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Istanbul Tour With Ayah Mak | Istanbul, Turkey
August 6, 2017
It feels a bit funny to write this post as I realized I just finish writing about my road trip around Istanbul (Where East Meets West) and most of the places we went have been shared in my previous posts. Haha, but let's just see how this post will lead me to.
10th July 2017
Istanbul, Turkey
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| Europe Trip started here! |
We left the country with Turkish Airlines. My previous flight with my parents was 2 years ago when we were on our way from London, UK to Geneva, Switzerland. Yep, that was from our first Europe trip (so-called Europe Trip 1.0 - more to come hopefully, ameen!) Since Turkish Airlines is not a low-cost airline, I felt relieved at least for them to have a proper, chosen seat and proper meal on board. For meal, we personally prefer Emirates. If you guys love cheesy food, Turkish Airlines suits you more :D
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| 4 checked in luggage - one for Ayah, one for Mak, the rest were food (plus kitchen utensils). |
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| Well, cliche. :D |
I don't know what happened to the flight air-conditioner that time, but it felt warm on board. We were a bit sweating. T_T
Arrived Istanbul on time, we decided to walk directly to the praying room. It is quite close to Gate 219 (if I'm not mistaken), seems like I have no idea if there is another praying room around departure area.
Done with prayers, we continued to the arrival to get to the hotel desk. Fuh, the queue at the passport control was not a joke, it took more than half an hour just to get our passports stamped! I feel glad that I have some experiences with this airport, at least I have some idea to walk around. Save time, save energy. -_-'
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| Breakfast with Mr. Potato. I persuaded Ayah to buy a cup of coffee from Starbucks just for the sake of sitting there, even though this was my first time with Starbucks. Sorry, I don't know why I don't feel good to sit in any restaurants without buying anything. Hee. |
Istanbul was scorching hot that day. Trust me, prepare yourselves with good sunscreen lotion especially with SPF50+ if you are planning to come to Istanbul in July. :D
If you have a long transit / lay over in Istanbul (Ataturk) Airport, simply request for Istanbul Tour / free meal voucher.
Our tour group was quite big that time - about 2 buses (maybe around 40 people?). We are eligible for 9am-3pm tour since our connecting flight was around 4.30pm. The tentative was roughly like this:
- Departure from Istanbul Ataturk Airport
- Breakfast
- Blue Mosque
- Hippodrome: German Fountain
- Serpentine Column
- Obelisk of Theodosius
- Topkapi Palace / Hagia Sophia Museum
- Lunch
- Return to Istanbul Ataturk Airport
Haha, see, I posted at least some points for each attractions :) Click if you want to read, yea?
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| Our tour group - the guide was explaining about Hippodrome. |
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| German Fountain |
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| Obelisk of Theodosius |
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| Blue Mosque |
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| They looked cute though in those cloth :) |
I have witnessed the same procedure in mosque in Malaysia (for example Putrajaya) where foreign / non-Muslim will receive this kind of clothes to cover themselves. Just, in Putrajaya, they are not allowed to enter the praying areas (so far that I know), but here in Blue Mosque, everyone is welcomed inside.
From this view, I am a bit confused with the saying that says women with menstruation are not allowed to enter mosques. How can we know that fact among these non-Muslims?
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| Inside Blue Mosque. Mak said that there were too many people, it was hard to enjoy spiritually. I just realized, here similar to the interior of Hagia Sophia we can see the names of Khulafa' Ar-Rasyidin and the grandsons of Prophet Muhammad - Hasan & Husein. |
Upon leaving Blue Mosque for Topkapi Museum, Mak kept mentioning the roasted corn. T_T Fuh, I did not have any Lira, but thankfully the hawkers accept Euro coins (the big one like one and two Euros). So, craving fulfilled :p Bought chestnuts as well. Haha
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| Standing on European side of Turkey, at the back is the Asian side. Most historical sites are located in European side. |
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| The sea... Mesmerizing! |
What else can I share in this post.....?
Hmm maybe my personal comments about the tour?
- This type of tour (9am-3pm) involves a lot of walking. Please bear in mind and put this into consideration if you are planning to join the tour with the elders.
- Food, entrance fee and all transportation you use during this tour are for free.
- Mind that the food may not be according to your taste and the food is Turkish style. But, why not have a try? :D
- Istanbul was really hot that time. Prepare your own water. Don't drink from the tap water, not recommended.
- There are few souvenir shops just outside Blue Mosque (the entrance facing the Hippodrome). For this specific type of tour (9am-3pm), you don't have the chance to go shopping at any bazaar. Unless if you are eligible for another type of tour (9am-6pm). So, be prepared with some Turkish Lira in advanced if you wanna buy some souvenirs.
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| Hagia Sophia, maybe next time? |
- Ask the tour guide at what time the bus will leave for the airport. You may get lost or get separated from the tour group, so at least you know where you can meet them again to catch your connecting flights.
- Prepare a good camera as you can either listen to the tour guide or wander around. I mean, if there is any view that catch your heart, directly snap it! You may not have the chance to return to that specific point.
- All in all, the tour is hectic even for me. I have a feeling my parents would love to come again and enjoy the city slowly. :) But, we should not complain as everything is for FREE, remember that :)
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| With the background of Blue Mosque. |
Till we meet again, Turkey. :)
SS, Perak, Malaysia
170806
Haha, such a long title!
4th August 2017
Day 3 of BFG
(BFG = back for good if you guys are wondering) :D
For overseas graduates, we can get these procedures done few days after we got the results by sending all the documents to MARA officer in charge. For example, for MARA students in Czech, we need to refer MARA Officer in Germany.
As even though I did not get the real scroll of my degree (before graduation ceremony), usually the university will give a letter called Dean's Letter. The letter is important to prove that the mentioned name has already finished his study and currently waiting for his graduation ceremony on the particular date... The Dean's Letter can be used to replace the scroll (so far that my friends had been doing).
But, it does not matter if we want to do once we arrived in Malaysia as after graduation, we can just use our scrolls for everything. Just go the MARA Headquarter at Jalan Raja Laut (well, I guess we all know the location haha)
Okay, let's go through few things to be done / forms to be filled.
Bahagian Penganjuran Pelajaran (BPP)
- Level 3 (use escalator at the lobby)
1. Borang Lapor Diri Tamat Pengajian - get the form here (click)
2. Borang Elaun Akhir Pengajian - get the form here (click)
3. Surat Tuntutan Bayaran Balik Tiket Penerbangan
- You can use this template.
WHAT TO DO?
- Fill in the forms.
- Refer our previous MARA Offer Letter for all information, especially study information (like program, course, duration of study, duration of sponsorship)
- Attached a verified copy of these - scroll, results transcript. I recommend to verify each pages of the documents (like how MMC wants). If we forgot to verify all those, please bring the original scroll / result transcript and test our luck :)
- Attach a copy of flight tickets, flight receipt / booking confirmation.
- Attach as well bank information like I attached below.
Bahagian Kawalan Kredit
- Level 3 (use lift - ask for entrance pass at the reception)
4. Permohonan Pengurangan Bayaran Balik - get the form here (click)
WHAT TO DO?
- Fill in the forms.
- Attached a verified copy of these - scroll, results transcript.
- I recommend you to check your current amount of debt via eBaki. If you have not use this website before, simply register as new user. From this eBaki, we can trace ALL money given to us, simply refer the code on our previous offer letters. Like DLES (elaun sara diri - monthly allowance). The 'interesting' part is to see different amount in RM if we received the money in Euro / USD / GBP. Even though my offer letter roughly estimated the sponsorship amount with conversion of €1 = RM 5, it actually depends on current conversion rate. It was getting worse from 2011 - 2017 haha higher rate means more debt. -_-'
- When we meet the officers, some will tell us the total amount of money sponsored to us.
- I am not sure when this rule has started, but now, we need to pay RM 300 in advanced to get our forms processed. Simply go to Counter 3 at Bahagian Kawalan Kredit to pay (they will ask us the IC number, MARA number, amount). We can pay with debit / credit card as well. CIMB Click / M2U are applicable as well they said. Send a copy of the receipt back to the officer.
- We are done with applying.
- Now, wait up to 3 months to receive a letter from MARA. It will tell us the total amount of sponsored money, how much we need to pay, how much is percentage, the table for payment etc.
- RM 300 that we have paid will be deducted from our debt.
So, that's all.
I myself just applied everything, now I need to wait as well. Hope this post helps you to get rough idea of what to do. :)
SS, Perak, Malaysia
170805
Priorities
August 3, 2017
Wow, it is already August, guys!
August.
My favorite.
Why?
The same reason why you choose your favorite month. Haha.
Mine is coming soon as well. :p
I am currently settling down in Malaysia, just roughly unpacking my luggage while filling in all forms to be sent to MARA as the common procedure after MARA-sponsored students finish their studies. It is my turn finally, to complete my convertible loan with MARA and finally have a hugeeee amount of debt under my name. HAHA.
Anyway, thanks MARA and thanks my dear Malaysians!
Jet lag.
But let me share you something.
"Perbuatan dan perkara yang sia-sia". Al-Mu'minun, verse number 3.
Define "sia-sia".
August.
My favorite.
Why?
The same reason why you choose your favorite month. Haha.
Mine is coming soon as well. :p
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| Welcome home, Malaysians. |
I am currently settling down in Malaysia, just roughly unpacking my luggage while filling in all forms to be sent to MARA as the common procedure after MARA-sponsored students finish their studies. It is my turn finally, to complete my convertible loan with MARA and finally have a hugeeee amount of debt under my name. HAHA.
Anyway, thanks MARA and thanks my dear Malaysians!
---------------------------------
Jet lag.
But let me share you something.
"Perbuatan dan perkara yang sia-sia". Al-Mu'minun, verse number 3.
Define "sia-sia".
For me, it is something that we don't gain anything from it.
Or that thing does not give us profit.
Or we don't learn anything from the losses / consequences.
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| Surah Al-Mu'minun. |
That is actually the aftermath of muhasabah, for me.
I am not going to say more details about the verse itself as I haven't read the tafseer of it. But maybe let me just share how I feel it to be related to my life. Reading the third verse of surah Al-Mu'minun is when I finally found a reason to be more grateful having a packed life since the day I was done with my very last final exam. It was super busy since that day that I slowly started to miss my study life (without the exams though). Nevertheless, I must agree that by getting busy, at the same time I started to put priority levels on everything.
Different people have different priorities, obviously.
Let me share few scenarios directly and indirectly related to me :)
Honestly this tweet reflected my feeling towards my married friends, especially the one close to me. But, thanks Siqah for opening my eyes and heart with your reply to this tweet. Married people have new priorities, especially if they already have kid / kids. I believe they really want to hang out with us but they need to take care of their family - that is their priority.
I still love you guys. And I know you too as well.
Pakcik, I agree with you. Memang menarik untuk terus sambung belajar. Balik-balik je dah jadi specialist. But, you need to understand the situations. First, the language barrier in Czech. It is doable but I think it is still better to spend my life in Malaysia. Czech offers its international students to work there, even the doctors encourage us to stay (as most of Czech local graduates go to work abroad for higher salary) but I am not that excellent with new languages especially for clerking. Other alternative - work in UK / Ireland (where they prioritize their own graduates), work in Germany (where I need to learn another new language as well). T_T
Second, I want to be with my family while I still can. It does not matter in which state I'll be working as long as it is reachable in a shorter time compared to Europe. This is the main reason I want to work in Malaysia. My priority.
I am giving up on something. Deep inside I believed I already did my best, even though I do believe there are more things I can do to make it worth an investment. But, sometimes, things do not happen according to our plan. Release the rope and let it go. If it is really fated to be mine, it will be. Sooner or later. :)
Here, I prioritize my heart. My own heart. The one and only heart.
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Enough of examples, I guess.
Plan our days well. My Day 1 after back-for-good phase went good, I did not waste my time so far, alhamdulillah. Towards the upcoming days, I will try my best to appreciate and use them well. Time is gold. I am going to continue living my life to the fullest. InsyAllah :)
I am not going to say more details about the verse itself as I haven't read the tafseer of it. But maybe let me just share how I feel it to be related to my life. Reading the third verse of surah Al-Mu'minun is when I finally found a reason to be more grateful having a packed life since the day I was done with my very last final exam. It was super busy since that day that I slowly started to miss my study life (without the exams though). Nevertheless, I must agree that by getting busy, at the same time I started to put priority levels on everything.
Different people have different priorities, obviously.
Let me share few scenarios directly and indirectly related to me :)
1. Changes.
Before kahwin: "Weh aku janji friendship ni takkan berubah lepas aku kahwin."— Mato. (@budaktomato) August 1, 2017
Lepas dah kahwin: "..."
I still love you guys. And I know you too as well.
2. Opinions."Eh, sayangnya, sambung lah belajar buat specialisation kat luar tu, lepas tu baru balik. Tengok anak sedara pakcik, dah dapat kerja kat **** sekarang tengah sambung jadi specialist."
Pakcik, I agree with you. Memang menarik untuk terus sambung belajar. Balik-balik je dah jadi specialist. But, you need to understand the situations. First, the language barrier in Czech. It is doable but I think it is still better to spend my life in Malaysia. Czech offers its international students to work there, even the doctors encourage us to stay (as most of Czech local graduates go to work abroad for higher salary) but I am not that excellent with new languages especially for clerking. Other alternative - work in UK / Ireland (where they prioritize their own graduates), work in Germany (where I need to learn another new language as well). T_T
Second, I want to be with my family while I still can. It does not matter in which state I'll be working as long as it is reachable in a shorter time compared to Europe. This is the main reason I want to work in Malaysia. My priority.
3. Heart Game.The whole thing is not a game, honestly. I am not playing around. But I feel like I am playing with my heart - up and down. You know, when you invest yourself in something, you need to watch for the risks and consequences. And if you are willing to take the challenges, you need to bear anything you will face. It is basically the same thing when you invest your money, your time and the most fragile is, your heart.
I am giving up on something. Deep inside I believed I already did my best, even though I do believe there are more things I can do to make it worth an investment. But, sometimes, things do not happen according to our plan. Release the rope and let it go. If it is really fated to be mine, it will be. Sooner or later. :)
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| Good bye T___T |
Here, I prioritize my heart. My own heart. The one and only heart.
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Enough of examples, I guess.
Plan our days well. My Day 1 after back-for-good phase went good, I did not waste my time so far, alhamdulillah. Towards the upcoming days, I will try my best to appreciate and use them well. Time is gold. I am going to continue living my life to the fullest. InsyAllah :)
SS, Perak, Malaysia
170803
Jet-lag hmph.
3 Days Left to Wrap My Life Chapters in Czech
July 29, 2017
My feelings?
Indescribable. Mixed.
I just finished a Europe road trip with my beloved parents few days ago, now I am back in Hradec Kralove. To be specific I am currently at my favorite spot in my favorite cafe, maybe for the last time. I can't imagine how life will be without my normal routine in Czech. I am sure it is going to be hard at the beginning but time will heal most of the feelings. :) Hopefully.
Aha, we drove from Prague, Czech to Copenhagen, Denmark with a total journey of nearly 2100km plus about 65km ferry ride crossing the sea connecting Denmark and Germany. I tried to make daily journal but hmmm it seemed quite hard to navigate the trip while writing everything down. But surely I will remember most of journey, insyAllah. It was significant as I was with my parents! :D
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| Ayah and Mak | Odense, Denmark |
There were so many incidents happened, call them wonderful, shameful, amazing, nerve-wrecking, disappointed. But, I believe when we face difficulties and challenges with our beloved ones, we will definitely get through them. No matter how hard they are.
Why? Because of love and responsibilities towards each other.
This is a mixed post, I will have lots of time to write separate posts while waiting for my posting in Malaysia. Haha.
Most of my international friends already left the country after our graduation day on 13th of July. So, some of them, I was not able to say goodbye properly but I hope we will remember each other in our prayers.
Right now, I just want to draft things I would love to share here in my blog. I will make it lively again after staying away from my blog for quite a long time.
1. Experiences in Istanbul, Turkey.
- I flew back to Prague with my parents and two friends (Adilah and Faizal). You know, when you always on a plane alone and this time you have at least someone to talk to - comfortably, it definitely feels great.
- We had good time in Istanbul, thanks to Tour Istanbul organised by Turkish Airlines. It was my parents' first time in Turkey (countless for me). The tour was okay, just a bit hard for elder people as I guess my parents were rushing to follow their paces.
- More story soon, hopefully, about our trip in Istanbul!
2. Countless Uber rides in Prague, Czech.
- I can say I am addicted to ride Uber. I tried Grab in Malaysia just few days before my flights, but Uber here was as easy as Grab to use.
- Other than the reason of no need to walk a lot, I found that we were anticipating the type of car we would ride. There were so many cars used by the Uber drivers - our own experiences we rode at least two BMW 5 series, a VW, few Skoda cars and few other brands.
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| Ayah and I | Hamburg, Germany |
3. Trips in Czech.
- Since this was my parents' second time in Czech, we did not really focus on Prague but there were few attraction sites they missed from the first trip. So I tried to plan for them.
- I took my parents to Cesky Krumlov, this place is very lovely if you want to have a day trip from Prague.
- Homemade lemonade in Petrin Hill - since I was travelling with my parents, I was more particular about the ingredient of all food and drinks. It is not that I eat food randomly before but my parents have another view about eating outside, so let's just appreciate each others' differences. :)
- How my mum reacted on Charles Bridge - this was so cute to think about. HAHA
- Dancing building - how my parents differentiate between the male & female parts of the building.
- Prague Castle - experiences at the church.
- Letenske Sady - it felt great to share my favorite view of the country with my parents.
4. Trips across Germany.
- I was enjoying myself with the no-speed-limits of the autobahn but not my dad. Haha. I thought he would enjoyed it but so far, the highest limit he could reach was 140km/h.
- There were so many constructions on the autobahn that make our driving a bit delayed.
- Experiences staying a double-storey hotel room.
- The moment I realized I had no roaming rate for my Vodafone's number! Even for the data! This was totally amazinggggg!
- Parents' reactions towards our Airbnb's house in Hamburg. Hehehe.
- How triathlon affected our trip in Hamburg?
- The fact that most shops close by 6pm and nothing was open on Sunday - headache.
- Crossing the border of Germany-Denmark
5. Different islands across Denmark.
- In my future posts, they will be more about Funen and Zealand where Odense and Copenhagen are located respectively.
- Pricey-but-worth-it day trip to Egeskov Castle.
- Our reactions the scenery along the roads in Denmark.
- Halal food (we found a street with lots of halal restaurants and Muslims) in Copenhagen.
- How to park in Denmark? Haha interesting facts and experiences.
- Opening hours of shops in Denmark - especially souvenirs shops.
- The famous Hans Andersen Christian.
6. Day Trip to Sweden.
- I was reluctant to continue with this plan as the price to cross ?resund Bridge, connecting Denmark and Sweden was quite expensive. But it would be our once in a lifetime experience, so why not? :)
- The coolness of the bridge! A part of it is a tunnel, another part is on an artificial island, and the rest is over ?resund strait.
- I will share my mistakes of buying the tickets and I will recommend cheaper way to cross the bridge.
- Our experiences of mosques-hopping and the day we met a Muslim community in Malmo.
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| Mak and I | Flensburg, Germany |
7. Ferry-ride crossing Baltic Sea from Gedser, Denmark to Rostock, Germany.
- My mum and I almost unintentionally left my dad at the border while boarding the ferry for Germany! THAT INTERNATIONAL BORDER. Told you this ferry is connecting two countries.
- Our car was stopped by the police at Germany's border.
- Treasure hunt to find the keys for our Airbnb apartment.
- Pickpockets in Berlin.
- Tips for souvenirs in Berlin. You can trust me on this, we had enough of frustration hahaha.
8. Passing Dresden for Prague.
- It was almost time to return the rental car and check in to a hostel for my parents's final night in Prague, Czech.
- I found that polices in Prague are nice if we approach them nicely in their local language.
- Checking in our luggage in Prague Airport
- My feeling to send off my parents - it felt so lonely to finally accept the fact they were leaving. Even though I am going to meet them again in just few days later, ouch my heart broke to wave and say good bye. Now I think I understand how my parents felt every time they sent me off at KLIA, especially after my abang long passed away.
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| Ayah Mak | Petrin Hill, Czech |
Wow, so many things to share, huh?
I will write my experiences slowly, maybe the posts will be helpful for the readers but I aim for my own satisfactions and memories with my parents, to be exact. Throughout the journey, I realized they are really getting older and again, the fact that I have been away from home.
Please remind me to keep on loving them, to keep on praying for their happiness and health, to keep on saying good words to them, to keep on controlling myself not to hurt them emotionally.
Love you Ayah, Mak.
I hope I have been a great daughter to you.
I hope I have make you proud.
I hope both of you will keep on praying for my happiness, health, success just like you continuously do.
I hope both of you will redha and support my future journey as a doctor.
We will enjoy your retirement phase together, insyAllah - before I sacrifice myself, my time, my energy and my money for the people.
Be with me till the end of our lives as nobody can replace both of you. Ever.
Hradec Kralove, Czech
170728
How to Apply for International Driving Permit (IDP)?
July 4, 2017
International Driving Permit (IDP) or locally known as 'lesen memandu antarabangsa' is something familiar to me. I've started driving in Europe since few years ago, so basically I renew the permit every year since then. :)
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| Gonna miss renewing this. :) |
I am not sure which other countries that do not require any IDP for Malaysians to drive, so far that I know they are Thailand, Australia and New Zealand.
So, if you are planning to drive in another countries, you can use these steps to apply for IDP. You can ask help / pay any agents working for JPJ but I would encourage you to apply yourself if you have the time.
STEPS (IF YOU ARE APPLYING BY YOURSELF):
1. Prepare these documents:
- original identity card (IC) - I would really recommend you to update your IC if you haven't and if you still have it since Year 6 lol. The new chip is working / detected better for the government system.
- original Malaysia driving license - make sure the expiry date is more than 1 year.
- 1 piece of passport sized photograph - make sure you mentioned that you want to use it for IDP as JPJ wants a slightly zoomed photo. It will be glued to the IDP booklet.
- RM 150
2. Go to the nearest JPJ and take your queue number.
- as for people living in Ipoh, you can either go to the main branch (I prefer this) or UTC branch.
3. Hand in all documents to the officer and said you want to apply for IDP.
4. Wait for few minutes, usually the officer will ask you to sit down first.
5. After 5-10minutes, walaaa, there you go. Done.
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| JPJ Ipoh Main Branch. |
The process is a bit different currently. Before, I think we need to:
- fill in a form (JPJ L1)
- prepare 2 passport sized photographs
- photocopies of driving license and IC
But, thanks to the upgraded IC, JPJ can obtain most of documents from the chip on our IC. Simple. :)
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Going to miss driving around Czech, I wonder when will I have the chance to be there again after going back home for good soon. :) After housemanship, I hope. :)
Driving in Malaysia is more challenging I can say due to the traffic jam and geography. But, of course driving in somewhere unfamiliar is interesting as well, especially when learning about all those vignettes, tolls, rules, speed limits and of course the opposite site of driving.
And not to forget, I received my first speeding ticket in Czech!
SS, Perak, Malaysia
170704
[PHOTOS] Grad's Night | Class of 2017
July 3, 2017
I feel like writing tonight, maybe instead of sharing about Eid, I should get done with any drafts first. :)
29th April 2017
A day after surgery STEX (the exam for final year), we had Grad's Night. As usual and I think, by tradition, Grad's Night would be handled by 4th year students with the help from the university in terms of money for the venue. Another sources of money would be from sponsors and fundraising. My friends and I did that when we were in 4th year ourselves. It was a very nice experience, to organise an event for people with totally different backgrounds and cultures.
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| Malaysians - Final Year. |
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| Simon - Alicia - Wiebke - Adilah - Maryam - Punnam - Jawahir - Vidhya - Raja - Hanis - Warda - Ishleen |
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| Selfie. |
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| Sennye, me, Gloria | Jawahir, Luke, Simon, me | Mpho, Simon, Luke, Idris, Faizal, Jawahir, me | Heidi, me, Viktoria |
Well, the tentative was maybe similar to other dinner's event. :) But this time was a bit emotional as we were the one being celebrated.
The menu was okay, we had choices of either chicken (halal oh yeah), salmon or veggie salad - that is for the main course. There were 3 desserts as well, yummy!
This was the video made by our junior for that night. Haha I must say for people who are not directly related to this, I don't think people may have the similar feeling as we were when watching this video :) It was happy and sad at the same time.
Let's enjoy some photos from the official photographer :)
See you guys on our graduation day in Karolinum of Charles University in Prague. :)
SS, Perak, Malaysia
170702
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