Its December aka winter aka frozen fingers

I have no excuse for my delay in posting updates here...only to blame for the fact that I have nothing special to post. Sorry...just my normal routine of going to school,,,,exams,,,and cooking. 

Anyways, my mommy is here! also with my nenek and second youngest sister. They arrived on the 29th Nov around 9.30pm and we reached home from Amman at 12am. Feels like home now that theyre with me...nenek cooked sambal goreng the next day and it was really good food that Ive missed so much. Ahhh the hari raya feels tho

On Tuesday, me, umi and my sister took the earliest bus to Amman at 8am so that we could go back as early as possible also. We had to go to the airport because someone left a luggage there aka umi terlupa. So roughly it was a 3 hour journey getting there and another 3 hours going back. Balik je da nak dekat maghrib. But do take note; its winter! so by 4pm its almost sunset. The night is super long and we only get a glimpse of sunlight for a few hours everyday. Safely got the luggage alhamdulillah.  

Wednesday I had a paper and classes until 3.30pm so I asked my very sweet friend to bring them around and also to change some money. She was kind enough to bring them to the university mosque and a restaurant to eat hummus. My mum also fell in  love with the juices here...freshly blended fruits here are da bomb. Esp avocado and nutella. The roti here is also very enak-enak...lots of freshly baked bread from the oven for cheap2 prices. It replaces our meals when we dont cook. 

Thursday came and my nenek geram kenapa tak ade ayam...minyak dabes...telur pon tkde haha. So all of us went to Carrefour with my roommate sekali. We had class at 12 so kene pegi pagi2 bile dia baru buka. Beli macam2...they also bought some stuff to bring back as gifts or trinkets for the loved ones in SG. After buying so much...we now have enough food to last until January. Thank you nenek :)

The very same day, nenek cooked all the ayam we bought and made ayam masak merah! We ended up inviting all the SG students living at talata nujum to eat dinner at our house that night. Kenduri/open house tetibe. So meriah and riuh ;D After dinner....my fam bam went to bed cause they still follow SG timing even though it was only 6.30pm and the rest of us party-ed till 10pm. Well, more of a massage spa and hair grooming kind of party with some ginger tea sipping and eating hot spicy korean ramyun whilst recording everyone's reactions. Lol

Its 2 degrees here! Help.... Im not ready to experience the harsh winter and having to wrap myself in heavy clothing while my fingers go numb every time I touch water....noooo....bring back my autumn and its sunny glory. We have been 24/7 beside the heater or under heavy blankets since my family came because it started to get really cold since the first day of December. Cue the music..wake me up when DECEMBER ends....

On a good note, our housekeeper/repairman/everything-abt-the-house-call-me guy has been strangely good to us these past few days. So I told my neighbors upstairs and they said they actually had a talk with him before and negotiated a few things as our contract was about to end. They frankly told him that if he didnt do anything about our water problems they will have no choice but to move out and that was effective because he brought them up to the roof and showed the water pump and the pipes bringing water to all the houses. He explained that he just changed the pump and the problems we had before were because the pump was rusty and old so water couldnt flow to the houses properly. They also highlighted the safety issue here and how anyone could enter the front door. He then explained that he didnt have the heart to not let the syrians come inside and knock from door to door to ask for money and proceeded in quoting hadeeths. So these past few days, every time I called for him to pump for us more water, he answered and even knocked on our door to personally tell us to on the water pump switch. So far alhamdulillah we have water running everyday.

Thats all for now! thanks for reading :) Doakan kite2 di sini. 

Assalamualaikum :)

Went to a thai restaurant with spicyyyy food

They were the ones who talked to the housekeeper abt our water problems

The hummus with sort-of naan bread and the brown thing idk. Tapi sedap they said

My cravings are fully satisfied now

The place where we took our blood for visa application. ouch

One of the many fruit juice shops

Quite some time this picture...run out of photos alr. Ni keropok lekor(yg kecik2 tu) and ice kacang

Just all of my faves in one pic

Nenek hiding the pain of winter behind that smile ;)

Exams oh exams

After being here for almost two months...the exam season has finally arrived. They werent kidding when they said its like exam after exam over here. The dates are really close with each other and now im only taking three subjects but what happens when I take 5 or 6 subjects? Dont wanna think about that now.

My first exam is tomorrow which is madkhal ila tashri and I have no idea how its gonna be like but the muqarrar is around 50 pages. My roommate sat for two exams already and now shes left with only one paper for the first sem exams. Our second exams are in December and finals are in January. Two days before there was a soccer match and two Singaporean teams were participating...and I heard that the day after was their exam...wahhh relax pe. Wells...seniors katakan. There was also a mini festival/bazaar in uni that the malaysian students organized and invited people to come. Sadly I didnt go but my friend who did said they sold keropok lekor(!!) and thai milk tea(!!) like what tau pegi seh.

Sorry I havent been updating much. I know its super boring reading this haha I have nothing to write about.

Yesterday during tashri, the girls seriously tk ade segan silu dengan prof. They bombarded him with questions about the exam paper and complained that it was too much. They said why did they have to memorise and why does the questions have to be short-ans. In the end the prof replied:
القاعدة هي أن تدرس تنجح

Which vaguely means: The method is that if you study you will do well.
Short and sweet. Haha

Yesterday also during ulum askari... I was shocked to see that the girl who was two rows in front of me brought along her daughter/sister (?) to the lecture hall. She was like 5 years old and was casually sipping strawberry milk like it was normal for her to be there. Throughout the entire lesson none of the soldiers tegur dia only when lecture was over one man warned her not to bring her daughter/sister(?) again.

Doakan I do well for my exams!
Assalamualaikum :)

Rehlah 23rd Oct

After postponing and changing dates so many times...we finally had the chance to go on our very first rehlah together with other Singaporean students, There were a total of 70 of us and 3 shuttle buses.

Even though the date was a bit tight for us since first sem exams were nearing...tapi tkpe satu hari je. We gathered around 7.45am that Friday morning and each house bwk makanan sikit...ade bwk roti telur...egg mayo...chicken mayo etc

First we headed to Ashabul Kahfi which is located around 1 hour from Amman, The weather was as usual cooling but with the scorching hot sun...nasib baik pakai sunblock. The girls entered the cave first and there was a guy in charge of explaining the history of the seven sleepers. He could also speak malay which was entertaining. We've only read surah Al-Kahf and listened to stories about them but actually being there gave me goosebumps. After some photo taking (which was bothered by the glaring heat) we took our wudhu and performed sunnah prayers at the ashabul kahfi mosque right next to the cave. It was surprisingly clean and the musolla was pleasant and cozy.

We then made our journey to the Dead Sea which was another 1 hour plus from ashabul kahfi. Taxis cannot drive all the way there so you either have to rent a car and drive yourself or follow a tour there with other passengers. Once we reached our destination...the heat once again ma sha Allah panaaaas pls.

Ok so let me tell you...whenever you heard the name 'Dead Sea' Im sure the word 'fresh' and 'cooling' comes to mind right cause why not...its an exotic beach which makes you float on the water. But sure enough all my thoughts and anticipation slowly faded away when I actually reached the beach and walked around the place. I think it would be a lot better if you go during the winter because of certain reasons.

First of all, the heat (be careful you might actually get a headache if you stand too long under the hot sun) made you squint your eyes and there was not much wind to reduce the terik-ness. Second, orang arab lelaki takde segan silu langsung be it married men or not the sight you see is something shocking and makes you wanna wash your eyes with soap. I mean takyah lah nk mandi depan semua orang..I dont care if youre wearing shorts but everyhting else is exposed pls. Toilet kat sebelah je sebenarnya tapi semua nak bilas badan kat pipe luar. Thanks eh memang free show ke ape ugh

Last but not least, the surprising amount of lalat at this beach is Whaaa...Haiyaaaa so many. We set up a table for food and ended up semua mcm nak perang dengan lalat psl they keep sticking themselves on the tupperware and pinggan semua...ya Allah. Tapi semalam ramai juga orang puasa so there lots of leftover food to bring back and eat. Kat beach mainly we ate chicken barbecue and nasi goreng seniors yang prepare. The food that we made most of them kene distributed among us to bring back. Malam kurang sikit ah lalat...but overall it was hard to eat with insects swarming around your food.

So at the Dead Sea activities include walking or floating in the salty sea or enjoying a nice all natural do-it-yourself mud spa. Which one can simply apply to skin after collecting it from the rocks and mud found near the water. Lots of locals were at the beach that day and hardly any foreigners except for us. The water is painful on wounds or cuts so make sure you dont have any before entering the sea kalau tak memang takde ampun ye. It will...sting..badly. Dont ever rub your eyes also when in touch with the water. One friend da semangat nak float kat air pastu lost balance and accidently rubbed her eyes and splashed her face with the water...da lah dia pakai contacts. Haisss...but she was ok after a few minutes haha

Watching the sunset was also very rewarding and it felt like therapy cause the sky was so beautiful and magical. Ma sha Allah sangat2...after that the air feels cooling but still after a long day you just wanna wash up at home and snuggle into clean and dry clothes. One funny thing that happened bile balik was that after 2 hours in the bus going back to Irbid...my pants dried up and became hard like cardboard. The sea really has a high salinity but I didnt know it made certain material of clothing harden up. Cool or what

So thats how my trip went it was super fun but super tiring. We spent the whole day just resting at home today...hope all of you had a fun weekend! Sending lots of love to everyone wherever you are! Enjoy looking at the pictures hehe
Assalamualaikum~

Almost a month being away

Alhamdulillah for everything that has happened for these past few weeks.
Sometimes I still cant believe Im actually living one of my dreams which was to live in an Arab country. Still so surreal and at the same time feeling very exhausted from the difficulties that come with it. What I imagined before coming here was slightly less difficult than what I am experiencing now.

In Singapore, I realized I was pampered and spoiled by the our country and its easy access to basic necessities and vast variety of goods and not to mention world class service. I did not have any worries whatsoever and I spent each and every day with a normal routine. My worries over there were less significant and sometimes I felt very unaccomplished and bored because there was no tension in my life that would help me grow and learn and eventually shape me to become a better person. It was very satisfying but at the same time monotonous with zero exitement. Which was why I really wanted to study overseas and experience new things (and get travel alot >-<)

Although starting a new beginning here was hectic and an emotional roller coaster, I finally feel comfortable and relaxed once things were settled and I familiarized myself with the uni.

Yesterday was our Imtihan Kafa'ah(entrance exam) and it was 2 hours all tested by mcq questions so all of us knew our probability was 50/50. There was English, Arabic and IT and Alhamdulillah I passed all of them so I dont need to take it as an extra subject and can straight away move on to the next level. Alhamdulillah x3 I seriously did not expect it.

Yesterday also during Isha, one of the many things that worry me constantly occured even though it was only Thursday. We had water shortage. Now it doesnt even surprise me anymore. It was out for 2 or 3 hours and we called the caretaker to inform him. Luckily it didnt happen when one of us was in the toilet even though that happened before...twice already. Ala kulli hal we promised ourselves we would bear with it till our contract ends. Oh how precious water is:(

Not to mention the language barrier....ammiyah is so hard I always end up just showing them what I want or using words that they know. Cant really communicate yet.

Sorry theres no pictures yet in sha Allah next post :)
Assalamualaikum!

Uni begins

1/10/2015

Alhamdulillah yesterday was my second day attending lectures and if you dont already know...I only go to school twice a week. Its so difficult...I wanna study during my free time but its also like...I dont wanna JUST study. You know?

Since my classes are on Monday and Wednesday...Im free from Thursday till Sunday. This sunday my housemates ajak pegi Amman. So faaaaar away...mesti balik malam haha and mesti habis duit beli macam2 :( So I told them no thanks just cause I dont trust myself with money in a mall or Ikea. They just mainly wanna go check out the Ikea there. I dont know what I'll be doing during the weekends but in sha Allah it will be filled with activites. 

So today is a Thursday and later we are going to meet up with Kakak2 SIRAJ untuk register for class Quran Tamhidiyyah...basically they teach you tajweed and also the reading style similar to our prophet (pbuh). Theres also class belajar ammiyah and to sharpen your arabic speaking skills. 

So theres that.

Ok...so about my classes. The first one is at 9.30 till 11 and its my smallest class and since me and my friend are the only Singaporeans... the prof calls us by Singaporean no. 1 and 2 its so funny padahal ade juga kakak2 Malaysia duduk kat belakang. The Arabs in that class pon ade a few varieties but mostly its the Irbid students who do most of the talking I guess cause the amiyyah is different and they speak soooo fast like tak sempat tarik nafas kot laju sangat. Our first lesson was about Islamic Law and its needs in solving societal issues. Just a discussion about the importance of it and what our lives would be without it...ade cakap pasal zaman Jahiliyyah and how they didnt have limitations so were free to do anything they pleased. I understood 95% of what the prof was saying omg so proud. But I need to make sure I read everytime before class starts so I can ask questions...maybe?....still nervous like what.....in sha Allah soon. No pressure please.

Second class was straight away after the first at 11 to 12.30 in the hall at Kuliah Adab. Let me tell you....its sooo different and loud there especially if you walk alone cause theres like crowds of Arabs boys and girls and they just swarm around you so fast. Theres also (of course) bystanders whom I have no idea why they are just standing there TALKING and LAUGHING so loud while eye-balling people walking by. Like...go to class or hangout somewhere else besides the entrance door or on the floor in the corner of the building...super conscience whenever I walk in that building. eugh

My second class is ulum askari and ALL the seniors warned us about this subject but I guess I wanted to finish and get over with this subject since its a uni requirement. Its just about Jordons war history and its development over the years. Super tak paham and tak interesting :/

After that, I have around 1hr 30min till my last class at 2-3.30pm which is madkhal ilal aqidah. It was suppose to be a dokturah but she hasnt returned yet so a different prof replaced her and he was new and super serious. At first boleh paham ah sikit2 but we havent bought our books yet so after 30min he started getting deeper into the topic and I was so confused. He spoke fast and with lots of ammiyah but he super semangat ah tk duduk langsung and just jalan2 sambil terangkan example semua. In sha Allah will do my reading before this class also.

~

Part 2

So Alhamdulillah we registered for the Quran class and it starts this Sunday at 12 and finishes 1.30pm. The centre is a house at basement level and has like 4 rooms where the classes are held. Our teacher is this really soft-spoken lady whom is super sweet and gentle. Each one of us had to read a few ayats from surah Ar-Rahman as a pre-test to know whether we can read properly or not. There were 3 stages to this and the first one is learning the tajwid, the second is memorizing juz 1 and 15 and the third one is reading with sanad. Theres an exam for each of the stages but this is only a rough idea about the markaz as Im not really sure for certain on the 3 stages.

After buying the tajweed books from them we all headed back home. At night, 2 guys and 1 kakak from SIRAJ visited our apartment to check if there were any problems that needed to be addressed to the housekeeper. After talking to the housekeeper, he said he will come back tomorrow to fix a few things in our toilet. But we all know that tomorrow was a Friday and that means no work for the Arabs. Amirite?? Friday is their realaxing day here...so we knew our chances.

Ok so thats all for now :) Sorry tkde gambar....

Assalamualaikum semua!

Monday here we come

After subuh on Thursday, everyone was busy getting ready to go to Angels home to catch the shuttle bus to Amman. We had to be there by 11 and meetup with everyone else. We were asked to bring some food as it was a potluck lunch.  So we decided to goreng nasi (all of our nasi), some keropok rainbow and some nuggets....as we thought we would eat each others food over there so masak banyak2 la. Haaa

But in actual fact, they fed us generously with so much variety of food and desserts. We got to see the seniors there and share meals with them at their house. Ade rendang daging, ayam masak merah (?) and so much more. I also was just in awe of their house. Its bigger than ours here but they only have two rooms to share and the rent is really quite high. 

Nevertheless, we enjoyed their cooking and getting to know the seniors was interesting. We slowly got to know each others names and it felt just like those mini open house gatherings with your school mates for hari raya :") Btw, theres this one senior muka sebiji my bestie....yg tgh blaja in Turkey. You should see the resemblance omg twiiiins I cannot. Haha

After some chit chatting and photo taking we had to leave around 3.30pm to go sightseeing at the malls. First, we went to Mekah mall as they said it was slightly cheaper than City mall, but going there on the day of raya meant that most of the shops were closed and only some of the bigger branded shops were open...boooring. So we all left Mekah mall after praying asar to go to City mall where its triple the size and there was a Carrefour.woohooo 

So da sampai City mall ya Allah besar sangat and semua kedai buka, its full of shops like Bershka, Pull and Bear, Zara etc. But the sad part was that the prices were ridiculous even though it was a public holiday. Haalllooo discount ah sikit :'( After walking around in and out of the shops, me and my roommate masuk Carrefour beli barang masak sikit and then we went to eat Pinkberry (YUM) while waiting for the time to go back to the meeting point.

Once everyone was inside the bus, we made our way back to Irbid *sad face*

It was around 6.30pm when we left Amman and during our trip back and forth, we passed by some sheep and cows for the Eid sacrifice :)

Amman memang best untuk jalan2 because theres lots of hills and empty roads you can just walk aimlessly around to calm your mind....but I didnt actually walk around but cantik permandangan kat sana. Ma sha Allah. Sampai rumah just on time before Isha' masuk and for dinner my roommate yang jarang masak (memang tak masak pon) surprised us with her cooking haha. Comel je dia masak...presentation pon melebih-lebih :') Alhamdulillah the food was quite good.

~

On Friday, all of us woke up late cause there was a random midnight girl talk up till 3am *oops* we just talked about anything thats been occupying our minds lately and bonded talking about life. 

After some pancakes for breakfast made by yours truly, my friend yang jarang masak tu tanya: Nak tengok Scorch Trials tk? I was like...oh okay boleh ah memang nak tgk pon tapi online tak clear. So thats how my impromptu movie date with her happened..haha. Memang case boring sangat kat rumah and wanted some fresh air anyways. We watched it in 3D at Irbid City Centre and after that went to buy some groceries for my friend yang nak masak spaghetti ala Aglio Olio for dinner that night. Alhamdulillah sedapzzz

~

On Saturday pulak,  after subuh I was on my laptop to check the student portal and see my subject schedule to plan out my study calender....and after that did some financial management to see how much of my expenses is needed for the next few months. Aduhai...someone shoot me already -_- baru 10 hari je dah stress pasal duit. Allahumma yassir fala tu'assir.

So after being on my bed for so long I decided to experiment in my cooking. The rest were either asleep or in their rooms and I had the whole kitchen to myself. It was like a battlefield in there I tell you...pikir macam masterchef ah campak sini campak sana nanti in the end sedap juga. Lol tepung semua splattered everywhere and my clothes and hands were covered in crusty flour eugh. Actually plan nak masak curry ayam and prata but my prata ended up tasting like chapati but my curry was decent since Ive tried making it before. All in all we had chapati brunch at 2pm.

We didnt go out after that and just stayed at home, some of us did some laundry and some of us just stayed online. For dinner, we decided to order out pizza since we agreed that Sat is the only day we eat out while each of us will cook once or twice for the rest of the week. We even have a duty rooster to keep track who does laundry on which day and for taking turns taking out the trash. 

So instead of starting school on a Sunday which all of us thought was the first day, Monday will be the day school reopens. Wish me luck! i just hope I can make some Arab friends soon so I wont feel so lost in uni. Amin

Thats all for now. Bismillahi tawakkal ala Allah

Assalamualaikum!

Get ready for the food spree. My friend yang tk masak made this for us bile balik Amman ;') memang sedap makan dengan kicap

Aglio Olio freestyle by my housemate lagi satu

Tastes like Mcd pancakes. Not kidding heh

Cant believe I made that from scratch...proud pls

Pizza partyyyyy the margarita one naaaaise yum2

Her over the top presentation of the meal. lets see how long we can keep this up...this cooking thing I mean

City mall

They even made lauk sayur lodeh and black pepper lamb....gahhhh

Ni pun kakak2 Amman buat its marshmallows with cereal and koko cruch or cookie crisps.

Some of the houses there remind me of Casablanca just cause they look so posh and  high class.

Cotton candy skies

Ni pulak dorang beli...its shaped as sheep if u cannot see :)

The medium sized cup comes with 6 toppings and costs 5.80jd tkpe share dgn kawan haha

Eid mubarak!

So I called my family to see whats up in sg....and they were eating my favourite dishes for iftar. Nenek masak :( I called at the perfect timing ya.

I found out that 2 of my sisters will be following my cousin here in december in sha Allah. Yayy more people!

Alhamdulillah I managed to fast on this blessed day even though missed my sahoor. Cleaned the balcony today and wiped the windows....it was super difficult to remove the stains and dusts clumped behind the aircon ventilator. Lots of kulit kacang and cigarette sticks all over...eugh.

Before maghrib...half an hour before...our sweet kakak sebelah rumah ketuk pintu and kasi kuih cornflakes (!!) ade nutella and peanut butter yumm. We talked for a while and she wanted to look around the house also. It was nice getting to know her and we asked her questions that we've been dying to know the answers to. Just found out that they are only 2 years apart from us and soon graduating...whuut WHUttt -_- patutlah muka dorang muda sangat and lawa haha. They also said the house was very dusty when we moved in because of the sandstorm which occured a few weeks ago.

Anyways, our dinner/iftar menu for today was Nasi Briyani ayam style arab of course and for part 2 of the meal, we ordered murtabak heluu (means; sweet). Alhamdulillah kenyang sangat :)

Thank you for reading this random rant of mine,
Till next time in sha Allah
Hope all of you have a blessed eid! Kullu am wa antum aqrab ilaAllah!
Assalamualaikum lovely people. Gnite

A lovely abaya shop located along the streets of  balad. My roommates went crazy over here but of course...must refrain desires. In sha Allah one day. It costs around 17-20jd depends on the design. Free alteration you just have to wait an hour :)

Dont worry...keep calm and just cook. - wise words from ma Mommy

Actually pagar tu mcm buat menyemak tapi lepas da bersihkan baru boleh jenguk2 luar...

waiting for our cushions to be cleaned...very untidy i know

Our lovely eating/campak-anything-on-it table

Nikmaaat Alhamdulillah~

Murtabak heluu...its covered with sweet cream and honey hence the name :)