Raudhatus Sakinah and Julaybib

Last weekend, Team Syuhada of Kindness Malaysia (Penang region) went to Rumah Raudhatus Sakinah (RS) in Sungai Bakap, Penang.

Raudhatus Sakinah was established as an institution that provides shelter and counselling to victims of teenage girls that are mostly the victims of social illness such as abuse, mistreatment, neglect, psychological stress, rape, incest and so on. RS tries to help teenagers who are involved to boost their self-confidence and their ability to become a useful person to society and religion.

RS has been in operation since August 1998 under the operation of the Wanita Pertubuhan Jamaah Islah Malaysia (WJIM). RS is an ongoing project to help people deal with social problems, especially among teenagers. RS has officially registered under the Care Centre Act 1993, the Social Welfare Department.

The RS home in Penang was opened in 2007. Besides Penang, RS shelters are also available in Sungai Buloh (HQ), Kelantan, Johor and Kuala Lumpur.

The Raudhatus Sakinah, the peaceful garden

Umrah 1434H

Alhamdulillah .. Allah granted us the opportunity to fly thousands of miles to become guests of His home, Baitullah, once again. The happiness and joy that can't be described. The pounding and nervous feelings still arise, more over when it was nearer to the departure date. I went to the Umrah trip with the two most important person in my life - my mother and my husband - and with my aunt and her family. 

We departed to Jeddah by Saudi Air on Saturday 16 February 2013. We spent three nights in Madinah before we go to Makkah. 

Masjid Quba'

The first and oldest mosque in the world - built by prophet Muhammad s.a.w

One of the hadith on Masjid Quba':

"Prophet Muhammad s.a.w said: Whoever makes ablutions at home and then goes and prays in the Mosque of Quba, he will have a reward like that of an 'Umrah."

(Hadith is reported by Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Al-Nasa'i, Ibn Majah and Hakim al-Nishaburi.)

I miss....

I miss hanging out lepak makan tengok wayang window shopping doing outdoor activities blablabla. I feel like I haven't watched any movies since ages!

I miss tweeting. I miss being a Twitter addict. I miss holding my phone while having meals, checking on the Tweetdeck every 5 minutes just to communicate randomly with the Twitter friends. :(

I even miss hanging out in front of the television at home doing nothing at all. Or watching TV series on my iPad. Yeah.. I have downloaded two episodes of Revenge, four episodes of Glee, three episodes of New Girls and few others and they are still in my waiting list to be watched. . Haishh.

I miss lying down on the bed reading my favourite book.

And the thing that I miss the most is blogging! I have so much to tell but I'm too busy to blog. :(

I need the time on my own.
I just have to get through with THIS, and then I'll have all the time I needed, insyaAllah. And then I'll do massive update to this blog.

In the meantime, I hope I pray that everything will go well. Semoga semua urusan dipermudahkan Allah. Aminnnn~

p/s: Thanks Baiti and Hanie for the surprise you guys arranged last Saturday. Suka sangat! Love u guys a lot!!!

p/s 2 : It's a final countdownnnnn! *CUAK MODE SWITCHED ON*

The end of another journey

I finished my Bachelor degree somewhere in 2008 and were conferred the degree of Bachelor of Engineering (Polymer Engineering) during the Universiti Sains Malaysia 38^th Convocation in August 2011. I’ve started to happily going into the lab and doing experiments, and reading journals looking for information and keep updated with the current trends of polymer field since the industrial training period and during my final year of Bachelor where we needed to submit a dissertation on research as a fulfillment to our Bachelor degree. Hence I decided to pursue my Master’s degree and registered in December 2008.

"Luck never gives, it only lends."

After I get a hold of my precious Bachelor of Engineering (Polymer Engineering), I did not really look for job because I’ve made the decision to pursue with my Master Degree. I wanted to hold a Master scroll, or even a Doctorate if that’s possible. I’ve always wanted to be a researcher or a lecturer.

Years went by, and I came to almost the end of my Master study. I started looking for jobs - academic institution, research centre, industry - no luck. I sent out resumes (with the big S!!) – with only degree qualification, with my master in progress stated, high expected salary, low expected salary – still no luck. When I was about to come home for good after submitting the first draft of thesis, cousin Along asked if I wanted to do part time job in her office. I said yes. When you have mouth to feed, bills to pay, car payment to settle, least you would think of how good or glamour the job is.

As bad as I am...

These few weeks, I’ve came across a lot of incident which involve things that would hurt one’s mum’s feeling. Not that I’m such a good daughter that never hurt my mum’s feeling, but there are some things that happen around me that I know, I wouldn’t do when it comes to involve a mother.

Weeks ago, I tweeted that I overheard a high school girl talking about how she feels ashamed if she has to go out with her mum, just the two of them.

Penang, 1990

For your eyes only - Part 2

As of today, 19th April 2011, it had been approximately 12 days since i realized that my left eye became reddish and scared me, and others too. In my previous blog entry, I've posted a picture of my red left eye captured on the 14th April 2011, means on the 7th day since I spotted the reddish on the eye. That was like 3 4 days after I went to the clinic which the doctor told me I got pterygium blablabla whatsoever.

Day 7

Let’s make it 5 a day

No, I’m not gonna talk about the five times solah a day as a must for a muslim.

I actually wanna talk on a healthy diet that we all should practice. I didn’t notice that the 5-a-day is actually known worldwide, until the Nutrition team of IMU organizes the Nutrition Week with the slogan of “5 colours a day”.

We all know that we need vegetable and fruit every day in our balance and healthy diet. But we don’t really give attention on how much of a fruit and vegetable portion should we take. So, as a way to practice healthy diet, I forced myself to take the 5-a-day challenge.

What Colour is Your Food?

Nicknames

Everyone has their own unique nicknames called by family members, friends, clique etc. I, myself have a lots. Different circle of people call me with different nicknames. Even though my full name is already short enough, it appears that a lot of nickname could be created by that.

I remember few years back, in Facebook there was an application where friends can submit the nicknames they call you. I tried looking for it but it isn’t there anymore (or I couldn’t find it). I tried remembering all the nicknames I’ve been called with.

Lets's do this!

Sentimental value vs technology

I still remember how excited I was to send and receive Hari Raya Aidilfitri cards from classmate which was mailed to my home, and received birthday cards from friends and family members during my school years. In secondary school, I made most of the birthday cards for my mum, family members and friends. When exam was around the corner, I made my friends good luck cards. Once in a while, I would make cards for anyone for no reason. Not that I make beautiful cards just that I think the sentimental value added to the hand-made cards are priceless compare to the ready-made cards.

 

 

Why I don't write very personal stuff in my personal blog

I consider this blog as a personal blog as I started it as one, and I don’t really blog about specific stuffs like the one I do with my Travel Blog, well as the title says so – for travelling stuffs. But even as a personal blog, I don’t really blog about things that I feel a bit too personal to share with the readers like some other bloggers do. I am not that secretive, if you know me personally, but I have my own reasons on why I refuse to share some little part of my life. And I kind of amazed with some bloggers who really share EVERYTHING with the readers. Some of them make the blog like their own diary. And let everyone read their diary. But if you ever try to ask them don’t they think they’re being too open, you get answers like “Well, it’s my blog, I write everything I want”.

Setulus Kaseh Charity Dinner with @maherzain - by Yayasan Kemanusiaan Muslim Aid Malaysia

Hey guys, as some of you might know, I’ve been blogging about Rumah Titian Kaseh (RTK) for a few times by now. I was also invited  by Mr. Muhammad from Donate For Ummah – the man who always gives his hand to help the unfortunate from RTK  as a writer for the RTK blog ( I didn’t really write a lot there tho.. huhu... my bad -_-" ) Anyway, he asked me to help to promote a charity dinner with the most charming male singer of the moment, Maher Zain they’ve been planning.

When life gives me lemons…

…i tried to make lemonade, but it doesn’t taste good.
:(

I am not a person who like to plan ahead of what I’m gonna do and what I wanna achieve in life. The only thing I planned, that I can remember clearly is to get married on the 20th October 2010, which I obviously failed to achieve.

But during my Master degree, I started (try) to plan of what I was gonna do next and how to achieve each of them. I planned on when to start my lab work, when I’ll be able to finish. When to start writing for the thesis and when is the target date to finish it. I planned to graduate by certain time, to start working, so on and so forth. But I guess planning just won’t do for me. I failed to finish writing on the particular period as i planned. I failed to start working as I planned. I’ve failed myself.

Life is short, so live it to the fullest

“Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it is. The way you deal with it is what makes the difference.”

- Virginia Satir

In a few months, I’m gonna turn 25 and I don’t think I’ve achieve much in life. I’m not working, yet. I haven’t been conferred with the Masters Degree. I am not even married. But, I do live my life to the fullest (or at least I think I am). I tried to do many thing in life that I think If I didn’t try to do it before I get older or die, it’ll be a loss for me.

1. I tried kayak.



I am afraid of the sea since the incident where I almost drown when I was small. But when a friend asked me to go to a kayak course with her during my 1^st year study in USM, I think I should at least give it a try. We went to kayak at Pantai Merdeka, Kedah and I found myself enjoying it. The last time I kayaked was during the holiday with family at the Rebak Island, Langkawi.

2. I went into a cave.

Source : Google.com

(I don’t know what term I should use for ‘going into a cave’ activity.) I went into Gua Tempurung, Perak with high-school friends in 2001. It was one of the greatest experiences ever – to crawl in the water that almost got into the mouth, to climb up the rock, to slide down a slippery rock which almost hurt my hands palm for trying to ‘control & break’ (stupid me!). Too bad my camera fall into the water, and so I don’t have any picts during the trip.I wanna go again… but… :(


3. I savour every bite of a meal.

  How can I resist this? :/

I love foods. Enuff said. Everyone who is close to me knows the fact that I enjoy eating variety of foods and enjoy trying new food. Malay, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Indian, Middle East, Western, Italian. Name it! :D


4. I danced traditional dance. 



Yes, you can go to the club and dance till you drop. But you can’t easily dance any Malay traditional dance. Try to dance to a Zapin – you’ll be lost in the middle of the dancers if you don’t stick to the beat. Try to dance to an Inang – you’ll find yourself like a wood in the middle of the leaves blowing in the wind.


5. I hiked.

Tweeting from 227m above sea level ;)

I did it, to the Muka Head Light House, Penang National Park! That was one of my biggest achievements due to the health problem I have. It was fun! And even funnier when I get to tweet from up above and sent mms to several ‘lucky’ people, to show how excited I was.

6. I keep old friends, I make new friends.

2003 @ SMK Aminuddin Baki

Thanks to the invention of Twitter, I made new friends each day. And I honestly glad I get to know most of them – the awesome twiends of mine.


7. I travel.

 

I wish to write it as ‘I go travel all around the world’ but sadly I haven’t really been out of Malaysia for holiday. But that doesn’t stop me for still go travel all around Malaysia. I’ve already been to 12 out of 13 states in Malaysia (not including Federal Territory), and still I find that I haven’t been to a lot of interesting places in the states. I need to go to Sabah to complete all 13 states. I even dedicated my travelling experience to the places of interest in my travel blog – Bubbles Goes Travel. I wish and pray one day I’ll get to really write it as ‘I go travel all around the world’. Aminnn~


8. I touched a snake.



Like, finally!!! I am so NOT gonna touch it again! Hahaha. See the obvious muka cuak of mine? And see my cousin Diba cheated, she held the snake with a shawl. Plus the snake head is with me, Diba only held the tail. Scaryyy!!Anyway I’ve always wanted to try to touch a snake and now that I had, it’s gonna be the once in a lifetime experience. Confession : the snake was heavy that i feel pain in my neck :/


9. I learned to cook and bake.

 

Cooking and baking is hard for those who are not born with the talent, like me. So far I’ve learned to prepare simple Malay dishes such as curry, sambal, asam pedas, Indian famous Rasam and Chinese cuisine like Chicken Stew.  I tried to prepare chicken chop and mushroom soup, which I learned in a cooking class (yes, I’m not ashamed to admit that I went to several cooking and baking classes). I baked cakes and pastries. And well, I’ve tried to prepare sushi too. :D Either it taste good or not, never mind. At least I have the courage to try, right? :)


10. I got myself a Degree in Polymer Engineering.

USM 38th Convocation ceremony, 2008

And to get my Masters Degree, soon. InsyaAllah. :)


11. I blog.

www.bubbles182.com

www.live.bubbles182.com

www.bubblesgoestravel.com

Besides blogging to share what I know or done with all of the blog readers, I also blog as my life journal to keep record of every single thing I accomplished every day. Once in a while, I’ll spend my time to re-read my previous post to see how have I lived my life.

There are still a lot of things I want to do and I wish I get the chance to do it, InsyaAllah.
Join me in living life to the fullest. Start your list today! :)

"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring."

-Marilyn Monroe

Annual break-fasting gathering with girlfriends dilemma

Every year (or at least the last 2-3 years), my girlfriends and I always had at least an Iftar get-together during Ramadhan. It has been like an annual thing for us to do. And every year, I’ve never failed to made it to the Iftar gathering. In fact, I was one of the very excited ones to call/text the others and make plans.

(2008 and 2009 Iftar blog posts)

Little Penang Cafe (KLCC), 2008

After-Iftar session, A&W (KLCC), 2008

This year, Naddy took the initiative to message us on FB to set the date sooner, since everyone’s going to be busy with works, planning iftar with family members and some with wedding arrangements. And since I am busy struggling with the thesis writing, I can only be back on certain weekends.

Food Republic (Pavilion), 2009

After-Iftar session, Ministry of Food, MOF (Pavilion), 2009

So after the discussion, they agreed to meet up on the 21st/22nd August, which I most probably won’t be able to make it since I’m going back this weekend (and I bought the return tickets already).

But then Sharmi started making sad face emoticon in the message - then on my FB wall – and followed by some others. I didn’t know what to say, just that I really can’t make it due to some reasons like work stuffs and cost, for sure.

Then Eda started to say thing that made me awed.

(altogether now) Awwwwwwwwwwww~

But B my dear, “the cause of Bringing Julia Home for Ramadhan”?! LOL. Dah macam kempen ape je nih.

But hey, aren’t they the sweetest thing that ever happen to me? :’)

This is how satan works

Found these videos on YouTube, and I guess they’re worth sharing, moreover with the coming holy month of Ramadhan.

 

 

(Video creadits to www.wamy.co.uk and www.islamtomorrow.com )

والله أعلم بالصواب

 

"(Fasting) for a fixed number of days; but if any of you is ill, or on a journey, the prescribed number (Should be made up) from days later. For those who can do it (With hardship), is a ransom, the feeding of one that is indigent. But he that will give more, of his own free will,- it is better for him. And it is better for you that ye fast, if ye only knew"

~ [al-Baqarah, 2:184]

Happy Fasting to all my Muslim readers. Salam Ramadhan Al-Mubarak.

For Women in Science

I was talking to a friend one day, about who has inspired me to achieve what I’ve wanted in life including pursuing my Master’s Degree and being in this research field. There are a few of them including mum, family members, friends, lecturers and some others. One of the most influence inspiration i got is from my very own lecturer Dr. Azura A. Rashid.

Polymer Night 2008

She was my lecturer during my undergraduate studies and my supervisor for my Final Year Project. She was one of two women lecturers we had during undergrad, and yes I was closer to her than the other lecturer. Plus, when I was doing Industrial Training in Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia (RRIM), she was one of the visiting lecturers. In fact, she helped me getting the IT place in RRIM, due to some problem I faced with my supposed-to-be IT place.

After finished my 4 years undergraduate, I worked for her as her Research Assistant. During my Final Year Project and RA works, Dr.Azura helped me in many ways. She told me stories, she gave me her words of advice and she helped me find the strength in me. She might have not realize it though. But I would like to thank her for that.

Paper presented was from my Final Year Project.

Last year, Dr. Azura together with Dr. Zainovia Lockman (USM) and Dr. Zarina Asputi (UM) were awarded the L’Oreal Malaysia For Women in Science National Fellowships.  The award which is jointly conducted with the Malaysian National Commission for Unesco and supported by the Academy of Sciences Malaysia, Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry and Higher Education Ministry was developed in 2006, to provide assistance, encouragement and recognition to women who contribute to scientific progress.

(L-R) Dr. Zarina Asputi, Dr. Zainovia Lockman, Dr. Azura A. Rashid

(Picture credit to : http://jauharkalam.blogspot.com)

With this award, Dr. Azura indirectly, gives me more strength in struggling to finish my Masters and achieve the best in life. I want to be like her, the women in science.

I remember talking to her about my worry of getting married late if I didn’t just go looking for jobs but instead pursue my study until the highest level, and she said :

“Go pursue your dreams and ambitions. You don’t have to worry about not getting married because our jodoh is in Allah’s hand. If it’s written that you’re getting married late, even if you don’t pursue your study, you’ll be getting married late.”

And well hey, look at her. She’s young, received her PhD, married with children, and success in what she’s doing.

InsyaAllah, I’ll do my best to achieve what I want in life, too.
Note to self:

"Life's a climb. But the view is great."

Check out;
For Woman in Science L’oreal website (http://fwis.com.my/)
FWIS – Dr. Azura’s page (http://fwis.com.my/azurarashid)

A house is not a home

Few months back, i wrote a blog post about a shelter home, Rumah Titian Kasih (RTK) near Taman Tasik Titiwangsa, Kuala Lumpur (read it here) during a visit there. I met lovely yet  lonely orphanages, old folks and single mothers.

Me & Kak Cik

In more or less a year before,  bestfriend, Baiti came up with her beautifully written article about the same RTK in The Star “Welcome cash boost for home’s residents”.

Click on picture to read more.

So, anyway, since I’m known as a person who is so lazy to read the news, Mum always text me if there are something big in everyday news that she think i need to check it. I had a perfect morning – woke up early & fresh, despite went to bed a bit late, had Roti Planta & Neslo Ice for breakfast, and received the claim cheque – until I got Mum’s text…

“Penghuni rumah titian kasih kene halau x mampu bayar sewa. Kosmo ada gambar Nana tgh keluar”

  My cousin with Nana :)

I can still remember her voice.. repeatedly saying ““mana ibu nana…?” “kenapa ibu x datang..?” “Mak Pah baik… jaga kami….mak Pah baik sangat….”

So I checked out Kosmo online, and TheStar online and… i almost had tears in my eyes.

 70 Penghuni RTK di halau

70 women at Titian Kasih asked to leave as house being put up for sale

I know there’s nothing I can do. All that I’m capable of doing is to pray that there is someone, or some organization, or the government, whoever out there will come and help them, as we know Mak Pah can’t handle this all by herself, alone.

Taken from the article written by my bestfriend, Baiti;

“However, I worry what would happen to the children if we don’t own our own house. I won’t be around forever,” 

– Mak Pah

Visit Rumah Titian Kasih blog here.

Earth Day 2010 – 22nd April 2010

Hello everyone. Do you know that we’re celebrating Earth Day on 22nd April each year? It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in held on April 22, 1970. And this year, 2010, we’re celebrating the 40th Earth Day.

Ask yourself. What have you done, to date, to save earth?

This is the least i do to help in saving the earth:-

• I sell recycle paper, plastics and cans.
• I reuse plastic bags from the supermarket, instead of buying trash bin plastics.
• I bought environmental-friendly, reusable shopping bags from supermarkets (i.e. Tesco, Giants, The Store) and use it when i go there to buy groceries.
• I bought my own Starbucks coffee tumbler, so the each time I buy coffee from Starbucks, I help saving the paper cups.
• I read the journals from the laptop, instead of keep on printing and use a lot of papers.
• I requested for online bills, instead of receiving 2 or 3 bills by mail each months – to reduce paper usage.
• I have my own mineral water bottle, and bring drinking water to wherever i go, instead of buying mineral water each time I’m out.
• I did support the Earth Hour 28.03.10 (was at my uncle’s place – and yes, we switched off all electrical appliance).
• I do not litter. I throw rubbish in the bins.
• I unplugged cables for electronic devices when not in use.
• Last but not least, I spread the words!!

“Forty years after the first Earth Day, the world is in greater peril than ever. While climate change is the greatest challenge of our time, it also presents the greatest opportunity – an unprecedented opportunity to build a healthy, prosperous, clean energy economy now and for the future.”

 www.earthday.org

 

Check out Google today!!

 

p/s:

to show your support for the Earth Day, lets wear something in GREEN today!!!

peace & love.

My very own Powerpuff Girls..

 

I might have updated this on my live blog, but i don’t care, I’m updating it again here. :P

 

Friday, 12.03.10

My lovely Buttercup, Siti Noorzidah Mohd Sabri is finally married to the man of her life, Wan Hassanol Bolkiah. The akad was said by Abg Wan after the Asar prayer at Masjid AlJamiul Makmur, Kulim Kedah. My best friend plus ex-roommate is now officially taken! Congratulations, Zyd & Abg Wan! :D

Isn’t she lovely..? :’)So honoured to be the one to drive my Buttercup to the mosque. 

She’s so happy!! I’m so happy for you too!!

The next day was the reception ceremony.

After years of waiting.. Alhamdulillah~   

(I went back home on Saturday night to attend another wedding in Kuala Lumpur, but that’s a whole different story.)

 

Monday, 15.0310

My dearie Blossom, Nurul Akma Ruhani is engaged to her sweetheart, Ecam, held in her hometown in Tanah Merah, Kelantan, which I didnt attend. Uyu, so sorry that I couldn’t make it, thanks to the 2nd year lab that I need to conduct. –_-“ btw, you look beautiful and I’m happy for you ;) And thanks for the mms. Congratulations, Uyu & Ecam! :D

Uyu & Ecam

 

 

There goes the story of my very own Buttercup & Blossom……. ♥ 2nd year. 2005. Convex, USM Main Campus. ♥

 

Loves,

your very own Bubbles.