When Strangers Are Like Family
April 6, 2017
“There're times when strangers are like family, and family are like strangers” - Hlovate.
Well, I agree with the quote somehow, but alhamdulillah my family is not like strangers. At least between me and ayah mak abangngah. :)
Growing older, I realized I became clingy, not only to them but to people whom I started to have emotional attachments. But, I need to remind myself, they have their own life (I mean personal life that I should not interrupt), they still need to work anyway.
To be honest, somehow I like the ideas of Instastories as we can watch or see our friends' updates and I love all the mature changes of most people I know. :) People are moving on with many new responsibilities. This medium even connected me with my childhood friend that I have not been in touch for ages. Girl, insyAllah I will have your back if you need me. <3
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| Hiking in Pravcicka Brana, Czech. |
A weekend in March, I had the chance to spend at least two whole days with this beautiful family of Uncle Razali and Aunty Awa. Well, I called myself as a little Czech ambassador for Malaysians. Haha. Perasan. I knew Aunty Awa since early September I think, of course via blog and we keep in touch till now, insyAllah.
She was planning for her Europe trip and to my surprise Prav?ická brána was in her plan. :) So impressed to know that, I tried my best to help with guides. And another surprise, she invited me to join her family trip in Czech. T_T
Segan tu jangan katalah, dah kenapa nak masuk family trip orang lain kannn?. -_-'
I kept reminding myself, my intention was to make someone's journey in Czech smoother, well at least I believe in the saying of 'tetamu tu bawa rezeki'. Hehe. I've been living here for quite a while and even my study is covered by Malaysian taxes (although I'll have huge debt at the end of my study for at least ten to hundred thousands ringgit haha die die) so, I think of this as contribution to the people as well.
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| Prague Castle, Czech. |
At first, deep inside I was homesick.
Can you imagine, you met a family similar like yours and even the sequence of children is the same as your own siblings? 2 elder brothers (Ariff, Azmi) and the youngest is a daughter (Aliya). Even the eldest studied culinary just like my late abanglong did. :)
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| Hard Rock Cafe, Prague. |
I am thankful I met them, alhamdulillah.
Alhamdulillah, guiding them around was not a problem, I had experiences travelling with my parents for our Europe Trip last two years and those moments taught me a lot how to deal with parents aged 40's at least... well my parents were slightly above 50 when we traveled together. :)
Both of uncle and aunty are friendly and chill, they treat me like I am a part of the family. This reminds me of my parents as they love to treat other kids. Once upon a time when I was younger, I was jealous with those kids as well. :p HAHA.
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| Azmi (Adik), Uncle, Ariff, Aunty, Aliya, Me. |
We were lucky to have the chance to climb this high as I've been told that the route was under renovation just a week earlier. Let me share with you the interesting facts of Pravcicka brana:
- Pravcicka brana means Pravcice Sandstone Gate
- It is the largest natural sandstone arch in Europe.
- Chronicles of Narnia (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) was filmed here.
- It was said that this area was a sea full of sea creatures and after million years, it transformed to what we can see today.
To Uncle & Aunty, thank you very much for those lovely days, it felt like home to me. :)
HK, Czech
170406
4 Life Lessons I Learned From Korean Drama Defendant
April 4, 2017
Another K-Drama review, I guess? Haha.
I am a fan of Ji Sung for his works and talents that are pretty amazing. I had the chance to watch Defendant (actually after it finished airing). Some websites refer it as Innocent Defendant, anything you wish. I think I read about this drama in few blog posts before. Even though it is very tense and mind-challenging to me, I skipped many scenes as I can't spend too much time on it.
-_-'
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| Credit |
Okay, maybe a little bit of introduction about this drama.
It is a thriller drama about a prosecutor named Park Jeong-woo who is accused to kill his beloved family (his wife and daughter). With temporary amnesia, he can not remember what happened to him and why he is in prison, to be more specific he is on death row! So basically this drama is trying to show how Park Jeong-woo tries his best to recall every single memories he has forgotten and to find out what actually happen to his family.
There are few things that are mind opening for me from this drama. Let's check on them together :)
1. A lie will lead to another lie.
Be yourself, even though we think we are full of weakness. To believe that we are special is already a great achievement, honestly. Even though most of times we need to refrain ourselves from saying the reality in a bad way, I believe it is good to show our true colors and be honest to people. Eventually we will realize our bad habits and try our best to improve our life qualities.
To make a lie true, you need seven lies. When a lie produces another lie, and that lie bears another lie again, you became a lying machine.— Hanis Amanina (@HanisAmanina) February 26, 2017
2. Greed will turns someone blind.
When we are too attached or too focus on something until the moment we think we are not able to bear the consequences of losing anything...that is when we need to rethink the purpose of we doing something. Obviously it is actually greed.
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| Credit to UsefulGen |
Greed for money.
Greed for status.
Greed for attention.
It is definitely hard to do, but I'm trying my best to think that everything in this world is temporary whenever I feel like I am greedy for something. For me, it is good to have desires anyway, just we need to control them.
3. Love of a man and a father.
Somehow throughout the early episodes of the drama, I was wondering if the prosecutor really killed his family members or not. And if yes, what are the reasons? Homicide is something I used to learn in forensics and it usually happens due to intense continuous arguments, psychological problems etc.
But Park Jung-woo did not seem to have any of these problems and apparently he had a great life with family despite he was so busy.
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| Credit |
He tried his best recall his memories to understand what was going on. He tried his best to get his daughter back. You can really feel the struggle of him for the sake of love to his family.
4. Adapt ourselves with the environment.
Living in prison is something unfavorable. Prisons are obviously nightmares for commoners like me.
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| Credit |
From this drama, you can watch and feel how the lead tried his best to get into the community of the prisoners but at the same, he planned well how to get out of the situation. He learned well how to deal with other prisoners who can be cheaters as well. At the end of the drama, I love the idea of most of his cellmates are free from prisons and they still keep in touch with each other.
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There are many other life lessons we can learn actually. The drama itself is not disappointing, Ji Sung and the rest of actors nailed their characters, with the similar feeling when I watched Ji Sung in Kill Me Heal Me. :)
How about you? Have you watch this drama? ^_^
HK, Czech
170403
Mengimbau Kenangan
April 1, 2017
Wah, terkejut tak bila nampak post kali ni bukan dalam English? :D
Ada lagi soalan-soalan Sunshine Blogger Award yang belum selesai dijawab sebenarnya. Memandangkan kali ni soalan dari Muteq dalam bahasa Melayu, jadinya post ni pun dalam BM. :) Saya pun dah tak ingat sejak bila dan macam mana kitorang mula baca blog masing-masing. Hee.
1. Pernah buat nakal kat sekolah tak? Korang buat apa?
Jujurnya saya budak baik lagi berdisiplin masa sekolah. Jujur. Hahaha.
Saya sama sekolah dengan ayah ataupun mak (banyak sangat pindah sekolah). Tak siap kerja sekolah pun, cikgu report kat mak ayah. Itu belum masuk kalau tak aktif dalam kelas, lambat masuk kelas lepas rehat yada yada. Saya pun tak faham, kenapa cikgu-cikgu lain suka report. Haih.
Lepak tepi longkang lepas habis sekolah sambil kupas kelapa kering kat pagar rumah terbiar pun mak ayah boleh tahu. Ppffttt.
2. Pernah buat mak korang menangis / marah tak? Apa jadi lepas tu?
Hmm pernah. Dan ni pun satu sebab kenapa orang nampak saya baik je. Kadang-kadang sebab benda kecil je... lagi-lagi age / generation gap, pemikiran berbeza sikit. Setiap kali 'lawan' cakap mak, tunggu la balasan. Tak payah tunggu lama, memang selalunya on the spot.
Jatuh longkang. Jatuh dalam lubang sampah yang api tengah menyala-nyala. Nyaris kena langgar dengan motor. Plug charger laptop patah. Flask air pecah T___T
Itu yang sekarang ni, nak buat nakal pun minta izin mak ayah. Haha. Biasanya diorang redha je dan melepaskan anak perempuan diorang ni buat macam-macam. As long as they know and well informed.
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| Memori dengan mak ayah masa Europe Trip | Brussels, Belgium. |
3. Apa cita-cita waktu kecik? Masih sama?
Petani moden.
Ya Allah, masa belajar Kajian Tempatan pasal cara-cara tumbuhan membiak tu, the best feeling ever rasanya masa kecil. Semua cara nak cuba, serius halaman rumah sewa saya sekeluarga yang kecil tu memang penuh dengan pokok.
Kacang hijau boleh tumbuh atas kapas yang basah tu pun dah boleh buat saya kagum. Belum masuk pokok ubi kayu yang ingatkan boleh makan daun je, lepas tu masa nak pindah rumah... ayah korek tanah sebab nak ambik ubi bawah tu. Pokok setawar pun, kangkung yang boleh menjalar kat pagar, semua jenis kekacang (kacang panjang, kacang bendi, kacang botol). Pokok durian pun saya pernah tanam (masa ni atuk tolong jagakan).
4. Nanti dah besar nak stay mana?
Fuh, susah soalan ni.
InsyAllah yang pasti, saya stay Malaysia. Setakat ni lah...insyAllah. Tak tahu la kalau nanti migrate tu lebih baik. -_-'
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| So, goodbye frozen Labe. |
5. Buku apa yang paling best pernah baca?
Quran.
Lagi-lagi bila jumpa verses yang fuhhh menusuk kalbu.
6. Lagu paling best?
Hmmm. Entahlah nak jawab macam mana. Saya jenis dengar semua lagu (except geng head-banging). Lagu tenang-tenang okay je.
7. Movie paling best? (Nampak tak aku malas nak buat soalan baru? Haha.)
Haha. Ni satu lagi soalan entahlah nak jawab macam mana. Saya prefer yang romantic comedy kot. I am okay with heavy movies, macam yang perlu fikir banyak asalkan jangan ganas sangat lah. Potong kepala, tembak sana-sini...sakit jantung. T_T
8. Apa harapan untuk Malaysia pada masa akan datang?
Perangi rasuah dan orang-orang yang mengetuai Malaysia masa tu akan cuba letakkan semua perkara pada tempatnya - adil la senang kata.
9. Kalau mati nanti nak tinggalkan apa?
Memandangkan belum fasa berkeluarga untuk dapat bahagian anak yang soleh tu, saya akan usaha kerja lebih untuk dua yang lain tu. Ada beberapa idea dalam rancangan hidup dan blog ni pun harapnya salah satu medium bermanfaat yang saya akan tinggalkan.
10. Nak buat apa dalam hidup ni?
Banyak bendaaaaa. :)
Cuma, kena selalu ingatkan diri dengan tujuan hidup. Menjadi 'abid dan khalifah atas muka bumi.
'Abid = hamba yang patuh pada Allah. Allah tak halang pun kita nak buat apa sahaja yang kita nak, asalkan tak langgar syariat.
Khalifah = wakil / pemimpin. Mungkin nak jadi pemimpin dunia tu... jauh sangat impian tapi sekurang-kurang kita kena jadi pemimpin untuk diri kita sendiri.
Carilah barakah dalam kehidupan kita.— Muharikah (@muharikah) March 4, 2017
Agar hidup yang pendek ini, terasa bermakna dan bermanfaat
11. Nak mati macam mana?
Fuh, soalan.
InsyAllah saya yakin semua Muslim nak mati dalam husnul khatimah (pengakhiran yang baik). Ameen.
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Jumpa lagi post akan datang :)
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Jumpa lagi post akan datang :)
HK, Czech
170330
[Photos] 7 Things I Did in Zakopane, Poland
March 31, 2017
There are for sure many other travel tips on Zakopane that you can find online, I referred to them as well :D especially Trip Advisor (my all-time favourite). But in this post, it is more about me reminiscing memories of my solo trip to this southern part of Poland.
I shared here some ideas that you can do in Zakopane, Poland within a day :D
My hostel provided simple breakfast every day as early as 7 am, so my day in Zakopane basically started with breakfast and a book to read.
At 10am, I walked out to the center.. to be more specific to Krupowki Street. I need to change some money as I ran out of Polish zloty and after surveying the night before, the exchange rate in Krupowki Street was better than other places (like the bus station) even though this street is always full with tourists.
1. Took pictures with this huge Zakopane board.
On my way there, I saw this huge ZAKOPANE board :D a good one to take pictures. Well just look at the background... whitish snowy mountains, something I can not see routinely.
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| To get here, walk to Dolna Rówień Krupowa - this board is located here (a small park along Tadeusza Ko?ciuszki street) |
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| The same park. |
2. Walked along Krupówki street.
Krupówki is pronounced as 'crew-poof-key'
The best part of this hill was it provided free WiFi! Hahaha.
After few minutes walking, I arrived at Krupówki street, the main street in Zakopane. As expected, many people were already there but not as packed as Charles Bridge in Prague. Hehe. You can expect building along the street - they can be souvenirs shops, banks, restaurants, hotels, historical monuments, church as well.
It was lovely to walk along it, especially when it served you with good atmosphere. If you are into shopping, this is the place you should go - almost all shops are here.
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| Not easy to get picture without people here :p |
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| Classic street. |
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| I have no idea the meaning of this statue. |
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| Ko?ció? ?wi?tej Rodziny - a Catholic church. Poland is more religious than Czech anyway. |
3. Walked along Na Guba?ówk? street (Gubalowka Hill Market).
From Krupówki, I walked across the main road towards Gubalowka Hill. Along the way, there were a lot of shops with variety of stuffs you can buy - pastry, clothes (especially leather jackets), shoes, bags. From my reading, the market is open every day from 8am till late evening.
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| I forgot to survey the prices though. Haih. |
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| The market looks like this. |
4. Took a funicular to the top of Gubalowka Hill.I had the idea to climb the hill, but naaah it's okay.. I took the funicular instead. The funicular is kind of similar to the one in Penang Hill, but of course the view is different ;)  |
| Empty station before few groups of school children came. Haha. |
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| 18 zloty for return trip. |
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| The best view was obviously from the bottom cabin. |
The best part of this hill was it provided free WiFi! Hahaha.
I know it is better to disconnect to Internet to connect with the place I am travelling to. But, it was a solo trip, I made calls to people instead and shared the view. Lol, I was trying to be creative. The views were as expected to be mesmerizing. From the hill, I could see panoramic views of Tatras Mountains and the town of Zakopane itself.
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| SubhanAllah! |
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| Another one! |
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| Suddenly, groups of school children came. :D |
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| It was snowing that day. |
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| View from the funicular. |
5. Watched people gambling.
On top of Gubalowka Hill, there were many shops selling souvenirs and I could see a ski areal as well. At first, I had no idea why so many people gathered there so I joined the crowd. Since the camera was always on my hand, I tried to record the situation. Hahaha, then I was scolded by one of them. Only then, I knew they were gambling!
Like, seriously gambling in an open space like that?
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| Please do not take part in any of gambling activities, here or anywhere else! You will surely lose the money, stolen by these people! |
6. Ate Crème br?lée in Góralskie Praliny.
This creme brulee was recommended by my junior who is studying in Poland. It is a dessert made of custard with a hard layer of burnt sugar caramelized by a butane torch. Wow.
Finally, I am done with Zakopane's posts :D
Yeay!
Till then,
Salam.
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| It is tasty, but quite sweet for me that I need to remove the sugar layer. |
7. Bought Pierogi.
Pierogi = Polish dumplings.
Most Eastern European countries have their own dumplings but I still consider dumplings in Poland as the best, especially if you bought them in Zapiecek. Wow, that confidence. HEHE
But, there is no Zapiecek in Zakopane... so I bought the frozen dumplings instead.
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| My favourite - dumplings with mushrooms. |
Finally, I am done with Zakopane's posts :D
Yeay!
Till then,
Salam.
HK, Czech
170330
Of Doggie, Apple Cider Vinegar and Old Gentleman
March 30, 2017
It is hard to sit down and to write a new blog post properly. I had busy but memorable weekends since the past 4 weeks, alhamdulillah I am very grateful for that. In return, I need to cover all hours that I should study within the weekdays instead. :) Double triple the productivity, insyAllah.
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| Nope, it is not snowing anymore :) |
As usual, after my lesson in the hospital it is time to go home. Oh, actually either to go home or to stay in the hospital's educational center to revise or to stay somewhere else to study. That somewhere else can be Cross Cafe or town library. I prefer these last two as they are closer to my flat so that I don't feel bad to cycle home in the dark.
I have many memories of each of these 3 places. Going to miss them so much. T_T
1. Educational Center.
Oh, have I told you my experience that I almost hit someone's dog in the middle of the road? The memory is still vivid in my head, I just can not take it out. Scared, but I believe it is not fully my fault.
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| Educational Center |
I have cycled almost every day since the last 3-4 years, so I am well aware which road I can take and which one that I can't. There was one fine night, with slight rain... I was cycling home from the hospital around 8 pm. I saw a couple walking side by side. When I wanted to cycle passing them, suddenly a dog ran to the front of my bike.
Sreeetttt. Emergency brake.
I am still glad I was not cycling too fast, otherwise I would be the one getting bounce to the front.
I am glad I did not hit the dog. The dog looked so scared, as scared as I was!
I wanted to blame them for leaving the dog 'wireless', I mean without any leash. Instead, I was the one saying sorry to them... hmmmm.
2. Cross Cafe.
This is my most favourite place to study (except the fact that I need to spend some money on the food).
It has good WiFi, good study tables, good random study companions. I mentioned few times that I love to study here, at least if I am revising for understanding... not the memorizing phase.
Random study companions can be Malaysians or any international students. Most of them are regular there, just like me. If you go there every single day, you will meet almost the same faces and even the cashier will recognize and know the menu you ordered everyday. At least, it happened twice for me.
There was one time I was short by 2kc to pay by cash, surprisingly the cashier just took the coins that I gave. 'Never mind, you are always here.' T_T
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| I love the idea that they serve different vegetarian soup every day. :) |
Another experience when I studied there, some of the students were talking about the taste of apple cider vinegar. I randomly joined the conversation by saying some health benefits of it to lose weight. Well, apple cider vinegar will not help us losing weight as much as calories-intake control and exercise but it can help blocking digestion of starch - a bit with anti-glycemic effect. It simply means, it slightly prevents raising our blood sugar too quickly.
Then, the guy in front of me offer me a cup (he bought a bottle though) but quickly withdrew his hand. "Oh, I am sorry but I think it contains a bit of alcohol."
Can you imagine how happy was I?
At least, he knew Muslims don't drink alcohol.
3. Knihovna města Hradce Králové
Not many international students know the existence of this library. In my town, there are at least two other libraries (Medical Library, Cheese Library) closer to the areas where international students live.
Not this one.
This is the closest to my flat, with free WiFi (with different passwords every day that I can just ask the librarians). It is divided into different blocks like for adults, children etc. My favourite spot is in the musics room, well can you imagine there is a piano, violin in a library. And yes, this library is not that quite that I even Skyped with my dad few times.
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| Piano on the left :D |
A thing I need to remember about this library is on Tuesday, it opens at 12pm instead of 8am on other days. I always forget this fact and need to wait in front of the main door with other people who forget about this opening hour as well. Hahaha.
A smile can start a conversation.
An old man about 75 years old looked at me and I smiled in return. Then, he asked "odkud jste?" simply means where are you from. A life lesson I learned about this gentleman is to never get bored reading. He said he will come to this library every two weeks to borrow some books to read. Can you believe, he is 75 years old!
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I have love hate relationship with my bed, so studying at home is not really on my list. Unless I reach the limit of my monthly expenses, the weather is bad to go out, I am memorising yada yada.
Hmmm, a lot of drafts on my dashboard, I wonder when I can get them done. -_-'
Till then.
HK, Czech.
170330
One More Step
March 23, 2017
I was walking home with my friend, talking bits of this and that.. then we separated at the junction as we were heading to different direction. Along the way back home, I realized the flowers started to bloom. Yes, it is spring now people.
Actually, the spring had officially started last Monday. The funny thing was even though I already lived in this four-seasons country for more than 5 years, I do not really know when spring officially begin. For me myself:
- Winter is when it is getting very cold and snow starts to fall.
- Spring is when flowers start to bloom and I can see green, fresh grass.
- Summer is when I need to wake up at 2-4am for Fajr.
- Autumn is when leaves start to change color into golden and fall.
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| Looking forward for this in Spring :) | May 2015 |
"We have certainly created man (to be) in hardship." - Al-Balad 90:4
I'll come to you one day,
I'll hold your hands for you,
I'll run even I'm out of breath.
I'll confess one day,
I'll take courage for you,
I'll run even I'm out of breath.
Lyrics can be exaggerating sometime.. maybe because I usually appreciate melody more than lyrics, but I found this song as one that gives me hope, indirectly. :)
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