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Thursday, September 14, 2006
Posted at Thursday, September 14, 2006 by ummi_athirah
Monday, September 11, 2006
It's good to be back. Though I don't get back to a made-up bed or a
cleaned-scrubbed toilet, nothing beats home. Kami tiba di KLIA lebih
kurang 7.00p.m semalam. Gedebuk gedebak kat imigresen, ambik beg,
sembahyang Maghrib dan beli tiket airport limo dan balik rumah, it was
almost 10.00p.m. already. Asalnya kami nak keluar makan dulu, cik abang
tu nak makan something soupy with lots of beef in it. Nak balas dendam
lah tu. Kena pulak masa breakfast di Sejong Hotel semalam, budak2
wrestling Jepun dok makan ekor bakar, nampak sungguh lembut dan juicy
sekali. Nasib baik ada fish fritters sebagai ganti. Breakfast pun tak
boleh makan banyak. Banyak masuk, nanti banyak pula nak keluar. Selain
bilik hotel, toilet diluar kena 'dry clean' saja tak selesa! Walau
bagaimanapun, di Incheon International Airport semalam, terasa sakit
perut pulak. So, gunakanlah kreativiti masing-masing dalam keadaan
begitu. Ambik tisu banyak-banyak dan sabun. Penuhkan botol mineral
water dengan air sebanyak mungkin! Oleh itu kalau anda ke tempat-tempat
yang toiletnya 'dry clean' saja, usunglah botol mineral water, pasti
berguna! Untuk pass thru imigresen di Korea, kami semua kena buka kasut
dan pakai selipar yang disediakan. Lepas tu kena body-search. Sesiapa
yang bawa botol air, begnya dibuka dan botol dicium. Merasa jugaklah
kasut kami semua kena scan.
Kapalterbang
meninggalkan Seoul kira-kira 11.35a.m (local time). Kami tiba di Kota
Kinabalu kira-kira 3.15p.m. Transit kira-kira 40 minit sekadar cukup
untuk singgah solat dan membeli sotong dan lobster kering. Ada juga
yang sempat membeli udang beku. Selepas kira-kira 2-1/2 jam, kami tiba
di KLIA. Bersalaman dan kemudian balik ke rumah masing-masing. Kalau
dulu perjalanan dimulakan dengan ERL dan 2 beg, perjalanan diakhiri
dengan teksi sebab beg masing-masing dah beranak pinak! Ada yang
beranak kembar pulak tu! Beg kami sekadar bertambah satu (2 beg asal
semakin gemuk dan gebu!). Alhamdulillah semua lepas sebab kami buat
group check-in dan ada juga yang bawak barang balik sikit saja. Beg
kami belumpun di unpack sepenuhnya. Sekadar pagi tadi dibuka sebab cik
abang tu insist nak pakai tie cekelat dia. Oh ya, di Seoul, neck-tie
murah-murah. Sekitar RM6 dah boleh dapat neck tie yang hebat. Mungkin
sebab neck-tie ni all walks of life pakai, dari para eksekutif in their
suits sampailah ke atok-atok yang hendak ke kenduri kawin sehinggalah
ke pemandu bas.
Dan
hari ini ummi dah mula bertugas semula. Cuti kena jaga-jaga sebab yang
tinggal cukup-cukup bajet untuk raya nanti. Kalau budak-budak sakit
(nauzubillah), nampak gayanya abahlah yang kena cuti menjaga. Masa di
Korea, setiap hari kena call kampung bertanya khabar. Iman dengarnya
semacam tak perasan pun dia ditinggalkan. Abis sereban ayam dikejarnya.
Pagi-pagi atok bawak dia jalan-jalan, kalau tak dikawal, mau sekampung
dia round! TV dia yang punya selagi dia tak lelap. Atok jadi guardian
siang hari sebelum mokkucu balik keje dan take over sebelah malam.
Dengar ceritanya pukul 8.00 malam atok dah tutup semua lampu sebab nak
suruh cucu-cucu tido. Atok dah tak larat kena torture dengan budak2 tu,
especially Iman. Semalam pun dia terjun dalam lopak air dan buat projek
susun pinggan. Si kakak agak terasa ketiadaan kami. Ye lah, dia pun dah
besar. Mokkucu kata kadang2 airmata dia mengalir je time nak tidur.
Tapi jangan ditanya kenapa, nanti pecah empangan tu. Rasanya dia
teringatkan abahnya, hatta beberapa malam sebelum kami tinggalkan dia
di kampung, dia insist nak tidur dengan abahnya. Sekarang dia tak sabar
nak jumpa kami. Apatah lagi ada ole-ole rantai berbatu dan berberlian
olok2. Satunya merah jambu, satu lagi biru. Memang seronok membeli
untuk anak dara sebab berbagai pilihan ada. Untuk sang puteri kami tu,
blaus bertali warna ungu, cekak rambut ala-ala crown, sepit rambut
bunga kecik2 hijau dan pink, sepit rambut butterfly berbatu dan juga
crayon yang boleh diadjust matanya. Untuk Iman pula sekadar t-shirt
merah bergambar naga dan juga sepasang t-shirt, seluar dan vest untuk
hari raya nanti. Untuk umminya pula, satu senarai panjang!
Hari
Jumaat nanti kami akan balik kampung untuk menjemput anak-anak.
Kebetulan ada kenduri menyambut menantu sepupu ummi. Dah tentu kami
adik beradik akan berkumpul bolehlah distribute buah tangan. Semalam
call kampung sebaik tiba, orang kampung merayu balik nanti sekadar
tengok anak-anak dan berkenduri saja. Atok takmau cucu-cucunya diambil
semula!
Posted at Monday, September 11, 2006 by ummi_athirah
Friday, September 08, 2006
Tomorrow would be our last day before departing for KL early Sunday morning. We have yet planned anything but I guess if we ever need to shop some last-minutes items, it'd be very minimal. Furthermore I'd be back working on Monday. Kena relaks maa.
These past few days, I've been shopping like 6-8 hours a day on the average. Projek bermula seawal 9.30 pagi and usually ended at about 3 or 4 pm before we settling back to the hotel and resume duty as bibik. Kena masak dinner untuk para suami dan para pelajar yang ke sekolah.
Favorite shopping spot is NAMDAEMUN (Great South Gate) which has bermacam2 benda from clothing to handbags to shoes to clothes to accessories to bedsheet to cookware to foodstuff. They even have pig head sold here. We also went to DONGDAEMUN (Great North Gate) where banyak handbag and kasut. In my opinion DONGDAEMUN is more hip than DONGDAEMUN tho both are known as downtown. The weird thing here is that the town is more alive, bustling with people during the night as opposed to a more calmer atmosphere during the day. And here you can shop 24hrs a day. They have this system like 'shift'. Shift siang pack their things at abt 10 or 11 malam then diganti oleh shift malam which ended early in the morning. Semalam, a few of our friends went shopping at 2am while some choose to shop at 6am. Another system we observed is their mealtime. Diorang hantar food to stall owners so they can keep their business opened even during their lunch or dinnertime.
If you're buying clothes here, do note they have small size. Most XL here can fit only Malaysian L. Susah nak nampak orang yang gemuk. Berisi tu adalah but gemuk susah nak nampak. What more flabbly. Even nenek2 or atok2 steady je tolak troli berjual. Like I said in my last post, they have great skin and they look a lot younger then they actually are. Another thing yang ketara is that takde sangat org yang buncit2 nih. Do note that they have alarmingly low birth-rate that they can take unpaid maternity leave up to 12 months and its government is thinking of giving a paid leave somemore in the future! Conclusion diorang ni tak gemuk/buncit sbb tak beranak kot?? Pernah sekali tu we all terhegeh2 naik tangga subway. Tup2 ada pakcik bertongkat naik tangga dengan lajunya. Uhh.. sungguh tercabar. Maybe they're so used to being dalam town yang sungguh pack, they just langgar you if they want to pass by with no apology. Here, that is not considered rude. So you have to mind where you're going.
Another thing you need to note abt Korean is that English is not widely spoken. Be ready to misunderstand and to be misunderstood. When shopping be ready with a calculator (they call it carcurator here) for bargaining. Do take their business card, incase you need to come back for more purchases. Kedai diorang ni ala2 mall yang ada banyak stall kat dalam and hampir kesemuanya sama. So by having their business card, you can at least track back where you came. Nak cakap dgn diorang mmg agak susah. Another thing, bawak hotel card, preferably written in their language as well. So kalau sesat, tunjuk kad tu. Anyway, tho we speak better and more English than them, they are far more modern than us when it comes to communication tech or simply the car they drive. Susah nak cari kereta kecik2 ni. Once, we came back to the hotel, in a taxi. It was a SONATA.
i am enjoying every bit of my stay here tho i must admit i miss the kids soo muchh. it's good to see people from different light. at least here when you're aboard a train, the only sign you find is beware of your bag so that tak sangkut kat pintu train rather than beware of pick pockets. now, that's one of different light i found here.
am also putting some photos here. yang last2 tu is for you all to drool for.. heh heh jangan mare!
incheon international airport
teman seperjuangan - dan juga bibik-bibik tukang masak
at INSADONG area
kumpulan dagangan 1 - pakaian
kumpulan dagangan 2 - handbag2
himpunan dagangan 3 - souvenir
himpunan dagangan 4 - aksesori
beg shopping yang setia menemani tuannya. segala maknenek adaaaa.. dr duit sampailah minyak urut kaki....
Posted at Friday, September 08, 2006 by ummi_athirah
Thursday, September 07, 2006
It is not as easy as it looks or as I thought it would be. Kadang2 seakan ternampak-nampak Iman melenggok-lenggok menari di depan mata. Kadang2 seakan terlihat panjangnya muncung kakak kalau merajuk. Rindunya pada anak-anak. Despite the daily phone calls, still. It's not the same as physically hug them. Biarlah busuk peluhpun. Biarlah nak merajuk panjangpun. Rindunya!
As sikulat remarked I am further away from Jakarta, as many of you thought. I am now in the 5th most expensive city in the whole world. To save you all from finding the statistics (bravo to those who can guess already), I am now in Seoul, Korea 5th most expensive city after Tokyo, Osaka, Paris and London (in no particular order).
After 8hrs flight from KLIA (departed at 1a.m. 3rd September 2006 Sunday) we touched down at Incheon International Airport. A relatively small (compared to KLIA) but modern airport stood proudly on an island which is 45minutes drive from the city center. Similarly to KLIA and KL City Center. And like KL, the traffic jam is testing your patience. Furthermore the roads are narrow with just yellow line dividing the traffic flow. Ngeri kekadang tu bila berselisih, barely a feet away. Plus, they all drive big cars. It's hard to find Kancil, Picanto, Aveo, Savvy equivalent on the road. Mostly their national cars. We've seen one Honda and a few Merc so far. Oprta is known as Lasetti. Motocycles are scarce as well especially during the day. And most cars are in silver, white, grey and black. I have not seen shocking green or even light blue except for buses. As the tour agent said, we Korean are not good at decorating.
Oh, I am honeymooning with a group of about 30 people. Actually, I am tagging along mdh's mba's gang. They are here for a 5-days seminar. There are 5 tag-alongs, including me. We made a gang of 7, inclusive of 2 reps from the travel agency. So, while they're at their business, we are enjoying ourselves shopping before we adjourned at around 3 or 4pm to prepare dinner for our beloved husbands (who ate like nobody business at some muslim restaurant somewhere, anyway). By the way, Korea has a population of 34m people, with 13m in Seoul. Seoul is a packed, rather unsystematically arrange I think, city. They have no skyscrapers. Buildings are close between one another. Shops lined the streets barely 2 or 3 meters from the curb.
After we touched down, collected bags, passed through immigration, settled ourselves in a coach, we immediately started our trip with visit to a Seoul Folk Museum and Changdeokgung Palace. After torturing ourselves in somewhat hot day, we had lunch at a Pakistani restaurant. Suddenly we felt close at home, savoring nasi beriyani and roti nan. For that, we paid RM60 each. After lunch we checked-in at Sejong Hotel (strategically located for shopping enough to make you husband's heart pound stronger each day), a 15 storey building with some rooms with no window at all! Kami beruntung sebab dapat bilik with a view. Tho it's a bit sempit as compared to any hotels I went before, we are thankful. Some friends didn't get bath tub, or tiny-miny closet or room without a view.
Anyway, after checked-in, we rushed to Korean Ginseng Government Store. This particular ginseng, is controlled by Korean Government. You cant even shoot photos in the store. Unfortunately, we have got some communication problem there as the sales girls, all of them don't speak English. Communication is made via the travel agent, as medium. We gawked rather obviously at them. They have flawless skin. Udahlah putih melepak, licin pulak tu. Khasiat Ginseng lah tu. The travel agent himself, looked barely 35 when he's actually 48! Seriously! But anyhow, niat kami untuk sama2 berkulit flawless terus padam when we were told the price. Pack of 3 powdered ginseng costs about USD189 -> almost RM800.
Next we went to Amethyst Shop. All products were with 50% discount. Cantik banget. They're in white gold or white-gold plated silver. Mdh bought me an amethyst ring, with 2 crystals on each side. They have nice, to-drool-for arrays of accessories -> rings, bracelets, bangles, necklace, brooch. One problem -> only one person speaks English. Thank God for the wonders of calculators -> untuk tawar menawa maaa!!
Tho we were all jelly-legged by then (the sun was gone, we were busuk from sweat, muka berkilat and all), we still had one more destination to go -> Namsan Park. To go there, we took a cable car (which was sardine-packed) and then to our surprise, we had to climb tangga and more tangga to reach its peak before we could actually naik to Seoul Tower (the tower is located on top of the hill). From the tower (KL Tower equivalent), we saw all of Seoul in the heat of the night. Lights could be seen as far as you eyes allow. Memang pack sangat in Bandar. After ½ hr of oohhh and ahhhh we lined up to get back to Sejong Hotel. It was Monday night (Ahad malam Isnin) and yet these local folks flocked to Namsan as if (1) they're the tourists (2) it was Sunday night (3) young and hip. No 3 refers to makcik and pakcik yang berpusu2 ke sana in their heelsssss, mind you. Some even dressed in suit and dinner gown and heelsssss. We concluded the khasiat of Ginseng. Hemmmm
if only they were cheaper.
After 'Khamsa-hamnida' to the travel agent (who looked a bit older at the end of the day), we parted ways to our respective sarang and settled down for the next day.
I'll be back for more updates. Now I want to go count my money left maaaa. I have 4 more days to go and yet my ration is running low. And btw, the internet access is da** expensive. About KRW500 -> RM2.00 per minute. If you hook-up for 24hrs, it is KRW25,000 -> RM95.00. and that is my 2 months payment of non-stop access of Streamyx dengan baki RM5 somemore.
Have a nice day everyone.
Posted at Thursday, September 07, 2006 by ummi_athirah
Sunday, September 03, 2006
gone honeymooning....
Posted at Sunday, September 03, 2006 by ummi_athirah
Friday, September 01, 2006
(entry terlewat - patutnya semalam)
Today marks the 6th year of our marriage
No wedding ring of tongue-twisting brand name
No mas kahwin of fancy ringgit and cent
No pelamin or costume parade event
It's been 6 years of many things.
The good and the bad.
The sweet and the sour.
The tears of joy.
The tears of sadness.
It's not just about passion it includes compassion.
It's not just about love it includes sacrifice.
We're now rounder, flabbier, heavier.
As well as older and I hope, insyaAllah, wiser.
But no doubt, happier.
Yang, happy 6th anniversary.
Andd aaaaaaa, today is also my 32nd birthday.
Posted at Friday, September 01, 2006 by ummi_athirah
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
mouse mouse go away, dont come back any other day
There's a mouse in the house, I am quite sure. I found scrapes of
potatoes in the basket and under the fridge. Yesterday morning I found
my kids' doughnuts were partially eaten and the teeth-marks were
unmistakenably one of a mouse. And last night he/she started nibbling
on my kids formula plastic-cap and the food container. Thank God it
wasn't Tupperware. We set up a trap only to find he/she carried it
under the fridge and ate kakak's cheese which we set as bait and left
the trap as it was. Maybe he/she is still small and tiny or he/she is
one genius mouse who studied the engineering of a mouse trap or maybe
he/she is one wise mouse that knows how to eat without being trapped.
Maybe it's a work-group, who knows! Help me. I need it to get the h***
out of my house before I need to replace all the Tupperware covers (I
learned this from my experience few years back semua yang kena gigit
was TUPPERWARE. Yang takde cap ni, dia tak gigit!).
Anyway,
my parents are at my house now, looking after the kids (while being
tortured into watching cartoon most of the time and 'let's learn
german' by Iman who, he alone, speaks the language). Tonight, depending
on today's workload and the time we leave office and the wheather,
we'll be sending them back to kampung for a week or two. Yes, it is due
to the haze, but partially. We (mdh and I) are going places.
Materialising our looooooonnnnngggggggggggg overdue honeymoon. Kakak is
well informed of the whole event except we kept the 'holiday' and
'honeymoon' part secret and replaced the words with 'work'. Iman, the
German speaking boy, as he's barely 2, is not aware of the fact he'll
be left under the care of atok and wan.
Let's
just hope everthing will go on well. The itinerary has been set-up, the
kids are well, their grannies are coping, their things are almost all
packed-up. And the mouse, pse pray for its capture.
Posted at Wednesday, August 30, 2006 by ummi_athirah
Permalink
Friday, August 25, 2006
an apple a day keeps the dr away
The haze is bad, still. Despite the rain.
Kakak had a fever last night. 38.6d.
She was still bubbling with energy tho.
Iman was still standing healthily.
Dancing happily to a ballet in Barbie's Swan Lake movie.
They say, an apple a day keeps the doctor away. So here goessss
.
Posted at Friday, August 25, 2006 by ummi_athirah
Thursday, August 24, 2006
The haze is getting worse, don't you think? My workstation is facing
south, near the glass window where I can enjoy the scenery of KL,
Federal Highway to be exact. And being on the 23rd floor, I have the
privilege of being a weather forecaster or traffic reporter of simply
gazing at those building cleaner hanging onto the suspended platform
where they at times swing back and forth due to the wind (that's the
3rd dangerous job in the world I saw on astro last time), while
flexing their muscles doing their job. OK, back to the haze
Yesterday,
it was more or less like this as well. It is hot during the day and hot
as well during the night. Iman and kakak have been sweating themselves
in their sleep. And kakak coughed last night. Dry. She only stopped
after 2 puffs of ventolin. And mdh took over later. Being with
asthmatic people around me, haze is sure an alarm. *reminder to self*
Drink a lot of plain water, take your supplement, minimize outdoor
activities, eat well and ganti your puasa.
Anyway.
Barely a year after moving in this office space, we're shifting again.
And this time it's a matter of just meters away. Big Boss is shifting
down from his cozy, quiet, cold and secluded office and join us in this
already crowded south wing. And he wanted a big office space for
himself. And no cubicle in front. To be closer to the staffs, so they
say. Some people are already packing their things as their cubicles
will be dismantled and moved somewhere else. While I, being in the
ceruk already, am not affected. Yess!! That saves me from packing and
unpacking and grumbling and whining while savoring the free time by
keeping up with latest gossips and whatnots with other affected staffs.
But I am not affected, remember so I shall live my office-live as
normal and say hi to my new neighbours once their cubicles are shifted
near mine. *I'll be closer to sikulat and zarid, yiipiidiiduu*
Okay. I
now want to shoot a photo of the haze as a proof of the haze itself and
that I am in fact on the 23rd floor and in fact, is facing south near
the glass window. Sorry peeps, the cleaners are nowhere to be seen
today.
VIEW FROM THE TOP - area kpg kerinchi
VIEW FROM THE TOP - kat sinun nuu area PJ
Posted at Thursday, August 24, 2006 by ummi_athirah
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
SELAMAT PENGANTIN BARU kepada yang bernikah semalam.
Walaupun
saya agak 'kurang' dengan kisah hubungan mereka tetapi saya tetap
mendoakan semoga mereka akan berbahagia. Ye lah, masjid dah terbina,
takkan kita nak doakan runtuh pulakkan. Saya harap pernikahan mereka
akan membawa kebaikan kepada kedua-dua belah pihak. Cuma lepas ini
mintak2 kurangkan lah sikit publisiti dan PC tu. Ada hati yang perlu
dijaga. Ada perasaan yang perlu dihormati. Even self-respect juga.
Selepas
berkahwin ni barulah boleh claim kenal luar dalam. Dah duduk sebumbung
nanti barulah tahu true colors masing-masing. Ada yang gosok gigi
tinggal berus gigi merata. Ada yang buka kain pelekat tinggal bergulung
atas lantai. Ada yang seluar dalam pakai berhari2 kalau tak ada orang
tolong kutipkan. Ada yang berdengkur. Ada yang malam2 mengigau sampai
gigit orang. (jangan salah anggap tidak semua berkenaan dengan suami
saya!). Apa-apa hal toleransi. Bagi saya dan suami yang bergaji
sederhana, it is more than just tolong-menolong kerja di rumah dan juga
tanggungjawab menjaga anak-anak, malahan duit gaji juga harus dikongsi.
Bagi isteri yang bukan 100% taat (heh heh) itulah antara ruang untuk
saya score extra marks. Namun begitu suami saya tetap berhajat suatu
hari nanti saya meninggalkan bidang kerja 9-to-5 dan menjadi surirumah
sepenuh masa. Bagi pasangan yang bernikah semalam tu, rasanya soal wang
ringgit bukanlah satu isu kepada mereka. Tapi harus ingat wang bukanlah
segala-galanya. Nak kata pernikahan mereka didasarkan wang ringgit
masing-masing kaya raya. Pengalaman? Hemmm
. Saya pula bagaimana?
Kenapa saya bersetuju apabila dia menyatakan hajat ingin
memperisterikan saya? Dia tak perfect tetapi dia bertepatan dengan
cirri-ciri yang saya inginkan. Selebihnya - Biarlah rahsia!
Dengarnya
mereka juga akan berbulan madu tetapi masih belum tahu di mana. Mungkin
perancangan dah dibuat cuma dirahsiakan saja. Nanti berduyun2 pulak
pihak media mengikut sama. Sebagai pasangan yang baru bernikah, memang
mereka mengharapkan privasi. Tambahan pula dengan segala kontroversi
dan isu-isu yang diperdebatkan hingga ke saat akhir mereka hampir
bergelar suami-isteri. Saya? Setelah hampir mencecah 6 tahun terikat
sebagai suami isteri dan setelah hidup kami diceriakan dengan 2 orang
buah hati pengarang jantung masih belum sekalipun berbulan madu!
Sekali
lagi Selamat Pengantin Baru (walaupun ucapan ini mungkin tidak sampai
kepada mereka pun!). Pesan saya, sebagai seorang yang telah melayari
hidup berumahtangga hampir 6 tahun (yang saya rasakan masih dalam
kategori amatur) it takes more than chocolate coated strawberries to
keep a marriage happy. True, little thing like that does add spark but
we need more than just spark to see things right.
Posted at Tuesday, August 22, 2006 by ummi_athirah
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Athirah's drawings
PART I
PART II
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