I haven't been writing about the books that I read for nearly 5 years! I used to love doing book reviews in the past and occasionally I did get email of appreciation from the authors too! Nowadays, I only updated my Good Reads bookshelf once in a while but I never leave reviews. Just to keep track whether I have reach my number of books read per year target or not. My target is very low, just 12 books per year; that's one book per month.
This one is my latest favourite, written by an Indonesian lady. It's not that hard to understand since there are not many Indonesian words that are unfamiliar to me. It's basically a travelogue while her husband and her lived in Austria for a few years. It was about how they had to adapt from living in an Islamic country to being a minority in Europe. And how they discovered the history of Islam all over Europe and come to love Islam more and more thereafter.
The first part of this book tells about how the expansion of the Ottoman empire was halted in Austria. Then they went to Paris and was accompanied by a historian who brought them into the Lourve where she showed them the exhibits that proves how Islamic culture was highly regarded for centuries in the past. Then they went to Spain to learn more about the Al-Andalus.
I'm quite familiar with the Islamic history and I remember them quite well from watching many documentaries but this book tells me a lot of things that I've never heard of like how Croissant is related to the defeat of the Ottoman. I also love how the couple responded when their devotion were questioned by those who didn't believe in God and how the other characters that they met worked hard to portray that Islam is a religion of peace.
I love how she can incorporate the Quranic verses and Hadith in the paragraphs. This reminds me of "Ayat-ayat Cinta" the first book that made me fall in love with Indonesian books; they are just full of reminders that make me stop and ponder for a while or if it's something unheard of, I will search for itand get to learn something new.
What made it so exciting while I was reading this, I was in Europe! And I was in Spain when I finally get the time to read it since there were a lot of moving about while we were in Norway. The film is good, I was told but I decided to read the book first before watching it. I highly recommend this for leisure read (^^)
This book really made me think of how Islam reached its peak in the past. It was how the people of that time really understand and follow what was taught in the Al Quran and Hadith; they put knowledge on top of everything and observed good akhlaq. As oppose to people nowadays, there are even group of 'intellects' who are trying to challenge the interpretation of the Al Quran and Hadith to suit their lifestyle. Unbelievable~
MR arrived in Oslo 3 days later than me and that day she was already late for breakfast. Her bag was lost during the connecting flight and it was snowing heavily outside, so we just lie on our beds and chatted.
MR asked, "Ramai ke orang mase breakfast..?"
"Ramai jugak.. Tapi kan.. Ramai orang tue.. Sampai at one point tu Gg seriusly ingatkan Gg kat rumah orang tua.."
And MR found my statement was very true the next day. During dinner we found ourselves surrounded by elderly..
"Ya Allah Mar.. Pakcik depan Gg ni tangan bergegar sampai tak boleh koyak paket gule. Patot ke kite tolong die.."
"Ish selalu ramai jugak jumpe orang tue.. Tapi ni tue yang tak berdaye ok!"
"Tu la.. Ni bukan tahap mak ayah kite.. Ni tahap tok nenek kte yang dah takde kot.. Omaigod Gg rase pacik ni ade masalah paru-paru.. bunyi nafas die pun tau.."
"Eyh ramai sangat ni.."
"Ke ade rumah orang tue kat area ni and tompang makan sini.."
We never found our answer...
On our way to the airport to go to Svalbard, an elderly woman board the bus and sat next to me. She was so old that I think she should be around late 80s. Her face and hands were all wrinkled, she had a roundback and her hands were trembling vigorously that it was hard for her to zip open her purse. I watched her try to put money into her purse which also looked like she was putting a lot of effort.
"Do you need some help..??" I asked. She replied me in Norwegian with a smile and continued talking even though I think she knew I can't understand her.
And there were subsequent events in which we saw a down syndrome lady who travelled alone from Tromso to a small village before Narvik and a wheelchair bound woman who travelled alone from Narvik To Bødø.
From my story, it's clear that Norway is travel friendly for people with special needs. But how does all these encounter brings to the topic of me being stupid...??? I was stupid to have thought that 30 was where all the fun and adventure should cease, where I should contain my curiousity, be stationary and learn to be content with slow pace and everything familiar. And there I was in Norway, watching all these people who had the strongest of reasons to stay put but didn't.
Perhaps I was somewhat affected by one particular 'voice' that kept on pressing me about being single for too long makes one unworthy. I allowed this 'voice' to shroud my clear conscience about life and thank God I snapped out of it!
20's was like dark chocolate, I said. The sweet taste were the memories made while the bitter were the mistakes. The good; the lessons learned are the things that makes the rest of the years to come be better, InshaAllah. 30's is not the reason to slow down, I finally figured out. It's time to 'speed up' because we are actually running out of time..
It's time to spend more time with our parents because they will not be around forever. Perhaps, I haven't got the means to make them live in luxury, but I'm trying my best to make life easy and comfortable for both of them. Perhaps I haven't been given the chance to 'complete half of my deen'. But as I once said to a bestfriend of mine, "Takkan lah pahala berbakti dengan orang yang lahirkan kita dan jaga kita dari kecil tu lebih sedikit dari pahala berbakti dekat suami...??"
It's time to chase our dreams even the forgotten ones. I've always dreamt of travelling. As a child, I love climbing the small hill near my house and would start thinking of going abroad for adventures. Thus, I studied English diligently because mommy said if I can speak well, I can talk to anybody in this world. Traveling is not a forgotten dream. The abandoned dream of mine is my wish to study foreign languages other than English. I wanted to pursue on language after school but studying in a Science stream school and performing well in the science subjects prevented me from that. I always felt stuck although I've learnt to love my job (perhaps because healthcare gives you daily opportunity for act of service). Ever since I realized that it will never be too late to chase my forgotten dreams, I've become even happier with my day job (^^)
30s is not the time to cut off enjoyment and stop gaining experience, but it's time to do so in a more sensible and responsible manner that despite of still having all the fun, we still remember to take care of oursleves and not be drifted away. Have more savings and more money to spend for loved ones rather than splurged for our own wants.
After I came back from Norway, I've realized that aging is not the reason to totally abandon life and just exist. It's not the reason to just wake up, earn for a living, eat and sleep. Instead, it's the reason why one should be more mentally and physically active. There is no such thing as "I'm too old for this...". While we might not be as strong or as fit as the youngsters, but WE STILL CAN!
For instance MR and I drove on ice at 31 while the pakcik2 aviation investigators does that with us in their 50s!
Really.. how stupid of me and I'm just happy to be enlightened in Norway...
Whatever it is, in 2017 I will only accept marriage proposal from G-Dragon or Song Joong-Ki. Period!
So I haven't been updating my blog as frequently as I wanted to. I really really don't know why I'm so0o0o0o0 busy at 30! I seldom waste my time on social media nowadays, but I always always have other things to do. Perhaps, it's how we prioritize things at this age.
A mid year post is something unprecedented but it's going to be a summary of what I've ticked from my 2017 resolutions and all the other mundane things in life like... I'VE LOST WEIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will not post a before and after comparison picture but I'm currently 2 kg away from my weight when I graduated yeay! What prompt me to lose weight is not particularly aesthetic but it was more to how having more weight affect my physical well being. Well, at first it was really disturbing when more and more of my outfits became tighter. But then I started getting praises that I look better with more weight which was not helping; where from there onward I was actually encouraged to gain more!
But as days passed, I started feeling sluggish and sleepy during the day and even more tired at night. I started by doing regular tabata and man! tabata works miracle on my weight and stamina! And then I start going for regular runs (at least twice a week), I started joining sports tournaments again despite my deep-seated lack of confidence and I started rock climbing again! It was a struggle at first because I was not used to doing all these with my 'new' weight and it was actually slightly demotivating because the things that were supposed to be easy peasy became hard. But I told myself to be patient and not to expect instant results.
One of the videos I prefer when doing Tabata..
My friends said, "Ko suka dorang sebab hensem2 kan?" Hurm.. perhaps that's one of the reason why hahaha
I started this earlier this year in January and nowadays it's already a habit to must have some physical activities at least 5 times a week. Even during Ramadhan, I will go for evening walks and make sure to be home by the time for breakfast. Before this, I never realize how being physically active makes a lot of difference to my body because I've always been active. Nowadays, I can feel how my metabolism is being boosted and I feel terrific when I wake up in the morning. I guess, you have to lose what you had to appreciate it. I WILL NEVER ABANDON YOU EXERCISE! MY NEW OBSESSION: SKINCARE!
I just got my parcel from Althea.kr on Wednesday but not all of them are mine. But MOST of them are. I'm not an aspiring beauty blogger or vlogger; I'm not comfortable with having my face all over social media. But yes, currently I am super obsess with skincare routine and I noticed the difference and loving it!
I've been adherent to the basics since 3 years ago; that's the cleansing, toning and moisturizing. Sunblock has always been my best friend because my skin is so prickly when it burns and it will turn GREY when it gets darker. I can see the difference then because I have regular acne outbreaks since I was a teen maybe because I was very active with sports and didn't straight away wash my face after I finished with training or tournaments but it improved with adhering to the 3 steps. Then, last year I started to add up my routines with the oil cleansing, regular exfoliation and masks. And this year I added up serum and eye cream as well hahaha
Thus, I have to start preparing for work 30 minutes earlier than before because I needed some time for the products to be absorbed before I apply the next one. O ya I shifted from Body Shop to Korean products because at one time there was stock problem all over KK when they wanted to change the packaging of the line that I was using. My friends recommended Korean products and I must say they are more suitable for Asian skin. ITEMS FROM WISHLIST UNLOCKED!
It's slightly harder to get leaves in my current department thus I've changed my holiday-taking pattern from taking a week off every 3 months to taking long leaves every 5-6 months my bosses seem more pleased with the current pattern.
So recently, I went to Norway with MR. RA can't make it because her little sister got married on the same weekend (but she already got her tickets when the date was announced to her). Our main destination in Norway was Svalbard but we were in Oslo for a few days and were in Tromso and Bodo to get back to Oslo. The red pin is where Svalbard is located. It is the most populated nothernmost city in the world; that's less than 3000 people.
Norway is too well-known for the Aurora that everybody thought we were there for that. Unfortunately at this time, it was already 24-hours daylight in Svalbard which made it impossible to see Aurora at all. I'm in no hurry to watch Aurora because to me Aurora is not threatened by anything (not that I know~) which means 10 years from now it will still be there and I can always opt whether to watch the Aurora Borealis or Aurora Australis in the Southern hemisphere. But, the polar bear is threatened by the global warming and also hunting so I need to see them first!
We were lucky to find a mother polar bear with her cubs! I'll write the full story later (ayat cliche untuk semua post trip aku yang masih non-existent sampai sekarang)
And we also did ice caving there! We were suppose to do it in Iceland 4 years ago but then we came in summer at that time and the ice cave was no longer accessible. Likewise, the ice cave in Svalbard is also not accessible in summer but it's not because the ice melted. The ice doesn't melt there because the wall of ice is actually part of the glacier. But there will be water flowing inside the cave during summer.
After Norway I was in Spain and I got to go to TWO REAL MADRID MATCHES!!!!!!!!!!!!
Real Madrid VS Atletico Madrid (Champions League Semifinal)
Real Madrid VS Granada (La Liga)
The semifinal was something unplanned. I was in Madrid to watch one of the biggest bullfight event in the world (and later sworn that as my first and last bullfight ever) and found out that the semifinal will be held on the day I was there. I was actually checking out whether the ticket for the match with Granada was already on sale or not but end up buying the semifinal in Santiago Barnabeau.
I splurged for this seat and I regret it NOT!!!!!!! The ticket was selling fast on the 1st day of sale and how I wish I got the seats at row 1 or 2 instead. But Row 16 was okay because the view was clearer for both side of the goal. I heard that for EPL, ticket is sold only for season pass holder.
It's easier to watch match in Spain I guess because the ticket is open for everybody; only some seats are reserved for season pass holder. When I checked the Real Madrid site a few days before the match, there were empty seats in some of the best seats in the stadium. Those were the seats of the season pass holders who let go of their seats for the match. The price was comparable with mine too! But this is really based on luck. Better buy the ticket earlier than feel sorry for not doing so earlier.
Well, since I've watched the match in Madrid, I was thinking, "Maybe I could skip the one in Granada." But, bila kau suda di situ and have nothing to do at night, memang tak tertahankan suda perasaan. I end up buying the ticket while I was on the train from Seville to Granada and I regret it not too!
The price for the first row was waaaayyyyy cheaper here. And although CR7 was not here, I got to see James Rodriguez and Morata in action! And Isco, Karim Benzema and Marcello did their warm ups in front of me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And sepanjang dorang warm up la aku x tengok match lol~ The four goals happened on the side where I was sitting.
When I was about to turn 30, I thought of slowing down a bit; perhaps consider having my own family, travel less and take life more seriously. But this first trip as a 30 year old changed it all. Throughout my recent journey, I met a lot of people who didn't let age limit their actions and they continue to excel. I've decided I don't want to be affected by the societal ideals! I will just let this life flow as it should be and make the best of my time to live happily and in content YOSH!
Luckily, the symptoms subside after 24 hours and we had the chance to explore Leh the day before we start our hike. Everything is in walk-able distance in Leh so it was really easy to get around. We went to the Leh Palace first.
The palace is the most prominent structure in town set on a hill so we were actually itching to go there. We had to pay a small amount of fee to enter; I don't remember how much but it was not that expensive. The palace was built back in the 15th Century and it's actually a miniature version of the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet. It is 9-storey high and when we were there all sections were already opened (during my research some bloggers mentioned about some sections being closed for renovation). There were balconies on each level that overlooks the town and there were prayer flags hung there whose colours added beauty to the background.
The topmost balcony gives a 360 view of Leh so we were actually surprised to see the green side of the town.
The inside of this palace was not well lit because it was purposely constructed in such a way that there is no need for artificial lighting so I have no clear pictures to show how it looked like. The halls were basically not furnished, just one or two halls with boards with pictures and infos. There was one room for a short video show. The part I remember is when the narrator mentioned that the materials to build this palace was actually passed by hand by men forming a looooooong line.
Then we went strolling around the town and see what can be useful to bring along for our hike. We went to a pharmacy to get more Dexamethasone and was again surprised to see the price of medicines and health and beauty products were like 3 times cheaper than Malaysia! Dan tiba-tiba aku memborong facial cleanser di sana. A few shops from it was a bookshop and the books were twice cheaper there! Harry Potter and The Cursed Child just came out that time and the pre=order price in Malaysia was RM 100+ and I got it for only RM53 in India!
It started to drizzle later that afternoon. Before coming to Leh, we didn't really searched for Halal food in particular because we normally go to Indian restaurant when traveling to other countries since we can always order vegetarian food there. That evening, we decided to randomly pick any of the restaurant in town for dinner. As it was drizzling and the pavement was not roofed, we had to run from one shop to another to get to the end of the shop lot where we saw a lot of restaurants there on our way to the pharmacy.
And when we reached this small opening that has narrow stairs that leads to some souvenir shops, a man suddenly appeared from behind the stairs. He promoted his souvenir shop at first. And when I said we just arrived and not searching for souvenirs yet, he went on asking where we were from and what are our plans in Leh. When I told him that we are actually looking for a good restaurant, preferably Muslim's, he told us there is a Muslim Restaurant just a few meters away called Mazwan Planet. "It might be one of the best around here!"
As he was giving us the direction, he saw the owner of the restaurant passed just across the street. He yelled the owner's name and they spoke in Ladakhi.
"He is going to the restaurant. You can follow him."
Well, we end up eating there for lunch and dinner in most days since the food was very good and the price was reasonable.
Leh has been a popular destination for European for many years, so I guess that what makes it easy to find good food around Leh and the menu is variable. Below is one of my English breakfast set. This place is actually a square with 4 or 5 restaurants. We had breakfast here almost everyday and tried them all. The set usually come with coffee or tea and juice and you get to choose 3 or even 4 dishes in one set and it was really really cheap; like about RM5 per set.
Wedding preparation in years to come, that is. Well, I got involved in lots of weddings before and currently am busied with the preparation of my cousin's wedding. So, finally I found some time to write down the DO's and DON'Ts that I've collected for years lol. I write it down here for the purpose of easy retrieval. Who reads my rambling in this blog anyway tchhhh
1. COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR FAMILY!
There might be things that we deemed as unnecessary in a wedding but is considered a must by our folks. From my observation, defying those things behind their backs will only give rise to new problems and often it will be mentioned over and over again (as a bad example) even after the wedding. So I think, communicating is the best solution and my bff told me "be prepared to lose, make sacrifices and let it be"
2. PREPARE THE FORMS EARLIER ON!
The Jab. Agama put it that the forms can be submitted within 3 months to 2 weeks before the date of the nikah. However, all the documents can actually be prepared earlier on. I've seen the huge difference between those who prepared earlier on and those who just started preparing within the period given. Those who prepared earlier didn't have to hassle on incomplete applications or if there are kinks, they still had enough time to settle them. Whereas those who decided to do it at the last minute had to struggle to ensure things are done on time.
3. FOOD IS IMPORTANT!
Actually this is my personal POV. I think food is the most important one because it's usually the thing that I remembered most when I attend a wedding. Like SJ's roasted lamb on her side and ikan keli on her husband's side, HH's ikan patin, the delicious nasi briyani during my friend Azie's wedding and how my cousin Mahani creatively served her desserts are among the things I remember. I will also remember the weddings at which I had to go to a restaurant right after because the food was not enough. I don't usually complain because there is no perfect wedding after all. I just have a good memory of them, that's all. Putting most of the budget on food is worth it!
4. DON'T WASTE MONEY ON THINGS THAT YOU CAN SAVE AT!
The things you don't necessarily have to splurge on to me are...
- Barang hantaran
Perfume, al quran, cosmetics, kasut etc are the things that I already have! Lain la kalo mo bagi kereta ka, kunci rumah ka :p
- Photograph and video
Although these are in my 'must have' list, but I think cheap packages still produce good works.
- Make up
It surprises me how people can splurge on something that you will wipe off after a few hours. Same with photograph and videos, there are still many skillful MUAs with reasonable price out there.
- Baju kahwin
I think this is only necessary when one is a non-standard size type. Or like a relative of mine who is good in designing clothes; her wedding dress is simple and elegant yet the type that can be worn in other occasion as well. The bridals often come with packages that includes pelamin and baju pengantin. If you can find good offers, they will even include cakes and dessert booth too!
-Door gift
I have a stack of unread yassin in my room and my Umie's book shelf have one petition that's dedicated for placing unused souvenirs from weddings. When my time comes, the door gift will either something different from these or something consumable like food.
5. ASK FOR OPINIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
I think this really helps to organize things, save budget and to avoid from things that you paid for turning out to be different from what you expected. Things can look great in pictures yet the real thing might not be as satisfactory.
6. IT'S YOUR PARENTS' DAY AS WELL
There are a lot of posts on fb that read something like 'masih ada perempuan yang minta duit hantaran murah di luar sana' or 'Ku pinang dia dengan RM 500'. I don't really get it what's the fuss about that since there might be difference in culture between me and these people. But to us, the high dowry is not like the guy is 'buying' the daughter. It's to show that the guy is being respectful to the girl's parents by partially financially supporting the wedding on their side. And all the monetary gifts received during the wedding will be fully given to the married couple to start their life.
And what I meant by saying it's your parents' day as well is I've seen just how happy parents were while hosting their children's wedding even though it's exhausting. I think it's worth it to consider how they want it to be as long as you can afford it.
7. LOAN; YAY OR NAY??
I can't say much about this since most of my friends had to make loans to afford their weddings. But I still have time to try to avoid this. I have always have a separate saving just for my wedding; which means it's aside from my other savings. Truth be told, my savings are divided into; saving for the future, emergency, travel aaannnddd wedding LOL I've started it ever since I started working thinking that it will be one of my biggest investment hahaha Tapi sebab aku NDA AKAN KAHWIN TAHUN 2017, I'm going to use the money for my coming big trips!
I purposely capitalize the "NDA AKAN KAHWIN TAHUN 2017" because whenever I said this, people will go like
"Selalu kalau cakap begini, tekahwin ni.."
I've said this sooooo many times years before and I'm still a carefree single and it will still be the same for the year 2017! \(^^)/
I'm soooooo looking forward to my next trip!!!!!!!!!!!!
