makan makan, cari makan..

I, kalau cerita pasal makan-makan ni cukup suka. Bukan suka cerita aje, suka makan pun sama.

I am one of the people yang ke mana i go, i'd love to find and taste the local food. Mesti nak tanya"where can i find the local food", bukan yang chef hotel masak, tapi kalau boleh, yang home-made, yang makcik-makcik kat rumah tu masak. Macam makan nasi kerabu, emak Syidah Tumpat masak. Atau pun makan Som Tam beli dari pasar malam sebelah rumah Syidah Tumpat tu jugak..sedaappp! Kalah Kelantan Delight!( la ni KD pun dah takde kat KLCC, dah diganti dengan korean restaurant). Makanan melayu takde tempat di Aras 4 KLCC kot. Kat food court sebelah tu masih ada lagi kot..

Kat sini, mula-mula tu tak pandai jugak nak makan kat mana, nak makan apa. Macam kebingungan sikit la. Lot's of turkish, arabic, egyptian influence kat sini..so the food are quite similar in preparation and also in taste. You get lots of falafel, grilled khaaruf(mcm goats, less smell), pizza-especially in turkish restaurants, mandi rice-mcm plain bryani, steamed lamb, fresh salads, and varieties of dipping sauce. Usually,the menu is very limited, especially those that serve typical arabic food. Alwaha, for example, requires you to choose "bone or no bone and how many kilos?". If you want 'something else', it has to be the grilled chicken (quarter or half). Tak ada lain dah. These are served with Naan,veggie salads and dipping sauces ( sataa-spicy, and hummous-whitish in colour).

K4andahar, also a famous eating place-very traditional, very simple, very kampung-style, very laid-back suroundings, siap sedia single beds in case you want to doze off right after the heavy meal (khaaruf and its fat). Oh, actually K4andahar is a small town, and since the restaurants do not have any names, we just refer to them as "K4ndahar". They serve khaaruf and camel meat. Usually, we either order the dry type or the gravy type. The dry one means that the meat is fry with the fat and salt, and 70% full of fat, if not 99% . On the other hand, the one with gravy means , that the meat is cooked WITH the fat, onions (lots ofa them) and pepper.

The result? HHmm..sedap hingga menjilat jari. Tambah lagi if you have (Fanta Strawberry + fresh milk for drinks..best!! Eh, dah lama tak pi Kandahar lah..Jomm??!!

old home VS new home

The first picture was of our apartment in Riyadh area, Khartoum. Our house was on the ground floor. There were 9 families in that building, and we had 4 vans ferrying us (schoolchildrens, madams to the souq, childrens to extra-classes, madams to shopping, etc). It was not grand, but it was nice. DOn't be tricked by what you see from the outside. I'd like to think that the inside of our homes were comfortable enough, good enough, and catered to all of our needs.

The second picture, is of course, the new P3tronas Sudan Complx. It houses the office buildings and also the apartments for the staffs and their families. Alaaa..macam kuarters polis la tu..

The inside is a bit modern (note the "bit"), makes you feel like you are in Malaysia.

It has 2 blocks (for the apartments), A & B. Block B was completed first, and we moved in on 26th July 2008. The unit is smaller than our old house, but then, it feels spacious enough for our family. Apart from the book shelves that we brought from Malaysia, everything else was provided.(wardrobes, mattresses, dining table, 2+1 sofas, fridge, plasma TV,etc).

The complex also has a playground (can be seen from our living room), and a field. Things were a bit clumsy at first, but Alhamdulillah, after a few weeks, things havebecome more organized, and we have started calling this new place "our homes"..

i'll have to move

somehow, i think my blog is no longer stable. thanks to my tunjuk-pandai-belek-belek-ubah-sana-sini-mode, this morning. I have got a few warning message saying that there were some errors, and i have also lost some of the links, posts, photos, ect form my original blog template.

though i have not been a good blogger(did not update regularly, did not even check on my blogs for a few months soemtimes- dah tau no updates, kan!), still it means a lot to me. I have poured some of my heart contents (cheh!), to my SIL, what i felt towards her, my little eforts on putting my appreciation onto words. This blog has also been my 'friend'when i need someone to talk to, the foreign -land where i go to, when i felt lonely, and sad, since my husband was away in Sudan, and i was with the kids in Malaysia. I guess, i kind of abandon it, once i stepped my feet in Sudan, once the loveds ones are all together again. I feel there's no need for me to have it (visited, regularly, or even updated), since i'm no longer lonely, and BTW, i 'feel' busy , too!

But i was wrong; for this blog still means a lot to me, and if not, i wouldn't have cared to change the templates, linked it to my facebook, tell people that i have one, think of what to write for my next post, of what picures will look nice in it,or of whether people would care enough to read it, etc, etc..

I just hoped whatever is left will still be there, no more missing stuffs the next time i visit this blog. ( if the next time i opened my blog, and found it empty, gone, crashed- i will definitely go crazy huuhuhuhu..).

okay, enough of that. I'll pen-off, and I'll come back!

salam

In the background is the White Nile River. From L-R: Lutfil didukung,
Hafiz, Umar & Asif ( a neighbour's son)

Salam,

Akhirnya...dapat jugak 1 entry dari Khart0um hehe heh
Kita sampai sini on the 1st Nov 2007(Thursday). It wasn't very hot, just suam-suam gitu. The first few days, kitorang pengsan habis. Lutfil tidur dari pukul 3pm sampai 10am esok harinya.
We went to the souq (Souq markazi) , hunting for meat, veggies and fruits 2 days later.
Okay jugak souq diaorang ni. Until now, the veggies i usually buy from the souq are carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, jirjir (sedap buat ulam ni), cabbage, lettuce, french beans, also onions, garlic and birds' eye chillies. kekadang nampak jugak ocra, tapi tak pernah beli lagi, sebab BERBULU sangat..nanti gatal pulak anak tekak ni..Tanya orang yang dah lama kat sini pun, depa tak pernah try..kecik dan berbulu..
Biasa orang sini guna ocra untuk campur dalam masakan dia. Ocra tu grounded, pastu masuk dalam kuah, so dia jadi pekat, jelly-like gravy. Yang nampak pintu on the right is our house (ground floor)

Kitorang sampai airport tu dalam pukul 6.15pm, and there were 3 vans waiting for us. We reached our new home at around 7pm, dah agak gelap. When I got out of the van, I couldn't figure out what the building in front of me was. I thought it was some old building where we would wait for another van ke, bus ke, limousine ke (hehe..). My husband got inside the building first, i followed and immediately i smelt something yang masyam-masyam. I looked around, banyak nya sofa lama yang berhabuk & i pun macam bingung-bingung sikit..
After a few steps, my husband stopped infront of a door, unlocking it and said "Ni lah rumah kita". Oh! Okay..
I remember a friend who has been here for 3 years said that the first time she saw the building, she cried and felt like going back. I would say that the outside may look a bit 'dull', and masyam-masyam, and dusty (in fact, very!!), but in the inside IS my home, our home. At least I have been here for almost 5 months ,and never ever feel like going back. Alhamdulillah, things are great, and I'm adjusting and loving every minute i spend here with my husband and children.

I would encourage whoever has the chance to come here, whether it's a job offer, or to accompany a husband or a wife, do give yourself (and Suedan) a chance, and InsyaAllah, you'll be glad you did.
The masyam-masyam smell? Alaaa..yang tu dah lama biasa lah. Kita counter attack dengan bau belacan, ikan kering, cencaluk apa semua..should be fine ..hehe..

at last..

Salam..

at last, I i'm writing something in my blog! The internet connection is not very good lately, and any changes ai wanted to make a; olour, fonts, etc ..all do not seem to work..huhuhu..

sedihnya..



So, do i like where I am now? YES! Definitely!

From time to time, when I encounter a new friend, the question they usually ask: "So, how do you like it here? Okay duk sini? best tak Khart0um?" I'll give them my biggest smile, and say: "Best, I suka." No regret? NO!



Best apa duduk sini. Banyak lah yg kurangnya, but I always tell myself that I if I want to have all that I 've had backhome, then don't come here. So, instead of complaining and mengeluhkesah pasal kurang tu dan kurang ni, I happily accept them as 'differences'.



Some of the people I have met here, either hate this place, yet stay because the hubby's here, or hate, leave and go back. It's up to you, really. But things are much much better now. What with the new modern complex, yang jadi kebanggaan sepelusuk rakyat kh4rtoum ni, sebab tu sainag dan malam depa duduk lepak depan complex, memuji archictecture bangunan yang tersergam ini..agaknya lah !:D hehe.

Now, more and more families are here, and I do feel like I am in malaysia. Hey, we have monthly bazaar- harga sudan eh, bazaar ramadhan, cooking class- belum adalah lagi madam ajar masak sudanese recipes, biasanya mesti malaysian recipes- a bless jugak pasal DH kan makan malay food! Malay food pun tak pas ada hati nak belajar international food. Eh, roasted chicken pakai rosemary ngan olive oil kira international apa?! heh..

we have Kelas KAFA, kelas Tutuion maths, Bahasa Melayu ( tusyen kan dikira trademark pelajar malaysia). Ada school children yang tak pergi tusyen tak? haa..ni ponteng la ni :P

Apa lagi ye malaysian feel kat sini? Oh ya, 'mangkuk tingkat' servis pun ada kat sini. kalau ada yang datang agak-agak malas nak masak, order je dari madam-madam yang berkenaan. Kiranya kalau makan dengan Mr X yg ada wife kat sini, tapi bawak bekal nasi + ikan goreng aje, memang Mr X tu akan malu gilerr la. mangkuk tingkat ni macam macam ada, masak lemak cili api, masak sambal udng, sup sayur, etc. I pun kalau DH bagi peluang, nak je order mangkuk tingkat untuk seluruh keluarga, lunch and dinner ,7x seminggu. Breakfast no problem, kitorang makan roti canai pun ok hahaha..

So, i rasa kalau ada orang hesitate nak datang sini, buanglah ketepi perasaan cuak itu. Tak payah tapi-tapi lagi, datang je! Trust me and you'll see !