Well folks, my Nov. event is coming up (about a week to go).I should not be so nervous.After all it is a meeting of friends.Kita pun tak panggil VVIPs, only Deputy Rector (Rector's away).It should be fun.Less pressure cos' less protocol.
I think over the months especially as it gets closer, macam2 speakers have to withdraw.Ada yang sakit, ada yang spouse dia sakit, ada yang exam (fee dah bayar, flight dah booked), yang meninggal tu yang paling sedih (aruah Yasmin Ahmad).Thank God, we have very little difficulty replacing the best with another.Ini rahmat Allah.An excellent conference relies much on quality speakers.We try to observe that.
But as with many other events, we are also mentally prepared for hiccups, shortcomings.What is important is that there will be SOMETHING for participants to learn from/be inspired if not getting new friends.
To the team: best wishes!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Monday, November 09, 2009
In search of Mak Jah
Please congratulate me for driving back and forth Bagan Lalang for my office's IEEP (Kaossar read the map for me). Nik's outstation and could not drive me over on this long trip.
Theme kali ni health and fitness (in addition to monitoring our BSC and KPIs).Dr Anuar Suun and his team were loads of fun.We did aerobics, talks on healthcare etc.Wei, all staff should be educated on this.We did a session on CPR.The correct ways are:
1.identify dulu any hazard/harm before you touch mangsa.
2.Tepok2 bahu mangsa yang tengah pengsan
3.Panggil ambulance 999 and say where, who and how many need immediate medical attention.
4. Then start doing the rescuing bit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r7haVfZXek)
We also did some team building activities and one of them was a treasure hunt.We walked some 5 km looking for clues and answers which included cooking and selling burgers by the Bagan Lalang beach.Ada juga cubaan nak menipu along the way. :))
My team lost (sebab puzzle kita susah) but we lost gracefully (akhirnya).Yang kelakar one clue that said "Mak Jah sedang menunggu anda." Woit, susah.Like zombies we went from one stall to another looking for Mak Jah.One chap said she's at so and so place (I was the first to be given the clue) so melompat2 pi lari mcm Asia Race kejar stall Mak Jah...only to be told she was not Mak Jah.Dr Wan was told this (at another stall), "Mak Jah dah 2 tahun meninggal...." and this (yet at another stall), "Mak Jah yang hitam atau Mak Jah yang putih?"
But we finally found her (her kedai was on the other side of the road).
Dr Anuar was so kelakar.We'll have him and team again to speak on managing back pain some time soon.
Seafood at Bagan Lalang sedap.Had sambal lala, ikan siakap and sotong bakar and drinks.Less than RM50 for 4 people! Mari bercuti ke Bagan Lalang!
Theme kali ni health and fitness (in addition to monitoring our BSC and KPIs).Dr Anuar Suun and his team were loads of fun.We did aerobics, talks on healthcare etc.Wei, all staff should be educated on this.We did a session on CPR.The correct ways are:
1.identify dulu any hazard/harm before you touch mangsa.
2.Tepok2 bahu mangsa yang tengah pengsan
3.Panggil ambulance 999 and say where, who and how many need immediate medical attention.
4. Then start doing the rescuing bit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r7haVfZXek)
We also did some team building activities and one of them was a treasure hunt.We walked some 5 km looking for clues and answers which included cooking and selling burgers by the Bagan Lalang beach.Ada juga cubaan nak menipu along the way. :))
My team lost (sebab puzzle kita susah) but we lost gracefully (akhirnya).Yang kelakar one clue that said "Mak Jah sedang menunggu anda." Woit, susah.Like zombies we went from one stall to another looking for Mak Jah.One chap said she's at so and so place (I was the first to be given the clue) so melompat2 pi lari mcm Asia Race kejar stall Mak Jah...only to be told she was not Mak Jah.Dr Wan was told this (at another stall), "Mak Jah dah 2 tahun meninggal...." and this (yet at another stall), "Mak Jah yang hitam atau Mak Jah yang putih?"
But we finally found her (her kedai was on the other side of the road).
Dr Anuar was so kelakar.We'll have him and team again to speak on managing back pain some time soon.
Seafood at Bagan Lalang sedap.Had sambal lala, ikan siakap and sotong bakar and drinks.Less than RM50 for 4 people! Mari bercuti ke Bagan Lalang!
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Cuci the Musical
We took our MASTERA friends out to Skybridge at KLCC (my first, too) and Aquaria.Then I rushed to talk to my PhD students and returned their essays.Then rushed back to Seri Pac to witness the signing of some docos by the 3 Country Heads.I was not in my working clothes.Malu...everyone was in their baju kerja.The guys were all in their suits.What to do, no time to change.Lodged a complaint against a staff of Triways who issued Ben's tic very2 late.Walhal I gave Eda the particulars MONTHS ago.I hate last min sloppy job like this.
Malamnya the group went to see Hans Isaac's Cuci the Musical.Initialy I didn't want to go (too tired too angry too pissed off with what took place at IIUM.I just wished people take their job seriously and IKHLAS!) Anyway Zaidah said tic had been bought for me..so dgn baju pagi tadi, I went.Malu betul but no time to change.Pulak mlm ni the kerabat Perlis and other VVIPs dtg tengok so the crowd was huge juga.
It's fun, folks.I missed the movie but the play menghiburkan.AC Mizal, Adlin Shauki, Hans and Awie semua kelakar.Awie yang paling cute.AC over macam biasa but still funny.The songs are great too but lama sangat.Keluar after 4 hours.
Malamnya the group went to see Hans Isaac's Cuci the Musical.Initialy I didn't want to go (too tired too angry too pissed off with what took place at IIUM.I just wished people take their job seriously and IKHLAS!) Anyway Zaidah said tic had been bought for me..so dgn baju pagi tadi, I went.Malu betul but no time to change.Pulak mlm ni the kerabat Perlis and other VVIPs dtg tengok so the crowd was huge juga.
It's fun, folks.I missed the movie but the play menghiburkan.AC Mizal, Adlin Shauki, Hans and Awie semua kelakar.Awie yang paling cute.AC over macam biasa but still funny.The songs are great too but lama sangat.Keluar after 4 hours.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Nusantara news
I'm at Seri Pacific to attend a long stretch of meetings on sastera Asia Tenggara.The Brunei team arrived today.Besok team dari Jakarta akan tiba.Sidang kali ini dijangka akan panas memandangkan keadaan yang agak tegang antara Jakarta-KL (atas isu2 budaya).
A teman from Brunei who just got back from Jakarta said he saw a banner that said," Ganyang Malaysia tetapi selamatkan Siti Nurhaliza."
Hahahaha, lucu banget tu!
Pasukan Majlis Sastera Asia Tenggara (of which I'm a council member) akan cuba memulihkan jambatan goyah ini melalui prog2 budaya nusantara.But harap2 gomen faham how sastera berperanan besar.Bak kata Dr Lim Swee Tin: jatuhnya Thaksin kerana kelompok sasterawan.Di Jakarta juga, sasterawan berpengaruh yang digunakan utk sentimen anti-Malaysia ini.
Harus respect sama sasterawan, dong! Mereka ini war makers atau peacebuilders.
A teman from Brunei who just got back from Jakarta said he saw a banner that said," Ganyang Malaysia tetapi selamatkan Siti Nurhaliza."
Hahahaha, lucu banget tu!
Pasukan Majlis Sastera Asia Tenggara (of which I'm a council member) akan cuba memulihkan jambatan goyah ini melalui prog2 budaya nusantara.But harap2 gomen faham how sastera berperanan besar.Bak kata Dr Lim Swee Tin: jatuhnya Thaksin kerana kelompok sasterawan.Di Jakarta juga, sasterawan berpengaruh yang digunakan utk sentimen anti-Malaysia ini.
Harus respect sama sasterawan, dong! Mereka ini war makers atau peacebuilders.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Late flight home
Was away in Penang the last 2 days.Penang is always green and fresh.Stayed at Vistana where internet is 24 hours and free (printing service is also free) This is better than hotels in KL.I think they have a wide experience with people on the go (tourists, biz men/women). In Japan, it's like that too.It's a service NOT so much business per se.I like that.
Dr Jelani and his colleague collected me at the airport.Rang Zairi.He didn't pick up the ph so I figured he's in Geneva again.Text-ed "was in Penang but as always, you were away."(I figured by the time he got back from somewhere I'd be gone. That's the reason why I wrote "was in Penang"). Tengok2 pakcik tu ada kat Penang and he wrote besoknya "sorry you were in Penang." Hahaha.Then we found out we were both in the present and in Penang! But no time to go nasi padang.Pi tengok USM's Alumni House.Simply fantastic.1 million katanya.All alumni money.Whoa! Then of cos' Zairi had to tell me and Puan Sharifah abt ular senduk on campus. I just found out cobras love to live in hill slopes.
Anyway, the workshop I conducted for Dr. J's students went well, alhamdulillah.It was fun interacting with the students.They asked loads of questions.Met Dato Salleh Yaapar briefly too.Tak sempat nak borak panjang.Met other friends (gals) and we spoke on Michael Jackson.Hahaha.It started with Hajar mentioning she saw me on TV, speaking on MJ and we all agreed, MJ's death took a piece of our adolescent lives.
Flight back to KL was slightly delayed.I am sooooooooooooooo exhausted, folks.Saturday: the beginning of another long stretch of meetings (which will end on Wedn).May Allah grant me good health.Kesibukan dunia adalah juga satu ujian Allah.
Dr Jelani and his colleague collected me at the airport.Rang Zairi.He didn't pick up the ph so I figured he's in Geneva again.Text-ed "was in Penang but as always, you were away."(I figured by the time he got back from somewhere I'd be gone. That's the reason why I wrote "was in Penang"). Tengok2 pakcik tu ada kat Penang and he wrote besoknya "sorry you were in Penang." Hahaha.Then we found out we were both in the present and in Penang! But no time to go nasi padang.Pi tengok USM's Alumni House.Simply fantastic.1 million katanya.All alumni money.Whoa! Then of cos' Zairi had to tell me and Puan Sharifah abt ular senduk on campus. I just found out cobras love to live in hill slopes.
Anyway, the workshop I conducted for Dr. J's students went well, alhamdulillah.It was fun interacting with the students.They asked loads of questions.Met Dato Salleh Yaapar briefly too.Tak sempat nak borak panjang.Met other friends (gals) and we spoke on Michael Jackson.Hahaha.It started with Hajar mentioning she saw me on TV, speaking on MJ and we all agreed, MJ's death took a piece of our adolescent lives.
Flight back to KL was slightly delayed.I am sooooooooooooooo exhausted, folks.Saturday: the beginning of another long stretch of meetings (which will end on Wedn).May Allah grant me good health.Kesibukan dunia adalah juga satu ujian Allah.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Other pics (Casablanca)
A Moroccan friend took us around during our 6 hrs transit in Casablanca.Lunch at a traditional Morrocan restaurant
The mosque on the sea
A traditional bazaar in CasablancaSaturday, October 24, 2009
Goodbye Conakry, farewell Africa
Guinea launch at Novotel Hotel, Conakry
Dato Seri with the PM in Guinea
Prof Sano, Dato Seri and Msian Ambassador in Guinea at a Tunisian Restaurant
polis pengiring kita yang tak makan disaman
At the museum
From my hotel room in Conakry before I got stuck in the lift
I settled in nicely.Here in African dress with my bodyguard and driver (they look after me and Kaossar)Selamat tiba di KL from Dubai (with transit in Casablanca again from Conakry.Flight from Conakry was at 3 am.But the Kedutaan chap and our alumni buat semua check-ins so I managed to catch 2 hours of sleep after the banquet at Saudi Ambassador's home.Beautiful home by the beach but malam so tak nampak sgt the beauty).Our stay in Conakry was a rushed one cos' of the one day delay in Dakar, Senegal.But media coverage was good sampai mana2 kita pi shopping (no shopping mall here cuma kedai2 yang mcm slums) semua org tau sapa kita : Malasie!Malasie! depa jerit.Nasib bukan Manohara! Manohara!
Becos' Prof Sano (our former colleague at IIUM) is now Minister of Religious Affairs and well trusted by both Prez and the PM (who we met and he's equally ikhlas..being a former banker at IDB ke world bank and called back to serve the nation), maka kami semua dilayan taraf menteri (I felt like Rosmah Mansor.Kita ada military personal body guard and ada driver.Pi mana2 ada org nak carry our bags and bukakan pintu.Heh heh)
We met many ministries and many unis.We are serious abt south-south ties.People have high regard for IIUM and jam 1 am on the day we were supposed to leave, I had to entertain a parent (org kaya) who wanted to send two of his boys to IIUM to study Business.In Gambia, one student cannot masuk (cos' we were not aware they had changed their uni entrance qualification.No more A Level.Kita dok pakai A Level lagi)so the mom came to appeal.Her sister buat bio-tech/pharmacy at IIUM so the sis mestilah cerdik juga kan?
At the Guinea launch each alumna came up to speak on how IIUM and Malaysia helped them with their personal and career growth.It was an eye opening for us (some of our colleagues want integration and islamisation of knowledge revised) Meeting and listening to our successful alumni in Africa made us realise that we had the right formula.We may have to improve to be better but not to discard the original formula.African alumni are self made,innovative lot.Millionaires and some in the making (yang tak tunggu nak kerja dgn org but they created jobs not only for themselves but others.Ini yang kita very2 proud and mereka tak leave the country for a better life mcm setengah org Msia yang gomen hantar buat Master's or PhDs then tak mau balik.African IIUM alumni said IIUM taught them love for the country and they wanted to return to serve and build their nations and help eradicate poverty)
Travel advice: Satu perkara yang perlu ambik perhatian if you are in Conakry, Guinea, jangan masuk lift sorang2 or with a man cos' electricity supply depa not reliable.Depa pakai generator and that often breaks down.I was stuck in the hotel lift a day before nak balik KL.My God..mcm cerita thriller! (I remember scenes from movies and acted accordingly.Mula2 frantically pressed all buttons.When that didn't work, kick and hit the lift door screaming help me!help me! Then think of the phone.Frantically dial any number.When you hear a voice, speak in English and say you are trapped.Of cos' English is no good in Francophone countries.Ni yang gomen dok sibuk kata English is a global language.It can kill you! So when I heard a voice, the man said receptio..receptio and hung up on me.Mana I ingat apa number reception.I called again.Dia ingat I bergurau so I thot how do I communicate to him I was a damsel in distress.I wailed! I betul2 nangis! By now I could not breathe well dah..fresh air takda.I thot nak buat mcm spy stories..climb up the lift but nak panjat pun tak da lobang.Then death images came to me and thots like "tak sangka mati kat Afrika dalam lift".Then I baca apa2 ayat doa yang I ingat..doa nabi yunus, doa nabi musa..and then lift jalan and terbuka macam laut merah)
I dok terfikir if I were trapped with a man..mampos aku kena raped! So syukur alhamdullilah ntg happened but an episode to remember Conakry.Just remember this: don't go into a lift with a man.It can happen anywhere (kat UIA pun ramai org got trapped in the HS Building lift.But at least we speak English/Malay)
I'm glad to be home, folks.Out of Africa, with much to remember and lots to learn from.I miss people we met there (I love our alumni and it was sad to leave them) but Malaysia IS my home.I can't imagine living anywhere else.Bersyukurlah kita.Bersatulah kita. :))
Becos' Prof Sano (our former colleague at IIUM) is now Minister of Religious Affairs and well trusted by both Prez and the PM (who we met and he's equally ikhlas..being a former banker at IDB ke world bank and called back to serve the nation), maka kami semua dilayan taraf menteri (I felt like Rosmah Mansor.Kita ada military personal body guard and ada driver.Pi mana2 ada org nak carry our bags and bukakan pintu.Heh heh)
We met many ministries and many unis.We are serious abt south-south ties.People have high regard for IIUM and jam 1 am on the day we were supposed to leave, I had to entertain a parent (org kaya) who wanted to send two of his boys to IIUM to study Business.In Gambia, one student cannot masuk (cos' we were not aware they had changed their uni entrance qualification.No more A Level.Kita dok pakai A Level lagi)so the mom came to appeal.Her sister buat bio-tech/pharmacy at IIUM so the sis mestilah cerdik juga kan?
At the Guinea launch each alumna came up to speak on how IIUM and Malaysia helped them with their personal and career growth.It was an eye opening for us (some of our colleagues want integration and islamisation of knowledge revised) Meeting and listening to our successful alumni in Africa made us realise that we had the right formula.We may have to improve to be better but not to discard the original formula.African alumni are self made,innovative lot.Millionaires and some in the making (yang tak tunggu nak kerja dgn org but they created jobs not only for themselves but others.Ini yang kita very2 proud and mereka tak leave the country for a better life mcm setengah org Msia yang gomen hantar buat Master's or PhDs then tak mau balik.African IIUM alumni said IIUM taught them love for the country and they wanted to return to serve and build their nations and help eradicate poverty)
Travel advice: Satu perkara yang perlu ambik perhatian if you are in Conakry, Guinea, jangan masuk lift sorang2 or with a man cos' electricity supply depa not reliable.Depa pakai generator and that often breaks down.I was stuck in the hotel lift a day before nak balik KL.My God..mcm cerita thriller! (I remember scenes from movies and acted accordingly.Mula2 frantically pressed all buttons.When that didn't work, kick and hit the lift door screaming help me!help me! Then think of the phone.Frantically dial any number.When you hear a voice, speak in English and say you are trapped.Of cos' English is no good in Francophone countries.Ni yang gomen dok sibuk kata English is a global language.It can kill you! So when I heard a voice, the man said receptio..receptio and hung up on me.Mana I ingat apa number reception.I called again.Dia ingat I bergurau so I thot how do I communicate to him I was a damsel in distress.I wailed! I betul2 nangis! By now I could not breathe well dah..fresh air takda.I thot nak buat mcm spy stories..climb up the lift but nak panjat pun tak da lobang.Then death images came to me and thots like "tak sangka mati kat Afrika dalam lift".Then I baca apa2 ayat doa yang I ingat..doa nabi yunus, doa nabi musa..and then lift jalan and terbuka macam laut merah)
I dok terfikir if I were trapped with a man..mampos aku kena raped! So syukur alhamdullilah ntg happened but an episode to remember Conakry.Just remember this: don't go into a lift with a man.It can happen anywhere (kat UIA pun ramai org got trapped in the HS Building lift.But at least we speak English/Malay)
I'm glad to be home, folks.Out of Africa, with much to remember and lots to learn from.I miss people we met there (I love our alumni and it was sad to leave them) but Malaysia IS my home.I can't imagine living anywhere else.Bersyukurlah kita.Bersatulah kita. :))
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