Last 10 days of Summer Break

I've had the best Summer break, it has been a total blessing from the start for without it I wouldn't be in Malaysia at all. The feeling is amazing, to be in the comfort of my family and bestfriends, spending Eid Al-Fitri with them and enjoying all the food here, simply amazing.

To top it off, I've just found out that I might be completing my degree in Ireland instead of coming back to Taiping this coming January for my clinical years. So I will be there for another 3 years, insyaAllah! It's only in my wildest dream to ever think that I'll be getting such miracle, alhamdulillah Allah knows best :) Everything comes with a price though. If the news is legit, then I have to use this second chance of being in Europe wisely. I must study harder and try to engage in more extra curriculum activities this time around, insyaAllah!

GOSH I need to sit down and soak everything in slowly right now! *Breathe in, breathe out* Can't believe how these two months passed by me so quickly and I'm yet to complete my travel logs, do some shopping, meet a few more people and eat my favorite foods before I fly back to Ireland. Oh and I need to finish reading my current read!! OMG! 

I better start soon! :D 10 days left!! Bittersweet feeling phase starts now.

Holding On & Letting Go

''Keep Calm and Carry On'' goes the cliche. No matter how hard life gets, just keep swimming, that's what I was thought.

At this age, I'm starting to learn about the world a tiny bit more seriously. I have these questions about how things work, what was here before and how to have a better future, yadayadayada. The more I learn the more I become so curious about the things around me so I start observing. It's sadly funny how the quote 'Change is the only constant thing' turns out to be indeed really true. Moreover, having my own set of values that I gathered along the road somehow affects the way I see the people around me right now compared to the way I remember them a couple of years ago. I feel like I'm more connected to most of them and unfortunately a bit distant to a few. It's interesting how our thoughts could change according to appropriate maturity levels :)

Among the things I picked up was that everyone has their own arrays of problems and dramas just as much as the blessings that they were granted. Friends, well good friends actually, are indeed one of the most precious gifts one could get. As a friend myself, I aspire to become a better listener and a warmer company, just like what I would have wanted in a good friend. Silly me, I used to think relationship problems are child's play after I've encountered a few real life complications such as someone suffering from a stroke or cancer because most of the times, people with these chronic illnesses have way more positive outlook on  life compared to those suffering from fruitless relationships. However, I now realized that each and every problem is as significant as long as it has been affecting someone's quality of life in any ways. Try not to set a bar just so you could briefly measure and hastily decide whether the problem is interesting enough to get your undivided attention,be considerate and more compassionate. Give what you can even when you know there's nothing in it for you because to me, having someone saying 'You're not alone in this' would mean a lot in any situations  :) Everyone faces different battles and based on my experience, we just need a shoulder to lean on and maybe a strong set of arms for some comforting (especially for people like me, hugs make me feel better) :P Let's try to be positive about the trials thrown in our ways and try harder to avoid being negative about it. Every problem has a solution, inshaAllah :)

Feeling all mushy inside

Lately I've been having this idea of owning a Moleskine journal because I've always wanted to try sitting at the corner of my room, right beside the window and write it all on papers. Somehow a tiny voice in me successfully convinced me that I won't have the time for that right now and it's not urgent :P So I blog instead.

19 days left til my flight back to London. Gosh, why do good times always passed by so unbelievably fast? Sigh. There's no word that could measure up to how grateful I am to be here in Malaysia right now, there's no place I'd rather be! :) Million thanks to everyone for making my stay here a memorable one, especially my parents for trying their best to bring me back, my KL family for granting all of my cravings, Kak Yana for the good long talks, Rania for playing with auntie, Danny for always being my go to person and taking care of me, Mirul for letting me annoy him every chance I get hehehe and many many more! I had the best time with these beautiful people. I'm so lucky!

As for Ramadhan, it has been very blissful and refreshing. I am so motivated to better myself in any ways I could, insyaAllah and I feel so humbled by all the new things I've learned during this blessed month, God is great. For sure there are ups and downs but life is for the living, so live! No time to waste :)

Here's to more exciting days! Hooray :)

Am I dreaming?

Hi! I am now back home in Malaysia for my 2 months summer break. Alhamdulillah with endless support and prayers from my family and friends, I've passed my Second Year Medicine final exam in UCC and will return to Ireland on the second last week of August as a Third Year medical student! It still feels like a dream to be honest :')

This particular month has made a great impact in my life. If there is ever 'The Best Month Of My Life' I'd say this would be it so far. It is too good to be true that every morning I'll tiny pinch myself just to make sure I'm living in the real world :P

On 31st May, my auntie Dar came to London for our Eurotrip Adventure. Just being with her in London was already amazing, topped off by a sweet reunion with my bestfriend Shafeeq! Things like these are usually only fit for dreams :D Lucky me that my dreams came to life and I had the best time with them! My auntie and I continued our journey to Paris, Brussels and finally Amsterdam before we went home to my place in Cork. I've learned how to travel as a backpacker and I am honestly starting to love the concept! I actually felt a punch on my face as I was thinking to myself about all the money I could've saved by going on trips backpackers style. Well, what's done is done and I am glad I know about this sooner rather than later. I even made new friends along the way, two korean girls, an Australian girl and a Singaporean guy whom now has become a good friend of mine. These unexpected experiences actually helped me grow and matures me at the same time.

Shortly after that, on 15th June morning I received a call from my parents. They told me they have booked my flight home for the summer! I swear my heart stopped for 10 seconds and my I was smiling from ear to ear!! My original plan was to stay in Ireland since it will be my last summer in Europe. However, the idea of staying there all alone sounded better in my head instead of me actually doing it. Haha The bigger part of me THANK GOD that they have saved me from the loneliness of being alone for my holiday but there was and is still a lil part of me that brings up the 'what ifs' questions. Nonetheless, so far I'm having a great time and I am happier being here. There's nothing about it that I would or want to change.

On the same day, 15th June, I flew to London (because the only cheap flight to London was on that day) and stayed there for 2 days because my ride home was on the 17th. I get to spend time with my bestfriend Shafeeq again before I come home! Weee! Thanks to the very kindhearted Puteri for letting me crash her place for two nights!! :) Just thinking back about that day makes me smile. Who would've thought a very much expected to be a normal boring day could turn upside down and brings you to London on that very evening! It's purely luck and all from God's blessings.

On 17th June early morning, half awake Shafeeq sent me off and we said our byebyes before I took the tube to Heathrow Terminal 4. The one hour ride gave me time to really sink my teeth into what's about to happen, which was me going home for the summer! The whole train ride was quite meditating. I felt really blessed and humbled because I knew how impossible this was before that :') One hour ride felt like 30 mins with me being all overwhelmed with gratitude. Haha plus,it was my first time travelling across the world alone which is quite a milestone in my life and everything went on smoothly alhamdulillah! It was also my first time going on Malaysia Airline's Airbus. I have to say, that was the best flight I've ever went on! 11 hours never felt so short! :P

I arrived at KLIA on 18th June and my lovely Kak Yana picked me up. Everything goes on heaven-like mode from that onwards. She treated me with Tony Romas lunch , sushi, the best sizzling lamb chop, made my all time favourite bread butter pudding, and many many many more! Kak Farah came by as well and we played with baby Rania. It felt so good to be back in the comfort of my family :') Love you guys so much! Then mama and papa came to KL and they brought along tok and wan too! We had the biggest dinner ever at Tupai-Tupai. Both my Kulim family and my KL family were there. It would be perfect if Shafeeq was there too but somehow I felt his presence through Kak Yana and Kak Farah, I really felt like he was there with us too that night. We miss you Apit :)

Currently I am enjoying the company of my very naughty brothers and sister and I can't wait to meet my friends in Kulim! May more blessings come our away, InsyaAllah. Have a nice day!

Adam and Eve : Part 2

Yeay I am finally done with my second year medicine, all praise to Allah! Hopefully the results will turn out great insyaAllah !

That aside, now I can continue and finish up the story about Adam and Eve. I'd like to make it clear that I am rewriting all of this from Mufti Menk's lecture on this issue with a bit of editing to make it in chunks we can all process. :)

How did Eve come about? According to some of the narrations Adam was the only one of mankind in the heaven and naturally he was feeling very lonely, so he asked Allah for something that could give him comfort. So one day, when he got up, he noticed someone very similar to him. In the hadith, Allah said He created from Adam his spouse, which was Eve. She was created from Adam's rib. Actually there's something special and meaningful about the story of the creation of women. As we know, the rib is bent and if we were to straighten it, it might crack. Similarly, it shows that we need to be very very careful in treating a woman. It is telling the menfolk to be careful of how you handle the women, be very kind to them, be very tolerant and be very patient with them because pushing them will only break them instead of doing any good, which is true. From just that, we can already realize that a woman was given to a man as a gift after great prayer. We need to understand this so that we can appreciate the blessing Allah has given to us.

Adam saw Eve and he asked her, ''Who are you?''. She said "I am a woman". Adam asked again "Why were you created?" and Eve answered "I am created as a pair for you, to give you comfort and company". Subhanallah :) This is the main reason for a real marriage as you are meant to be getting comfort from it. The companionship should be giving you lots of goodness, peace, harmony not the feeling of burden or unhappiness. 

After that, an unfortunate incident happened resulting in Adam and Eve being instructed to leave the heaven and go to the Earth along with Iblis. Allah s.w.t told Adam a.s "I will continue sending you guidance, and your progeny and offsprings, guidance. Whoever follows the guidance they won't go astray and they won't be unfortunate'' Subhanallah :) So this is why the Quran is here, as a guidance for us promised by Allah s.w.t.

Maybe for those who lack contentment, it is because they have drifted far away from Allah s.w.t. and that is the time to come back to Allah. Allah s.w.t said ''Whoever turns away from My reminders that I keep sending them, they will be having a life which is very narrow, full of difficulties, lack of contentment and so on. When we resurrect him on the day of qiamah, he will be blind.'' So he will say, ''O Allah how did you resurrect me blind when I could see whilst I was alive on the Earth?'' And Allah s.w.t. will say ''Didn't we send you reminders and you turned a blind eye against those reminders? So today we resurrected you blind."

May Allah not make us from among those.

Back to Adam a.s, we asked where was him placed when he was sent down to Earth. According to the narrations, we don't know for certain but there's a possibility that he came down at Sri Lanka, a place now known as Adam's Peak mountain. Only Allah knows. As for Eve, she came down at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The name itself, Jeddah when translated means the grandmother, named after Eve. So now, they started looking for each other. Adam a.s started to walk across the Earth to find Eve and so did she. According to the historian, they met in Arafah but Allah knows best. Somehow I see this as an example of when we are separated from our spouse, be it due to an argument or anything, it should hurt us and makes us want to get back together instead of waiting for another person to come along. Adam a.s knew he has a wife and he walked half the globe to get her. Such an effort :)

All in all, that's a glimpse of Mufti Menk's lecture about Adam a.s  that I would like to immortalise in my blog  because it is one of my favourite love stories :) Till then, Assalam! 

Adam and Eve : Part 1

Taking a break from my travel logs, I'd like to share something interesting that I've learnt. Since these past few days, I've been wondering about the beginning of mankind, how did this all happen and stuff related to it. I've searched the web, read books, I practically go beyond my usual limit to really understand the history of Adam and Eve according to Islam. Alhamdulillah, with Allah blessings I found a mufti's youtube channel that answered my questions. I somehow see it as Allah's way of answering my questions through my discovery of the lectures in that youtube channel. 

Let's get started! :) 

Allah s.w.t created many creatures, among them are the angels and the jin. He sent the jin on Earth to deal with another kind of creation that has been causing havoc and destruction. The jin dealt with them and eventually overpowers them. The head of the jin was the one known as Iblis. He was a very very proud  creature, he was very proud of his good deeds and very arrogant because he was once addressed as one of those from the heaven. When Allah speaks about 'malaika', the jin was also included in it even though he was not from amongst them. So, Iblis was good at the time. After that, Allah informed the angels of something important as made mention in surah al Baqarah. He informed them that He's putting on the Earth a Khalifah. Immediately the angels uttered ''O Allah, are you going to create someone and placed them on Earth who are going to cause chaos and they are going to spill blood, causing damage on Earth and yet we are here, worshipping You''. Allah said ''I know that which you do not know''. 

Now let's talk about how Adam was created. The words dust, soil, clay and dark clay were used to depict the different stages of growth even though it was for just a particular creation. Amazingly, Allah took the dust from different parts of the globe and put it all together. The different types of dust differ from their colours and their qualities. Allah then speaks about how He created this man. Do you know that the narration has made mention of the fact that Allah swt had this dust and then he added water to it and it became soil and He shaped it up into clay and He left it for awhile.Then He mentioned that it is similar to the clay of pottery but it is not the clay of pottery. What's the difference? Clay of pottery uses heat to be shaped while the one that Allah has created doesn't need heat. 

The size of Adam was about 60 feet tall, he was HUGE! Allah created Adam upon Adam's own image from day one meaning when he was created he was already big, had all the features and he was already an adult. When Allah left Adam for awhile, this certain pious being, Iblis, questioned why did Allah do this after all that he has done, worshipping Him and all that. He began to look up and down, literally monitoring the creature that Allah has made and he saw the belly. He found out that the being was not consistent and he knows that he can control it. He already made a promise even before the roh or soul was blown into Adam. He promised that he will lead Adam astray if he had an opportunity and if Adam were to be higher than him, he'll never follow Adam. An arrogant creature Iblis is. 

Then Allah blew the roh into Adam, starting from the top of his head. This shows that the most honoured organ that we have is the brain which distinguishes us from all other creatures because Allah gave it life first before anything else. As the roh was blown into Adam, the clay turned into flesh and blood and everything starts to work, the brain came to live and the eyes opened. Adam was granted the full knowledge of everything from day 1 by the will of Allah, he was born with it unlike us, who slowly learn stuff as we grow up. As his eyes opened, he saw the fruits of Jannah. He was so happy as he already understood what he saw. Then life came into his nose and he immediately sneezed. A sneeze is a sign of goodness as it is a gift from Allah that protects us from illness. An angel said 'O Adam, thank Allah' and Adam said 'Alhamdulillah' which means 'All praise is due to Allah'. 

As life came into his hands, he stretched out to get the fruits but life had not yet come into his legs yet so he couldn't move. Allah makes mention of this, He said 'Men are always in haste' :') Then Allah instructed the angels to prostate to Adam, not to worship him but only in order to acknowledge Adam's status which is higher than all of them. They all prostrated immediately besides Iblis. He refused out of arrogance and became amongst them who disbelieve. This was the first sin ever made. Let's be clear that arrogance is not the pride of owning expensive things, it is when we rejects the truth and despises others. Allah asked Iblis 'What is it that stoping you?' and Iblis answered 'I am much better than him, You made him from dust and You made me from fire. Who is he? He should prostrate to me!'. The lesson is, never underestimate others. People are equal, no one is better than the other when it comes to access to Allah. Iblis also said to Allah 'If You give me til the day of Judgement, then I will show You, I will lead astray all of them' and Allah granted him his wish, He said 'Those who are my true worshippers, you will not have any authority on them, you will not be able to control them'

Adam was now standing, Allah told him to go to the angels and greet the angels. He went up to the angels and greeted them saying 'Assalamualaikum' and the angels answered 'Waalaikummusalam'. Assalamualaikum means may peace be upon you which guarantee that we will not harm them. The mufti also said that it is hypocritical when we greet someone saying Assalamualaikum but behind their back we are harming them by talking bad about them. Imagine how peaceful our lives would be if we use the greeting properly. :)

Unfortunately, I have to stop this post right here and get back to my pharmacology books. InshaAllah I'll continue the rest of the story soon. Bear in mind that I am not a scholar, a pious girl or anything, I am just another person trying my best to learn about my religion and become a better person. I intend to share this story on my blog because it touched my heart and I want to immortalise it. If I've said anything wrong please correct me, I'll be very grateful !

Assalam :)

London Eye and Big Ben kind of Day

After a whole month of hiatus, I finally get the chance to blog again! I've been busy with procrastinations, laziness and sleepiness the whole of February.Oh and I also had a couple of exams to deal with :P Although it has been too long since my trip to London and this post should have been up way back in January, I am still going to finish what I started!

I still remember the day we went to see the London eye and Big Ben. We were there on December 2011 but we didn't get to go up to the top of London Eye. This time, we decide, why not? The problem was, I'm a lil bit gayat, what do you think I'll decide? It's 145 metres high! Did I go up or did I just wait for my friends at the nearest coffee shop?

We went out quite late that day, maybe around 1pm. So we barely have like 3 hours left of daytime (cuz it was wintertime). Somehow our trip to London this time was more of a vacation, we took our own sweet time. Sleep early and wake up late. That's the life :') Maybe because we had 10 days in London so cramping things up was really unnecessary hihi 

We arrived at a station quite close to London Eye and I remember we were very excited to have seen it again! Such happy kids we were that day :') 

My girls :)

This is the answer to my question earlier! So I did went up the London Eye! Yeehaa, but during the whole ascending part, I remember being glued to the bench the whole time! haha Even looking back at the pictures now, I realised how silly I might have been to the other passengers :P

The capsule! We were on top of the London Eye at this stage. And yes you might wonder how the hell did I manage to take this photo knowing how gayat I am, well you're right. It's Bella, the girl in pink scarf, she helped took some photos for me :') Thanks baby Bella 

Suddenly when our capsule was slowly going down, I gained my courage again! I like to think of it this way, I live by gravity, the closer I am to it, the braver I'll be haha 

Night and day, both beautiful to me :)

A quick snap right before the door opened

Included in the ticket that we purchased was a 4D short movie. It's just 5 minutes long. By the time we went out from the theatre it was already dark.

London Eye from another angle

Big Ben is my Eiffel in London. Totally love this gorgeous building

  

BIG BEN & LONDON EYE : CONQUERED !!

Now it's time to head back to our hotel hihi 

Just cause I started this post with an underground sign, I shall wrap it up with another one! I admit, Victoria station is my favourite station in London, will always be :)

Well that't practically what we did the whole day :P Some vacations should be relaxing like that in my opinion but I still love the adventurous holidays like what we had in Paris and Italy. How I wish I could have all my bestfriends and family on trips like these, insyaAllah soon!

I'll finish this post by saying, “A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.”

I've Met The Stars

This part is definitely one of the highlights of our visit! We bought a package of London Eye + Madame Tussauds from a website, it's cheaper than buying the individual tickets. Why spend more when you can get the same thing for a cheaper price? :) Here's the link, there are many types of combination tickets that you can choose from depending on your preference.(Combination Tickets) We bought a morning ticket to avoid the crowd so that we could spend more time taking pictures with the wax figures :P

To our surprise, in the underground station, just right next to the main exit towards Madame Tussauds, there's this one halal shop that sells croissants, briyani rice and chicken curry. We had our early lunch there. The foods were yummy! That would probably be one of my favourite things about London, you can find halal food almost everywhere.

So after our lunch, we headed straight to Madame Tussauds!

  

Wooooohoo! Let's go in!

Once you step out the lift, you'll feel like a star! hahah

Handsome? Exactly hihi

Jack!!! You are alive :')

She's the prettiest one in there! and thanks for the awesome photobombing yeah you back there -,-

'' Me? Pretty woman?? Aww you're too kind, Julia" :P

Paparazzi time! 

What are you looking at over there?

Mama's favourite, Madhuri Dixit! 

Tea time with Audrey :)

E.T phone home :3

SHREKK! People used to call me Shrek back in the days, some still do!

 So happy I finally get to hug you :D

''Taylor is here, time to take a group photo !''

One with the Royal Family

Michael Jackson, me loves you! R.I.P

THE BEATLES Y'ALL!!

My favourite photo <3 I didn't know that Elvis was so good looking! No wonder girls back then were all crazy for him ;)

Gosh Gaga, I want your hips!

Calm your abs, Hulk!!

Matching red with Iron Man

Oh Captain America *melts*

Included with the ticket was a 4D short movie pass. It was really cool! The movie was about the superheroes saving London. The best part would be when Hulk clapped his hands and wind came out of nowhere as if we were in front of him :P

The legendary Madame Tussauds :) Thanks for your brilliant idea!

 Just before we walked out of the amazing Madame Tussauds, I saw this dude holding this flyer. Who should they make next? I would love to have my own wax :3 hahahah 

Dream on, tin 

Duhh?? Me!

Finally bid our farewells to the stars and head home. 

Going in there really needs a lot of energy, you'll get very excited and the picture taking part was really tiring! You won't realize it when you're in there, it's when you're outside all the tiredness will come to surface -,-' It was a great day with my awesome stars, Bell and Nell ^_^

M&M's World

If you read my previous post, this is the continuation of the evening. We were about to head home when we found M&M's World!! I believe pictures would tell more than words in this case, so let's see some pictures I took from the magical world of M&M.

We are the fans of magical places :P

Weeee, so excited!

 London's sweetest attraction? Got that right!

Those cheeky faces!

Got to pose with the queen of M&Ms. Sexy isn't she? hihi

What's your colour? :)

Dizzy seeing all those colours of M&Ms!

Noob goalie? :P

Spiral M&Ms eyes!

You wanna piece of me? Is that so? :P

Handsome guard!

M&M Road 'The Beatles' style

Hmmm nak p mana ni kawan-kawan?

Awwwww :3 These made me stop and stare

I wanna draw these and put on my walls! Too cute!

"There's a sea of M&Ms over here, captain!"

And before we leave the awesome place, I did something I never thought I'd do! hahah

Why would I do that, but then again, why not? :P

Aaahhh looking back at these, I had to say it was a good day filled with laughter and happiness! I love days like that :D Entry to M&M's World is free and if you're lucky you might get free M&Ms too!! Their staff are the friendliest staff I've ever met. They were so welcoming. :)

Next stop, Madame Tussauds!