Hati Wangi!

Sikembar suka sgt ngan buku2, just like I do. Though belum pandai membaca lagi, diorg suka everytime sy bacakan buku cerita. Kami ada byk jugak la koleksi buku2 cerita, dr kisah2 nabi, mengenal sifat2 Allah, kisah2 dongeng Melayu dan juga fairytales stories.

One of the favourite book adalah cerita Bawang Merah & Bawang Putih. Buku ni dlm English so kerapkali la diorg tanya bila tak paham. After a while bila dah faham, diorg akan tanya soalan out of the box. Like Nabilah tanya kenapa mak bawang putih tolak mak bawang merah dlm kolam and I remember telling her once sbb mak bawang putih tu hatinya busuk.

Then recently masa sy baca buku tu lagi, Nabihah pulak tanya soalan yg sama (asking the same questions over and over again mmg kebiasaan budak berdua ni, I dont know whether diorg mm tak ingat or just to test my patience!). Before sy sempat reply, Nabilah responded to soalan kakaknya:

Mak bawang putih hati dia busuk, kan Ummi?

Sy angguk.

Then dia sambung....

Mak bawang merah hati wangi!

Hati wangi? Hahahaha...mana la dpt term hati wangi ni?

Well, all I can conclude she practices her knowledge on perkataan2 bandingan. Like BUSUK lawannya WANGI la...though kita jarang guna term hati wangi kan?

Hati baik selalu la!

A Quiet Day

It´s Christmast day but outside is so quiet, it feels like this area is deserted. Mcm takde perayaan. Tak mcm raya kat Malaysia, hari raya sgt festive, dgn org keluar menziarah sanak-saudara dan sahabat handai. Maybe sbb snow tebal diluar meyebabkan org malas nak keluar. Tgk snow on the road pon mcm x disodok and I hardly see vehicles nor people on the road. The Germans probably celebrating inside their homes with closest family and friends. Lagipon I guess diorg dah puas berpesta about a month ago with weinachmarkts dan christmast dinners held before hand.

Kitorg pon x kemana2. Nak kemana pon...satu kedai pon x dibukak bila ada cuti umum mcm ni. Before ada jugak terfikir nak travel ke mana2 within Germany masa cuti krismas tapi memandangkan byk sgt travel chaos news - flights, trains and road traffic jams, it´s the best kami stay kat rumah aje. Sy and sikembar pon x berapa sihat since yesterday. Hari ni cik HB yg masak, it´s bubur nasi on the menu since it´s the simplest thing to cook and suits the situation - org2 demam dan cold winter.

Mat, Liza & Liya selamat juga berlepas ke UK hari ini dan selamat sampai kat Leeds utk bercuti selama seminggu despite the travel chaos around Europe with the heavy snow and cold harsh temperature. Alhamdulilah. Kami agak sunyi jugak bila diorg xde because at least selang 2-3 hari mesti kami jumpa2. Moga diorg dpt balik on the arranged schedule next week, no delay or cancellation of the flight.

Hmmm....a bit bosan jugak bila x berapa sihat and then have to stay indoor for few days to come. I´m hoping to get better, at least sy boleh main masak2 kat dapur to occupy the time.

Hoh!

Been reading the South Beach Diet website over and over again....

Been reading the Success Stories all over the Internet, hoping to get motivated.....

Thought the will power is there, thought "I can do it this time"

But it lasted just for a few days....

I cook more, I eat more!

And I gain MORE of course.....

In fact, I´m at my heaviest weight ever recorded (the non-pregnant weight).

But as cik HB said - I have no one to blame but myself...

Yeah.....if only controlling what I eat and doing exercise as easy as reading.....

And all I keep doing is sighing

* mode frust mau kurus tapi x kurus2*

Winter Blizzard

The long winter continues....

Malam tadi snow turun ngan lebat dan pagi ni bgn tido, tgk kat luar balkon...mak aii, tebalnya!

Snow malam tadi at 12 am

Buka pintu balkon, nyaris snow masuk ke rumah

Cik HB mengukur kedalaman snow

Pagi ni dah la kena hantar sikembar ke kindy sbb sbb diorg ada rombongan menonton wayang. Ngan snow tebal melebihi buku lali org dewasa, kesian jugak budak berdua tu nak mengharung snow. Suasana pagi kat neighbourhood Raunheim ni agak huru hara la jugak...semua org sibuk menyodok snow, buang dan scrap snow dr kereta, jln pon byk kereta sbb kereta x leh nak gerak laju2. Confirm pagi ni ramai yg sampai tempat keje lambat!

boleh buat ABC ni...

whitey morning..cantik kan?

And the German newspaper this morning reported this:

The blizzard “Petra” hammered Germany with more snow overnight, causing three auto accident deaths, forcing airports to cancel flights and creating havoc for commuters on Friday morning.

The German Weather Service (DWD) said severe storm warnings remained in effect for the states of Saxony and Baden-Württemberg.

But even in regions where the heavy snowfall was expected to ease, the situation for roads, rails and airports was chaotic, authorities said.

In North Rhine-Westphalia police placed a ban on any trucks over 7.5 tonnes overnight after dozens became mired down in snow and ice. In the Bergisches Land region some 50 trucks were reportedly parked in a row on the A4 motorway, while autobahns near Cologne, Dortmund and Münster were closed.

Traffic jams of up to 40 kilometres formed in the state, with rescue workers providing hot drinks and blankets for chilly drivers.

By morning the truck ban had been lifted in most areas, but treacherous ice near Münster would keep the vehicles of the road indefinitely, authorities said.

Traffic jams were also reported in the states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Berlin and Brandenburg following countless accidents.

In Dresden police counted more than 100 accidents within just a few hours.
Meanwhile three people were killed in auto accidents caused by ice. Two men were run over near Straubing while trying to help a friend tow his car. And a 60-year-old Passau man died when his car lost control on a patch of ice and hit a tree.

Heavy snow began falling in the morning in the neighbouring state of Baden-Württemberg , leaving up to 20 centimetres of snow on motorways, but there were few accidents because residents stayed in, police said.

There was so much snow in the state of Hesse that even street cleanup vehicles became stuck, while in Frankfurt so many people slept in their vehicles during traffic jams that police had to wake them once the roads began to clear.

Air traffic was also hindered by the storm, with Germany’s largest hub, the Frankfurt Airport, reporting more than 62 cancelled flights for Friday morning. On Thursday the airport had already had almost 250 cancellations, a spokesperson said.

Many flights at Berlin’s Tegel Airport were also cancelled.

But the storm pleased at least some children in parts of northern Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, who got a second day off from school thanks to the snow.

Outing ke Frankfurt & Weinachtsmarkt

Kami dah lama x ke Frankfurt. Selalu ke Frankfurt adalah utk shopping2, makan2 atau saja jln2. Dah tak ingat pon bila last time ke Frankfurt. Kalau sy mmg suka la dpt pi Frankfurt, keluar masuk kedai kat Hauptwache tu walaupun x beli apa2.

Sepanjang kat sini, every year (baru 2kali je pon)kami mmg pegi weihnachtsmarkt (chrismast market) kat Frankfurt tu. Yg ni yg last la kiranya sbb thn depan dah nak balik. Seronok tgk gerai2 comel jual mcm2 brg. Ada house decorations, ada jual winter accessories, christmast accessories, bunga2, segala jenis makanan dan ada fun rides utk kanak2 & seisi keluarga. Weihnachtsmarkt Frankfurt mmg besar dan meriah tapi bersedia la mengharung umat manusia yg ramai.

Kami pegi pon dah petang, lepas Zuhur. Sebelum ke weihnachtsmarkt, sy ajak cik HB keluar masuk kedai dulu, tgk christmast sale, kot2 la ada jumpa barangan yg berkenan....hehehe. Dan pegi C&A juga, sbb nak check out sale kat situ. Beberapa hari lepas, C&A buat online sale, ada 10,000 summer blouse yg dijual pd harga 5 euro satu, yg harga asal antara 14 - 25 Euro. Banyak la juga yg sy berkenan dan Sy dah pilih konon nak beli, tapi x confirm pembelian sbb nak tunggu cik HB balik rumah , kot dia nak beli baju sekali. Sekali malam tu byk dah habis, tinggal yg sy tak berkenan dan yg dah takde saiz...huhuhu. Pegi store C&A, ada la jugak saki-baki baju yg sy tgk kat online tapi instead of 5 euro, dijual pd harga 9 Euro...huwaaaaaaaa. Tapi beli la jugak sepasang dua sbb masih murah compare dgn harga kat Malaysia.

Suka budak berdua ni dpt belon free dr Karstadt

Lepas Asar & Mahgrib kat masjid Konstablerwache, kami pegi la meronda Weihnachtmarkts. Susah la jugak nak berjalan dicelah org2 yg berduyun2 tu. Si kembar dok komplen lapar, nak beli roti tak mo, offer banana salut coklat pon x mo, nak fries la pulak. Nak beli fries, mak aii....org beratur punya la ramai. So baru cover 1/3 weihnachtsmarkt kami decided patah balik dan pegi makan kat KFC. Aiseh...mak dia baru berkira2 nak tgk deco2 yg cantik2, yg kot murah boleh dibeli.

Jenuh nak bergambar di tgh kesesakan org ramai!

Gerai buah2an bersalut coklat & candy...

sy dah serik mkn epal salut gula merah tu...keras yg amat epal dia!

Tgk keje2 org salut buah ngan coklat

Tgk la lautan manusia...

Ni la antara benda2 yg sy suka tgk kalau pegi weihnachtsmarkt

suka hati budak berdua ni makan KFC

Kat KFC, masa tgh makan, kami perasan ada satu pakcik tua duduk sorang2 mengadap leftovers (x tau la ada makanan lagi ke tak tapi mcm tinggalan org lepas makan). Looking at his condition, dgn baju yg compang-camping, dan miserable look, kami rasa dia pengemis. Tapi x tau la samada leftover depan dia tu, mmg makanan dia ke or dia saja duduk2 kat situ. Lepas pekerja KFC angkat dulang leftover tu dan dia masih duduk disitu, looking miserable, I was thinking kalau betul la dia pengemis, alangkah kesiannya dia kalau dia lapar tp dikelilingi ngan org2 yg sedap2 makan ayam goreng panas. So sy ngan cik HB berkira2 nak pi bg makanan kami sikit sbb kami pon dah kenyang dan ada lagi seketul dua ayam yg tinggal. Sikembar pon sama dok kata kesian org tu, tapi bila kami suruh pi hantar ayam diorg tak mo pulak...malu la, takut la...unless kalau sy temankan. Tapi bila sy approached org tua tu dan offer ayam, dia jenguk bucket sy dan tanya itu apa. Sy kata ayam la..dia kata `nein, nein, keine fleisch für mich!´ (no, no...no meat for me).

Lerrr...vegetarian ke?

So xpe la, sekurang2nya sy lega sbb dah offer dan kalau dia tak nak, itu hak dia la kan,...

Lepas dah makan, jumpa kawan sy - Ina & geng yg mmg sedang menginap kat rumah sy weekend baru ni, dan baru saja sampai dr Wertheim Village tika itu. Bagi info dan directions about Hauptwache, then kami gerak pulang rumah dulu.

Award: Blog Cantik & Menarik

Thanks to my dearest friend, Liza for this award and let´s see what we should do bila dah dpt anugerah ni...

**Apakah pandangan anda terhadap blog yang tag blog anda untuk terima award ini?

Oh, ni blog kawan baik sy, Liza merangkap jiran sekampung Raunheim ni. She has a lot of stories regarding experience living in Germany - good for those yg mencari2 info about Germany ( I did, masa nak dtg germany dulu mmg dok mencari2 blog2 malaysian yg dok germany tapi masa tu blog cahyaschatz belum wujud lagi). And stories of her cutie daughter, memerangkap anak ´melekat´sy, Liya Raihany.....so whenever I´m missing her, I´ll check out the photos & videos of her in this blog :)

**Kenangan manis dalam hidup anda?

Oh, banyak...apsal x specific kan bape je kenangan manis nak suh citer? Let´s see how many yg still ingat record down:

1. Masa sekolah rendah, dpt masuk TV pendidikan dan dpt bayaran RM50.

2. Dapat UPSR 4A dan dpt RM100 dr wakil rakyat daerah, pastu guna duit tu pi rombongan sekolah ke Pulau Pinang.

3. Menang pingat gangsa acara kayak single masa Karnival Sukan Antara Universiti kat UUM tahun 1999 kot...

4. Zaman naik gunung dgn geng2 kembara UNITEN especially trip to Gunung Tahan tahun 2000.

5. Dapat Dean´s List utk 2 semester berturut2 masa final year (setelah masa 3rd year CGPA jatuh dgn dasatnya!)

6. Graduation day 2002

7. Hari nikah dan kenduri kawen (mesti lah kan)

8. The day sikembar lahir (can still remember the first time nurse tunjuk muka Nabilah...tapi Nabihah x tunjuk pulak)

9. Dapat opportunities to travel some places in the world...alhamdulilah

**Kenangan pahit dalam hidup anda?

1. Nyaris maut dilanggar treler 8-tayar masa stop kat traffic light Parit Sulong, Batu Pahat. Something i would never forget for the rest of my life.

2. Tempoh bekerja kat Yong Peng for 15 months - with shitty boss, travelling 240km a day, miserable Kembara, dangerous site works - hopefully would never have to do that again for a living.

4. Year 1998 when JPA informed us, A-Level students at that time, that they would not send us to UK to further study due to economy crisis...

3.CGPA masa kat uni dropped gila2 masa 3rd year disebabkan leka bercinta (dok bergayut tepon!). Mujur cepat sedar selepas kejatuhan CGPA itu - stop bercinta for a while dan concentrated pd study. Tapi disebabkan kejatuhan itu, my final CGPA tidak la berapa cantik :(

4. Miscarried bulan Disember thn lepas...

**Anda puas hati dengan kehidupan sekarang?

Syukur alhamdulilah....walaupun terpaksa melepaskan kerjaya (despite ramai dulu kata rugi berenti keje) dan jadi surirumah sepenuh masa, I´m happy. Rasa bahagia bila pagi2 siapkan sarapan utk suami dan anak2, lepas tu hantar suami yg nak keluar kat pintu. My life is more serene these days walaupun hari2 bergelumang ngan keje rumah dan anak2. Tak stressful mcm zaman keje sampai blood pressure pon selalu x normal!

**Nyatakan 3 impian yang belum tercapai.

1. nak tambah anak

2. nak rumah impian - not necessarily big and expensive but main thing, dapur yg practical sesuai dgn my cooking hobby dan yg ada halaman so that I can do gardening ( martha-stewart-mode....hehehe)

3.nak buat umrah dan haji

**Tag org lain

Durra

Mis

Nana

Azma

Winter dan Kerja yg Banyak

Hari ni snow turun ngan lebat lagi, snow setakat ini setebal 10-11cm (based on my measurement on the snow at my balcony). Tadi lepas hantar anak2 ke kindy, terserempak ngan tuan rumah yg tgh gigih mop lantai tangga level dia...aduhai, means sy pon kena mop gak ni walau tau sia2 aje kang kotor balik dipijak oleh ahli keluarga sendiri dan keluarga diatas. Tapi as my landlady ni sgt fussy dan rajin orgnya, with high standard of cleanliness, I just follow suit.

Bukan setakat mop tangga aje yg nak difikirkan time2 winter ni. Nak jaga rumah time winter ni pon mencabar jugak. Sebab, time winter rumah sy ni senang naik fungus kalau tak dijaga sebaiknya. Problem utama - toilet/bathroom rumah ni takde tingkap dan ventilation system. So bila winter humidity menjadi bertambah tinggi dan akibatnya bilik tidur anak2 yg sebelah toilet selalu aje naik fungus. Fungus is a critical issue kat sini, jgn la buat main2 kalau rumah anda ada fungus kat sini...satu, sbb kesihatan sbb spora2 fungus tu boleh mengakibatkan masalah serius pd sistem pernafasan dan dua, boleh merosakkan rumah dan kalau menyewa, tuan rumah boleh tuntut ganti rugi disebabkan masalah fungus ini.

First winter kami disini, kami x notice sgt hal ni. Nampak la fungus naik kat ceiling tp cepat2 sembur anti-fungus spray. But winter last year paling teruk la sbb kami tak tau pon akibat masalah humidity, rupa2nya disebalik almari, dinding sgt lembap sampai wall paper rosak. Bilik tu winter last year mmg kami tak on heater sbb konon nak jimatkan bil gas. Anak2 tido sebilik ngan kami masa tu. So imagine la tahap humidity nya. Mujur la perasan cepat, sebelum fungus membiak dgn dasyatnya sampai merosakkan dinding. Cuma wall paper saja yg rosak, so kami peeled off about half of the wall paper in the room. Sampai sekarang kami tak ganti lagi wall paper tu. Ni kami decide bila dah dekat nak pindah nanti baru kami pasang wall paper.

Then one thing lagi, sy takde pengering baju dan kami menyewa dirumah ini pon tak diberi kemudahan basement. Kebanyakan org menyewa akan dpt basement utk storing barang dan buat urusan laundry so rata2 akan sidai baju di basement. Kami ni takde choice kena la sidai baju dlm rumah. So bermakna humidity bertambah. Heater pulak, kalau on tinggi, satu - of course bil tinggi dan satu lagi heater yg tinggi akan buat rumah sgt panas dan kering, hence boleh buat kulit kering, gatal dan sakit tekak. So kena balance kan setting heater.

Mujur kami kenal kak liza yg byk experiences utk menghadapi isu2 mcm ni. So byk la nasihat dia yg sy apply utk jaga rumah ni dr serangan fungus and at the same time balance the humidity dan jimatkan kos heating. Cuma kerja byk la sikit. Contoh: pagi2 sebelum keluar hantar anak2 ke kindy, sy akan off heater, then buka tingkap dapur, bilik dan hall utk pengudaraan. Lepas balik dari hantar anak2, tutup semua tingkap dan on balik heater. By this doing, dpt menurunkan humidity level dlm rumah. I can see this by looking at the humidity meter. Recommended humidity should be at 65.

But then since heater cuma on up to setting 2.5, it is not high enough to dry the house, so u can see wap2 air kat tingkap rumah. Wap2 air ni tak boleh biarkan sbb boleh meyebabkan fungus, so from time to time kena la lap wap2 air ni.

Dan from time to time jugak kena check kat celah2 almari, kotak2, sofa, ruang2 tersembunyi takde fungus yg wujud.

Ini la keje sy hari2....leceh kan?

Salam Maal Hijrah 1432

Tahun baru muncul lagi. Sekejap saja masa berlalu, tau2 satu tahun dah berlalu.

Moga2 Allah ampunkan dosa2 dan kesalahan kita ditahun lalu dan tahun ini moga2 kita menjadi muslim yg lebih baik dr thn2 lepas. Utk diri sy sendiri, mahu tahun ini sy lebih menjaga solat, banyakkan baca Al-Quran, kurangkan membuat benda2 yg lagha, didik anak2 dgn lebih baik, jaga hubungan suami-isteri sebaik mungkin dan tentunya semua perkara2 yg membawa kebaikan.

Hijrah hati, sikap dan semua perbuatan...insyaallah.

Berkembang pesat...

Tahun ini ahli keluarga my family and family cik HB bertambah lagi.

On my side, selain adik ipar baru, ada anak buah baru juga. My brother, yg dah kahwin 6 thn, finally tahun ni dikurniakan anak sulung yg lahir pd 1 Syawal lepas. Dia suami-isteri gembira tak terkata sbb bertahun2 menunggu, akhirnya Allah bg rezeki. Alhamdulilah. So skrg ni jumlah cucu mak & abah sudah 8 org.

Rayyan Raziq

Cik HB´s side, takde menantu baru...hehehe, mmg takde la sbb yg bongsu dah kawin thn lepas. Tapi cucu baru bertambah 2 org lagi tahun ini. Anak Mek Ja, a boy lahir bulan June lepas but since Mek Ja takde FB, maka takde la gambar babynya. Sy penah tgk si comel tu thru Skype aje waktu kami buat video conference ngan family KB. Then anak Marina, a girl lahir October lepas.

Nur Aliya Maisara

I lost count dah bape jumlah cucu family KB...meh kira sama2:

Abg Lan: 6

Arwah abg ming: 4

Kak je: 3

Abg Wa: 5

Abg Ari: 2

Abg Shid: 1

Kami: 2

Mek Kak: 1

Mek Ja: 1

Mek Nor: 1

Marina: 1

Ok, total baru 27 org...boleh lagi kot nak ingat nama each and everyone. Tapi rasanya thn2 akan mendatang mesti bertambah2 lagi kot....

Snow and Its Consequences

Org kat Malaysia selalu kata:

bestnya dpt main snow!!!

Dari panas mcm kat Malaysia baik la sejuk mcm kat Europe tu

Hakikatnya takde la best mana. Tapi ye la...sy dulu pon masa belum merasa snow, selalu fikir best aje main snow, bestnya la bersejuk2an. Masa first time tgk snow, main snow, agak jakun la jugak.

First winter sy disini (2008/2009), snow takde la hebat sgt turun. The first snow turun masa tu end of November tapi ala2 intro gitu. Turun pastu melted on the ground. Then ada la sekali dua masa December dan Januari yg lebat sikit dan stayed on the ground for 2 days kot. Sempat la utk org2 enjoy main snow.

Last winter (2009/2008), agak extreme jugak (berdasarkan pendapat org2 yg dah lama menetap disini). Snow agak tebal tapi hanya mula turun dipertengahan December. Tapi tak la snow berhari2. Di Raunheim, suhu terendah dicatatkan (yg kami noted la) was -18C. Sejuk gedi!!!

Tapi nampak gayanya tahun ni winter bertambah extreme. Di kawasan sy, baru je winter bermula, snow dah mula turun dgn lebatnya...takde intro2 gitu. Padahal Raunheim/Frankfurt is classified as area yg tak berapa sejuk compare dgn area2 lain kat Germany ni. Since snow start turun khamis last week and a few days after , sampai skrg snow tak mencair. Ni dah 3 hari snow tak turun tapi suhu semakin dropped dan snow dijangka turun lagi dihari2 mendatang...huaaaaaaaaa....

In general, Europe mmg dilanda snow yg extreme. Berita airport ditutup, jalan raya sesak, kenderaan kemalangan disana sini, org mati kesejukan, sekolah ditutup dan mcm2 la. So far Germany mcm ok lagi.

Picture from BBC News

On a smaller scale (our life to be exact), life is not much affected sgt except things not running smoothly aje. I´m just very concern on health issues sbb time winter ni, org mudah jatuh sakit. I, myself dah start batuk2. The twins mmg are having running nose dan batuk sikit2. So pagi2 nak hantar diorg pegi kindy, sy balut diorg tebal2. Dressing up takes longer time dan semakin lambat la kami ke kindy setiap pagi. Yg sy risau, selalu by noon, before parents dtg amik anak2, kanak2 ni dilepaskan main kat playground kindy. Budak2 tau la...bukannya tau sejuk, diorg tau seronok main snow. And then since budak2 kena dressed up sendiri with the jackets, schal, hat, gloves, kadang2 ikut dan aje diorg sarung. Cikgu2 cuma supervise dan bila dah ramai sgt tu, cikgu2 pon bukannya perasan whether budak2 dah properly covered. Before this selalu sgt sy caught Nabilah tak pakai topi dan schal main kat playground. Dah pesan kat dia berkali2 jgn lupa topi dan schal tapi mek sorang tu...haih...

On the way to kindy

Perjalanan ke kindy yg selalunya 5-10 minit pon dah jadi longer. Simply because sy tak boleh jalan laju2. Bila snow dah mengeras dan jalan x ditabur garam, permukaan jalan dah jadi ala2 skating rink. So walau dah jln ala2 pengantin pon, still mcm rasa nak tergolek. Sikembar tu suka la, saja lagi pi skate atas ice tu...kita dok risau kang diorg tergolek...

Jln yg licin

Tangga rumah yg dulu boleh dicuci seminggu sekali, skrg like selang sehari dah kena mop dek kerana kasut2 yg kotor2 yg memijak. Kang kalau tuan rumah tgk kotor2 kang, mesti dia bising. Dulu penah terlambat sikit mop tangga, mak aii..dia pubya bebel, tahan aje telinga dengar!

Anyway, harap2 this winter would not get any worse. I don´t mind the snow sikit2...yg enough utk main2 tapi bila semakin tebal, semakin banyak masalah yg akan timbul.

Buat saja donggggggggg

Another school matter....

After we had done the screening test at Social and Health Department in Groß Gerau town council, I thought all the processes with the school´s registration were completed - at least for now. And even there are more procedures to do, I was thinking maybe they would come out in next year, maybe after we leave Germany. Maybe sometime in May onwards since the new school session begins in August.

Apparently it is NOT.

Last week we received letter from the school, inviting us - the parents and the registered child to attend a meeting with the school administration. Thought of ignoring the letter and the meeting but we were afraid of receiving legal letter from the court. Last time when we ignored the previous letter, subsequently we received a warning letter. So we don´t have much choice but to attend this matter properly.

I told kak liza about this. Last time when we did the registration and check-up, she was vacationing in Malaysia. She also did not agree with the fact that we had to do all the procedures for school enrollment though we had informed the school about our situation. Now that she is back, she is more than willing to go with me to the school and explained the whole situation to the school. Maybe because I made explanation to the school in English/bad Deutsch, they didn´t seem to understand.

My appointment supposed to be at 12pm but we went at 9.30 am. Kak Liza said it didn´t matter because we must explain that any further processes with school enrollment is not necessary, therefore the meeting at 12pm should be cancelled. When we arrived at the secretariat office, there were some parents and kids waiting. So probably they had to attend the same meeting I had to attend.

So kak liza met the secretary (the one I dealt with before ) and explained our situation. The secretary said she understands our situation but as she said before - No excuses! As long as we are registered living here in Raunheim, under the district of Groß Gerau and under Hesse state (rules & regulations in every state in Germany may differ from one to another), we are obliged to comply to the regulations of the state! When kak liza argued further, she said she would check with the school´s director. And after a while, she came back to us and said we still had to attend the meeting at 12pm. So any complains and inquiries will be discussed in the meeting.

So we just had to comply lorrr....

At 12pm, we came back to school taking the twins with us. At first, I had the impression that all parents and kids were to gather in a room/hall then there will be some kind of speech/talk by the school admin. But I was wrong. When we arrived at the secretariat office, a lady was waiting for us and introduced herself ( I don´t even remember her name!).

She told us to follow her to a room and said she would carry out an interview with one twin at a time in the room and the rest of us were to wait outside the room. Wow, it seemed to me it´s like an interview to get into boarding school/university or something! She asked the twins who would like to go in first and Nabilah volunteered! Then another lady also went into the room.

Nabilah was in the room was about 15-20 minutes. I took the opportunity looking around and was amazed with the school. The school looks so clean and beautiful. And while waiting, we saw a teacher holding a shopping basket with a group of her students going towards Tegut - the supermarket located right in front the school. Kak Liza said it´s part of the lessons - learn how to shop things! It appears that children not only taught in academic aspect but also learn how to live a life. Interesting eh?

Then Nabilah came out and Nabihah was invited in. We asked Nabilah what did they ask her but Nabilah with her complicated behaviour, just refused to tell, kept saying she just didn´t remember! Nyampah.....

Nabihah came out after 20 minutes and so excited telling us her experience in the room with the two ladies. And because kakak was telling, then only Nabilah wanted to tell her stories too. But I couldn´t hear more as Kak Liza and I was called to get into the room.

At first the ladies talked in Deutsch to us and Kak liza helped translating some of the parts I couldn´t understand. Somehow kak liza explained to me English, then the two ladies said if I can speak English, then we could have the conversation in English. Of course I loved it! I can discuss better.

Then we talked a lot of things. I told them my whole situation - about we are going back to our country for good in March, next year. They seemed refuse to believe it - keep saying what if we still have to stay back, or will have to come back. I know why they were saying these - because majority of foreigners coming to Germany stay here for long time, most choose to migrate for good. So they have the impression we are the same. The fact that my husband is a student, gave them idea that my husband probably will be looking for a job in Germany. Which happens a lot. And they kept saying that I should learn Deutsch too and find a job for myself. I have to explain that my husband already has a job in Malaysia and he´s now studying under Malaysia´s government sponsorship. So the probability of us staying here is so small.

They said they understand (but I can sense they just wouldn´t take it). However, they still want us to cooperate with the school enrollment processes and one of them, they want the twins to attend Deutsch course. They said the twins speak quite good Deutsch - enough for communication but since Deutsch is not their first language, it´s the best to enroll them into Deutsch course so their Deutsch would be better. And the class is free, I don´t have to worry about money. Hmmm...if it has to be paid, I would just say "hai, hai -bye-bye" la! And they asked if I would like to learn too because they can fit us into mother-kids Deutsch class. Well, since I have to send them to this class, it would be better if I learn too. So I said why not?

They said they will inform us about the Deutsch course and our meeting ended there.

Anyway, I´m glad I came to this meeting eventhough at first I was very much reluctant to do it. It´s a new experience - being exposed to the German education system. It´s quite impressive to see how committed these people are to ensure better education for every child they deal with. Imagine they interview each child and parent! According to Nabihah, when she was in the room, they just asked her to draw, play LEGO, and just talking. And they are so friendly and kind, Nabilah said she liked them very much!

Now I feel how it would be nice if the twins have the opportunity to attend this school, even for a short while. Because they may have the learning experience that might be different in Malaysia. I hope they would enjoy school in Malaysia later on.

Ole-ole dr Mekah

Jiran atas kami, satu keluarga Turki. Si suami dan isteri baru pulang dr Mekah selepas menunaikan haji. Sebelum bertolak hari tu, diorg sempat dtg berjumpa kami dan bgtau diorg nak ke Mekah menunaikan haji dan minta kami doakan semoga semuanya baik2 shj utk diorg. Terharunya rasanya bila si isteri bersalam dan memeluk erat sy...inilah nikmatnya Islam menganggap semua umatnya bersaudara.

Keluarga ini mmg baik. Anak2 yg seramai 5 org itu juga baik2 dan sopan2 belaka. Dah la hensem2, cantik2 dan pandai2. The first three skrg semua sedang menuntut di universiti in engineering, medical dan pharmacy. Pada mata kasar sy, diorg ni satu keluarga yg alim. Yang perempuan semuanya bertudung dan selalu dgr org mengaji dr rumah diorg ditingkat atas. Kalau terserempak, mesti senyum dan bertanya kabar. Tapi masalahnya kekangan bahasa, menjadikan sy awkward nak berbual lama2 dgn diorg.

Tengahari tadi, si ayah dtg menghantar sedikit buah tangan dr Mekah. Hmmm...tak sangka walaupun duduk di bumi Deutschland pon kami merasa ole-ole org baru balik haji. Alhamdulilah! Ada kopiah, sejadah, tasbih, minyak atar, henna, buah kurma dan air zam-zam. Terharu kami sbb ingat juga diorg nak bg kami buah tangan.

Ole-ole dr Mekah

segelas air zam-zam dan sedikit kurma

Terima kasih Encik Tetik dan isteri. Semoga Allah s.w.t memberkati anda berdua. Doa2kan kami pulak akan sampai ke Tanah Suci Mekah menunaikan haji suatu hari nanti.

Salju

Salji dah mula turun sejak semalam...agak lebat tapi tak la sampai menutup seluruh permukaan bumi. Sebab suhu baru -1C. So snow cepat cair. Tapi pemandangan cukup indah di mata. Let´s see the photos:

View dr tingkap dapur

View at balcony

Winter Datang Lagi

Kat luar sana dah sejuk mcm ais. Pokok2 semua dah togel, menandakan autumn dah berakhir dan masanya utk winter. Esok dijangka snow akan turun and I dread the negative temperature!

Hidup dlm negara 4 musim ini, winter adalah musim yg paling sy kurang gemari. Walaupun ini dah winter ke-3 since di bumi Deutschland ini, still I am struggling with mood swing dan mcm2 kind of depression bila tibanya winter. Sedih tak tentu pasal la, malas semakin menjadi2..nak mandi pon boleh depressed! Sejuk terasa sampai ke tulang....kalau boleh tak mo keluar rumah langsung!

Which is normal rupanya for some people to have depression during winter.

And from the news, katanya winter kali ni akan lebih buruk dr winter tahun lepas.

Oh my....

Anyway, i'll be positive going thru this winter. Since this is our last winter in Germany, I guess I'll try to enjoy the snow as much as possible. Si kembar dah tak sabar2 tunggu snow. Every morning diorg bangun, sure jengah ke luar nak tgk snow dah turun ke belum.

Let's see esok snow turun ke tidak....

Laternefest

Khamis lepas, kindrgarten si twins buat laternefest (lantern festival). Rasanya mcm sama dgn pesta tanglung masyarakat Cina. Laternefest ni pada asasnya sempena mengingati kebaikan seorg askar di zaman Roman yg sanggup meredah kegelapan malam dgn membawa lantern demi membantu org2 susah.

Lantern yg digunakan adalah hasil tangan ibu-bapa dan anak2. Dua minggu sebelum tu, ibu-bapa dijemput dtg ke kindy utk sama2 buat lantern. Sy yg agak kureng dlm crafting, agak kalut juga mulanya nak pegi sbb takut nanti lantern x jadi. Tapi sebenarnya sgt senang sbb lantern tu tinggal nak assemble aje dan decorate bagi cantik.

Ramai sungguh yg dtg. Bukan setakat parents dan kanak2 kindergarten saja, nampaknya mcm seluruh family pon dtg! In our case, Kak Liza, Cik Dee dan Awie sama2 dtg join the twins utk laternefest parade. Patut Liza and Liya pon join sekali tapi sbb Liya tido, maka x dpt la Liza join. Yg kelakar, tunggu parade nak mula punya lama, tapi parade berjln x xampai 300m. Dari kindergarten sampai ke rumah org2 tua yg mmg x jauh dr situ. Tapi mujur la x jauh pon sbb dlm dekat2 tu, mcm2 aksi boleh jadi. Lilin lantern terpadam la, ada yg lantern terjatuh la, ada yg menangis2 cari mak ayah la...kot2 jalan jauh lagi, x tau la apa yg jadi. Pulak tu cuaca pon x berapa bagus, sgt berangin dan ada tanda2 hujan mcm nak turun.

With Achik, Cik Dee & Abg Awie

With Luna & Leni

Ramainya!

Kelam kabut cikgu dia try to control the parade....

Dirumah org2 tua, kanak2 kindergarten ni menghiburkan org2 tua yg ada kat situ dgn menyanyikan lagu2. Org2 tua kat sini mmg kesian, hidup diorg mmg sunyi sbb byk masa dihabiskan kat rumah org2 tua saja especially yg dah x sihat dan duduk on wheelchair. So nampak la yg diorg happy sbb tgk kanak2 ni semua. Siap ada org tua tu dok usap2 kepala budak2.

at rumah org2 tua...

Tapi rumah org2 tua kat sini sgt cantik dan selesa. Ala2 hotel gitu. So dr segi penjagaan, mmg tip-top la cuma diorg sunyi la sbb rata2 xde anak & cucu2 dan kalau yg ada pon, jarang sgt la dpt berjumpa dgn ahli keluarga. Kesian kan?

Mudah2an nasib kita bila tua nanti x kesunyian mcm diorg.

Lepas nyanyi2 tu, habis lah sudah laternefest. By the time, hujan dah lebat. Mujur la rumah kami x jauh, x sampai 5 minit dah sampai rumah!

Was ist los??????????

Pagi tadi, sy berjalan menuju ke kedai daging sambil menarik troli brg sy tu.

Sy berjalan di laluan biasa yg sy gunakan - laluan menuju bahnhof. Bukan jalan sunyi, bukan juga jalan yg sibuk.

Dihadapan sy, ada sekumpulan lelaki berjalan. Dari gaya dan percakapan , sy tau mereka ausländer tapi bukan Turki atau Morocco (they have darker look) dan semenjak dua menjak ni sy mmg selalu nampak lelaki2 asing dlm kumpulan besar berkumpul di area rumah sy ini - situasinya mengingatkan sy org2 Bangladesh atau Indonesia bila berkumpul. Bukan nak racist - siapa la sy nak racist bila sy sendiri pon org asing di negara org tapi sorry to say - suasananya sama bila kita nampak Bangla or Indon berkumpul beramai2.

I walked as fast as possible trying to overtake these people sbb diorg jln pon lambat2 sambil gelak2. And the same time I heard someone walking behind me. Tiba2 terasa troli kena tarik! My first thought - aku nak kena rompak ke? I spun around and saw this guy pulling my trolley, grinning at me and said "wie gehts?" (apa khabar?)

Seriously menakutkan!

I was speechless, rasa marah sgt tapi x terkeluar satu perkataan pon. Dia ingat dia bergurau ke apa? Seeing my angry face agaknya, baru la dia ckp "Entschuldigung" (sorry) sambil tersengih2 pastu join the group of men kat depan tu.

After that, though still shocking dgn kejadian tu, I walked as fast as possible passing them and hoping they were not going in the same direction I was going. Dan nasib baik diorg hanya nak ke bahnhof!

Although kejadian tu berlaku dlm tempoh beberapa saat saja, for the first time living in Germany, I feel not safe walking alone!

Inception - Between Dreams and Reality

source from HERE

I just watched Inception - a highly intellectual and complex movie I would say but very entertaining and challenges your thinking. No wonder lots of people recommending this movie. Leonardo di Caprio again is a great actor - just like what he was in "Catch Me if You Can" and "Blood Diamond". Cik HB said he just can´t forget image of Leonardo as Jack in "Titanic". Muka jiwang sgt katanya....hahaha. Well, that was like 12 years ago, he was in his early 20´s i guess...now he´s much better than that.

Ok, i´m not going to talk about Leonardo - hot looking people is no longer a priority for me when I choose a movie. It´s more the story line and the acting skills that matter!

Inception is a story about a group of people stealing information from people´s sub-conscious mind (sleeping/sedated) through dreams. I´m not going to go into details of this movie, you can always read about the movie from Wiki.

I just want to make a review based on my own perspective. The way I understand the movie. It was really difficult to understand the whole situation at the beginning of this movie and you have to really concentrate in order to understand. And some more with the scientific vocabularies and what not, I made cik HB downloaded the English subtitles so I can follow the story much better (well, I´m not a native English speaker, some US/British accents may sound alien to me!) . The word like espionage is a new vocab I learned from this movie.

The main character - Dominic Cobb is the one who led the operation but he had a dark secret that haunted him and affected his job - the memory of his dead wife, Mal . Towards the end of the movie, Dom confronted the memory of his wife and revealed why the wife is dead. It appeared that they once had been trapped in a dream which made them in a state of limbo they lived for so long, and they only escaped the dream by planning their death. Mal, spending so much time in dreams (she and Dom were experts in sub-conscious field), can´t differentiate life between real and dreams that one day she decided to commit suicide because she thought her real life is a dream.

Cik HB said this movie is unreal. That you be in someone´s dream and you actually create the dreams and some more with three-layer dreams and you actually can die in real world when you die in your dream (when you are on sedative). Well, it´s not impossible. There are a lot of studies, researches made to understand human complexities -physical and mental. And knowledge is so wide, only Allah s.w.t knows everything. So yes, anything is possible.

Like I said to cik HB last night, after watching

"do you think people who lived 100 years ago might have thought that it´s possible to communicate with people who lived thousands km away with audio and video visual on real time?"

And you know the answer!

Science is magnificent but we know what is more magnificent.... Do research and study all the science aspects but it´s all to remind us what is more powerful above all - ALLAH. sw.t - the ONE who creates everything - the things we know and don´t!

So if you are looking for some mind-pondering movies, watch this movie. It´s kind of heavy and the ending is tricky because they let you think whether Dom has came back to reality or still dreaming but I find it so entertaining.

Moga Bahagia

We missed another family wedding :(

This time around, wedding adik lelaki sy, Haerie yg dah selamat menikah dgn pasangan pilihan hatinya, Nurul Jumaat lepas. Walaupun happy tgk akhirnya selamat gak adikku nan satu ni kawen (sbb dah bertahun2 kami sekeluarga dok sound dia suh kawen cepat sbb dah lama sgt dok couple ngan awek dia tu), terasa sedih aje tgk gambar2 sekitar perkahwinan dia kat FB...melihat ahli keluarga semuanya ada disitu, kecuali kami sekeluarga (huhuhu...rasa nak nangis nih!)

Thanks to adik sy, Shima yg tolong upload gambar2 perkahwinan Haerie kat FB. Pengantin ropanya dah berangkat ke Sabah berhoneymoon. Patut senyap sunyi FB dia! Kalau x dia dok rajin update status!

To Haerie - selamat bergelar suami...berat tanggungjawab suami ni, jgn dok enjoy sana sini lagi mcm masa bujang. Kena didik isteri sebaik mungkin dan kena ingat tanggungjawab sebagai suami. Jangan juga lupa kat Mak Abah walaupun anda tu dah berkahwin.

To Nurul - selamat dtg ke dlm keluarga Ramli secara rasmi :). Moga kita semua saling sayang- menyayangi dan hormat-menghormati antara satu sama lain. Tak sabar akak nak jumpa kamu as my adik ipar walaupun dah kenal kamu since 6 thn lepas :). Moga kamu menjadi isteri yg solehah dan berjaya membentuk keluarga yg bahagia.

Gambar2 sekitar majlis:

sengih kemain lagi ko Haerie...

Gambar keluarga

My adik beradik perempuan dan anak2 sedara...rindu nak bergossip2 ngan diorg!

Nape Mak jln depan tinggal Abah sorang2 kat belakang tu?

Jalan la sama2 cam pengantin...hehehe

Autumn in My Heart

I love autumn!

It´s so beautiful looking at the surroundings now. Everywhere looks yellow and red with the falling leaves all around.

Something that I´m going to miss when I leave Germany later....

Die Einschuluntersuchung

Amacam? Terbelit tak lidah ngan word Deutsch kat atas tu?

Google Translate defines the word as enrollment examination. Bahasa german ni hebat tang mencantumkan dua tiga perkataan menjadi satu perkataan. Contoh yg lain : Kindervorsorgeuntersuchung = children precautionary screening. So kalau anda nak kena buat karangan 100 patah perkataan dlm Deutsch, byk benda anda boleh tulis sebenarnya sbb boleh cantum2 2,3 malah 4 patah perkataan jadi satu perkataan aje!

Menarik????

Hehehe...ok, bukan pasal bahasa german sy nak citer tapi nak share experience sy pegi buat Einschuluntersuchung utk sikembar semalam.

Einschuluntersuchung ini adalah pemeriksaan utk kelayakan masuk ke sekolah rendah (Grundschule) yg sy ceritakan kat entry lepas. Dijalankan oleh jabatan kesihatan dan masyarakat daerah (sama mcm jabatan kebajikan masyarat Malaysia la kot). Sy ngan cik HB risau jugak mulanya kalau kami x dapat nak berkomunikasi dgn staff kat situ sbb selalunya kami ada Kak Liza yg selalunya ikut bersama bila kami ada urusan rasmi mcm ni dan dia selalu jadi tukang jurucakap. Dan sejak kami buat urusan visa dr awal dulu, kami mmg dah expect pihak2 mcm ni takkan layan kalau kita nak ckp English dgn diorg. Tapi skrg dah 2 thn kami kat sini, boleh la ckp & faham deutsch sikit2 so kalau kita x cuba, how to survive kan?

Kami berurusan dgn satu minah ni, muka x berapa friendly and tak byk ckp. Ok jugak tu, kang kalau dia tanya byk2 soalan pon, kitorg jugak melopong! Kami bagi all related documents dan tunggu dia buat apa2 arrangements yg patut.

Then, kami dibawa masuk satu bilik ini dan dia start buat test ngan Nabihah dulu. Test2 itu:

PART 1

1. Dia tunjuk 4 pensel warna - hijau, biru, kuning dan merah. The kid being asked to tell the colours.

-Nabihah agak slow sikit sbb dia mcm x confident. Bila tiba tang Nabilah, amboi makcik tu..kemain lagi lagu sebut....maklum la dah tgk kakak dia buat dulu!

2. Ujian buta warna - kid being asked to show which one round shape dlm satu kad yg ada byk polar warna dan ada shape2 yg lain (ada byk kad!).

- Both lulus dgn cemerlang! Ok, now I know diorg x buta warna :)

3. Another card with 4 pictures in dotted line. Kid to tell what is the pictures.

- Ok, lulus juga sbb senang

4. Another card with polar warna dan ada gambar objects didalamnya. Kid to tell what are the objects.

- Ok, lulus

5. One shining silver card is shown. Tak tau apa jenis card ni but if look carefully, you can see the objects shapes on it. So the kid is to show the objects and name them.

- Nabihah can see all - bintang, bulan, gajah dan kereta.

- Nabilah nampak kereta as anjing....hahaha

* actually i tried peep into it too, but can´t see anything...lagi teruk!!!!

6. Ujian penglihatan - sama mcm kita buat kat kedai cermin mata. The kid to look into the eye test equipment tu and tell whether the object E is up, down, left or right. Lama juga test ni dibuatnya. Tiga kali rest in between!

- kesimpulan: Dua2 masih ada good eyesight...mudah2an tak perlu cermin mata sampai ke besar....jgn jadi mcm mak dia, rabun jauh kronik.....huhuhu. Kena control jgn tgk TV dekat sgt and ngadap laptop lama2 dan kena byk mkn karot ye anak2!

7. Ujian pendengaran - earphone on kid´s ears then bila ada bunyi ´beep´ON, the kid to press the connected button immediately.

- Agak bermasalah mulanya buat test ni ngan Nabihah sbb dia confuse bila dia patut tekan button tu. Dia pi tekan all the time! Kena buat byk kali baru dia faham.

- Nabilah being the 2nd doing the test, siap ckp "ich weiß" even before staff tu abis explain. Ok, dia mmg tahu sbb dia buat seperti yg disuruh.

- kesimpulan: there is no hearing problem

Then kami keluar dr bilik tu and kemudian ke bilik lain tapi still dgn staff yg sama

PART 2:

1. Ukur berat & tinggi

2. Disuruh melompat ke kiri kanan dgn kedua2 belah kaki

- oh, favourite si kembar. Mesti la lulus dgn cemerlang.

3. Lukis semula objek2 yg ditunjuk dlm sekeping kertas

- melukis semula pon mmg favourite.

4. Ulang perkataan yg disebut oleh staff tersebut. Ok, yg ini sy pon x tau apa kah bahasa yg digunakan. Antara yg sy ingat:

SANGA SUKA

MAMI MACA

lebih kurang camtu la...ada lebih kurang 10 ayat camtu kot dia sebut. Sikembar ada yg sebut sama, ada yg diorg sebut tah hapa2...i guess itu suku kata utk test sebutan kanak2.

5. Then dia baca ayat - agak panjang, dan budak disuruh ulang. Sy dgr pon sy rasa tak boleh nak ulang ayat penuh. Tang ini sy rasa mmg memerlukan penguasaan bahasa Deutsch yg baik utk dpt buat test ini dgn cemerlang. And sy sendiri x tau level penguasaan Deutsch sikembar sbb kat rumah diorg x cakap deutsch. Tapi sy pasti tahap Deutsch diorg rendah aje, sbb diorg x attend Deutsch course (sy ada ditanya samada anak2 attend Deutsch course ke tak)....x byk vocab yg diorg tau, ckp pon grammar tunggang terbalik kot. Ada beberapa ayat dibaca, sy rasa ada few words aje yg sikembar mampu ulang dgn betul. Takpe la anak2ku....sbb kamu pon nak balik Malaysia dah x lama lagi.

6. Staff tu sebut word dlm pronunciation yg salah dan budak diminta betulkan sebutannya. Cth: SCHO-OLADE (betul: SCHOKOLADE) , KRO-ODILE (betul: KROKODILE), SPAG-ETI (betul: SPAGHETTI) dan ada few lagi yg sy sendiri pon tak tau bunyi betulnya macamana...kikiki. Again vocab in Deutsch kena tau banyak la part ni. So kembar byk yg tak boleh jawab part ini.

Then keluar bilik tu, masuk bilik lain pulak. And jumpa staff lain. Suka staff ini sbb dia sgt warm dan suka senyum. Yg first tu muka masam dan mcm tensen (rasa mcm dia x suka ausländer (org asing) aje...). Then dia interview kami about few things, kami dtg dr mana, berapa lama di Deutschland dan pasal Deutsch course. Kemudian dia buat few tests ngan si kembar.

PART 3

1. Budak disuruh kira 1-10 in Deutsch.

-ok, lulus

2. Dia buka booklet dan suruh compare gambar2. Show similar object/patterns. Byk pages, about 1o kot.

Then dgn kami dia ckp few things lagi - bila sy tak boleh nak faham sgt sy bgtau sy cuma boleh ckp Deutsch sikit2 aje dan boleh kah dia ckp English. Oh, dia kata dia x boleh ckp English. Dari cara dia ckp dia mcm nak nasihatkan kami supaya hantar anak2 ke Deutsch course and so forth dan kami pon kena belajar Deutsch dgn baik, sy terpaksa la explain yg kami kat sini utk tempoh yg pendek aje dan bulan Mac tahun depan akan balik ke Malaysia for good. So kembar mmg takkan masuk sekolah kat sini (sy explained dlm English)

Dan dia kata " you should have told the school before they make you come here" - eh, boleh pulak ckp english!!!

Now you tell me that! Sy kata sy dah bgtau tapi sy disuruh dtg jugak. So maybe sekretari tu x paham or malas nak kisah, janji dlm rekod dia semua settle. Ntah...sy pon malas nak question coz it will make things complicated.

Dia pon kata, dia faham because of the strict regulation, somehow we just have to follow.

And one thing that I understand the reasons behind all these - waktu sy attend Deutsch course dulu, cikgu sy penah ckp since terlalu ramai äuslander di daerah sy duduk skrg ni (org turki & morocco paling ramai sekali, dan diorg mampu hidup tanpa integrasi dgn bangsa lain sbb komuniti diorg besar) ianya menimbulkan masalah kepada pihak kerajaan. Anak2 äuslander dikatakan bermasalah disekolah sbb tak mampu menguasai Deutsch dgn baik, maka diorg jadi x minat belajar (maafkan sy kalau fakta ini x betul, sy hanya kutip here and there dari cerita org2 yg dah lama duduk sini). Ada parents äuslander pulak, since x pandai ckp Deutsch, x ambil tahu hal anak2 disekolah.

Tapi tak semua la mcm tu...jiran Turki atas rumah sy ni, anak2 dia cemerlang belaka. Yg sulung, lelaki belajar engineering kat TU Darmstadt, sama uni ngan cik HB, the second one, perempuan - belajar medic di university Frankfurt dan the third one, juga perempuan, belajar pharmacy juga di Frankfurt.

Maybe ada la kot statistik dan kajian yg menunjukkan adanya masalah integrasi dan bahasa dikalangan äuslander yg menyebabkan wujudnya regulations yg makin lama makin ketat.

Anyway, the examination ended sampai disitu. Kami x tau pon apakah penilaian yg diberikan kepada si kembar sbb ianya adalah confidential dan akan diberikan kepada pihak sekolah utk further action. Sy rasa kalau kami terpaksa stay disini lebih lama dan anak2 attend sekolah sini, sure Deutsch course is mandatory for us.

Actually bagus examination ni. Ianya x la menjurus kepada akademik sgt tapi lebih kepada pembangunan fizikal dan mental kanak2. Like bila buat eye test, ear test - kita tau lebih awal kalau2 anak kita mmg ada masalah eyesight or hearing.

Kat Malaysia pon dgr cerita skrg ada exam before masuk Darjah Satu kan? Tapi exam yg macamana ye?

Halloween Dress-up Party

The twins had Halloween dress-up party kat kindy. We were not into this actually but when I checked with their teacher, she said it was simply for the kids to dress-up according what they want to be - hexes, dracula...you name la whatever hantu mat saleh yg ada. So I just made it simple - beli saja topi hexe yg ada dijual merata2 itu and thanks to baju hitam diorg yg dah sedia ada.

The twins with their best friends - Luna & Leyla

And mujur xde yg organize trick or treat!

Day 7: Journey Home & Wertheim Village

Time flies so quickly when you have fun eh?

That was how we felt on the last day of our trip. Tau2 dah hari ke-7 dan perlu memulakan perjalanan pulang ke kehidupan realiti.

Prague masih lagi hujan di kala kami ingin bergerak pulang meninggalkan bandar bersejarah ini. Namun at 8 am, waktu semua dah bersiap dok dlm Transit nak memulakan perjalanan, enjin Transit x boleh start pulak. Car battery was out! Ayoyo.....

Tapi mujur la Fattah ada insuran yg cover sebarang kerosakan kereta walaupun di Prague. Dan setelah dihubungi, pihak insuran berjanji akan hantar seorg mekanik utk settlekan masalah kami. Lebih kurang 45 minit lepas tu, mekanik tu pon sampai dan dgn equipmentnya yg canggih tu, dlm 10 minit masalah kami selesai! Alhamdulilah, setiap masalah yg kami hadapi sepanjang trip ni, ada penyelesaiannya!

Pukul 9 pg, kami bergerak meninggalkan Prague yg indah. Tapi as hujan turun dgn lebatnya, perjalanan adalah sedikit bosan sbb x dpt menikmati pemandangan yg indah. 2-3 kali buat toilet break and had lunch kat R&R somewhere along the highway. Since we had time, we had decided to make a pit-stop kat Wertheim Village - a branded factory outlet....YEAY!!!!

Kami pernah ke sini bulan Mac lepas dan walaupun takde budget utk shopping, adalah gembira juga sbb dpt cuci mata pon cukup. Besides Ain mmg ada motif nak singgah sini, dia nak beli sepasang sneakers. And I remembered I promised Hantu Makan a.k.a Kak Dalia that I would skodeng Furla for her whenever I visit Wertheim.

We arrived at Wertheim Village at 3pm. As expected, takde sale, therefore takde la menarik sgt. Tapi I bought little something kat Body Shop - lip gloss dia cuma 4€ saja! And little something jugak from Palmers...hehehe. Ain dpt sneakers NIKE idaman hatinya and harganya juga menepati idaman hati...kan Ain, kan? So it fulfilled the main objective of coming to Wertheim.

Wertheim Village yg sunyi sepi..maklum la bukan musim SALE!

I did go into Furla boutique, tapi x berani nak snap gambar handbag byk2....takut kena sound. So kak dalia, if you happen to read this, here are two Furla handbags photos I managed to snap for you....I´ll probably akan pegi lagi Wertheim before balik Malaysia for good (tgk keadaan), so kalau nak kirim, sila la ye :)

Furla in black

Furla in red

Rosenthal idaman hati

Longchamp! (angkat2 kening...hehehe)

rehat selepas penat keluar masuk kedai

By 5:30pm, kami bergerak menuju Frankfurt, sampai kat Frankfurt around 7pm, menyinggah makan KFC dulu kat Hanau then baru pulang ke rumah. Sampai rumah around 8:30pm....penat dan ngantuk!

So berakhir sudah journal perjalanan 7 hari ini. It was a great memories....and thanks to Ain & Fattah for joining us and made our journey happy....

Day 6: Around Prague

As much as we were hoping that it would be a bright, beautiful day for our venture day in Prague that day, we woke up to a rainy morning. And the temperature was around 5-7C. Nasib baik sy dah mmg angkut jaket tebal utk kami sekeluarga especially utk sikembar. I, on the other hand a bit unlucky sbb bawa jaket autumn yg tidak kalis air. Xpe la, janji sikembar tu were kept warm enough so x jatuh sakit dan x crancky sepanjang jalan.

Pagi di Wenceslar Square

We took our own sweet time bersiap pagi tu sbb kononnya nak tunggu hujan berenti. Tapi xde tanda2 hujan akan berenti pon so kami keluar la jugak. Dah la payung pon tadak. Yg bestnya although it was Sunday, all shops were open. Ok, kami sedikit jakun disini sbb we so get used to the idea that shops are closed on Sunday as in Germany.

Our first stop was this souvenir shop selling lots of crystals and jewelleries and some other souvenirs stuffs. Agak terpegun jugak la melihat crystals disini sbb sgt glittering gitu, cantik2 dan murah2! Org kedai tu pulak peramah2 belaka and one of the shop assistant, bukan sahaja boleh berbahasa English dgn baik, malah dia tau sy dr Malaysia! Dia kata dia pon Muslim, berasal dr Tunisia dan husband dia boleh ckp melayu!

inside the souvenir shop

Nice!

However, kami x membeli apa pon sbb nak meronda byk tempat lagi and I was thinking since this shop is very near to our hotel- apartment, maybe on the way balik nanti boleh singgah. Then we kept walking along the street sampai ke Old Town. The thing about Prague, everywhere you see historical buildings sampai x tau which one actually you looking for. Agak byk points of attractions di Prague dan kami confused x tau nak pegi mana satu dulu.

Kedai Bata di Prague agak exclusive gitu...

Old Town

So we decided to walk in the direction of the famous Charles Bridge dan kemudian ke Prague Castle. Walaupun hujan, pelancong tetap ramai gitu dan seronok berjalan menyusur lorong2 kecil di Prague sbb dimana2 ada kedai souvenirs dgn mcm2 jenis barangan. Crystal jgn ckp la, mmg penuh dimana2 termasuk la Swazsroski. Crystal di Czech dikenali sbg Bohemian crystals dan sgt terkenal dgn buatan tangan yg halus dan cantik dan murah. Chandeliers yg kalau kat malaysia berharga beribu2 ringgit itu dan selalunya dijual kat kedai2 ekslusif, kat sini even a small souvenir shop penuh bergantungan!

Ain & chandeliers

Coklat pelbagai jenis

Too bad sy xde budget utk shopping :(

It was quite a long walk utk sampai ke Prague Castle, and since ianya terletak di atas bukit, some more nak kena mendaki tangga2 kecil nak sampai ke atas tu. Ain yg x berapa sihat, kata dia surrender la nak naik so dia & Fatah decided nak tunggu kat coffee shop kat kaki bukit. Kami ni gigih jugak la nak pegi (sy la actually, cik HB would be happy to comply kalau sy kata x nak naik...hehehe) Ye, sy mmg gigih bab2 berjalan ni....sbb sy fikir we may not get the chance to come again so kena all-out la kan?

Prague Castle dari jauh

Mendaki tangga menuju Prague Castle

View of Prague city dr Prague Castle entrance

Masalahnya, kami x boleh nak angkut buggy sbb jln yg bertangga, therefore cik Nabilah as usual started to be cranky, which was menguji kesabaran! Tambah pulak dgn hujan renyai dan sejuk. However sy pujuk gak dia to walk a bit more sampai we have seen enough. The thing is, kompleks Prague castle ni sgt besar, dikatakan antara castle yg terbesar di dunia. So nak tgk semua mmg out of question la kalau berjalan dgn budak berdua ni. Bila rasa mcm dah x mkn pujuk dah si Nabilah tu, maka pon patah balik dan turun ke bawah.

inside Prague Castle complex

Then kami berehat sebentar kat satu coffee shop ni menikmati kopi of course dan tertarik dgn satu kek ni, namanya medovnik. Sedap, rasa mcm ada honey and karamel. Lepas balik dr bercuti, ain buat research pasal kek ni, rupanya kek ni mmg famous kat Prague...org kata kalau pi Prague, rugi x try makan kek ni. Google resepinya, kek ni made of honey and sugar. Simple je bahan2 dia tapi method of making agak complicated!

Medovnik

Lepas break, kami berjalan menuju Charles Bridge - satu lagi famous checkpoint in Prague. Then berjalan balik menuju Old Town and Wenceslar Square. Actually ada byk lagi attractions di area ini tapi kami dah penat dan kesejukan dek kerana hujan renyai2 yg x berhenti dr mlm tadi. Still berjalan balik ke hotel pon, kami leka dgn deretan kedai2 souvenirs. Mcm2 pon ada!

me on Charles Bridge

wooden craft

By the time kami sampai hotel pon dah pukul 6:30 pm. Masak dinner, makan dan mlm tu hanya lepak2 dlm apartment.

Next episode: Journey home & Wertheim Village