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 !

MERDEKA! MERDEKA! MERDEKA!

Selamat Hari Kemerdekaan Yg ke 50 Tahun everyone!

How was your merdeka day? We ( myself & the 3 boys) had a quiet morning and we had merdeka-related activity in the afternoon ( not for lutfil, though).

I am glad that I registered Umar and his 2 cousins (nadia & nabila) for the Merdeka-themed cake decoration activity@ UkS centre yesterday. We had great fun. At least I did, HAHAH.

I teamed up with Umar and Nabila with Nadia. There were 2 other teams ( Uks owner's ckids, and one of another Uks member and her little girl. Umar was so excited that he got to play with the icing, and knife, and other 'tools' needed to get the job done. Once in a while ( or was it most of the time?0, he would lick his ingers, wrist, and get some more icing from the container. He even ate the moon and the star (fondant), that were supposed to be placed on top of the cake.

Luckily, they have many more extras of those, phew!

We finished quite early, but the decoration was far from fancy. very simple, teramat sangat. No wonder other people finished theirs about 30 minutes later, rupa-rupanya they were creative enough to put up other sorts of lip-lap, lip lap for the decoration. And we had our plain bendera. 'kwang, kwang, kwang...

Releks Umar, this is our first attempt, remember? We'll do better the next time we do this..

UKS Charity Activity 25TH AUG 2008

This is the first time i joined the Ummiku Sayang (UkS) charity group for their mission,
the location was the Kajang Hospital ( so, that explains my participation, dekat dengan rumah lah!). The targeted group was the Pediatric Ward of the said hospital. It was great fun to see such a crowd, but of course those kids turned-up with all the bandages, IV lines, arm sling, etc. At first, they looked a bit uncomfortable, what with the 'costumes' and maybe the fact that they are not well ( we were in the ward, remember?!). The moment they got the gift packs, the printed paper merdeka-themed cap, and of course, the big beautiful cake of the same theme, they started smiling and being bubbly again. I managed to capture a few smiles, not only from our little patients, but from the parents as well ( oh, some with the whole family in tow!).

There was also a story telling session (Read Aloud), by Mdm Nita with her 2 beautiful daughters on stage, giving the children an excitement of 'A Walk in the Jungle' and 'Nasi Lemak Ibu'. Hmm...this RA session made me wonder, when will I do mine? My audience is usually my 3 boys, of whom I can act silly with, or put up some hillarious actions ( diaorg gelak, apaaa..). But infront of other kids? Other kids, and THEIR PARENTS? Oh..no no..NO! I think the first thing those parents would do, is to ban their kids from further watching this 'over-acting auntie', next is to cautious their kids from befriending my 3 musketeers, and ..OK! I KNOW I'M EXAGGERATING! I KNOW, I KNOW!! STOP!! back to what i wanted to write, people.

The UkS children were kind enough to hand out a big Get Well Soon card for our little darlings. I am no stranger to wards, nut gov3rm3nt hospital wards? Taking care of sick kids in the hospital wards like I have seen last Saturday, is something else. When I say , that my children checked-in and checked-out from hospitals, i have already made that sound like spending a few nights and days in a good hotel. In fact Umar thought that if not for the IV lines and the process to insert the IV lines, it was a good hotel, no doubt! What with a dedicated doctors, and kind nurses who always check on you.."fever?, no fever?, here's your lunch!, here's your medicine', ooh..no wonder he thinks of hospital wards so positively!

As much as I want to say to the mothers I met that :" I understand how you feel", or 'I've been through this', or "Anak saya pun baru keluar hospital Isnin lepas", I can't. I just can't.

While I always had a spacious room only for my son and me, with a bathroom, mirror, cupboard/wardrobe, a sofa, a chair, a cable TV , lights here and there, newspaper, air-conditioned room, sometimes request for a baby cot, so that I could sleepmon the bed, or ask for another bed if the need arises, good food for the mother and son, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

The mothers or whoever were taking care of the children in the ward, do not have all this.

I'm not sure of those in first class wards, though? Any such thing as first class wards?

They can't just sleep in private, the children who obviously need lots of rests may not have the proper nap they needed, what with the neighbours crying out loud, they are oblivious to the passers-by, etc,etc,etc. It would have been a good lesson for Umar, too! Plus, it was his 4th birthday on that Saturday, 25th Aug. But I didn't bring him along. Maybe I should, the next time I join this kind of activity.

All in all, i would say that it was a success and I'm glad that I made the effort to be there. Bravos to UkS members who were there, (physically or in spirit), who made great effort to give the children of the Kajang Hospital's Pediatric Ward, a day to remember. Clap, clap, clap..

For more picture of the events, please go to my flickr. Wait, not yet uploaded, soon, InsyaAllah..

Oh yes, Umar was warded again, on the 17th Aug, this time of asthma. He was breathing very heavily started Thursday evening, and I heard a funny sound everytime he exhaled. I brought him to Az-zahrah medical centre, Bangi at 12.00am, and he was giving the gas once and some medication. I plan to bring him to GMC, since they have his records of croup, bronchiolitis, etc, but early Friday morning he had difficulty in breathing, even telling me that "Ibu, Umar penat". He looked vey pale when we were in the car, and looking at my watch , it was 7am on Friday, knowing the traffic, I was just scared that we might not make it on time, since he looked very pale and breathing very slowly, as if he was so tired of taking deep breaths. So, I made my move to Az-Zahrah, about 20 minutes from the house, and he was admitted. We spent 2 nights in the hospital, and since it was near, we took a home leave on Saturday morning to see the 2 little brothers. They were at home with Bibik. My DH was always at the other end of the telephone line, and knowing that i can always call him, however,whenever I wanted to, helped a lot too!

Last Sunday, we had a makan-makan for Umar's birthday. Oh, did I tell you about the Creative Music & Movement class i attended last weeks, with teacher Farra? OOhhoo.. I had a good time. I was the only mother/non-teacher in the class, out of 12 participants. The rests are pricipals/teachers from various kindergarten & enrichment centers. Alamak, berderau darah belajar dengan cikgu-cikgu nih! heheh..

InsyaAllah, will post about them later...

art attack..the beginning

demam-demam pun masih berkarya..

What do you make of a pen and a paper!
This is what Umar made!
I should have taken photos of his other creations, like fish from newspapers, stingrays, eumbrella, all from paper/newspaper.
He was doing his own 'work' when he put this on his head and announced "Tutup kepala, salji turn"
(sorry, obviously, he had never seen snow before..hehe)

it's not wong, but err..

Hafiz was soo happy that Ayah came back for him

Terlalu suka

Hafiz spent a memorable 5D4N in GMC, Jln Ampang

We were in the car heading towards Bangi, and had my usual chat with Umar.
He likes to look up in the sky, and when he spots an aeroplane, will make a big fuss about it.I think, the fact that our area is quite near to the Sepang KLIA, we always spot aeroplane flying low and that excites him further more.

Being-the-good-and-modern-mom-I-am, I always talk about the real thing, explaining the real situation, would offer some theories (scientific, mine or ancient greek's ;-)) where possible.

Me: "Umar tau tak, kalau helicopter , dia naik terus ke atas, vertically. kalau aeroplane, kan dia naik slowly, at an angle, baru dia naik tnggi ke atas. Landasan dia panjang" (Me thinks: Faham ke Umar ni!?)

Umar: "Ibu, sebab itulah aeroplane tu ada tayar, helicopter tu kan ada kaki, takde tayar!!

Me: ooooooo...

------------------------------------


Umar knows his ABC just by singing it out loud. I noticed that he recognizes A, O and a few numbers like 0 (hehehe..), 1, 3, 4, and 7, 10. For the rest of the numbers, he decided to just ignore them or trying to change the civilization by giving them other values.

Last night , I was SMS-ing DH, and Umar was lying besides me. He insisted to take a look at what i was typing. Thinking maybe that I should then 'test' his alphabets skills, I pointed out to the 'Exit' menu, and pointed to the letter 'E'.

umar: "B" (hmmmm..)

me: Pointing tu the letter 'x". Apa selepas E ni?

Umar: lepas "E", "F" lah.. (tunjuk terer lah pulak, tak pe Ibu should be v e r y p a t i e n t!!!!)

Me: Pointing to 'x' again. Ni apa?

Umar: Oooh..tu huruf yang untuk tulis salah.. ( get it? that's what he gets when he made a mistake in writing, etc, TANDA PANGKAH X !!)

Me: oh Umar!

why the silence?

take this: I'm writing from the Gleneagles Intan Medical Centre, Jalan Ampang!
My last day was on Friday, the 29th June, and the next day, Saturday, I brought Hafiz for his check-up, and he had been having a cough for quite sometime. The doctor asked him to be warded for further blood and urine test.
He was then diagnosed with pneumonia. hmm..poor baby! DH was of course in Sudan, and 2 days later ( Monday), he arrived in KL for his 5 days emergency leave :-)
Hafiz was discharged on Wednesday, 4th July. The bad thing was, all 3 kids ( and the ibu) were not feeling well, down with fever and flu. We took turn to bring Umar and then Lutfil to the pead.
All of them were then on antibiotics and DH then was due for his course in Singapore on Saturday, 7th July.
Umar then suddenly fell sick on Sunday night, and aftre a visit to his regular pead on Monday, 9th July, still had a very high fever, and I think we didn't sleep at all that night ( Sunday and Monday). Tuesday, 10th July, I brought Umar to another pead in GMC, and he was admitted!
So, I spent my days and nights in hospital wards, for the past 2 weeks, well, almost!

I have just paid the telephone bills i was using ( ye lah, menehjut je kena admitted, charger pun tak bwk, so guna telephone bilik hospital lah) , and we'll be going home tonight after Umar got his antibiotics at 6pm.

I have to go, I promised Umar to buy some sweets, and now he's reminding me about it..

Wish us well!

PS: Abang, appointment for Lutfil has been done for tomorrow morning. Pray that he's going to be ok ( err..I mean, hopefully he's not going to be admitted). Not that i don't like the hospital food... ;-)