Grown Up

Had a wonderful catch up session with one of the girls over dinner today.

While i was still pondering over issues over my wedding preparations, she on the other hand, has already stepped up the game by pondering over what to name her baby.

We spent dinner talking about what life brought us and eventually went back to her house to catch up more. Watching her rounded belly, i just cant shake off the her student look from my head. There she is, sitting across of me and preparing to have a baby anytime soon. Isnt that fantastic?

She used to be the social butterfly who was surrounded by admirers. She used to be the girl who went to have a belly piercing with me. She used to be the trendy looking girl who wore 3 pairs of earrings. She used to be the girl who i partied with weekly and even went to the extend of party-jumping within all the clubs in KL. She used to be the naive looking girl who we sat together and talked about exams, maths, science and even boys. And now she is just a simple girl who is having a wonderful life with her husband and waiting impatiently to step into another stage of her life with her baby. I see joy and lots of anticipations in her eyes.

It's amazing what life will bring us and what life will mould us into. Looking at her cute belly and the sweet smile she wore whenever we spoke about her husband and her new baby, i am so proud of her and be so amazed by her too. And she also reminded me that we are now grown ups. I used to wish that i could grow up faster when i was young. Now that we are grown ups, i cant help but hope that time can pass slower.

Still it is great to know that we will be god mothers soon. Like i said, your little baby girl will have lots of god mothers and will be shower by abundance of love from us.

Slacking!

Have been back in KL for a week now.

The funny thing is when i was in Oran, i wanted so badly to come back and there were just too many things i wanted to do. Now that i am back in KL, those things in the "want-to-do list" didnt really happen, simply because i was too lazy.

After being in Oran where things are difficult and slow to happen, coming back to KL is like coming back to Paradise! Whatever i needed to do is just so easy. From food, to clothes to whatever. And somehow because i knew i could do so much so easily, i tend to sit on them now.

Facial? Nah.... maybe next week because it is just a stone throw away. Shopping? Nah...because i can always go anytime and there is no rush. Even eating my favourite food... i am simply sit on it because i know i can easily get them anytime i like.

Luckily i am not sitting on one thing though - Mahjong! Been playing almost every day and luck seems to be not by my side for this. But it was fun anyway!

The other thing i will be starting my engine on is meeting up with my friends. It will be fun!

Bye Bye Starbucks! Welcome Home $$!

Now both my brother and i are coffee lovers. While i can survive on simple black coffee, he on the other hand, has a more savvy taste bud which cost more. He loves mocha and espresso. Ever since he came back from Australia after his graduation, we have been spending a lot of money buying expensive coffees from Starbucks. Each trip will cost us approximately Rm50 and it is quite some money if we visit Starbucks 3 times a week.

So this year, i decided to buy him and espresso machine from Nespresso for this birthday. I have to carry the machine and buy all the capsules all the way from Beirut and hand carry them all the way back just for him. And because there is not a single outlet in Malaysia, i have to pile up the capsules for him in this case.

Today after dinner, we decided to try making our very own cup of mocha. So in the afternoon we went shopping for milk and chocolate syrup.

To make the whole own mocha making experience better, i even went to Starbucks and bought us some coffee mugs and espresso cups.

So step one is to fill water into the machine and put in a capsule. The one which he loves is named "Appreggo" and it is at a 9 rank bitterness level out of 10. Each capsule will be good for 3 shots.

Watching the coffee dripping down from the machine, we all got excited. Once the cup is filled with 1/3 of coffee, we then added in chocolate syrup at our own desired taste then filled with milk until it is half cup full.

And this is how the capsule looked like when we removed it. Filled with holes! Michelle, my brother's gf was so interested throughout the whole process that she decided to post for me with the empty capsule.

Look at the happy face of my brother with his very own mocha. With the machine, each mocha will just cost us Rm4 max and we can save up Rm10 from Starbucks per cup. I see my money coming back! Whao! For once, i made a right purchase! Haha

I Should Have Told You Earlier

It's funny how we will take things for granted most of the time. Especially when it comes to a couple that has been dated for a long time and got married eventually.

I am quite an expressive person when it comes to wordings and i have been expressing them honestly here in my blog. But a wake up call today made me realised that although i have been expressing my emotions and my loves towards things and person that i cared, i had however failed to mentioned how much a particular person really meant to me. Simply because i took it for granted. Simply because i thought he knew. I thought my actions had spoken for themselved and that KC will knew in his heart but i was wrong. And i am glad that it is still not too late to know that i was wrong and that i am given a chance to correct myself today. If not i would have continued with this wrong path and he will never really know how important he is to me.

I know i should have told you that....

• because of you i am now the luckiest person
• because of you i have the courage and faith to fight and won against my phobia for commitment
• because of you i learnt that giving my love and loving others is happier than being loved
• because of you i learnt to love whoever whom are important to you
• because of you i knew Cofi will also be the luckiest dog in the world
• because of you i learnt to let down my protective wall and accept loves in my heart
• because of you i learnt to appreciate every single day even when it is just a normal one as long as you are there with me
• because of you i announced to all my close friends how lucky i am to have you (something that i would never done previously)
• because of you the song "Two Less Lonely People In The World" finally means something to me

I am sorry i have never told all these to you. I am sorry i took you for granted. 

But i am grateful that you let me know i need to tell you all these. I am grateful that we met. I am grateful that we are together. I am grateful that you are always supportive and a wonderful man. I am grateful that you have chosen me to be your life partner. 

I love you.

Home Finally...

After a tiring day traveling from Oran to Beirut, i had the luxury to stay in a day in Beirut and play with my little sister. It seems like a miracle watching babies growing at such a speedy rate. 6 months ago she was like a jelly in my arms where i was so afraid of hurting her just by having her in my arms. When i was about to leave to Oran, she was just learning to turn her back. Now when i see her again, she can turn her back as if she learnt the trick ever since she was born and she even grew a little teeth by now. Its fun watching her playing with her food and also trying to swallow soft food like bread and mashed carrot. Since it is beginning of winter and the fashion is turing fast. Her clothings are even more stylish than mine.

After one day of break, i set off from Beirut to Dubai then Malaysia at 12 noon. Had the luxury to travel on business class and the cabin was almost empty. Only me and another passenger. Hence we got all the necessary and unnecessary attentions that we need and do not need. The other thing was MAS was conducting an in flight service survey and we managed to benefit from that because the service was exceptionally good. From the cleanliness of the cabin, to the warm smiles of the cabin crew, to the temperature and aroma in the cabin, even the food decorations and presentations were at their best. And because of all this, it had made the flight back to Malaysia a very pleasant one. And i had given them a very high score of most of the questions.

Touched down in KL by 6am and that was almost 12 hours flight since i boarded from Beirut. Came home to a not so clean house and had to clean up myself. Besides that the worst thing was Cofi didint recognize me. Even when i took her and put her in my bed, she wanted to run off and stayed at my brother's door waiting to go in and sleep. I was so so hurt. 

Thankfully after forcing her to sleep with me for a while to remind her of my companion of so many years and also bribing her with her favourite snack - Greenies, now she is becoming warmer to me. 

I forced myself not to sleep during the day and at the end, after picking up my youngest brother from LCCT, we decided to go to the salon for a make over. Along the way we picked up my mother to join us. Will post some pic of my new style when the new hair style settled down. Then we went to Menjalara for steamboat for dinner and what made my day is how much my mother had changed. She converted herself to Christianity not long ago and ever since that she changed to be more joyous and calm. Something i have not seen for a long long time. We had fun talking about everything, from my life in Oran, to my wedding planning and even make jokes on anything. For this i thank god for giving back the mother whom used to me the warm, caring and loving woman to me.

Its a great start so far and i am sure it will be even better day after day.

Time to sleep. For the last 24 plus hours, i have only slept for merely 2 hours during my flight. Ahhh.... sweet dreams to my ever familiar bed and room. 

1 More to Go!

i began my traveling diary as early as 7am today.

On my way to Oran airport stepping into the 1st plane until i get back to Malaysia, i was surprised by myself for even starting to miss Oran during the car journey. It has been almost 4 months i am in Oran. Although each day i never stopped missing Malaysia, somehow i have grown liking this place. Its simplicity and also its rule of the jungle lifestyle. Then i knew what i missed most must be the companionship of KC. For 4 months no one else but him has been in my life 24/7. Ohh.... now that i am in Beirut, i really wished i could stayed longer in Oran before my year end Canada trip. At least KC will not be left alone in Oran for another 6 weeks before he could meet up with me again.

I was in Algers airport by 12pm and my next flight was at 6pm. So 4 hours to kill before i can step on the 2nd plane to get closer to Malaysia. What struck me was how silly i was! i should have taken the 12pm flight from Oran instead of the 10am flight and if so i would not have to wait so long. And the reason was simply because Air Algerie is like our Air Asia. Never on time. I was afraid that if the flight from Oran is delayed then i might missed my Algers flight to Beirut. How stupid i was because i forgot to remind myself that for sure the Algers to Beirut flight will be delayed as well! And it did! I waited from 5pm to 7pm before i could board the junk! By the time i landed and ferried home, it is already 1am here. So i have spent almost 17 hours on traveling alone.

Luckily there was some interesting scenes in Algers airport. Algeria had a match with Egypt yesterday and Egypt won by 2-0 hence now both countries have to play a playoff game in Sudan this coming Wednesday to see who will qualify for FIFA 2010. When the Algerian team was in Egypt, some of them were hurt by the stones threw to their bus and the game had also injured some of the players. It was a coincident that the team was back in Algers when i was in the airport. So it was fun to watch how fans chased them around, singing cheering songs, reporters rushing to snap pictures of them and watching them giving interviews. For about 3 hours, the airport was filled with Algeria flags and fans dressing in their country's costume and theme colors.

Not too bad after all! Time to bed. 3 more days and i will be back in KL blogging! Ciao!

All Checked!

In less than 24 hours i will be embarking on the journey back to Malaysia! Seriously cant wait and so excited about it. The only agony is the long flight back from Oran to Beirut and then back to my homeland.

Luggage - Checked!

Passport - Checked!

Flight tickets - Checked!

Currency - Checked!

Anticipation - Checked!

Craving food list - Checked and double checked!

Wait for me Cofi! I will be back soon! Oh ya not forgetting the yummy delicious spicy food i am craving and also meeting up with friends too!

Cant wait!

p/s- Poor KC will be left alone without me in Oran. Oh well, will be meeting him in London during Xmas. Hope he will know how to take good care of himself without me around.

Best Pilah In Eye-Turk

Yesterday was THE day simply because it was the last day of the week before weekend comes and also the last hope for me to receive my shipment. Unfortunately, the shipment didnt come. Somehow we were told yesterday that the lady boss who authorised the release of the shipments will only sign documents on Monday and Wednesday. But she decided not to sign ours. So i am without my shipment. Since i have packed most of my clothes to ship them here hence my wardrobe in KL is almost empty. Initially i thought of bringing some back to KL this Sunday but ...sigh......

So KC decided to cheer me up by bringing me to have the best Pilah in Eye-Turk.

And we went to this restaurant called Restaurant Singapour which is operating in one of the villas along a street and since the decorations are so modest, we would have missed it if not being introduced to look for it.

The restaurant is small with 8 tables. The decorations were simple but cozy with photos of the owners hanging on the walls and also some mexican feel table cloth. And it is equipped with an open-kitchen concept where we can look at how the food is prepared. Since we were the first customers to order, the lady boss quickly went into the kitchen to prepare us with entrees.

A pot clock..cool!

Olives and chilies to be eaten with bread

Salad in vinegar sauce. This was very yummy.

After the lady boss finished with her portion, it was the work of the chef aka the boss of the restaurant. The chef is a friendly 60 years old Algerian with a warm and friendly smile. And he was in the kitchen chopping, cooking, tasting and doing his wonders. Then he decided to come to us and have a little chit chat while waiting for the rice to boil.

Though he spoke little English and we spoke little French, somehow we managed to know a little of his live. Apparently in the 1970s he was working with the Algeria Oil Company in a ship. First he was sent to Vietnam and because of the Vietnam war with the Americans, he with his colleagues were then transferred to Singapore. And the was there for 5 years. He loved that time so much that he decided to come back to Algeria and opened a restaurant under the same name. When he knew that we were from Malaysia, he was rather excited because he had been to Malaysia as well. He even mentioned about how us Malaysian are like the Algerians in terms of praying 5 times a day. And after Singapore, he had a brief stay in Malaysia, then back to Vietnam then back to Algeria. And he has been operating this restaurant for 10 years. We wanted to ask more but i guess the limitation of languages finally hit us. At the end knowing that we could not communicate anymore, he gave out a heartily laugh and went back to the kitchen to bring us the best Pilah in Eye-Turk.

Pilah is actually seafood with rice cooked with tomato paste, chillies paste and seasoned with lemon. The seafood includes shrimps, fish, ca-lama and chicken meat. Verdict? It was really delicious compared to those i had tried. Satisfying!

Woo-Hoo!

Woo-hoo!

I blogged about wanting to submit my application for my residence permit a week ago. Initially it was supposed to be submitted last wednesday however....

As expected, there were a lot of complications during the whole process! Initially they told us all it needed was my x-ray and blood test. Then on wednesday, we were told that we need a letter from KC saying that i am not working here. And on thursday, we were told that we have to get a letter from Toyota and not KC.

And on Sunday, we were again told that no, the letter is wrong. It must be a letter from the branch manager with the toyota stamp. And on monday, we were told that we need to submit the house contract too just to prove that we have a place to live in with a duration of one year. Yesterday we were told again that the letter was wrong and the police force decided to draft the letter for us and we have signed on it and stamp it.

Today, finally, all documents are right and i went to the police station to have my index finger thumb printed and signed.

Yeah!!! At least now we got the submission starting. By the time i come back to Oran next year April, it should be ready! Isha-Allah!

As for the shipment, no words on that yet. Tomorrow will be the last day for me to receive it before i go back to Malaysia. Isha-Allah!

If not, since i need some warm clothing for my year end Canada trip and all the warm clothings are in the shipment, i might as well take it as an opportunity to buy new ones!

Now, this cheers me up!

Hibernation

Autumn's finally arrived in Oran after a 1 month delay. I love autumn! It reminds me of my university days in Perth. That was so worry free and fun. Life was simple then. Books, eat and sleep. And the best part is able to put on all the winter clothings and boots that we do not get to do in Malaysia. Unless of course i want to suffocate myself to death.

Anyway back to Autumn. Initially the weather was fluctuating a lot with a few days of suns and continued with few days of strong wind. Occasionally some days will be rather warm but the nights will take a wrong turn into some cold ones.

Autumn's started 2 days ago with the introduction of really strong wind coming from the Mediterranean  sea. Today is the 3rd day straight of these strong winds and hence Oran is officially in its autumn. Now people in the streets are dressing warmly and all the winter coats and boots are out showing off. The wind is so strong at times it will make all the doors banged and even shaking a driving car.

As for both me and KC, we are suffering with all the summer clothings we bought along from Malaysia. Where are all the warm clothings? In the shipment of course! And they are still in Algers airport as off this entry. Darn!!

Since the house we are staying is tiled by mosaic floors, the house is always cold. And bathing has been a painful task to do. Especially today when the hot water decided to quit on me half way through my shower. And believed it, i actually continued in freezing cold water! That was an experience!

But the good news is, now it is the perfect time for hibernation. KC has already started his by calling it a night at 8pm today. As for me, i think i might start mine soon too. Let's hope that the cold shower had not taken down my immune system and make me ill, although i have been sneezing ever since the shower.

BLAH!

Now a week ago i blogged about how my shipments are still not arriving to me because the local transporter needed to get the company stamp and then submit to the airport for clearance.

They promised that they will just go to the office which is a few blocks away from them to get the stamp and i should be getting my stuff by this week.

Today is already Thursday and tomorrow will be weekends in Algeria. Yes my shipments are still not here.

What is the complication? Apparently it took them until only Monday to get the stamp. And when were questioned why, they couldnt give me an answer. And then, when they submitted the documents for clearance, the airport highest authority refused to sign it because of the "high-ended" gadgets in the shipment. For this is referred to Algerian standard only because the sort of "high-ended' gadgets are nothing less than a pc, a rice cooker, a printer, a slow cooker and PS3. The Algeria government is afraid that we are taking in these items to sell. I cant believe it! And what amused me is the transporter after knowing the situation, didint inform us but keep numbed.

So we have been pushing again and again until they finally told us the situation. Toyota is quite a huge company here and  the company has been dealing a lot with the airport authorities and the local government in terms of importing parts and vehicles. So what we did is to ask some people in Toyota who has connection with these authorities to make some phone calls for the release.

Now we are told that the shipment should be cleared by this afternoon and that it should be sent to us by tomorrow. Having knowing how the Algerian works here, since tomorrow is the start of weekend of 2 days, this promise seems like a joke to us. And i am sure they will keep numb again and nothing will be send to us this weekend. Instead, what will happen is, we will be calling them on Sunday and it will be clear that the shipments will still be in the airport, and then it might only reach us next Thursday.

By then why should i bother anymore when i will be flying off to Beirut on Sunday? Meaning all i got to do is to unpack the stuff and that's it!

Pissed?? Blah more like loosing hope!

Keeping My Fingers Crossed

Oh well! After a month of me constantly chasing Jawad on the procedures of getting my residence permit, finally today i got a start on the procedure. The ironic thing is it was not Jawad that helped me on this, it was KC's branch manager.

We went for lunch at the branch's manager house 2 days ago and was talking about life in Sahara and the life here and eventually we were talking about me leaving in 2 weeks time and the shipment is still not arriving. And he asked me about my residence permit. After explaining to him, he quickly made some calls and viola! Today i was on my way to get it done, finally.

It's interesting how slow Algerian can be and how important it is to have relationship ties in this country. Jawad told  me that he has been trying to call the police department to get information on how to get my residence permit. Well he did finally got the information after 3 weeks plus and all i had to do was to get my xray and blood test done and submit the application with 16 of my recent pictures. And i waited another 1 week just to get transportation arrangement. Nothing was available until i told my story to the branch manager. He managed to get all arrangement in 1 day.

So today i woke up and went to the office together with KC. From there a local drove me around to do my Xray, then for blood testing and finally snapping my 16 pieces of pictures. What amused me is all these were done in approximately 2 hours but the whole ordeal of pushing, waiting and further pushing was 1 month, ie 4 weeks! Now whenever i think of this, i will then begin to feel grateful of the standard in Malaysia. Apparently we are still "fast"!

Anyway i will be getting the results back tomorrow and hopefully i will be able to get them to the police station and get all necessary documents signed. What i knew is, for sure, the signed documents will have to sent to Algers to be signed by the top management and then only send back to me. Since Friday and Saturday are weekend here, meaning the documents will only be sending over on Sunday. And it will definitely takes 1 week for them to sign which i dont know why, and another week for them to send it back to Oran and then a couple of days before the police station will notify us to collect. By then i would be long gone and should be enjoying the sun in Malaysia.

Let's cross fingers and just hope for once that things will be really fast and i can get my permit before i leave in 2 weeks time.  If fingers are not enough i will surely cross my toes too if that helps! Haha

I AM CROSSING MY FINGERS REALLY TIGHTLY NOW!

You Are My Mirror

My dad's new marriage has brought us not only  a new baby sister, but also two younger sisters who are both at their teenage.

I am not a saint and  it was difficult for me to accept them as part of the family initially. But now, i am more willing and more accepting towards them simply because i finally understood the joy of accepting. I always wanted sisters in my life and now i al given the chance to have 2. Is like striking the lottery twice. If by chances that we could not be sisters, i am sure we could definitely be friends. 

I also pity them because they have to reside in Malaysia on their own. Life must be difficult for them especially when they need advices from a mother figure. 

Lately one of them had some troubles that had made her shouting her angers in FB. The moment i read that, all i wanted to do was to extend my helping hand towards her but i was afraid that i might be seen as a busybody and will be un-welcomed. But thank goodness that although her age is young but she is quite a mature girl in heart and she had gladly accepted me as a friend. For that i am proud of her.

She is like a mirror of my past all because i was once a teenager once and i understood how the world and adults were seen from my teenaged eyes. The anger, the frustrations, the unfairness and the injustices i once felt.

Though i am not sure if she will visit my blog but i really do hope she will for i wish to tell her that i have been through what you are going through now. I was a teenager once and i truly understood how sometimes, things could not and will not go our way and how disappointing and frustrating we will be. 

So my dear, all you have to do is to take a deep breath, listen to the music you love, be around with the people you love, and be a happy teenager and then eventually things will be better. If troubles are from the adults, step back and let the adults handle all the adult things. You should just be a teenager now. Do not let the adults or anything snatch your teenage days from you. And at any given day that you needed someone to lean on, i would be glad to be one of your choices. All you have to do is ring me.

Love.