My preliminary perspectives of Dubai

Hye uolls. How is life treating you? Mine not so bad. Not so hectic either. Only feels hectic when both kids are crying at the same time, lol. Oh well, life goes on. Nothing is too big to be worried about every day, isn't it?

It has been 2 and a half months here in Dubai. Weather's getting better. It's a lot less hotter than it was when I arrived in August. Every friends here are eager for winter to come. Me? I dunno what to expect. Just play along and see what's so nice and fun about Dubai in the cooler temperatures. I haven't loved Dubai so far. It's a city of modernization and money in short. It's a city of modern-day caste too, but nobody seems be bothered with it. For me, to rank Dubai out from experience, it would fall below London, Reading and Yokohama for sure. It's not a city for people who appreciate history (like me) or origins of stories (like me) But I have not missed Malaysia that much either (except for the families and my friends back home though).

So what have I been up to in Dubai this coupla months? Well, I made new friends here. I guess it's more fun listing them down. I'll list those whom I more familiar with (cuz the ladies group here is quite a crowd!)

Sal

She's my neighbor, living at the apartment in front of ours. She's an electrical engineer with an Ir title. Now she's on unpaid leave, and I suppose her hobbies now are cooking, baking and sewing, haha. She cooks A LOT! A mother of 3 cute kids.

Aisyah

She lives a few floors below mine. Ex SLB engineer who ventured into children development, which explains her love for teaching. She usually leads the playdate for our kids (since she has all the good ideas!) and she has the talent of sewing. One thing I admire her for is the way she likes to remind us of Allah. And she always says Alhamdulillah, Subhanallah, Masha Allah.. very good practice to keep praising Allah. A mom of 3 too! Currently pregnant.

Nadia

The guru for sewing! Haha. She likes to don her daughter Maira in her self-tailored skirts. Really cute cuz they have this bohemian style look. Sal is very keen to learn sewing from Nadia and Aisyah that I feel drawn too! Lol. Also pregnant with her 4th child. She lives in the apartment across the road.

Kak Zaida

This lady loves cooking too! And she doesn't cook simple stuff okay. Nasi kerabu, laksa johor.. huh you name it. She lives near the beach so it's kinda fun going to her house, haha. A mom of 3.

Kay

A new member of our playdate group. An ex staff of Petronas, has already been here like 3 years. So when I meet a Petronas counterpart, it's easier to connect kann.. haha. 

Well I definitely have a lot to learn from my new friends. It's good to have friends who can be role models to me.

Zara and Fahim are doing good here. Healthy with good appetite and improved social skills. Zara is learning many new things here, thank you to the outings and playdates. Fahim, well, he's learning to walk now.. and I just started to give him solids on a daily basis. Yep, 10 months of exclusive breastfeeding.. woohoo.

So how's being a stay at home mom feel like? Haha. Well, it feels like I am on a loonnggg leave. I was usually not in the office pun kan (Group Travel Selalu kan hehe) so it doesn't really feel weird. Only that I don't do my KLCC outing alone anymore la tu je, haha. I don't really miss Bangi. It's a lot less stressful here. But time sure does fly realllyyy fast in Dubai.

Okay, I got to go. Blogging on a frequent basis still doesn't look feasible to me as yet. Not that I have lost the passion for writing, but most of the time, things are quite complicated to explain here on a blog. Furthermore, there is Instagram that is so easy for me to update my newest up-tos. Well, I am always on Instagram, FYI :D

Hello from Zara and Fahim :D Our new home in Dubai

Surat cinta pertama daripada Dubai

Salaam namaste from Dubai!

Salam namaste? Dubai ni ramai orang india.. So kalau cakap salaam namaste sure ramai yang faham, betul tak? Hehe. Anyway, baru rasa2 nak settle down kat sini. All the packages and luggages dah habis unpacked. So, life's back to normal. 

(Ramai orang india ehh.. sebenarnya berharapan nak jumpa Aamir Khan ke, Shahid Kapoor ke, Kareena ke buat filming sini.. lol. Neil Nitin Mukesh tu.. paling hensem lah. haha)

Sure ramai yang tertanya, ok ke duduk rumah after 7 years of working? Boleh tahan ke? Soalan ini selalunya ditanya oleh mereka yang bajet careerwoman la kan.. atau nak ada anak tapi malas jaga sendiri. I know that feeling, haha. Walau lepas ada anak dah tak berapa nak bajet careerwoman, tapi kerana tuntutan bekerja and peer pressures tu, gaya mesti maintain, betul tak?

Ahh, melalut pulak aku.

Honestly stress kat rumah and stress at work adalah 2 perkara yang berbeza. Tapi I guess stress at home adalah lebih seronok daripada stress at work. Stress at work (setelah menganalisa diri sendiri dan whatsapp conversations from my colleagues) adalah amat tak best kerana merasa kebergantungan terhadap manusia lain, yang selalunya mengecewakan. Be them your beloved colleagues ke, your most hated boss ke, or just this lady from department lain yang takde kena mengena tetiba minta something that takes away your time from your pile of work (I would love to write down their names mannnn...), for now adalah lebih baik stress di rumah. Seriously I'm not kidding.

Well, at least, when habis masak (and stressed kalau Fahim tetiba terbangun melalak sebab mama takde), Zara will eat and look at me and say "mmm.. delicious, thank you mama.." Boss ada nak cakap selalu "Good job..!" ? Haraamm.. lagi bagi kerja on top of my already full plate ada la. In a way, the sense of accomplishment I can obtain more easily (and mmg akan dapat pun!) at home. Sense of accomplishment at work.. hmm.. the last real one was masa dapat TUV certification kot. That was 3 years ago!

Anyway, I don't know how long I will be staying at home of course. Tapi for now rasa nak kerja tu belum ada la lagi. Perasaan nak ambil masters tu memang membuak2. And the course has already been identified. Cuma I already missed the semester for this year because it started before I left Petronas. So tahun ni tak dapat la kan. It's alright. I'm more eager about my sister's wedding planned at the end of this year. So yep, really looking forward to that occasion. Mana taknya, kakak pengantin lagi bersedia daripada pengantinnya, haha. 3 pasang baju dah siap dah. And kasut sekali!

Dubai, presently it's hot here. Tapi tak lama lagi nak cuaca sejuk dah. These few weeks my life is about home, cooking, shopping malls and taxis. Lol. Belum beli kereta lagi. Pun tengah fikir2 nak beli kereta apa. But our new home is very near to restaurants and groceries, so it's really convenient. Baru nak kenal jiran2.. hehe. Slowly2..

Hello from Zara & Fahim! You lucky lots.

Oklah, sebenarnya banyak nak tulis lagi. Tapi masa tak mengizinkan (teruna dan dara di rumah memerlukan perhatian mama, hehe). Ada hutang post lagi kan.. hutang dengan FSI girls, and hutang nak bercerita macam mana saya berjaya menjual kereta Honda City saya. Pengalaman yang berharga tu.. hehe. 

Alright. See you in the next post. Adios from Burj Khalifa!

Blabs from Yokohama

It's near to the end of 2012.

The good news is the prophecy of 2012 being the year of doomsday is miscalculated. Feel sorry for the Mayans (and it proves only Allah knows when it's gonna happen ok, tak payah la sibuk2 nak make prophecies of no avail..)

Tapi sebenarnya I don't really like to get into another new year.. it's like I am at the starting line again.. and the acronyms start to play in your head.. KPI, ACD, IPC, ICP.. whatsoever.. so bored of them.

Well, let's put that aside.

For now, all that matters is our Japan trip. Vacation for Papa and Zara, and business + vacation for Mama :)

Actually my husband and I have long been thinking on where to spend our year end holiday. We have been shortlisting a few places since.. hmm.. May this year?? Haha. Well, my beloved husband, being tied up with work, was unable to join us on our Seoul trip last July, so he wanted us to go for another holiday, the three of us. Little that we know, procrastinating the planning would eventually lead us to... Japan!!

We are residing in Yokohama now. Yokohama is a beautiful city; the 2nd largest city in Japan. Modern, very clean, very tasteful, not as busy as Tokyo.

 The view of Yokohama from my room. Can you spot Mount Fuji? Looks awesome, right?

 The street across my office. Many of the trees are already shedding leaves to welcome winter.

This is where I work :)

..and I work with these Japanese guys. Uchikawa-san and Koide-san.

Talented young engineers. Sukidesu!

Zara and Papa are having a great time here (well, dgn Papa leh duduk dalam stroller, dengan Mama tak mau ye.. Mama's arms are getting muscular now you know!) Besides trying to learn the language, we enjoyed the food as well :) Never did I want to taste any sushi or tempura in KL, but now that I've tried here, I must say, I love it!

Dining at one of our fave spots nearby the hotel. Garlic Jo's.

 

Zara laju je makan sushi.. tapi understandable pon, cuz it was good!

We're gonna have a long break for Christmas and New Year holidays.. so we're be taking the chance to go out from Yokohama. Perhaps do more sightseeing, and of course.. shopping!

I'll be posting lottsss of pics to my Instagram from time to time now.. macam agak malas nak layan Facebook nowadays.

Till then, take care guys.

Selamat Hari Raya

I guess it's still not too late to wish everyone Selamat Hari Raya :)

Can't believe Syawal has entered its 1 week mark. How time flies. Our exhaustion of the first 3 days of raya has not ended yet, and we are already embarking on a new journey today to Bournemouth for 3 days.

Thanks to the friends here in the UK, our raya was really enjoyable. The excitement started as early as the night before raya, in which as soon as my hubby arrived home from the office on late Thursday, we packed our stuff and left for London, heading for his friend, Faizal's apartment in Elephant and Castle. To our surprise, he and his friends prepared all sorts of raya cuisine: rendang, ayam masak merah, nasi impit, you name it! And the best of all, I feel one of my goals here would soon be achieved: making new friends :)

Here are a few pics of our jalan-jalan raya :)

 The masterpiece dishes by Pecok & Co.

The ladies.. waiting for Isyak prayers and Syawal takbir

 A few of us :) credits to Syina for the pic

 

Bermaaf-maafan with hubby in front of Malaysia High Commission.. :D

After that, we made our way to Malaysia House.. for Raya Open House!

We made ourselves comfy on the grass to feast on the goooodd food :)

Hubby and I made our way back to Elephant and Castle after the open house, while the rest of the group continued their raya agenda. Commuting even around London can really take its toll on the feet.. getting on the buses and tube trains.. huh. The next day, we left London and headed for Brighton to visit our friends, Doub and Diyana, his wife.

Doub fetched us at the station, and drove us to his place at Brighton Marina. It was such a scenic place. Very different from Reading obviously. Its sandy + rocky beaches and pretty town caught us enchanted. Doub and Diyana received three other guests that weekend: Renuka with her hubby Sachin, and Sachin's French colleague, Emily. We stayed there for a night, and both of them took us around Brighton. It was really fun!

The view of private boats from the apartment balcony

Doub was really busy in the kitchen

.. and when the food was ready, Diyana was the most accommodating hostess!

Nasi lemak!! Memang sedap. Kudos the the host and hostess :)

We were brought sightseeing around Brighton, including the beach, Brighton Pier and Royal Pavilion. On that very weekend, Food and Drink Festival was held at the town center, so there were lots of stalls selling all kinds of yummy food like cupcakes, muffins, jams, cheese, you name it. 

 Brighton was jam-packed when we were here.. I guess people loved the beach and the sun

Before we called it a day, we dropped by at this interesting restaurant called Bill's (take a look at the background of the picture, those bottles are food products made by Bill's!) Well, there's Bill's in Reading too, but we prefer to have home-cooked meal everyday.. I love surprising my hubby with my cooking whenever he gets back from work :)

Three couples: myself, Diyana, Doub, Renuka, Sachin and my hubby :)

Not long after we had our lunch back at the apartment, we bid Doub and Diyana goodbye and headed home to Reading.

It was really tiring, yet it was fun! More pics will be uploaded in Facebook soon. Oh, my hubby said he will do it. 

Ahem.. a hint of us at Bournemouth :D

Well, it doesn't say much about Bournemouth.. but it's really beautiful here. Really.

Ooh, and also, happy celebrating Hari Malaysia yah.. :)

I wanna immortalize this here!

I'm glad you loved it :) Happy birthday sayang~