London

 This is London

 My London, from another angle. :)

 Our hotel across Hyde Park

 Lunch at a Lebanese Restaurant

 which is called halally Maroush

 Having a drink with Nik's London friends, M and wife

 Shanta's garden from her kitchen

watching Wicked, at a West End theatre

Can you imagine missing a great play in Singapore only to watch it in London?

We managed (finally!) to watch Wicked at half price at the Victoria Theatre (the actual price was 80 pounds per head).Still cekik darah, right? But worth it I think except towards the end, it got to be a bit draggy.Matilda you have to book like 3 weeks ahead you.

Met up with Nik's London friends (M used to work with Shell, was in Qatar for a bit and now back in London).Their other friends are all over.One is an MP in Sicily.Awat tak habag siang2? Rooner is in Norway.Maybe one day we'll visit him.

Kita sempat ambik raspberries at Shanta's allotment at Staines.Their allotment is growing bigger each day. :)
Peter bought another piece next to Shanta's.Ada buah labu nampaknya tadi.

Walking down memory lane

 To my Liverpudlian alums: can you remember

what this was before? I remember the uni bookshop

 Mulberry Court: that way ==>

 ahhh..my Mulberry Court..now gated!

 The Victorian Building is now partially a museum

 From Vanessa's office on Level 4

 Pakcik Mat Nor yang banyak berjasa menjual

daging/ayam halal kpd kita

 Kedai Pakcik Multan

 Another fav. spot on Bold Street

 In discussion with Vanessa in her office

 Albert Dock

 Must return again for this

 and we love you, yeah yeah yeah

 Bold Street as it is

Bold Street at sunset

Z was still busy so Nik and I decided to travel to Liverpool to meet up with some friends there.I had arranged to meet up with Vanessa to discuss some possible jv projects and Pakcik Mat Nor said he'd be at home for us to visit.

Brunch at Kenwood Hall. We will stay here again.Such a lovely place, really.Dulu Marriott Hotel.

At Liverpool, I saw how the uni and city grew..it's the fastest growing city outside London (economically speaking).The uni itself had grown so pretty, clean and huge.I hardly recognise much of the buildings.Mulberry Court (my residence hall) would soon be knocked down to make way for a nicer-looking building.Pakcik Multan is still alive but the shop had moved to a different location (same row) and met the wife.Told her to thank Pakcik Multan for all the years he sold us snacks etc (walaupun dia ni grumpy but dia tak pernah kasar dgn I.Rita yang selalu kena.Haha.Must tell Rita, pakcik dia masih hidup)

Then went to visit Pakcik Mat Nor at L8.Itupun dah jauh berubah.The city bukan sahaja bertenaga, clean but warm.We went to Albert Dock..ahhh..sweet sweet memories..ada sesuatu terlekat di kerongkong.Pakcik Mat Nor took us to Bold Street.Nostalgicnya...my fav. Greek pizza restaurant dah tak da but I saw it at a different corner of the city.Mattas is still there..now the son is taking care of the grocery shop.

Maghrib kita start bertolak ke Manchester to visit Jono and Din, NZ friends now working in Manchester.Met Yam (Jono's wife) who prepared us a nice dinner.Walaupun we had eaten at Pakcik Mat Nor's, sebab Yam pandai sgt masak..kita tanpa segan silu went for a second round.Nice just talking about life both abroad and at home.Sampai lupa hari dah lewat nak balik ke Sheffield!

Sampai midnite.We came through the Peak District (the Snake Pass) from Sheffield..phuiyoo...bahaya jalan ni but very scenic.Masa nak pi rumah Jono, gps gila tu ikut jalan kampong..dlm hati I apa Jono buat duduk dlm semak ni (the road was dark, narrow and kiri kanan hutan/lalang) We thot sudah sesat.Then dgn tidak semena2 ada pulak toll (25 pence).I dgn Nik tergamam..sampai budak toll tu tanya are you alright there? I stupidly asked, "do we have to pay?" Haha.Bdk tu gelak je..yes, he said..25 pence.Yam kata sebab ada private bridge kat situ.Macam2.

Masa nak balik, kita buang gps and harapkan Jono punya instructions je.Dialah gps sebenarnya. We found our way back to Sheffield without much trouble.Semoga Allah berkati mereka semua.

Well, long day for me.I'll put the pics later.

We have moved

someone's garden

a home in a choice neighbourhood

hundreds of homes like this

In the garden at Kenwood Hall

garden again

all we need is Hugh Grant here.

Kenwood Hall's garden (a pond ahead you)

*da pond


Uncertain of our movements, we had only booked for 2 days at the Hilton.When we wanted to extend our stay, not only was Hilton fully booked till next week but also Holiday Inn and a few others.

But we found Kenwood Hall.My God, it's a real treat! It has a walking trek, lotsa green, ducks, fish, pond, lawn, chateau-looking buildings, swimming pool...orgh..very English indeed.


But if after dark, the place can be quite spooky...it has a road called Cemetery Road not far from the place...Z was saying part of the uni activities is ghost walking in which students walk to catch ghosts. Haha.



We saw Sheffield city today..it's very modern, very efficient (the bank is), a couple of buskers playing jazz. I like.




We ate at Kinaara today, a fine dining place which serves a fusion of Indian, Thai and Chinese cuisines.Let's put it this way: I miss Malaysia at meal time.Nothing like home-lah.

Victoria Quays

We love this hotel

He's working on a new oil painting
(the price is around 1300 pounds)

Joe in his boathouse

His paintings are captured in this book

With Paul and Joe before Nik and I went inside
the boathouse

With Kath, infront of her cafe

beautiful walk by the quays

sejuk nak mampus

Z is still busy.Kita orang bored kat hotel ni.So we decided to take a little stroll along the Victoria Quays.Met up with Kath who offered us the loveliest Yorkshire tea and cheese toast with pepper. Then she told us about people who live up the hills.They are millionaires.Two of her relatives are up there...tiles business (but most are also professionals).Then I asked her about the Quays.Who owned the boats etc.That's how it started. :)

We met Joe Scarborough, Sheffield's famous painter (Uni of Sheffield gave him an Honorary Degree so he's Dr. Scarborough..and he has his famous footprint ke hapa somewhere..oh wow! One painting would sell at least 1300 pounds).Joe told us the history of the city ..how it moved from steel industry to education and health industries (child medical, dental, etc are big here). The steel industry deteriorated with coal industry in early 80s...with India taking over world's supply (many Indian steel tycoons are here..kalah dah orang putih semua nih).

Joe ni dulu kaya..after his wife passed away in 2002, he sold his 11-roomed mansion and bought the houseboat and has lived there for almost a decade and happy to do so for a long2 time.Bestlah dia.It's such an honour to meet up with him and sit with him in his boathouse listening to his interesting life and stories especially WW2.

We'd stay at the Hilton again next time.Kawan dah ramai kat sini. :))

Chilly Sheffield

Z and David, at Thai Punna

Lovebirds. :)

A home, up Sheffield hills

Another one

Nice view of flatlands from here
 

part of the view
 

Sheffield sky
 

Where I lepak, Meadowhall Centre
 

On a cold day, these are heavenly!
 

Costa ni macam UK punya Kopitiamlah
 

Meadowhall carpark.Macam One Utama sikit, kan?

It's 8 C in Sheffield as I type this.Well, our room is nicely heated and warm.But try go outside without proper warm clothes, it's winter, folks! And I'm not a winter person.Never ever.Remember my 4 feet snow in Ithaca and the frozen waterfalls and creeks? Yeah, you know the feeling. :)

Z is still busy getting her ways around.We should just let her be.Eugene is right to say that I went through the same thing and it was the best of my life (not really..it got better! Haha). But Nik and I went to explore Sheffield further.There's a mixed kinda landscapes here.The decaying old Sheffield and the new and lively and affluent Sheffield, back on its feet.It has very much become a university city (some 26 thousands of students here).Take these kids away and the city would be a dead one.It's wonderful seeing so many young bright people around us.

We found the richer area along Fulwood Road (thanks to David who we were picking up to dine with us at Thai Punna on London Road).David is my London friend's son.Bapaknya orang putih, maknya Chindian.He's doing his Master's in Econs at Sheffield.Bolehlah dia tolong tengok2kan Z nanti.Baik budaknya.

We found our halal KFC branch at the Arena on the way to Motorpoint Arena.Although JAKIM says it's OK to eat stunned animals (before they were slaughtered the Islamic way), Shamsul posted a videoclip on the fb about how preparing the Islamic way would not be hurting the animals..they also need to submit through ayat2 Allah, kan? If you stun them, where is the submission (like you tak redho sembelih binatang tu) and we never know what's in the stunning item.Macam2lah.Best is to avoid if unsure.

Bukan sedap sangat pun ayam stunned nih. :)

Greetings from Sheffield

Our hotel room
The Quay from our hotel window

ahhh..what a sight from the window

looking for the right Vauxhall in London

Z waited for us for almost 2 hours at Terminal 4, Heathrow.Our flight was a bit delayed and the immigration queue was so long at Terminal 3.However, the officer was very friendly with me and Nik (tak macam kat US! Menyampah!). One thing about the Brits ni, they are so friendly (or maybe we were just lucky today).Berita masih heboh pasal Kate's nude pic.Too much lah pulak media depa ni pasal royalists mereka.For lack of a life!

Nik drove all the way to Sheffield.We were both very2 nostalgic about our days in the UK in the early 90s.Z belum lahir lagi masa tu (I was pregnant sebulan when we left UK so that was like 20 years ago.Mak oiii..how time flies)

Sampai je kat Sheffield, kita pi hantar Z pi her briefing at her school.Then we tried our luck checking in before time at the hotel. Nasib boleh.Ohhh sedapnya the luxury of a nice warm shower and the luxury of shower gel and shampoo and conditioner.The flight was 13 hours, checking out off the immigration another couple of hours, tunggu nak ambik car rental..the 3 hours' drive up north...macam setahun tak mandi!

Then we went shopping at one of the largest malls in Europe called the Meadowhall Centre.Aiyoo...I was immediately at homelah. :))
Sepuluh kali sekejap ke situ (not far from our hotel by car). Lepas tu ke Tesco Extra..wough..teringat Giant kat rumah...

Met a Spore gal who's studying at Bath on the plane tadi.We asked her why datang Bath.She said NUS was too competitive and according to her friends, it's one of world's best unis cos' they had excellent researchers but not necessarily good teachers so most Spore bright students would choose other unis to get proper learning.

Wough! Betullah kita cakap kan? Students will lose out if we focus too much on being the best via research.

Besok sambung.Long day for me here.

Selamat Pengantin Baru, Rizal

Bagi pembaca-pembaca I-Glass, Rizal tidak asing lagi bagi kita.

Sila ucapkan Selamat Pengantin Baru kpdnya dan isteri dan kita doakan jodoh ini dirahmati Allah sehingga akhir hayat dan dilahirkan zuriat2 yang terus membawa obor dan panji2 Islam.

Mun-lighting

Mun and I were at the new university in Kajang area last night.IUKL has just got its university status and I went on behalf of my Rector to one dinner function (meja VVIP 1, OK? Hahah, jgn marah).I had to get Mun to teman me.Lepas tu she tidur rumah I.Nasib she came.It was so faaaaaarrrr.And I had a full day yesterday..left the meeting with the consultant guys (haha..my presence tak penting sangat cos' they were working on their module.I had left my network contact with them for the presentation bit) to attend ASA talk with Ibrahim from the Merdeka Centre (on elections) and of cos' before that Dept meeting and heavy lunch then Comm punya eid open house then lagi makan at ASA's.Wough, had to skip Datin June's open house cos' of the event at IUKL.Makan lagi.Bila nak kurusnya? :)

This morning we went back to campus..byk monyet pulak at the carpark.Mun started telling me her bad experience with monyet.She said one of her relatives bela monkey.Tiba2 Mun yang duduk dekat dia kena paaang! Kena lempang dgn monyet! I dah nak berguling2 gelak dah masa dia cerita ni but kontrol macho sebab didn't want to be rude...(but in the end,I gelak besar juga!)

I tanya sakit ke, Mun?

She said she went dizzy after a while. :)))

The monkeys at IIUM are very aggressive..tak macam monkeys belakang rumah my mom.Depa tu berhemah sikit.Kalau kita go shuuu shuu shuuu...mrk lari but monkeys UIA ni will stare back at you, siap tunjuk taring.Sombongnya! :))

Have a good weekend, folks!

New semester

It's like 1st day at school..punya liat nak pi sekolah after a longggg break.The place is buzzing with movements and activities.Mcm tak cukup masa la pulak. Meetings pun mcm one after another.Welcome to yet another new semester.

Somehow they missed putting my name in the system so no pgrad signed up.I thought I just got lucky this sem. and offered to co-teach an undergrad class (Drama)... dah lama tak teach undergrad..rasa seronok pulak.  But no luck..by noon, the Dept's PA rang to say biz is back..I got students signing up. Oh well!

Met my Master's students in the late afternoon.Fun topics..lgbt, western feminisms, Islamic feminism, critiques and challenges ahead.

Alamak! I forgot to alert them of Sean's public lecture besok on Arab Spring and the new  world order in the Middle East.Entah2 besok pun I would forget to pick him up. I age bad. :)

Three important events in Oct: our Islamic Film Fest soft launch on Oct 9, rountable discussion on Islam and Film in Asia on Oct 10 and a talk on sufism in Asia by Sheikh Afeefudin (descendant of Sheikh Qadir Jailani) and World Teacher's Day (ASA is hosting a half day seminar.My friend Professor Datuk Razali has agreed to speak ( you tengok cv dia,you pengsan.Antara anak Melayu yang cemerlang dalam semua bidang..he's actually from the industry but has contributed much to the academe); Dr. Rahman Chik can't make it sbb pi haji..he's marvellous..if he speaks, kita mesti nangis..I don't know what magic but I had heard him speak kat a group of UN peacekeepers.I'm hoping another friend Rey of International Education would make the 3rd speaker.It would be perfect! (He's travelling at the mo.) We would work with students to set up stalls selling roses and cupcakes sbb nak ajar bdk2 ni menghargai guru2 mereka.A rose for a teacher.Best, kan? They make the money, we get the roses..win-win gitu.Tak sabar hari siang to plan this besok! Haha.

Datin Nurwina has agreed to create the festive environment..she and her team from the Architecture School will assist.Kasi cheer up sikit the campus.Mmg tak sabar hari siang nih!

There is so much to do in this world, folks.Marilah kita hargai masa dan mereka yang banyak berjasa.

Selamat Hari Guru Sedunia, Oct 5. (Sorry Mawar, not Oct 10)