Antara tangis dan pasir berdengung

Ladies in diplomatic service

Ladies in education

Ladies having a cocktail drink and networking

Merilyn and I

g

Grilled goat's cheese salad (yummy)

power lunch

a sense of empowerment

the menu

His Excellency yang friendly

Chicken dish

Yang diminati Tiara

Sisters in Islam (not the association though)

Deputy Minister Dato' Mary 

Ahh...this sense of helplessness is slowly killing our spirit.Berapa kali tangis, berapa kali resah mengenangkan negara dilanda todak.Satu demi satu.Adakah kita terlalu berdosa sehingga doa-doa kita belum dimakbulkan Allah? But I think the space makes us self-reflect dan mencari kelemahan serba serbi.

Les wrote to me from Utah.Dia sgt pandai menyusun kata-kata.She's in charge of  Transition Change Management for Intel.Mungkin sebab tu dia tau nak handle situasi kita.Kata dia kalau faith kita strong, kita akan dapat menerima ketentuan Ilahi walaupun kita tak faham mengapa ia berlaku.Ha engkau! Orang putih tu.Dan kata dia, dia suka negara kita dan org2nya amat menakjubkan.Jgn malu dgn gambaran negatif di media, katanya.Takda sapa nak judge kita..mereka turut bersedih dan mendoakan kita semua.

Touching, kan?

So masa I went to celebrate International Women's Day at the Australian High Commissioner's home yg baru tu (yg rupa mcm pelakon Greek tu), moodnya very muram.Kat situ pun semua wanita bercakap hal yg sama (I started dulu sebab I dtg awal juga..so when others trickled in...mereka pun joined sama).Kata Merilyn, org yg dok paranoid dok ingat kena hendap all tne time tu patut sedar kuasa digital ni ada hadnya.Tak semua boleh dihendapnya.I thought that was so funny.

Meeting great women had a spirit up-lifting effect on all of us.Kami dtg muram tapi at dessert time, semua ceria sebab we spoke of our womanhood.Prof Zuraidah from UM and I berguling2 gelak perihal wanita2 berpendidikan tinggi menyekat kemajuan generasi muda dengan melarang mereka menerokai kehidupan...gen muda yg dimaksudkan itu adalah anak2 gadis kami.:)) Zu was saying she sekat anak dia pi belajar overseas.I byk juga menyekat Z frm doing adventurous things..like she wanted to travel to Belgium alone.I larang.Walhal, I have been doing that all my life...sampai hari ini.

I tanya Zu..you tak rasa guilty ke?She said, rasa but nanti macamana dia nak makan,nak basuh baju.I said lahhh..that is the whole purpose..suruh berdikari.Then kita org gelak2 galak.Enter Mr. High Commissioner and I briefed him tajuk perbualan kami.Rupa2nya dia pun sama.Over-protective dgn anak2 dia jika dibandingkan dgn cara dia dibesarkan..naik basikal ke hulu hilir...tak balik rumah pun mak dia tak kisah but now...jika anak dia tak jwb phone pun dah risau every minute.

Then there's Fiona, MD of a biz in Australia but she makes Kuching her base.She quit her well-paying job sbb one day she woke up and found herself paralysed.Kalu you tengok dia, tak sangka..she looks like a sexy Hong Kong artist.I asked how long did you take to fully recover.She said two years.Whoa.But truly inspiring.

Spoke a bit with Marina Mahathir and Tiara Jacquelina.Faridah Merican got mistaken for me when she registered at the entrance.Org ingat dia Prof Faridah.Dulu org ingat I Faridah Merican if I introduce myself as Faridah sahaja.Mengarut aje depa ni.