Guests

It cannot be any busier than this month and next! Alhamdulillah I survived the first week of the mobility prog with Ioana (and her 12 students!). We got the culture show on with the students playing the gamelan sweetly last Friday and them performing/reading wonderful pieces of creative works/poems..iium felt like a real international uni.

Then I finally was able to sit through Ioana's creative writing workshop on Friday belah siang.I learnt so much cos' she made writing poetry not only easy but intelligent and fun.

I'm eating out more now with guests coming in and out.Last night Zac pulak on a short notice ajak berkumpul..mana yang sempat.So Shef, Jai and I makan roti canai/capati and minum teh tarik at the mamak's near my house (I had a long day but not easy to see friends from outside KL right?)

Next week Sreya from Spore and Dixons from NZ pulak. Penat juga. Mlm ni Kak Pah. Weii..the stars must have crossed each other ni.

I have a few papers to write for nxt week and Nov. Hadoi. I better start  planning my early retirement now. I have the energy but no longer the strength (memetik kata my yoga teacher. : D )

Ikutkan napsu, lesu.

Nilai sebuah nyawa

Sebuah nyawa? Takkan sebiji nyawa?

Anyway, on the way to work, I saw kasut bertabur di jalan and the road was blocked.An accident.I thought gosh..kena lalu tepi mayat ke..I went past it..ternampak satu batang tubuh terkujur.I thought oh no! But from my rear mirror, alhamdulillah, mangsa tidak mati..nampak dia bergerak2 lagi.

I have been thinking about this a lot: kenapa harga nyawa begitu rendah and mcm tak bernilai di negara ini? We have no respect for people who ride to work/home. If only the authorities dedicate one lane just for motorbikes, kan semua orand selamat.Takda la they zig zag membahayakan diri sendiri and orang lain. Coming home from The Netherlands, kita tengok betapa gomen mereka begtu teliti in setting up the infrastructure especially for those working. I was told that a bicyclist has more right than a car driver etc when hit..regardless salah siapa.The Bicyclist is always protected.

And the news of young kids mati terbakar at a tahfiz bukan kat ulu Pahang ke ulu Kelantan ke..in Keramat OK? Apakah tiada fire safety utk anak2 yang belajar di jalan Allah ini?We should be angry.Should feel disgusted for those who created tahfiz sebab nak dapat easy money.If they were sincere, they would think of all the necessary stuffs to ensure semuanya selamat.

There are so many things to be angry about in this country. Dah la PM dok flaunting mcm Msia ni kaya sangat. If only he knows some kids at the uni cannot do more courses cos' tak cukup cikgu or some teachers are overburdened with more teaching hours sebab tak cukup staff, would he feel for the rakyat? Would he even understand what it is like to be poor and overworked?

Home!

The two entries on my Dutch trip do not justify the extensiveness of our two-week visit. We were going from one place to the other practically every day.Itu pun ada hati to visit Germany but dah tak larat.

It was getting  colder so I was looking fwd to sunny Msia again. Sampai Ahad petang. Besoknya (today) pi kerja jam 8.30 am.Tak terasa jetlag.Must be the Dutch tea prescribed by the tea guy at The Hague.Pahit bukan main but I got up not feeling my body ache. Letak ganja ke hapa?

The Hague

Banyak juga tempat menarik di The Hague ni. Our Airbnb is not as modern as the one in Amsterdam but equally convenient. Walking distance to the city centre. Z dah duduk kat hotel company dia bayar - depan rumah PM and Dutch parliament kata dia. We are not far from her but here we do our own thing. We were at Leiden on Monday - David and Eliza ajak dinner. I wanted to collect my library card but lupa nak bawak passport so had to go again today with Mariani (born and bred here, doing law.Parents from Kelantan but had been here 30 years, kerja Embassy).Baik Mariani ni..dia la jadi my Research Assistant - tolong translate-kan Dutch sources but today at the National Archives, both of us pening baca tulisan tangan Governor waktu terjadi Perang Paderi tu.Dia selalu start nota dia dgn bismillahirrahmanirrohim. Kotnya masuk Islam?

I finally got my library card at Leiden uni.Alhamdulillah.  Leiden is such a beautiful uni town. Rasa macam kat Oxford sikit.But bdk2 muda sini pengotor..buang sampah merata kat station keretapi tu.Berbeza benar from other cities here where kita rasa org Dutch ni mcm robots.Semua terletak dan bersih. Nak cari toilet and tong sampah pun susah like dia org ni tak pergi toilet ke? :)

But Leiden kat kawasan rumah David tu best..besar dan gardens mrk cantik2. Bagus kalau nak retire kat tempat2 mcm ni.Quiet, green, spacious, nyaman.

Leiden Hortus

Leiden

Leiden

After dinner chat - Z mesti cerita psl the two pro Trump
American elderlies we met at Githoorn

at David-Eliza's place in Leiden

old harbour area at Rotterdam

at  a Seafood Restaurant in Rotterdam

Great place to eat

"Uncle Joe" ni orang JB (Muslim) - penghulu Msia di Rotterdam

Kapal macam condo!

The apt at The Hague 

watching people at the Airport

Amsterdam 2017

We arrived on Monday last week on Emirates (seat got upgraded to Business class from Dubai to Amsterdam. Z from Business to First Class. Alhamdulillah..long trip for us. Nik arrived later on Friday after his conference in Spore.He also got lucky - upgraded to Biz)

Z and I visited places we had not been the last we were here - the windmills, Haarlem with Aini, two museums in the city, Vondel Park and we had lunch at Restaurant Msia called Wau. I got back my money (some 18 euros) lepas I beritau daging dia tak fresh. Entah halal entah tidak but the owner said halal.

I met up with Dipika and Amal at Dipika's apt right in the city centre (nice location). Seronok dapat writing tips from them. Dipika served us with cheese of different types and bread. Yum.

Then I cooked non stop - nasi impit for raya, nasi lemak, mee kari (we had guests from Penang yang kita jumpa kat train station nak cari tempat solat so I invited them to our place which is 2 stations away).

We love Amsterdam sebab sangat green and environment friendly.

We solat raya at a Moroccan mosque in West Amsterdam.Was a bit late.Tak rasa raya cos' sini tak leh buat korban mcm kat Msia.Semua kasi duit kat butcher je. Orang Msia buat kat Msia (kirim).Tahun ni I tak nengok le my lembu kena korban.Dengar cerita and tengok gambar je le.

Then we took a train to go to Delft (on one day) and Githoorn on another day. Delft ada a huge flea market. Syok juga nyopping but the blue potteries tak berani nak bawak balik..Bibik will break them anyway!

Githoorn was a real town accessible only by boats and walking. Mcm fairytale rumah2 dia. Loved it there. Kita pun naik boat. I would want to stay here and write and write and write.

When it was time to move to The Hague for the second part of the trip, bag kita dah bercucu cicit.Naik keretapi yang takda tempat letak bag besar. I miss Msia masa ni (berkereta ke hulu hilir).Our Portuguese Uber driver was funny. Dia tanya kami angkut satu Amsterdam ke? Bkn barang shopping..barang sendiri yang kami bawa..wardrobes Msia! Dan dapor Msia (beras pulut, asam gelugur, milo, beras, kicap, packs and packs of Brahim etc.I dah jadi macam aruah my mom!)