Life is a journey

Aidilfitri di perantauan

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 03:30:46 GMT

"Ikhlaskan hati mohon kemaafan, leburlah dosa di tapak tangan, lupakan segala silap dan salah... insan bersatu membina ummah..."

Terlebih dahulu saya ingin memohon ampun dan maaf zahir dan batin sempena kedatangan Syawal yang mulia ini. Semoga semua ibadah kita di bulan Ramadhan diterima Allah SWT. Maaf juga dipinta kerana sudah agak lama tidak mengisi ruang di blog. Niat di hati mahu mencoret sedikit di pagi 1 Syawal yang lepas, tetapi sibuk lah pula dengan pelbagai "acara" yang telah diatur teman-teman sejak dua minggu yang lepas.

Acaranya cuma ada dua, solat sunat aidilfitri di Masjid Ponsonby, Auckland dan kunjungan ke rumah-rumah keluarga Malaysia dan sahabat-sahabat di Auckland. Disebabkan jarak antara rumah-rumah yang ingin dikunjungi itu agak jauh, terasa seperti berada dalam kereta untuk pulang ke kampung halaman. Rasa macam di Malaysia pula. Syukur alhamdulillah diberikan Allah kesempatan untuk menikmati aidilfitri walaupun di rantau orang. Dan ketika menjamah juadah hasil air tangan bonda-bonda Malaysia di Auckland ini, hati terubat seketika pada masakan ibu.

Rumah pertama yang kami serang pada pagi itu ialah rumah Auntie Priska. Hmmm, memang rambang mata dibuatnya, pelbagai juadah membuka selera. Soto, nasi tomato, rendang daging, pulut kuning, kuih muih... Saya memilih untuk menjamah soto kerana sudah sangat lama tidak merasainya setelah hampir 7 bulan bulan lebih di Auckland. Setelah soto, jamah pula pulut kuning dan rendang daging. Haha, lepas tuh "pause" sekejap sebab dah penuh. Setelah beberapa ketika, baru lah jamah biskut raya.

Lepas rumah Auntie Priska, kami ke rumah Kak Asiah di North Shore. Masuk-masuk aje ke dalam rumah, ternampak atas meja penuh hidangan kek, hmmm tak tahu nak makan yang mana satu. Tetapi kek "blueberry berkrim", hasil air tangan suami Kak Asiah memang sedap, sampai saya sendiri meminta Kak Asiah upload resepi di blog huhu... Setelah itu, kami pulang ke rumah untuk solat zuhur and then menyambung kembali pengembaraan ke rumah Auntie Fatimah dan Kak Tun. Kunjungan kami ke rumah Kak Tun selalunya memang lama, solat asar di sana, sempat bersembang dengan jiran Kak Tun, Auntie Nita yang berasal dari Filipina tetapi telah lama berada di New Zealand. Dapat pula jemputan Auntie Nita melihat-lihat rumah dan taman bunganya. Sebelum ini kami selalu tertanya-tanya (especially me) siapalah empunya rumah yang banyak betul tanaman bunga ni!! Tuah aidilfitri, dapatlah saya mengambil beberapa gambar di taman bunga Auntie Nita, malah selepas itu dihadiahi sejambak bunga dari taman beliau. Thank you very much Auntie Nita!

Habis episod di rumah Kak Tun, kami pergi pula ke rumah Kak Zakiah. Setelah itu pulang solat maghrib di rumah dan kemudian... hmmm menyambung lagi! Berkunjung pula ke apartment Zaida dan terakhir sekali ke rumah Zack dan Chah. Masa ni semua dah tak larat nak makan tetapi mata saya ternampak sesuatu yang saya idamkan, kek lapis! Hmmm, memang duduk mengadap itu saja dan menjamah sedikit nasi impit dan serunding - hah yang ini pun ditunggu-tunggu, alhamdulillah ada....

Sebaik sahaja sampai di rumah, saya menerpa ke bilik air, membersihkan diri, solat Isya' dan melihat-lihat persiapan untuk ke kelas pada hari esok! Begitulah episod menarik 1 Syawal di Auckland!

K.I.S.S versus lengthy elaborations...

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 19:06:13 GMT

I'm sure most students out there are very familiar with the common formula:

Keep It Short and Simple/Sweet - K.I.S.S

There are also other cliche remarks which conform with the above formula, "The more you write, the more mistakes you make." This statement has become English Language teachers' most popular tip when teaching writing to students. It is simply because teachers may not like it when they have to pinpoint a lot of grammatical errors, (not counting inappropriate words, incoherent phrases!) which are littered in the essays! Usually, adventurous students whose sincere wishes are to display creativity, may encounter problems in their writings due to lack of grammatical competence.

"The more complex the sentences produced, the more likely they are to contain errors" (Foster & Skehan, 1996).

Most students especially the ones who favour "formula" in language classes, will take this to heart and remember it until the day they die! However, the KISS formula is not that relevant anymore when you pursue your Master or PhD degrees. Why?

Normally, an assignment for a postgraduate student requires him or her to write a minimum of 2000 words! But if they are lucky, sometimes an assignment will only require 1000 to 1500 words! Unfortunately, this is very rare! Why a lot of words? Well, this is where you are provided sufficient space and ground to argue your ideas critically and creatively with reference to the previous literatures (Of course, what else???) Quoting some prominent researchers' words may help, but it will be better if you can also display a true understanding of the quotations by summarising and synthesizing them in your own statements in order to present a clear argument of an idea or concept.

If you ask me, is it easy? NO, it is not easy. A lot of time and effort is needed to bring the 2000-word essay to a level where it is readable, comprehensible and most important of all, coherent! There is no use stringing a lot of quotations from the previous literatures without exactly knowing what to present in the argument. Nevertheless, time constraints, lack of understanding of the concept, last minute "breakthrough" (this happens when you say, "finally, I understand what this means!!!") and also burnouts will somehow "get in the way" of producing a wonderful clearly elaborated piece of essay!

I'm not writing this to discourage anybody let alone implying that essay writing is a definite brain-drilling! I'm writing this to remind myself that more effort should be put into the work I'm producing. Nothing is easy. Life is not a bed of roses. Reality is sometimes bitter but still you just have to face it! To those who feel inclined to continue their academic jouney to the highest peak, my sincere advice would be to sharpen your reading and writing skills. Most of all, be patient, you really must be patient with the readings. Different writers have different styles of writing and therefore, you will encounter a lot of patterns!

Okay, I'd better stop now before I write more incoherent phrases!

Jangan tinggal daku..... wahai Ramadan yang penuh barakah!

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:39:30 GMT

"Ku mengharapkan Ramadan kali ini penuh makna..
Agar dapat kulalui dengan sempurna

Selangkah demi selangkah, setahun sudah pun berlalu
Masa yang pantas berlalu, hingga tak terasa ku berada di bulan Ramadan...
semula...."

Begitu pantas Ramadan berlalu... jika dihitung-hitung, hanya beberapa hari lagi tinggal untuk kaum Muslimin merebut pahala dan redha Allah di bulan yang penuh kemuliaan ini.

Ramadan kali ini begitu bermakna buat diri ini kerana pertama kali meraikannya di perantauan, menjalani ibadah sambil menuntut ilmu, suka dan duka dirasai seadanya. Riang tatkala berbuka bersama-sama teman seperjuangan di sini tetapi pada masa yang sama, sayu di hati mengenangkan betapa Ramadan kali ini disertai dengan pelbagai "episod menarik" di tanahair tercinta. Sebagai seorang anak "tanah pusaka" yang memandang dari kejauhan, hati kecil ini terusik, asyik bertanya, bilakan "konflik" ini akan berakhir... moga dengan kedatangan lebaran, akan leburlah dosa di antara "hati-hati ini" di tapak tangan... (itu hanya lah secebis harapan, berbekal doa!)

Alhamdulillah, semalam saya berkesempatan solat tarawikh berjemaah di salah sebuah masjid di Auckland - Masjid Ponsonby. Jemaah muslimat hanya dua saf tetapi roh sakinah dan ukhuwwah terasa menyentap ke sanubari. Sebelum solat, sempat disapa oleh seorang jemaah muslimat dari Palestin, yang sudah dua tahun berada di New Zealand. Sayang sekali, saya dan teman tidak sempat berbual lebih lanjut dengannya kerana waktu solat isya' sudah masuk ketika itu dan kami pula terpaksa meninggalkan dewan solat setelah selesai lapan rakaat solat tarawikh sebab takut tiada perkhidmatan bas lagi selepas jam 9 malam. However, it's a nice experience! InsyaAllah, kami akan ke sana lagi besok.

Pada ketika ini, saya berasa sangat bersyukur kerana dikurniakan Allah Ta'ala kesempatan untuk menuntut ilmu di bumi orang. Ramadan kali ini telah menyedarkan saya akan banyak perkara; erti sebenar kesabaran, erti kesyukuran, erti toleransi dan erti keyakinan pada pertolongan Allah! Maha Suci Allah yang mengajarkan segala-galanya! Betapa saya tidak ingin Ramadan ini berlalu pergi dengan pantas... moga ibadah kita semua diterima Nya, taqabbalallahu minna wa minkum!

Moga lebaran yang akan hadir ini menyatukan umat atas satu nama, insyaAllah!

Take your time...

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 09:38:37 GMT

Somewhere in 2004, in a contemporary literature class...

"Take your time to read the text, feel the words, slowly dissolving into your brain, take your time to appreciate... okay, for example, eating chicken rice... savour the taste, how juicy, how tender the chicken is... its rich flavour... the rice aroma..... savour the taste!"

Somewhere in the library, in the midst of photocopying a chapter from a book...

A lady privately muttering to herself,"Oh darn this machine... oh dear, I've forgotten to press the "reduce" button!!! Ahhh, I've wasted NZD 0.20, hmmm better not convert that to Malaysian ringgit... tuh lah, I should have taken my time... yes... take your time to do this!"

Somewhere in the kitchen, trying in vain to wash and separate the half-frozen chicken parts...

"Oh why this thing refuses to come off!!!! Ouchhh!! Ya Allah, I've scratched my thumb again! I should have taken more time to defross the chicken... yes, Mas, you should take your time to do this..."

Somewhere in the middle of editing a paper... (to be submitted the next day!)

"Alamak!!! I've quoted this one wrongly....... itu lah, I must take my time in understanding this Widdowson quotation! What he really means is totally different from what I perceived earlier... I need to be more patient..."

Thought of the day:

The 'wonderful' thing about humans is that they never really learn from experience... which indicates that humans need continuous reminders and guidance (from Allah, Rasulullah, parents, people around us) to survive the long journey named Life...

"dan berpesan-pesan lah dengan kesabaran..." (al-asr)

Patience, Perseverance and Hard Work

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 17:10:48 GMT

At this moment, I'm finishing one of the most important documents that later will enable me to complete my studies soon, insyaAllah... however, this is just the starter, not the main course. InsyaAllah, with Allah's blessings, I will be able to do it! All that I must remember is the al-Quran verse 282 in Chapter 2 (al-Baqarah) which I keep in my heart:

"Dan bertaqwa lah kamu kepada Allah nescaya Allah akan mengajar kamu. Dan Allah itu Maha Berilmu terhadap segala sesuatu."

Ya Allah, help me with my academic writings... Sometimes I can hear my brain cells screaming, "Stop! Stop! It hurts... we are extremely tired!" But dear Allah, I cannot stop now, no, not now! Please grant me strength, patience, perseverance and discipline, so that I can keep up the hard work, in order to pave the road to success, not for me alone ya Allah, it's for the Deenul Islam, the ummah and the beloved land, aamiin ya rabbal 'alamiin...!!!

The images of Petronas's commercial for the 51st Malaysian Independence Day are still flashing in my mind, urging me, to do my very best, insyaAllah!

PATIENCE + PERSEVERANCE + HARD WORK = ROAD TO SUCCESS

My Hopelessly Romantic Lizzy...

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 12:42:59 GMT

Don't get me wrong! I purposely put the above title to indulge my passion in reading Miss Jane Austen's novels, especially the infamous Pride and Prejudice.

I have to admit that, there are certain things that I observe when reading her novels, decorum, elegance, subtle femininity and family values. Reading her novels make me think more critically of the previous society she was in; where women were extremely depended on making good marriages in order to have a better life. There were social classes as well and "connections" mattered in order to secure an excellent match. I remember Maria Lucas said to her sister, Charlotte Lucas, "ohh.. Mary King, she's not that pretty..." which Charlotte then quickly replied, "Beauty is not the only virtue, Maria, I understand that she has just inherited 10 000 pounds!" Then Mrs. Gardiner chirped in, "... and that is a definite virtue!"

But how sad, Jane Austen herself ended up not married because she believed in love marriage, the very idea that she instilled in her lovely Elizabeth Bennet. I hope... hmmmm.... I'm hoping to be a "hopeless romantic" too.... hmmmmmmmmm....

Dare not write much! :D

I'm walking down the longggg memory lane...

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 13:54:34 GMT

Some might say that I totally live in the past, just like Hugh Grant's character, singer and songwriter Alex Fletcher in Music and Lyrics... but then I don't. I just refuse to forget... It seems that I can really remember previous significant events of life but almost everybody will remember... In my case, everything is significant, my first storybook, my first day of kindergarten, my first day of school, my first best buddies during Convent primary school years, my first crush when I moved to another primary school (ooppps... can't tell where.... it's tooooo dangerous!!!), etc, etc, etc.

Alhamdulillah, I should be grateful to Allah for His blessings and best gifts, alhamdulillah, my memory is good that I can remember a lot of things in life. Some say (or many say huhuhu...) that I take things seriously and too seriously sometimes (or is it most of the times huhu...). If you tell me these things about 15 years ago, I will definitely sulk and refuse to talk for quite some time... but now I readily accept that I am a very passionate person, I take things seriously and too seriously sometimes. But then again, it's a habit that I cannot simply discard to the garbage bin, it's partly training from my parents. Not that I blame them for this, I am thankful to them for their training because I know, a person may have his or her added values or flaws. I'm not perfect. So this 'thing' in me, it can be an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on how I run my 'check and balance'.

Oh dear, I've got carried away again... hahaha, but this is my blog, my writing, I can do whatever I want, yes whatever I want as long as I don't touch any sensitive issues! (I'm sure my students will say, here she goes again.... hahaha) Who cares about cohesion and coherence, or mechanics? As long as you can make sense of what I've written, that's fine...

Actually, today, I've got a bit bored over my readings and suddenly I miss all the old local nasheed songs - The Zikr, Raihan, Hijjaz, Brothers, NowSeeHeart, Saujana and In-Team. This suddenly started this early morning after fajr prayer when out of nowhere, I blurted out some phrases from Hijjaz's Puteriku Sayang. After Raihan lost two of its prominent members (first Allahyarham Zarie, may peace be upon his soul and later Nazrey, when he decided to go solo as freelance 'daie'), and after nasheed songs become almost identical to pop songs (I'm referring to the melody, not lyrics but then again, some nasheed songs have also chosen 'love' themes - husband and wife kinda theme... ), I start backing off slowly from local nasheed. Ten years ago, my interpretation of nasheed songs are songs that contain words of worships (zikr) to Allah al-Mighty as well as 'solawat' to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) or Islamic anecdotes - Ashabul Kahfi by Raihan or words of advice - Mari Bersolat, 25 Rasul, Keluarga Bahagia etc, etc, etc.

So today, after Zuhr prayer, I sat in front of my notebook and began googling the songs... before this I didn't manage to find any, maybe my search went wrong, but today, alhamdulillah, Allah grant my wishes and I downloaded a lot of songs... Ten years ago, I bought cassettes and since I've also lost my CDs, these downloaded songs are enough to cure my homesickness to my favourite nasheed songs. I had tears in my eyes when I finally listened again to Puji-Pujian, Damba Cinta Mu, Wahyu Pertama, Ashabul Kahfi, Rayuan Rindu and Selamat Berjuang. When I listened to Merancang Kerja and Puteriku Sayang, I was brought back to 1999 and also 2002. In 1999, I was still in one of the IPTAs and a girls-nasheed group from my college entered a nasheed competition for siswi. The group was awarded Fourth place, (this I don't really remember, but I do remember some incidents that led to some misunderstandings... I'm afraid I have to choose to forget this... I must let go... ) and then later in 2002, my block in one of the siswi colleges in Shah Alam, entered a nasheed competition (I was one of the coaches) singing Akrab Persahabatan and also Puteriku Sayang. Alhamdulillah, after countless efforts, we won first place. When the tune of Damba Cinta Mu filled the air in my flat, I was again surrounded with sweet memories of halaqah that I had with my sisters back in Malaysia... Kem Pemantapan Syakhsiah, iftar jamaie... I miss them all... Some of the songs also inspire cerpen writing... Yes, I began writing short stories in Malay dating from 1999 and suddenly in early 2004, I stopped... due to time constraints and many other unnecessary constraints and also... hmmm, this is very cliche - tak dak idea lah! One of the songs that inspires my writing is Siti Khadijah, sung by In-Team.

I must say that all these old nasheed songs, they come with bitter sweet memories, some that I wish I can simply forget for eternity, some that I wish to keep until the day I die. Unfortunately, I can still remember them all.... but now I'm telling myself that despite these memories in me, I must believe that I can free my heart and go on.... just like the Fruits Basket theme song:

For instance, even if today is painful,
And yesterday's wounds remain,
I want to believe that I can free my heart and go on...

Allah is Great. He is Most Forgiving... the Malay saying also says, "sedangkan nabi ampunkan umat..." I must also be forgiving and learn to also forgive myself for all the mistakes I've done....

Ku mengharapkan Ramadhan kali ini, penuh makna, agar dapat kulalui dengan sempurna.... insyaAllah. Sahabat-sahabiah ku yang ku hormati dan kasihi, maafkan ku atas segala salah silap yang lalu dan doa kalian kupinta untuk kuteruskan perjalanan ini. Jazakumullahu khairan kathira.

Cerita ku... aka My story...

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 11:10:16 GMT

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!

Salam Kemerdekaan

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 09:25:56 GMT

Perpaduan Teras Kejayaan!

Salam Kemerdekaan yang ke 51 Malaysia!

Semoga Allah melindungi dan melimpahkan rahmat Nya ke atas bumi Malaysia tercinta. Amiin ya rabbal 'alamiin.

My brave little frog

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 04:10:19 GMT

My best buddy sent me this..... I thought I might share this with you... It has given me good reasons to keep on HOPING for the BEST! InsyaAllah!

FROGS

Once upon a time there was a bunch of tiny frogs.... who arranged a running competition.

The goal was to reach the top of a very high tower.

A big crowd had gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants....

The race began....

Honestly:

No one in crowd really believed that the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower.

You heard statements such as:

"Oh, WAY too difficult!!"

"They will NEVER make it to the top."

or:

"Not a chance that they will succeed. The tower is too high!"

The tiny frogs began collapsing. One by one....

Except for those, who in a fresh tempo, were climbing higher and higher....

The crowd continued to yell, "It is too difficult!!! No one will make it!"

More tiny frogs got tired and gave up....

But ONE continued higher and higher and higher....

This one wouldn't give up!

At the end everyone else had given up climbing the tower. Except for the one tiny frog who, after a big effort, was the only one who reached the top!

THEN all of the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it?

A contestant asked the tiny frog how he had found the strength to succeed and reach the goal?

It turned out....

That the winner was DEAF!!!!

The wisdom of this story is:

Never listen to other people's tendencies to be

negative or pessimistic.... because they take your most wonderful dreams and wishes away from you -- the ones you have in your heart!

Always think of the power words have.

Because everything you hear and read will affect your actions!

Therefore:

ALWAYS be....

POSITIVE!

And above all:

Be DEAF when people tellYOUthat you cannot fulfill your dreams!

Always think:

I can do this!