A Journey to Remember

Some pics at Penang Airport before we fly to London:

Mummy… here I come!!!

Anak2 dara & Mak Dara

Copy from my official blog: http://a-journey-to-remember.blogspot.com

-Mummy Farrel-

The clock is ticking, time to say good bye to Toulouse, France. Tomorrow we will fly back to Malaysia. Hopefully we have a safe and sound journey. A lot of experience we gained here and a lot of happiness and sadness we passed through as well. First time we stepped foot here was 15 months ago where everything seems so new to us, being in foreign land which little people can understand your language. Looking at people at that time was likes hearing they said “Welcome to new life, new world!!” Lucky my hubby was under FASIA scholarship so that everything was arranged by the organization included the hospitality, opening bank account, Resident Card application and many more. At least we are not in chaos, while we were slowly try to adapt living in foreign country, new environment and new climate. But actually it was a meaningful experience, a blessing in disguise.

Today is our last day in Toulouse. Nothing interesting, just have a good rest to gain energy for tomorrow journey which certainly provide us challenges as we have to transit at Amsterdam and KLIA before we arrive in our last destination, Penang. With 4 big luggage need to check in and 4 hand’s luggage to carry, we hope we won’t face many difficulties.

Here, we would like to thank to all our friends here (Khairul’s family, Iqmal’s family, Khairil’s family, Azammi, Nazri, Hasrul, Izzati, Dayah, As, Kak Ya’s family, Kak Nisa’s family, Ila, Haris, Guna, Mus …..) without your help, we were not able to survive here. We pray to God for your healthy and good future, Insya Allah. Merci Beaucoup to IAS staff, Anne Marie, Amanda, Velerie, Didier, Marc, Michel and others for the guidance and help. And big thank you also to my French classmates, Lea, Angeline, Paula, Aline and my best language teacher I ever had, Dorothee who always support me and of course teach me French Language which always be my favourite language ever though I’m not good enough in French. Huhu..

Here we do learn a lot throughout. About life, about friend, about food, about language and arghhh… a lot!!!

“May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand”.

Salam Aidilfitri & Maaf Zahir Batin

Ramadhan is just around the corner. It is a special month of the year for Muslims throughout the world. A month full of blessings for inner reflection, devotion to God and self-control as well. An intensive time for worship to coming closer to God, reading the Quran, charity, doing good deeds etc.

Here, we would like to take this opportunity to wish Happy Ramadhan Mubarak to all our friends. Hoping that, this Ramadhan will purify our behaviour to be a good Muslim. Last but not least, we are asking the forgiveness for whatever wrongdoings done by us.

Happy Ramadhan 1429.

Azizul, Niza and Farrel

Sorbet d’Amour’s ice cream… nyum nyum..

To
fill up my day without internet, I just ‘layan’ my new novel by Nicolas
Sparks while my hubby keeps himself busy to finish his internship
project. Sometimes I lend him a hand in MATLAB script though I forgot a
lot about it. Special thanks to Nurul and Am because help him a lot in
order to accomplish the project. He determined to finish the project
before Ramadhan if possible; even the time is not against the clock.
For Farrel, he doesn’t bother either internet is OK or not as long as
he can rolls his body on the carpet boundlessly and watching his
favourite cartoon Oggy.  Actually me n hubby
enjoy watching Oggy as well. Hehe.. At present, Farrel likes to lift up
his butt as high as he could, we think he puts a great effort to the
next phase (crawling) which normal for baby developmental milestone.
C’mon babe!!! Allez allez!!!  You can do it.
Latest achievement for him, he successfully gets out from his car seat
by himself when we didn’t buckle him. He truly ‘hero’, just like his
name (Farrel = warrior).

Last weekend, we went to Capitole (city centre of Toulouse).
One of our favourite activity, walking around the city and of course we
swung by our favourite ice cream restaurant (Sorbet d’Amour) which is
must visit place when we are going to Capitole.  The ice cream’s taste there is like a heaven and we sure we are gonna miss it when back to Malaysia.
We’ve been introduced to this ice cream restaurant after watching the
documentary in television. Believe me; the taste is yummier compared to
Jeff de Bruge’s ice cream. Then, we went to MIDICA the boutique for
household equipments which we ‘happily’ spend an arm and a leg for our
new ‘Old Country Roses Tea Set’. This was what my hubby said right
after paid it: “Za.. nanti kalau kita tak cukup makan, kita rebus je
tea set ni ye”. Soooo kejammm la abang!! Huhu.. Owh yea.. Farrel
managed ‘to seduce’ one of the aunties there by his smiling. As
consequence, he got a white fuzzy Polar Bear from his ‘foster auntie’.

                                                    First step

                                                        Voila…

                                                   Cheeky face…

                                                         Serius..

                                 Huhu, see what he’s doing with…

Pont Neuf

Last Sunday, we went to ‘Jardin de Pont Neuf’ near the town. In French, ‘jardin’ means ‘park’ and ‘Pont Neuf’ means ‘Ninth Bridge’. ‘Pont Neuf’ is significant to Toulouse which is one of the Toulouse landmarks other than Capitole. The history behind it is the
construction for the bridge took almost a century. One of the funny
reason it took so long to finished because there is a difference of 10
meters between the left and the rights banks. Hehe. Long time ago,
flooding of the ‘Garonne’ (big river) destroyed all the previous
bridge, but this one has been in place for four centuries because of
its tunnels above the arches, allow water to flow away during the
floods. If we see with bare eyes, it just a simple bridge but the truth
is its have historical value. It shows how intelligent was the ancient
architect. Owh yeah.. this entry is not purposely to reveal the history
about the bridge, just wanna share some pictures of us when we were
there. Actually, we always been there because of its peaceful and now
the garden is officially be our ‘port’ for picnic. Hehe.. But last
week, I didn’t prepare foods to bring because of last minute planning.
Hehe, just one of the reasons to ‘pow’ my hubby for ice cream. Huhuhu..
Besides having an ice cream while witness peoples and kids around
having their fun time, we can relax our mind.

Alhamdulillah,
Farrel’s celerbrating his 5th months birthday today. Happy 5th months
birthday son!! When looking him, I couldn’t believe my hubby and I
could manage to taking care of him by our own without family members
around. Thanks a lot to our friends here who always guide and help us
whenever we need a hand. We acknowledge, without proper knowledge that
we have and experience people’s around, it could be difficult for us.
For me, I didn’t have any experience dealing with baby before except a
little help to looked my little nephew Adam (huhu, miss him so much),
but at that time I was a student, same with my hubby.

• Now,
  he can sleep independently, just put him on his cot around 1030pm,
  after 5-10 minutes he will sleep by himself. Before this, I need to
  ‘dodoi’ him before he could sleep tightly. At first, Farrel mengamuk
  juga bila biar dia sorang2 dalam cot, but now he used to it. So proud
  of you son!!
• He could hold his bottle by his own. Actually we
  did teach him since he was 2 months old or we put something to support
  the bottle, so I have chance to do other things. At the same time, I’m
  still breastfeeding him and I wish to continue until he reaches 2 years
  old. Thanks Allah, he accepts both. Some baby refuse breastfeeding when
  they used to formula milk.
• Last but not least, he really
  love to smile and laugh when we or other people around look and tickle
  him. He’s so sporting when he’s in good mood and when he’s not,
  everything could become worst. Huhu.

Buah Hati Mummy n Daddy

I’m
so happy today even I can’t closed my eyes the whole night yesterday,
just watched my 2 heroes sleep tightly. Yeah, I admit looking our
loving person while they are sleeping can reduce the stress or pressure
a.k.a. therapy for mind. Hehe. Besides that, I keep thinking how can I
live without both of you babe. Both of you are so significant in my
life. Afterwards, I keep dreaming to have a big house, own a business
and wondering how will be my life for the next 5 years, 10 years and so
on. Hoho.

Today we received three good news;

1st
- Just got our allowance from KPT (suppose to received it by the end of
this month) meaning that our shopping agenda will be more thrilling.
Kikiki.

2nd –
Received an email from my hubby’s ex-dean who wants to sell his house
in Nibong Tebal and fortunately the house is still available. Actually
one of big agenda for this year is to have our own house. In fact, we
did ask ayah to look for us a house in Nibong Tebal area since last
year and he did list out some. By considering a few factors such as
location, facilities, neighbourhood and others, we are interested in
house mentioned before. The house is Double Storey Semi-D and overall
land size is 35 by 75 feet, built size is 22 by 65 feet. The owner
already make a lot of renovations such as extension for wet kitchen,
use high quality ceramic for floor tiles, fixed stairs and 2nd floor
with floor board system, kitchen cabinet custom made with bar-counter,
all ceiling are plaster-crafted and the gate already installed with
automatic system. The owner moved to Selangor due to some reason and he
said that he considered the house is ‘give-a-way’. We saw the pictures
of the house and ask ‘ayah’ to ensure the house. What can I say about
the price is reasonable with the house condition. Hopefully, if our
‘rezeki’ is there so we can own the house. Really hope for that.

3^rd
- Accepted the book that we order from Amazon.com and still waiting for
another one. The book title is ‘The Choice’ written by Nicholas Spark.
I do admire the writer because the way he delivered the story is very
interesting. Another book we are waiting also written by him. Till now
we already have some from his collection.       

Ok, till then.

Latest Pic 3 of US

This
is the first posting for July, no updates since the internet has a
problem. Erm.. Actually I have no idea what should I pen here but I’ll
try my best to write since there are no updates for July yet. Just
wanna list what was happen recently;

1. Alhamdulillah, our goods arrived safely last Thursday, 3^rd
July 2008 and collected by ‘Ayah’ at MAS Cargo Penang. There are a lot
of procedures need to comply with before he could claim our boxes. Been
waiting nearly 6 hours there prior to pick up the freight. Malaysian
Customs did constrict the inspection process and we have been told by
‘Ayah’, normally they imposed 100% of tax on the value of things.
Fortunately, ‘Ayah’ discussed with MAS Cargo personnel, so that it just
cost us about RM200 (the payment of ‘duit kopi’), instead of RM5000.
Luckily, ‘Ayah’ knows how to deal with. Thanks to Ayah.

CAK!!

Mummy.. tired laaa

Mummy.. dodoilaaa.. Farrel nak sleep

2. Farrel’s
weight now is almost 7kg. “Farrel Membesar Bagaikan JUARA”. huhu.. Now,
he loves to roll his body on his ‘tapis’. The most favourite place he
likes to play is under the bed. Haha.. Banyak-banyak tempat dalam rumah, kat bawah katil paling Farrel suka. He
also loves to smile and laugh when people amuse him. Recently we give
him cereal once a day, combine with his milk. Received his first book
last Tuesday from Amazon. In fact, we wanted to buy that book at
Disneyland Paris during last vacation; bad for us, the store can’t
accept bank card because their machine is broken so we decided to order
it from Amazon where the price is cheaper.    

3. Daddy @k@ my hubby just received an email from Surrey’s
lecturer concerning his Ph. D’s application. The topic is related to
formation flying using electrostatic forces (charges) and funded by
European Space Agency. Sounds great and the responsibility is really
huge. But it’s still in discussion phase. Hope everything will be fine
till he get Ph. D. Aja aja fighting Daddy!!

"Borong" from Amazon.com

4. Me?? Hehe.. Nothing much about me. The
most satisfied and happiest thing is, I just bought new watch and
Swarovski’s bangle with 50% off respectively. The bad news is M.A.C
product have no sales at all. Huhu However I still consider buying
their products because the price is reasonable compared to Malaysia. And now, I love to bake cuppies (cup cakes) which is famous in Malaysia lately. There are variety of interesting appearance for cup cakes. I am hoping in the future I can own a business related to bakery, Insya Allah.

Ok, till then.

I woke up cheerfully today as my pet team won last night. Bravo Espagne!! As expected Spain was defeat over Germany 1-0 meaning that the ‘Henri Delauney’ Trophy @k@ Euro Champion 2008 goes to Spain. However my hubby compelled to agree with Spain’s strength. Ermm, so how bout the deal honey?? hehe..

And today is 30 June 2008, nothing special about today but yesterday was 29 June 2008 means it’s already a year we’ve been here in France specifically Toulouse. As time goes by, I still can feel the sadness being apart from our beloved family. And we are counting days to return back to our family and beloved country. Insya Allah, we’ll be back at the end of September with our new family member, Ahmad Farrel Daniel. We are looking forward for that moment and hope that USM will provide us tickets before Aidilfitri. Coz in past 2 years, I didn’t have chance to celebrate Aidilfitri with my family. Last year I celebrate for the very first time as wife here in Toulouse together with my lovely hubby and the most terrible was in 2006 where I did celebrate it alone in Japan particularly in the office. So sad.

During the past one year, so many things
occurred, ups and downs, good things, bad things which teach us the meaning of
life and how to be a better person. For us, what happened here left us 1001
unforgettable memories. Our life as husband and wife was beginning here and we
did learn a lot. For us, everyday is a new opportunity. We can build on
yesterday’s success or put its failure behind and start over again. That’s the
way of life, full of new ‘game’ every day. Thanks to Allah, without HIS
‘guidance’ and ‘hidayah’ we never know where we are now. HE did give us the
hardship and HE did also give us the way out from the hardship. Alhamdulillah.
And not to forget our beloved family and friends, they never stop praying for
us. Thanks so much. Huhu, we really love you all so much.