Farewell Birmingham Part 1

Such a sad day. Today will be the last day I am in Birmingham. Fond memories, bad memories all packed in a year and 3 months time. 

Will surely missed them all.

Will update more when in London. Talk soon.

Quote of The Day

"Sometimes people come into your life and you know right away that they are meant to be there; they serve some sort of purpose, teach you a lesson, or help you figure out who you are." 

Amal Hebat

 My third sister, Amal, just graduated with three stars (CGPA 3.89) in Diploma of Banking and Finance. Proud of you kiddo. Please make us proud even more! Many congratulations from your Along. xx

 Amal hebat!

 

The reason

  Mom and Dad with their bundle of joy (From left, Hanis, Iqa, Dad, Amal, Mom, Aiman and Kak Eni)

Half Taken

Just got back from Rome and saw updates on Facebook, this weekend is full with engagement ceremonies! And one of them who got engaged this week was my best friend of 13 year!

Congratulations Tasha Qhairunnisa and Jean Basri Longuet.

Bak kata orang tua, dah bertunang tu darah manis. I'm sure both of you will go through the 'darah manis' period just fine Insya Allah, let's pray to God banyak-banyak ok? 

Tasha, I am so happy for you and Basri, and I'm sure you know that I cannot cannot cannot wait to balik soon to wish (and hug) you a proper CONGRATULATIONS! Sebak jugak coz I wasn't there!

Please please enjoy the wedding preparations dear! It's YOUR DAY!

Anyway, here are some photos of her engagement ceremony which was beautifully done! Love it! (Photos by Tasha Qhairunnisa herself)

Tasha getting ready

Pelamin so sweet, so Tasha

Flower power!

  Dessert table terbaik! By the everdearest Miss Dalia Dania Ruslan. Interested? Email me and I can introduce you to her!

 Discuss discuss discuss!

 Akhirnya ;) Teary eyed when I see this pic.

 With Mama / Aunty Diana tersayang

 From no sister to MANY sisters! You're so lucky babe! 

 Tu diaaaa jejaka tercinta! chewahh (in longhat Utara tone)

 Tu diaaa kesayangan Basri :) 

 Soon-to-be Tasha's family

Beloved family

Best Gfs ;)

 Best UIA mates!

 Haippp.. belom kawin lagi ni.. lol..jk

 The room that we all used to do sleepovers! So pretty decorated by Tasha's mother.

 The lovely bride-to-be with the loveliest hand bouquet by gf Zaznuriah Zahir. Check out her other work.. Hand bouquet, hantaran, sirih junjung and the like, she can do it all. ;)

Lovely ceremony eh? More reasons to be excited about at home! Come quick 2011!

Brummies Christmas Market

After residing in England for more than a year now, I got the chance to witnessed winter for the second time. The best part is of course, snow falls and sale, but the worst part of it are the climate is freezing and snow made EVERYTHING slow and delayed. For an example, the train! I rely on my London-Midlands train everyday to go do errands and stuff but yeah, snow made me an hour late.

Anyway, one thing about Christmas that everyone loved is the Christmas market. In London, there is a Winter Wonderland but good ol' Brummies doesn't want to miss having one as well. In Birmingham, it is called Birmingham- Frankfurt Christmas Market. It is not as massive and exclusive like the ones in Hyde Park, but for me, this will do. 


You see, Christmas Market in Britain started long ago since the Victorian era which  sells Christmas related products and foodstuffs, but during that time, they were not known as Christmas market. The traditional Christmas market you could find are in Germany, Austria and Poland, but the ones in England can be considered quite similar to the traditional ones but of course, with some English identity.


Like I stated above, the one in Birmingham is called Birmingham-Frankfurt Christmas Market. It is open daily from 18th of November to 23rd December from 10 am - 9pm, it can be said that this Christmas Market is the largest authentic German market outside of Germany and Austria and is arguably one of the most popular Christmas markets in the UK. Chewah.

This is my second time here and I enjoyed every seconds of it eating fried cheese and jalapeno dip with cranberry sauce and the soft yummy garlic and cheese bun! Not forgetting their scrumptious hot chocolate as well. Without rums of course. There are other delicious meals that visitors could enjoy such as the Gluhwein (German mulled wine), German beers and traditional sausages, meats, sweets, marzipans and pastries.

Fried cheese!

 Pretzel!

 Chocolate coated banana and mashmallow

Colourful cookies

They don't just offer food, but also traditional handcrafted gifts, including jewellery, wooden toys, dolls and candles. It is so cute how they set up wooden chalets as their stalls and each chalets will be decorated as how they like, the more colourful lights, the better! It is best to see all of these decorations at night because the colourful lights will lit up the whole Christmas market as if we are in a village!

And, the whole experience will be enhanced with live music every lunchtime and evening from a traditional bandstand. Bliss!

One of the things that I will SURELY miss when I go home! 

Salam Maal Hijrah

Salam Maal Hijrah to all my Muslim friends from all the over the world. May the new year brings more and more good health, wealth and prosperity. Let's do more good deeds, more prayers and doa, and delete those 'PHD' within yourself so that all can live harmoniously and happily. 

******

Sheena and mummy are here and we've been updating and exchanging all sort of stories of KL and UK. So fun and interesting! ;) As it seems, my lonely days are OVER!

This is a Man's World

Starting from today, I'll be in full marathon settling errands and such. 

- Need to look for ropes and net for shipping. Don't ask me why..

- Pay and canceling off all bills contracts with Vodafon, Virgin Media, British Gas and Seven Trent Water Supply. Thank God they were really helpful.

- Cancel off Tracker Network. Haven't done that yet.

- Meeting with landlord. Dreadingggg...

- Arranged with the shipping/container/cargo company. Progressing..

- Look for Dad's stuff for the car. Looking..

- Find new tenants to replace Sheena and I. 

- Find new hand luggage. The one that I always use is broken.

- Packing and labeling. 

- Packing and labeling.

- Cari baju and kasut convo. Tak sudah-sudah... ;(

- Packing and labeling.

- Tukar duit..

So so penat. I'll be leaving the country in less than 25 days and I need to ship all of my things (including Iqa's) in 10 days. I hope I can make it.

All stressed out but I'm excited at the same time. 

There are days when I just feel sad as well. Like yesterday, when I was watching the X-Factor and I thought to myself that this could be my last! Ceh..emp pop pulak.. I know it's pathetic, but if you are in my shoes, you'll probably feel the same way too.

Talking about X-Factor, I felt that Cher did really well yesterday. Thought she's actually cocky but she got that 'star' package. Thank God she was qualified for finals, though I am bit sad for Mary, because she can actually sing! 

But my favourite is still.. Rabecca Ferguson. Trust me, she'll win next week!

Mary Byrne ' This is a Man's World'

Rabecca Ferguson with 'Show me love'..

The Classics

Do you guys read classics? As in by Charlotte Bronte, Louisa May Alcott, Jane Austen, Enid Blyton, Roald Dhal and the like? British or American, it doesn't matter as I'm always a fan.

I used to read lots of classic literature growing up as my mum is an avid collector.  She has a wide collection of all of those authors I stated above (and more!) and  she straight away passed it all down to me the moment I knew how to read. The thing I like about our parents' era of education is that they are exposed to all of these classics, name it they just know it. No wonder their proficiency in English are way greater than the kids nowadays. During those times, the children that lives far away from the city can actually speak a good clear English. My mom was just a desa girl from Teluk Intan, Perak and all I could say, her English is superb.

Ok, back to classics. As I remember, my first ever classic I read was 'Little Women' by Louisa May Alcott. I clearly remember when mom forced me to read the abridged version of the book. I was seven or eight at that time, I don't think I could do the unabridged one. I became more and more fascinated with 'Little Women' after the movie became a hit played by all stars actresses, Susan Sarandon, Winona Ryder, Claire Danes and Kirsten Dunst. It is basically about the lives of the March sisters during the post Civil War in America, and how they struggled of boundaries of the 19th century society placed towards females. At that age, how do I know about all of these? Civil War? Women's right? Nah. I am too young to comprehend all that. Nevertheless, the message that I got from this classic (and after much explanation by my mom) is the importance of family ties and friendship between sisters.

 The book cover

 The blockbuster back then!

Anyhoots, there are other classics that I read back then and still is reading now. Yes, it does take ages for you to finish one classic. I have a habit of changing my book in the middle of the process of finishing it. Black Beauty, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, etc etc. Those kind of books can actually be your lullaby. It's either you love it or just hate it. I just stand in between.


How about Enid Blyton? Does the Famous Five and Secret Seven ever ring a bell to you? Those aren't really my favourite, but the best of Enid Blyton for me were of course, the one and only adventure series situated at a boarding school in Cornwall, Malory Towers. It is such an escapism and I still read that book until today. Will keep it nice and tuck for my future daughters soon. LOL. Enid Blyton has 5 series of Malory Towers between the year 1946 and 1951. Basically, it is about a girl, Darrel Rivers, who enters boarding school for the first time and her adventures sailing through school experiences such as friendship, music, academics and being independent. Remember the tuck shop? Tuck shop is an old fashioned sweet shop who specialised in retro  traditional sweets and confectioneries. Imagine lemon sherbets, all types of fudges, liquorish, and jelly beans.. I love being in a candy shop! (There's one in Oxford called Mr. Sims. It's traditional and it is exactly like the ones Enid Blyton described in all of her books). Basically, the term tuck shop is normally used within the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, basically other parts of the British empire. I am surprised that mom used it when she was small. (She was in a convent school di kawasan kampung yang memang ada penjajah di sekolahnya, so that's why). It's was because of these books (and tuck shop.. heeee), I wanted to enter boarding school. so badly. Pfftt.


Here are the titles of Malory Towers series that maybe you could be interested in. Give it a try (for those who hasn't). The girls in the books may surprise you!


1. First Term at Malory Towers (1946)
2. Second Form at Malory Towers (1948)
3. Third Year at Malory Towers (1948)
4. Upper Fourth at Malory Towers (1949)
5. Last Term at Malory Towers (1951)

Ok, back to my reading. Till my next post. 

 ******

"All the best stories in the world are but one story in reality -- the story of escape. It is the only thing which interests us all and at all times, how to escape."

- Arthur Christopher Benson

December Love

Hello December.. One more month to go to 2011 and for me to be where all my heart is! HOME. Come quick, I can't wait anymore.

******

One of my best girlfriend, Melissa Esme turns 25 today. Wishing you another wonderful year of happiness and joy babe. I love you lots and lots. Let's celebrate soon, Insya Allah.

With Mel ;)

Your birthday’s a time for careful reflection
About your life, and its future direction.
You see where you’ve been when you look at the past;
Most of it’s great; you had quite a blast!
You wonder what’s coming, what life has in store;
Will it be just the same? Will there be a new door?
Remember this, as you blow out the last candle:
Life holds no challenge that you cannot handle.

All I Need

R&B mode: OFF

Don't tear me down
For all i need
Make my heart a better place
Give me something I can believe
Don't tear it down
What's left of me
Make my heart a better place

OST The Vampire Diaries Season 1 Episode 19 (When they were dancing during 'Miss Mystic Fall Beauty Pageant')

If I were to sing in a band, I would love to sing this song, with the violin, cello and all the strings right behind me :)

********

All I need want right now :

1. A better heater. The heating system in my Selly Oak house can't be depended at all. It's cold inside the house that I have to wear gloves and snow cap to keep me extra warm. Thank God I have my hot water bottle to heat me up. That thing does wonders!

2. A car. An old small car is enough for me. I need to get cartons and boxes to pack my stuff. It's REALLY cold to walk 2km up the hill to Sainsburys and PC World just to get the empty cartons and boxes. Walking is one thing, carrying it back home is another. Sigh. Oh, the snow doesn't help either.

3. Moolah. Lots of it. Boxing day is around the corner. 
4. Where are my Gossip Girl, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Brothers and Sisters, The Vampire Diaries, etc etc? Why aren't they putting it on air for this week? I'm bored and cold. Apart from packing, watching all those series actually  made my day.
5. My parents. You know why.
6. My sisters and Aiman. I don't mind the bickering.
7. Mr. Zaim. You know why.
8. Aromatherapy massage. 2 hours. I'm knackered and cranky.
9. A job that is guaranteed. So, when I go back home, I won't have to worry about money and surviving.
10. A husband. Saya L.O.A. Ok thanks byee. LOL.

Big Problem

I have a problem. I can't sleep, I forgot to take my bath, I didn't eat well, I delayed my errands, etc. What the H is wrong with me? 

.........

I think I've been bitten. 

.........

BY HIM!

 Meet Ian Somerhalder

 Or better known as Damon Salvatore

The bad ass vampire in the series 'The Vampire Diaries'.

 The bad ass vampire who eventually turned into a good one. See, I always believe that a bad person can change. Give them a chance, and they'll prove you wrong.

His piercing blue-grey eyes. I can drown forever in it. Scary.

Gosh, it is a problem. 

............

This is just for fun guys. Relax. Eye candy. 

Home

 Too cold for comfort. 




Winter came early this year, it's not yet December but the cold is unbearable. This kind of weather is making me miss home even more.

And gone away
And even Paris and Rome
And I wanna go home
Let me go home

And I’m surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel alone
Oh, let go home
Oh, I miss you, you know

But, the good news is, this favourite singer of mine will be doing his very own Crazy Love tour in Kuala Lumpur next year. At last! I've been wanting to go to his concert here in UK, but got no gang la! And since he's performing soon in my home country, I shall embrace that moment by going with my one and only Mr. Z. Buble is one of those 'guys' behind our relationship, and for that, I can't wait!

Barchinona Love

Barcelona. My number one place in Europe that I've been dreaming to go since forever.

But to my surprise, I didn't really quite enjoy Barcelona just itself though. I enjoyed my trip because the people that were with me throughout the trip. They made my dream Europe place vacation enjoyable. If it's not for them, it would have been dull.

 My Barcelona troop ;)

Barcelona is not the capital city of Spain, but the numbers of tourists in Barcelona are unimaginable. It's a laid back city, from my point of view, and  I got to know that the days are long in Barcelona. The morning extends until  late afternoon, with the earliest lunch would be around 2 pm. The late opening hours here means that the afternoon merges into evening. With so much time in your hands, I would advice that  please make the most of your visit with a bit of planning. But you're talking about me here (me means 'the easily panic Shida'), I always like to plan my way around and I prefer my vacation to be organized and in control. From the details for food, finances, accommodation, the history of the places, transportation and the like are all in my precious pink organizer. And, with the help of my favourite DK eyewitness travel book on Barcelona & Catalonia, I'm good to go.

 My DK eyewitness and I, I am good to go!

We arrived at night around 9 pm as that was the only cheapest ticket we could find. 9 pm in Barcelona is like Maghrib senja in Malaysia. The saying goes 'The night has not started yet'. But we were so tired and decided to rest at the apartment. The apartment was so cozy and convenient for us because it was just a 7 minutes walk to  the famous Sagrada Familia. I chose this apartment because it was the CHEAPEST (yes, it's cheap compared to many other apartments in other European countries. Interested? I can give you their email) among many other apartments, but I didn't expect it to be so nice and comfy. It's not chic and swanky with luxurious furniture, but it was just nice for the eight of us. Here are some pictures of the apartment.

  My room shared with Wani ;)

The kitchen

The dining communal time area!

Enough on the apartment as I recall we were there not because of that apartment. LOL. We woke as early as 9 pm the next day, ate breakfast and off we went to the first place which was the Sagrada Familia. Are you familiar with Sagrada Familia? For many tourists that came here, they should know that Barcelona is synonymous with the unique architecture of Antoni Gaudi, the famous Catalan architect that had created many unique (and weird as well ) beyond comprehension buildings which all of them are worth visiting.

Reminder: Before coming to Barcelona, it is worth reading about Gaudi and his work.

We went around the rest of the city of Barcelona using the 'Hop On, Hop Off' bus rides, and I would suggest to take that bus to everyone who are planning to come here. All of us took a 2 days pass which was around 28 Euros, and it has 3 different routes comprising more than 40 main tourist attractions. Two days pass were enough for us, as we did covered the important places that must be seen in Barcelona. Where to get tickets for the bus rides? There are many information counter in the streets of Barcelona, mainly where tourists would be. We got ours at the information counter just behind the Sagrada Familia.

My favourite Gaudi's work was the Parc Guell. It is a garden city situated on the hill of el Carmel in the Gracia district of Barcelona. I felt like I was in a fairy tale 'Hansel and Gretel' because it looked like as if the houses are made out of biscuits. The design  is just so unique and odd with different shapes, colours and sizes of mosaics. If you climb up the park, you could see Gaudi's house, where he lived before he moved to the Sagrada Familia. 

 Me posing uphill of Parc Guell. Noticed that the houses looks like it made out of Gingerbread!

Enjoying a moment of Spanish Guitar played by the locals

Other main attraction that we went using the bus were the hill of Monjuic. Monjuic is a spectacular vantage point which you can actually view the whole city. Around the are, you can find many famous galleries and museums as well as old prestigious theaters. 1992 Olympics were held on its Southern part of Montjuic. I managed to get a glimpse of the whole  International sports complex and it actually covers half of the whole Montjuic. Other than that, if you are lucky, you can see the magic fountain being light up in many different colours, situated in the middle of the avenue. We didn't get to see it as it was still under maintenance during that time. The Font Magica would be the first thing I would see the next time I set my foot in Barcelona. 

 Font Magica at night time. (Picture taken from Google Images)

  Up on the hill of Montjuic

The rest of the places that I went was the Barcelona stadium, the food market 'Mercat de Sant Josep/ La Boqueria', barcelona beachfront 'Port Olimpic'and the famous street in Barcelona that leads to the sea and also where I got cheap souvenirs, 'La Rambla'. Here are some pictures of those places that we went:

 Barcelona Stadium

Barcelona stadium is HUGE but truthfully, there's nothing 'majestic' about this stadium. The facilities are more advanced than many other stadium that I went in UK, but the feeling of 'holiness of football' was just not there in me. We took a tour 'Camp Nou Experience' and I have to say that the tour was not as I expected it to be.  We paid 15 Euros each for the tour, and guess what? We had to tour the whole stadium by ourselves. MUFC stadium tour was far better, completed with tour guides and a booklet. Even Liverpool FC a.k.a kilang besi (sorry folks! but it's true!) pun ada tour guides.  Waste of money? Not really though. At least I got to see one of Spain beloved football ground.

Sheera and I at the Marina Port Olimpic

So far, the beaches in Europe are nothing compared to the ones in Asia. Southeast Asia to be specific. They do have nice cafes along the beach and all that, but the sand? Not as soft as what we have. PD pun lembut kot. The right amount of sun during summer? Not enough. Ikan bakar? Takde! Ok, melampau la tu kan. Mana ada ikan pari bakar with kuah asam kat tengah-tengah negara Sepanyol ni. The thing is, the beachfront is nice, the scenery was so pretty with the sunset and good-looking men in shorts playing volleyball, but my heart will always say Malaysian's beaches are the greatest. Barcelona's Port Olimpic is not really a proper beach where you hvave sea activities such as speed-boating, para-sailing, banana boat and all that, it is more like a marina beachfront/waterfront thingy where rich people 'park' their yachts. They do have nice yachts and after seeing all those sexy yachts, I want one too! 

The food market was fantastic, I became full after looking at all those food around. The thing about Barcelona, it's not that difficult to find food, especially for those Muslims that are particular about eating Halal meat. Their main food are Seafood! So we can eat! How happy I was when I heard a friend of mine telling me about Barcelona has great seafood such as lobster, clams, prawns, squid and many types of fish. Their paella (basically like Nasi goreng)is done with seafood, same goes with  their pastas and tapas.

Seafood Paella

Seafooodddddd terbaikk

Confectionery

Of Olives and such

Fruit juices for breakfast

Three days in Barcelona is enough to see a lot of what the whole city has to offer, but also it's enough to make you realize that there are many more places  that waere unseen. But it's ok. More reasons for me to come again with other friends. Overall, comparing to other Europe countries that I went, the expenditure in Barcelona was the cheapest. Shopping is cheap. High street brands such as H&M and Zara are cheap, can be as cheap as Primark. Souvenirs and food are cheap as well. 

Thanks to my Wani, Zeileen, Sheera, Abe, Baby, Saiful and Fakhrul for making this trip more enjoyable. Without them, it wouldn't be a happy ending at all.

Next Spain destination..roadtrippin' at ANDALUSIA and siblings. South of Spain. Who's with me?