Malaysia… Di Sini Lahirnya Cinta

My two younger children, Nabila and Hakeem have never been to Malaysian school. They never learn about the history of Malaysia. What they only learn and know is, Malaysia is the place where they were born. Malaysia is their homeland. Malaysia is where are all their grandparents and cousins stay. Malaysia is the only place they feel like home when they are there.

What they learn in their school is a world history. The history of England - the history of WWII and also the Victorians. In Geography, they learn more on the environment of how to save the earth.

They just know Kuala Lumpur/Shah Alam is the place where we always stay whenever we go to back to Malaysia. They know Kedah as a place where their Tok Ayah stay and also Malacca where we always go to visit their grandmother. Miri, Sarawak is a place where both of them were born. They just memorise the place by name but never been there since they were 1 year old.

At home, I cook Malay dishes as our daily diet. Sambal belacan, sambal tumis, masak tempoyak, kari, laksa and more foods if I were to list here. Nabila is a big fan of my cooking. She is just like me, loves to explore foods. Believe it or not, one of her favourites is lemak pucuk ubi masak tempoyak. Unlike Hakeem, tekak orang putih. He loves to eats spaghetti, pasta, cheese and burger. Last year during Ramadhan, I have to cook lasagna as Hakeem's iftar meal for the whole month! Unbelievable that he can eat the same meal every day. Only lately, Hakeem learns to accept Malay food. He started to eat what I cook.

Nabila and Hakeem cannot converse in Bahasa Melayu. They think and talk in English but they can understand Bahasa Melayu, mostly what I and hubby were talking. When they were small, we can openly talk about anything especially gossips and about them! Hahahha.. but now.. it's so difficult. I wish I and hubby can talk a language that they don't understand!

Today 31st August is my country, Malaysia.. 57th National Day. Though I am far far away from my homeland, the spirit of patriotism to my country is always in my blood. I am proud to see Malaysia as it is now.

To Nabila and Hakeem, though they don't know the history of Malaysia, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Rukun Negara or even to sing the National Anthem, I believe Malaysia has always been in their heart. They have been to a few places in other country and have seen how the other side of the world looks like.

In all their life, they know Malaysia is a place where they were born, the place where they belong. They are proud to introduce to their British, Americans or any other Asians friends - "I am from Malaysia. I am Malaysian". They are always happy and excited every time going back to Malaysia.

I always tell them, no matter where you go.. where you live.. how success you are in your life, NEVER and always NEVER forget where you come from. Don't talk bad of your own country. Living abroad like us, we carrying the good names of our country. Always be proud of who you are as whatever good and bad things that you do, it reflects your nationality and country.

"Malaysia… Di Sini Lahirnya Cinta" or "Malaysia Where Love Grows" indeed carry a big meaning to all of us. Despite having the disagreement among political thinking and the tragedy of our National Carrier, MAS that the whole world are eying on us, we as Malaysian still stand together for the love of our country.

The Magic Way

Ya….. masa kecemasan telah bermula!! What you see above is the herbal tea. Well.. not literally a tea with herbs like those so called organic! I drink this tea when I start to feel that I've eaten a lot.. or I start to feel that I need to discard those 'excess baggage' in my body. Yeah.. it did helped me though.

This is actually a kind of tea that helps you to reduce weight and body odour in a traditional way. I will drink it at night before sleep and the next morning the 'traditional process' begin! I will start having a very pain stomach ache that will make me going to the toilet 3-4 times a day. Wah… I feel so good actually because physiologically I feel that whatever excess that I have in my body has been disposed!

Unfortunately this way of loosing weight won't seems to last long with me. This is not my first kind of tea to reduce weight. I've tried a few other brands before. All of these will only work on the first two days. After that my body seems to get immune with it and I don't feel those pain of urging going to the toilet anymore.

Arghh… it is so easy to gain weight but not to loose it! People say that I am still in the category of the 'slim' size of person. Probably it is because of my height. I agree with them as I am not that bloated and fat yet BUT I feel I am going to be soon.

Only you know your body well especially when you put on your dress.. the sleeves seems to be getting tighter and uncomfortable, you can't pull your shirt/blouse down to cover your hips which is getting bigger and wider now, you can't button your favourite pants or jeans and more and more that make you say to yourself - "I've put on weight" , "I dah gemuk!!!!"

At my age now.. I am easily getting demotivated during the process of loosing weight. The target of my magic number of kilos keep increasing after a few months not achieving the initial number.

I just have to keep saying good things to comfort and motivate myself. Thank God that I am not really a big eater person. I always eat moderate in a small portion. I only sometimes go crazy on foods during holidays and vacations. And yet I don't know how I still gain weight!

I know it is impossible for me to get my shape or weight back like my zaman anak dara dulu. What I have to do now is just continue doing what I am doing. Eat moderate, go to the gym and sometimes drink my magic herbal tea!

Sounds good right? I've to stop for always feeling regret after every time I eat. Berdosa!! I've to stop thinking of poking my finger in my mouth so that I can throw out all the food that I've eaten. Hahahaha.. never done that yet.. only the thought of it!

What I have to is.. I've to start appreciating my healthy body that I have now rather than worried over nothing. I've to keep telling myself that at my age now - I still do look sexy and pretty! Yes.. say it every time I stand in front of the mirror. Last but not least, bersyukur to have a choice to eat anything what I want at anytime because I can afford to have it and also because Alhamdullilah I am healthy and free from any major sickness. It is just up to me whether I want to do it or not!

So stop complaining my dear 'me'...

If Only You Understand Me..

A few days ago I was talking to hubby about our children, the plan for all of them. I have a friend who her son will be married next month. She told me how worries she is now with all the preparations, budgets and everything. I am trying to imagine if I were in her shoes. I probably feel the same too.

We discussed if our eldest daughter were to get married, where would it be held, who were to be invited and all the cost that we have to spend. Hahaha.. so funny that both of us especially me who were so excited planning this and that like she’s going to get married soon!

Sometimes, our children may not realize that we as a parent work hard to provide all the best for them. It is not just in terms of the luxury and comfort but also a piece of mind. We want them to wake up in the morning and have everything complete around them – enough food to eat, nice clothes to wear and exciting toys to play.

As a mother, I have my own role to do. I carry a big responsibility to make sure that my children turn out to be a good person. Kalau jadi tak elok.. orang kata mak juga tak pandai didik anak kan…

I am not a perfect mom or probably an ideal person to some people but what I know that I want to be the best mother in front of my children’s eyes. I have four beautiful teenage daughters. Each of them has their own character and way of thinking. I sometimes might not be able to go along with their drastic change of life or thinking. Looking at them like that make me realize that they are no more my little girls.

Yes.. we do argue sometimes, we do have different opinions but at the end of the day all I want them to understand that only love that bond between us can erase those differences.

I might not be able to be with my children 24-7, but if I were to be given the opportunity even a minute, an hour, a day, a year or even a second to be and spend time with them, I will make the best out of it.

Sometimes in our life, things happen as not as we want it to be. I may have a “no choice” situation that limit me to show my love to my girls. I might not be able to do like a norm mother do that later can be claimed as a perfect mom by all of you. With a period that I had for a minute, an hour, a day, a year or even a second, I did my best, my very best and with all my heart to make all of you happy. I did my best to play a role as a supermom.

Whatever that I’ve done to my children is because of my love towards them. I never expect all them to pay me back (though I always had this stupid Si Tanggang or Batu Belah Batu Bertangkup drama joke with them) in whatever way. All I want is to see them success in their study, have a good job and good life. That’s it. That thought has already made me happy and pleased.

I am not young anymore. My heart and feelings might not be as hyper and strong like when I was young which I can just swallow everything and forget about it. I can easily get worried from small little things. I also sometimes can be over excited about everything! And at times, just a plain harsh word or sentence can simply hurt me too.

Owh my dear heart.. It takes time to heal but I know one day it will go away.

I just want to live my life happily. I want to do what I like. I want to buy what I want. I want to eat what I crave.

I want to wake up in the morning with a happy mood, getting good news from my girls, looking at both younger ones smiling at me and last but not least a husband that always there to comfort me. I want to have a stress-free life.

To all my girls, I might not be the perfect one or the supermom, as all of you want me to be. I make mistakes and sometimes hurt your feelings. All of you may only see the ‘evil’ side of me. Maybe you could take a second and be in my shoes. You will see how every second clock ticking worries me so much about your well-being.  Then maybe you will realize how much I care and love each one of you.

No mother in this entire world, be it either biological mother, stepmother or adoptive mother would ever wants to see her children in trouble and unhappy. A mother love will never end. It is there from beginning to the end.

Selfie… Selfus

Owh .. I just fell in love with my new 'toy' . Not that I am too obsessed - well not yet.. but thanks to those who invented this!

I love to take photos. Those days I relied so much on cameras, cameras with the film mind you.. So the limit was like 36 pieces per roll. Mistakes are definitely best to be avoided coz once you click the camera it will be considered taken.

Not like now.. which is so much more spoiled and convenient. The digital camera is everywhere now since that almost everyone can afford to own one. If you don't like having a camera, you can always use a handphone. You can take as many pictures as you like and even delete those that you don't want. The tips - get a handphone with the best resolution. Then edit a bit here and there with the free apps you downloaded in the phone - muka banyak jerawat pun boleh hilang! Thats the beautiful part of it…. you can even make it more dramatic by editing the resolution or colour from the original picture. It just needs bit of practice to master it.

The latest trend of taking a photo now is 'selfie'. A selfie is a self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a hand-held digital camera or camera phone. The first time I was introduced to this 'selfie', agak kelam kabut gak lah nak mengadjust camera or phone supaya muka masuk dalam screen. I always failed  and gave up. Then came out a phone that can switch the screen to face us.

And wow.. since then I have non-stop taking photos of myself. Well just for myself collections. Only lately I started to share in the social media especially if its a group photos using my new gadget called 'monopod'.

Monopod is a handheld pole or stick that can hold your handphone in a order to take an extend selfie picture. Amazing how this thing works! You can even have a large group up to 20 people and all of them can fit in a picture.

Don't you love it? I do!

How I Celebrate My Eid

Yeah… today we celebrate Eid in Oman. After the Solat Raya, all of us (four cars – 17ppl) head to Salalah. Salalah is the second largest city in the Sultanate of Oman and is located in the southern Governate of Dhofar.

It took us a 12 hours drive from Muscat to Salalah. In the first three hours of our journey we passed by towns and got to see the beautiful mountain scenery, but the rest of our journey was just an endless view of dessert. I’ve never been in such a long 12hours drive before. It was quite tiring and I got bored at one point. We stopped a few times for a break, lunch and petrol.

After a very long hours drive, we finally reached Salalah. We had to pass thru a police checkpoint before entering the town. The moment we passed thru the checkpoint, the climate immediately changed. We could hardly see the road and around us as it was covered with fog. I was expecting to see the lush green of Salalah but unfortunately it was all very hazy, misty and cloudy.

This kind of weather – khareef (monsoon) only happens in July-August every year. Salalah received the most visitors and tourists at this time as they are celebrating the Khareef Festival as well. We are very lucky to be able to experience this.

At some point we felt like back in our home country – mendung dan hujan renyai2 all day long. Salalah is known as “the Switzerland of Oman”, “the oasis” and “the paradise of Arabia” because when all other GCC countries are blazing hot, Salalah is having the Khareef season and cool drizzles. It is hard to imagine and to believe how can the two regions in the same country have the totally opposite climate. For us.. coming from Muscat with a very harsh hot weather, this is something to be appreciated!

Our adventures have only begun on the following day. We went to visit the Makam Nabi Ayoub and Imran. We were lucky to have an Omani friend who was very proudly showing us around the interesting places in Salalah. We went to the famous spot called “the zero gravity” point. There is nothing to see here except for the amazing experience of our car defying gravity and moving uphill while in Neutral. Well.. some say that it is an optical illusion but I don’t care! Since I am here, I want to experience the feeling of it!

On the following day, we visited the Marneef Cave, which is located at the AL Mughsayl Beach. Since it was Eid holiday, the place was crowded with visitors. Dah rasa macam kat Batu Caves ah pulak. The cave overlooks the Arabian Sea and the famous Al Mughsayl blow-holes. If you were to stand near the spot, the gush of water, like a fountain, would come out from the holes.

This phenomenon is from the momentum of the water surging into the cavities of rock that lie mostly under water. We were lucky as it was a monsoon season and the sea level rise. The water currents become more active and the running water rips through the rock cavities resulting in the surge of the water fountain.

We were fortunate to see the beauty of the place but on the other hand because of too many visitors, the spot of this blow-hole was just like a “stage show” to them. A few of them (taking turns) stood on the spot and waited for the water to shoot up to pose for a picture. The annoying part was some of them stood on the holes it self that we couldn’t see the water come out beautifully. Memang geram sangat!

We then had a picnic lunch on the hills nearby. It was a very breathtaking view. Our Omani friend cooked for us the local biryani rice with fresh grilled fish and chicken. Yummy… We ended our day of course with shopping! We went to the famous Al Husyn Souq and Khareef Festivals.

4 days and 3 nights in Salalah – I really enjoyed myself. It is worth for a visit though it was a very tiring long hour drive journey. I’ve been staying in Oman for almost 7 years and only now have the opportunity to visit Salalah.  Salalah is a very beautiful place and no doubt will astonish you.

I love the weather – wish that we in Muscat could have the same climate and also enjoy the beautiful green scenery. Salalah, which is also known as a religious city, also has its own unique history. If you want to know about the city, read here as what I am sharing here is just my wonderful experience holiday with my family and friends.

This is how I celebrate my Eid. Berbaju kurung, berpakaian melayu lengkap sampin dan songkok – berjam2 dalam kereta… kami tetap gembira!

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri semua!