The Quest To Fight Boredom

On friday, Jawad came with his friend right after his afternoon prayer at the mosque, looking like an Iman. I thought he looked rather nice and cute so i chased him around until he agreed to let me snap a picture of him. Together with him, is his friend Novin ( I think). They came to help us install a dish and tune the channels so that i will not be bored at home. There are about 6 or 7 different satellites that are receivable in Oran. All you need to do is to buy specific cards for specific satellites and viola, you will be spoilt with thousands of channels! And according to Novin, the whole process is a rather easy one, install the dish and adjust it for the full signal and then your machine will automatically tune all the available channels and then it is done. All of this will only take 1 hour! Cool aint it?

So the boys went up to the top floor and started to instal the dish. Jawad even brought along his own tv to test for signal because the one we are having is already mounted on the wall. They went around testing for the best location where signal will be strongest and decided to settle next to the old dish.

Jawad had to carry his TV all the way to 5th floor just to test. Poor guy!

Look how small our new dish is compared to the old one!

Old and rusty old dish

While they were busy doing that, i wandered around looking for anything interesting and found bottles of shells collected from the beach! I have them too back in Malaysia! I used to collect them when i was really young and have them all put into the coffee jars. I used to like to display them in my room and looking at them at times. But as i grew, my passion for them faded. I still like them but i no longer collect them. The jars of shells i have are all now put hiding in a box. Though i do not display them anymore, i am still very reluctant to throw them away. There is also a beautiful yellow bird caged next to the shells. I went over and whistled to the bird and it responded with chirps! So cute! So i spent the next few minutes playing with the bird until the novelty wore off. Then i looked around only to realise that the view from the top floor is rather nice. I can see the sea and also some mountain views. Plus i can also see the street from the top. If i have knew, i would have come to the top to snap pictures during the black out few days ago. But then power failures are so common here so i am sure i can do that the next round!

So lovely!

I think the bird must be very happy to get attention from us. Its chirped non-stopped!

The boys all getting a bit defeated by the time they tuned for channels. It was already 3 hours passed!

By the time the boys settled everything, it was already 3 hours passed! Jawad complaint and jokingly sounded his friend for being too positive with the 1 hour time frame! He said that if he had knew, he would have gone home and changed before coming over. And then the boys sat in the living room trying to sort of the channels. They are about 3 thousand channels all together. So the boys spent the next 30 minutes going through them and by that time it was about time to break fast. Before they could finished browsing through all, Jawad and his friend needed to go home and bath for dinner so we were left to deal with the balances. And then we realised that all the channels are in either Arabic or French, only a hand full of free ones are in English. Those that we paid are all in French! It turned out that we have bought the wrong card! Argg!!! That goes Rm600 down the drain and all effort for nothing! The quest to fight boredom continues!

Black Out

What do you do when there is a black out in your house? The last time that happened in PJ where i am staying, it was a long time ago. The last "black out" we had was when we participated in the Earth Hour when we switched off the lights voluntarily. Once the electricity were gone, we felt bored and we decided to take a ride in the car to see if other places were participating in Earth Hour as well. Though it was just one hour, it felt rather long when you have nothing to do. Then you realised that electricity is playing a very vital role in our daily lives now. Few days ago, after the Internet interruption, there was a black out the next day. It was not a long one but it lasted for 2 hours that almost drove me crazy. The house was so dark that i couldnt even see my own fingers! And though the weather is pleasant for summer, it was still rather warm once the fan is off.

Romantic isn't it?

It was almost 8 plus when that happened and luckily by then the Algerians have already broke fast and eaten. Normally when that happened in PJ, the atmosphere will be death silence. Everyone will be in the house cursing and hoping that the power will be back fast. But here, it's a different scenario all together. There were a few houses that have had their own generators. Hence, they turned on all the lights and blasted the music as loud as possible. Then gradually you will see people coming out to the street, the kids will be playing and running around in the dark whereas the adults will go to the nearest house that has generator and chit chat or dance there. From where i was staying, i could hear the laughters and music but unfortunately i could not snap a good picture. The black our lasted for 2 hours and so did the fun. Once the current was back, the music was gone and the laughters subsided. Eye-turk is back to its silent night again. Strange but this shows how Algerians are more fun loving and relaxing people compared to Malaysian!

The Gift Of Life

Have you ever wonder how many organ donors are there globally or how many donors are there in Malaysia alone? What about you? Have you registered yourself as an organ donor yet? well, i am proud to tell you that i did.

It happened on one morning when i woke up. I just came back to Malaysia for a summer break from Australia. Somehow something in Australia changed me to be more aggressive in my actions. I always wanted to sign up as an organ donor but never really acted on it. I have always lied on my excuses of not knowing where to sign up and i was afraid but i never really know what i was afraid of. So that fine morning when i woke up, the idea of signing up stoke me like a thunder and i took the car to the General Hospital in KL that was nearest to my house.

When i reached the hospital, i just bluntly went to the help desk and told them my intention and i could feel that i was very much welcomed by them. One of the nurse lead me to a room with a counter and told the staff over the counter of my intention. Then the staff in charged gave me an application form and asked me to fill up but with one condition, that is to consult with my parents first just in case they might reject due to religion beliefs. Well i didnt do that but just went straight to sign on the form and then i was given my very own donor's card. The whole process only took me 5 minutes max. On the card, we were given the choice to choose what we would like to donate whether is just the kidneys, heart, liver, lungs, eyes, bones or skin or all organ and tissues. I chose all since i think if i were death, what used will all these organs and tissues be good for me? Might as well give them to others who really need them right?

After the whole process was done, the nurses thanked and asked me why i wanted to donate. I simply told them i just felt like. When they heard that they smiled and told me to spread the spirit of sharing if possible because there are really only a hand full of donors in Malaysia, and a lot of waiting patients died during the period of waiting, and some of them were rather young. A lot of Malaysians have the false impression that after signing up, that means they will have to donate their organs when asked, even when they are still alive. That is completely wrong. Our organs will only be donated when we were death.

My whole family are free thinkers hence when i told my parents about my decision, they had no qualms about that. I do understand that some religion believed in having a complete or whole body for burial when we passed away for our after life or for reincarnation, and they are some parents who could not stand to see their loves ones being dissected after they passed away. I have no opinions on the after life and reincarnation because it is very much debatable. But what i do know is that if i chose to donate my organs to those who really need them, i would have given them a chance to continue their lives, to attain their dreams and hopes, and also their family and friends another chance to be with their love ones again. Imagine what would it be if everyone is reluctant to be a donor. Imagine your little brother or sister is only 4 years old and needed a new heart to survive but there is none avail, and imagine having to watch him or her dying slowly everyday. Isnt that heartbreaking? And if a kind someone who died in an accident is a donor and donated the heart to your younger brother and sister and because of that your younger brother and sister will have the chance to go to kindergarden, school, college, university, fall in love, married, have kids and so on.... As for the donor, i am sure the family will be very proud of what he did and knows that his spirit will always be around and the world will be a better one for them, simply because they can feel and see that there are still loves and hopes in the world.

As i said, the whole process is only 5 minutes but i have been feeling very proud of myself even to this day. For those who are interested, please do contact the numbers below or google for the nearest hospital available from you and sign up. May the world fills with more loves and hopes. For those what are already a donor, congratulations and for those who will be a donor soon, thank you so very much and i am sure everyone will be proud of you. Oh ya just remember to have the donor's card in your wallet all the time. Cheers!

Contact Details

Malaysian Donor Hotline : 03-2719 1066

Pusat Sumber Transplan Nasional, Hospital KL : 03-2694 2704

Pusat Sumber Pendermaan Organ, Hospital Ipoh : 05-522 2324 / 253 333 ext 2324

Pusat Sumber Transplan, Hospital P.Pinang : 04-200 2423 / 229 333 ext 435

Pusat Sumber Transplan, Hospital Sultanah Aminah : 07-223 1666 ext 2751

(Note: the numbers above might have changed since 2002. Please google for the right contact details)

Interruption

The Internet line in Oran has been very unstable lately. Last week it was off for 4 days and yesterday again it was off. When we called up the provider, the phone was not picked up. So we tried calling the land line provider and we were told that they too, have no internet connection. How funny!

So what do i do when Internet is off? I do not know. It just felt like as though my world had caged into the house i am staying now. It felt as if i was barred from the outside world and time passed very very slowly. Pathetic isnt it? Last week when that happened, it was a weekend here in Algeria ( Friday and Saturday) and it was easier to pass time. I went groceries buying and visiting some houses. Yesterday, i starred at my laptop and the blinking of the connection lights wishing that i will be connected. When it failed, i just search through my laptop for anything interesting. And since now i am the pirated queen, i watched "The Proposal". It was quite ok though. Love Sandra Bullock and her wits. After the movie, it was about time for dinner so i took my own sweet time to prepare the meal and call it a day after that.

Isnt my life boring? However one good news is that my trip to Paris is confirmed! The best of the news is instead of just going to Paris, i will be visiting Lyon as well! So its like winning the lucky draw! 13 more days! Yippy!

The Future and Our Hands

How do you know if your partner is committed in the relationship? Do you judge by how many times of "I Love You" and "I Miss You" he/she tells you? Or do you judge by the presents and flowers you received? Or by how much both of you discuss about the future on what both wanted? Or just simply by is he/she is willing to go meet your family members? Or maybe each and everyone of you have a different set of criteria and the more checks you have on the scoreboard then only you are assure that your partner is really committed to you?

I think everyone has been through the insecure stage especially in the beginning of a relationship doubting this. How is it that he/she didnt say I Love You or I Miss You? How come he didint hold my hands? What about kissing me? How come we never talk about our future? How come he/she is reluctant to meet my parents? These are some of the worries that my friend is having right now. I would have agreed with him that the girlfriend is not committed enough if they have been together for a long time but they have only been together for less than a month.

I want to tell him that each of us will pace our relationship differently. While he is those who likes to accelerate on things, maybe his girlfriend is just a shy and reserve person who wants things to go slower at a more comfortable speed? Does it mean anything is she did and said all the things he is currently worrying about? I dont think so. Anyone can say and do all the things but the only way to see if they are sincere and committed is through their eyes. Like the saying our eyes are the windows to our soul. So look into her eyes the next time she says I love you and i am sure you will be able to find your answer. As for meeting the parents, well i am with her. In all the relationships that i have been through, meeting the parents is the worst part. But that did not mean that i am not committed, its just simply because i needed time to prepare myself mentally. I think i used to wait for more than 3 months before i agreed to meet the parents. This is when unfairness kicks in. Waiting 3 months before meeting the parents for a guy will definitely means he is insincere whereas for girls, that will just mean girls are shy. Anyway it is normal for everyone to worry in the start of a relationship because we cant predict and see the future but we can change the future since actions are in us to decide. Future lies in our hand, what you do now is what you will be in the future. Hope you will know what to do now.

The Girls

I am not a person with many friends but i do have some friends who are very close to my heart. I admit that i am choosy when it comes to friends and normally it takes me some time before i can be totally comfortable and not shy away from strangers. There are some girls who are very dear to my heart since my secondary school. We have knew each other for more than 10 years now and we used to spend a lot of time in school having fun, teasing each other, sharing secrets, helping each other with problems, talking about guys, worrying about exams and results, talking about where we will study after secondary, how we want to turn on in the future, our dream wedding, kids, husband, and many more. It seems like all these just happened yesterday. Time really flies.

Kristy and i didnt quite know each other when we were in our secondary. I remember her having long hair, parting in the middle with a glasses hanging on her nose, making her looking like the smart and good girl every parents wish for. Somehow we ended going to Australia to study together and eventually moved in together as well. I cant recall how but she is really a nice girl, always taking care of my with her cooking. I hate cooking! She is really good in looking for the best deal in town so whenever she introduce me to something i will just believe in her in having the best product and best price. We used to party a lot when we came back but then due to work and others we didnt really meet up that much. The irony thing is that didnt keep us apart. Whenever we meet again, we can just sit for hours and talk nonstop on anything. What surprises me is she was the first amongst us to be married. In her wedding dinner, it felt to me as if my own sister was getting married and i wish the best for her. Well done my dear!

On the contrary, i used to be very close with these 2 friends. Bee is the one on the left while Marcia is the one on the right. Bee and I used to be best buddies until form 3. She moved to another school and then somehow we drifted apart and the next time when i met her, we have became strangers. I thought we could go back to what we were but somehow that didnt happen. I do not understand why. Even when she was also in Australia and we used to meet up and go out together, the tightness just didnt happen. Instead i became closer with her sister whom i used to be afraid of when i was younger. Bee is the prettiest girl in our group and whoever guy who can get her heart will be the luckiest person in the world. I kid you not. She is also very capable as well, helping her family to run the business and now she is thinking of expanding the business overseas. As for Marcia, we used to take bus together after class. She is the funniest person ever, always coming out with jokes and ingenious sarcastic criticisms. We used to fight in buses, well not really fight but since she is taller than me, i just find it hard to hit her on the head. There was once when we were having so much fun in the bus that we completely forgotten that there were other passengers and by the time we realised it, we found that we were being watched the whole time, it was funny! We also went to cafes to listen to songs together and even managed to get to know some of the singers. Marcia is a very out going person who is always full of ideas and cant stop traveling. It is with her that we went Singapore, Langkawi and Tioman together. I find her very charismatic and charming and secretive in a good way. She is like a magnet that will makes guys wanting to know her more. That's how charming her personality is.

Sophie on the other hand, is the baby in our group. She is always forgetful and not to mention clumsy sometimes but that makes us being protective of her and worry for her most of the time. Sophie's house is our favorite hang out place for a feast or a girls night out and she has a very handsome younger brother that made us wished we could be younger so that we can go after him, but i guessed 10 plus years apart is just too much to wish for. Of course sometimes she will upsets us especially when she cant make up her mind on things or when she is so stubborn that it took us forever to try to convince her to change her mind but unavail, still we cant be upset with her for long. Before we know, we will be sitting her down again trying to help her get through things. She has the sexiest voice ever that will melt guys and she has the most encounter with foreign guys.

Ching is the most rational and logical person amongst us all and she is the youngest as well. She is smart and funny and whenever we have any problem with our studies, she will be the person we will turned into. She would explained things to us in a very rational and thorough way that makes you think she is a walking encyclopedia. She cooks well as well, learning from her mother and her dad's pickiness on food. She is also the one who introduced me to my first job. Career wise she did very well too until she decided to quit and took the chance to pursuit her MBA. Now she is waiting to be granted a place in the China University which is one of the best in world. With her intelligence i am sure she can do it. If she does go over this coming October, that means we will have a place to bump in Shanghai!

Girls, all the best in whatever you want to do. I cherish all the time we had and though we do not meet as often now but i am happy that we can still stay close at heart. The beauty about our friendship is we never have compete against each other but instead chose to be there for each other at all times. And the best thing is whoever has a baby in the future will definitely has a lot of god mother who will spoil the baby so much with loves.

Ramadan

The Ramadan started 2 days ago globally and we were given the below in the evening when Jawad buka puasa, made fresh by his mother. How lovely.

I cant express enough my appreciations for their cares and thoughtfulness.

Though it is still summer here, since Ramadan, Eye-turk has become a deserted town where there are so few people on the streets that you can hear birds chirping whole day long. Bread however, has became a popular commodity that i cant still cant get any since Ramadan started. The first day of Ramadan i even saw a queue in the pastry shop waiting for fresh bread.

Jawad told us that most of the time Ramadan falls during the winter but this year it has fallen on a summer and that has made fasting more difficult for them. Most of them are not used to it and hence the quietness in the first day. He also said that most of them choose to sleep during the day to beat hunger and thirstiness but i guess our friends in Malaysia are used to the heaty weather. The first day of Ramadan, Suhaib, his younger brother is practicing fasting for the first time. When he was asked to wake up to eat in the morning, he chose to continue to sleep. When he woke up later he was given to PS2 to play with so that he will be distracted from the hunger. However, around noon, Jawad said that Sohaib rolled himself on the floor and using a dying tone asking for food. He said "Mum, please any food, i think i am dying." Of course the mum didnt give him anything. I hope he will get used to it. 3 days down and 27 days more to go.

To all our Muslim friends, have a good Ramadan.

Walking Down Memory Lane

I took over the MacBook Pro recently from my father. As i was cleaning through the laptop, i found some photos of the trip we took to India a couple of years ago. I then realised that my siblings and i are very blessed to have a father who will exposed us to different parts of the world and culture during our upbringing. We have had the chance to visit San Franciso, Washington D.C, Morocco, Korea, Italy and even India. When i look into the photos taken in India, it reminded me how much we have all been through and how much things have changed. My father used to be very stern and frightening and we were all very afraid of him. As time passed and as he aged, he has mellowed down so much that sometimes it makes me very emotional. For instance when he looked so worried when i was admitted into the emergency ward in Beirut, or when he was worried death and called me when he saw that Algerians were fighting with the Chinese over the news. Now that he has also started a new family, he seems to be more fatherly especially with the new additional of our baby sister. Anyway, enough of these emotional thoughts and lets take a memory lane down to India.

I do not remember which year we went to India. I remembered we went to Mumbai by end of summer. The moment we touched down, we were greeted by heat wave, constant honking, smell of dung and very dusty air. Driving in India is crazy. There are more people walking on the streets and bicycles than cars. Honking is a way of them telling other drivers or pedestrians to "get out from my way", or that "i am making a left turn" or "speed up you fool"!. There are also a lot of beggars in the street and kids selling all kind of things and swapped to you the moment you stepped down from the bus. We were advised not to give any money to the beggars because that will only encouraged more of them swamping to you. Instead, what we did were to buy things from the kids but not before bargaining as they tend to throw us a cut throat price. Besides this, there were also stray cows and horses which when i first saw them i could not believed it. Then there were people who works, eats and sleeps on the side of the streets. We see them cutting hair for their customers at one corner and then cooked at the other corner. It was a heartbreaking scene. But because of this we were reminded of our good fortunes to have born in Malaysia. And it was those moments that we will think to ourselves as what were we still complaining about when all our basic necessities have already been fulfilled?

The ever busy street in India

There are also a lot of palaces and fords in India because it used to have different Moguls in different prefectures. I do not remember the names of the palaces of fords by now. All i remember is how the Indians love colours and how colorful the country as a whole is. Everyday our meals were filled with different kinds of curries. peas and roti canai. The water in India is also very salty. I remembered having my black coffee with sugar only to taste like salt water.

Inside some of the palaces

Some photos on different palaces

The elephant ride to the palace and the common hall where the king will have daily meeting with his people.

I called this the mirrors room because it was filled with hundreds pieces of mirrors in the room so that lights will be reflected and light up the room in the dark just with a single stick of candle. Very smart of them aint it?

Top views from the peak of the palace.

Gandhi's Tomb

Of course we also went to the Taj Mahal and it was really a marvelous and scarce looking architecture. The security points we went through just to get into Taj Mahal were abundant because since rumour was that there would be terrorist attacks. Before reaching the Taj Mahal we were greeted by a large garden with some beautiful fountains. Though it was weekday when we went, the amount of tourist were still a lot. We have to remove our shoes before entering the Taj Mahal. Luckily our shoes were all old and worn out because one of our members who wore a nice pair of shoes went missing. The poor guy has to wrap his feet with plastic bags and walked back to the bus in it. After that we were then taken to a shoe shop so that he can shop for a new pair in order to continue the trip.

Taj Mahal from far and the entrance to the garden once you passed the security check.

Many faces of Taj Mahal, from noon to evening.

What i love most about the trip was our stay in Jaipur is a palace turned hotel which is situated in the middle of the lake. Unfortunately the drought have lasted for a long time and when we visited the palace the lake has already dried up. However our tour guide stressed the importance of us crossing the lake via boat in order for us to imagine how the lake will looked like when it was filled. So as we sat in the boat while the engine hit into the muds and muddle up as we went, it really looked stupid on us when people with camels and horses just walked across the lake. The palace hotel is very beautiful and everything is made of marble. The moment we stepped onto the palace, a team of the working staff dressed in traditional costumes greeted us with royal treatment, flowers and welcome drink. And then it rained, the first time ever after many months. Of course we were said to have brought the rain to Jaipur! Despite the heaty weather, the environment and temperature in the palace was rather pleasant and cooling. Overall i think India is a country that everyone should at least visit it once in their life time. India is rich in cultures and histories. People are friendly and welcoming but most of all, it is still a country that is still very close to its original heritage that is now very rare in other parts of the world.

The dried up lake at one side and how we cheered to have "brought" rains with us.

Camels and horses crossing the lake walking. Imagine how stupid we looked!

My brothers acting they were in an intellectual chess game.

How Jaipur looks like from the top of the palace and the lovely hotel staff.

The Many Faces of Eye-Turk

Oran is a state in Algeria that is surrounded by the Mediterranean sea. Especially in Eye-turk there are 5 or 6 beaches that we could choose from. I do not remember the names of the beaches bus i was given a tour on the whole Eye-turk last week. The sea views are breathless and magnificent. It's a pity that i didnt get to go down to the beach and have my legs buried in the sand or watered my feet with the water. From Eye-turk, it took us about 1 hour to tour the whole place. The sceneries changed profoundly as we drove.

The first beach we reached is the ever famous one for tourists. It reminds me of Bondi Beach in Australia, except that the shops are smaller here. There are tourists everywhere and both corners of the road were fully parked with cars. The stalls owners were so used to tourists snapping pictures everywhere that when i just wanted to snap a picture of a stall from inside the car, the owner saw me and gave me a big smile. So i snapped him in as well. I would say this is a great shot. Besides selling all the gaming stuffs for beach activities, there were also stalls selling fake Arabic and French cds, cigarettes, mineral water, beach towels, beach wears such as pants and bikinis! It is a bit unbelievable that they wear bikinis here since they are mostly Muslim but they do. The photo proves that the statement is a 100% genuine. As we drove, we got higher into the mountain and here are some shots of how merry and crowded some of the beaches were. People were setting up tents to spend the day and having fun in the water.

Then the sceneries changed to forests and bare fields. As we drove past all the various forests, we saw cars parked at the side or inside some of the forest. We saw kids riding ponies and horses, adults relaxing and sleeping on mats in the forests, families sitting and chatting and of course BBQ-ing. BBQ-ing is the one activity that is very popular during winter. However this year's summer is rather pleasant and sometimes chilly, hence the locals cant wait till winter to enjoy their favorite activity. When we drove higher into the mountain, we saw the agricultural side of Oran. I am not very good at identifying what they plant because all looked like dried grass to me. However, it is nice to come across animals such as mull, sheeps, donkeys, horses and cows standing there doing nothing or munching away grasses. There was once when i saw from the car, a mother with her daughter standing on top of a small hill. What amazed me is the little saw me and actually waved to me! Its a very touching gesture. From Eye-turk, if we were to continue to drive through the mountains, we will be arriving at the Morocco boarder. The locals used to travel via this mode but apparently there were some misunderstanding between both Algeria and Morocco government now and the boarder is now closed.

Looking at the photos that i took, the beautiful sceneries awed me. Sometimes the clouds looked so low that i thought if i climbed onto the tallest hill i will be able to touch it. It is not everyday we come so close to mother nature and this makes the whole 2 hours journey all worth it.