Zaf's open house

taken from Rachel's blog

(my home looks good in this pic.Thks Rachel! )

Zaf made a special request that this Raya we organise a raya open house just for her friends seramai 25 orang.You know don't you that malam raya tu I masak macam2 cos' the new maid could not cook? : from rendang to peanut sauce to nasi impit to macam2 lah.That's why I looked so tired in my raya pics. :)

Nasib baik my good fren Shahril tak cuti raya so I oda saja nasi bryani gam for 30 people.Then masak lagi nasi impit and kuahnya.Then Z kata buat lagilah laksa Sarawak cos' I did it the day before depa semua kata sedap.Sigh...kalau anak I sepuluh..memang aku malas nak layan yang seorang ini! Lagipun I fikir next raya entah ke manalah dia.If still in Msia, memasak lagi lah saya...

Lepas tu I pi cari lemang kat Gombak.Jumpa satu spot.Dia baru bakar kayu api.Masa tu I dah bawak balik 2 IIUM students.Kita tanya pak guard mana nak cari lemang kat kawasan Gombak.Dia kata pi arah Ong Tay Khim ke hapa.I tak biasa kawasan ni.I just know how to go to work and come back.Nasib Ismail and Siraj ada.They showed me the way.Suruh depa turun tanya mana jual lemang (I kata kat Ismail just say where to buy lemang)..dia pi tanya kat orang India.India tu tak tau apa2! Lepas tu pi tanya Cina jual pisang..Cina tu tunjuk goreng pisang.Sigh.But akhirnya we found one spot.Siap jual rendang minang.Raya mana complete without lemang. I was willing to swim lautan api for lemang! :)

Meanwhile Nik pi service kereta.I mintak dia pi collect the nasi bryani.He went pakai kereta burok Cina repair kereta tu.Brek tak berapa nak makan. Hahaha! The things we do for Zaf.I harap bila kita tua, she will not be mean to us.

But Zaf's open house went well.Ramai kawan2 bukan Melayu dia datang berbaju melayu.Hensem pulak jadinya: Wai Meng pun ada (yang selalu baca column artis dan hafal semua lagu2 pop melayu.He and aruah Yasmin Ahmad sering bersms-sms sebab Yasmin suka sikap 1Malaysia Wai Meng ini). Lepas tu mentor budak2 debater ni Andrew Loh (from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania) pun datang siap bersampin dan berbaju Melayu.

Andrew ni bagus budaknya.Selalu bagi semangat kat his juniors still at school (Sek. Men Damansara Jaya) sebab dia jaguh debat.Kalau dia balik cuti dia datang tolong coach budak2 junior ni. He picks up Arabic and spoke fluently with my two guest students from Nigeria (pelajar Islamic Studies/Civilisation).Lepas tu depa semua nyanyi, tunjuk bakat.Ismail and Siraj nyanyi nasyid in Yoruba.Sedap juga bahasa Yoruba ni.Then Keefe and Nunu main gitar nyanyi lagu Rihanna lah..dan saya tak tau sapa lagi (gen. gap dah terlalu besar for all this).Andrew pun nyanyi.Dia ni semua boleh.Terkenanglah pulak raya kita di perantauan.Shef came to collect Alya.Dia pun teringat raya in NZ and how malam raya some of them tertidur bawah meja sebab penat sangat memotong bawang nak buat satay dan kuah kacang.

Nik and I left to beraya kat rumah Makcik Ma in Subang Jaya.I bawak lah Ismail and Siraj (they are Master's students, dah dekat setahun kat sini) but inilah kali pertama mereka encounter budaya Raya mcm ni.Surprisingly, depa ni taklah tertutup sgt pemikiran mereka (they admitted IIUM had trained them a lot in this).Mereka boleh duduk2, cerita2 dgn tetamu2 yang ada.Kita selalu ingat org2 pengajian Islam ni kerjanya nak haramkan itu ini, kan?Ismail and Siraj boleh enjoy lagu Rihanna lagi by Keefe. Hahaha.Siap dapat duit raya lagi.Makcik Ma gave them a lot!).

Gambar-gambar sekitar Raya 2009

Boys in Kuala Medang boat ride

Boys in the river

Zafirah enjoying her boat ride

Hassan at Mak De's kampong house

Kak De's pet, Benny

I love this pic sebab nyata nampak kurus! Hahaha

Well, I still look slimmer than last eid

Zaf and her aunty Lina

Zaf and her little cousins

8 boys I took home this Raya

Solat Raya.Macam kat Makkah.So packed so jumaah had to bercampur gaul! (men sebelah perempuan)

The boys solat jemaah after iftar, malam raya

Budak2 Afghan masak nasi Kabuli and salad depa

ada yang cat tangga rumah I

First batch ke Kedah

I got up very early to go to work cos' the bus to Pendang was said to leave at 7.30 am.When I arrived, not even its shadow was seen.The kids were all set to go with their backpacks on their backs.So exciting! I felt like hopping on the bus myself when the bus finally came at 8 am (the drivers said they were given 8 am as the departure time)

Some boys just came unregistered, hoping there would be cancellations of some registered participants.Gals who promised to turn up, did not so instead of 12 gals,only 9 turned up (3 wanted to withdraw but got the tongue-lash from me last nite so they turned up this morning). Boys who came with such hopeful looks got to go making the number rise from 8 to 17.How can one turn them away? Kesian.I rang Puan Hatiah and En Azmi (the organisers in Pendang) and updated them the dev.They seemed not to mind.Dah rezeki budak2yang tak registered tu.Kita nak buat macamana.

I also worry over their road safety but one of the kids baca doa selamat perjalanan and he's put in charge to do this on the way back too.Let's pray that they have a good Raya and help strengthen ukhwah with local people.Pendang will be so cosmopolitan! En Azmi is a special branch police officer (anak saudara my co-partner in Pendang) so I guess the kids will be OK.The government usually sends PTD trainees here for homestay.Shireen kata seronok giler.It was her connection la ni.Thanks Shireen!

Second trip will be this afternoon (I have to deliver one anak angkat who will leave for Melaka besok pagi).Deliver kat rumah I je (Gayah lives near my place)

Besok ada 3 stops, 3 families (out of 34 families.Last year we had 5 families only.I guess good words got around.Some families do their own pick-ups).Memang terasa macam agency anak angkat pulak.My partner Norasita dah bercuti today.Semalam so kalut.We were still making adjustments and changes to the last minute.Budak2 pulled out, kena cari ganti...so stressful! Last year's was better organised (but then the demand was not as great as this year's and also, we started early)

Hoboy,it is a huge responsibility.

Al Fatehah

Plans to shop on my day off today have to be called off (my wali passed away and we have to travel back to Raub to attend the funeral)

Wa Salleh was related to my dad and like family members on my dad's side, dia tak cakap banyak.Very pleasant man.His children are all doing very well (in bidang agama and dunia).Halim is the eldest and most impressive of all the siblings.He's the one who took care of the dad esp when he went paralysed after a stroke.Sampai his dad could move and pray on his own again.Over a period of 4 years, you know.The parents live with him.At the funeral,Halim took care of everything: from mandi jenazah to solat jenazah to I guess the burial (we didn't go cos' had to pick up Z from school at 2 pm).

If there's a living proof of anak yang soleh, Halim is one.His other siblings pun semua macam tu.

Wa Salleh died dalam keadaan berpuasa and dalam keadaan berwuduk (it was just minutes before berbuka) He made it a habit to be in wuduk at least an hour before masuk waktu sembahyang.Can you imagine berbuka dengan bidadari? (we pray this is so).I only got close to him and his family(like a visit once a year every Raya) after he became my wali for my marriage.We are closer to my mom's side.

At the funeral I saw more relatives I had not known existed.Quite exciting to see some connections to my dad.I miss my dad and his relatives pun pleasant like him.He died when I was 18 (lepas SPM results keluar.Tapi bukanlah mati mengejut cos' of my SPM results.He knew I did well so at least that's a comfort).

Balik from Raub, I terpaksa memasak.The new maid tak tau masak.Sigh.
The remaining days of this week will be very busy.I have to deliver anak2 angkat to my friends and relatives.Lepas tu the boys coming over eid eve (8 orang) I bought some paint to keep them busy.Some will cook for iftar (well, they gotta do something or else be bored, kan?I pun sibuk nak buat peanut sauce and nasi impit.The Afghan boys plan to cook nasi mutton for iftar.12 org semuanya plus me and my family)

I expect malam raya tu they will follow Nik to do the takbir Raya.Breakfast and lunch will be at my mom's in law.Then shoot back to Raub.I haven't figured out how to keep them occupied (am taking 4 back with me.Nak bawak all 8 tak muat kereta).

International university students for Raya

If you want an extraordinary Raya this year, we have international students for you to take home (mostly male students). You may host them between 1-3 days over the raya period. I participated last year and it was not just me and my family who enjoyed the cross-cultural ties but my whole kampong and hometown. The students also learnt Msian ways and I think they understand us better out of the homestay experience.

Please contact me if you are interested in hosting.
It'll be a different Raya, I tell you.

Last few days of Ramadan

So finally I get to host a group of students malam ni.Ali, Swabry and 2 of their friends will break fast with us kejap lagi.

I pun mula meng-goggle african dishes.Yang last year punya recipe tak tau letak mana.Got one pilau rice recipe and another lamb stew.So pi beli lamb kat pasar Taman Tun (sebab I was2 daging kat hypermarkets tu semua.Kadang2 tengok sijil halal dia dah expired/photocopied yang entah hapa2 je).Mamak India tu kata NZ lamb tapi I tengok lain macam je.Rupa2nya NZ lamb yang diternak di Selangor.Duh!

Alat tak cukup and I cooked based on memory.Nasib baik sedap! (er..yes, orang pompuan dibolehkan merasa makanan!) But the pilau rice.Disastrous! I dah lupa ratio rice to water.So mantah! I tambah air..lagi lembik.In the end my new maid (Nik found her last week.The old maid balik tadi so Asiyah, the new maid, sempat dibimbing oleh Bik Masroh selama 1 week) kukus.Then I tambah gajus and dried red cherries (tak jumpa raisins)..wah..very da sedap! Syukur! Rasa macam nasi Iran which Ibrahim cooked (he used wild berries in his rice) during our Ramadan in Stirling in the early 90s (good food I don't forget!)

Kejap lagi I prepare salad and the rest beli je lah.My spine nak patah berdiri lama2.Desserts will be from the can. Hoboy, I love doing this but these days, badan tak larat nak berenyah.

This Raya I dah nekad nak buat kek raya sendiri (from the box).I will use my skills in cake decorating to make my raya cake look nice. Ummi (my niece) kata ini semua projek menipu rakyat jelata.Hahaha.

Iftar with SHELL

We had a garden iftar with Shell last night.Pretty cool.It's nice to dine in open space with a nice view of the garden (depan office kita je!).I'll try upload some pics in a bit.

Raja has gone to head an office in the Gulf.En. Khairuddin is a fun speaker and Dr Khairil mcm biasa akan membawa team dia to inspire our kids.Maybe next year we'll hold the gathering at Kull of Engineering. Dr Wan dah setuju to slot them in their must attend lecture series.

I went for my therapy after that.Pretty late but it's better than spending 2 hours besoknya.

Raya shopping

Selangor has a long weekend this week so I thought we'd do our Raya shopping early.
I was also inspired by a group of people who were seen entertaining young orphans, buying them Raya clothes.They were from an NGO from Kampong Baru (who came all the way to PJ to shop..appparently the orphanage was from Sg Pencala) The kids were excited cos' they were allowed to choose their own clothes.

We picked up Najwa (Nik's niece) to join us.This year we changed our mall: Subang Parade.Mak oii...baju raya were ranged between RM400 and RM1000/= sepasang! Are we in a recession or NOT? And some families beli macam tak apa-apa! (for me RM400 pun dah kena fikir 2-3 kali) Where do these people come from? Entah2 from Spore or Brunei!

I tawaf satu Subang Parade looking for a nice bargain.Not only were they not nice, but costly (my mall yang I selalu beli lagi cantik...for the price offered at Subang Parade).Anyway, in the end, I found one outlet which had nice kurungs (chiffon lagi) at a price I thought was very reasonable.Bought one for Najwa and another for me. Z and her dad went separate ways (handling Z would be difficult so I told Nik, baik dia je pi with Z.Kang I end up quarrelling with her.She would always disagree with my choice.Bapak dia sabar sikit..)

Everyone was happy.My spine macam nak patah (too much walking around) and we ended up breaking fast at Nik's mom's.Malas nak masak..just buy at Kelana Jaya's pasar Ramadan.

Thk God besok cuti.But promised Mama to introduce her to Dr Lau, the acupuncturist.We want to needle2 ourselves to lose weight (I'm OK.She, now so inspired by my weight loss).Lepas tu bdk2 Iran ajak I berbuka puasa with them.I'll drop by kejap and balik after Maghrib.

Ramadan flies.

Merdeka weekend yang dramatic

We planned to balik Raub to berbuka puasa with my mother.Then at around 9 pm, my mom in law rang to say Mak Yang in Alor Star had passed away and could Nik drive up to visit (Nik belum balik surau from teraweh.I do mine at home sebab malas duduk dlm air con in the surau with doors shut.Kalau org bersin, takut berjangkit).I said he would not want to sebab masih penat baru balik from umrah and suggest that we all fly the following morning.So Z helped book 4 tickets online.We were supposed to leave at 10 am hari Ahad tu.

As we were all set to go, at around 8 am, my mother in law rang to say Mak Su's condition got worse (Mak Su was hospitalised for over a week and we saw her yesterday and she was still talking, although looked very weak).Nik said she'd be OK and thought that his mom should proceed to attend Mak Yang's funeral.Masa pi pasar, I told Nik perhaps Mama should stay back ..just in case Mak Su got worse and that it would be sufficient for us (Nik, me and his sister Rose) to attend the funeral on behalf of Mama. Nik rang his mother to tell her this but I heard Mama nangis on the phone, saying Maksu dah takda!

Gosh! So we cancelled our journey upnorth (tickets tak leh pulang balik) and started to help with Mak Su's funeral pulak.Nik tolong carikan tanah perkuburan, I helped with urusan mandi jenazah (masjid dah ada orang2 dia but I tolong nengok2lah if they needed anything else.The 4 kids were all there to mandikan their mom.Quite touching actually.I tolong tengok orang potong kain kapan je...and did tolong basuh rambut Mak Su with her 4 kids.That's how far I'd go...pandang sekali lagi dah lesap). Sebelum tu we helped call all the cousins, another aunty in Rembau (Nik's uncles kawin org bukan Kelantan).So masa kat kubur, we got to reunite.Macam Raya la pulak (sebab lama dah tak jumpa).They dropped by our place to tompang solat (Kak Ani drove all the way from Kerteh with Abg Rosli..they did it in 3 and 1/2 hours!).Kak Ani is Nik's cousin from the Rembau's side.

Masa kat hospital, Noni (the youngest daughter) was the most badly hit.Yalah, dia tinggal with Mak Su after Pak Su died (Pak Su was one of the earliest Malays to study Pharmacy in Singapore but like Mak Su, dia jenis tak cakap byk.When he died, orang yang mandikan jenazah Pak Su kata dia tak pernah bau mulut yang seharum mulut Pak Su!) Mak Su's like that too.Tak pernah cakap banyak and never sakitkan hati orang.She and Mak Yang very close according to Nik.Can you imagine jenazah mereka turun waktu yang sama although Mak Yang died a day earlier (tak sampai 24 hours though).Mak Yang also tanam after zohor.We all felt humbled by this "coincidence".

Anyway, I tengok Noni and her siblings tenang sikit after they got the chance to mandikan jenazah their mom.I think they got to say their final goodbye in that sense.One way to cope with bereavement.Isn't God great?

We got to balik Raub berbuka with my mom as true to our first plan (cos' we left after semua dah siap) Lewat sikit (berbuka tengah jalan) but my mom was still at the dining table when we arrived, 10 mins after berbuka, so kita pun joined lah makan sama-sama.

Rezeki, ajal maut memang hak Allah.Buat lah plan macam mana pun!

Happy Merdeka Weekend!

a long weekend this week.Me and family would be away but am teaching this morning so before I forget, folks....

Happy Merdeka weekend.For better or worse, this is our country, folks. Kibarkan bendera anda! (walaupun di dalam hati)

Semalam di Kuala Lumpur

Sharida, if you read this, thank you so much for your ikan terubok masin and belacan Miri.I am so touched by your kind gesture (sanggup bawak belacan naik plane for her childhood friend all the way from Sarawak! May Allah bless your generosity).And mak oiii..banyaknya ikan terubok! I ingat sekor je.Mahal ke? Thank-ko, thank-ko.

I goreng mcm you kata.Usually I masak asam pedas with daun kesom byk2 and bunga kantan.Takda pulak kantan and takkan nak makan pedas waktu sahor, kan?

It was good digoreng saja macam tu!

Anyway folks, me and my gal were in KL after Maghrib (teraweh kita buat lewat sikit semalam.We do it at home.Siap bertazkirah, you.Kita gilir2 baca.Kadang2 anak I.Kadang2 I.Audiencenya 2 orang je.Kelakar gila sebab tazkirah kita personalised! Isu remaja kena pakai tudung...isu orang tua jgn banyak mengata orang!) to collect these stuffs from Sharida kat Bukit Bintang area.Takut juga I jalan malam2 gitu kat BB area.Nik belum balik (insyaAllah besok) but we got to see Sharida and memang kalau jumpa, berbual macam tak cukup masa. I don't think Sharida will ever return to Semenanjung.Suaminya orang Sarawak.But who is to know, kan?

Semalam kad Raya I dah sampai.Very da nice.Zunar yang buat (atau budak2 dia) and I sempat tanya apa halnya Gedung Kartun kena rampas komik sulungnya.Apa pasal buat kerja takda permit? Budak ni kata permit dah dapat tapi they said permit palsu pulak. Aik? Got ah? You tau lah adat kita kan? Mcm buku Shit.Lagi dilarang lagi org nak beli.I pun sempat tengok.

As an academic, I think kartun ni tak leh straightforward sgt.Hilang le seninya.Dia mesti macam literature..tersirat.Baru la syok baca. The wit must be there. Tapi ada juga part yang buat I ketawa terbahak2.

My makcik kuih

Nenek's lagi softer rupanya

...is dead.On July 7, 2009.

Imagine being told this by her maid when I went to collect my fav kuih bakar.

"Nenek mana?"

"Nenek?"

"Yah, nenek."

"Dia sudah meninggal," said the maid indifferently.

And she told me when.Sakit tua.I asked if the kuih were ever going to be the same again.Maid said it was her all this time.Nenek just counted the money, she said.I asked how long she had been with Nenek.She said 3 years (but I swear it was a different maid before)

When I buka puasa with my kuih bakar...it tasted not of Nenek's! Tepongnya terlebih (I remember Nenek said the trick was to put more santan and more telor so the texture would be softer)And how dare the gal said Nenek had no role in baking the kuih!(the truth is folks, Nenek reminded me of my own maternal grandma I lost when I was 15.Yah...the one who would bake bahulu dgn pemukul spring every Ramadan.Her kuih koci pun best in the world)

Al fatihah to both Neneks.Ramadan is getting younger as the old ones pass on.

I love Jason Mraz!

my gal's influence. :)

Ramadan Kareem

We should be grateful that we are still here for this year's Ramadan.Let's do it better this year.Be mindful what you eat and more importantly HOW you eat.I have decided not to have any high protein at berbuka and to have more fruits and fresh veges/salads. Walaupun I have lost 2-3 inches (baju raya kena alter balik) I have started to gain back sebab dah mula nak makan sedap.Bob advised me to go on another round of detox (kali ni lagi lama dan sudah tentu lagi intense).I kata lepas Raya, insyaAllah (so no open houses for me for the first 2 weeks of Syawal...it'll be hard).

No bazaar Ramadan sebab takut virus H1N1.Kena masak sendiri (bibik pulak will habis her contract 2nd week of Ramadan.The new one tak tau lagu apa pulak...entah ada ke tak.Cik Nik kata balik dari Makkah, he'd start looking...haiyo..while he looks, I'd be in charge..pengsan gue!)

Kpd pembaca2 blog ini, saya ucapkan Ramadan Kareem (kpd mana-mana Karim yang membaca ini,kalau ada, janganlah perasan.Hahaha).Ingat, bulan ini bulan mendidik jiwa (kita ride our nafs bukan nafs rides us, bak kata Rumi), memantapkan fizikal jadi berhati2lah bila berbuka.Fruits, fresh veges, lots of liquid and some rice.Cuba buat, badan rasa ringan utk teraweh.

No news should be good news

Selamat Menyambut Ramadan Yang Mulia

I have been slow in updating my blog.I have no news to share.All my events are hambar.I don't find any joy in them anymore.Last nite I was at an annual dinner of some organisation. Hambar.They had nice performances and all especially flown from NZ (but Frankie Stevens was excellent singing Sinatra's jazzy numbers.It felt like Xmas!) but all I could think of was an early night.Badan masih tak sihatlah.

Kad Raya dah hampir siap but I suruh buat balik.Zafirah said she had to sit on the floor sebab Nik and I gemok sangat.Hahaha.

Inilah kuasa Tuhan

I was really surprised to be told that we made a decent profit out of ICC09.Takbir!
However, we will need to double/triple count so that we do not embarass ourselves.I would be happy just to break even.

According to Dr A many of our clients were happy cos' they had quality candidates as potential employees.They did not mind the small crowd (in comparison to bigger carnivals with bigger budget and longer air time/bigger space in all newspapers) cos' larger crowds would not determine quality.Well, let Dato Khaled know this. :))

Akhirnya Z and Nik pun tumbang (got flu from me). I remember the evening I self-quarantined myself in the 3rd room tapi tengah malam rushed to sleep with Nik cos' I had a nightmare (my dead aunt came back as a ghost). Terrible nightmare! The second nite lagi terok. I dreamt I was sold off to a millionaire (by my own husband.Hahaha) If this is what this virus babi does to us,memang terok betul.

3 days quarantine

I took leave for 2 days post ICC09.On the second day, I started to have chills and muscle ache.Pi doctor dia kata tak demam (guna alat mcm nak check demam budak kecik) walhal I felt hot on the forehead and body.Doctors hari ni....

On 3rd day, I decided to check for H1N1 (selsema babi).They say only UH and Hosp Sg Buloh can do the examining.I rang up Sg Buloh tanya queue panjang ke.Gal who answered the ph said they usually attend to serious cases je and suggested I go to Klinik Sg Buloh.Wough..queue panjang beratus2.When I get to see the doctor, bukan je dia tak check I demam ke tak, dia tak mau kasi I mc.Her reason: I tak demam (mana dia tau? Tak periksa pun.She percaya bulat2 when I told her I was at another klinik the day before and the doc kata I tak demam).Terok betul doktor hari ni!

So I went to my panel dekat rumah (by now I am very2 weak already).Dr Eka is a very thorough doctor.Sekali tengok dia dah tau kita sakit apa.I was happy to see her on duty.She checked me (guna film tu) and confirmed I demam.Terus she put me on a 3-day quarantine sebab I have all the symptoms of H1N1 (except my sore throat tak terok sgt). This morning I woke up with a wheezy chest walhal I bukan asthmatic.Mengikut panduan Doc Koh, I minum dua gelas air halia campur gula merah (cara buat: tumbuk halia and rebus in air lebihkurang 2 gelas.Add in brown sugar sikit).By the time I went to the Sg Buloh doc and my panel doc, there was no sign of a wheezy chest. :))

Koh baru ni la nak cakap I kena ambik Vit C and Vit B to enhance my immunity.

Pls pray I'd recover soon.This year byk kali I get ill.I jarang get ill.Not even a flu.

Moving on

Dr A and I were shaking hands at the closure of ICC09 and I told her this: people can criticise, condemn, belittle, humiliate us but I think we made it (knowing how susah it was to see the project to its finishing line). I told her I could not have done without her perseverance and she told me the same thing.Kalau tak terlalu penat, we could have hugged and cried as Kingsmen's men dismantled the booths past Asr.And I thanked every one of my colleagues and participants (mana yang sempat).

And now I want to reclaim my life.Budak2 volunteers (nyata so happy with the experience we gave them via the project) eagerly asked when the next big project was going to be.I said I wasn't thinking and I don't want to think.So soon. One of my legs is already thinking of going back to my Kull to teach fulltime and quit admin post.

I finished reviewing 4 articles for a Pakistani journal today and somehow ahead of theses advising and examining (I thought of taking leave today but have to go back to work sebab I had said yes to give a short speech and bagi hadiah to women debaters..they have their grand finale today.Syok juga nak dengar). I'll see Dr Lau for my acupuncture treatment after work, kalau sempat.Dr Wan was saying he tried to chase me for something but I walked so fast that he was not able to catch up with me.This is indeed good news.Maknanya the leg is getting better.

Next is to work on an interview with Ben Anderson.Yang ini I tak sabar nak buat.This is my REAL love.

p/s my car of 6 years was driven away last nite (I am emotionally attached to my Proton Wira.It had served me well, witness to many things in my life).Nik bought me a new car for being a good wife of 22 years.Heh.Thank you, darling! May God tambah lagi rezeki.

Our event tomorrow

Ok folks, this is it.Our ICC09 will take place tomorrow.Tan Sri TPM dah tersangkut kat London lah pulak so he has kindly informed Datuk Seri Khalid to rep him besok punya launch.Anti-climax betul.But lega pun ada cos' the pressure mcm terangkat sikit.Cuma takut kena baling batu je besok cos' media dah announced TPM will come and ICC09 bertaraf antarabangsa.International links walaupun byk local companies. :)

But I think it is still amazing we managed to get a decent no of companies participating.Para peramal ekonomi dan penilik nasib employment meramalkan July would be hitting the lowest point of employment tapi demi Allah, kami telah mendapat pertolongan.The show goes on.Our last prayer will be we'd get a good crowd and young people will truly benefit and get employed.We have over 2000 cvs.Kita akan kira berapa ramai will actually get employed (last national career carnival, our number was 300 people got employed on the spot) Let's hope we do better this time.But we had double no. of companies dulu so I guess if we get 150 employed this time, we'd be lucky.

The experience has been priceless for me and my team.But cuba suruh kita buat sekali lagi, kita akan buat2 demam. For Dr A and me, we were juggling between examining theses (for me I had external theses kiri dan kanan.Lepas tu manuscript from USM).Nak kira pun tak cukup jari how busy we were.But I am so grateful of the teamwork given by all members of our secretariat.Wonderful2 people.Memang la ada masa macam nak bergaduh2.Yang ini salah buat, yang ini tak kena.Yang ini kenapa pandai2 nak sign.Yang itu mahal kenapa ambik juga (dan mereka akur..budget cut left and right nak jimat apa yang boleh).

We are also grateful to Dato Tahir who never once lost his temper with us although kita kadang2 lambat datang meeting dari dia.He kept us going. Rector pun monitor kita dari jauh dan tolong cari clients/sponsors untuk kita.

So dengan rendah diri, kami harap hasil titik peluh kami, tak tidur malam kami, sakit2 badan kami akan mendapat barakah dan majulah IIUM untuk negara.Terima kasih for those who are with us through thick and thin. Datanglah beramai2 memberi sokongan. Pls tell your young ones to learn how to write good resumes from jobstreet (free).Bagi SPM leavers, find out where to get s/ships after SPM.Tengok schedule kita di sini (click schedule of talks)

Instilling culture of giving

I was having a little conversation with Anas (my young Egyptian friend from ICT, a student leader). We tried to figure out why students are so manja and expect everything to be given on a platter.They just want to take but not give (ni I dah addressed in my Gen-Y talk at Segi).Then we got to discuss about fund-raising and how Egyptians are so generous with their money.Look at that cancer centre which provides FREE treatments to patients (it's run on wakaf money).And we know Al-Azhar has produced many great leaders around the Muslim world and it runs on wakaf money since its inception.So I asked Anas to tell me how an average Egyptian child is raised to understand Egyptian culture of giving.

Anas said kids were taught from young (aged 3 or 4) to be aware of rezeki from Allah e.g. if they see a cent (tak tau la its equivalent in Egypt), the child has to pick up the coin and kiss it, letak atas dahi and says alhamdulilah (all praise be to Allah) and put it aside/keep it.Likewise if they see food remains. Every Friday, a child is taught to give to the poor/needy.To do sedekah (parents will give a dolar or two and say give this to so and so who needs it).

MasyaAllah...how many of us do this to our child? Or do it ourselves? Kalau orang nak kutip sedekah for orphanage pun kita jeling2 dengan hujung mata kita and kata dalam hati, "ni sindiket ni..mesti ada dalang kat belakang nak tipu ni."

Biar beri sikit but consistent.Dan ikhlas.Tak perlu lah nak soal orang tipu ke tidak.Allah knows who is more sincere of the two: the giver or the taker.

That is all that matters.

Will you give, for my Nov. conference? :))