Singing in the rain

You can compare with this..

Wetter wetter and Harry Potter

From one Freitag (Friday) to another Freitag to another Freitag. Can you see how drastically the weather changes ? Check it out. Today the weater is gonna be a nice 6/9°C. Meaning. The highest would be 9 and lowest is 6°C. And check out next week -7/0°C. And the next two weeks is gonna be  -17/6°C. Gila kan range dia ? From a very low negative to a 6. I cannot imagine how it's gonna be. -17°C is gonna be the coldest weather I will be experiencing. Actually, the coldest that I have experienced was -5°C during last Winter. Even when it snowed it was only -5°C. There is gonna be a light snowfall next Thursday (25/11/2010). Seronok pulak. I hope its gonna be as fun as I always watch in the movies though :p

Speaking of movies, yesterday, me n my husband and some other friends went to the kino (cinema) to watch Harry Potter. And get this, it was my first time in a cinema here and it was our first movie after we got married. Haha! I realized this after YY asked me, 'Hast du schon ins Kino gehen?' Have you been to the Kino yet?  And I thought and replied, 'Nein, this (tercakap english pulak) ist meine erste mal'. And I thought further and said, 'Eh, this is our first movie after we got married kan ?' And my husband said, Haah laah.. I added to YY about that fact and she laughed and said to my husband, 'Really aa? And it's Harry Potter some more :p' Hehehe.

We are not much of a Harry Potter fan. I think my husband never watched the movie and I watched only the first one and ended up sleeping at the 2nd CD: Maaf². I don't really fancy fantasy movies. Like Harry Potter, Narnia, LOTR etc. etc. I slept after watching 30 mins of LOTR. But Merlin I like. Dunno y. It's like a series that me n my family can sit n watch together. Maybe because it shows on a Sunday nights at TV3 (dulu la, now im not sure) and after dinner time. So macam chilling out time kot. But we like it a lot.

So anyway, when we got back yesterday, my husband and I took the train back up to Meeräckerplatz and walked home. Cewah, macam romantic la cause it was cold and everything. We were konon² speaking like Englishmen with very thick UK slang :p 'Whot you need to due is..' , 'That is mad!' .. 'Oh , it's bloody cold hierrr' Saje nak mengusik Harry Potter. I find UK slang are very difficult to comprehend. Because it sounds very thick and melodic. The melody sounds like more of a statement rather than a question. So sometimes I wonder, is he asking or making a statement? Memang bengong la.. Tergelak gelak. It was fun! And I realised, it doesn't take much to make me happy. Cause yesterday macam demotivated, probably the hormones and the you-know-it-girls time of the month, URGH.

Anyways, this weekend our highschool friend, Kurik and David, will be hanging out here. So kena kemas rumah! And buy food and cook! It's nice kot to have some company. And it's good for our relationship. My husband needs some guy time and I need to do my girl things too. Hehe. If Carie is not bz, I might ajak her to hang out skali la. Do some girl stuff.

Okla, have a great Friday and weekend y'all! Schönes Wochenende!

Hopeful

That's 3 nights in a row of freaky and scary nightmares. Mama says kalau mimpi buruk jangan citer kat orang. If you have a good dream, tell ONLY the one that you trust. I have heard of this. My friend told me a story that our Prophet Muhammad SAW adviced his friend of this.

Been feeling abit demotivated and down lately. But we can't always blame the weather right ?

Watched Glee yesterday. Gwyneth Parltrow was the substitute teacher for Glee club and she definitely nailed it! Right on the spot!

Today I heard Lean on Me MP3 from Glee. I used to listen to this song on my way back from work. The original song. And I would bop my head and sing my heart out dengan penuh perasaan (Bak kata Cikgu Juriah - SPM Chemistry teacher). For me, singing gives me that feel-good-feeling. Although I am not a good singer, but not bad in karaoke. (96% in Karaoke for I will Survive though :p ehem³ iklan jap) Anyway, back to the song. It's was from a movie 1989 movie, Lean on Me starring Morgan Freeman. I love those kinda movies. Movies about inspiring teachers. Teachers that not only teach academically. But also teach students about life. Teachers that give motivation, hope, faith and confidence to the next generation. Inspiring teachers that can change a person for the better, can change the world. At least someone's world. Inspiring teachers will be remembered for a long long time.

My favourite inspiring-teacher movies would be Lean on Me, To Sir with love, Dangerous Minds and Coach Carter (must see). It's not teacher's day. but I pray that all my teachers are blessed. Both my parents were teachers before. Their students still remember them till today. Both of my parents are still teachers of my life till today and will always be the inspiring teachers of my life. I hope that one day, I can contribute and become a teacher again. And hopefully can inspire students to be more that they can be.

Here is Hopeful from Twista OST of Coach Carter.

'Our deepest fears not that we are inadequate, 

our deepest fears that we are powerful beyond measure'

Listen & Learn (Hören & Lernen)

Ok, this is another video blog. Mari belajar or dengar saya cakap Jerme (ni slang Kelate).You can click the video and read the translation below. Enjoy! :)




Setzen Sie bitte richtigen Endungen ein

1. Die fleißigen Studenten lernen den ganzen Tag.

The busy student learns the whole day. (I translated this wrongly. sorry!)

2. Das war ein wunderbarer Film!
That was a wonderful Film! 

3. Der Test ist schwer. Diese komplizierte Frage kann ich nicht beantworten.
The test is difficult. The complicated questions I couldnt answer. (Direct translation)

4. Unsere netten Nachbarn haben seit zwei Wochen ein süßes Baby.
Our  nice neighbour has since 2 weeks a sweet baby. (Direct translation)

5. Für kalte Wintertage brauchst du eine warmer Jacke.
For cold Winterdays you need a warmer Jacket. 

6. Aus meiner kaputten Dusche kommt nur kaltes Wasser.
From my broken shower only comes cold water. 

7. Meine Schwester hat braune Haare und grüne Augen.
My sister has brown hair and green eyes. 

8. Woher hast du diese schöne Tasche?
Where did you get this beautiful handbag? 

9. Er spielt nicht oft mit anderen kleinen Kindern.

He doesn't often play with other small children. (I translated this wrongly. sorry!)

10. So schöne bunte Blumen möchte ich auch auf meinem Balkon haben!
I want nice flowers by my balcony too!

Since Freaky Friday

Leben in Deutschland 101 : Yellowpages

Here is a website that might be helpful if you wanna search for something in DE.
DE's yellowpages

Unfortunately, it's in Deutsch. But hey, some are easy to find. Example you can type these words in the Suche nach und Place for the one written Wo

Mosque - Moschee
Restaurant - Restaurant
Petrol Station - Tankstelle
Supermarket - Supermarkt
Backery - Bäckerei
Cafe - Cafe
Bank - Bank
Police Station - Polizei
Post office - Post

Ok, this entry is very brief because I am quite sleepy and tired and have lots of things to do today. My train ticket is valid till 1140am. So I need to do my stuff by then. But waiting for the sun to come up or at least weather hits more than 5°C.

Good news, I got my 3rd assignment this week. Alhamdulillah :) Hope I will manage to do a good job and maintain a good rapport with the London Team Leader*.



Tschüss!

* Currently receiving part-time gigs from a research company based in London.

Unfinished studying dream

Dreams are weird. Or it can be rather freaky. I can say that I dream almost every night. Almost. Especially since I came to DE. As a child, my mom would remind me to wash my feet before going to bed to prevent from having nightmares. There is also a saying that if you have 'sisa nasi' on your feet, you might sleepwalk and end up somewhere else the next morning. I dunno how true is this myth or fact. I have never experimented putting sisa nasi on my feet.

Since almost 10 years, I have been having similar dreams over and over again and it always seemed so real or surreal. I always dream that I didn't finish studying Sejarah SPM or Modern Maths SPM. It's always a dream that I need to do something and suddenly I would think, 'alamak, Sejarah form 5 tak habis baca lagi.. sempat ker?'

Last night, I had another weird dream that eventually ended with that dream : the unfinished studying dream. I dreamt I was in an Art class. My classmate was Jeff Winger from tv sitcom Community. Our assignment was we had to enterpret two sentences and make a drawing of it. Our teacher asked us the meaning of these two sentences and I raised up my hand to answer. But she scolded me for giving the wrong answer and I had to sit at the corner. So did Jeff Winger. While doing our assignment at the corner, suddenly I asked Jeff. (Picture source : http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/joel-mchale/photos/195178/103427)

Me : Sempat ke nak siap ni ?
Jeff : Alah, sempat.
Me : (thinking) Mod Maths tak study pun. Exam lagi 2 minggu je weh. Korang tak risau ker, cikgu Saadah tak penah masuk pun ajar. Kitorg blajar utk 8 paper jer.. Nanti fail la.. Mcmne nak jawab ?
Jeff : Jawab je lah.
One girl (suddenly muncul) : Dia sama macam Addmaths la.. Kalau boleh jawab addmaths, boleh jawab punya.

I was worried. And in my dreams I thought, alaaa, mimpi ni lagi ke? Penat laa..



This morning after my husband left for work. I decided to google the benefits of eating grapes. Found out that it has a lot of Potassium. And suddenly I stumbled upon this site . Ok I lied. I googled the meaning of dreams. Because it was killing me. What it had enterprated was scary because it might be true..

Test dreams also suggest that you are feeling unprepared for a challenge. Rarely, these dreams are about the actual content of the test, but rather it is more about the process and how you feel during the exam taking process. These feelings often parallel how you are actually feeling in a particular challenge or situation in your waking like.

Test dreams are also an indication that you are being judged. These dreams serve as a signal for you to examine an aspect of yourself that you may have been neglecting and need to pay more attention to. You may be harboring some guilt because you did not prepare enough for a school exam, meeting, business project, or some project. Most of the time, though, people who have such dreams are unlikely to fail a test in real life. This dream is rooted in the fear and anxiety that you may not meet other's standards. You are afraid to let others down.

The only comforting part was the one I highlighted in black. And perhaps, the one I underlined in red is something I need to analyse carefully.

Funny

I watched Scott Pilgrim vs The World and it was funny and entertaining. Very light. IT's good to watch after you've watched a whole weekend of CIA, FBI related series..  Here are some of my favourite quotes

Scott : Why does everything has to be so complicated ? (sliding down refrigerator)
Wallace : If you want something bad you have to fight for it. Step up your game Scott. Break up the L word.
Scott : Lesbian?
Wallace : The other L word
Scott : (thinking) LesbiANs?
Wallace : Love, Scott. I wasn't trying to trick you.


Knives : .. I mean.. I've never gone out with anyone so talented?
Scott : You go out with a lot of guys ?
Knives : Em, no..
Scott : Yeah.. so whatever man
Knives : I've never even kissed a guy..
Scott : Hey.. me neither


Young Neil : Oh my god.. You punched the highlights out of her hair .. He punched the highlights out of her hair!!


Scott : I'm in lesbians with you
Ramona : What ?
Scott : I really really mean it..



Wallace : Scott, you know I love you (handing tea). But I'm gonna need my own bed tonight. It's for sex.
Scott : ..Right
Wallace : I may need it for the rest of the week too
Scott : Right
Wallace : And the year
Scott : I get it
Wallace : Maybe you can move in with Ramona
Scott : She's with Giddeon
Wallace : Oh man.. It's probably just because he's better than you

Learn To Fly

Can you imagine kalau FB ada time² SPM dulu?
Status : Kat DS menikmati nasi ayam.. nyummyyy!!
Status : Jangan kongker jalan boleh tak ???? tensyen!!!
Status : Bestnya Outing kat Fajar!

Those were the days. I had many response when I put up this status on my FB. I'd figure, perhaps this could make people smile rather than feel like barfing with my random housewife updates :p

It reminded me of the time when I was in college, the first time I learned to 'fly'. See, 'fly' is a word used to describe escaping from the gates of college / boarding school at odd hours without authorization and not getting caught.Usually you will have somesort of adrenaline rush when you 'fly'. Its the teen excitement. The thrill of doing something taboo.. Padahal takde la gempak mana pun :p

During my younger days, with an innocent face, people would not suspect the things I do. But I am just a small timer. Takde la pergi fly dari Taiping ke Ipoh to watch a gig at midnight. Itu kerja² budak² lelaki. The first time I did it was in 1999 during my matriculation days. Bulan puasa. Yes. Di bulan yang mulia. Tapi kisah 'fly' saya taklah hebat mane.. It was 9 of us.. Sneaked out pelan - pelan.. Masa tu rase mcm lagu background Foo Fighters - Learn to fly. We went to buka puasa kat gerai somewhere in Seremban on a weekday di kala orang lain sedang bertarawikh.. I know I know.. jahat kan ? . Skali terserempak dengan Warden! but he didn't notice us.. Terus balik kolej and sneaked in one by one mase pak jaga tak perasan..

Walaupun kesalahan yang amatlah kecil (ye ke?) but the thrill memang best. At that time, we felt like we own the world! Kita la gangster paling hardcore. It was the me-against-the-world-avril-lavigne-attitude phase. Silly I know.. But I guess it's nice to have those memories. Of course I am not proud of it.. But as a teenager, one must have a story to tell.. :)

Do you know how to Dougie?

Teach me how to Dougie

The Sun

The Sun will never let you down :)



Btw, did u watch Glee yesterday ? (Season 2 : Epi 6) VERY DISTURBING! but I LOVE the ending!! Mike Chang has some smooth moves!

mulut berasap

This morning, around 620am, I opened the windows to get a breath of fresh air. Bila hembus, mulut saya berasap. Translation : It's cold outside (2°C). You never really comprehend the weather here. Last night it was warm, probably because we switched on the main heater and the electric heater. I had to switch on the kipas. Kelakar kan ? Because when it's cold, opening the windows would be killing yourself to death. But you still need some air. And sometimes bila dah terperuk je dalam bilik, udara dia feels stagnant. So dengan bantuan kipas, might make the air bergerak sket.

Also bila cuaca sejuk, rase malas nak buat semua bende. Paling tak productive. Termasuklah, susah nak bangun. Dan susah juga nak kejutkan anak dara di bilik sebelah ni (our houseowner's 14 y/o daughter). 2 days ago I woke her up kol 615 dia bukak pintu and said she will wake up at 630 so tak payah kejutkan dia. At 7am I ketuk lagi nak soh dia bgn tapi dia ckp ok ok. So fine. 8am mak dia call tanya anak nya dah bgn ker sbb dah kol 8am. So I ketuk lagi and she kelam kabut siap gi skolah. Now its 715am here and ayah dia dah panggil tadi soh bgn and I dah kejutkan skali dia bebel² something I didnt hear.. and it has been 1 hour. Dia masih lagi berhibernate :p I tak kisah nak kejutkan tapi saya yang cemas sbb awak tu masih in high school. Kalu uni ke takpe la gak nak gi lambat².. So what should I do now? Kalau anak sendiri ataupun anak sedara, I dah simbah dengan air sejuk.. :p

When German teenagers celebrate birthdays. 

Her 14th Birthday party celebrated with style at her mommy's restaurant at 
http://www.restaurant-lindbergh.de/.

are you a leftie?

If you notice, I have added a few new blogs on my blog list by the left side on the panel. Also, I have changed a few things macam font, colors and added a few 3rd party HTML thingy on my blog. Demi mencantikkan ia. I suddenly realized something. Some bloggers place their tabs on the left side of the panel.. Some place it on the right. Kenapa ada different preferences? Personally for me, I like a small left panel. Simply because I am lefthanded. Kalau jalan pun, I prefer walking on the left side of a person. Because I carry my handbag on my left shoulder. So kalau nak jalan takde la terlanggar bahu with the other person. I managed to find this old blog I used to follow. Its a funny blog, in a disturbing way lah. Sometimes lawak dia mcm sesetengah orang je boleh faham. Kinda like a 30rock joke but in BM. If you wanna know which 1, you gotta check out either one of the blogs kat tepi nih (promote kawan² punya blogs :p)

Anyway, I read this blog's entry. I used to have a 'stranger' friend which I will borak borak and ceritakan masalah remaja saya padanya. Lama jugak I befriended this person virtually. From 1999 - 2003. Almost 5 years. But now, dah tak contact dah. In a way, I do agree that sometimes when you vent out things to a total stranger, it feels safer because you don't have to worry of that person menceritakan pada orang lain or judge you or apa apa lah. Because it won't effect that person pun. As long as you boleh luahkan to someone is okay. But of course now, I will tell my husband everything. Macam apehal nak citer kat orang lain kan ?

Now you have facebook asking you What's on your mind ? and you will have the urge to write every single thing. Nope. Not me anymore. I don't update personal things because it's simply too personal. Honestly, kadang - kadang tak larat tengok people who will update everything. Yes, mulalah citer pasal facebook. My husband said, I should not punish facebook (incident meng-deactivate fb account) because sikap sendiri yang tak boleh kawal. haha.. So saya dgr ckp suami and activate balik. Still haven't blogged about why I did that though. tengah mengcompose.

I guess that's the thing nowadays. Internet's function is no longer just keeping in touch, networking or online business. It's also a way of reaching out or gives us somesort of a platform to have an audience. You have that feeling of comfort knowing that there is a 'stranger' listening to you and that they might understand.

boots, heidelberg, winter and experience

I think sueannajoe was my junior back in SriAman. That statement was totally irrelevant but I just wanted to write that. I have been reading her blogs (she has a number of blogs, in BM, in English, about her business and photography) and she is pretty good.

We are planning to go to Ireland during the Christmas holidays. My husband's younger brother is expecting their 2nd baby. Yup, 2nd baby. So we are gonna visit them. I thought of going backpacking (am I capable of backpacking?) around DE abit before going to Ireland for the Christmas Hols. But it all depends on my husband. Nak la jugak jalan - jalan here. However, some friends are coming to DE for Christmas so maybe I might bring them jalan - jalan around Heidelberg. It's very near to Mannheim. My husband works in Heidelberg. But not the tourist area. Dia dekat tempat² office. Heidelberg is eine altstadt (an old town) and its beautiful. From Mannheim, it takes about 30 minutes or so to get there. Depending on which train you are taking. I have been there more than 3 times and I don't mind going there again and again and again..

Anyway, I wanted to share with you guys how I felt about this upcoming winter and what are my preparations. In the magazines and websites stated that this year's winter is gonna be the worst winter and I am so not looking forward for it. I bought a few jackets though and a few pair of boots and gloves. A long black trenchcoat from H & M and a cute white one from The NewYorker. Kelakar when I say The NewYorker because they actually have a shop that sells NewYork fashion. And they are not bad too. Not so pricey and it has that young vibe going on. I did blog once about buying a red jacket with a hood so that I have that little red riding hood kinda thing going on.. But I saw Baby Spice wearing a white jacket and a pair of white boots in the video Stop Right Now and she looked so cute! (Takde pic, so I had to PRINTSCREEN on the youtube video. Pathetic ay? Click on photo to see clearer) I know my husband would raise an eyebrow if I said to him, awwww cute kan boots putih tuu? kan ? kan? kan ? But.. I won't request for those from him.. Hehe.. if I want, I will buy them using my own money which he gives me every month. By that time, winter pun dah habis. Haha!
 
Some of the jackets I see online nampak cantik bila model dia pakai.. Or you see other people putting them on, it looks soo good. Macam citer Ally McBeal, Sex & The City or 30Rock. Samala bila tgk website H & M online. You feel like buying everything, if possible! But all of those are just the advertisers playing tricks on our minds.. and also, good looking models and good photography plays an important role.. Maka, jangan tertipu dengan online fashion pictures :p For example, yang kat tepi nih .. I can never pull that one off! But it looks so good on the model ! Believe me I have tried that exact same jacket but I don't look as near as good as that model. Maybe the shape of my body pun mcm sekeping je, so tak nampak cantik..  Boots dia pun cantik but kena jaga² because most boots from H & M and NewYorker or any other shoes that costs 20€ and above has pig skin lining. Jenuh la nak samak balik (although ada sesetengah orang cakap tak perlu samak because hanya perlu samak when kena daging babi. But just for the benefit of the doubt, I did samak). Harini ada mood la nak citer pasal fashion because yesterday I did a whole lot of 20 minutes walking while having my lunch. I had a small portion of wedges with Lemon Tartar sauce from Nordsee to-go (or Malaysians say it as Take-Away, dipengaruhi oleh Colony British). So I walked from Marktplatz all the way to Hauptbahnhof. I noticed that people walk while eating for several reasons. 
1. Nak jimat masa. 
2. It feels warmer when you walk sambil makan. Its a bad habit, I know. But the coldness made me do that. 3. You can kill a few stones macam jalan, sambil window shopping, think and do your shopping list in your head, check out other people's fashion and finally reach your destination. 

Things they usually have while walking are bende yang macam to-go-ish like Pretzel, Croissant, Burgers, Fries. Depa takde la makan nasi lemak or kueyteowtomyam while walking. That would be a messy sight wouldnt it?

Yeah it's already November and in a few days it'll be mid of November and come December will be winter. Daun - daun pun almost semua berguguran. My hajat untuk berphotog with my feet in dalam himpunan dedaunan pun taktau sampai ke tak since it's freaking cold to go out for photography.. But for Winter, I hope it snows though. Last time when I first landed, after a couple of days, it snowed. But I only experienced snow on my way to the hospital di dalam tangisan  sebab kena chicken pox. Read here to recall. Last Winter was quite an experience. An experience I shall never forget kot.

Talking about experience, I went to Seilwolf yesterday to do the normal weekly grocery. Kat situ tak ramai orang and you can get all this weird² stuff that they don't sell in the normal DE grocery supermarkets. By weird² stuff I mean asian stuffs like cili kering, tofu, santan, sos for nasi ayam etc etc. So as I was walking, I saw another asian looking lady and I thought it was Kak Asmah (a kakak permanently residing here, married to a German and has twin sons a year younger than us). So dengan penuh confident I ran to her and said, Hi kak asmah! and she was like, 'was?' (apa?) and I was confused, I said, 'eh, ni kak asmah kan?' dia pun boleh jawab, 'nein, nein' .. rupanya she was some Thai or Vietnamese lady. MALU OK! terus saya ckp, 'ooh! Entschuldigung²' maksudnya, 'ooh malunya saya.. sory²'. My husband will say that I am racist bila I citer nih, but actually I am not .. betul...!

Okla, do you notice that this post takde correlation antara satu sama lain ?
This entry has been edited several times. I lost count

Found this

Happy Mittwoch (Wednesday) people!

This is 3 minutes away from our house..

Another Video Post

Sorry video senget :p suddenly felt like making a video.. sbb saya suka membebel.. typing just wont do it today..

Viva Forever

Lagu Spice Girls Viva Forever ni invites a lot of emotions .. Especially bila dengar in Autumn Season when the temp is 5°C and you go out to the city to buy beras.. yg mane setiap butir beras tu amat lah berharga.... termenung ke luar tingkap SBahn to get a ray of sunshine transporting your mind back home..
diikuti oleh lagu Goodbye from Spice Girls jugak.. teringat zaman form 4 - form 5.. thinking how life would be 10 years from then.. and here I am now.. 

miss home.. miss home..

Hasta Manana,
Always be mine

Leben in Deutschland 101 : First Step in DE

Hello, kita bertemu lagi dalam siri Leben In Deutschland 101. Dalam siri ini, kita akan membincangkan tentang Getting Around . Let's say, you decide to come to DE either for business or leisure. So, what to do ? Where to go?

Upon Arrival
The main international airport of DE is in Frankfurt. It's called Frankfurt Am Main. Airport is der flughafen in Deutsch. Once you've landed, you should follow the sign that says Baggage Claim. It's written in both Deutsch and English. Or you can also see a baggage sign. Ikut jer, jangan cemas. It will bring you straight to the Imigration part. Ada beberapa counter and you should look for the counter that says 'NON - EU', but if you have a EU passport then you pergi la counter EU. Ada beberapa jenis visa. To enter Germany, you would need a visa. This visa can be obtained mase you nak check in kat airport. This visa lasts for 90 days. But if you are planning to stay more than 90days, you would need a special visa. Either for work or in my case, a spouse visa. That means you would need to go to the embassy to do that. I will explain in detail later. Usually takde hal sangat kat immigration, they won't ask many questions. Ni berdasarkan my experience la.

Lepas dah settle immigration maka pergi lah pada luggage claim. After dah dapat luggage, then you can walk straight ahead to EXIT. Oh yes, in between, if you wanna solat, you can see a sign that says Praying Area. Ada sign mcm² agama ada. So you can follow the sign. Even after you exit, memang ada that sign. So don't worry :)

In the Airport

Once you dah exit, if you nak lepak2 minom - minom kat airport, ada macam².. Usually we would go to either Starbucks or McDonalds. And from my experience, I naik MAS so my time of arrival would be pagi buta like 630am. If you nak go for starbucks there is one nearby lepas you exit.. But if you prefer McDonalds, you can go to the new wing, that means you would need to take the Terminal train. Either way, you would need to take the train pun, so slalunya we go to McD. Kat sane boleh la nak makan. I like the Waffle with Hönig (honey) set. Kat Airport no problem nak cakap English cause they can understand.

Mode of Transportation
To be honest, I only know naik ICE jer.. hehehe ICE is the fast train. You can purchase the tickets at any counters of beli kat Mesin. Yang beli tang mesin ni I tak terrer sbb slalunya husband I yang buatkan. So maaf di situ.. ICE is supercool. To get to Mannheim will only take about 30 minutes and dia direct. ICE stands for Inter-City-Express. Rasa macam naik kapalterbang. And it's supercomfortable and of course a little bit pricey compared to the RE (Regional Express). Apa bezanya? Saya akan terangkan kemudian.

Ok la, sampai sini sahaja for today. I need to check balik in detail about the trains here akan disambung kemudian okay.. Hopefully I get to show you some pictures of the trains.. When I go out photographying :) The weather is ridiculously cold for autumn nowadays. Shuccckkkssss...

bis später! Tschüss!

slowly detaching identity

Yesterday I spent the whole day cleaning up my kitchen. It has been very 'unclean' since I came back. So kaw kaw punya kemas, although it still has an "rumah orang bujang" aura because of that Mitsubishi Lancer poster next to the almari. Tak terbuang la pulak, since I was focusing on the floor and the content of the almari, lupa pasal dinding. In the almari, I threw away botol2 lama since zaman - zaman Firdaus (if I say zaman Firdaus, it would me VERY lama because he was my husband's housemate a very long time ago and dah balik KL for more than 2 years already.. I only met him during our wedding in Gombak. So tak pernah jumpa in DE. And the bottles here, like botol kicap, sauces and every botol kaca, perlulah dibersihkan dulu before you buang. Meaning, it must be emptied and cleaned and seolah - olah nampak like brand new. AND, there is a special place to throw it. Because if you throw it dalam tong sampah biasa, nanti the tukang kutip sampah will marah.. So there is actually a place that you need to carry all the cleaned bottles and throw them.. And bukan boleh main buang jer.. Botol tu ada category.. Like botol warna green kena buang kat tong warna green. And you have to make sure the glass botol pecah bila baling inside the tong. So kena saperate kan green, brown and white bottle. Quite hassle jugak la.. But untuk recycle punya pasal, I don't mind doing it.. (I will explain more about the Waste Management here in DE in my 101 series ok.. ) The whole Saturday was quite productive and at the end of the day, my husband rewarded me by preparing a hot bubble bath. Wah, bestnya.. Rendamkan badan dalam air panas after mengemas seharian during a cold autumn weather.

So since I was in a 'housekeeping' mood, this morning after having breakfast, while my husband was updating himself with his usual football news, I went to my laptop and cleaned my emails.. I have about more than 1000 unread emails.. meaning benda2 forward and benda2 yang my Actuary group emails ada yang tak terbaca.. so slowly la mengemas email.. I clicked at my Spam folder sbb sometimes some emails get sent there. Tiba - tiba, i saw two emails that was personally addressed to me.. maka saya pun membacalah.. since this is sort of like a private blog, i will share the email here..

From: ________ <*******82@yahoo.com>
To: *********@yahoo.com
Sent: Mon, October 11, 2010 6:07:35 AM
Subject: hi hi

Slm,

Long time never heard about your story. Selamat Hari Raya. How's life now? How's married life?

Actually I try to access your blog, but nowadays you have block it. If yo don't mind, may i request your permission to read your blog coz i used to read it and learn better English from reading your blog.

And again i'm requesting to be your friend in your Facebook. Hopefully I'm accepted to be your friend kak **** :)

your lil sis,

*****

Ok. If you receive an email like this, tell me how would you react ? Would you freak out ? Chill jer ? or buat dunno cause dah banyak dah dapat this sort of mail ? My reaction was like.. "ok, this is FREAKY!" Lemme fill you in on the details. See, I used to have a blog. A few blogs la.. Tapi yang paling lama dan paling penuh content nya is this one blog I used to call, "another blank page". That was my 2nd blog after my friendster blog yang bergelar "15 blankpage". I kinda like that name sbb ada "blank page" kat situ. It was sempena lagu Smashing Pumkins blankpage.. and dia track no 15. Sbb tu nama dia 15 blankpage. Anywayyy (tengok tu lari topic asal..), blog another blankpage tu was very public and I used to write really personal and meluahkan segala isi hati about life, work, love life and everything and anything possible. And I had like really random people reading it. Sehinggalah satu hari I realized that I should not write everything.. But, there was this one follower yang merupakan seorang silent reader. I remember quite clearly that I never revealed my yahoomail dalam my blog tu.. But she managed to get my email.. Which I dunno how.. And also found me in facebook. She requested to be my friend in fb after telling me that she was an avid follower of my blog. Dia citer dia rase macam rapat dgn i because we share the same birthday and she likes reading my blog (yang another blankpage tu) and wants to be a good writer like i am (ni kata2 dia okay, saya hanya quote balik jer). I rase mcm abit freaked out jugak. Tp I approved her request only to check siapa kawan - kawan dia. Turns out that I was the only one in her friendlike. Freaky! I terus remove her as friend n dia msg msg lagi tanya kenapa I bukan friend dia.. I ignored her and dia terus like, "takpelah kalau tak sudi nak jadi kawan,," things like that.. out of a sudden, dia msg I in YM.. I was like siapa nih ? dia pun sebut la nama dia.. and nak ajak borak.. I replied sket2 and terus ignore.. This was cerita last year..

Baru nih, dia email.. And I feel abit scared pulak. It could be anyone! I told my husband about this and he said I am a FREAK-magnet. I tend to attract freaks :p sabar je la.. But wouldn"t you be scared if you were in my shoes ? Sekarang ni sangatlah justified that I did what I did to slowly detach my identity in the cyberworld.. I replied her email and menanyakan siapa dia nih and kerja mana.. because I have no information whatsoever about this person.. and its kinda creeping me out..

Leben in Deutschland 101 : Introduction

Start a good thing on a Friday. Actually you should start a good thing everyday. Since it's Friday and I have a good feeling about today, even though it's very cloudy outside and I predict that there's gonna be a heavy rain, perhaps it's Allah's way of giving us rahmat. Hujan rahmat di hari Jumaat. Last night before I went to sleep I thought about how to make my blog more information-y rather than blogging about my usual random posts :p So, I have decided to start a series of Leben in Deutschland (Living in Deutschland). Here I will share with you how to survive in Deutschland as an Ausländer (foreigner). So let's begin our lecture.

First thing you need to know is.. Germany is also known as Deutschland (doy-ch-lan), short form is DE . And the way they say land is lan like in the name Azlan. And the German language is called Deutsch (doy-ch). The locals are also known as die Deutsche. Why ada perkataan die kat depan tu? I will explain later in another series. Deutsch and Dutch are two DIFFERENT people. The Dutch would be the Nederlanders (Orange) a.k.a Hollanders. So don't get confused k :)

General

The currency used in DE is Euro. And the sign is €. We sebut as you-ro. They sebut the word Euro is like this (oy-ro). Because Germans sebut eu as oy (eg : Deutschland = Doy-ch-lan). So jangan terkejut or buat muka kelakar when you hear this because it took me awhile not to laugh listening to this. hehehe. If you compare to Ringgit. Is like 1€ is equivalent to RM4.33. It used to be RM5. At one point it was less than RM 4. But now that Euro is strengthening and hopefully it will strengthen more as days go by. So what can you get with 1€. Usually 1€ is used to insert in the shopping cart. But you can get a Sneakers back for 1€. You can get a good old Ritter Sport chocolate for 0.79€ at Lidl (which my family loves by the way - see left for photo). Euro currencies can be used in Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain. (Source : Wikipedia). So once you're in Europe (Western Europe), you can hop on the train and travel to any other countries without worrying about changing the currencies. 

People
The Germans are generally very friendly but sometimes they may put on a very serious face but don't be scared or think that they are sombong. They are very structured and disciplined. Timing and punctuality are very important to the Germans and also if you wanna survive in DE, those two things will be your food and
drinks. Sometimes they will just greet you with Guten Tag, or just Tag! (Good day). If you go to any counters they will greet you with a Halo. Everytime. So greet them back. Or if they don't greet you first, you must greet them dulu. It's a culture thing. Cara sebut would be Ha-lo. Here are some of the greetings that you need to know and how to reply. 

1. Guten Tag! / Tag! - Guten Tag! / Tag!
This is usually the normal greeting. Sometimes pakcik - pakcik yang jalan - jalan will greet you with this. And you should reply the same. Cara sebut is very easy guten tag.

2. Guten Morgen ! / Morgen!  -  Guten Morgen ! / Morgen!
Same as above. Sometimes at kedai - kedai also they will greet you with this and you reply the same. Cara sebut is very easy guten morgen. Sometimes they dengungkan the guten and the morgen. gutn morgn. Macam the americans sebut better and later. macam they dengungkan the words. Get what I'm saying? But itu adalah phonetics that you don't need to know now. Later - later pun takpe. But they do teach us this in class.    

3. Danke - Bitte
This is the usual Thank you - Welcome greet. cara sebut : dang-ke and Bit-te. Sometimes they dengungkan the Bitte. like I explained how the Americans sebut better. So this is like better tapi bitte.

4. Vielen Dank - Bitte
Another greet for Thank you - Welcome. 

5. Danke schön - Bitte schön
Sometimes they can also use this phrase. Kalau depa sebut, Dang-ke shun, you can reply with Bitte shun. Cuma cara sebut schön is abit complicated. ö is called O-umlaut. If you notice, Deutsch have a few umlaut words other than the usual A-B-C. I will get to that in another series. So anyway, ö (O-umlaut) disebut as ou. Tapi its enough for you to sebut as Dang-ke shun je dulu. People can still understand. Maybe I can make a video to teach you this :)

6. Schönen Tag noch - Ihnen auch or Gleichfalls
Kalau kat kedai, after you bayar, they will say this Schönen Tag noch (shun-nen Tag- noh). It means, have a nice day. So you jangan la buat dek jer. You should reply as Ihnen auch (e-nen aukh) or Gleichfalls (glaish falls). 

7. Schönes Wochenende - Ihnen auch or Gleichfalls
Sama macam phrase no. 6. If on Fridays or weekends they will say this Schönes Wochenende (shunes - wokhen ender) so reply as above jugak.

8. Tschüss / Aufwiedersehen / Ciao
These are the normal farewell greeting. Kalau formal farewell would be Aufwiedersehen (auf - weeder - zain), yang lagi dua tu Ciao is biasa.. And Tschüss disebut as choose tapi ada melody sikit. Dia macam choOOose. So you reply the same to them.

Food and Drinks 
They love kaffee und kuchen (coffee and cake). It's like their 2nd religion. If you go to any locals house, they will most probably serve you these two. Of course if they invite you for dinner at their house, it's compulsary for them to drink Beer and Wine since its a popular culture in German. They drink as hard as they work. Of course it's not compulsary for you to drink it :p  Although sometimes they have Sparkling Wine which is Alcoholfrei (free of alcohol). You can drink that because there are no contents of alcohol in it. It looks like wine but it isnt. So, sometimes if you see people drinking in a Wine glass, tak semestinya it's wine, maka janganlah menuduh sebarangan. Because it could be Alcoholfrei. Oh yes, speaking of inviting for dinner, its customary that if you go to someone's house for makan, to bring something. Example : flowers, cake, chocolates, fruits or deserts. These are the small things that you need to know. If you invite them for makan, for surely they will bring something. So, if you go to a German house, make sure you bring a buah tangan :)

Oklah. I think that's enough for today. Hope you enjoyed my lecture and wait for other Leben in Deutschland 101 series okay.. :) Soo...... Schönes Wochenende! mcm ne nak reply.............? Ihnen auch! (pandai sumer!)

Tschüss!

81

Dedicated to the ones I love..

This is our family photo.. And sempena my 81st post (lahir tahun 81) and my brother's birthday.. I am uploading my family picture.. God knows how much I love and miss them...And when we get together, it always feels like hari raya..

Happy Birthday AK!