Little Talk

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii~

So, uni's starting in a week. Feeling so surreal than ever. Feeling so kakak-kakak lel. And I just hope that I'll be able to make my parents proud.. I recall my mum saying this to me a few days ago "nanti da start sekolah make sure kakak study hard jangan main main just focus betul2 in your studies." Insya Allah ibu :')

Buuuuuuuut, before I get busy with school, of course must enjoy enjoy first! Actually had a very short staycation with my table buddies from Irsyad a few weeks ago followed by a trip to KL with Munira - a duo trip we call lel feeling jer lebih.

And as usuallll, whenever I travel I'll vlog hahaha forever in my own world help. So here's the videos from both the staycation & KL trip! Watch if you want but please mind my annoying voice lelelelelel.


Staycation 

Kuala Lumpur Trip

KL menjerit? Oh tak eh.

Here's a summary of my 3D2N trip to KL with my secondary school friends (irsyadians) last week:-

We didn't take many pictures cuz we were blinded by the shops there lol. Definitely the best time to go Malaysia cuz of the awesome rate (its 2.70 now)!!! And now I feel like going back to berjaya times square to get that FREAKING LONGCHAMP. T.T

Back to reality for me, after travelling to places with different companies. I must say that I enjoyed every trip with each and everyone of them. Definitely something worth remembering. :D Maybe next time with my future spouse? Nak gi Istanbul pls. Ha ha ha haaa berangan je lah aku ni. Belajar kasi habis betul2 dulu boleh tak alamakkk.

So anyways, I've made up my mind and guess Imma continue studying after grad. Applied for 2 local unis and Alhamdulillah got an offer letter from one of them. Let's just let the time decide where I'll end up okay. Of course, with endless du'a Insya Allah.

xoxo.

7 things Madrasah-Polytechnic students can relate to

Madrasah (مدرسة‎): It means 'school' in Arabic. A term used in many countries for Islamic religious schools. In Singapore, madrasahs are considered as private schools. Male students wear long pants, collared shirt and songkok (cap). Female students wear long dress/baju kurung/pant suit and tudung (headgear).

1. Culture Shock
   This is the most common of all. 
   Most of us madrasah students will surely experience this if they choose to go 'academic' afterwards. The worst is usually during the orientation days; the kind of games they host, the level of entertainment, the deafening audios, and such. The atmosphere is just too unusual and..... Odd?
   
   Just FYI, in madrasah, males and females are segregated when playing games. We do not have body or skin contact with the opposite gender. The amount of entertainment is kept to a minimal and no, we do not blast loud music during events. Only soothing songs, instrumentals or nasyids/qasidahs (spiritual songs) will be played.

2. Sneak out of lecture to pray
   This is challenging. We used to be connected to the masjid (mosque) or musolla (a space to pray) 24/7. We could even hear the adzan (call to prayer) and will proceed for prayers immediately. Its a routine that has been practiced for years, since the age of 7 (yes we study in madrasah for 10 - 11 years since primary 1).
   Fun Facts: Madrasah used to have kindergartens as well back in the 90's.
   
   In polytechnic, we need to find our own space and time to pray. If our schedule collides with the prayer time, we have no choice but to sneak out of lecture and rush for prayers. BUT YAAAY most of the schools now are musolla-ready. They even provide us with the necessities. Many thanks to the people/management who initiated this - you guys have made our lives a lot easier!
   
   
3. Not sports-inclined
   Well, this does not really apply to the guys unless they too, got asked questions like
   "Do you have CCA/sports in madrasah?"
   
   As for the ladies, we often get questions about headgear and long pants.
   "Don't you feel hot?" "Isn't it uncomfortable to run around in those?" "How do you go for a swim then?" Alright chill, let me give some enlightenment.
   
   Firstly, yes we do have sports and CCAs in madrasah.
   Regarding the hot issue, we feel hot at times but we are used to it so yeah no worries we are cool.
   Comfort? Frankly speaking, we do not see any huge difference between wearing shorts and pants.
   How do we swim? Have you ever heard of 'muslimah swimming gear'? Yeah, we rock that thing in the pool. Its pretty vogue y'know? Maybe you should get one too. ;)
   
   
4. The urge to converse in Malay
   Madrasah is flooded with Malay students, so we converse in Malay 99% of the time. Honestly, it does feels a bit weird to have a mixture of races in class (polytechnic). In madrasah, we tend to speak Malay even during English lessons hahaha. It became a habit. Our teacher then jokingly came up with this cute punishment - pay 10 cents for every Malay word uttered. Lol.
   
   But wait, we do enjoy picking up Mandarin words from our Chinese friends and trade them with Malay words. Win-win situation! That's the beauty of being in a multi-racial country yes? Definitely.
   
   
5. Being labelled as malaikat (angel)
   The way you introduce yourself to a new friend is important in this context. They will surely have another impression of you the moment you mention 'madrasah'.
   
   We are getting used to people labeling us 'angels'. Yes apparently we madrasah students do not sin at all. Thank you but you are being too nice we can't handle. (please sense the big sarcasm here)
   
   
6. Education stream confusion (express, normal academic or normal technical)
   During freshmen year, one of the frequently asked questions is "are you 17 or 18 years old?" And when you say 18, BAAAM they will confirm plus chop thought that you took N levels & had to go to secondary 5.
   
   Okay understood cos that's how the system works. But not for us though. It is actually compulsory for some madrasahs to do an extra year of curriculum (hence sec 5) as we have to sit for STE (a big exam by MUIS in Arabic/religious subjects) in secondary 4. It might be too taxing for us to do both STE and O levels in the same year. We do not practice education streams.
   
   
7. We do not have friends of the opposite gender
   This is the funniest of all. Come on. Living in this cosmopolitan era, how could one not have any friend from the opposite gender? With the presence of social networks and all............
   You get me right?!
   
   So anyways, 4 out of 6 madrasahs take in both male and female students. We behave like normal kids, study the same subjects (with additional religious subjects) and are friends with everyone! I am not sure about secular schools but we were trained to be well-mannered and dress modestly.
   But apart from those, we are no aliens. Just normal human beings. 

Disclaimer: All the points above are purely based on my own experiences/opinions, supported by a number of friends who have mutual thoughts regarding this. 

Guangzhou & Hongkong Trip Part II

It's sad to see vacation go, it's back to school tomorrow! 

Yeah new semester's starting tomorrow and I'm least prepared for school this time round. Still in a holiday mood, distancing myself from books and stuffs related to them hahaha. But I guess it's gonna be a pretty good start to the new semester tomorrow 'cos lesson is only for 2 hours! And the next day is a holiday (hari raya haji) hip hip hoooray! Shall start off the week with a positive mind :)

Alright, like what the title states, this post shall continue ranting on my 2 weeks trip to Guangzhou and Hongkong! Well actually there are just too many things to tell... and obviously this post is not adequate, but I'll just highlight the prominent ones la okay. And top it off with a set of vlogs which I've done editing with! *pats self*

My thoughts on Guangzhou:

I've always imagined Guangzhou to be one of those upper-end states, which more or less looks like Singapore, with skyscrapers and stuff, but guess I was wrong. The most shocking part is that, it was so effin' hard to converse with them 'cos most of them only know their national language. Everything was in Mandarin and to be frank, I felt lost for a moment. It's like you're clueless at everything 'cos you can't read the signs... nor can you understand what they speak. Yup that feeling.
When we were brought to the hostel of Panyu Polytechnic (the place we stayed for 11 days), I was greeted with a..... COCKROACH. And I swear I was feeling uneasy all the way through... till Raddiah swept it down to the ground floor using a broom (oh we stayed at the 5th floor).
Good thing is that, the goods there are cheap. And I went crazy at their apparels asdfghjkl! Well yup you can find them in Singapore too but you can't get them this cheap! We didn't shop that much la, only went to 3 shopping areas... and the rest were spared for Hong Kong. Another interesting stuff I got there is 'Hui Lau Shan'. It's so popular there we actually spotted quite a few stalls selling it. Oh ya, it's actually a drink stall (something like Sweet Talk here) selling fruit juice. But the unique thing is, they'll put different layers of fruits with some sago or jelly and top it off with fruit toppings. IT IS HEAVENLY REFRESHING I TELL YOU. I hope they'll expand (lol) and come to Singapore soon, like REALLY.
Other than that, we visited a number of museums and those ancient places. Visited a mosque there too at their Muslim Street, and the architecture is similar to Chinese temples too. Went to 2 factories (piano factory/beer factory) and thats when I see their workers manufacturing the stuff from scratch, in milestones, with the complicated machines... which is really tedious but skillful.
Oh and we covered two modules there! One is on conserving the environment and another one is on culture. We got the chance to actually craft our own bags/wallets/etc using leather from scratch. From sketching out our design, cutting out the leathers, colouring and varnishing, hammering holes on it for sewing before finally hand-sewing the leather. IT WAS OVERALL AN EXPERIENCE LAH BUT AGAIN, A TEDIOUS PROCESS. I'll appreciate leather stuff more now.

Well, it was an enjoyable trip to Guangzhou, all because of the great company, coursemates, schoolmates and lecturers! But of course, everyone was eager to leave Guangzhou for Hong Kong lol! And let's see what amazed me there.

My thoughts on Hong Kong: 

Hong Kong on the other hand, was expected to be totally different from China lah. Ok in case if you're unaware, HK isn't part of China anymore. Even the currency is different. Even though the distance is quite near, the atmosphere between both countries is DIFFERENT. Period.

Once we reached HK, everyone was like "OMG THIS IS TOTALLY SINGAPORE-ISH. EVERYTHING LOOKS LIKE SG." True enough, the buildings there are similar to SG's. When the tour guide brought us to one of their attractions i.e the 'avenue of stars', I swear it looks like our Raffles Place area. For once, I thought I was back in my country and I'm not even exaggerating.
Obviously, HK is much more adaptable. We managed to tour around a few attractions in less than a day 'cos HK's size is like SG. Therefore, traveling from one place to another is not time-consuming at all! We also went to victoria peak and Hong Kong University on the first day before checking in our hotel (mongkok metropark) at night. The hotel's place is strategic, me likeyyy! 'Cos its located by the streets (which is lighted up super brightly you can't even tell it's already midnight) and its just a walking distance to the malls & the famous ladies' street market which sells cheap goods. Well, besides H&M, ladies' street was the place we shopped at for all the 3 days of our stay in HK.
Second day was free and easy and we couldn't decide between Disneyland and Ocean Park. In the end, to avoid the huge crowd, we chose the Ocean Park and IT'S BY FAR THE BEST THEME PARK I'VE BEEN TO. No, not talking about the rides but the PLACE ITSELF. The whole design and concept are just unique and interesting. Firstly, it's very huge. Secondly, the park is kinda divided into 2 sections. One is on the land where they have those kids' rides, shops, eateries and show theatres. Another one is located at the mountain which is accessible via cable car or monorail. There, they have those thrilling rides such as roller coasters, 360 viking and others. AHHHMAYYYZIINGGG ISN'T IT? And it's about SGD50 ($HK320) only. (Y)

Our last day there was nothing much. We decided to wake up later than usual. We've been waking up at 7am for the past 13 days so..... guess what? We actually woke up around 10am before packing up our luggage and finally...checked out. Headed to a mediterranean restaurant for brunch (the best food ever mannnn) before roaming around the streets for the last time. At 4pm, bus-ed to HK airport and again, their airport is similar to our's! HAHAHA.

My PERSONAL vlogs on the 2 weeks trip:

I repeat, these are my PERSONAL vlogs which were created just for memories sake. Sorry for the bad quality/shakiness etc. And eheheheh my voice/face fills most parts of the video... so just bear with it lor! :P








The trip was a memorable one, filled with experiences and lessons to be learnt. I realised that being a Singaporean kid is one of the pleasures I'm granted with and I wish to travel around the world and gain more knowledge about other countries' lifestyles. :')

Dedicated to my loves.

I am being brought up in a family who doesn't really celebrate special occasions such as mother's day, father's day or birthday. Well, maybe just birthdays. But we will just simply remember each other's birth dates and have a special meal as a family... or get some gifts. To me, as cliché as it sounds, EVERY day is a mother's and father's day. We appreciate them now and then, not once a year. For that, I would like to dedicate this blog post to the most important people of my life; MY BELOVED PARENTS. ♥

I seldom say this to you both but I just want you to know that I truly, deeply love you, Ibu and Ayah ♥


I know I've not been a good daughter all these while. I always make silly noises at home, drag you both to malls to get my stuff even at night, use up your money to fulfill my cravings for clothes, and many more...
but ended up not fulfilling what Ibu and Ayah wanted (like getting a darn good aggregate and GPA).
Still, you both tolerate my nonsense and the cycle repeats. Hahahaha.

I secretly adore you both (of course I adore my parents) especially by the way you treat your parents. Ibu was the one who took care of late nenek all the while until she passed away last year. And Ayah has been the concern one towards tokmak's well-being and he will never fail to keep track of her medicinal supply. I really hope that I will grow up to be a fine adult, following your footsteps in taking a very good care of your parents. I wish to take care of you just like how you did/do to your parents and children and I really hope that I'll be able to give Ibu and Ayah the comfort and everything. Insya Allah Aameen Yaa Rabbal 'Aalameen. :')

I pray to Allah to grant my parents/family an abundance of health and blessings. I pray to Him that I'll be able to repay my parents' kindness towards us. I pray to Allah that they will be able to feel my pay when I have a job in the future. I wish to give them the comfort, the happiness, the serenity and love. I can't wait to get a job and grow wiser and start repaying them. I wanna see both my parents chill at home, not needing to go to work everyday, just to feed us. I wanna feel the reverse. Wouldn't it be great if they can just relax at home and spend their time leisurely while I earn the money? And going to the mosque together for religious classes without the need to think about work? And driving to Johor anytime they want to fulfill their seafood cravings?
Ahhh I'm waiting for that time to come. Insya Allah!

Honestly, I feel kinda 'useless' now as I'm not earning. Studying needs money, traveling needs money, everything also need money!!! And I no have money!!! I hate to say that I'm fully dependent on my parents for it. I really should get a part-time job soon. Really.

Together with my hopes, I wanna include a sorry note to my parents.
I'm sorry and I apologize for the countless shortcomings from me. I'm sorry for not being a filial daughter. I'm sorry for not being who you wished I am. I will try to change myself for the better Insya Allah.

I swear Ibu and Ayah are the best parents I could ever asked for. No words can describe how blessed am I to have you both as my guardians. May Allah shower ibu and ayah with His unlimited blessings, aameen.
I want Ibu and Ayah to know that even though I may not always show it, I actually cared and will always care for you both. I love you, My Pretty Ibu and My Handsome Ayah, Mmmuah! ♥ ♥ ♥

P/S: I'll be on a 2-weeks hiatus from 17th Sept to 30th Sept. Will be leaving for Guangzhou, China and later on to Hong Kong for my school's study + holiday trip. Do make du'a for me and team for a safe journey to and fro ya? Insya Allah kheir, aameen. Oh, and I may not be contactable via Facebook and Twitter. WhatsApp perhaps? :D

Till then, with peace.

Syawal, in a nutshell

UPDATE || SYAWAL'S WHATABOUTS

Syawal 1434 hijriah has been a good but dashing one. To sum it up, this year's hari raya was pleasantly satisfying. Except for the fact that my late grandmother is not around to celebrate 'Eid with us. My prayer goes to you nenek. I miss you. *hearts all over*

The family went pink, turquoise, purple and black this year. I just love the idea of having this color-code thing. I can sorta feel the unity lol. Anyways, we only bought a couple of new outfits this year while the rest are recycled ones. I don't feel the need of buying half a dozen of hari raya outfits to be honest 'cos the most important day for us Muslims to don up is during 1st Syawal only. We are encouraged to dress nicely to celebrate the victory BUT don't over-celebrate alright. Note to self before others. :)

This year's hari raya was also packed with school stuff i.e EXAMS and my overseas trip's briefings to China. Yup, I'm going to Guangzhou & Hong Kong in 2 weeks time and I can't explain how I feel. The dream of having a getaway.... and now its happening. But kinda nervous at the same time 'cos I'll be away from beloved family for 2 weeks! Can you imagine that? Haha but all is well, Insya Allah. Oh, and did I mentioned exams earlier? Hip hip hoorayyy exams are over. *Big smile with double chin exposed* :DD

Currently, I'm working with an Islamic organisation called MIRROR, in writing articles for their e-magazine. I've just read their mag and well, I gotta say that it's super cool & it is definitely a great initiative by them to set up such organisation in spreading our religion and giving heads up to the youths out there. *Two thumbs up!*
>>> You can read MIRROR online magazine here: http://www.mirror-mag.com/

Other than that, I intend to practice and brush up my calligraphy skill. Went to the art friend the other day with a friend and as usual without fail, brought back their unique coloured markers. I'm a fan of markers! Especially when they have pretty colours with unusual tips! Yeah, just my thing.

SIDE TRACK || FRIENDS AND TRUST

Oh by the way, I was thinking about friendship these days. And it kinda saddens me, knowing the fact or possibility that your 'real' or 'close' friends might be a stranger in the future. Pretty scary ain't it? I mean like, c'mon, we can't see the future (duh) and these things might just happen to anyone of us. And it sure gonna be painful right? I hope that my friendships with all my friends will sustain lah of course but we have to prepare for the worst. This issue kept me thinking and made me realised that only ONE will last. And He is Allah SWT, our Creator. We might lost our friends and family but Allah is always with us.

For that, I hold on to this saying:
TRUST NOBODY EXCEPT ALLAH AND YOURSELF BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN THOSE 'REAL' FRIENDS WILL DISAPPEAR. 
(Well, I'm not too sure if you can find the link between the quote and what I was trying to say but yeah, don't be TOO connected to your friends (i repeat, friends) for it's gonna be painful if something undesired were to happen.)

Naudzubillahi miin dzaalik. 

berlalulah sudah Ramadan,

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilifitri, Maaf Zahir dan Batin to all the Muslims out there :')

Kullu 'am wa antum bikheir, Insya Allah. Taqabbalallaahu minnaa wa minkum.
(No, this post will not be on Hari Raya. I'll create a separate post on that later.)

Ramadan's Atmosphere: 

In a blink of an eye, Ramadan has passed us. To be honest, I couldn't really feel it. Most of my time were occupied with school and project. And I hope that the future Ramadans will be far far better than this year's.

This year marks the first Ramadan without Nenek's presence after 19 years. It's different. Usually, nenek and ibu will wake up early in the morning to prepare the pre-dawn meals, but the atmosphere was different this time round. I truly miss here presence.

Ema doakan agar nenek ditempatkan bersama orang-orang yang beriman, Insya Allah Ameen. Ema rindu sangat sangat dekat nenek. :'(

Iftar Jamai'e at Irsyad:

In the midst of stress due to project, I kinda got the chance to release bit of it, when my big siblings from Al-Irsyad finally gathered in our former school to break fast together. It is our school's tradition to hold a mass iftar session every year.. and the alumni will certainly attend them without fail (well I hope this will go on, even after we all got married and have kids hehe). The best thing about my big family is that, even though we haven't met for quite a while, there is no awkwardness when we are together! Just like the old times. Just like how it used to be for the past 11 years (yes we grew up together for 11 years, beat that). Its exciting to see everyone with their own lives right now. Some are in their year 2s and going off to the Middle East countries soon to pursue their Ukhrawi studies. Some are in year 2s too, but in JC. Soon-to-be university students. Some are in poly (just like me) who just can't wait to graduate (or is it just me? lol). While some are in ITE, and soon they will graduate and join us in poly yayness! ANDDD, the most exciting part is that, one of our fellow girlfriend has just got married and she will host her wedding reception next week! Again, will meet my big family Insya Allah.
Dah besar semua. Dah jadi isteri orang dah. :')

Final Project Presentation:

This year's 6 credits project module was a nightmare. Well, we need to build a website (just like the past 2 semesters) but using a different language this time which is Java. I enjoyed designing websites and creating user interfaces but when it comes to programming, thats what I'm weak at. It's not that I'm totally hopeless at it, but I just couldn't be bothered. I won't really Google and explore and study them for the sake of knowledge. Even if I do, it would be for the sake of getting the job done and thats it.

We were given 16 weeks to complete the entire website. Usually, at week 10, we are 70% complete (based on last 2 years' experience). But this time round, were only managed to complete about 20% of the whole thing when it's actually week 15! Can you imagine that?! We were so dead. But actually, the other groups were the same too (at least all of us stood at the same level, so ya).

So in the end, I just did whatever I can and face the final presentation with the hope of getting an A. But Alhamdulillah, I was given another chance to go for the distinction presentation when I thought that I can forget about the project already. So, I had to come back to school a day before Hari Raya for the presentation and fuh, I think I did quite well.

Whatever it is, finally everything is over and I can reboot my laptop already 'cos its slowly turning into a snail. T_T

And now, I'm having my 2 weeks study break, followed by exams and finally the long semester break! Just can't wait to get the exams done (every semester also I say like this la, lol). But this time's break is gonna be different 'cos Insya Allah, I'll be spending 2 weeks in China! Excited for that hee ^^,

xoxo.

what munira thinks about me.

Salaam.
OK. long time never update. ^_^
So, basically school's awesome! Even though byk hafalans and all, so far so good. And I'll study real hard for the upcoming STE. May Allah bless me, Amin. We have about 32 more weeks to the ukhrawi major exams, approximately.
Hehe. Actually tak tawu nak update ape. But nehmind. I'll share somethingg. Last week, Mdm B asked us to write about a person. What we think about him/her & what are our hopes for him/her. Mdm B printed our index numbers and placed them in a box. Then, we were to pick one. Mcm lucky lot gitu. So, I wrote about Ruzaini. Sume positive cos teacher tanak negative pnye comments. Hehhhh. And the LUCKY girl who has got my number is MUNIRA! :D
Hehe thanks babe, lovee ya moon. (:

What she thinks about me:
“Syazreema is a bubbly girl. She talks alot. She’s a good presenter. Whenever she’s on stage or is presenting something, she never looked nervous and always be herself. She’s an open-minded person and usually thinks out of the box in a discussion. She’s a creative person. She got this antsy hand.”

Her hopes for me:
“I hope that she will stay as her own self after graduating. Maybe she could be a news presenter one day or make her own talkshow.”

SWEEEET KAN?
okaay that's all, assalamualaikum. :)