Alhamdulillah, sudah 10 hari Ramadhan di Auckland, New Zealand (di sini kami mula berpuasa pada 2 September lepas)! Subhanallah, begitu pantas masa berlalu. Sebelum saya meneruskan coretan, ingin saya memohon ampun dan maaf pada mana-mana pakar bahasa or 'linguists' yang terbaca tulisan saya ni sebab saya akan code-switch coretan saya ni dengan sesuka hati dan sesedap rasa hehehe, sebab ini coretan yang sangat peribadi hahaha... (ya lah tuh!!!)

Dalam pada berpuasa, tugasan akademik (a.k.a assignments) bertimbun-timbun, alhamdulillah, dua sudah disempurnakan dan dihantar tetapi masih ada satu dan juga kerja-kerja "dissertation" (termasuk lah membaca, merumus, menyimpul, mengedit, memilih 'previous literature' yang sesuai untuk 'literature review' dan juga 'methodology section'). Semua pasti bertanya, "apa yang seronok berpuasa di luar Malaysia?" Hmmm, macam mana nak cakap yaa?

Sejujurnya, berpuasa di mana-mana pun, asalkan di atas bumi Allah ni, sama sahaja rasanya. Cuma mungkin kemeriahan ber tarawih secara berjemaah itu agak terbatas bagi muslimat seperti saya kerana di sini masjid dan rumah adik-adik undergrad (yang menganjurkan solat tarawih berjemaah) agak jauh. Sementelah itu, saya tidak punya 'geng' atau teman untuk menemankan ke masjid atau ke rumah adik2, 'but soon insyaAllah, my friend said, that next week maybe, we'll go to one of the masjids.' InsyaAllah, slowly but yet surely. (Takpe lah, ustaz pun sebut, daripada muslimat ke masjid membawa fitnah, lebih afdal muslimat solat tarawih di rumah sahaja, ceh... nak cari alasan lah ni!)

Apart from that, I miss the "Bazaar Ramadhan" in Malaysia. Well, Malaysia boleh kan??? Of course we don't have such things here, lagi pun New Zealand kan bukan negara Islam. But all the same, last Saturday, MAPSA organised a "buka puasa" function and alhamdulillah, there were a lot of "missed" foods on the table, so dapat lah mengubat kerinduan pada Bazaar Ramadhan kat Malaysia tu... And because now the uni is having a mid-semester break, (which is two weeks), I can cook anything I like for break fasting.

Hah, nak tahu satu cerita best tak? Last Monday, before kita keluar rumah, nak submit assignment, kita pun pack lah kita punya beg, bawa buku and notes for that day's class, konon-konon nak bawa bekal buka puasa (oats biscuit and a banana) coz I thought kelas habis pukul 6pm, mesti tak sempat sampai rumah punya... hai nasib baik lah terbaca e-mail from lecturer, reminding us all to submit the assignment and at the end of her e-mail: Have a nice break! Eh takde class ke hari ni??? So, I went and took out my course outline! Ceh! Semester break (2) dua minggu rupa-rupanya!!!! I was deceived because last semester it was only a week! Hai, nasib baik lah tak tunggu kat uni sampai waktu class! huhu....

Hmmm, begitu lah cerita saya for the past ten days in September. I must admit that I miss Malaysia so much and can't wait to finish my studies and go back.... I may want to apply for my Permanent Head Damage degree, but that will wait.... until I have submitted my dissertation! Please Allah, help me to achieve my dreams, please help me become a good and obedient Muslim, a good daughter, a good friend, a good teacher and lecturer, a good holistic person who knows how to be humble and grateful to you Allah, aameen ya rabbal 'alameen!

Okay, I need to pen off now!

P/S : Kepada semua muslimin dan muslimat, selamat meneruskan ibadah puasa dan ibadah-ibadah lain di Ramadhan yang penuh barakah ini! To Azie, thank you for the wishes, Ramadhan mubarak to you too dear!