga Allah mencucuri rahmat ke atas roh beliau dan ditempatkan bersama roh orang yang beriman, Amin.

Mu'tah memory lane....

I just got back from Mu'tah, 160km south of Amman. Alhamdulillah I spent 2 days in that small town where more than 100 malaysian students living there. All of them are studying in the U of Mu'tah. Mimi n I stayed at Azra's (housemates:murni, saadah,nazihah,aini , all from N9) house in Mazar just 4 minutes by van from downtown Mu'tah while zaid n izzat stayed at Adam's house in front of Mu'tah mosque. Usually when we went to mu'tah we'd spend our time staying at zaid's house, but since zaid is no longer staying in mutah after he graduated last summer, we had to stay at 2 different houses.Furthermore ,there's no hotel/motel in this small town.

Mimi n I spent our friday going to Istana Darul Ridwan's(the name of the house ) open house(tak habis raya lagi since last week they had exams) The ex-Kolej Darul Ridwan's girls cooked mee hong kong+roti jala+nasi impit+kuah kacang+pudding+choco cake. Sedap betul semuanya. Thank you Ainul, Sari n other girls who invited us to their open house.

After that we went to Fadli n Saadiah's house ,a loving married couple, fadli is my ex-student back in kemaman. They served mee jawa(both orang jawa)+lontong+kuah kacang+biskut raya+kerepek which are all home made food, uuummm very delicious. I know fadli is very good cook.Thank you both of you for entertaining/serving us with mouth-watering food...

Zaid n Izzat spent their time at U of Mu'tah indoor stadium because the MSA (mu'tah) organized a futsal league tournament. Zaid n his team, Selamba FC played in the match, izzat the spectator...Result: The champion :Irbid FC ( all future doctors) , 2nd : SBB ( saya budak baik ) team from mu'tah.

Mu'tah is a very peaceful town where according to Islamic history, the battle of Mu'tah took part here . many Rasulullah's companions died in that battle including Zaid bin Harithah, Jaafar Abu Talib, Abu Ruwaihah n many other warriors who died as martyrs. The battle field can still be seen at the entrance of the town...the maqam of the companions are located in Mazar. I couldn't stop my tears from dropping whenever i visited the maqam, it looked like i could see how they(the martyrs) fought till the end of their lives with only one ultimate goal: ISLAM is the way of life .

Saturday 2.30pm, while waiting for izzat to come back with me to Amman at the bus stop ( zaid overstayed for another day), I saw a group of malaysian boys from Damascus , Syria who were also waiting for a bus to get back to Amman before going home to Syria.To my surprise, one of them, Nakaie was also there. He is my ex-student in kemaman....There he was, talking loudly/proudly telling his friend that I'm his teacher n bla bla bla.He is now married with one kid (another one is coming soon), he n his wife, Abidah (also my ex-student) have been staying/studying in damascus for 6 years.... how nice to meet him in mu'tah. He n other boys came to Jordan for a business-trip( MSA syria n to visit MSD Jordan ). I invited them to my house in Amman but then they had to get back to damascus by tonight (Thay have classes on Sunday )Maybe next time, InsyaAllah. We exchanged goodbyes at Amman Bus station at 5pm.

Izzat, mimi n I took a taxi home . Nakaie n the gang took a bus to abdali where they hired 2 taxis back to damascus, syria.So long, farewell, see you all next time....

Al Fatihah........

Al Fatihah............

This morning I received an sms from my darling hubby that it's confirmed that the Malaysian Helicopter Sdn Bhd (MHS) pilot who was found dead in a helicopter wreckage near exxon-mobil platform was Captain Salleh Teguh who used to be our neighbour in Kerteh.... He used to be a TUDM pilot before he joined MHS whose job was to carry workers to/from petroleum platforms daily. Captain Salleh as we know is a very kind person n it so happens that his father-in-law ,Pakcik Hamdan used to be my arwah/late father's best friend when they were in the army long time ago. I got to know this pakcik when the late captain salleh moved to our housing area in kerteh early 1990s.. That captain's house was the 3rd on the right of my house (double-storey terrace then!)

When I browsed through Malaysian newspapers today, I saw the faces of arwah n his children(they are all grown ups now )...I was sad but I know his wife ,Mariana or I call her Kak Midah is 'pasrah n redha ' with what had happened.She also mentioned in the paper that during last ramadan her late husband who 's also their nearby surau committee member, spent most of his time performing ibadah n read Quran a lot, Alhamdulillah.

This incident reminds me to always think of Allah the AlMighty because I never know when my heart stops beating...this entire colourful/attractive world is only a transit before heading n residing in the permanent destination.

Let's pray to Allah the Most Gracious God to grant Captain Salleh with paradise, Amin.

3 hours in Balad...

Harini I n zaid spend 3 hours in balad /amman city centre.....actually lama tak pergi..so zaid kata why not kita pegi Assyorofiyyah,sebuah perkampungan arab atas bukit opposite Jabal Qala'ah dekat city center.

Apa yang ada kat situ ?

Abu Darwish Mosque, a unique checkered black n white painted mosque which was built by Abu Darwish (a chechen muslim scholar ) long time ago... (has yet to know when it was built!!).It was on top of the hill n standing in front of the mosque was like standing in red square,Moscow. The mosque looks similar to St. Basil Cathedral in moscow( with different colour !! ).

Then, we went straight to the city center, captured a few photos n bought some food (takeaway coz we are fasting )from cairo restaurant.

1. A lady in black, selling rokok, selalunya sama je style diaorang ni, muka agak gelap, jubah hitam , big body size, duduk di kaki lima.

2. Gerai 10 qurusy(RM0.52) yang jual macam-macam aksesori hiasan wanita/kanak-kanak. Tempat favourite Maya n I (wajib singgah !! ) harini singgah beli gelang mimi 2 baru 20 qurusy.

3. Men with painting/cleaning/ buckets/brushes . Gang ni sokmo ada kat depan masjid Hussein, tunggu kalau ada orang upah cat /cuci kat mana-mana.......selain tu ramai jugak yang lepak, apa kerje diaorang ye.....

4. Pemuda jual jam tangan depan toilet. Zaid kata semenjak zaid tahun 1 (2002) orang ni dah jual jam kat situ, betul2 dpn pintu tandas kat kawasan tepi masjid hussein.

5. Lottery...halal agaknya di jordan...penjualnya lelaki berjubah , tak pun berserban, jual di kaki lima ...Waktu zaid nak ambik gambar ni pakcik si penjual lottery ni cepat-cepat beralih tempat, kononnya bukan dia yang jual, tau pulak malu jual benda haram.

3 hours spent in balad dapat lihat pelbagai ragam arabs/jordanians(banyak lagi pics yang zaid snapped...) which sometimes buatkan I semakin mengenali cara hidup mereka yang simple/humble/moderate/etc......

palestine oh palestinian...

Harini nak tulis sikit pasal palestine n palestinians...

I could still remember during my final semester belajar dulu which was fall/autumn 1987 masa di American U, Washington DC , i ambik 1 course, hebrew language untuk my last elective subject, hebrew language is spoken by jews or bangsa yahudi, alphabets nya banyak yang hampir sama yang buat susah nak kenal, i saja ambik course ni sebab saja nak tau n my U pun diasaskan oleh yahudi n in the uS memang jews yang dominate negara tu. Masa i ambik course tu , gerakan intifadah di palestine bergelodak semula sebab jews yang provoke ambik tanah bangsa palestine...My lecturer, a jew lady was so nice( I got A of course )...I remember dia offered one palestinian student( nama dia Kamil tapi ni kristian arab) jika kamil ada apa2 barang nak kirim pada keluarga dia di palestine because she's going back to israel end of that year...lecturer tu kata dia tak suka peperangan antara jews n arabs...memang cikgu ni baik sangat...waktu tu baru start nak perang (dingin/armed) yang sampai sekarang tak habis lagi......

Memang bangsa yahudi akan menentang n memusuhi arabs yang paling utama n second memusuhi muslims...

Sentimen anti yahudi ni takkan berakhir selagi bangsa derhaka ni wujud di dunia dan yang paling merana sekarang ialah bangsa arab di palestine, tanah yang telah diambil pihak yahudi melebihi 90% dah sekarang, ramai rakyat palestine undur dari bumi tumpah darah mereka termasuklah ke bumi jordan ..di amman city center saja lebih kurang 100 000 ribu palestinians tinggal semenjak 1948...tak termasuk lokasi lain dan negara lain...

Semasa berada di Malaysia hati terasa sayu setiap kali berita tentang bangsa palestine teraniaya , sungguh kasihan..... namun perasaan sedih n belas kasihan kian terhakis apabila berada di bumi jordan hampir setahun ... It's a reality here in jordan that most of the richest men come from palestine, n most of the bad guys also are from palestine. Palestinian are well-known for their bad habits/kaki putar belit n macam-macam perangai buruk yang menyebabkan terasa dalam hati patutlah bangsa arab palestin ni dihina ... Memang tak dinafikan masih ramai palestinian yang memang berjuang/berjihad demi ALLah n Islam . Paling hairan di jordan ni bila kita tanya dari mana asal mereka tak ramai yang nak mengaku mereka asalnya palestine, semua mengaku Jordanian walaupun pada hakikatnya ramai yang asalnya palestine. Mereka malu mengaku berbangsa palestine because persepsi orang if you are palestinian then you must be a bad guy...selalunya begitu...

Nak dijadikan cerita mengenai palestinian ni lebih lebih happening, jiran i kat sini anaknya nama Omar, mukanya putih (most palestinian putih, rambut sikit perang lain dari arab jordan)...Peliknya bila tanya dari mana asalnya dia selalu kata dari jordan tapi kawan-kawan arab dia yang lain semua kata omar palestinian. Omar akan marah kalau orang kata dia palestinian..dia ni pulak perangai tak baik, selalu ejek izzat, dia selalu dengki kalau kawan arab lain main dengan izzat, bila diajak main dia bukan nak main betul-betul selalu nak buli orang, akhirnya orang jarang nak main dengan dia.

Semenjak dari mula kami pindah ke amman, omar selalu je cari pasal dengan budak-budak terutamanya izzat (mungkin tak suka orang luar ), mula2 izzat diam je tapi sekarang dah berani lawan sebab omar kecil dari izzat (baru 10 tahun ).Keadaan tambah teruk sejak akhir2 ni bila semua budak tak berapa suka main dengan omar.

Then something terrible happened yesterday evening, masa tu izzat main bola depan rumah (memang biasa budak2 arab datang main petang2), Omar tak nak main n memang kawan-kawan izzat yang lain tak nak bagi omar main sebab sebelum ni omar tak bagi diaorang main sama, omar duduk je kat tangga luar rumah I, waktu tu dia dah provoked izzat ejek macam2 n izzat sempat tendang bola ke arah dia, kuat jugak izzat tendang (izzat memang born-footballer) . Lepas habis main izzat bersembang dengan muhammad yang tua setahun dari izzat tentang seorang goalkeeper faisoli football club yang juara AFC cup baru-baru ni , tinggal di belakang rumah I, tiba2 Omar mula mengejek-ejek apa yang izzat cakap, Izzat pun balas balik dengan kata omar palestinian, dia kata bukan, dan terus nafikan, kebetulan Zaid ada kat rumah, bengang dengar omar ejek izzat, zaid keluar n kata diamlah budak palestine, omar makin bengang, bila zaid tutup pintu rumah , omar terus baling batu (memang senjata palestine, batu tak de lain ) ke arah rumah I, apalagi tak sempat i nak larang zaid berlari keluar n kejar omar n maki macam-macam pada omar ( zaid amat fluent in arabic), omar lari dan meraung kata dia orang jordan bukan palestine, zaid kalau jordan /palestine ke jangan buat orang ejek orang...suara zaid kuat bukan main sampai semua jiran menjenguk nak tau apa yang berlaku, agaknya semua tak sangka' malizia' naik angin sebab zaid ni nampak lembut je.. I dah risau takut abang omar datang menyerang balas. Satu yang peliknya mak omar dah tua macam nenek dia, abang dia 2 orang dah beranak-pinak n muka memang tak sama langsung, I andaikan betul kawan-kawan arab yang lain kata omar palestinian, yang hairan lagi apa yang malu sangat nak mengaku palestinian, ni yang I tak faham.. agaknya memang benar palestinian ni perangai tak elok n memang orang malu nak mengaku palestinian... entahlah masih mencari jawapan.......................

Malam tadi sewaktu Zaid on the way nak pergi main billiard di abu nuseir billiard club(dekat je dengan rumah ) dia terserempak dengan abang omar depan rumah omar...zaid kata ok je dia salam abang omar n macam tak de apa-apa yang berlaku, lega I dengar, bukan apa tak nak lah nanti bermusuh pulak dengan jiran...Alhamdulillah, semua kira settle dah...

Nampaknya mungkin palestinians yang berani mengaku they are palestinians n who are still living n struggling in palestine are the real n true warriors ..

I'll always pray for the success of the intifadah...latest news, jews have killed more than 49 palestinians in the past 2 days...OO Allah, please help the Palestinians, Allah the Most Gracious the Most Merciful, Amin.

Refresh..............

It's now November, in less than 2 months 2006 will be gone . This also means I've been staying here in jordan for almost a year. I could still remember how we struggled cleaning/clearing up our house when my hubby made up his mind to let us move from kemaman to amman since it's easier for him to meet/see us because he doesn't have to travel all the way from abu dhabi to Malaysia when he's on leave. We(I, Sumayyah, Izzat, Mimi) moved to amman one week after sumayyah finished her SPM examination. We had twelve boxes/bags but Alhamdulillah we were not charged with excess baggage because I told the officer incharged that we were moving abroad. My hubby had gone back to abu dhabi earlier , so I had to settle all the necessary matters all by myself : cars( for rent) , house( not for rent just find a care-taker) , utility bills(all paid for a year except phone was disconnected ), furniture( some were sold except the bedrooms sets)..etc.

Until now many people wonder why we moved to amman, jordan n not abu dhabi where my husband works. The answer: my husband works n stays on an island called Das Island(100++km )offshore from abu dhabi mainland n the island is only for adgas(name of the oil co.) employees to stay ( all men of course) n my husband can only leave the island on scheduled dates(usually after 40-60 working days) n spends his holidays (14-28days) off the island. My hubby says the environment in abu dhabi city is not quite condusive for our small kids(izzat n mimi ) n the cost of living is lower in amman than in abu dhabi .Furthermore, my eldest son, Zaid is studying in jordan, even though he stays in Mu'tah but at least there's a man who can look after us(he comes back every weekend!) I'd been to jordan twice before i moved here so i know jordan is a nice/safe place to live, Alhamdulillah.

When we arrived here in amman the weather was not quite cold even though it was supposed to be very cold then (December)... Now is early november but it's already cold with rain n sometimes thunder... I love autumn/fall where lots of dry/brownish/yellowish leaves fallen off the tree(i once cried to see how beautiful autumn was at that time in west virginia, usa)...not in jordan, autumn is by the name , the feelings of coldness, the bald rocky mountains remain the same...no fallen leaves since there's no trees on the mountains...all i could see ... leaves from my backyard grape tree has started to change colours n little by little i could see the branches/stems/twigs more vividly than before....goodbye grape leaves....gonna miss u all...

2007 is just around the corner , i really hope we can still spend our wonderful life here in amman ,I don't know for how long , it's all depend on my husband's job ..so far no news yet when to leave.. , i was so busy back home... rushing early in the morning sending my kids to school n i seldom cooked back then(busy,busy, easy to buy delicious tasty food ) . I'm so relief n i think i have a peaceful mind after staying here in amman. I have started to love the city of amman (old n new), i love my caring n kind neighbours, I feel safer here than in kemaman, i'm now cooking more than i used to back home because here i have more free time n most of all not all food in amman suit our tastes ...i remember sumayyah n izzat said :" wah, mama dah pandai masak, rupanya mama pandai masak... etc"...i don't know whether to take it as a compliment or what...

May Allah grants us with lots n lots of happiness n faithfulness in our hearts here in Amman, Amin.

Back to normal,,,,,,,,,,,,,

It's been quite a busy week for me n family , celebrating syawal by entertaining guests n visiting friends here in Amman.Alhamdulillah , we malaysians in amman (not more than 30) are closed to each other, even my husband who is seldom here , feels at ease n can get along very well with students n families living here...

Even though only five of us are here in amman,my hubby, I, zaid, izzat, mimi kira ok jugak lah raya kali ni, cuma family photo for raya dah 5 tahun tak dapat semua ada . This is zaid's first raya with us in 5 years ,safiyyah celebrates her 3rd raya in simferopol,ukraine (tak raya pun ,exams) n sumayyah celebrates her first raya in seoul, korea(raya sakan dia ni, baru start class ) .

Two nights ago, we had our last family outing for this year at mukhtar mall.we went bowling n had dinner there....selalunya i tak main bowling tapi malam tu teringin nak main dah lama tak main...kalah teruklah, diaorang selalu main mesti pandai baling.Tengah makan, datang pulak mascot pikachoo jual belon pada kanak-kanak, apa lagi mimi yang memang takut maskot dari kecik menjerit n hilang selera makan,terus melekap pada baju i, banyak kali pulak si pikachoo tu datang, kesian mimi, masa balik terpakse my hubby dukung sebab di takut nak jalan buka mata takut nampak pikachoo.ingatkan dah besar tak takut dah maskot..............

My hubby had gone back to abu dhabi n will come back here early next year, mimi n izzat dah start sekolah hari selepas cuti seminggu ...oklah sikit dah terang sikit baru pergi sekolah sebab dah ubah time jadi 3hours ahead of GMT.zaid will start his english course at british council this wednesday , i 'll start my arabic class at ibnu nafees center this tuesday (was postponed by myself due to sore throat n laziness!)

Amman is now back to normal, my life is also back to square one, hope everything will be fine for the rest of the year, InsyaAllah.

RAYA 2006 pics....

Pics of hari raya aidil fitri 2006 in jordan...Till we meet again next syawal n may our friendship last forever InsyaAllah.....

EID MUBARAK ...KULLU AM WA ANTUM BI KHAIR...

Kullu am wa antum bi khair...itulah ucapan yang diberikan ketika menerima tetamu atau berkunjung ke rumah sahabat semasa aidil fitri di jordan...mula-mula terbelit jugak lidah nak menyebut tapi selepas zaid tulis atas kertas senang sikit baca, tak ingat refer kertas.....

Sehari sudah syawal berlalu namun suasana raya masih dirasai walaupun tidak berhari raya di kampung halaman tercinta. Di jordan suasana raya agak serupa seperti di malaysia, selepas solat sunat hari raya kunjung mengunjung , ziarah menziarahi sesama tetangga n famili lumrah raya.. tapi cuma di hari raya pertama sahaja....taklah sampai sebulan seperti di malaysia.

raya 1
solat raya di masjid berdekatan , diaorang pegi solat relax je dengan t-shirt lusuh je, tapi hari ni tok imam yang hari biasa pakai jubah, hari ni siap pakai kemeja n neck-tie imamkan solat raya n baca khutbah.
lepas solat our house was full with anak-anak jiran, semua pakai baju n kasut baru, macam kat malaysia, bagi jugak duit raya jd1 je (rm5.20) sorang sebab diaorang pun bagi , ada yang bagi coklat n kad, girls masing-masing bawak purse n handbag...i masak lontong tapi tak offer pun diaorang makan sebab memang diaorang takkan makan sebab kata pedas, daripada membazir bagi diaorang baik bagi yang manis-manis je, Amar anak pegawai askar, my jiran makan popia kecik yang isi serunding, dia kata' harr an nar' pedas macam api, pada hal tak rasa apa...izzat mengomel...allah bagi lidah pada arab ni buat apa entah, rasa benda manis je,...tak pandai guna lidah hehe.....

12 pm pegi embassy , jamuan , duta tak de balik malaysia , kata nak dapat anugerah datuk, yang ada pengarah msd n staff yang lain, ramai betul hadir semua pelajar hadir dengan bas sewa ..dari irbid , mafraq n mutah..masing-masing datang sebab ni je peluang nak jumpa rakan...harini je boleh hepi sikit sebab minggu depan nak exam dah..balik pelajar-pelajar irbid singgah rumah... dekat senja baru balik, tak tidur sebab nak study untuk exam..jumpa azah aziz anak kawan di malaysia yang baru datang buat medic di just...azra pelajar mutah je tidur rumah malam ni... malam lepas maghrib , jiran muna,n muaz datang beraya, lelaki arab kalau raya pakai coat/suit...makan kuih n m inum jus je, diaorang nak rasa kuih malaysia. siang tadi jiran sebelah bagi kuih arab yang isi kurma..alhamdulilah diaorang sudi datang rumah kami beraya...

raya 2

pagi masak laksa n lontong lagi....laksa untuk dibawa ke gathering malaysia with foreigners di ibnu nafeees center tengah hari karang.....
10am open house di rumah ustaz mujahid ( buat Ph D d U Jordan ) di sweileh, makan nasi dagang (orang ganu kite ) sedap...
12.30 pm satu van datang dari mutah, selepas makan lontong, kami semua termasuk gang mutah (memang dijemput jugak ) bergerak ke ibnu nafees center di jubaihah. i bawak laksa yang di masak...banyak makanan kat center ni. jumpa ramai americans n other malaysians/arabs kat sini..sembang n makan..
6.45pm . 22 orang gang malaysians di arjan (di amman jugak ) datang beraya. memang diaorang dah bagitau, i memang balik petang tadi terus masak laksa lagi ....alhamdulillah habis semua..9.30pm selesai...close for the night

raya 3
( belum lalui tapi dah ada planning )
tengah hari open house rumah sahrul n marwah....di sweileh
malam lepas maghrib rumah zul n diana .....di sweileh

raya 4
tengah hari open house kat my house...

itulah pengalaman beraya di tempat orang..alhamdulillah ok

SELAMAT HARI RAYA, MAAF ZAHIR BATIN.

GOODBYE RAMADAN, WELCOME SYAWAL

My first ramadan in jordan has almost come to an end , in 2/3 days time syawal is coming, leaving me with 1001 experiences/challenges/happiness/sadness..................

It feels like only yesterday was my first ramadan...time surely passes by extremely fast nowadays.....
List of things/actions encountered here in jordan during ramadan.....

• almost all muslims are excited/happy welcoming ramadan..can be seen from 'ramadan mubarak' banners
• mosques(every corner ) full of jamaah every night during early ramadan and only 3 saff left last night(same like in malaysia), maybe they had gone back home aka balik kampung??
• kuih qataif was introduced to me by zaid because this kuih is only produced n sold in ramadan..it looks like kuih apam kecik yang dijual di pasar malam di malaysia but dalamnya dibubuh pelbagai kacang n sira in syrup, very sweet,tak sedap mana pun..arabs buy this kuih almost everyday,tak sah berbuka tanpa kuih ni
• an arab is an arab, he does what he wants..2X in 2 different outings , in front of the fun directory computer shop in amman city center n on my way to irbid at the gas station. there were 2 young ,healthy arab men, without any shame, smoking in public in the mid afternoon, the one at the pc shop was scolded for smoking by another man passing by, what happened after that? the smoking man took out his empty kotak rokok n threw it on the car outside the shop...however he didn't say a word to the man who scolded him...he left the place..the one at the gas station (arab tak kira isi minyak pun smoking, jenis berani mati katak ) kept on smoking as if nothing happened... may be n may be they are christian arabs..
• most arabs break their fast by having a bite of date(sunnah) n.....SMOKING (some ulama say haram)as the main dish...
• almost all muslim arabs in jordan believe that lailatul qadr is on the night of the 27th ramadan , (in malay malam 7 likur ) they pray n perform other ibadah(iktiqaf) the entire night , they don't sleep at all.... actually zaid says nobody knows which night is lailatulqadar but its on malam ramadan yang ganjil ( 21,23,25,27,29 ??? )I don't know these jordanians follow whose fatwa,but that's the only night they all strive, performing prayers the entire night..masjid siap sediakan sahur...
• arabs also prepare for eid mubarak, when we were at irbid mall, many arabs went shopping for new clothes n shoes especially for the children, same like in malaysia..izzat says his teacher at school also asked him whether he had bought new shirts for eid mubarak..other than that, arabs celebrate eid with chocolates n sweets because many many of those sweet stuff are sold in almost all shops..ranging from ferraro rocher, raffello, deluxe, galaxy to no brand sweets are sold at discounted prices..I pun dah beli jugak sikit sebab murah
• many beggars can be seen during ramadan here in amman , women with small kids, little boys n girls, handicapped people are everywhere begging for money . They usually wait outside shopping complexes, markets n banks.one can hardly see any beggar on the street other than ramadan. i find that many jordanians especially men are generous, many times i saw them donated money to the beggars (many times in front of the jordan n housing banks, i selalu pegi bank ni).I don't know where the beggars come from because they don't look like jordanians, their faces are dark n they have very sharp eyes (yes i mean sharp eyes,bayangkanlah macamana!) n long pointed noses. well, after all ,ramadan is the month of giving ......
• no air pollution during day time, the 'no smoking' signboards are well observed by almost all jordanians, thank you for not smoking, thank you jordanians, Thank You Ramadan,Most of all, THANK YOU ALLAH THE ALMIGHTY.

Anyhow, i really hope that this is my best ramadan ever n may i have a chance to experience another ramadan next year, InsyaAllah.

...............GOODBYE RAMADAN, WELCOME SYAWAL.............

iklan raya petronas 2006

Saja i post this iklan because it means a lot to me...... i'm also getting older , just for a reminder..


Maghrib harini ada guests datang buka pose kat rumah, pelajar malaysia di amman n nurhana's family ,(nurhana is a malaysian yang bawak i ke palestinian camp baru-baru ni )husband dia jordanian, a prof di zaytunah university . I masak kari ayam , dah berzaman i tak makan kari ayam , sambal tumis sotong together with fried eggs , vegetable salad,cocktail with mixed fruit yogurt, bandung pudding, chocolate cupcakes n cherry n mango juice. Berair mata anak-anak nurhana makan my curry, hot but delicious, komen diaorang. Walaupun mak malaysian, bapa arab, memang diaorang tak makan pedas, i kata pada diaorang, u just taste the chicken, don't taste the gravy(they called the kuah curry , soup) Alhamdulillah they all makan jugak , i saja masak makanan malaysia sebab norhana lama tak rasa pedas, one of anak dia kata nak tukar mak sebab auntie sarinah pandai masak... kembang sekejap bila anak dia cakap macam tu...ish ish entah dia perli... Malaysian students yang lain pun enjoyed eating my chicken curry, they all kata first time taste curry makcik ina sebab sebelum ni memang i tak masak kari kalau ada jamuan di rumah(memang jarang makan/masak kari, sekali sekala sedap, selalu kurang enak )Malaysian students yang hadir petang ni...shahrul, marwa, putri, asyraf,aswandi, fatimah salina, ibrahim, sofia, fahim ,kaklong.Yang lain tak dapat datang sebab ada yang kena pegi irbid sebab ada majlis khatam quran n ada yang dah balik beraya di malaysia, balik seminggu je....

Bila makan bersama teringat iklan petronas, seronok makan bersama keluarga, di sini merekalah keluarga i yang sudi hadir ke rumah yang kami diami buat sementara waktu sebelum pulang ke tanahair. Semua pengalaman ramadan bersama malaysians di jordan terpahat di ingatan sampai bila-bila.

Semoga masa mencecah usia emas nanti masih ada yang sudi menjengok /menanya khabar diri hamba ynag lemah ini ..insyaAllah.