i want to see God's greatness.

i want to see the breath-taking wonders of the world.

i want to experience the different weathers, cultures and traditions.

i want to learn their history and the secrets of their languages.

i want to taste their national dishes.

i want to make friends with their people.

i have been on google maps and reading travel blogs way too much.

alhamdulillah, its into the third day of ramadhan.

paulo coelho's 'the alchemist' kept me company throughout the journey in the train and bus, as well as at the waiting area. a delightfully wonderful read, it makes me realise that there's so much more i need to learn, see, experience and do - starting with learning Arab.

al-markaz recently got back to my email, however the classes will commence every saturday mornings, which are very tight for me. and the next cycle will be a long way after. i do not know where else to start.

school will be starting in a few days time and the timetable has been churned out. it looks alright except for the five hour break on monday and im still clueless as to whom will be in my tutorial group. there's going to be a whole lot of shuffling, getting used to and adapting - which im really not good at.

dear God, please help me.

quick bites.
i have not been updating this space because i did not see anything interesting for me to share and truth to be told, i dont know anyone who would be interested in knowing about what is going on in my life. then, i realised that i was writing, not to tell others of my experiences, but to remind myself of these wonderful memories in which i should be grateful for.

robes and scrolls.
6th of july 2011 saw each of us graduating. alhamdulillah.

and these beautiful girls were the ones who made my two years amazingly wonderful. ♥

and i hate to imagine having to go through 4 semesters without them. i know it is going to be extremely difficult.it was something i wanted, worked and prayed for, but knowing that i had to do it for 2 more years, without my pillars of strength, i am torn.


bookshelf.
the complete list of books i recently purchased and read from bookdepository.com:
1) shadow of the wind by carlos ruiz zafon
2) love in a headscarf by shelina zahra janmohamed
3) book thief by markus zusak
4) water for elephants by sara gruen
5) kite runner by khaled hosseini
6) a thousand splendid suns by khaled hosseini

while i enjoyed reading every single one of them, (kite runner was bought because i fell in love with the novel after reading it in 2006, i had to own it) i thought that a thousand splendid suns was the best book i have read. although of a different genre, i enjoyed reading it more than that of one of my favourite authors, sidney sheldon. a thousand splendid suns ended with a lasting impact, in which i thought was really powerful.

rainbow stripes.
sunday with rachel for our bimonthly meet ups. while we planned for a relaxing, kite-flying, monopoly dealing picnic at marina barrage, we ended up flying the kite at the rooftop of her bukit timah penthouse instead - which was way better, without the worry of the string getting caught in another's, without having to fight for mat space.

within minutes of the kite-flying, we felt pelts of rain and had to go indoors. she presented my extremely early birthday present.

an engraved keychain, 3 tubes of hand lotion by crabtree and evelyn, as well as a lovely diamond pendant from goldheart.

while what i got for her birthday have not been as extravagant as what she had gotten me these past 10 years, she seemed pleased with all of them. right now, i have to start cracking my brain to think of what to get for her birthday. what do you get for that someone, within your means, who has almost everything?

genting highlands, june 2011

1. our short getaway to genting highlands was considerably quite good, given the chilly weather and fresh air compared to back at home. it was an almost 6-hour drive up and i slept through the entire journey (except having to get up during our breakfast stop at singgah selalu).

2. what nurul said about the influx of foreigners was right - the last time i visited genting almost 6 years ago, we could take the theme park rides without having to queue. this time, an average waiting time to queue for a ride was almost 45 minutes!

3. the queuing time did not help when a certain group of people decided to allow his "group" of 7 - 8 others to jump the queue, not once, but twice! this attracted much anger from the crowd and have them yelling at the group of inconsiderate people.

4. nasrin's virgin roller coaster rides - she braved herself to take the rides she was eligible to (according to her height), including the stomach churning pirate ship! even syazana didn't dare get on!

5. food was expensive but the best was the thai lunch we had at the food court. we were very disappointed with the food quality and service at kenny roger's. the food was cold, muzakkir cleaned up his plate of the worst tasting spaghetti (i think he must be extremely hungry!) and so many food items on the menu were not available. upon payment, the cashier made a stark mistake but insisted she was right and pulled that long face which irked syazana so much so that she scolded that woman.



i have to report to school on wednesday and i'm not looking forward to the start. sigh.

so yesterday, i spent the entire day with the cutest. my favourite was seeing him splash in his mini tub, flash his toothless grin and hear him chuckling - the cutest sound i have ever heard.

and yesterday, the Almighty proved his greatness and laid out his plans for me.
alhamdulillah.



we're taking a trip up to genting highlands for our short getaway in 2 hours time. as usual, i have yet to start packing. see you soon!

yesterday saw me splashing out $2,200 within minutes.

this is my most expensive buy, to date.

its the start of my holidays after two weeks of adjustments to the new school, and i still don't feel quite settled yet. unfortunately for me, we did not play for even a short trip even though i feel that i needed it, with so many things happening since the beginning of the year, and i have worked really hard.

then comes the financial blow - getting my mac to replace the loaned notebook and that broken book shelf embedded glass which does not come in cheap. don't get me started on how that happened. AND i'm deciding on whether i should be getting a new hard disk as well as that super zoom digital camera, seeing that the IT show is approaching.

due date.

i completed the album in less than 3 hours. i know that there is nothing to be proud of, especially when the sister had already done up the turkey december 2010 album last year and i managed to complete mine only 2 hours ago. still, i started and completed it - and that is an achievement to me.

treasure cove.

so i decided to clean up my practicum stuff which had been strewn across the room (mostly on my side and a few spill over to the sister's). she had been really patient, selectively blind to my mess in the room and trying to avoid stepping my stuff.

while i was clearing the stuff up, i managed to find this bookmark which had been put away since our new zealand trip in 2006! just in time cause i was finding a nice bookmark for my newly purchased books.

inked.


speaking of which, one out the seven books i order from book depository arrived in the mail today! i cant wait to start on it.

ibu's niche

i consider my mum to be an 'okay' cook. not as skillful as my grandmother, or my grandmother's sister. however, i cannot deny that she makes the BEST popiah goreng, ever! and i have so many people to vouch for that. the popiah is fried to perfection that the popiah skin is really crispy, the filling inside still retains is juiciness and tastes just right and the sauce is the bomb, despite it being really spicy.
last night was our lucky night when she decided to make it.

we helped fold the popiah skin while i fried it - all 40 pieces. bapak had 10 pieces at one go while i had 6 for myself. yummy!

it would be a timely reminder to always remember that His love is greater than my disappointments, and His plans for my life are better than my dreams.

this 496-paged, hardback with felt material and gold trimmed book cost me a good $73.75 and i finally completed reading it today! this uncut version consists of famous tales told by the beautiful storyteller shahrazad herself to entertain king shahriyar for 1,001 nights - as well as save her life.

i cant wait for the seven books i purchased from book depository!

shall start reading on those i got from the islamic book fair yesterday.

trust is when a baby laughs when he is thrown into the air, knowing that you will catch him.