Berangan Lagi....

purple by Neny featuring Nike

I miss them.....

My Mak & Abah.....

My sister uploaded several photos in FB taken when they had celebrated Mother´s & Father´s Day recently. Seeing these photos makes me feel like crying....I miss them so much!!!!

Ya Allah Ya Tuhan ku...kasihanilah ibu bapa kami sebagaimana mereke berdua mengasihani kami.....

Outing yg tak jadi

Alkisahnya smlm kami plan nak pi petik strawberi somewhere kat area Frankfurt. Aku pon x sure nama tempat tu. Cemana nak pi tempat tu, semuanya bergantung pd cik Mat yg dapat informasi dr sorg member yg dah pi petik last weekend. Actually byk je tempat utk petik strawberi kat sini, cuma kena cari tempat yg accessible ngan public transport la.

Mcm biasa, the same muka2 la yg join outing ni; Mat, Liza, Zul and Pak An n of course aku sekeluarga.

Since skrg adalah agak panas di siang hari (tp xdelah panas sesgt mcm mesia pon), maka kami plan nak pi sebelah petang. Dr Raunheim, kami bertolak dlm pukul 4 ptg, and janji nak jumpa yg lain kat Hauptwache pukul 4.30 ptg. Tp approaching Frankfurt Am Main, it was announced that train berakhir kat situ, so nak pi Hauptwache kena tukar train. Selalunya route separuh2 ni ari Ahad je, Sabtu jarang la pulak camni. Tp xpe la, since byk je train yg akan lalu Hauptwache tu...so it was still fine.

Sampai Hauptwache, kami jumpa Zul n Pak An and then turun ke platform U-Bahn. Then nampak announcement kat info board, stating that U-Bahn yg kami nak naik, akan stop somewhere along the route due to railtrack maintenance works, then kena naik bas yg akan hantar ke stesen U-Bahn yg beroperasi secara normal. Well, kat situ dah ada org agak ada second thoughts whether nak pi ke tak, tp we proceeded. So naik U-Bahn sampai Dorsbuch, semua org kena turun, naik bas utk pegi ke stesen U-Bahn Enkheim (kot?).

On the way, ada accident kat simpang empat, so the driver (pompuan) announced that since bas x leh nak gi straight, dia akan divert laluan ke kanan, then buat U-turn. Tp yg sensasinya, x tau la apa minah driver tu pikir, dia pi buat U-turn kat tgh2 jalan yg bukan pon meant utk buat U-turn. Masalahnya x lepas!!!! Imagine la, bas ni bas yg panjang (2x panjang bas biasa), so cemana nak lepas? So now, bas ni dah blocked both sides of the road! Asalnya satu side je yg jam sbb accident tu, now dua2 sides dah jammed ok!

Si minah ni dah panik, dah siap mencarut2 tau...ngan polis dtg lg, ngan org2 dtg check out the situation. Pendek kata mmg satu situasi yg kelakar la. Siap yg tgk2 tu keluarkan kamera, amik gambar. Then ada satu driver bas dr bas lain dtg, so dia took over the wheel. Lama la jugak mamat ni try undur depan belakang, akhirnya dapat jugak meluruskan bas itu. Tp nak buat U-turn mmg x dapek la nak tolong! Mmg mustahil pon nak buat U-turn utk bas sepanjang itu di situ. Kitorg dok berkira2, sempat ke nak pi petik strawberi ni sbb masa tu dah kul 5.30 ptg.

So now bas meneruskan perjalanan, dan somewhere further up baru la ada tempat yg mmg designated utk buat U-turn. So patah balik....tapi sampai je kat tempat kejadian u-turn x lepas tu, polis lak tunggu. So minah driver dah kena soal siasat, maybe nak kena saman kot. Lama tu kena interrogate, yg kitorg pulak dok budget time sbb kalau dah lambat pon no point nak pegi. Masa tu dah dekat kul 6 ptg and strawberry farm lak tutup kul 8 mlm. Tapi nak jadi citer, x lama lepas tu ngan sesi interrogate blom abis lagi, hujan lak turun ngan lebat. Huh! mmg confirm la kitorg x pi petik strawberi kan!

Lepas soal siasat selesai (x tau pompuan tu kena saman ke x), bas pon bergerak menuju ke destinasi, stesen U-Bahn yg seterusnya. Sampai situ, kitorg amik bas lain yg patah balik ke stesen Dorsbuch n amik U-Bahn menuju Hauptwache. Sampai Hauptwache, Liza n Mat beli pizza, the rest pi REWE dan lepas tu lepak kat fountain depan Woolworth mkn pizza...hahaha...betul2 xde tujuan. Lepas pizza, menuju Thai Fun dan tambah lg kalori mkn Phad Thai....boleh?

Xde rezeki nak petik strawberi sbb musim strawberi akan berakhir bulan ni, nak pi minggu depan pon ntah2 dah habis kena harvest suma strawberi...kena tunggu thn depan la jawabnya.

A Trip to the Zoo

Cik Liza..eh, silap Pn. Liza has requested an entry of our trip to Frankfurt Zoo on last Saturday. Seriously, I want to blog about it much earlier because there were so much to tell, but I have no time...ntah apa2 la makcik sorang ni sibuk! But indeed I am busy.....with my daily chores, with cik HB, with kids, with friends, even my time with FB has been reduced (but never forget to check out my Barn Buddy and Farm Town business every day...hehehe). The thing is, just when I want to start blogging, there will always be interruption...someone wants to pee, the other wants water...bla, bla, bla...and that, spoils my mood to write.

Back to the zoo trip, we went there along with several friends; Liza, Mat, Pak An and Zul. Frankfurt Zoo is easily accessible by public transport; from Frankfurt Am Main Hauptbahnhof just take U-Bahn (U7) or tram (no.11). We arrived there at 11am, I was surprised to see there were not many people at the entrance because back in Malaysia, at this hour at Zoo Negara or Zoo Melaka, there would be a huge flock of visitors queuing at the entrance.

We started our zoo tour at the tigers house but were disappointed to see that all cages were empty. Then we moved to the animals-of-nightlife house which has quite a large collection of animals.

Coming out from there, we entered the aqua species & reptiles collection house. Nice collection of animal species, I would say. By then it was already mid-afternoon and everybody was hungry for lunch. So we looked for a place to have a picnic as everybody bought their share of lunch foods. I brought ayam masak madu and cucur udang, Liza with white rice, mixed vege and sandwich, and Zul had cooked daging masak kurma. Luckily we found this picnic table at a secluded area. The thing was, since we had this seemed-to-be a big feast and eating with fingers, we drew some attention from the zoo visitors. Other visitors seemed to be eating only snacks like pizza or wurst (German´s famous sausage), and here we were eating a complete meal of heavy lunch...hehehe. This is one thing about being Malays, no?

Our lunch

After lunch, we toured around to see giraffes, hippo...well, long list to name each but elephant was no where in sight. We later found out, there was no elephant at this zoo....I thought elephant is one of the must-have zoo animals.

A family of Bonobos. Cari kutu activity eh?

Hippos basking under the sun

Okapi...what a unique species

There was this dramatic incident happened while we were in the zoo but I´m not allowed to talk about it. Just to say that, it was one bad experience and taught us a great lesson.

Anyway, I would say this Frankfurt Zoo is worth a visit. It´s not as big as Zoo Negara but the collection of animals there is quite impressive.

And we are looking forward to the next zoo trip.....Opel Zoo.

A Family Wedding & The New Nephew

My sister-in-law, Ja is now married. Congratulation dear! The wedding took place on last June 6th in KB. All family members were there to celebrate except us. How jealous am I to see this family photo without us being there.......

On the latest news, her twin, Ida who got married last year had just delivered a baby boy last week. It was an early delivery as she had high-blood pressure at very high scale, so she went thru C-section to avoid any problems to both mother and baby. Alhamdulilah, they both are now in good health.

Gaya Hidup Sihat

Aku sebenarnya dah makin demotivated utk menguruskan badan (to my diet buddy, ni la reason nape aku senyap aje dr membuat post kat Diari Kurus. Sori ek!)

Tapi adalah sekali sekali dtg angin rajin aku, aku on video aerobic dan bereksesais. Si Nabihah pon sibuk ikut buat sekali...hahaha.

Yg kelakarnya skrg, ari2 dia mintak aku pasang video tu walaupun aku xde mood pon nak buat exercise. Ayat dia "Kakak nak tolong umi eksesais". Kalau la betul aku boleh kurus hasil exercise dia tu.....hahaha.

Video Nabihah berexercise:

Humiliation

Today, I went to this supermarket in Russelsheim to do some groceries shopping. I had asked Liza to help babysitting the girls while I went shopping. If I brought them along, the 1-hour shopping time could be extended to 2-hour, dealing with their behaviour.

So, as usual I brought along my shopping trolley with me and at the supermarket I took the big shopping cart and put my shopping trolley in. After taking all the groceries stuffs I wanted, I went to the cashier to pay. As part of the routine, she asked me to open my shopping trolley to check whether I have put everything that I took on the paying desk. So after everything was paid, I loaded all items in the shopping cart and went to the one corner to transfer all the things into my shopping trolley.

Then I headed to the exit. As I passed through the exit, the scanner activated a loud alarm. I was bewildered and while I turned around to look at the cashier, one old man who was queueing to pay, shouted something nasty to me! I can't really understand what he was saying but from his expression and the way he said it, I knew he accused me for stealing! I didn't panic because I had the payment receipt with me (luckily, it is always my habit to insist for the receipt everytime I buy something). But I was thinking probably the cashier had accidentally missed to scan one of the items. One of the supermarket's staff approached me and without waiting for her to say anything, I just handed her the receipt and opened my shopping trolley. She peeped through and took out the Nescafe bottle and she asked me to walk pass the scanner. No alarm....Then she gave me back the Nescafe and asked me to walk pass the scanner. And again, the alarm was automatically activated. So the Nescafe was the culprit! The staff just asked me to go off because obviously the Nescafe has been paid for.

It wasn't my mistake but I couldn't forget the way I was shouted nastily at. Damn you old man for making me feel so humiliated in the public!

Birthday Party

Although the twins' birthday was two weeks ago, only on the last Saturday did we managed to throw a proper birthday party and have it celebrated with some friends. We had about 35 adults and 6 kids. With Kak Liza's help, I managed to prepare nasi minyak, dalca daging, acar timun & karot, ayam bakar berempah, fried mee, karipap, bubur cacar and kuih bom.

I have to thank a lot of people who helped us to make this party happened. Kak Liza was a great cook, she did most of the cooking and she even brought her big pots and kitchen utensils as I don't have enough kitchen utensils to prepare fod for such a large crowd. Liza and Mat too, apart from lending us their things to be used in the party, they even came early to help out before the party started.

And I want to thank all the friends, Siegen clans, Suryati and family (Ti, TQ for the strawberries and the carrot cake), the boys from Russelsheim, the girls from Friedberg, the Frankfurters) for coming to the party and for giving lovely birthday presents to the twins. The Siegens gave a huge castle-look-ballon which the twins enjoy so much, then Uncle Zul gave two sets of writing/drawing copier which I'm really impressed because it allows all the art works done to be printed. Most importantly, as the twins like conteng-conteng, and our stock of papers always run out due to their activity, now with this gift, we can save papers...yeay! Then, there are sets of pencil colours, alarms clocks, pencil cases, portable writing desk, Tinkerbell neck support (which is very useful when we travel for long distant trip), stationary sets with cute toys and watch. I can't really remember from whom and whom of those presents but to those who have given the presents and you happen to read this, I want to say thank you for the lovely presents...we really appreciate them!

Some photos from the party:

We are the Gemini family

The girls were so enthusiastic blowing the candles, even Cik Dee also was taking part...hehehe

The boys of Russelsheim

Makan time!

Sumaiyyah, the Morroccan girl from downstairs

Liza & Mat working together making kuih bom before the party started. Sweet couple eh?

Org Melayu lain suma berkurung dlm rumah, 3 org ni je selamba mkn tgh panas!

The girls with their birthday presents


Mat and Nabilah lepak dlm belon istana. Peace....

The New Number

Well, it's 31 now. Happy Birthday to me!!!!


Photo courtesy of "D Sharon Pruitt"

On Saturday, I'm going to throw a birthday party for the twins. See, their birthday was two weeks ago, mine is today and next week will be cik HB's birthday. So we are one happy Gemini family, aren't we?

June also is the month of birthday celebrations for some people in my family. To start with, my brother-in-law, Abe Rosid whose birthday was on last 10 June, my two sisters, Shima and Ana with birthdays of 22 and 25 June respectively. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY everyone!

A Civil Wedding

I had never seen or attended any civil wedding before but recently I went to one. For info, civil wedding is a non-religious wedding act and Wiki has defined it as "An Act respecting certain aspects of legal capacity for marriage for civil purposes"

Kak Liza, a Malaysian lady I have befriended ever since coming to Germany, has actually been married to his husband since 2 years ago by Islamic wedding act (akad nikah). But the problem is, since they were married in Frankfurt, German´s government does not recognize the marriage certificate. When the marriage is not recognized, therefore Kak Liza´s spouse (who is a Malaysian) is not eligible to obtain the visa to live in Germany eventhough Kak Liza is already a permanent resident here. Actually the civil marriage is not the only requirement for the visa things, there are various requirements need to be fulfilled before Cik Dee, the husband can get the visa. For example, he had to pass the Deutsch language test before he can apply for the visa. For the application purposes, there are thousands things to submit, the spouse´s annual income details, the accomodation contract, health insurances and so on. And all these working papers took 2 years before Cik Dee is granted with 3-month visa last month. So the civil marriage is the next step for 1-year visa application.

The ceremony took place at the local Rathaus or townhall and carried out by a female registrar. The act was very simple, the registrar read important articles from the Marriage Act, then she asked each bride and groom on their agreement to be married. To be honest, I didn´t understand a thing. When suddenly the people in the room cried or eyes reddened or some were brushing their eyes, I was confounded. I guess the groom too, was bewildered. Apparently the registrar had read a heart-touching poem about marriage. Too bad I didn´t understand...

The registrar

While the ceremony being held....

This is the moment most of the people cried or emotionally touched...except me and the groom...hehehe

After 2 years, finally it´s official...

We were the ladies of the day....

My girls were the flower girls on the day, along with their new friend, Rachel, a 5-year-old, Philipino-American descendants. At first she was unfriendly to the twins but it just took a while before she started playing with the twins. The spoke different language, she of English and the twins, of course la Malay. But surprisingly, they understood each other. She couldn´t remember the twins´names so she called them the PINK and PURPLE according to the colour of the twins´ dresses. Luckily, after the wedding ceremony at the Rathaus (and afraid they would smear dirty their satin-creamy gowns!) I changed them to another dresses (one pink, another purple), otherwise I wonder how would Rachel address these girls.

Aren´t they cute?

After the wedding, we had a small luncheon at Kak Liza´s house. Though it´s Germany, we were served with authentic Malay foods...of beef rendang, lamb curry, nasi lemak, prawn sambal and so on. Just no nasi minyak and bunga telur!

To Kak Liza & Cik Dee: Semoga berbahagia!

Ceramah UZAR & KFC Halal

Sabtu lepas, aku & family and geng2 Siegen menghadiri ceramah agama 'Kesempurnaan Solat' oleh Ustaz Zaharuddin atau lebih dikenali as UZAR di pejabat konsulat Malaysia kat Frankfurt. A day before ceramah, kami diminta bg details, but tup2 on the same day di beritau tempat dah penuh. Dah ler ceramah agama jarang2 diadakan, tempat pon limited? Tp cik HB ckp pergi aje, kalau diorg x bg masuk, kita pegi je la jln2 kat flohmarkt.....ceramah agama vs flohmart? Contradict....

Anyway, xde pon apa2 registration masa kami sampai tu and though ceramah diadakan di bilik yg kecik, tempat kosong byk aje lg. Nasib baik pegi jugak....4 jam ceramah rasa kejap aje cause the way UZAR berceramah sgt interesting. Yg x bestnya kamera aku abis bateri, so langsung la x dpt amik apa2 gambar.

Lepas ceramah abis, kami meronda kat Konstablewache, a very famous shopping area in Frankfurt. But since we didn't bring the twins' stroller and they fell asleep while we travelled in the tram, we had to carry them. Rasa nak patah pinggang dukung Nabihah yg makin berat dan membantut hasrat aku nak survey sandal. Then we decided to search for KFC halal yg telah diwar2kan akan kewujudannya oleh budak2 Melayu di Frankfurt. Yg ini mmg dibuktikan dgn sijil halal yg di tampal kat outlet KFC tu.

Ingatkan dekat tp mencabar la jugak nak pegi. Naik S-Bahn ke Eschborn for 20 minit, then kena naik bas lg. Dah ler bas 1/2 jam sekali, membuatkan kami kena tunggu dlm 20 minit lg. Dah sampai kat bus stop yg sepatutnya, ingat dah sampai tapi still kena jln kaki lg dlm...rasanya 1 km kot. Hish...penangan KFC punya pasal. Yg peliknya nape KFC ni aje yg ada sijil halal? Nak kata bandar besar, cam kampung aje...mcm x nampak apa2 keistimewaan. Maybe komuniti Islam kat Eschborn besar kot, so demand terhadap makanan halal tinggi. Sib baik la KFC tu still buka lg, and betul ada sijil halalnya and sedaaaaap!!! Didie siap order bucket bawa balik lagi....

Sijil halal...

Dah selamat licin suma, baru ingat nak amik gambar.....

Agak2 kalau kat Mesia, nak ke amik gambar depan KFC camni?

Photos courtesy of Md Nur....tima kasih ye!

So pada warga Islam Malaysia yg tinggal di Germany, kalau kepingin nak KFC tu, x yah la amik risiko lg seludup ayam KFC dr Mesia ok.... (though baru ni Mat bawa balik ayam KFC dr Mesia, aku makan gak...hehehe). Dengar ceritanya selain dari KFC Eschborn ada lagi satu KFC di Germany ada sijil halal jugak tapi I'm not sure where. And khabarnya juga more KFC akan mempunyai sijil halal tak lama lagi. Maybe sebab ramai org Islam Turki and Morocco di Germany, maka KFC mengambil inisiatif mewujudkan makanan halal. Macam di France.....hopefully.