Is it a good thing to teach Egyptians Malay?

Last time I went to the fatiroh shop near our campus was a single visit last year for a hawawshi fix. Today it was exceptionally cold and the mood called for a fatiroh. If I was lucky, maybe they'll have some fresh from the oven.

As it turned, the fatiroh were piping hot and the dancing asap beckoned me happily. I asked for one with jam.

"Wahid bas?" The guy asked.

"Aiwah."

He was entertaining an earlier patron so there was time for me to mull over the hot and sweet, fluffy fatiroh. Sinfully carbacide. It could probably take my appetite off Four Seasons Hotel's Chocolate Molten Cupcake and Costa's latte frappucino.

Why not?

I changed my order to one with jam and another one with sugar.

"Satu jem, satu gula?"

"Ehh?"

The only explanation for my lack of intelligible words was that Malay-speaking non-Malaysians always caught me off-guard. I gave out an awkward grin and a nod in an afterthought.

The thing that crossed my mind was, who taught this guy Malay?

He eyed my apparently grin-stuck face as he fixed up my order. I handed him an LE5 note.

"Dua ringgit." He said and handed me my fatirohs.

My face was still frozen with the awkward grin and automatically accepted the plastic bag.

He fished out some coins and dropped them into my palm. "Tiga ringgit."

"Shukran." And I left, still surprised.

Now that probably wasn't a good reaction. I resumed walking and that geared back my thinking.

An Open Letter

Dear soon-to-be ex-big-bosses,

Hi, how are you guys holding up? I always notice whenever you guys weren't at class and then I pray that whatever workload you guys have wouldn't be that bad as to induce health problems.

See, I am nice. (This is a big lie with a bigger kah3.) I suck at small talks so let's just skip this entirely.

I'm not suited to admin works this time around because I tend to overrule and ignore su-peer-ior (it's a jinx, don't ask me to explain) but it was fun while it lasted. I'm sorry if I come across as too difficult or not taking things seriously, for the things I overlooked, for my silence, for the meeting(s) I missed because I slept in.

Thanks for not firing me. Maybe it was out of desperation or lack of option that led to me staying in the helm (because I can't really vouch my prowess in anything), but I pray someday BPP will have enough crews for the excoes to be able to fire a non-complying deputy head department.

Kak Elle said I'm Luna Lovegood-crazy and the other crews are otai enough to hold that title as well. I remember last year we used to say Damak-kun survived two years with us was because he read Naruto and One Piece. I'm not sure what to say of you guys, but you should applaud yourself for making it through this 2011/2012 session. Provided you guys survive the upcoming MAT of course, but don't worry. Most perwakilan are aiming at BiHOME for the kill.

Above all, I like you guys. I hope after this I can see you on the way to class and smile really freely; one without a hidden smirk plotting some rebellious post underneath, haha.

Nah, I'm just being sengal. All the best Chipmunk and Humairah :)

Sincerely,
Hana Akmal Roslan

A Full House Minus One

Yesterday after the doctor dismissed us for the day, there was only one thing on my mind that I chanted like a mantra all the way back: Call mom.

It was God's grace and the more than three years daily experience of crossing the busy main road of Kasr el-Ainy that got me to the other side in one piece. The building-keeper stopped me at the stairs asking for her cleaning money and I nodded and probably told her I'd come down later with the money (I didn't), but I wasn't paying attention. My mind was blank except for the two words.

Because I can't risk fickleness this time around.

Threw the backpack on the cover and went online to call. We didn't get to chat that long because mom and dad were at the workshop picking up our Vios sent for a bodywork so I called Hyde after that. He was driving so he passed the phone to Hakim who went into details of the new robot vacuum at home (mom told me about it, but it was nice to hear the little kid talk).

He passed the phone to Melle whose first question was, "When are you coming back?"

"Ramadan, maybe. If I get to come back."

"Oh."

Phone changed hands to Maru. "Eh, where's Melle?" I asked the boy.

"She's crying."

Apparently that was a wrong answer to give when everyone else is at home except yourself.

---

And that was how I forgot I was on cooking duty yesterday, until my housemate called me at 6.30pm and I wouldn't be back until five hours later.

Desperate

I hate that I have to refrain from calling people because of the time (zone). Even into my fourth year abroad, I still am not used to this.

Long-distant relationship sucks.

Because when I wake up in the morning, I never feel like talking until it's 10am when us zombie-in-the-morning people are finally safe to be alive. By that time I'm usually at class having lectures. So calling home in the morning is not accomplishable unless I try to squeeze it before I have to run off to class. I've did this before but it was saddening to say, "I've only got an hour to talk, mom." Like class was more important than my mother.

When I get off school, I'm usually too distracted by things to remember to call. On weekends, I'm also too distracted or passed out catching up on sleep like every normal worked-out teenagers do. I hate myself.

It's usually past Isya' in Cairo when I feel like calling home and it is 3am in Malaysia by then and I'd be damn if I wake my parents up just to say, "Hi mom/dad what's up? I miss you." because first, waking people up for your own sake is a felony and second, I know how tiring my parents' days are for them to deserve a good night sleep.

We do keep in touch through messages nearly every moment, but there's something about hearing live voices that a simple FB comment can't replace. It's not really that I have anything to say, it's just that I just want to hear their voices. Dad could talk about his paediatric cases I have no clue about and I would be the happiest daughter alive.

I don't know how you guys do it. The last time I bought VOIP €10 credit was earlier last year and now I still have a good €6 left. Plus sometimes the line went really shitty on me and let's-not-start-cursing-here.

My biggest fault, is that I think too much. And that I'm such a sissy that writing all this works up the waterworks.

You Are The Big Sister So You Must Know Everything

but truthfully I don't know what to do. I don't even know where to begin.

All I know now is that she's my sister and hell freezes the day I give up on her.

Allah, I am scared. Save her and help me.

---

Three hours of writing and that's the best I can say. Utter lost of words.

Three Truths and A Lie

I was introduced to this game when Chrystal wrote the scene in Reason where Kakashi made up to Sakura after they were trapped in the elevator and she hit him after he scared her with a lame joke of the cable breaking and they fall but were saved by Jell-O cushion left by the Elevator Gnome.

(I bet you don't understand what that sentence was about. I was referring to one of my fanfiction endeavours, of course. You can skip the sentence and this whole post while you're at it.)

So when Haziq announced that we will be playing it during ice-breaking session of our Medical Team enactment, I was excited. It wasn't just a game of fact, it was what it is; an ice-breaking. Not only will you know what your friends are, you could also know why he is who he is from the way he formulate his answers, thus a glimpse of his character.

This game could be what Holmes would be proud of, provided not executed off-handedly. Astute logical reasoning, may I add.

And so I was adamant to not make mine boring because mundane facts like:
1- I live in Kelantan
2- I went to a private school
3- I have a dog
4- I like coffee
annoy even myself because it's too easy! C'mon, hit me with your best intellectual shot, make me think! Lol.

These were what I presented.
1- I actually wanted to become a lawyer
2- Walking stimulates me to think
3- Coffee relaxes me to the point I could fall asleep
4- Long-haired cat breed is the best pet

Nisa got it right because she sat next to me and cheated. She chose Four instead of her original One because I told her, "Keyword here is 'best'. I prefer short-haired breed because they're easier to maintain."

I believe I wrote somewhere my personal best cat breed is a Russian Blue. It's a short-haired breed.

The girls in my group picked Number One as The Lie and I was downright crestfallen. Muhammad was the only one to answer Number Three and I hesitated because his answer made me realize there were actually two lies in my answers. Overachiever.

I should have right-ed him… I have a pretty messed up brain, eh? Just be an agreeable good reader and nod.

I met Farahnur afterwards and gave her my sheet. She walked through them and didn't know what to pick.

"Why aren't you saying Three?"

"You're a coffee addict. Does it even have an effect on you?"

Yes, that's my answer. I actually drink coffee to fend off the impending headache that came with NOT drinking it and that makes me agitated.The statement was true: Coffee relaxes me.

But the other half was not the complete truth. What actually happens:
1- Agitated
2- I drink coffee
3- Relaxed
4- Suddenly sleepy
5- Complain I am sleepy
6- Stubbornly continue whatever I was doing
7- Awake for the next 6 hours

Why am I even posting this?

Flight back to Cairo via Jordan during our Spain trip

I just found this in my Apple Note apps. I think it was written on my iPod back when I was a medical student.

Flight back to Cairo through Jordan. Me and Pait's seat (I got a middle seat, Pait took the window) were surrounded by Jordanians. The one sitting by the window on the row in front of me leaned his seat backwards and turned around to peek at me.

"Are you Singaporeans?"

"No. We're Malaysians." 

"Ahh. Have you prayed?"

The silent Jordanian on my left said in Arabic, "They prayed at the airport just now."

I nodded to him. You saw us? "Yes, we did."

"Zohor? Or Asar?" The chatty by the window asked. 

"Both of course."

"Why? You can pray Asar at Jordan once we've landed."

"We jama'a." The flight was for five hours wasn't it? It was then two plus. Landing at Jordan around seven plus means it will be Maghrib already, dude.  

"You can ask Bilal anything about this." He nodded at the silent sitting on my left. "Bilal is the imam of a mosque in Jordan." 

I looked at Bilal. "Oh really? Alhamdulillah that's very nice."

Bilal shook his head at his laughing friend. 

"You can ask him about jama'a and anything.." He paused for words. 

"About fiqh ya'ni?"

"Yes, anything fiqh to him, because everything is inside his head. He has a qamus up there."

"Neat. I will."

"You are very lucky, sitting next to him. Barakah."

I laughed. Dude laughed. Bilal ignored us to chat with the guy separated from him by the isle. The dude corrected his seating and I saw that his nails were neatly trimmed except the little finger's was left longer than the rest... 

And everything he just said changed from fact to fiction, lol. You're allowed to call me a generalizing dimwit now. 

Guy was social. He then proceeded to ask me what I was doing in Jordan and Cairo, so far as the details of my studies and living in Cairo. 

"There are so many people in Cairo. People everywhere."

"Yeah, imagine Cairo itself is smaller that the whole Malaysia. There's around 30 millions of us in Malaysia and Egypt-"

"Has 80 millions. You've only 30? Wow."

Inevitably he asked about Malaysia and how cheap and safe was Kuala Lumpur. He asked me about the rumours he heard that KL had bad girls and such and I really didn't want to lie and say everything was alright. I myself felt safer wandering around Malaga and Barcelona alone at night. 

"So what are you doing in Barcelona?"

"I'm on a business trip. We've been in Barcelona for three days and before, four days in Valencia."

"We had a day in Valencia. Place was nice."

"Yes. But Barcelona is more beautiful."

"Si you're right. 

"Did you went to Andalusia?"

"Yes we went to Cordoba, Granada.. Is Malaga part of Andalusia?" I turned to Pait who was silently reading her chic-flick and leaving me at the mercy of this chatty stranger. "Yes? Oh we went to Malaga as well. Did you went there?"

"No. Next year maybe I'll come here and go to Andalucia. Malaga is a beautiful place." 

"Yes but for me Granada is the best because of the Al-Hambra and Albayzin. There's the Granada Mosque on the top of Albayzin and you can see the Sierra Nevada, the Al-Hambra and the city below all from there. The contrast is magnificent."

"Wow."

I nodded enthusiastically. Somewhere along the journey I had signed up as a part-time Granada ambassador. 

"Okay if I go there and it's not that beautiful, you will have to pay." 

"Haha, c'mon."

It was near 20 minutes and he even helpfully and excitedly disseminated my information to the rest of his friends. Thank God I didn't sit next to him or I wouldn't get to catch up on my movies.

---

I was into my second movie in the darkened cabin. He shifted, stood up and saw I was still up. 

"Sleep. Everyone is asleep."

I pointed to my screen. "Got movies to watch." 

We've only talked for a while and already dude was giving orders, gah. 

Shopping is A Domestic Skill All Ladies Should Perfect

My travel mates really love shopping.

Being in Spain where Zara originated, high-branded outlets on sale at every turn of the head, and our accommodations being just next to MANGO, H&M, Bershka, Blanco, Sfera among others, you guess where they start running to once the leash was off. We went to six cities altogether and at all six cities, there was always time allocated for shopping!

I usually spend my time during that free moment in our self-tailored itinerary by walking through maze of alleys, staring at the blue sky, saying hi to older people and dogs and the occasional poking my head through cafes. My motto was pass through, take pictures, have fun. I had no intention of buying beautiful Bershka leather jacket for €30 or Stradivarius handbags for €10 each. (ayat penyedap hati, lol)

But then I went inside Pull&Bear and saw that their t-shirts started from as cheap as €2 and their bootcut denims started from €4. Went inside Zara and saw the perfect blouse and matching cardigan for mom..

I picked them all up and walked to the counter. Now I understood what took the girls by storm.

Mama, I had bought Raya shirts for the family. You can relocate papa's budget for my keropok Masjid Aman charity drive.

My hunt for a backpack brought me to El Corte Ingles and there was my baby waiting for me on the rack. A Deuter ACT Lite 35+10 in cranberry fire colour tagged €80. Two years ago I bought for Along a £60 lime green Futura and comparing it to this €80 new best friend of mine, I'd be a fool if I didn't buy it then!

Of course, a bigger fool if I didn't use it. Now I own an excellent hiking/trekking backpack. I have more than a valid reason to scale Switzerland again.

After we missed our bus to Cordoba and had to fork out €55 each for the next train ticket and then this Operation Bring The Deuter Home, I had to cut some of the money allocated for souvenirs, haha. I think I bought the less but was the most broke among us seven. Loser.

"After this, the seven of them will not be seen in City Stars, Costa nor even Justa."
Umair anak Sir Man

City Stars is a megamall shopping complex in Madinat Nasr, Cairo and it is way bigger than MidValley in Malaysia. A one-way taxi from my place cost at least LE20. Costa is the coffee joint we frequented and I like best their latte frap around LE20 (boring yeah, but I like. Shut up.) Justa on the other hand, is the cafeteria at our college where zombie-in-the-morning person like me go for brunch. Their cup of latte is LE3 and a beef burger with egg is LE5.50.

But then the next day I arrived in Egypt, us housemates went out for a reunion dinner at Kiwi.. So much for being tight on the budget, huhu.

A Case of Misplaced Audacity

7.45pm
We split for shopping and promised to meet back at the nearest tourist information kiosk at 9.20pm before heading together to Plaza de la Merced. I went hunting for a backpack.

8.00pm
End up at the end of the road, there's a tourist info kiosk at the corner of the square. Apparently I had found our meeting point. Went back hunting.

8.50pm
No luck. Most shops are closing and drunk Spaniards messing around club-hopping. Made my way to the meeting point.

9.00pm
At the meeting point. Was 20 minutes early and got bored. Studied the Malaga map on the kiosk board and realized a grave mistake. I was not at our designated meeting point; I was at Plaza de la Merced already.

Memorized the map and scurried back inside the maze of an alley to find the other tourist info kiosk.

9.15pm
I couldn't find it. I decided it was best to stay put somewhere open and relatively safe (the Plaza) rather than walking around alone in the dimly-lit alleys of Malaga. The girls will come to the Plaza sooner or later and I was sure they would trust me to be safe and not worry about me.

Somehow.

Walked past a kebab joint and saw a group of guys eating outside it. Saw the face of a Malaysian. Raised an eyebrow and walked past them to take a seat in the middle of the square.

Crossed my legs and counted the minute till the girls reach the plaza.

A guy approached. "Macam kenal."

"Eh. Fayyadh!"

9.26pm
He had to return to his friends eating at the joint. Thank you and God for the 11 minutes of company, haven't seen him in three years and suddenly the Beijing guy and the Cairo girl met up in Malaga instead.

"Kau baik-baik tau, dah la sorang.." Yeah, I felt like kicking myself, too.

There was a couple drinking with their friend on the bench next to me and people kept walking past me towards a club just beside the kebab joint. Dogs unleashed walking with their masters and boy, it was cold and boring. I couldn't take out my iPod for fear of attracting more attention.

Sorely stood out being the only one sitting alone waiting at the square.

Turned around every few minutes and saw that the guys were still at the joint. Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid, haha.

9.43pm
The guys left. I prayed the girls will hurry up and get here already..

9.58pm
Saw the guys coming out from an alley into the other side of the road, walking towards where Fayyadh said they parked their cars.

10.00pm
I would wait till 10.30pm, if not I would go back to the hotel. I would go through the main roads so everything should be fine, insya-Allah.

10.04pm
Saw the girls at the far corner of the plaza. Stood up and steadily walked towards them.

Sarah turned and saw me. She alerted the others. She ran towards me with her arms open.

I broke into a run.

Saya Semakin Tidak Mendapat Simpati Masyarakat

Malam. Suasana lengang tiada penduduk lain di sekitar. Jalan sedikit curam dan berbukit ke bawah. "Jom lumba lari." Dan saya pun berlari.

"Jatuh kang. Dah la kasut londeh," Umair komen dari belakang mengingatkan pada kasut berlari Nike ini yang dirasakan semakin longgar. Kosa kata Bahasa Melayu saya semakin lemah, sebab itulah tersalah guna istilah ketika merungut petang tersebut.

"Jatuh golek-golek karang kitorang gelak. Amik video hantar ke PERUBATAN. Budak buas di Cordoba kami kena jaga," Sarah menambah. Saya berhenti berlari kerana menahan perut ketawa.

"Pastu tag Dinmat. Wartawan PERUBATAN terjatuh bergulingan di Cordoba."

"Tag Abang ***. Ni ha adik kau buas sangat," Umair memberi cadangan.

-__-"

---

Bas ke Granada bertolak tepat pada masanya. Ketepatan warga Sepanyol sangat dikagumi. Kami membaca doa naik kenderaan dan saya menarik nafas lega. Biskut McVities dikeluarkan seraya dikunyah menggantikan glucose yang habis berkat berlari dan risau tertinggal bas tadi.

Kami melepasi bukit kecil di sebelah kiri dengan hijau lapang kemas dipotong dan rumah kayu di puncaknya.

"Cantiknya hijau dia. Mesti Atiqah suka," ujar Sarah di tempat duduk sebelah tingkap.

Biskut masih dikemam maka saya hanya mampu mengangguk penuh semangat sambil membuat bunyi ganjil tanda setuju yang amat.

"Atiqah jadi biri-biri pastu kita amik gambar," sambung Sarah penuh ceria.

-__-"

You Don't Have To Be Friendly To Be Kind

Bapak aihh pendek sampai kena jengket (-_-')

I approached the reception. "Hi, evening. I want to check in for the reservation under (full name), please."

The guy behind the counter nodded. We didn't get as boisterous reception as that by Andreu in Madrid.

"These are your room keys. I'll work on these passports and you can come back for it in half an hour."

"Okay then. See you in a bit."

---

A good hour later, I went down to the lobby. "Hola. I'm here for our passports."

"I'm very sorry but I'm not done yet. I have a lot other works to do." He turned in his chair towards the other computer and reached for the passports.

"That's okay," I flipped open my notepad.

"You are from Malaysia, right?"

"Yes, we all are."

"I like Malaysians. Malaysians are nice people. They come here a lot, in groups."

"Yeah, thanks. Spaniards are kind too."

"But I really don't like Malaysian passport."

"Eh? Why?"

"Because my computer doesn't read this passport. I don't know why. So it takes time and I have to do things.." He paused; searching for the word.

"Manually," I offered.

"Yes. But I like Malaysians very much."

"Thanks. Have you been to Malaysia?"

"No. But maybe some other time. They said it is cheap over there."

"Compared to here, yes Malaysia is cheaper."

"Once I have the time and money." He paused. "I need more time than money."

I laughed.

"I heard it's 1500 for the air ticket. And the rest is cheap, the food.." He trailed off.

Are we talking euro? My mind registered Egyptian pound. #fail "Yeah, probably. Somewhere around that number."

---

He doesn't look convinced.

"We actually came from Egypt. We study there."

"There's a lot Malaysians studying in Morocco and Egypt."

"Yeah." I don't like being labelled common but what else can I do? Lol.

"So how is Egypt now?"

I am screwed, I haven't been following the news nowadays. "So far is stable and safe. They try not to involve us foreigners with their demonstrations."

"Okay. How is the condition there?"

"It's better with the new parliament. They're trying to do things better this time."

"But the military is still in power."

"Yeah, but the parliament will hold up."

"They ousted Mubarak but the dictator still remains."

"And they will be okay. They're working towards it."

"The Egyptians really are trying to change."

"Yes. God help them."

---

"So what's your name?"

"Pablo."

"Hi Pablo. My name is Atiqah."

"Atika? That's a nice name."

"Thanks. Pablo is a nice name too."

"Atika.." he mumbled as he typed whatever he was typing. "Nice name."

I reached for a complimentary candy. He resumed typing.

"Siti Nurul is the name or surname?"

"Siti Nurul Suhaila is the name. You can put Binti and everything behind it as surname."

"You have a lot of names," Pablo appeared to be whining. "Mohd is short for Muhammad, si?"

"Yes. Binti means 'the daughter of'."

"Oh." He seemed to be having an epiphany. "I see. So Bin means 'the son of'."

"Correct."

---

Pablo was telling me the history of Mezquita while processing our registration. I think I was holding him up, but he didn't seem to mind :)

"So why is it still called Mezquita?"

"Because it's a meszquita," he answered matter-of-factly. "But you can't pray there." He made the gestures for takbir. "If you try to pray there, the guards will stop you."

"Yea, so I've heard.." Downcast look.

"It's not nice, but it's true."

"Eh?" I was surprised. Do we have a sympathetic non-Muslim here?

He eyed me and repeated.

I smiled.

---

"I think the Mezquita is the most famous mezquita in the whole world. Everyone comes here to see it."

"It is very famous. You don't have Cordoba without it."

"It is the number one mezquita in the world, am I right?"

"Not really. The number one will be Mecca and in Madinah."

"Mecca?" He repeated. "Mecca is a mezquita?"

"Yup."

Oh. Should have told him about Al-Aqsa as well.

---

"So what time does it opens?"

"It's open at 8.30-10.30 in the morning and the admission is free."

Oh, I thought Umair said we needed to pay for entrance.

"But there will be a mass for the Catholic at that time. You can go watch if you want."

"Oh." Deadpanned. "Alright."

"From 11 onwards is for the general admission. You have to pay €8 for entrance."

"O-kay."

"That money you will pay to the Catholic church," he emphasized on the last two words. "It is important that you know that you will be paying to the church."

I nodded slowly.

"Because the Mezquita is the Catholic's now."

Someone just flipped on the sad switch.

---

Pablo processed only two passports and gave me back the other five.

"Okay. Now I need these two to come down and sign this receipt."

"That's me, I can sign it now." I pointed at the first receipt.

"Oh, Nur Atiqah. I'm lucky your passport was the first one."

"You're very lucky." I signed. "I'll tell Suhaila to come down after this."

"Okay."

"Is it okay? Just two passports? Or you will need the other five back after this?"

"No it's okay!" He rushed.

I laughed. "More work for you, eh?"

"It's more hard work for me, si. Two is enough. This is just for formalities. It's okay, as long as you don't have problem with the police." He smiled.

"No we won't. We're good girls." I stacked the passports. There was something weirdly untruthful about that sentence. "Okay Pablo, see you after this. Have a good night."

"Okay, you too."

---

"Hola Pablo."

"Hola Atika."

"We're going out. Here's the keys."

"Gracias." He sent us off with a smile.

"De nada."

Vandalizing Madrid

A visit to Madrid is not a visit to Madrid if you don't go to Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. It was winter thus they close early and open too late for us to chance a tour inside.

As a good family member (oh this is an inside joke), I did as per instructed through Twitter and voila!


I am too nice of a good kid to vandalize, so we had to improvise.

---

Madrid was a beautiful city. The plazas were wonderful. The pigeons and the gardens were heavenly. The coffee smelled great. The people were kind and conscious and helpfully pointed out "There are three suspicious girls walking behind you looking at your bags. Be careful." hurriedly in Spanish.

Andreu our hostel receptionist greeted us happily with enough enthusiasm for a room of people. The rebajas were endless. The night lived on.

Kukuxumusu had their headquarter here so that was the first store I excitedly entered to pick up a few souvenirs. Next to it was a souvenir shop owned by a family of Moroccans Muslim. In an act of imminent pride at finding a fellow Muslim in the land where crosses prevailed, I had to have a picture taken with them. Pardon the jakun-ness.

A visit to Spain is not a visit to Spain if you don't go to see the bulls. Prior to departing, we ran a check on the bullfight and I realized in horror they actually hurt and drain the blood out of the bull before killing it and butchering it at some high-class restaurant. The animal activist in me protested and the sissy part of me scurried under the cover at the dangerous world we lived in.


We did visit the Plaza de Toros at Las Ventas. It was winter thus the bullfight was not in season and I was saved by God's grace. He knew I would throw a fit if we did step in to watch the ring.

There was a mosque nearby and we planned to Dhuha there but then..

Through Jordan with Love

I am a fan of English breakfast. So when Royal Jordan served me this along with the good night sleep in the warm coziness of Golden Tulip Hotel near Queen Alia International Airport the night before, I declared I was in love.

Baked beans! Omelette! Sausages! Mushrooms! Coffee!
The only thing not here was grilled tomatoes! XD

Please accept the other half of my fingerless glove I accidentally left behind as a token of my undying appreciation.

#simplegirl

And as usual, despite the resolution to sleep through the entire flight to be refreshed and alert upon landing, I spent the whole 5 hours watching Ryan Gosling in three movies; Drive, The Ides of March and Crazy, Stupid, Love.

The first two were worth it but the last was as satisfying as a tasteless popcorn. The inviting dark alleys of California and the intricacy of politics far evoke the mind than how to be suave with the ladies and win your manhood back.

Can't help loving cars more than sappy romcoms.

I ♥ 02-02-2012

I should have written a poem about my day today. I am so proud of today's achievements that I simply must blog it.

Today I:

1- became a grandmother of two cool people and a sister of another even cooler
2- explored a new territory
3- saved by a knight in shining maroon Nissan

Getting clumsier.. This is what you get when you don't focus, eheh. Will write properly soon(er or later).

Sweet as Fresh Oranges

Stopped at the mosque for afternoon and evening prayers. It was by the road, in front of a vast paddy field with an orange orchard beside it. Stepped through the slightly muddy road and tried to avoid the dried poo on the road while enjoying the view.


Turned around to say hi to the poo machines.


Sarah asked nicely and the owner gave her two oranges which she shared. Sweet thing. Oranges are good when you're slightly car-sick.