Hiking Trip - Bukit Kledang, Perak
September 25, 2017
A day before this trip, I told Ayah I feel like hiking lately. I miss Czech a bit too much and hiking is one of the passions I found within myself when I was in that beautiful country. Even though Czech does not have heavy forests like in Malaysia, it was still lovely to enjoy the nature it can offer.
Of course, Malaysia has its own specialties.
And hiking Malaysia hills and mountains are no joke.
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| Self love haha :) |
Happy 1439H - Facts about Hijri Calendar
September 22, 2017
I haven't finished reading new books ;p so, please wait more for another book reviews :D
So, a new year?
Another new year.
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| source - Twitter |
Just like other people, I am always praying for another good year ahead. Not without challenges, as I am pretty sure life is never without them. But, I pray for better health, better mental status, better family relationship, better friendship and better strength to overcome all those challenges. Plus, a more feminine lifestyle. I am still trying my best ever since even though it still seems so hard.
Currently, a book on my reading list entitled, 'Wanita Cantik Masuk Syurga' - it is a book that I planned to read together with Mak and discuss about them while applying to ourselves. It is not just about beauty and women accessories, it also covers aurat, photography, dolls, clothes etc. Basically anything that makes a girl beautiful inside out - not only for the eyes of human beings but the most important for the sake of Allah.
“Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty." (Muslim)
Doakan Hanis Amanina jadi lemah lembut. -_-'
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Another thing I would love to share in this post is about how the Hijri calendar started, or also known as Islamic or Muslim calendar. I was reading about Maal Hijrah and came across about the history behind it.
To simplify the facts:
- Months in Islam like Muharram, Safar etc already existed before Islam, just they use different type of years. For example, Nabi Muhammad (s.a.w.) was born on 12th Rabi'ul Awwal, Year of The Elephant.
- When Saidina Umar al-Khattab ruled the Muslims, it was difficult to fulfill the instructions (to which were most recent etc) due to the lack of years on the date. Why? Because the first 10 years of Hijrah were named after events of Nabi Muhammad's life (s.a.w.).
- So, they came out with the idea to make an Islamic calendar / takwim.
- Since most of the years used before, were started based on significant events - so, Islamic calendar was finally decided to be started from the year of hijrah from Makkah to Madinah.
- 1 Muharram 1H was not started on the first day of hijrah event itself as hijrah happened around Rabi'ul Awwal 1H.
- Hijri calendar has 12 months (all names of months have significant points behind them) - Muharram, Safar, Rabi'ul Awwal, Rabi'ul Akhir, Jamadil Awwal, Jamadil Akhir, Rejab, Syaaban, Ramadhan, Syawal, Zulkaedah, Zulhijjah.
- There are approximately 354-355 days (different than Gregorian calendar that most countries use 365-366days)
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| Muharram = 1st month of Hijri Calendar Rabi'ul Awwal = the month of Hijrah from Makkah to Madinah |
Another take home message for me, do I really remember the months of Islam? Sobsss.
For example, if someone asks about what is the 8th month, I am confident to say August or Srpen (in Czech) but it takes me a while to say Syaaban. T_T Thanks to lagu bulan-bulan Islam anyway. ;p
Ya Allah Maha Kuasa,
PadaMu kami meminta,
Perlindungaan di tahun ini,
Dari godaan syaitan durjana.
Ya Allah Maha Kuasa,
PadaMu kami meminta,
Kebaikan di tahun ini,
Berkekalan ke tahun depan.
The sad truth.
Improve on this, Nina.
SS, Perak, Malaysia
170922
Gantung by Nadia Khan | Book Review
September 20, 2017
Wow, I am impressed with myself! A book review in a day or two?
YESSS, I am 'enjoying' my jobless phase! :D
Padahal sebenarnya secara tiba-tiba jumlah buku meningkat hampir ke paras lutut dan saya sepatutnya dah start study balik ni ha T_T
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| Front cover |
Kelabu by Nadia Khan | Book Review
September 19, 2017
I knew about Buku Fixi few years ago, together with Lejen Press. Bought few Lejen Press books before, but Kelabu is my first one with Fixi (I think) and the very first item I bought via Carousell :D
I feel like totally helpless and jobless and penniless right now. Expect more book reviews as I can't allocate my time and saving for any travelling yet. ;p
Until I Say Good-Bye by Susan Spencer-Wendel | Book Review
September 18, 2017
I just realized I have few books still pending to be read since Big Bad Wolf last year (my first BBW ever). Most books were around RM10 and that time, I decided to buy more fiction / stories instead of non-fictional that I prefer more - my aim was to improve my creativity and imagination lol. -_-'
So, this will be the first book (from BBW) that I finally finished reading. Told ya, I read many books at one time, still trying my best to finish each of them. :)
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| Front cover. |
Title: Until I Say Good-Bye: My Year of Living With Joy
Author: Susan Spencer-Wendel (with Bret Witter)
Pages: 376
Publisher: Two Roads
Publication Date: 2013
Synopsis:
It is about Susan who was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) - a degenerative disease that causes a person to lose muscle ability - from grip, movement and eventually breathing. She had a happy family with her husband John, 3 young children - Aubrey, Marina and Wesley. ALS is a disease said to be more disaster than a death itself. T_T
She tried her best to live the life to the fullest, realizing she had only little time to spend with people she loved.
It is a true story, anyway.
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| Back cover. |
There are honestly so many things to ponder from the very beginning of the book till the last page. The story makes my heart beats like a roller coaster, with happiness to see how she accepted the fate, with sadness to see how she changed due to ALS, with excitement about her family, with respect to her husband. :)
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1. Acceptance.
Yes, for every changes that we want to make to ourselves, one of the first key is to accept the fact.
You want to quit smoking? Accept the fact that it is killing ourselves and beloved people around us.
You want to move on? Accept the fact that you guys are not meant to be together.
Someone's leaving? Accept the fact that you will meet them again, insyAllah.
Someone's leaving eternally? Accept the fact it is time for them.
Easier said than done. YES, I TOTALLY AGREE.
Seriously.
IT IS SO FREAKING HARD.
I am honestly still struggling with acceptance.
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| "Well, if you can't change the situation, change your attitude." "You are the master of your mind." |
But a thing I learned from Susan is to slowly accept it and move on to live the life. We can't do changes to the situation but our attitude towards it. If we want to live the rest of the life in sadness or relief, we choose.
I used to wonder which one is more painful, to leave behind someone we love or the send someone away?
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| The survivor will experience the same grief, will live the grief of the children, then must assume the responsibilities and slog on. |
Since I studied far from home since I was in high school, I was always the one leaving. I couldn't put myself yet in that situation when other people leaving - till the day, I sent my parents off at the airport or wave goodbye to my family members, that is even painful. The insecurities of are they going to be safe through out the journey, when will they arrive safely, will there be anything happen on board. Small things like that.
But, both are painful though.
I don't usually cry.
But, once I cried.....
I love the way how her husband patiently help her after the diagnosis. Read the book to imagine the struggle of John, but he averagely keep being calm most of the times :)
3. No name for that.
If you followed this blog for a while, my family and I lost our abang long last year, to be exact this 20th will be the first year he left us.
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| "And I believe the absolute worst thing that can happen to a human being is to have a child die." |
Yes, it is.
A wife lost a husband.
A son lost a parent.
They are painful. Yes, there are.
We have names for that.
But if a parent lost a child?
4. Think about us, but others as well.
Before we decided on anything, put ourselves first in the decision making. Why? We are talking about the path what we will take, the one we will personally do.
But, don't forget that we still have our family that love us. This is a reminder for myself. There are things I love to do but my parents don't feel good about them. Parents are being parents, cautious parents.
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| Keep strong. |
This was when Susan had a suicidal thought. And I adore how she dismissed it.
5. Remove the want, and you remove the pain.
Sometimes, when we feel ready to something, that something does not come eventually.
I am not sure about you guys, but for me, things happened when I least expect of it.
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| That interesting secret. |
I am getting tired of uncertainty of human's plans.
I still plan, still work my energy and mental hard to achieve it, but I sometimes don't really know when to stop. Is it okay to push myself too much?
Remove the want, and you remove the pain.
Maybe I should give a try?
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| Yeah, don't cry. |
This book really encourage me to appreciate all the little things I have in life. From simple gestures of people, to something unimaginable.
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| Like a bucket list. |
If you guys are wondering about the author to this day, she passed away on June 4, 2014 at the age of 47 leaving her husband and 3 young children.
And if we still remember the viral ice bucket challenge, it is actually an attempt to raise awareness of ALS and at the same time, trying to gain as much donation as they can to help with research on ALS cure.
She was such a strong lady and mum. :)
The book plays around with the dates, time etc. Although I love time travel genre, but it is hard to keep on checking the time of the plot.
The rest, it is really a nice book to read. Emotional one.
SS, Perak, Malaysia
170918
They Made It To The Top of Pet?ín Hill!
September 16, 2017
Finally :D
During their first trip to Czech in the middle of 2015, we ran out of time to explore Prague itself. Lol. I was so eager last time to take them to different cities in Europe and turned out I forgot to allocate more days to explore Prague itself. -__-'
But, alhamdulillah this time, more places checked!
Pet?ín hill, Czech
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| With Pet?ín Lookout Tower (Pet?ínská rozhledna) |
Finally they managed to get to the top! The queue for the funicular was not that short but I was glad we had few unplanned hours to spend. :)
The day after my graduation day was when our Europe road trip started. We were expected to pick up our pre-booked rental car at about 3pm when unexpectedly it was delayed till 6pm.
Early morning that day, I took a tram from our Airbnb to the city center to get my degree's translation done, together with the other Malaysians. Since the scroll was very big, we need to make a notarized, smaller copy (A4) - and of course it costs money. Then, we left the smaller copy at the translation office.
Guess what, the translator was extremely old and we were told that he is currently the one and only official Latin to English translator in Czech! We kept praying that he will remain healthy as long as he can :)
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| Summer with flowers. <3 |
Done with all procedures, I rushed back to the Airbnb to help with check out. With Uber, we took our luggages straight to car rental office and planned to store our luggage there for few hours while waiting for the car to be ready.
Things happened, plan changed.
So, the car will only be ready around 6pm.
What to do?
Let's explore Prague!
Of course not really by foot but public transportation :D Hehe
PET?íN - SCENIC VIEWPOINT OF PRAGUE, CZECH
click here to read and to enjoy the views from this hill :)
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| Main aci nyorok ;p This was how I enjoyed my parents' old school jokes... ambik je gambar nanti kacau diorang balik :) |
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| Sometimes, I feel like I am just a photographer for their trip. Haha. I wonder how older generation can maintain the sweetness and harmony in their relationship? T__T |
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| The queue for funicular. You can always use the same tickets for tram / metro as long as they are still valid. |
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| View from the funicular. |
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| My mum requested her picture with these roses :D |
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| Homemade lemonade - already missing this T__T |
This lemonade was nicely done and delicious! Always ask about the ingredients if you come to Czech as they sometimes don't consider wine / beer as alcohol (as these are totally normal for them). Don't simply ask about alcohol okay?
Does it have alcohol, beer or wine? Má alkohol, pivo nebo víno?
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| Ginger for ayah, lemon for mak, strawberry for me. |
Around 5pm+, the car rental company texted me that the car was ready for pick up. :)
RUNWELL Rent A CarJust for my future reference, in case I forgot about this.
Or you can try this car rental company as well :) I recommend it!
After checking the car and set the navigation, we finally leave Prague for a transit in Hannover before our next destination, Hamburg, Germany. :)
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| Sunset in Germany. |
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| SubhanAllah, isn't it beautiful? :D |
Till next post, insyAllah :)
SS, Perak, Malaysia
170916
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