Pity Daniel...

Last week, our down stair's neighbour went up to our apartment and complained that he couldn't stand the noises coming from the top of his ceiling. Hubby had mentioned earlier to me that this guy is very fussy about noises coming from this apartment as soon as we set foot in here. He actually buzzed the intercom the last time (before Daniel and I came to this country) because apparently he could hear Hubby's music 'seeping' through his ceiling...hehe...He also loves to park his car so close to ours (makan space la tu....mentang-mentang kereta kitorang cute jer...) but so far we haven't made any complaints... This guy seemed to have some troubles up in his brain.

He actually asked me, "Do you have a child in the house making the noise?" and I said yes. We've actually bumped into each other a few times and of course he knew that we have a growing toddler!

Now, how do you control an active, growing toddler from jumping around the house? To me, Daniel has done minimal noises actually because he only jumps or runs around when he's extremely, extremely excited. And not without me reprimanding him from doing that for fear that the noise would trouble the below neighbour every time he did it.

And just nice, my boy has recently developed interests in exercising and dancing. So, from time to time he would ask me to watch him 'perform' the routines. They were funny moves, of course and he seemed to enjoy doing them very much.

Because of this guy, now we have put the mattress from the second bedroom in the hall for Daniel to jump or dance on if he feels the need to do so. And we constantly reminded him not to jump or dance or run whenever we thought that he was going to do so outside of the mattress area. This quite broke my heart, because I felt like I was curbing him from somewhat enjoying his childhood...*sigh* Macam terbantut je excitement dia tu.....

Well, my upstairs neighbour does not have kids but we constantly hear loud thumpings from above. And we are not complaining, because we know there must be reasons for that. Normal people won't do anything unpleasant to other parties (especially not known to them) on purpose, right?

Well, kalau tak nak dengar bunyi bising dari siling, duduk la kat rumah setingkat ke, banglo ke? Tak pun duduk kat apartmen tingkat atas sekali...huhuhu!

Revenge of the Fallen

..banana....hik hik....(Memang ler takde keje lain yg lebih berfaedah kan???)






Pisang yang dah terlalu masak...











Peel off the skin and cut to pieces




.




Tadaaaaa!!! Transforming into pengat pisang.... Sedap dimakan untuk minum teh hari ini.... nyum...nyum....

Kolej Tunku Kurshiah muncul juara orkestra

PUTRAJAYA 20 Jun - Kumpulan Orkestra Kolej Tunku Kurshiah, Seremban yang mempersembahkan lagu Disney Festival muncul juara dalam pertandingan orkestra sekolah berasrama penuh dan sekolah kluster atau Finale Festival Wind Orchestra 2009.

Kejayaan kumpulan tersebut menewaskan tujuh pasukan lain, membolehkannya membawa pulang piala pusingan, hadiah wang tunai RM1,500 dan hadiah iringan.

Konduktor kumpulan orkestra Kolej Tunku Kurshiah, Nur Hamizah Zainal, 17, turut diumumkan sebagai Konduktur Terbaik menewaskan tujuh lagi konduktur yang rata-rata diwakili oleh pelajar lelaki.

Hadiah disampaikan oleh Timbalan Perdana Menteri yang juga Menteri Pelajaran, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin di Pusat Konvensyen Antarabangsa Putrajaya (PICC) di sini hari ini.

Turut hadir isteri Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Puan Sri Noorainee Abdul Rahman; Ketua Setiausaha Kementerian Pelajaran, Tan Sri Dr. Zulkurnain Awang dan Ketua Pengarah Pelajaran, Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd. Dom.

Kumpulan orkestra Kolej Tunku Kurshiah yang ditubuhkan pada tahun 1997 kini dianggotai oleh 110 orang pelajar tingkatan satu hingga lima diangkat sebagai juara berdasarkan keupayaan teknikal, persembahan dan alunan muziknya.

Dalam pada itu, kumpulan orkestra Sekolah Dato' Abdul Razak, Seremban mendapat tempat kedua dan membawa pulang wang tunai RM1,000 dan hadiah iringan.

Sekolah Menengah Sultan Abdul Halim, Jitra pula mendapat tempat ketiga dan membawa pulang hadiah wang tunai RM750.

Lima lagi pasukan yang turut bertanding pada peringkat akhir ini ialah Sekolah Sultan Alam Shah, Putrajaya; Kolej Melayu Kuala Kangsar; Sekolah Seri Puteri, Cyberjaya; Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Ipoh dan Sekolah Ave Maria Convent, Ipoh.

Tunisia, you said????

From Tunisia.com dated Jul 2008

The Global Peace Index: Tunisia is ranked the 2nd in Africa and the 5th in the Arab countries

Tunisia is classified among many other countries about the level of peace and stability in the world. according to a report done by the Global Peace Index, Tunisia , ranked the 44th at the international level, is the second in Africa after Botswana, and the fifth in the Arab world after Qatar (16th) Oman (21st), the UAE (40th) and Kuwait (42nd).

Tunisia which reached a score of 1698 points, is ahead of other countries such as Greece (57th ) and the United States of America (83rd ) . New Zealand is at the top and is considered as the most peaceful and stable country followed by Denmark and Norway.

The report, which has been elaborated jointly with The “Economist Intelligence Unit'', based its analysis on the situation of peace and stability in 144 countries around the world that revolve around several criteria, including
democracy status , the degree of security for foreigners, level of corruption, government efficiency, the people’s cohesion and integration , international relationships , investments climate , the involvement of countries in armed conflict and the level of military spending.

This is good, right? I am of mixed emotions now....

Muhammad Daniel Hafiz

Daniel in front of our apartment in Newark, Nottinghamshire














Daniel @ Bullring Shopping Centre, Birmingham

It has been a while since I last blogged about this little highness of mine. He is about 39 months now and has learnt so much, especially on how to answer back to you (with some very, very creative answers unimaginable to us) and also on how to negotiate. He is not very 'pelat' and we can communicate very well with him now.

Currently this boy weighs 14kg and stands at 94cm. Cheeks masih tembam walaupun tak segebu masa baby dulu...hehe...

Current normal communications:

D: Mummy! I want bla...bla..bla...
(please note that want is pronounced as 'WONT'...very the slang one...hehe...)

D: Mummy! Ayah kata boleh...
If I refused something he wanted...when my Hubby had never consented...and if he asks from Hubby, he would say "Ayah, Mummy kata boleh!")

D: Mummy boli bla...bla...(normally toys)
I don't know why he pronounce beli as boli...Orang nogoghi anak den ni...hehe....

D: Mummy I'm too hot!
When everyone else is cold...This is one condition which baffles us...Why does he feels warm and sweaty when the rest of us are cold? Any meds explanation kah?

D: Daniel takuuutttt!!!!
He's practically scared of everything, even the cartoons on TV...Not on any ghosts parts, but more on actions part...I do not know how to overcome this...hadoiii...

He loves singing and scribbling on papers (never on walls yet and I pray that he never will...ameen)

He hates to clean up his toys mess (will always give the reason "Daniel tired...." sambil melemah-longlaikan badan when I ask him to clean up the mess.

He can count up to 20 (but with some holes from 15 up to 20..hehe...)

When counting in Malay, he would say "Satu, dua, tiga, empat, lima, tujuh, mato!" (tomato)...Entah apa-apa la Daniel ni...hehe...

He can read ABC until Z, both upper and lower cases

He can read the Jawi alphabets as well from Alif till Ya

He knows most of the basic shapes but still doesn't know how to draw them

His current favourite cartoon series are Engy Benjy, Captain Mack, Bob the Builder, Pocoyo, Jimjam and Sunny and Bo on the Go. Ben 10 dah tak dapat tengok selalu since we don't subscribe to Kids channels on Sky TV. Only on Saturdays jer...kesian Daniel...huhu...

He always ask me to bake cakes and cookies for him

He is still having some troubles in bowel movement department. Payah betul!

He hates having his teeth brushed. Hence the 'black' 2 or 3 front teeth

He is currently being toilet-trained tapi Mummy memang tak sabar orangnya. Rasa nak suruh dia stick to wearing diapers sampai besar jer...isk isk..Oh! And in my quest to train him, I bought Ben-10 undies for him for GBP10 (7 pcs).. Mummy's undies pun tak semahal tu ok?...hehe...

He can recognize the places that he has been in photos. Like the other day, the London Tower Bridge photo appeared on Hubby's PC's as the screen saver and he immediately said "London! Daniel pergi hari tu!" and when he saw photos of Kaabah, he would say "Allah abar! Daniel solat sini hari tu"

He is still having trouble to see where we point. He just couldn't gauge where some things are when we point them to him. Often, he would come to you, really see where your finger is pointing, then only he could see the thing. Is this a medical problem too? I am quite concerned about this actually..

He is afraid of heights...Gayat rupanya...huhu...

Robots to him are BOBOTS...hehe...

4 years...

....of mixed emotions, ups and downs, fights and make-ups, laughters and tears..

We celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary earlier this month. Well, not really celebrating in style or whatever, just us commemorating the years that we have spent together (bearing in mind also that we were apart for more than 2 years...hehe....)

Four years might be short or might be long, depending on our own perspectives. Sometimes we felt that it was only yesterday that we cut our wedding cakes and all, and sometimes it felt like ages ago (especially when we were having fights...hehe).

We might think that four years are quite a long period to know your spouses inside out. But for us, we are still in the learning process. We learn something new about the other half every other day. And we are still in the process of adapting to each other. So, to me, if some couples in love claimed that they knew each other inside out, they are soul mates yadda..yadda before they get married, boy, I think they have to really re-evaluate their notions...hehe...

Some times I do feel that my husband really knows me. Heck, he even knew when I was about to be visited by THAT friend every other month a few days beforehand. Even I didn't keep track. I guess it must have been the changing of behaviour and mood swings...hehe....

I also have a lot to cope in the food and drinks department, i.e what he likes and dislikes, how he likes his food to be cooked and drinks to be made etc. Like the other day, I just found out that he also loves to eat cili potong with hirisan bawang besar in kicap...just like I do. And after four years? Even I was amazed...hehe...

Anyway, here's hoping for more years happily together (boy I just hate it when we fight..and YES...we do fight A LOT!!!!) Maybe because I am hot headed and I do like to stand up for my thoughts (which could be so annoying to him..biasalah ego lelaki kan?)


But I am more mellow now (dah tua maaa...) so I know better when to speak or shut up, and I know when would be the right moments to bring some things up for discussion. And I think we are a lot better now.

So, Happy Anniversary darling (albeit a little late) and I hope we will continue to grow our love, commitment and understanding towards each other... May we improve ourselves and our bad habits to better accommodate each other so that we can lead a peaceful and meaningful live together...And may Allah bestow upon us all His blessings until the end of time...Ameen...

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

My London Adventure Part II

We checked out of the hotel after a meager breakfast at the hotel. This time we took the Bayswater Circle Line and took off to Victoria Station. This time, I bought day travel passes for the 3 of us. Then, we took the bus to Trafalgar Square. Since we all are not museum-liking people, we saved quite a lot of time visiting other places than the museums (London banyak betul museums… and theaters…and we are not theater people, either..hehe..)

While looking at the map, I saw ‘Liberty’ and my mind quickly imagined The Statue of Liberty… And while cracking my head to read the map on how we would get there, suddenly a thought came across my mind.. Statue of Liberty bukan kat US ke? Dang! Haha! Nasib baik tak tanya orang ok? Kalau tak buat malu jer…kakakaka…. Turned out that this Liberty is some sort of a shopping place…hehe…

After Trafalgar, we took the bus to London Tower Bridge. We didn’t get into the tower, or go for a cruise bla..bla…Just taking photos around the area and had our quick lunch there before checking in to the next hotel that I pre-booked before the journey. In case you are wondering why we didn’t stay at the same hotel throughout the trip, well, the answer is, there was a Bank Holiday Monday at the same stretch of our trip, and my guess is many people took the time off to go for a break. So, no hotels could offer us rooms for our 3-night straight stay. Before boarding the subway to Earls Court Station, I saw a signboard showing the London Bridge, so we decided to go for a quick photo session. But halfway throughout the walking journey, I suddenly felt too tired to walk anymore, plus suddenly the signboard to the London Bridge went missing…hehe…so we turned back to the station and boarded the train.

We came out of the station, and again, I tried to use the phone’s GPS…and failed again, miserably. So, I went to ask for direction from a street hawker, and she gave me the direction to the hotel. Quite a descent distance and I was not complaining. When I saw the signboard saying ‘Earls Court Hotel’ I immediately went in to check whether it was the correct hotel since our hotel is Earls Court Studios. I had to knock on the window because the reception seemed pre-occupied with something, and when I asked whether I was in the correct hotel, he just said no. And when asked where was the correct hotel, he just shrugged smugly and said “No idea” Duh!!!

So, we walked further up across the street and voila, the hotel is no more than 30 meters from the first hotel. Kut ye pun competitor…huh! Rang the bell on the door and was greeted by the owner a few minutes later. This was a three-floored apartment converted to a hotel, and there wasn’t even a reception area. Our room was situated at the basement of the apartment, and it was much better compared to the first hotel that we stayed. A descent bathroom, a stove and microwave for cooking complete with all the cutleries, plates, pots and pans, a better TV set, a fridge… At least I felt it was worth the charges. We were given the main door keys (since nobody would open the door for us) as well.

After a quick rest, we went out again. Today we were more determined to cover as much of London as possible. First stop was London Bridge Pier. (London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down…hehe…) Then, we took the subway to Canary Wharf. I think it was the most beautiful station of all the stations that we have been. Here, brokers and executives in tie and blazers flocked around for a drink at the bar near the London Stock Exchange building (sorry, I do not know the name of the building).

(to be continued)

At last...

I haven't been able to blog because my broadband service provider seemed to block blogger dashboard. Our Sky broadband has finally been activated, and with the wireless router, connection seemed better. Lega rasa dapat blog balik...hehe...

Without realizing it, it has been 2 months already since I set foot here in the UK. Life has been pretty much the same everyday since my parents left for home.

My day normally starts at around 4 am-ish. Normally, around 5.30 am I would finish cooking lunch for Hubby to bring to work. Hubby would normally leave for work latest by 7 am and return at around 6.30 pm where we would have dinner. By 8 pm normally I would be so sleepy already but usually I would wait till 10.30 pm for Isya' prayers. Kalau dah terlelap tu memang susah dah nak bangun balik for prayers...Maghrib pun 9.30 pm baru masuk waktu...huhu....

I try to go the town at least once a week (normally on Wednesdays) since there would be a big day-market. Sometimes I bake cakes or cookies if Daniel requested to eat them. If I am in the mood, I would prepare curry puffs, or lasagne, or spaghetti, or pizza, or fried meehoon for tea. On weekends, if we are not out for grocery shopping or jalan-jalan, I would cook something different like nasi ayam or what nots, depending on my moods also.

I spend most of my daytime reading emails and FB-ing, handling some matters related to business and at the same time attending to all Daniel's needs. He is a very demanding young man now. I am considering to send him to a play school here, but since we will be here for a short period only, I am not sure whether it would be a hassle.

There you go...My mundane life, for now. But what's more important, we are with Hubby now. My heart and mind are at peace...