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???????