good and bad news .......

GOOD NEWS...........

Malam tadi ada jamuan makan malam di rumah Ustaz Razi , a graduate student di U of Jordan yang baru tiba semester ni . I cuma bawa some cookies which I bought from the bakery sewaktu pergi bandar pagi semalam. Rupanya jamuan ni sempena harijadi ustaz yang ke 27, muda lagi ustaz yang telah berkahwin dan punya 2 anak. Dia bagitau setiap kali harijadi dia akan menyambutnya dengan pulang ke rumah kedua ibubapa dan belanja makan-makan serta ucapkan terimakasih kepada keduanya kerana melahirkan dan mendidik dia hingga kini....terharunya dengar.....how sweet !! So, dia jemput rakan-rakan sebagai pengganti ibubapa sempena hari lahirnya.

Gembira dapat berjumpa adik-adik dan anak-anak(malam tadi I paling senior ) yang sama-sama hadir beserta makanan yang lazat termasuk mee rebus, bubur keledek+ biji sagu, kek batik, birthday cake yang dibawa oleh Marwa&Sagul khas buat ustaz Razi. Amman macam biasa tak ramai hanya 6 wanita dewasa dan 10 lelaki dewasa serta 6 kanak-kanakyang hadir. Mimi yang paling gembira dapat jumpa kawan-kawan. Kami pulang awal dari tetamu yang lain kerana rumah kami yang terjauh dan mimi dah nak mengamuk sebab terlajak waktu tidur. Alhamdulillah pagi tadi dia ok waktu bangun tido untuk ke sekolah.

To Ustaz Razi.......happy birthday to you....sejuk hati ibu yang dapat anak macam ustaz.
Mabruk ya akhi !! May Allah bless you and family.....


BAD NEWS...............

Pagi tadi selepas subuh sementara menunggu nak kejutkan mimi , I got an sms from my friend di kemaman. Dia kata baru lepas round kawasan my house dan dia nampak grille tingkap my master bedroon terbuka dan ada kerusi kecik di luar tingkap. Dia syak ada orang pecah masuk rumah. I called my darling hubby dan bagitau apa yang my friend told me. So, my hubby called ustaz D the house caretaker dan kami dapat tahu memang ada orang masuk ke dalam rumah melalui my bedroom. Habis kesan kasut atas cadar dan lantai bilik ( memang I tutup semua perabut dengan cadar putih sewaktu pindah hari tu nak elak habuk). Alhamdulillah si pemecah rumah tu tak dapat bergerak ke tempat lain selain bilik tidur tu sebab semua bilik dikunci dari luar, jadi dia terkunci di dalam. Tiada apa yang hilang kata ustaz D.... cuma elektrik tiada...pelik sebab I memang dah bayar advance pada TNB nak elak elektrik dipotong. Jadi that ustaz dah bagitau TNB suruh datang cek pagi esok. Nak kata kabel elektrik dipotong tak rasanya sebab ustaz D cek wiring atas ceiling semuanya ok. My friend bagitau di kemaman sekarang musim pencuri potong kabel elektrik ...Kalau kena curi memang kena buat wiring satu rumah.......hari tu dengar rumah kawan di kemaman dah kena buat wiring baru the whole house, harap-harap tidak terjadi pada my house. Tunggu laporan dari TNB......

Hope to get good news....InsyaAllah.

الصلاة عماد الدين.....Solat Tiang Agama

For the past few days as I browsed thru Malaysian newspapers online, I can't stop thinking what is going to happen to my beloved country in 10 - 15 years time...I'm referring to the social and moral system which for me is deteriorating at high speed.Why are bullying, ragging, throwing babies, killing own children and other heart-throbbing news are more like our daily and routine norms and culture.

Then, this morning I came to a solution (from my own research of course !! ).... I'm focusing on muslims since most of the 'bad' actions are done by our sisters and brothers of Islam. My solution is back to the basic principal of Islam and the significant pillar after syahadah which is ....PRAYING 5x a day.

There's no doubt PRAYING potraits who we are, a person who prays is absolutely different from he who doesn't, that's the way it should be. However, how many of us really perform our prayers whole-heartedly with mind,body and soul focus only to the Almighty for the entire process of praying???...Frankly......I DON"T ..and I'm definitely sure many of us will give the same answer......I salute to those who say..I DO...Alhamdulillah.

I'm brave enough to say that many and many muslims in Malaysia do not pray or just 'physically' praying. Why?? No 1 reason, most of us do not understand the meanings of the quranic verses that we recite while praying ...so only the body moves ,our mind is always somewhere else....what to cook later, how's the kids at school, where did I put my car key , what to wear to work today, the boss is waiting and so on and so forth..so we end up with all problems solved , questions answered after giving salam....( oh boy .... my experience !!! )

That's muslims in Malaysia, well not much different from muslims in Jordan...with exception that they understand arabic( quran ). Don't be surprised if I tell you many and many arabs do not pray 5x a day as we always believe. They are very much sensitive if Islam is criticised, they know quran and hadith by heart, but,but... they do not pray.... many arabs which zaid and I know do not pray.When asked why aren't they praying, they just say...I don't feel like praying.

I was once at Zaid's house in Mu'tah ( 1st floor of a shop-house in the middle of the town ) and it was friday. The mosque is so close to zaid's house , I could even hear the iqamah called . When it's time for jumaat prayer, I looked down the street..I was shocked to see many arab men keep on doing their job and some were walking with their wifes shopping vegetables and other stuff(suami berjubah, isteri berpurdah ) like they couldn't be bothered with the prayers.

( Pray no matter where.......I snapped this picture while waiting for a bus to go to Mu'tah )

Don't get me wrong.. They are also many muslims who observe praying 5x a day. Here in Jordan those who observe praying, they pray anytime and anywhere they want, not only in the mosque. I've seen them praying at the meat's stall , in restaurants, by the roadside , at the bus stop and of course all shopping malls have praying halls.

Our nation and our muslim world will remain in bad shape if no action taken to bring back all muslims to the pillar of Islam which is PRAY 5x daily because that's the only time we really ' talk' to ALLAH THE ALMIGHTY.When Allah is always remembered and loved, we are always in good shape not only physically but mentally and spiritually as well, InsyaAllah.

Kisah AIR@WATER je hari ni.......

Semalam ingat nak ke Dholil ,sebuah bandar dalam sejam setengah perjalanan from amman yang didiami oleh majoritinya bangsa India yang datang dari India . Dah lama merancang nak melihat kehidupan mereka di situ tapi Zaid ada hal lain pulak. Akhirnya ubah plan.... so I ke Carrefour beli some grocery , seafood , baklava mix and brownies...nyumm,nyumm.

Then baca komen dalam blog dan ternampak komen dari asma, a medic student yang studies di Irbid( 1 hour drive from Amman) tentang how she misses those beautiful and refreshing waterfalls and beaches backhome.I memang sangat-sangat merindui itu semua kerana Jordan amat kurang tempat berkelah yang ada sumber semulajadi air dan dedaun rimbunan hijau. Jordan kurang sumber air dan air yang digunakan harian diproses/dirawat semula . Sebab itu sesiapa yang berkulit sensitif akan mudah dijangkiti penyakit kulit seperti gatal-gatal kerana airnya mempunyai kadar klorin yang tinggi .Sumber air datangnya dari Sungai Jordan ( yang semakin sempit dan cetek )dan wadi-wadi yang semakin kekurangan air. Sumber air yang utama di Dataran Syam ( 4 negara ni dikenali sebagi dataran syam ;Jordan,lubnan,syria , palestin )adalah Tasik Tobari yang kini dikuasai oleh Israel.

Setelah tinggal di Jordan, I lebih menghargai air berbanding semasa di tanahair. Kalau dulu tak kira bila, air digunakn sesuka hati kerana guna banyak mana pun tak kisah asalkan bayar. Situasi di sini amatlah berbeza, bayaran tiada masalah, tapi air tiada untuk digunakan secara membazir. Air hanya masuk/datang sekali/2 kali dalam seminggu. Di kawasan perumahan yang I tinggal air masuk 2x seminggu, sesetengah tempat sekali sahaja seminggu. Sekali bermaksud 24jam air akan dialirkan dari sumber utama ke dalam tangki di setiap rumah. Alhamdulilah tuan rumah I menyediakan 3 tangki air yang besar .So, bila hari air masuk, semua orang akan membasuh pakaian/lantai laman rumah(hobi arab basuh lantai biar pun kurang air ) dan lain-lain keperluan dalam masa 24 jam. Winter kurang masalah kerana jarang mandi ( tak bau pun hehehe ). Summer memang selalu air habis sebelum tiba masa masuk air. I memang sediakan tong-tong air dalam rumah selain tangki di atas bumbung ( sini semua letak atas bumbung, tangki air, tangki diesel untuk heater , satelit TV , corong asap dapur and even kambing di pelihara di atas bumbung..di Mu'tah ada )

Lebih malang lagi ada di sesetengah tempat ada air dalam tangki atas bumbung dicuri sebab bumbung share(apartment/terrace). Walaupun tangki air biasanya dikunci tapi pencuri memang pro, ada yang tebuk guna paip dan ada cara lain yang tak diketahui. Oleh itu kena selalu cek tangki atas bumbung takut mangga kuncinya di pecah dan airnya diambil .Cara penyelesaian ?? Beli air dari lori tangki yang agak mahal, apa boleh buat jika air habis dan hari masuk air lambat lagi. Biasanya students di sini ( samada di Amman/ Mutah ) akan beli air dari lori air . Itu bagi air seperti membasuh pakaian/mandi. Air minuman/masakan memang tiada siapa yang akan minum/masak dengan air paip kerana klorinnya amat banyak(kalau masak air boleh nampak putih klorinnya )Oleh itu , air mineral atau air tapisan memang amat laris....ada water delivery business lagi. Bagi yang tak tahan kulit akan mandi dengan air mineral.

Ini baru kisah air kegunaan harian....what about waterfalls ????

Summer lepas kami sekeluarga except my darling hubby ( dia tak cuti lagi waktu tu) saja berjalan di Karak(bandar dekat dengan Mu'tah) dan Zaid bawa kami ke sebuah kawasan air terjun/sungai yang bernama Ein Sara ( mata air Sara ). Tempat ini terkenal sebagai tempat picnic esp in summer. Setiba di sana....lain ceritanya....tak berselera tengok keadaan di situ...airnya dahlah cetek, tak de air terjun pun, penuh sampah...ok lagi....tak tahan bila nampak ada makcik arab and anak-anak dia membasuh bulu biri-biri di celah batu yang terletak di hulu sungai (cuma 20m dari tempat orang mandi-manda ). I berdiri betul-betul atas jambatan dan di bawahnya makcik ni sedang basuh bulu-bulu dari hitam/coklat jadi putih seputihnya dan bukan satu keping , banyak keping bulu kambing yang dibasuh dan dicuci. ( I ada ambik gambar tapi semua gambar outing hari tu terdelete dalam pc budak rumah zaid, memang rugi !! )I nak terloya sebab air basuhan tu lah yang kanak-kanak dan bapak-bapak mandi( mak-mak tak mandi sebab tempat open, aib ).Kalau air sungai banyak tak lah geli sangat tapi ni air pun macam ada and tak de je....boleh bayangkan mandi air kambing yang hamis, silap-silap berkudia badan....kami memang bukan datang nak picnic, just to visit sebab banyak tempat lain lagi nak dilawati but I rasa arab ni jenis tak kisah, mungkin pada dia ein sara dah macam syurga mandi-manda....well, it's their life....

So, pada sesiapa yang tinggal di negara yang banyak air, hargailah air, jangan membazir. Cuti-cuti rajin-rajinlah bawa keluarga ke waterfalls yang nyaman lagi segar sebelum semuanya itu di'rosakkan' oleh tangan-tangan manusia yang tidak tahu menghargai sumber semulajadi kurniaan Ilahi.....

A Soothing Family Day..

LALALALALALALA....Alhamdulillah , my fever has finally gone... feeling great ....except...still coughing sometimes.

Weekend in Jordan falls on Friday and Saturday and most of the time these two days are known as 'family days'. On these days, parents usually take their kids for outing or shopping. So, the parks and shopping complexes/malls are usually packed with families and don't be surprised if you are a bachelor ( man ) they would refrain you from getting into the malls.Why? Remember it's family day, only men with families can enter the malls(the malls are usually equipped with security officers and "body scanner doors".

When I first went to Mecca Mall(the biggest mall ever built in Jordan ), I thought a demonstration was taking place because a crowd of young men were standing outside the main entrance. Then Zaid told me those men weren't allowed to enter the mall because they were bachelors and it was Saturday, the family day. However , they usually allow foreigners inside even if they are bachelors....spinsters ,no problem..can enter anytime because they love shopping , right....they gain profits !!

As I've promised Mimi and myself ,yesterday we went to Amman Mall ( indoor children theme park ). I invited Ustaz mujahid's family to join us there. The kids had fun playing at the DreamPark.

Then ,this afternoon my kids and I went to Amman Roman Theatre in the city centre which was built in the mid 2nd century AD . It has 33 rows of seats and can accommodate almost 6000 spectators. The weather was nice and I was also surprised to see many arabs with their kids were also enjoying their weekend just like us ,maybe it's been cold for more than three months and spring is just around the corner...so the 'hybernating ' season is almost over.

The park outside the theatre has been upgraded, no more stalls on the upper part, replaced by walking alleys with benches and fountains.

I was stunned when I saw the grass is already green , really green and I said, " eeehhh rumput hijaulah !!! ", then Zaid , my eldest son replied spontaneously, " Mama , ada ke rumput warna selain hijau ?? " . HAHAHAHAHA..so funny, we all laughed . I really miss green grass .

We got into the theatre and spent an hour and a half.. sitting+chatting+ observing people +taking pictures . Izzat got to the highest level of the theatre ( I've never tried to do it , sakit lutut nak climb all the way up !! )

Alhamdullilah , the theatre is truly a soothing and amazing place to spend my family day.

AM I WEIRD ???

(Straight to the point )....

These are 6 weird things about me.......

1. Punctual....weird ke ?? For me , yes in malaysian context....I' m a punctual housewife. I have a memo pad written with all my to-do lists ready with time for the day and paste it on my car dashboard. My car is my office(mind you a housewife is also a driver, a despatcher, a helper, a cook, a gerdener , a shopper, a secretary ?? , a queen etc. ) ,now kat sini I tak berani drive, I ada driver (taxi) .I time myself so that all job can be done (sometimes failed because of other parties tak punctual !!) I pernah tinggalkan sumayyah yang nak pergi sama shopping sebab dia tak siap by the time yang dah tetapkan. My mom selalu kata " kalau janji dengan ina, kena tepat. " My friends backhome know me for this reason. From my observation, malaysians memang TAK PERNAH punctual, hingga ada masanya 2 hours late, buat selamba....

2. I don't like flowers other than fresh flowers. Might they be bunga plastic, bunga lilin, bunga sabun, bunga kristal, bunga seramik...apa saja bunga memang tak wujud dalam rumah I. Anak-anak pun sama tak suka bunga selain dari bunga hidup.

3. I tak pandai bargain bila shopping...takut pun ye..mak selalu kata" untung penjual kalau ina beli barang sebab tak tawar ", I kesian dan takut kena marah dengan penjual kalau bargain. Sebab tu I ikut cakap arwah bapa, senang kalau shopping kat shopping complex / supermarket /direct selling sebab fixed price, tak payah nak susah-susah 'bergaduh' tawar harga. I nak tawar tapi segan, sampai pernah suruh anak-anak I sumayyah and zaid yang bargain , patutnya maknyalah yang tawarkan.

haaa that's 3.... 3 more.....siksanya.

4. I tak pandai/ tak suka jahit ( sepatutnya a housewife is also a good tailor !! ) . I memang envy maklang pakar sulam-menyulam, for me anugerah. I suka kain yang cantik berjahit but I just hate sewing. I pernah patahkan jarum mesin jahit my mom sebanyak 7 batang jarum dalam masa tak sampai sejam sebab apa, sebab tak betul letakkan jarum. I pernah dapat mesin jahit free (tak ingat hadiah sebab apa )..sampai I nak pindah Jordan In tak pernah sentuh that mesin jahit and akhirnya I bagi kat my friend. Now, I ada jarum jahit with beberapa gulung benang (taklah macam sewing kit hotel tu , kecik sangat!! ) yang I simpan dalam bekas tupperware yang paling kecil just untuk 'jahit' ketika ianya teramat perlu .

5. I baca paper dari belakang ke depan....don't know why....semulajadi, tengok sukan dulu baru hala ke berita lain.

6. I tak suka malay movies/dramas. Arwah ayah and my family suka cerita P. Ramlee, I tak pernah suka dan tak pernah tonton. Bila orang cerita balik kisah Bujang Lapok ke I tak tau apa ceritanya. My kids pun tak tau sampai ada kawan anak I kata we all ni melayu sesat. Drama melayu for me tak de plot and lesson, asyik kisah cinta yang tak membina minda. I suka cerita macam Lost, Alias, West Wings , ER .

Huh, what a relief !! For me all those 6 are weird, what do you think ??? well, who cares . It's me.It's my blog and I'll keep on blogging, right cikdinz ???

Dah habis orang dah nak ditag.......nak tag my darling hubby je, nak tengok dia sedar tak yang dia pun ada 'sikit' weird. Jangan mare ye ling.... :)

Siapa Pembela Nasib Mereka ???

Feeling a bit okay pagi ni, tapi memang kali ni demam, sakit tekak, hidung sumbat, batuk lambat betul baik. I memang jenis yang susah nak sakit sampai terpaksa baring, tapi this time tak boleh nak buat gagah. Lepas mengadap pc /berdiri dalam setengah jam dah mula rasa nak loya dan nak pitam, kenalah baring. Hopefully, by this Friday sihat sepenuhnya sebab dah janji dengan mimi nak pergi amman mall (ada indoor children theme park ) dan nak beli barbie doll's house , ini semua gara-gara every morning dia bagi excuse sakit perut tak nak pergi sekolah, so I janjikan benda-benda tu dia pun senyum. Bukan apa kalau dia tak ke sekolah dan I pulak demam, susah nak layan dia, tu yang paksa jugak dia ke sekolah. Lega , lepas dipujuk dia okay, siap bye bye lagi semasa naik kerete ummu khatif untuk ke sekolah.... ( Gambar Mimi di Laut Mati )
Mimi 4 tahun anak I yang bongsu yang kadang-kadang I amat rindukan dia bila dia tiada di rumah, sebab orang lain semuanya dah besar panjang. Teringat pada mimi teringat pada anak-anak kecil di Jordan ni. Oleh kerana most Jordanians kahwin di usia lewat 30an, mereka lambat dapat anak dan oleh itu mereka amat suka dan sayang pada kanak-kanak. Even sesetengah lelaki dan wanita akan terus mencium kanak-kanak yang mereka jumpa tak kira anak siapa. MImi kalau ke kedai biasanya akan mendapat barang percuma dan tak ketinggalan free-kiss sampai ada ketika mimi kata tak nak free kiss. Sewaktu berada di sekolah mimi, I lihat guru sendiri mencium pelajar-pelajar (taska+tadika) termasuk mimi semasa berbaris menaiki bas.Itulah salah satu sunnah nabi saw yang dipraktikkan di sini, iaitu menyayangi anak-anak .

Apa yang I lihat boleh dikatakan lumrah bagi penduduk amman yang rata-rata educated dan bertamadun. Jika bergerak luar sedikit dari amman, appearance kanak-kanak pun sudah nampak berbeza, tidak berapa bersih, comot, kasar seolah-olah seperti tidak terurus. Memanggil anak dengan perkataan 'khimar' atau keldai adalah perkara biasa. Perkataan khimar merupakan perkataan yang paling jelek di sini yang meletakkan seseorang berada pada tahap seburuk-buruk makhluk.

Sewaktu mengikuti Jelajah Jordan 2006 tahun lalu kami sempat singgah di sebuah masjid untuk menunaikan solat di Kg Aghwar, di pingggir Laut Mati . Ramai kanak-kanak yang mengerumuni bas kami dan keadaan kanak-kanak di situ tidak pernah dilihat sebelum ini. Sumayyah yang bergambar dengan mereka cepat-cepat naik bas semula kerana tidak tahan dengan 'bau hanyir' mereka.(lihat gambar )

Kasihan dengan keadaan mereka, my darling hubby sarankan kami hadiahkan mereka dengan biskut/coklat yang kami beli (ada di jual dalam bas ). Beberapa pelajar Jordan University of Science & Technology (JUST) yang bersama dalam lawatan tersebut menyerahkan coklat/biskut tersebut kepada kanak-kanak berkenaan. Tersentak kami kerana mereka segera datang dan 'merampas' dan berebut-rebut plastik berisi makanan tersebut seperti mereka tidak pernah menjumpai coklat/biskut sebegitu. Bila my daughter, Sumayyah menitis air mata sedih dan sebak melihat gelagat anak-anak di situ, I dan beberapa pelajar lain pun join nangis sama . Memang sedih dan hiba. Mimi terdiam , tercegat , mungkin sedih dengan apa yang dilihatnya. Bagaimana agaknya kehidupan mereka yang tinggal di rumah yang berlantaikan tanah (memang tanah merah dan dibentang tikar jerami jika ada tetamu ).

Kasihan, itulah perkataan yang selalu I luahkan bila kanak-kanak diabaikan dan didera, tidak dijaga , dibelai dan disayangi sebagaimana sepatutnya. Pengabaian kanak-kanak bukan hanya berlaku di bumi Jordan ini malah di serata dunia terutama di dunia ketiga, tidak ketinggalan my homeland, Malaysia. I pernah mendengar ibubapa di malaysia memanggil anak-anak mereka dengan perkataan 'babi, bodoh,setan,hantu'. Sampai bila agaknya kanak-kanak di bumi ini akan terbela nasib mereka. Soalan yang lebih utama....SIAPAKAH PEMBELA NASIB MEREKA ????

Dulu ..Pantai Marina........Kini...Rome Theatre

Dah dua hari sakit tekak dan rasa pening kepala bila banyak berjalan..so tak pergi mana-mana pun weekend ni. Berkurung dalam rumah, makan pun main order thru phone, tak larat nak masak. Tengah hari ni called Pizza corner for Chicken/mushroom pizza. Pizza ni buy 1 free 1, yang habisnya 1 pizza je , makan 3 orang termasuk si mimi kecil , mana nak habis. Lepas makan I telan panadol, antibiotik dan cough syrup, rehat sekejap dan rasa nak update blog....

Weekend ni terasa sunyi sangat sebab dah habis masa bercuti..back to normal again..darling hubby dah kembali ke islandnya, anak-anak dah start sekolah..i'm alone again. Ingat kalau di kemaman, kalau I rasa sunyi I selalu jenguk my favourite beach...Marina Beach or Pantai Telaga Simpul..sesuai untuk merehatkan minda and fishing but not for swimming, banyak batu kecil. I jadikan that pantai tempat menenangkan diri/minda dan kadang-kadang meluahkan apa yang tersirat di pantai ini. Kalau pantai ni boleh berkata-kata, sudah pasti terlalu banyak yang ia tahu tentang diri ini, rahsia diri dan segala pahit/manis kehidupan banyak yang I kongsikan dengannya. Cukup setakat pergi dan melihat air laut serta ombak dapat menghilangkan rasa rindu pada pantai marina. Tanpa matikan enjin kereta, I rasa puas dapat melihat pantai yang tenang dan kadangkala kelihatan kapal-kapal nelayan yang pulang dari laut lepas menuju kuala kemaman ( kuala kemaman is on the other side of pantai marina )di mana peraih ikan sedia menanti para nelayan memunggah hasil tangkapan masing-masing.I really miss this pantai. Once in a while if my darling hubby happened to be working around this area, we had lunch together here, ada beberapa gerai menjadi kunjungan para pekerja dari teluk kalong industrial area....That pantai marina means a lot to me ........
I've been to Amman/Jordan tiga kali sebelum berpindah dan menetap di sini. Awal lagi I dah rasakan the Rome Theatre di tengah-tengah bandar Amman adalah tempat yang paling I suka dan boleh menggantikan my pantai marina. Kawasan di sekitar rome theatre amat tenang dan segar dengan pepohon pokok yang rendang yang ditanam bagi memberi suasana redup , siap dengan bangku tempat merehatkan kaki selepas puas berjalan di city centre. Pernah juga having breakfast di situ bersama anak-anak..just relaxkan minda...However, suasana di sini tidak serupa, terasa janggal if I seorang wanita duduk-duduk di bangku di sekitar rome theatre, baca-baca majalah or just menikmati suasana indah di sini. It just won't happen.Setakat ni I tak pernah lagi cuba duduk sorang-sorang kat situ walaupuh I really love to be alone sitting on the bench facing the theatre, analysing people .....oh bestnya kalau dapat ....Walaupun sebuah negara yang bersifat terbuka dan tidak banyak membezakan lelaki dan wanita tetapi mungkin bukan budaya wanita di sini duduk seorang di tempat terbuka . Di shopping complex memang biasa , tiada masalah tetapi tidak di kawasan laluan umum seperti di kawasan rome theatre yang menjadi tumpuan pelancong tempatan/luar.

Well, this weekend tak dapat nak ke mana kerana kesihatan tidak mengizinkan. InsyaAllah next weekend I nak ke 'my' rome theatre sebab dah lama tidak dikunjungi....Mungkin makin cantik sebab nak masuk spring dah ni.......zinkan. InsyaAllah next weekend, I nak ke my rome theatre kerana dah lama tak dikunjungi....gerai-gerai kecil telah dirobohkan dan digantikan dengan laluan pejalan kaki.....mesti makin cantik .

Nothing much..............

It rained last night, still cloudy outside and I'm alone this morning . Zaid went back to Mu'tah after his English class yesterday, got unfinish business over there. Izzat and mimi as usual..at school.

Nothing much happened yesterday...... my neighbour came to my house asking for the delicious chocolate cake recipe( my bday cake which I gave them some)......... Then Muhammad, my neighbour's son came to borrow my phone to call his mom since they were 'locked' outside the house(4 of them), they forgot to bring the house key. I invited them to stay at my house while waiting for the key since it's pretty cold yesterday. The boys played football outside with Izzat and the small one, maram did some colouring with mimi inside.

Safiyyah, my daughter in Ukraine just got back from her europe tour ( romania, italy, hungary, vatican city,poland) . Happy betul dapat jalan dan dah plan nak jalan ke other european countries next year. Glad that she's happy ... Tak boleh jadi ni...I tak sampai lagi kat negara-negara tu.....

Sumayyah, my daughter in South Korea went to Phoenix Ville Ski Resort last week. She is no longer staying in the dormitory, she is moving into a rented apartment off campus with 4 other students. She's living with girls from Indonesia, Mongolia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. It's comfortable living in the hostel but with the new ruling that each student who stays on campus must pay for the food served at the U cafe. Since most of the food is not halal(koreans eat a lot of pork ) she might as well rent a house where she can cook .Hopefully she can get along with all her housemates...time to be an adult.....

Seafood yumm yumm....

Last night my kids and I had our special dinner at Bluebay Seafood Restaurant at Madinah Street. I called it a special dinner not because it's on my bday but for the savoury, tasty, delicious,luxurious seafood served there. We had fried prawns and grilled fish with sauce and also seafood soup with sky juice for JDxx or RMxxx(rahsia, nanti darling I tau I dengan anak-anak makan mewah heheh , dia pun malam tadi kata makan lobster....kira seri lah ) .

Seafood is considered a luxury since it's difficult to get and all seafood is imported mainly from Egypt and Yemen. Most Jordanians do not eat seafood other than fish..like crabs, shrimps, squids,lobster, clams, oysters since according to some of them it is makruh and some even say haram(not sure if there's any mazhab says it's haram !!). So most of them only eat beef, mutton and chicken as daily consumptions. Once I bought some crabs from safeway hypermarket and when it's time to pay, the cashier looked at me some kind of weird and asked me whether I eat that stuff, I nodded ....hey I bought it very expensive( 1kg Rm70 ) of course I eat it. Seafood here is very expensive. No fish is less than JD4 ( RM20) and during summer the price is tripled...very small fish could mark up to JD10 per kg...... Prawns normally cost JD20 - JD 30 per kg( RM100 - RM150), Squids/calamari is around JD7 per kg (RM35). Chicken costs less than 2JD per kg. Beef and mutton JD4-5 per kg.This week at safeway I was shocked to know that all fish no matter waht kind/size cost only Jd3 per kg. I asked why it's so cheap, thay said it's from Yemen. I bought quite a lot of fish since it's so cheap and when I got back I told my daughter sumayyah in korea about the cheap fish from yemen and we just wonder... was there any tsunami/flood in yemen that made the fish so cheap...couldn't figure it out........bila mahal mengeluh, bila murah risau pulak.....

The best place to enjoy seafood is in Aqabah which is 350km south of Amman....even there seafood is still expensive but you have a lot of choices.

Next time when we are back in Malaysia, for sure we'll say YES to all seafood and NO to chicken and meat.....sampai jemu......I miss that Phuket restaurant at tanjung lumpur, Kuantan...eeemmm.

Eidul Milad......Isnin wa arbaiinn.......

Happy birthday to me,

Happy birthday to me,

Happy birthday, happy birthday,

Happy birthday to meeeeee.....

My age ??? Tak rahsia...... 24.....eh.. eh......42.... tuanya rasa.

Alhamdulillah, I'm so much grateful to Allah Rabbul Jalil kerana masih dapat bernafas di bumi Allah dengan segala limpahan kurniaanNya.

What else yang mahu dipinta.....panjang kan usia agar dapat menjadi hambaMu yang bertaqwa sehingga ke denyutan nadi yang terakhir, InsyaAllah.

Millions of thanx to all my family members samada yang ada di amman or not for the bday wishes, bday party (celebrated last night ) and bday presents. Luv u all guys.....

( I decided to open my blog for comments to mark my 42nd bday and my new template !!)

Pics of Syria....

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I was quite busy yesterday with an early morning rush to mimi and izzat's school to settle this sem's school fees and was shocked to hear the crying voice of mimi when she refused to get into her school bus ... I just 'passed' her to her teacher...off she went....this morning no more cries.. cos she's been on holidays for almost 3 weeks....

Then,I went to Al mawed travel agency to get sumayyah's ticket refund since she won't be able to come back this year ..not enough holidays...then got to the housing bank to pay my house rent and sent the ticket refund money to sumayyah via western union.

Bought some stuff on my way home and did some cooking cos adam and the gang of 6 from mu'tah called me last night to tell me that they are coming late in the evening . They came to amman for their outing. I prepared mee bandung, popia, yogurt+fruit pudding . They brought a moist chocolate cake and bread pudding .

Then a group of girls(syidah and 5 others )from mutah who came to amman to buy some books spent their night at my house since it was already late to get back to mu'tah.

Alhamdulillah everything went truly fine.....still another day to come.......

Syria......We'll be back, InsyaAllah.

Perjalanan ke Syria( dengan Damascus sebagai ibu negara yang mempunyai 8 juta penduduk) minggu lalu menambah lagi pengalaman berada di negara timur tengah. Syria merupakan sebuah yang merdeka dan ekonominya tidak bergantung kepada negara barat. Negara yang kaya dengan hasil tanaman berunsur makanan serta buah-buahan memungkin rakyatnya dapat hidup dengan hasil dari dalam negara sendiri. Oleh itu tidak hairan syria tidak tunduk dengan tekanan kuasa-kuasa besar dunia.Kilang pembuatan dan pengeluar bahan makanan dan keperluan harian terdapat begitu banyak di syria dan harga barangan agak murah berbanding Jordan. Perniagaan berasaskan industri kecil masih memainkan peranan yang utama sekaligus dapat menjana pendapatan rakyat secara samarata. Berbeza dengan Jordan yang meletakkan US sebagai 'kiblat' utama dengan pelbagai barangan yang dijual datang dari negara uncle sam itu, suasana di syria amat berbeza. Tiada kelihatan fastfood outlets seperti McDonald, pizza hut, KFC, Burger King ,Popeye's dan lain-lain di sana.

Syria merupakan syurga membeli-belah dengan harga barangan terutama textile amat berpatutan. Souq Hamidiah di Damascus dan Souq Halab di Halab/Aleppo (6juta penduduk di halab )yang mempunyai ribuan kedai (memang boleh sesat dibuatnya ) benar-benar menawarkan barangan yang made in syria dengan harga murah.Rasanya ramai pelancong dari malaysia yang bershopping di pasar aleppo kerana kami terjumpa kedai kain tudung seperti dalam gambar di bawah (iklan in BM )

Sistem yang diguna pakai ialah setiap lorong menawarkan barangan yang sama contohnya jika lorong itu menjual pakaian , semua kedai di lorong tersebut hanya menjual pakaian. Terasa benar yang setiap penjual benar-benar tawakkal dan redha dengan rezeki masing-masing yang Allah telah tetapkan untuk setiap hambaNya. Jika di malaysia perniagaan didominasi oleh satu kaum sahaja dan bangsa melayu beragama islam selalunya dikatakan tidak pandai berniaga, tetapi suasana di negara arab seperti syria dan jordan menyangkal pendapat orang islam tidak pandai berniaga. Rata-rata semua penjual di sini adalah bangsa arab beragama islam(segelintirnya kristian ). Sewaktu menziarahi Bosra iaitu tempat di mana Rasulullah saw singgah sewaktu dibawa oleh bapa saudaranya Abu Talib berdagang ke syam sewaktu baginda masih kecil, hati terasa sayu apabila mengenangkan begitu jauh perjalanan baginda semata-mata membawa hasil dagangan dan baginda memang amat terkenal sebagai a very successful businessman dan islam amat menggalakkan umatnya berkecimpung dalam bidang perniagaan.

Selain sebagai pusat membeli-belah, syria jugak terkenal dengan begitu banyak kesan sejarah para anbiya' yang masih terpelihara sehingga kini. Maqam para nabi yang dilawati saban hari terutama maqam nabi yahya (hanya kepala baginda) yang terletak di dalam masjid umawi di damascus mencetuskan rasa sayu tatkala terkenang bagaimana baginda dibunuh ketika berdakwah risalah tauhid.Begitu juga sayu semasa menziarahi maqam panglima perang khalid al walid di Homs. Saifullah gelaran diberi kepadanya yang berjuang sehingga terdapat puluhan tikaman pedang di seluruh tubuh beliau .Walaupun begitu beliau tidak mati di medan perang . Masjid di mana jasad khalid al walid di maqamkan masih subur dengan nur islam kerana sehingga kini masih terdapat pusat pengajian tahfiz al quran di dalam masjid itu sendiri.Selain itu terdapat maqam para sahabah serta maqam isteri serta saudara-mara nabi muhammad saw di sekitar Damascus dan Halab.Ini adalah disebabkan pusat pemerintahan Islam ditukarkan ke tanah syam semasa zaman khulafah ar rasyidin.

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Satu pemandangan yang tidak dapat dielakkan semasa menziarahi maqam saudara-mara rasulullah saw terutama yang ada berkaitan sayyidina ali, kelihatan begitu ramai pengikut syi'ah yang datang menziarahi dengan perlakuan yang 'over' seperti meratap/meraung/menyapu-nyapu besi maqam/ikat tali di maqam dan lain-lain perbuatan yang membuatkan hati tertanya-tanya ..adakah perlakuan sebegitu terdapat di dalam ajaran mazhab syiah itu sendiri. Masjid Saidah zainab di damascus dibiayai sepenuhnya oleh kerajaan iran dengan kubahnya diperbuat daripada emas tulin. Maqam saidah Zainab dihiasi dengan intan berlian bergemerlapan(tidak dibenarkan bergambar di sini ). Rata-rata pengunjung adalah datangnya dari Iran dan iraq yang berfahaman syi'ah. kami diingatkan agar berhati-hati semasa membeli barangan seperti al quran di sini kerana dikhuatiri mempunyai unsur-unsur syiah yang mempunyai sebanyak 120 surah di dalam quran mereka.

Secara keseluruhan lawatan ke syria kali ini bukanlah yang terakhir kerana masih terlalu banyak tempat sejarah yang masih belum kami terokai . Tinggal di bumi anbiya' merupakan bonus kepada kami menyelusuri jejak para nabi serta sahabat demi memantapkan aqidah sebagai umat manusia yang mentauhidkan Allah menuju alam kekal abadi, InsyaAllah.

Jutaan terima kasih kepada anakanda zaid dan sahabatnya hazimin yang berjaya menganjurkan satu perjalanan yang amat bermakna buat kami sekeluarga. Semoga perjalanan ini diberkati Allah .Amin.

One thing for sure.........Syria, we'll be back, InsyaAllah.

From Urdun to Suria.....

Just arrived from Syria (in Arabic Suria )9.30pm last night...5days full of excitement...from amman-irbid-ramtha-darr'a-busra-damascus-homs-hama-halab-old damascus-zabadani-saad-nawa.

What more can I say, 19 of us from Jordan(in Arabic Urdun ) ,sampai dah tak larat nak heret kaki menjejaki maqam para anbiya' dan sahabat nabi saw serta other historical places dari utara ke selatan syria.

We had a chance to visit these places:

* Di Bosra -ziarah Rom teater terbesar di timur tengah

* Di Bosra - masjid Mabrak an-naqah-tempat persinggahan Rasulullah berdagang

* Di Homs- ziarah maqam-maqam khalid al walid, khalifah umar abd aziz, kaab bin ahbar, ubaidillah dan abdullah ibn jaafar at-tayyar.

* Di Hama - Melawat Kincir Air Lama ( Noria), Castle ibn Wardan, Beehive house.

* Di Halab - Souq Halab, masjid lama dan kota lama halab, maqam nabi khidir, maqam, nabi ibrahim, istana salahuddin al ayubi, masjid umawi halab, maqam nabi zakaria, kesan tapak kaki rasulullah saw di masjid karimiyyah.

* Di Damascus - maqam habil di zabadani, maqam saidah zainab, maqam para sahabat di bab saghir, masjid umawi, maqam nabi yahya, maqam salehuddin al ayubi, muaz bin jabal, abi darda', souq hamidiah,kota lama damsyiq, muzium negara syria, masjid tekiyah suleimeniyah.

* Di Syeikh Saad - ziarah maqam nabi ayub, maqam saad bib ubaidah al ansari.

* Di Nawa - ziarah maqam imam nawawi.

Even though this is my third time visiting syria there are still many other historical places have yet to be explored....next time InsyaAllah.

I enjoyed the beautiful/ not so beautiful sceneries along the way...from baldy-rocky mountains to green- bushy- grass and lucky us to have visited maqam Habil (anak nabi Adam ) which was located on top of the white-snowcapped mountain ( rasa macam kat alps je ! )

I was also glad to have met my ex-students who are studying in damascus who came to see me at my hotel ...nakaie , abidah ,aiman, asma, khair...tq for coming . InsyaAllah I'll come back next time just to be with all of them (18 of them altogether).

(Photos zaid saved dalam his laptop dan bawa balik ke mu'tah. InsyaAllah this monday I post them in my blog.)

Alhamdulillah the trip was safe and full of excitement ....everything went smoothly. I'm beginning to admire Suria more than before and maybe if I stay a bit longer I'm sure Syria might become my next home away from home....

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This afternoon my darling hubby will be going back to UAE.....April pulak cuti...goodbye dear darling....(nak pergi jalan mana april ni ???? )

For the sake of A BAG....

Three days ago, Royal Jordanian Air Kargo dept called me to go and fetch my bag which I sent thru ABDA agency at KLIA last week.I had excess baggage which Etihad wanted me to pay more than RM1300(almost same as my return trip air ticket !! )which I refused to pay. I chose ABDA air kargo instead(paid only Rm300 , saved RM 1000) to send my bag back here in amman. Since jordan has no house mailing address because they don't have postmen , ABDA could only send my bag to the kargo terminal at the airport.


The RJ officer who called me briefly told me how to get to the air kargo terminal . I went there the next day by renting a car because i could feel it's gonna be quite a difficult procedure ahead at the terminal. Zaid was not around so I asked brother sharul to come with us to the airport ( need a person who speaks arabic !! )Off we went at 9.30am and when we reached the security check point, we were told that the air kargo was at terminal 2. When we were at terminal 2, the person incharged told us that the air kargo was at a different location, it's about 4 km from the airport. Oh boy, it is somewhere in the middle of the desert and had to go thru a very strict security check up, had to leave my ID. Only sharul and I (since the bag is under my name ) could enter the area, but without transport cos ours is a rented car.Luckily a man in a mercedes who works in the terminal invited us to come with him . We couldn't walk because the air kargo terminal is like 3km ahead(tak nampak pun lagi bangunannya daripada balai pengawal ).

We had to go thru another check point before seeing a huge warehouse and an office building. The man then asked us to go to the first floor and I was surprised to see many people up there, it looked so busy with small path in between offices, ( macam balai berita pun ada ). But, it wasn't the right place. The man then told us to go to the ground floor and it was then an arab uncle offered to help us ... I couldn't remember how many offices and counters we'd gone thru but more than 13 places with 3 times going down the same staircases and back and forth the stuffy/smokey/filed loaded offices and I WAS THE ONLY LADY around the building.

The offices look like JPJ counters in the 70s/80s .At one counter the staff just threw the file to the customer after the transaction done. so rude !!!I told sharul the officer at ABDA had reminded me twice to have a man's name to fetch the bag but I told him that my son zaid wouldn't be around and I wasn't sure when the bag would arrive(takut nanti my hubby pun dah balik abu dhabi baru beg sampai!! ) Now I know why he wanted me to have a man's name on my bag.

When we finally got our bag at the air kargo warehouse(memang kena pergi sampai gudang tu sendiri..) they checked my bag which was only full of dried food, they only 'touched' a bit and closed it back. It wasn't finished yet, still a few more offices and counters to before the clearance is done. One thing for sure no bribery at all, all I had to pay was the 'longgggg processing' fees JD6 .At the warehouse I could see all boxes and packages were thoroughly opened and checked, each and every single shirt was marked(maybe for business merchandise). They really did their job.

Finally after 2 hours in the air kargo area I got my bag passed the last security check and I could breathe the fresh/cool/cold air again.THen the uncle asked for his service charge. He wanted JD10 but sharul said something and he then asked for only JD 5 ( worth it, kalau nak urus sendiri memang I tinggalkan aje beg tu kat situ ) One more problem...how to get to the first check point to get to our car...that uncle helped us again and there's a truck driver who was on his way out agreed to let us join his truck. I hopped onto the truck and had to sit next to the driver and sharul(terpaksa nak buat camne ! )

We reached the security checkpoint at 12.23pm and alhamdulillah I got my bag and had a very 'interesting/challenging' experience...IT'S ALL FOR THE SAKE OF A BAG.


Next time kalau nak hantar barang satu kontena baru I guna ABDA heheheh..........

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Tomorrow we are going on a JELAJAH SYRIA trip for 5 days. Till then have a nice weekend ahead.......

Sembang-sembang. ...Makan-makan

Tengah hari ni we all buat small party just nak jumpa dan bersama dengan pelajar-pelajar di amman. kesemua yang dijemput iaitu 16 of them including 5 kids hadir . My darling hubby pun ada , so senang urusan nak jemput all guys yang baru dan lama. Ada tiga graduate students yang baru sampai dan akan mulakan pengajian di U of Jordan starting next week. Welcome to amman !!

KAmi sediakan jamuan ringan sebab party at 3pm, so kami serve them with chicken/beef satay + nasi impit + kuah kacang , bubur jagung+kidney beans+ sweet potatoes, margarita pizza,chocolate chip cookies, bul-bul ( syrian halawiyat),fruits and juice.

Seronok dapat jumpa , sembang-sembang, makan-makan sampai maghrib. Lepas solat maghrib berjemaah baru semuanya selesai.Mungkin April berjumpa semula semasa my hubby pulang bercuti nanti. Setiap kali my hubby is back here, I memang adakan jamuan jemput sahabat-sahabat di amman, just nak berkumpul bersama. So, ada this ustaz bergurau waktu nak balik , " macam tu kami doakan abang nuar ( my hubby ) kerap balik, dapat makan-makan lagi ...."