The day I was upset - II

Last Wednesday was the day where my students who are taking my paper, were supposed to sit for the mid-term examination. The exam started at 7.45 am. I reached college at 7.00 am. About 10 minutes later, I saw one of my student. She asked me some last-minute question and to my greatest shock (and this brings to my upset mood that day), she told me "miss, do know that half of the class will not come for the exam?". I asked her back, "why?". She said, "they have not finished reading the book." Ya, Allah, senangnya alasan...
By 8.15am, I received the news from the invigilator saying that is was true, there were 11 absentees in the exam. I was so upset - very very upset.. this is the second time this group of students had done the same thing.. last semester, when I was teaching them different course. about 8-9 students did not turn up for mid-term exam.. surprisingly, all of them showed medical report and all are accepted! so, all of them got to resit for the exam.. so, this time they do it again... some of the same students plus a few new faces.. They must be expecting to resit the paper later ..

Somehow to make things worst, my collegue saw 3-4 of those absentees in the college at about 9.30 am, that was 15 minutes after the exam ended!! What a plan... !! Really upsetting... really.. really upset..

Madinah nan sejuk..

Last weekend, my family went to Madinah.. for two reasons (besides going to the Nabawi Mosque, of course). Firstly, to meet my parent's friends (husband and wife), who had just arrived a few days back in Madinah - among the earliest flights from Malaysia. They will perform hajj, insya-allah... Secondly, to get 'something' - that will definitely be some Malaysian food, send by my parents..
Journey to Madinah was like any other journey before.. but the best thing is, Madinah is already cooooooooolllllllllllll.....bbbrrrrrrr.... winter is on its way... wait for it, all winter lovers... however, we were really off-guard as there were no sign at all of the cool weather, here in Yanbu... Luckily, I brought sweaters for my kids, even though they were thin... hehe... none for myself but i like the weather though... two layers were enough - my clothing and the abaya!
Can't wait for the winter...

The day I was upset - I

For the past one year living abroad, so many issues that I have dealt with, many of which I can keep only to myself... but when it comes to human relationships, it really touch me deeply inside.. very very deep.. being alone abroad without families around except husband and 2 daughters, I thought friends are those, who we are supposed to rely on... but it turns out that ..........
somehow, a statement in my dear sister's blog - http://sarahmohdshukor.blogspot.com/ - really give me some strength..
Zikir banyak-banyak. Kalau duduk dan zikir lepas solat diam-diam, nanti kita rasa tenang je. I know you have gone through a lot. Allah knows best.
Sesungguhnya kasih-sayang manusia itu mudah berbelah-bahagi... kasih-sayang pada ALLAH jualah yang kekal abadi.. amin....

Malaysian Consulate Open House

Last weekend, it was Wednesday (29/10/2008) evening to be exact, me and family went to Malaysian Consulate Eid-Open-House in Jeddah. Together with us are Zila's family and Zarina's family..

Exactly after maghrib prayer, we headed to Jeddah for the open house.. arrived at the consulate nearly at 10.00pm.. it was too late though because the event started at 8.00pm, but for the sake of being a loyal malaysian who are staying in Saudi, let it be, anyway "malam masih muda".. as long as being together with others malaysians, that was good enough..

My daughters with the consulate building at the background..

There were stalls all around the consulate compound that served variety of malaysian foods..

however, we just managed to have a taste on nasi impit and kuah kacang, mee berkuah and also ais kacang.. I saw labels in every stalls, like Nasi Briyani and Kuih Jala, but they were only stalls with empty food containers... all gone..

It was so exciting to see so many malaysian there... and we thought we are all alone... (except that we are alone, because we know none of them, other than those coming from Yanbu). There were nothing much to do, not even have food to eat.. hehe.. but my eyes keep looking at the people, with a hope "maybe one of them is my friend". well... dreaming away...

However, to my great shock, there was a karaoke session! Karaoke in public, in Jeddah which is only 45 minutes away from Macca?? How could such session organised by a country that proudly announced as "Islamic Country"? - Tepuk dada tanyalah iman - (jangan ditanya selera, kerana selera manusia sentiasa mahukan yang enak-enak belaka!!)

Anyway, back to the open house story... The only thing that made me smile was, the director, Erma Fatima and actress, Eja were also in the event.. they were so cute and friendly...

Around 11pm, back to hotel with hungry stomach... Hubby bought some food - Kabsa rice and Tajaz. We end up the day with eating rice at the middle of the night... haha... don't talk about diet!!