Oui,oui ... je suis vraiment là

I will be a full time translator for a week or so.

I have been reading this paper, well … my brain is so worn out, that I am actually pronouncing it word by word, my index finger lingering below each word, pressing until my nail bed turns white, wishing I can squeeze the meaning out of each and every one of them.

That won’t happen :)

…

I met and caught up with some old friends yesterday. How I’ve long for them for years.

 

 

Oui,oui ... j'suis là

Some time to kill .. in between transits

 

 

Of Birthdays

I am overwhelmed by the amount of wishes via calls, smses. emails and FB. Thank you all for the kind kind words.

It really made my day.

Beloved Other Half fulfilled two of my cravings, although I had to proclaim out loud early in the morning for him to realize.

“I waaaant éclaaaaaaaaaaair!”

My wish is his command. For today only :P

Luckily for him there is this small bakery shop in Kangar which does sell them and other wonderful patisseries. So he drove 40km to get those éclair and a chocolate mousse.

 

That's settled.

Now, I am longing for baklava and kinafa.

So, who wants to send me those for my belated birthday present?

:)

Sometimes, ignorance is bliss

I have been ask on many … many occasions, whether I feel lonely and afraid if I was left alone by Beloved Other Half in this 2 and half story duplex house in Kachi Hill, UUM.

Here is something that I have written a year back.

---

Just last night a creepy crisis occurred. A student and her roommate, out of no where, found a little yellow bundle in their room. Suspecting that it might have ghostlike powers, they decided to call upon the witchdoctor.

He chased away the suspected spirit with swords of Qur’an suras, amulets, charms and incantations. Apparently, in places like Kachi Hill, this type of crisis is not uncommon, it is normality.

The supernatural and unseen have always intrigued and fascinated people and almost everybody have some concept of it. Some believe the spirits are the souls of dead people or ghost, while others assumes spirits are either the forces of good or the forces of evil - both battling against one another to gain influence over humanity. In Islam it is explain by the existence of Jinns. Another creation that Allah created before man.

My humble advise (to all my muslim friends) is , if you happen to sense one of them prowling about, recite the Verse of The Throne, don’t be afraid and react calmly like the mother in Palace Walk, tell them with an intimate tone, “Have you no respect for those who worship God the Merciful? He will protect us from you, so do us a favor of going away.”

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So...I hope this entry will not stop you all from visiting us at Kachi Hill.

The Inconvenient Truth

 

I have finished reading Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns. His words transported me to war torn Afghanistan from year 1953 until 2003. Every single experience and detail was hauntingly vivid. The closer I reached the final pages the greater I felt like a fool. How could I ever thought my troubles were intolerable compare to what the characters in this book have experienced or compare to what the people of Afghanistan have endured, specifically the women and children.

It reminds me of a dear friend, a Palestinian. When the news that my father has been ill for two weeks reached my ears, crippled my spirit and weakened my knees, I went to this friend to seek comforting words.

His first words were, “My dad was sent to jail and I only found out after a month.”

I fell silent.

I thought maybe he is having a bad day at work and upset with me disturbing him with my grieving over such petty news.

He then reassured me, “I am not upset, never at you. I just want you to be strong 3aini. We will find ease after every hardship. Insha Allah”

---

I definitely have found ease and peace again.

I understand now.

The proposal

“Will you allow me to assist you in building your mosque and helping people to the right way … not only as a friend but more than that … here and hereafter?”

(15^th of July 2002, Block G, College Maybank UUM Sintok)

He accepted my proposal and we got married 6 months later.

--

I still can’t believe what I did 6 years back but have never regret even for a nano-second and I am still falling in love with him every single day.

 

 

Woman at Work

 

The tailor

The translator/proof-reader

The prolific reader

Life is but a dream

Row row row your boat

Gently down the stream

Merrily merrily merily merrily

Life is but a dream

I’m pondering whether the person who wrote this short song was a happy scientist or not. ;)

 

 

This is how I have started my day.

Have a good one everyone!

 

Pictures taken by Aini, Aina & Camila

Ya Khabir

There is not a day that goes by

that I don’t miss him …

 

A pretty day