Raya raya !

Very very late selamat hari raya wish! Yes as you all can see, my blog has not been updated for the past, ehem ehem, two months? How embarassing. Trust me, I didnt even touch my computer. I let it rot and collect dust by the corner of the room. Maklumlah, trial.

So this year's theme was in midst of purplish pinkish. Had a great time at mt grandmama's open house where I ate so much, that I gained back all the weight I lost during 30-day puasa in 1-day raya. Yeah, I was like this blood sucking eating cow that attacked everything especially Nek Uda's wondrous serunding (:

Went raya here and there. Suprisingly did not get any stains on my other baju raya which kain is white (and very -- EXTREMELY -- proud of it). I was kinda embarassed taking duit raya from people because I felt, well you know, old enough. Im gonna work soon anyway. So I said this to everyone but everyone gave (: Then this one mak cik, actually LISTENED to what I said (?) and did not give me duit raya. I was like, ummmm, hmmm. I thought this whole reverse psychology would work, but apparently only 1 in every 50 people.

Anyhow, my family did a open house, like every other year. We are quite a weird family. Every year, we'll plan on how small we wanna make the open house and invite as little amount of people as possible. But hey, it'll never work huh? We'll end up with 200 people -- every year. And this year, slightly less, just about 113 people. Its in our nature. To invite everybody O.O

So I invited a bunch of my friends this year! About 20 of em. And we had a blast. Everybody looked smashing, took great photos and told about each other's stories. I really missed them, like a lot, so hurrah hurrah they came (:

And Selamat Hari Raya. A late one anyway.

Limau Mali

Especially to my girl, ting tong. Thanks my dear for being a great deskmate these past 2 years. Bring back some oranges ok bebe? Last day of school, i ate like 4 oranges in class haha :D Have fun in Muar. I know I will, here. Im gonna get angpau's from my chinese relatives, WOOH!

P/S-Dunt forget to wear red underwear for luck! :D

Ma'assalamah

Today, i'm leaving Yemen.

....

Im leaving Yemen with such a heavy heart. This place has opened my heart so much to how beautiful islam is. And I hope to return home as a better muslimah, insyaAllah.

The people I'm going to miss :

Mak Ngah

She's the one in pink :D

I am very very very close to my mak ngah. We can just click and be very crazy together. She has brighten up my days here and I'm going to miss her tonnes and loads. Thank you mak ngah :D

Aly

"The Man" as he calls himself. Fun 14year old to be with. He lets me play his PSP, what an honour! :D Thank you for tahan-ing my kerenah hee hee. And we had good laughs didnt we dude? :D Hope u will excel in ur exams man. Ur a great muslim. Gonna miss you man!

Ayah Ngah

The photographer, driver, kuaci man and mountain dew buddy! :D Thanks ayah ngah for all the comfort, we really appreciate it :) Oh and for the enlightening talks which opened up my heart. Jazaillahulkhair, u made me strive to be a better muslimah, alhamdulillah. Thank you! :) And I will miss ur sarcasm, for sure.

NAWAL

Tadaa this is nawal! :) She is my closest friend in Yemen. She's my aunty's neighbour and she's 14. She is just amazingly nice. She speaks only a number of words in english, so we converse in arabic 24/7! Woohoo so proud of myself. Thank you Nawal for teaching me arabic, teaching me how to tie tudung arab style and teaching me how to make popcorn. Once we were making popcorn and left it to meletup then we went to the toilet and came back with the popcorn overflowing and jumping its way to the ground. Oh dear, how I will miss you so ;(

THE MUNCHKINS

HUDUR

SAFA

Aww to my darling nextdoor neighbours! They are such a joy :D Their mother is Philipino and their dad is lebanese. They speak fluent arabic. I like speaking to them because they know only basic arabic as do I. But sometimes they kecek arab sampai I dont understand so buat dek je hehe. They always cry when I have to send them back home. Im really gonna miss them. They call me khala (aunty :( ) Haha. They're gonna move kot but I hope to see them again when I return to Yemen, insyaAllah. They are just simply adorablee! Ahhhh

So, my trip to Yemen have been amazing as you can see :D Alhamdulillah, its an experience of a lifetime. I will do whatever it takes to return. InsyaAllah :)

Road Trip!

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.

I want to amalkan always beri salam, first. InsyaAllah.

I'm back everybody :D Everyday I open my blog tapi tak update2 haha sorry no time ;p Too many other better things to do hee hee. Last tuesday until thursday, my family, my mak ngah's family and my grandparents (yes they're here! :D) went on a road trip to Taiz, Ibb and Jiblah. These places are still in Yemen. Sana'a (where Im staying) is like Kuala Lumpur, Taiz Ibb Jiblah are south macam Johor Melaka hahaha.

First destination would be Taiz. Taiz is a 6 hour journey, jauhh. Me n Aly kena sumbat at the back of the car, bontot2 sume habis numb O.O But the journey was just so breath taking! Seriously, all the buildings, the mountains, its just such a different beautiful culture. Its just amazing. On the way there, we singgah-ed Dhamar. It was time for brunch :D Imagine a family of eight sitting at the edge of a mountain eating MEE HUN! Hee hee nekpah punya kerja lah ni buat mee hun :) Cantik! See see :

Yayah Hero Habis :D

That's Aly

Banyak lagi gambar coming, dont worrryyy. Then after we ate, just as we were about to continue the journey, a small van which had like 30 girls in it came and they came out of the car playing a rhythm on their gendang. They we young, my age kot. Ada some sort of celebration for a bride. Then we said hye and everything. You know what? Yemenis really like Malaysians. Because we are from a muslim country and well we're nice i guess :D So they kept waving at us, feeling so excited that they met us foreigners. Hati kitorang lagi dug dap haha.

U know what? Along the journey, kat tengah2 jalan many people were selling carrots and timuns haha and the carrots SEDAP! ;D haha yeah. So we arrived at the hotel around 4 so we just lepak-ed. In the morning, we ate at a smaall coffee table in the room, all 8 of us. It was so nice. Whole family having simple breakfast. OK, Yemen is famous for their qamariahs. Its like glass painting which they have at most buildings. When I woke up, the sun was shinning right on it and the room was colourful! It was so nice. And our room punya view hebat gilaa !





Then, we went up ta mountain (Jabal Saber) and its my favourite part of the trip! As we went up, we stopped to take a picture of buildings bulit at the edges of the mountains. Imagine living in this environment everyday. Wow.

As we went up, a litte girl was trying to make money by selling flowers. She chased our car and shouted "FLAAAWERRR! FLAAAWERRR!" Alahai, tak sampai hati pulak, so we bought. We stopped a few times to take some pictures. Seriously, its just AMAZING. Because this place isnt commersialised like Cameron highlands. Its just as it is. With people living their lives in the environment. The place doesnt have tourists and theme parks or anything to make it a tourist attraction. Its like an untouched haven, pure in its own natural way. And you can see the beautiful culture. Ohh it was simply perfect.




Then this boy went to my dad with a himar (donkey) and asked him to ride it. My dad hesitated but all of us "insisted" that he does. He rode it and it was hilarious because I could see that he was actually scared, takot2 donkey tu turning sikit, terjunam bawah bukit hahaha. But the boy was a natural. He rode the donkey terbalik and rode it dekat tepi2 bukit. Respect lah :D
We drove higher and higher until the peek of the mountain. We were ABOVE THE CLOUDS! :D Memang one of the most beautiful places I've been too. SERIOUS. Cuba bayangkan I'm in a jubah tengah cuba nak panjat segala batu yang ada. Wait, don't imagine. Humiliating haha but I wouldnt want to miss the chance of a lifetime eh? Anyway takde orang pon. And then, I met this girl, 19 years old. She wanted to talk to me so bad because she was taking an english course and she wanted to practice her english with me. U know what? She's 19 and married O.O The legal age for marriage here is 15 ! ..... Bahaya.

Ayah Ngah, Abah, Aly

Abah, Me, Aly

After enjoying the rocks and clouds, we went back down. On the way, we saw two cute girls walking. So my grandpa opened his window and offered them candy. After that we drove away. TIBA2, AN AMBUSH OF LITTLE BOYS KEJAR OUR CAR. They wanted CANDY. But we didnt have enough so we drove faster. Then they chased the two girls. The two girls ran for their life! Then the boys pushed the girls to the ground! We were like OMG. So my uncle reversed and went out of the car, marah. Then the boys cabut lari. It was such a scene, man.

Then we went to Ibb and went up a mountain and took really nice pictures of the sun rays. Then my uncle who is a professional photographer was so hyped up when he saw a dandelion and took dozens of pics of it. I took one too :D There:

As we went back to the hotel, hundreds of camels past by! On the road! In front of our hotel! Tekezut saya. Ada camel tempang jugak, kesian :( That night we played "password" and me n aly got beaten by my mak ngah. She will never make me forget that moment hahaha. Dia cium2 invisible trophy. Watch out mak ngah! Vengence will arise.

YEEHAA! :D

Then we headed for Jiblah. Here is the place where Queen Arwa once ruled. So looked at her mosque and her museum. U know what? Yemeni's are not good at English. So when we went in the museum, there was a description about her. "Queen Arwa was very beautif000000000000l. She was white, tall and a little fat" HAHAHA! Me and Aly gelak terbahak bahak. Me n aly's museum tour guide was this little girl name Lufa. Hebat jugak dia haha.

Ismuki (Her name is) Lufa.

Then we had butt aching ride home but overall it was an amazing journey :D I will never forget it. Im not a good story teller, so u might think this entry is boring but whatever it is, it is a journey where my heart became amazed.

YEAH MAN, ITS YEMEN!

AHLAN WASAHLAN WA MARHABAH :D

So how in the world did I end up staying at Yemen for a month huh? Ok it goes like this,

My Mak Ngah and her family has been living here for 4 years cause she wants to learn Arabic, so kiranya berhijrah la kan. Then, this year my uncle pula dapat offer to become a lecturer on photography in University of Science and Technology of Yemen (USTY). Kebetulannya, my dad got an offer to work at the very same Uni to lecture on construction something-something for 2 weeks. So its a huge coincidence that my dad got a job in the same uni as my uncle. So yeah menetaplah kami di sini sebulan lamanya.

For now, I'm accomodated at my Mak Ngah's house in Hai Andalus mar-something. Its more of an apartment but its really nice and comfortable. So moving on, we arrived here hari Khamis at 4pm and I tell you, AAAALLL the women pakai abaiyyah (black jubbah) and nikab (the thing that covers the face). Everybody looked the same ;o I held on tight to my momma, nanti sesat kena check up mata semua orang nak identify susah pulak karang.

The apartment is a 15 min drive from the airport, so dapatlah tengok around Yaman. Along the journey, 80% of the men was chewing qat. This thing is like, addictive leaves. Haa, diorang kunyah daun. And banyak gila! Its like smoking la kiranya. And they chew some of it then store dekat tepi mulut sampai kembung pipi, yuck memang hodoh betol. Its so addictive that people actually can die from it. Haishh.

Takut meletup je koyak pipi. Macam hamster O.O

So sampaaaii je rumah, masuk bilik and wahhh the view from my window is AMAZINGGG! Take a look at this,

Morning time

Senja time

Bayangkan, having a mountain view at your bedroom window. Magnificent man. Ok then for the next day was a very lepak day. Me n my family banyak tidur because trying to adjust to the Yemeni time. Jetlag maa. Over here is 5 hours lagi lambat from Malaysia. So if its 7pm here, its 12am in Malaysia. Dengkur habis oh pagi2 buta. I fasted Zulhijjah on saturday and sunday. Buka puasa here is earlyyy, at 5'30pm. Hee hee.

On saturday, we went to the SOUK (pasar) to buy some stuff. Pssstt, girls, I got some stuff for youu! :D It was soo crowded because Eid was coming. All the sellers were guys. Tak kira lah jual bra ke tudung ke, the men sold them. And the streets were filled with burung gagak (women in black abbaiyyahs). Hahaha everyone looked alike. And it was the first time I went out in nikab. It felt awesome because everyone looked alike, so none of us could outlook the other, I felt very happy. Because of the nikab only showing my eyes, puas gila menguap besar2 in public because nobody knows. Dah la temperature freezingg cold. Kalau hingus meleleh pun orang tatau. HEEE :D

That night was one of the best family nights we had. We played boggle and gelak tebahak2. It was soo much fun! Then we exchanged jokes and gelak sampai golek2 lantai. Risau terpelanting pulak braces nanti haha.

Sunday was hari masaak :) The next day would be Eid so we cooked Kuzi ayam and kuah kacang and nasi impit yang a bit lembik. Then me and Aly (cousin) had to gentel2 dough bagi bulat2 to make biskut arab. After that I forgot what happened. Somebody escort me to the hospital please? I think I have an illness ; short term memory loss.

Monday was an awesomee day! It was Eid! :D So. first thing in the morning, we went to the old city just to have a stroll. Eventhough I was wearing the nikab, people stared at me semacam. Nampak mata je pun boleh tau I'm a foreigner. Hebat. Mata saya kelihatan cina ya? Dah tu kasut putih tapi everything else hitam.

Cool eh? Other people wore black or brown. He he, dare to be different meh.

The old city was breathtaking. Seriously, amazing. The buildings were magnificent. And one of my favourite things in Yemen is the sky. There are no clouds here so the sky is so clear and there are so many shades of blue, its just sooo cantik. I post all the pictures below. It only rains 25days in a year and it will rain really heavily. Sampai banjir (oh, something in common with TTDI J :D) So they have this thing called the "Saila" where the roads have walls around it to store banjir water. See, why lah orang TTDI J takboleh fikir benda macam ni. Mengek. I know you guys wanna see pictures. P/S - no editing has been done. Ori punyaa. Haa ni dia ;

Ok so at the old city, I dont know how lah people recognise us as foreigners, but a lot of people came to us and said "Sourah! (Picture!)" Diorang terhegeh2 nak ambik gambar ngan my family. Apa lagi, come come lai lai! :) And kat sana, ALL the men will have jambiya (big curved knife) around their waist. Bukannya guna for attacking or apa apa. Its just like an accesory. Its their culture. And because of the chilled weather, they all wear coats. Oh and budak budak kat sana, mak aihhh, pakai bukan main lagi fancy. Fwah fwah habis! Mcm untuk talent show or something. This is the time for them to wear clothing like that. Besar nanti haa tutup segala benda, ambik kau!

Tabik oh mamat ni gila cool ! :D

Adumak, panjang lebar lagi nak bercerita, but now its 10'30 and I have to wake up early tomorrow because we're going to the Hadiqah (Park). Hurraah! :D

...to be continued