A nomad life

First day of school yesterday was a nuisance. The hall has become our temporary classroom. In the freaking hall! Can you imagine that?? And at 12pm, we would have to move to the canteen because the afternoon session will be occupying the hall.

How nomad can we be? With the rising heat and a paltry small whiteboard, we had to listen to the echoes of the teachers' voices teaching in front. I could barely hear what they said. Hah.

But Puan Ruth promised we will get new, more comfortable classrooms by the end of the week. That better be the case man because we have a major public exam coming up and we can't afford to study in an African-like classroom.

RECAP of my 2008

We're just hours away from 2009. Nothing like the fresh air of a brand new year. This year had been a great, impressive year. The life-altering experiences. The little yet sweet moments that we'll always remember. Or just your normal day-to-day minutes of your life. We have experienced it all.

And here's a recap of my year. My 2008 year. Probably one of the best years of my 16 years of life. Here we go!

JANUARY

- Started Form 4 in a wacky class, 4 Angsana

- Played in the Under-18 DJ's netball team at district level. But as usual, we didn't go to the next round. Though we did win a game.

FEBRUARY

- Hmm..I can't remember anything significant in Feb. Probably just busy with school and all those extra-curricular activities. Things were pretty slow back here.

MARCH

- The Wira debate team prepared ourselves for the Datuk Wira debating championships. Just the beginning of a very loooonnggg journey. Won our first 2 rounds against SMK Tropicana and SMKDU.

- March 8: the general election that pretty much changed Malaysia and Malaysians.

- Started my vocal lessons with a UM lecturer as a preparation for my Turkish competition.

APRIL

- Uhh I don't remember doing anything else other than debating in this month. We made it all the way to the state finals. And we lost! Very devastating but life had to go on.

MAY

- I hit 16 on 11th May. Sweet 16! Had a floral theme party with magician and stuff. Very cute!

- Did an interview with the News Straits Times on my involvement in the Turkish competition.

- Departed for Turkey to join the Turkish Language Olympics for 3 weeks.

JUNE

- Represented Malaysia in the singing competition at the Turkish Olympics. I still can't believe I performed an alien, Turkish song in front of 10000 audiences. A life-altering experience, no doubt!

- Went to the final Osmonds concert in Genting. I'm not a fan, excuse me. But my parents are.

JULY

- Things have slowed down a little bit. Except for one thing....Nostalgia magazine! As an editor of the school mag, Puan Joyce was constantly hunting me down for articles, unedited and edited. Not easy!

AUGUST

- Just when I thought my Turkish days were over, they keep running back after me! Haha. Did a 'music video' for a Turkish TV for their Ramadhan programmes. I can have a singing career there even with my sucky voice. =)

- Avril Lavigne was in town! Went to her concert despite earlier objections from my parents and also from the political parties. She's the BEST DAMN THING!

SEPTEMBER

- Nostalgia was finally in prints! After months and months of hardwork from the Ed Board, we finally managed to get it done. It was a lil too thin this year (no money!) but the mag was still cool.

OCTOBER

- Celebrated the Eid Mubarak in Pahang. But this year was a tad special since my mum brought back her foreign students from Bosnia, Central Africa, Kenya and Palestine. A very colourful Raya, indeed.

- A twist of fate. Remember how the Wira debate team lost at the state finals? Well the state champs pulled out of the competition and OUR debate team were back in the game! So we pushed our books away (despite final exams in the following week) and brainstormed for our caselines.

NOVEMBER

- The whole team flew to Kelantan for the nationals. We debated against 4 schools and wa-llah! We won the national championships! A dream came true for all of us.

- No running away from the exams. We had to sit for the final exams. Don't ask us how we managed to study in time for the exams. But we did it.

DECEMBER

- Time flies. It's already the end of the year.

- I tried to do something fruitful during the holidays. Tried picking up Spanish and French. And now I'm already fluent. Fluent at saying 'How are you?' and 'What's your name', that is. Heh.

- Went to Brunei for a short, family retreat. Nice, quiet country.

- Getting ready for the school year...or not yet.

So that was my year.

A greater year next year, perhaps?

Bundle of Joy

Newborns are one of the most beautiful thing a person can have. They still don't know whether it's day or night. They can't tell right from wrong. And yet the look of innocence and purity on them can melt even the hardest of hearts.

Auntie Lina had a 'Majlis Aqiqah' for her newborn, Nurnaily Imaan. It's a ceremony to celebrate the birth of the baby girl and to thank God for the lil beauty in her life.

Oh, she's just sooo adorable!

And to Miss Nurnaily Imaan, (I know you won't be reading this now but you might bump into this blog somewhere in the future) it's a big, big world out there and you will see all kinds of stuffs. The beautiful and the ugly. The good and the bad. The love and the hate.

But whatever it is lil cousin, just remember that there will always be someone who loves you and you'll eventually learn what life is all about and how to handle it.

Welcome to the world, lil girl!

Auntie Lina with her new bundle of joy

Her naughty yet cute big brother, Nabil. He was a James Bond addict who knew all of the James Bonds' names by heart. From Sean Connery to Danial Craig. And he's only 3 years old!

The gift boxes for the guests

Aww isn't she just gorgeous!

The oldest cousin (that would be me) with her junior cousins

With the lil 'James Bond'

Trying to look like a princess with the baby crown

A new addition to the family

Bye to the Old and Hello to the New

As the New Year is nearing, school days are also moving slowly yet indubitably towards me. 2008 came and went with a breeze. I started off the year as a Science student ready to open up my world to more of the scientific miracles and then here I am already, at the end of the year and almost at the end of the high school journey.

It felt just like yesterday when I first stepped into SMKDJ merely 4 years ago. Next thing I know, I'm about to enter the final phase of my secondary education and standing at a junction that will lead me to multiple diverse routes. Don't ask me which route will I choose as I am still contemplating which one is worth walking on. For I wouldn't want to make the same mistakes as many already did.

Taking the road that trapped them physically, emotionally and spiritually.

I'm still trying to figure out my New Year resolutions. Last year of high school is always the most crucial year and therefore I have to prioritize accordingly to make the best of what is left.

Say Bye to the Old and Hello to the New.

Happy Sweet 16 Nunu!!!

HAPPY SWEET 16 NUNU!!!

It's your special day today. I know you're wacky and crazy. But at the same time you have always been the adorable, awesome friend. I could always count on you.

And tonight we're gonna party 'till dawn breaks at your house, ok? Haha! NUNU! A year older but no less wiser.

Rocking on her guitar like a true rocker. haha

Being her emo self


Happy birthday again girl!

Maid-less life

I have been pretty occupied the last few days. Occupied being a housewife! My maid is now taking care of my grandma for a awhile, since she is critically ill. So I had been doing the dishwashing, the house cleaning and a lil bit of cooking on my own.

So being a dutiful 'housewife' I am, I tried to fry some chicken drummets for dinner. And I proudly arranged them on the plate and presented them to my mum. She took a look and a bite and she said:

Mum: Adik! (That's what I'm called at home) The chicken is burned on the outside and still raw on the inside!
Me: WHAT?! Damnit!

I fried chicken just to find out that it's as raw as before. Haha jeez. If I were to live alone for a very long time, I would probably die of hunger or food poisoning. Eating raw meat is never good.

Looks like I have taken the simple living skills for granted. But life is a learning process.

And I'm now trying to learn how to fry chicken drummets without them turning black on the outside and raw on the inside.

A new skin, how refreshing

As you might have noticed, I have a new blogskin. The 'Loving Couples' skin has been here for far too long and it's time for something new and fresh.

And you can even comment on my posts now! (There weren't any comment section on my previous blogskin)

A breathe of fresh air, a new sight for the eyes. Right!

P/S Thanks Adel for helping me out with this new 'transformation'.

Brunei, Oh Brunei

I had a family retreat in Brunei during the weekends with my parents and my grandma. The trip was nice. Yea, nice. Not excellent, fantabulous or great. Just nice.

Brunei, a country the size of the Negeri Sembilan state has a lot to offer to its people. But not to the tourists since tourism isn't a big field there. This practically tax-free country has no poverty rates, very low oil prices and the people live very rich and cushioned lives.

We took a day tour around the city. Went to the very grand and beautiful mosque that was built to honour their current Sultan Hasanal Bolkiah. Then we went to the museums. And also to the 600 years old Water Village. It's like wooden houses on water. Very cool.

It's a very green country. The Sultan is not a fan of logging so Brunei still maintains most of its rainforests. Something Malaysia should take example of.

While Brunei is not the place for entertainment and tourism, it is a good place for relaxation and family bonding. Here are some pics.

Green Brunei

The Sultan of Brunei's mosque

Part of the mosque

A traditional food called 'Ambuyak'

Royal Regalia museum. It displays stuff related to the Sultan.

Boat cruise at the Water Village

After 600 years, some Bruneians still wanna live on the water

My parents getting married again. Lol

Baking a storm!

School holidays is usually the time where I unleash my cooking and baking skills. Not that I have plenty of them. Just one or two. So today I decided to bake a bread pudding and I'm proud to say that I baked it all on my own.

For the first time ever I didn't get any help from my maid to do the baking. Lol yeah! And it tastes pretty good. Well I might be bias about the taste since it's my own piece. But here it is. Ta-da!


Eat it with ice cream or chocolate sauce and you're good to go!

My Eid

We were celebrating the Eid-ul Adha (Hari Raya Haji) on Monday. It was supposed to be a day to commemorate the willingness of Prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice his son, Prophet Ismail as an act of obedience to Allah. As he was about to sacrifice his son, Allah intervened and instead provided a lamb as the sacrifice. This is why today all over the world Muslims who have the means to, sacrifice an animal (usually a goat or a sheep), as a reminder of Prophet Ibrahim's obedience to Allah.

But this year's Eid wasn't as joyous or as fun as before. I didn't even get to do my Raya prayers at the mosque since it started too early and we arrived a lil too late!

Anyhoowww here are a couple of pics. Pardon me for the lack of images since I wasn't in the mood for photography. Heh.

We have monkeys at my grandma's place in Raub. No kidding!

The males in the morning of Eid

A piece of cloth

I went to Port Dickson last week with my mum since she had a conference over there. And one ustaz from IIUM came up to my mum and asked this 1 million dollar question "Why isn't your daughter wearing any tudung (headscarf)?"

Uh-huh. I'm a 16 year old Muslim girl and by right I should already be wearing the tudung but I believe donning my head with the scarf should be a choice that comes from inside and not because I was forced to. The tudung isn't just any piece of cloth. It's a symbol of hope, determination and declaration to live as Allah ordains.

And I have to make sure that I am ready to carry such responsibilities. Too many times we see girls with tudungs but they sometimes do not reflect the true teachings of Islam. That's because they do not embrace the significance of the cloth and wear it for the sake of wearing it.

I don't want to be one of them. But don't get me wrong here. Not wearing the scarf does not mean I am not determine in my duties as a Muslim. I still pray and live according to the Islamic teachings. And if and when I have decided to don my head with the scarf, that would be the time and day where I have finally made my choice from within.

Every tudung clad Muslim girl has a 'tudung story'. A story that made them wear the scarf for the first time.

I have not found my 'tudung story' yet.

Go with the flow

Boredom. Well that word is pretty much synonymous with long school breaks. And I'm no exception. So I decided to follow my mum to her workplace. Not that it'll be a lot of fun but I need a breathe of fresh air and besides the internet connection here is sooo much faster than the one at home.

Personally, there's not much to do here but I always loved the learning environment that IIUM has. It's a picture of beauty, serenity and knowledge. You see students everywhere carrying their backpacks and books, getting ready for classes.

I could see myself in the few years to come being in that kind of environment. Well, perhaps not particularly in this university but definitely in a higher learning institution. I'm at a junction where I still don't know where to go after this. It's too early to tell anyway.

Just going with the flow. For now.

a lil bonding with the family

I draaaggeedd my parents to the Curve to watch High School Musical 3 since Nunu couldn't make it today. Call us kiddies but it's been a really long time since I spent some quality time with my parents and there's no age tag to family bonding. So what the heck!

Besides, where else can you see the scrumptiuosly hot Zac Efron belting out tunes on the basketball court at crunch time? Or him being so oh-overly-dramatic and sliding down walls to walls while singing? The movie was just okay, I guess. I prefer the previous ones actually.

My parents were like '.....uhh okaayy when is this gonna end?' But they still stayed and watched and perhaps enjoyed it at least a tiny bit. Kan? I sooooo love them-lah!

Anyway Nunu you owe me a movie date after this since you bailed out on me today ;)

Hola! Como estas?

Hola! Como estas? Trato de aprender español

Hello! How are you? I'm trying to learn Spanish. On my own, through the Internet. With Malay, English and Turkish languages under my belt, adding another foreign language would be an awesome addition. So for now, I have decided to learn Spanish as it is pretty easy to get the hang of it. But Mummy says she prefers me learning French because it's more 'cultured'. Umm okay. Maybe I'll do both! Who knows?

The prospect of learning a new language always excites me. After picking up Turkish as my '3rd' language, it opened up my world to a whole new one. A language is an insider's view of another culture and a new view of your own. It's like a journey filled with new experiences, sensations, traditions, surprises and more.

And I'm ready to travel down that road again.

Hasta pronto!

the journey

Exams were finally over for me. Whew! It went pretty well, I guess. Anyway holidays have started and I already have a few plans for it. Firstly, I need to do some catching up on my studies. Mhhm it's holidays but that doesn't mean you gotta close your books completely, does it?

I probably wanna learn a new language too. Perhaps German, Spanish or French. Oh and I need to go through an exercise regime, got lots of flabs to lose. And I need to pick up that violin and practice playing it again (it's beginning to collect dust).

This holidays would be a proactive one. No more lazying around like a big bump. Hehe. But you know there's so much I can do to plan but whether I'll follow it exactly, eh well that will be a different matter. We'll see how ;)

Anyway, here are some photos from our debating journey. I remember it like it was just yesterday that we battled against SMK Tropicana in our 1st round way back in February. I remember it like it was just yesterday when the team made its way to Kelantan with high hopes of achieving our dreams.

And I remember it like it was just yesterday when we all lifted the champions' trophy. Let us walk down this memory lane together. Enjoy!

Getting excited to board the plane for the 1st time as a team

Busy. VERY BUSY at work

Uh-huh. That's Daryl practicing his speech in a very 'unique' manner

Oh my, look at the mess we made!

A circle of love and family

7 legs are always better than a pair of one =)

The jokers of the team

Open your arms wide and feel the breeze of the sea

When debaters become cam-whores

GIRL POWER of the team

We're all in this together

When dreams come true

exams...oh exams

When the excitement of winning the prestigious Datuk Wira debate cup has died down a lil, it was time to get back to serious bussiness like....EXAMS! Since we foregone our end-year-exams earlier, we had to sit for them and cram all 21 papers into 1 week.

We had 8 hours of exams yesterday, from 7.30 am all the way 'till 4.30 pm. As loooooooooong as our debate discussions. And by the end of the day my brain felt like raisins. Dried and squeezed. Lol.

Oh well at least it was worth it.

You can't win national championships often but sitting for exams, well you could do that almost any other day.

I was reading a few blogs that had the post-Wira stories and I just felt so proud and lucky to have the chance to be part of the Wira team. We were defeated once but we came back and we came back stronger than ever.

I was talking to Keefe's parents the other day and we agreed that the most beautiful thing about the team was the TEAMWORK. Some of us may not have speaking roles but we worked just as hard and pitched in as much as we could.

No one can take that beauty away from us.

Anyway, 7 papers down, 14 more to go. ERRRKKK!!

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when.....

I asked myself 'Am I dreaming or is this for real?' whenever I thought about SMKDJ's victory in bringing back the prestigious Datuk Wira for the 3rd time today. This post will not go on full details (check Calvin's blog for precise, accurate details of the debates) but rather it will encapsulate the essence and the core of our journey to victory.

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when the Selangor champion forfeited and we came in to replace them

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we did in 10 days what others did in 6 months

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we have extremely dedicated coaches like Puan Mag and Puan Koh

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we have 7 young, committed debaters who were willing to skip exams and stay back until 4.30 pm everyday to prepare for the debates

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we worked as a team and helped each other in the best way possible

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we worked so hard in Kelantan that we even forgot about dinner

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when the best compliment we received was that we were well-mannered and knew how to carry ourselves well

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we waited for 9 months before we reached the finals

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we listen to the painful post mortem from our coaches after each debate and try our best to improve the next time around

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we have the whole school rooting for us to go all the way to the top

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we have such supportive ex-DJians who helped us tremendously along the way and always wish the best for us

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we won a lot of hearts at the national level by just being humble and humourous

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we (hopefully) will become a better debater, a better teammate and a better person with the experience we got from this victory

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we proved our doubters wrong when they initially thought we couldn't make it

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we created history by being the only school in the whole of Malaysia who has won the Wira cup thrice

This had been a really exhausting yet invaluable journey all together. We, the WIRA NATIONAL CHAMPIONS '08 would like to dedicate our victory to those who have played a vital role in our success. Those who made the impossible possible. Those who urged us to reach our dreams and supported us all the way 'till the end.

Puan Koh, Puan Mag, Kevin, John, Marc, Andrew, the form 3s, our parents and of course the debaters (Keefe, Daryl, Sophia, Jay, Calvin and Rachel) themselves. I could not have asked for a better support system than this.

No man's an island. No man's a debate team and certainly not DJ's debate team.

This is a story of success. And it is OUR story.

*pics will come later

Off to Kelantan

GO TEAM!

I'm off to Kelantan tomorrow for 4 days with the rest of the debate team including Puan Mag and Puan Koh. We have worked very hard for the last 12 days and did our best. Whatever happens in Kelantan for the next few days will be beyond our control.

Win or lose, trophy or no trophy it won't matter much because at the end of it all we got more than what a debater could ask for. Experiences, friendships and a good addition to our CV ;)

It's nationals and please oh please let us be in your prayers. We'll try our best to make you proud.

So wish us all the best!

happy deepavali!

HAPPY DEEPAVALI!!! I celebrated today by going to an open house of my dad's friend Datuk M. Good food but the people who were there was even more interesting. I met Teresa Kok, the woman who was detained under ISA with 'security measures' as the excuse (pfftt!).

We were enjoying our food when a DAP politician came and sat down at our table. My dad sort of pulled his leg when he started questioning DAP's policies and then the guy started talking loudly, to the point of shouting, like what our 'dear' Malaysian politicians normally do at the parliament house.

Ughh so uncool. People want to celebrate unity and multiculturalism on this festive day, they opened up the politics issue at the table pulak. As if we don't hear about politics enough -_-

But anyway HAPPY DEEPAVALI again to all who celebrates it. May the lights bring you the joy =)

The ambience of the open house

Teresa Kok and I

This is what we do, this is US

DJ's debate team has less than a week left before the national competitions start and we have been working our butts off. Discussions start from 7.30 am and last all the way till 4.30 pm, speeches are being written and re-written everyday to ensure our caselines are watertight. Mock debates are held every 2 days so we could find out the flaws of our arguments and patch up the gaping holes.

Things are getting intense now as we are running against time. But our discussions are not intense all the time. We're a bunch of crazy debaters who know how to work and have fun at the same time.

We would have to have sweets and lozenges and whatever stuff that is edible to keep our 'hyperness' in check so we can last all the way till late evening. We even have keychains with our names on it as our 'good luck charms'. Except that for my 'good luck charm', it says 'NICK' instead of Zafirah because there isn't any with my name on it. So the closest is 'Nick' because my first name is 'Nik'.

And we couldn't find Jay's name either on the keychains so the closest to his name is 'Karen' which was the last syllable of his last name 'jay karunaKAREN'. Lol

My beloved teammates is one of the reason why I love debating. It's more than just a competiton to us. It's a way of living.

This is what we do, this is US.

We're all in this together, even when it comes to sweets =)

Our stash of sweets

After long hours of discussion, we can't help falling asleep

Good luck charms!

At the end of the day, posers will always be posers. LOL =D