tale of the afghan girl

Assalamualaikum :)

so i have just finished reading Reader's Digest Nov 2007 issue and i wanted to make a personal response towards the section, RD Book Bonus entitled The Other Side of the Sky by Farah Ahmedi.

it's about the writer's journey from her war-torn country to freedom as in where she is now, in Chicago, USA. it all started when she was 7 years old and it was a time when she probably was oblivious to her surroundings and all she wanted to do was go to school and gather as much knowledge as she can in her spongey brain.

the best part was that she had always wondered what the sky was like and what was on the other side of the sky? this thought is just sooo cute and shows how innocent she was at that moment and i pictured her with her hair so smooth with the wind blowing and she is standing on tiptoe looking up at the sky, hehe :)

but she never reached school because she woke up with her family members saying that she had stepped on a land mine, oh dear...

because there was lack of medicine in Afghanistan, she was chosen to go to Germany and there, her leg was amputated and she was given a prosthetic leg. she grew to love Germany and you can't really blame her as she gradually understands the circumstances in her country. it just saddens me that not only does she had to lose her leg at such a young age but she was also separated from her family and her birth place is in such a mess, just makes you grateful huh..

when she returned back to Afghanistan, she rebel at the fact that she probably was even raised there, well, i think it's because she was turning into a teen then and well, you can just imagine what teenagers are going through and the fact that she has been to Germany probably makes her compare both countries. but then she stop rebelling and it made my heart applause for her because she's finally coming to terms with her Afghan roots :)

then the worst happened and when i was reading it, i felt the dread too and it was that her father and two sisters got killed because a rocket had hit their house :'(

that was sooo sad because it's like, somehow, their house was just gonna be hit since there were always rockets zooming past and i gripped my heart at the thought of living hearing the rockets everyday knowing that at the end, the rockets did hit their home, sob...

the Taliban rule Afghanistan now and they wanted all families to give up boys to build up troops. Farah had 2 brothers, however, their family was from a different ethnic group, Hazaras and the Taliban had a special hatred towards Hazaras so maybe they would execute Hazaras boys. so it was decided that the Hazaras boys escape Afghanistan to Pakistan. her brothers were 16 and 9 years old respectively and they held hands as they walked out leaving behind their families forever and Farah wrote that, I never saw my brothers again.

i shed a tear reading that because i could never ever imagine separating from any of my family members and never seeing them, like forever~

the following story continued as Farah and her mother too planned their escape to Quetta, a city on the Pakistan side of the Afghan border. they journeyed through thick and thin and i read in admiration that desperation does do wonders and that both of them were determined to start a new life somewhere and that they just had to get there!

i was rooting for them!

they became refugees but i guess it was better because they still had hope. what saddens me is that a Christian organisation helped them to get to America. where are the muslims? :<

eventhough at first, Farah and her mother's hopes were dashed because of the sept 11 but in the end, they finally arrived at America and now, they're living in Chicago and slowly, both of them are picking up the pieces in their lives.

this is one tale of a girl who wanted to know what the sky looked liked when she was young and now she finally went to the other side of the sky and maybe she got her answer after all :)

i am enchanted *_*

Assalamualaikum :)

I have been contemplating on updating my blog and it’s not that I don’t want to but just that I have no inspiration on what topic to touch on, huhu :]

So I have just watched Enchanted and I am left…enchanted! Hehe ;)

This is because I have always liked feel good movies plus it’s from Disney, my all-time favorite ;)
p/s: furthermore, I can’t really watch those movies that make me lemah-jantung, haha :p

Enchanted’s a whimsical story of fantasy and wish-fulfillment that will have you giggling almost as much as Giselle and certainly leave you smiling from ear to ear. It will make you believe that happily-ever-afters do come true after all.

The movie made me grin and feeling all lovey dovey and watching in awe at how Amy Adams is so dazzling as the displaced damsel, no doubt a Disney icon for young girls everywhere. She’s a cartoon incarnate with a personality as cheery and bouncy as the strawberry-blonde ringlets that cascade over her tiara. Her mannerisms are flowery, her giggle is sugary sweet, her eyes sparkle in wonderment. Her transformation from caricature to dynamic human being is a treat to watch.

And so I downloaded the OST because the songs are haunting and I don’t really fancy Carrie Underwood but the song, Ever Ever After is starting to be ringing in my head, ever ever after~

And do I believe in ever ever after? Of course I do and why is that?! Because when your love is based on the grounds of the Islamic pillars and Allah blesses your love, as in marriage of course then it’s surely ever ever after!
Who disagrees?! [raised eyebrows :p]

true friends test

Create your own Friend Test here

i have been meaning to do this so peeps, pls try!

best tak? :p

start sem break

Assalamualaikum :)

so i'm home and i'm lethargic because of the volunteering work at the zoo, feels like as if i have a hung over except i'm sober, just the expression of being overly exhausted, huhu...
but i kept thinking of that day and how i would love to do it all over again~

so today is the 29th november 2007 and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to n3mah or name5a, it's the same person, just either the former or the latter name is more glamorous, beats me :p

so she's just moved to a new blog and here's the link-> http://name5avol2.blogspot.com/
so i say, happy moving to blogspot, hey, sometimes being unique just doesn't work out, haha :p

but naeemah doesn't have to even try to be unique coz she just is ;)
i'm glad i got close to her those days when she was homesick and kept coming sibuk2 at our dorm, just to be with her sis, hehe ;p
and then after she moved, we would be posting each other letters getting as creative as we could and she would always inspire me to be more creative and more colorful, hehe :)
and i kept all of your letters until now as they are treasures for me to treasure :)

i don't know what to do this hols, i wanna make money as in work but who would take me? because i have only a month of my sem break and moreover, the lure of my bed in the mornings is just too tempting, huhu :p
and nawwar tagged me to do a breakfast thingy and my reply would be that i ALMOST ALWAYS try to have that early-in-the-day-meal because i believed in the importance of having a hearty breakfast before 10am but sometimes either i just sleep through that breakfast period or i'm just too lazy to eat so early in the morning, sigh~
additionally, i don't like it when i have stomachache due to breakfast so early in the morning, huhu..
i do so want to have breakfast everyday, hopefully! and when i do, i would feel really satisfied if i have a really hearty breakfast, wuuu, yummylicious! :D

so there's weddings this weekend and i can't wait to see my friends! i'm coming ;)

volunteering at the zoo

Assalamualaikum :)

i am really very tired right now and it's all because i did volunteering work at the national zoo but I HAD LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT :)

i dunno how to put into words so let the pictures do all the talking ;)

we were first divided into groups and my group consisted of 4 guys and 4 girls including me so that equals 8 members of my group. all 8 of us rarely know each other, we just knew each other's name and face but not more than that. the guys were all in their last semester, timie-> who i had played ping-pong with, faizal->timie's housemates, ke->also housemates, zairi->he's supposedly under my biro jmk but because he's in the last semester, so he doesn't participate much. the girls comprised of me, milah, nani and gda, all the mpsah girls [yeah, semangat sket kan ;p]

eventhough we were shy-shy cat at first but we hit if off great and soon, we created a name for ourselves, The Monks, we took many great pictures, we kononnye made a cover album for the group including konon2 songs, hehe, we bought for the groups pegs where we each signed our names, and oh we had so much fun and i missed all of them dearly :)

the first job we had to do was...tan tarra! clearing the place behind the monkeys' cage, as in outside of the cage, huhu...

i don't mean not to be grateful but i didn't like the thought of being close with the monkeys and i expected to be working close with the animals not clearing the place, huhu...

but i shouldn't even be thinking like that because i had a great time and besides, i am doing volunteering work thus i should be receiving any work whatsoever with an open arm!

i cleared this place near this black baboon's cage and when i came nearer to clear the leaves that kept falling and making a mess near the cage, the baboon stuck it's hand out and I SCREAM!!! i trembled and my heart felt like as if it could shoot out from my insides!!! i do not like primates, i'm sorry and when it kept sticking its hand out for the second time, i ran away like crazy!!!

we didn't just work, we also made our rounds to sight see all the best things in the zoo. and the best part about having a sticker that proves that i'm a volunteer is that i could go anywhere in the zoo that said no entry to visitors!! that has got to be the best part ever!! i went behind the tiger's cage where they kept this big agressive looking tiger named pamci there because it was meal time. when the zookeeper called out it's name, it growled and looked at us and then...it turned its back on us and pee!!! everyone ran screaming in all directions!!! hahaha, it was soooo funny and i was sooo relieved that i was standing at the sides and not directly behind the tiger's butt. kurengnye pamci, huhu :p

nobody got hit by the way, hehe :D

if computers had hidden files, well, zoos have hidden cages too, hehe ;)

and the hidden cages are wild horses that even i was scared to go near them :s

another best part was that i put a python around my body. initially i was scared but i mustered up all the courage i got for this reptile that i'm so fascinated to watch! the keeper said that the trick was not to squeeze it or provoke it and so i tried to keep a straight face while doing so and i loved it! it was soooo cool and at the zoo alone, i held 3 snakes, hehe :)

what i learned while volunteering:

always ask around especially information concerning the animals! i mean, i have got the opportunity to actually be behind the scenes at the zoo and i have to collect as much info as i could to widen my knowledge. i got to know that snakes poo in the water but God knows from where, huhu :p

i went to every single door that had a NO ENTRY sign for visitors. i actually said to my group mates that they shouldn't hesitate because even if we made a mistake, then we could easily say that we gotten in the wrong door, huhu..we are volunteers ;)

i practically force my group mates to do all the rounds in the zoo! come on la, it's not like everyday you get a free entry in the zoo and you get access to all the best places in the zoo so that's where the exploring needs to be done! live life to the fullest!

eventhough the zoo is pretty neglected but that's why volunteers are needed and i don't know if i have made a difference because i didn't do much but i like to believe that what i did made a difference inside of me! firstly, all animals are creation of Allah and Subhanallah, all of the animals are such a wonder to look at! Praise to Allah because all the animals are so fascinating and they kept me amazed and transfixed for a very long time especially the most atrocious creatures! next, we should really save the animals from extinction! when i looked at some of the animals that are nearly wiped out from this earth, i became very sad :(

i do hoped that my children get to see those animals soon~

additionally, do not litter!! please, i beg all of you, don't you love the animals, don't you love the zoo, don't you love the earth??!! so don't litter and try to keep the animals safe from all those rubbish that made such an eye-sore!

i loved every minute that i volunteered working there and when i became a teacher then most definitely i would want to do something like this to my students! this program from the JMKZ biro akademik and penyelidikan, 26th November 2007, 7am until 5pm will truly be one of the most sweetest yet tiring day ever!

Happy Birthday Mai Sis

Assalamualaikum :)

it's 19th November and it's M(",)i Sis 20th Birthday so

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

i tried calling you yesterday and i was THRILLED that i got through! i didn't know that maxis had any kind of service whatsoever that allowed me to make calls overseas and i checked and i think that it's okayla, not that cheap but not that expensive either [i forgot, hehe]

i missed you so much and i think that it showed because my voice cracked :'(
i just missed knowing you're here and that we could talk whenever anything at all came up and now that you're over there and sometimes i don't get the internet connection at college and that sms is just not enough...
but i'm not going to be sad so here's your wish:

mai, firstly i wish you what you truly wish for yourself :)
i wish that you would always excel in whatever you do because you deserve all that :)
don't you know that eventhough i'm the elder sister but i looked up to you sooo much ;)
at the kem anak soleh, i told the girls that kak mai was the perfect role idol in front of their eyes, she's balanced and she never forget's Allah's obligations while studying. i said to the girls, that they have to always perform the dhuha prayers in order for their rezeki to be murah and when they have the opportunity, to wake up in the middle of the night to perform qiamulail because kak mai did that and look where she's at. and the girls went aahhhhsss and oohhhhss and their eyes admired you and that's what you get for being all that :)

and i'm so proud of you. when you left, i feel i could write a poem about you but that i'm not that good, hehe ;)
you take care of yourself and always uphold what values abah mama have taught you and remember that blood always runs thicker than water. families come first! even when there's a super good-looking and nice guy there, make sure that you know he's the one, hehe :p

you have a nice birthday and hope that as the year passes you by, you age gracefully and become much more wiser, more intelligent and InsyaAllah nearer to your goals to become a GREAT doctor (so that i'll get free medications :p)

again, i miss you so much :-*

the big Penguin books warehouse sale

Assalamualaikum :)

right now, there's a not-so-much big gap between the exams but the gap is big enough for me to go the most-anticipated PENGUIN book warehouse sale at petaling jaya. when i walked into the warehouse, i never knew there were soooooo many books!!! well, actually the advertisement in the newspaper did say that there were going to be 20, 000 books but still, i could scarcely believed my eyes to see so much book galore! and that was just seeing, because i said to myself that i'm gonna make sure i managed to go all around the 20, 000 books though i felt a bit dizzy and crazy! i got myself a box (like a trolley) and started to rummage through the books and found myself squealing a lot!! the reason is that the books are UNBELIEVABLY cheap!! i just can't believe it, no wayyy but the kiran desai book, the inheritance of loss at all major bookstores cost RM35.90 but i got one for RM10!!! it was too good to be true but it's true!!

i know that i target to buy lots of literature books to make myself a collection and so i only bought 2 chick flicks, one from jennifer weiner who i fell in love after reading (and watching) in her shoes. i knew that penguin was famous for its literature collection but i never knew that there were just soooo many!! i had a hard time choosing and making up my mind on whether i should spend so many :<
the classics literature books cost as low as RM1.50 to RM4 and though it was a bargain, but i have no credit card yet so i what i did was i put every books that i found inside my trolley cum box and after 3 hours there with the dust and heat, my friends and i sat down and made our selection counting along with a calculator, hehe :p

the cash counter was empty because everyone lined up at the credit card counters but that's ok. i was satisfied with my purchase and i'm not gonna tell the world how much i spend, huhu :p
but it's all for a long term investment! :D
and just like my literature lecturer who always says that he goes to big sales like that and buying books that cost as low as RM1. for me, that's inspirational because i would like to be a person who's been there and done that just through reading! but also by travelling! ;D

someone 'high and mighty and probably-envious' said to me that she doesn't believe that books should be on sale and my friends and i was like, well, that's probably because you can afford books at RM30+ but this warehouse sale was a BIG bargain and besides, why not?! when the books are still looking crispy and new and the price is RM10?! and in spite of my finger got a cut but it was all worth it at the end of the day :)

i kept looking at the books and i can't wait until the exams is over because i want to read all of em and i'm just soooo excited, hehe :D
so mai, when you come back home next year, you will see that my book cupboard will be full of reallyyy interesting books! it feels good to be a literature student :))

exam mode

Assalamualaikum :)

i'm still in the middle of the finals and the anxiety level is still high and likewise with the affective filter, huhu..

for the paper, rekabentuk instruksional and teknologi, the only paper in bm this sem, which was yesterday was too frustrating for words! duncha just hate it when what you read and then you do 4 sets of past years but still, when you finally sat for the real thing, it just doesn't tally all that?! urgh!! there was this question and it had the answer options as follows:

a. semua adalah benar

b. semua adalah salah

c. ada sebahagiannya benar

d. sebahagian kenyataan adalah tidak tepat sama sekali

okayyyy, helloooo mr whoever-did-the-questions!! i mean, what's with that??!! and i thought hard for what to circle, until i accidently dozed off, hehehe, well, it was in the afternoon after all :">

i have a story to share...

last week i went to the tanjung malim pasar malam for the most finger-licking grilled chicken wing sold there, and i met one of the college bus driver. he was with his son because the son look like him. nway, it wasn't the first time that i had met both of them, so i reminisced back to the first time and that was in the local tanjung malim supermarket...

i was choosing on what yogurt drink to buy, not looking at the price mind you but at what flavor i haven't had in a while...tsk...tsk...

and then i overheard the conversation between mr bus driver and his son. the son was choosing on some fried snacks and when he picked up an ayamas branded one, the father said, no, that's too expensive. so he chose another one, but his father shook his head and said that was expensive too. then the father picked up what looked like a plain plastic one, and then he said, let's just buy this one (okay, the dialogue is in malay but i dunno how best to make it sound dramatic, huhu) and consequently they just left.

i was looking intently at them with the fridge door opened because being indecisive, i haven't made my choice yet. but then i just couldn't buy because it was too overwhelming :'(

i mean, i HAVE NEVER had to think about food being expensive [except for the obvious one la]

it was always, when my family and i went shopping in giant or any supermarket, we could just grab anything and our parents would just pay for the items. there was never any question that an ayamas fried something is expensive...

i was dumbstruck and it made me think reallyyy bad because some people out there have it so much worse and i just gotta stop being ungrateful...

a star columnist once wrote that she wore a band on her right wrist and everytime she complained, she would switched the band to her left wrist. the challenge was to not complain for one day, 24 hours but at the end of the day, she failed to do so...

now, i wonder where that band would end up if i had worn it...maybe i should...maybe we all should challenge ourselves, because nobody likes a whiner, hehe ;)

my OCD, now you know how weird i am...

Assalamualaikum :)

because there's no study group this week since my friend went back home to celebrate deepavali then i'm left to strive on my own and now the wireless access at college is like streamyx then i just have to update! besides, when the going gets tough as i study then i have to turn to the distractions and this proves to be the best, huhu :]

so i got tag by n3mah (her and all the tagging :p) and i got interested by this one which i think i'm gonna do. HOWEVER, this tag called My 8 Random Facts scares me because i think it would scare other people!! seriouslyyy and this is all because i have, what you called, Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) which is a psychiatric anxiety disorder most commonly characterized by a subject's obsessive, distressing, intrusive thoughts and related compulsions (tasks or "rituals") which attempt to neutralize the obsessions. you can check the encyclopedia for more info and be surprised!!

so here goes...

The Rules:
1. Each blogger must post these rules first.
2. Each blogger starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. Bloggers that are tagged need to write on their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’ve tagged, and to read your blog.

MY 8 RANDOM FACTS

1. since it's exam time so i'll start of with something that has to do with revision. i like to color my notes, and i have bought all the colors of the stabilo swing cool highlighters and i have to color my notes starting with yellow, then green, blue, purple, pink and lastly orange. it HAS to follow the sequence!! it does or it'll bug me!!

2. the pens and pencils in my pencil case have to be arranged so the caps are facing all the same way. and i check whether everything is there everyday or day and then in the night. there has to be a liquid paper, 6 highlighters, 6 blue pens, 2 black pens, 2 mechanical pencils, 2 erasers.

3. i HAVE to match my clothes from top to bottom!

4. the colors of the pegs have to match with the colors of the clothes that is going to be dried.

5. i HAVE to make sure that everything in the room is in the right place! for instance, i'll know if the bed or if any of my possessions have been moved because i ALWAYS have the need to check...

6. i can't wink my eye too n3mah, uwaa!!!

7. i like to blow my hijab, fuh2 and then my eyes will become all juling2 @,^

8. i hate it when i have ocd but i can't help it, sometimes it's a +ve thing but other times, it bugs me soooo bad!!! actually there's more where this comes from but i've exposed too much of myself for now, it sure is scary huh...and it scares me more...

so help you help me~

and i wanna tag anyone who wants to share their random facts too, c'mon you!

take a break between finals!

currently feeling: hungry
listening to: michael buble - home

Assalamualaikum :)

so i'm taking a break (just for today nway). yesterday was the first paper, literature for teenagers, yes, i have to learn what's the best way to integrate literature to suit teenagers [esp in the malaysian context]. and the lecturer said beforehand that the paper would be 'difficult', well, he was sure right about that! BUT he also said that there would be 2 sections, the 1st one being short answers and the 2nd one is essay writing. when i received the paper in the exam hall, there was only 1 page! and it was all essay questions, okayyyy, hellooo, i thought i was the only one with a question mark pasted on my face but when i turned around, all my friends were shrugging their shoulders and passing remarks, hey, is this the right question paper, what the...until the invigilator hushed everyone up, huhu..

last sunday, the college had a grand eid celebration and all the jmk were involved. ever since i became a jmk, i also became somewhat of a buruh kasar, hehehe, because all the setting up of the canopy with all the metal and the tent had to be done by the jmk and it was all heavy!! athough there were guys but girls were needed and even though it's not really that okay to move around with heavy metals but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, huhu :p
besides, it was fun while it lasted, mostly because i love being around the people of jmk, we're getting closer by the events, hehe ;)

the grand eid celebration turned out well except some people didn't get enough food and that included me! there were chicken and beef rendang, nasi impit, lontong, kuah kacang, soto, lemang, laksa, choc cakes, jelly, fruits and drinks and i only had lemang with rendang though i had my eye on the laksa the whole time but i missed it because in the middle of the celebration, the jmk had to work, and me, i had to passed around the garbage bags, huhu, pakai cantik2 kena pegang beg hitam, huhu :p
nway, i noticed that people just like to waste food!!! and that makes me soooooo mad!! esp the muslims and this is bad because we should definitely know better! that wasting food is a trait of the shaitan but why do we still do it! from my observation, some girls like to take up everything and then they would sit and eat and put aside some dishes for later but then they forget they have that dish OR they would be too full to finish it up and so they just leave it!! i'm so pissed because not only do these people waste but there were people who didn't get to eat and i, as the garbage bag girl notices these things and urgh!!! i do not waste my food okay so this is when i practise what i preach, sheesh!

it is still eid and the food comes in abundance but let's reflect...
don't waste and eat only what you can manage...
control yourself when you're eating, in spite of pining for the laksa but i took it +vely that it just wasn't my rezeki to eat that laksa, maybe good for my cheeks too...
ALWAYS think of the unfortunate esp those who never experience food in profusion...
be grateful of the food, hence try not to complain...

happy eid while it lasts :)
not happy to be sitting for my finals but i want to graduate, hehe ;)