Menangkuk di Air yang Keruh - Taking Advantage

Assalamualaikum all!

Few weeks ago, a news of a Malaysian couple been held in Sweden fro beating child who did not pray had cause a phenomenon in Malaysia. A lot of citizens expressed their anger on Sweden government for detaining the couple and put the children under non-muslim foster home. To read more, you can find the article here.

I felt sorry for the couple and the kids. For the couple who tried their best as parents to teach their children. For the children for being apart from their parents and living with strangers in other people's country.

The pressure from the media and Malaysians make the government to give extra attention to the case. As the Malaysian government failed to negotiate with Sweden authorities to release the couple, but they managed to bring back the kids to their home country.

About the allegation to the couple, it is unfortunate that the incident happened on in Malaysia soil. It happened in Sweden where the law forbid parents spanking their children. As Muslims, we are allow to hit our children in a way of teaching them, when they are baligh, when your intention is to teach them, not to hurt them. It will be a debate from non-Muslim on what is the borderline of teaching and hurting the children. Now, that needs a deep research for that as I won't explain about it here.

Till this post published, the couple are still in the hand of Sweden authorities. But rumors said, they will easily walk away because of the different culture. Wallahualam. I wish all the best to the couple and pray for their safety.

As the children, all of them are safely landed in their home country and now are under their relative's care. The kids had been in international and barely speak Malay language, their parents' native language and Malaysia national language. As their mother specifically mentioned to the minister that helped to be bring them back to Malaysia to enroll her children in public school.

Common sense tells us that it will be trouble during the transition; language barrier, different syllybus, different environment and routine plus no parents to ease them during this hard time. However as a human being, they will adapt. They have all the support from their relatives to many other concern Malaysians.

However, I saw a very obvious move from a private company that try to take advantage from this crisis. I read this article and felt the rush of anger all over myself. Frankly, I just feel angry. Education is every human needs, regardless whoever you are. Everybody has fair amount of chances to receive good education. Plus, it is free in Malaysia. However, there are many children in Malaysia who fail to receive education due to their background. Some live deep in the forest/ jungle, some are poor that have to earn money for living instead of attending school and some are being taken advantage by other irresponsible party to work/ asking donation around. Many cases in Malaysia that children been exploited by 'islamic school' to ask for 'donation'. This is a heavy crime because taking advantage on minor. 

So, to Datuk Hassan Harun, owner of Wadi Sofia College, I'm not impress with your move of offering the kids some place at your international school. Because there children are entitle and have no issue in enrolling into public school plus their father is employed by agency that already taking care of the children welfare. 

I'm more than I'm impress, best word is grateful, if you help to release those 'tahfiz students' who are entangled in human exploitation by irresponsible party. I'm impress too if you, Datuk Hassan Harun extend your offer to excellent students who have to leave school because have to help their family to earn for living. 

I'm glad that the children of this couple didn't put let this college to get 10 seconds fame by accepting his offer. The children are happy to school in public school, like the rest of other citizens. 

Refugees crisis in host country: Who to be blame?

Assalamualaikum!

I've been busy, busy, busy with many, many, many things. That's explained why I seldom blogging lately. Actually there are many things in my mind that I love to pour out here, but time envy me. I have very little time to spend on jotting down my thoughts and opinions.

Well, yesterday, my husband told me that his colleague is the son to one Malaysian activist. When I found out who is his mother, it flashed automatically on her report about refugees in Malaysia and on how they been treated by local authorities. 

I believe everybody has soft spot for refugees. They have to leave their country, without their belongings, walk for thousands miles into other's country, hoping people to accept them. Many countries in the world open their border for refugees, e.g Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, France, Malaysia, Indonesia and many others. Many countries open opportunity for resettlement program like the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Norway. 

Many stories reported that host countries ill treated those refugees. I take Malaysia, my country, for example. Reports by activists that Malaysians and the local authorities give poor treatment to the refugees been spread throughout the world. Malaysia, a country that is full of immigrants from many countries, like China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Indonesia, Philippines; just naming a few. And yet Malaysia plays a role as host countries to asylum seekers from Iran, Iraq, Myanmar, Pakistan, India; to name a few. 

Being a host country is not easy as it sounds like. It is noble, but not easy. Take example that people come and stay at your house. You have your own rules and not people have their own way that sometimes isn't tally with your way. The refugees that come to other countries, bring along their way of lifestyle, which most of the time doesn't fit in the local society. For example, it is normal for some refugees parents to let their kids play freely at outside. But to the host country, it is a dangerous move to let the kids play alone as the kidnap, rape and murder cases are uprising. With that, it adds the problem to the host country to curb the cross culture issue. 

The refugees as well, that illegally enter the host country, will quietly try to blend with local community. With this, it meant that they will be a part of the host country's economy growth by taking up job. This will increase the competition with the local workers. This also will bring unhealthy competition as most of the refugees are unskilled workers but they are the chosen ones because the labor cost is cheaper than the local who are semi-skilled worker. This issue will create another problem; low quality end result. 

Refugees normally come from poor or undeveloped countries. They are also been neglected by their ruled government. Mostly they are not vaccinated and largely they enter the host country with diseases. This will increase the host country's medical expenditure. The refugees who need medical assistance should be treated because if fail it will spread to local citizens. The refugees in Malaysia also practice poor hygiene and have not much knowledge hygiene and diseases. I experienced a family who came for interview for resettlement program where two of the family members were having chicken pox. They were happy sipping soda drinks outside of my room and acted as if nothing unusual happened. When I questioned the head of the family member, he didn't know what happen to his daughters and I had to become the doctor, explaining about chicken pox to the family, and that the daughters shouldn't go out publicly as they might spread the disease to others. 

No country loves to have prison. Common sense tells us that having prison and detention center bring nothing but a burden to the country. We will be wasting tax payers money by supporting the inmates expenses on food and lodging, the maintenance of the facilities and human resource mobilization. However, in my home country, Malaysia, we have several immigrant detention center. Who is in there? Some of them are refugees. But why are they there? Because they offend the host country's home rules. It is an ideal situation if the refugees stay rationally in the host country. However, we can't deny that they are human like us, too. And they have the ability to make mistake like local citizens that validate them to be place in local detention center or prison. But what made them stay in the detention center longer than they should be? Many factors lead to this; for example, the language barrier. I used to work with translator when I interviewed the refugees. I have no idea why don't they try to learn to speak in local language or at least English. Perhaps because they live among their community in host country. The refugees also always tend to be detained longer than they should because of their capability in committing crime. The refugees mostly come from torn country where crime and violence are common scene in their daily life. So, when they come to their host country, they tend to bring in their previous lifestyle. And the locals take advantage by hiring them to commit crime and it traps the refugees. Who to be blame? the refugees who commit crime or locals who take advantage on them? But most of activist will blame the local authorities for detaining them. 

I read an article written by local activist on the detention camp in Malaysia; on how the authorities treat the refugees and the condition of the detention camp. I believe the above explained the situation and we should stop blaming one or another, but we should work together to make our country a better place to live. 

1. I believe most local authorities will put their integrity at the highest place when they carry out their duty. 

2. I believe the host country citizens have sympathy on the refugees. Not many, but some enjoy taking advantage on other's weaknesses and this is what happening to the refugees.

3. Although it is an unfortunate event to what happen to the refugees, but they have full responsible towards themselves. To are many organisations and agencies that protect them and guide them to blend with local. The refugees are urge to drop the 'old' lifestyle and adopt a new way according to the host country culture, to make your transition easier. 

4. To the activists, stop pointing fingers to your local authorities or local people, but work more on how to help the refugees to blend in our society. 

5. I believe everybody welcome guests with open hand, as long as the guests wouldn't bite their host's hand.

Routine- tips to change your lifestyle

Assalamualaikum and how are you? We are fine on this hot summer. It is 31 degrees at 9 pm!

Have you taken your breakfast? And where did you have it? When I was in Malaysia and still working, I usually have it at home or sometimes I spent at outside with my friends. During weekend, Juma and I would bring the kids to mamak join or Mc Donald for breakfast. Worst come to worst, he would packed some food for us. The idea is not to cook at home. Usually we will have roti canai (paratha) or tosei or nasi lemak. The drink will be teh tarik or any ice drink.

And this is the routine that I brought together with me to Australia. My husband, who love me endlessly, went along with it. Every weekend, since I reached Perth, he would bring me to Canning Vale market where we can purchase nasi lemak at AUD 3.50 and a cup of coffee at AUD4.00. The nasi lemak tasted awful, cold as it just came out from the fridge; totally opposite from the way it suppose to taste like. The coffee was good but with AUD 4.00, I could get more than only a cup of coffee.

It hit me hard at that time, to revalue our expenses, to adapt with the changes and to give up few routines. From then on, we stopped having breakfast at outside, we dine out once in a month, plan our groceries expenses and buy second hand stuff at garage sale, instead of buying new things at mall. 

Malaysia, my home country is having hard time in terms of financial wise. The citizens are urge to cut their expenses. I believe it is not hard to do it as long as you are willing to change your lifestyle. Here are some tips: 

1. Food: pack food for your lunch. It is cheaper to buy raw material and cook by yourself then to eat out. And it is way healthier. 

2. Food: stop going to fine dining places. Yes, stop! They charge more than they should, in the name of service. It is delicious? Cook by yourself! It is not difficult plus it is gonna be fun!

3. Clothes and shoes: stop buying branded clothes. Many affordable labels offer high quality product at reasonable price. 

4. Clothes and shoes: if you have children, pass down their older sibling's clothes to the younger, if the condition is still fine. It's fine to wear mint condition clothes. Nothing to be ashamed of. So does clothes. You can pass it around with your friends or siblings too. Sharing is caring. 

5. Clothes and shoes: if you have too many clothes, do spring cleaning and donate the ones that you can't use it anymore. Or the one that you seldom use. Somebody's trash is other's treasure. 

6. Travelling: if your office could be access by public transport, it is wise to use it rather than to use your own transport. You can save on fuel and parking fees. I understand that the public transportation always crowded, but you can always start your journey early. Plan your journey. 

7. Travelling: You can do car pool as well. I've done this before and it is fun! There's always somebody to chat with while being stuck in the traffic jam. Plus cost saving! 

8. Leisure: Instead of bringing your family to shopping malls during weekend, why don't you bring them for picnic? Parks usually offer lots of free parking lot and bring home cook meal for picnic. But make sure you clean up the area after finish. Or make little gathering with your friends, like pot luck. Take turn to organise. 

9. Car: Buy car according to our budget. It is an essential item, however, people nowadays take it wrongly. They 'dress up' their car that towards the end, they left no money for food and other important things. Prioritize your needs. It becomes a culture to change car whenever they finish pay up the loan. Free yourself from loan! Look, if you drive to work, most of the time your car will be park at the car park. It means that most of the time in a day you don't need it. So live with what you have. Unless the car gives you such a big trouble; e.g the cost of maintenance is high, your family expanding, don't change your car. It will save up lots of your income. 

10. Party/ wedding/ Aqiqah: As saying said, you get married once in your life time. Make it a memorable one. But many take this saying wrongly. They thought it should be an extravagant wedding to match the word memorable. With this, the cost of the wedding bomb up, more than they afford. The dais, the gifts, the wedding outfit, the doorgift, the food and the list goes on and on. I'm afraid that the memory that you get from your wedding is working extra hard to earn extra money for the event. Or climbing the bank stairs while applying for bank loan. This can be avoid if you know how to match your wedding budget with your own budget. Be realistic. Stop thinking about others think. Think of your future, think of the money that you can save to give your new family a better life. Same goes to your kid's birthday party or aqiqah event. It's fine to spend some money to celebrate your love ones as long as it is not wasting. 

There are many more ways to save up our money to make our future brighter. Just remember, our live is not at the up always, At a time, we will be at down. So this is the time for you to save up to cushion yourself when you at the bottom. 

What's Your Name?

Kids always make new friends at playground. It is not an exceptional to my kids as well. Maleec Ismael, as the eldest, always been asked about himself.

Kid: What's your name?
Maleec: I'm Ultraman Mebius.
Kid: Huh? What's that? ... Err... What's your brother's name?
Maleec: He is Ultraman Zero.

Haish!

Perth is the hottest place on earth!

Assalamualaikum and happy weekend to all my readers! How's your weekend so far? Mine is great. Alhamdullillah it is a wonderful weekend. It is an intimate family time. I put off my business hat and put on mommy hat. And focus on the family. What did we do? We stay at home and enjoyed ourselves around each other. 

Yesterday, 11 January 2014, marks as the hottest day in Perth for six years. And yesterday too, Perth becoming the hottest place on the planet. It was scotchy hot day. The heat was as bad as the summer in Kuwait. You can feel your face is burning once you step out of the house. Mainly we stayed indoor but we did went out for two garage sales and went to Cetro in Maddington for a quick groceries shopping. 

In the news, there was a burning place somewhere in Perth and some helicopter helped the fire brigade to stop the fire. Subhanallah. The authorities also advised Perth residents to stay indoor and to keep on pumping water into our body to stay hydrated. 

I stayed lazy at home and watched televison with hubby and kids. And when I browsed my Facebook account, I saw a status update from a friend that she made butterscotch sauce. It gave me an idea to try out new recipe of bread pudding. And in 15 mins, my bread pudding was ready in the oven and my butterscotch sauce made my kitchen smelled good. I will share the recipe in other post. Meanwhile, enjoy this lovely picture of my bread pudding with butterscotch sauce. 

Cheers!

Me-Time

Assalamualaikum! 

How's your day so far. Mine is good, but seems it is summer, the weather is pretty hot and it kinds of driving my spirit away. Once the clock ticks to 1pm, my eyes will automatically calling for a shut off. Argghh!!

Alhamdullilah for today, my strength to stay awake is stronger and here I am, enjoying my me-time. I'm sitting on the sofa, laptop on my lap and writing this blog. Yes, that is my me-time. 

I think you are having a time off for yourself when you are reading this. And I hope I feed you with something worthy because time is precious for mothers. How do you define me-time? To ma, anything free from work, kids and something that I can on my own without worrying about anything- is a me-time. But how I enjoy my me-time is different from the time I have a child and when I have two children. 

Back when I had Maleec without Aaron, my me-time means out to the shopping mall, or pampering myself in spa, or hanging out with friends in cafe. And when I was in Malaysia, it was affordable to have that kind of me-time as well. I sent them to my mother-in-law and off I go. But it is not usually happened. Perhaps once in a blue moon. 

But now, since I'm alone in Perth, me-time is having a complete time for myself on bed while Aaron and Maleec are playing, or when Aaron is sleeping and Maleec is watching television, or when their daddy takes care of them. I also enjoy watching tv series on my laptop, but it only happens when all my kids are fast asleep at night. 

I don't think I have more me-time when I have a child compare to when I have two children. But the way I enjoy it is different.

How about working mothers? When do they find their me-time? In my opinion, working mother has more me-time than stay at home mother. While at work, you are child-free, out for lunch with friends, have time not to think about you house condition. But again, the definition depends on how you see the situation. 

Time for yourself wouldn't come to you as a mother, but you have to earn it. manage your time, manage your expectation and in shaa allah, you will find it. If you have some spare time, use it wisely, because time is precious. 

Cheers!

Halal buthcher in town: Maddington Meats

Asslamualaikum and good morning. Happy Thursday, all! A few steps to weekend, yippee!!!

Are you a Muslim who is looking for halal butcher that offer a wide range of meat? Please come to Centro Shopping Complex, Maddington. And you will find Maddington Halal Meat, just in front of Woolworth. 

Check out their meat that's on special price

If you want to have barbecue, here is the right place to get your supplies. The steak, the rib-eye, and they also have marinated beef and chicken. 

They also have special price on certain products on certain day. I totally forgot the exact amount, but one day, my husband bought six chicken at a very bargain price! The total price for six chicken equal to the normal price of three chicken, 50% off! 

You also can get Lebanese bread supply here. I usually get the Lebanese bread here to make wrap for my husband's lunch. 

Their address:

MADDINGTON HALAL MEAT

47, BURSLEM DRIVE

MADDINGTON,, WA 6109

From Railway Station to Boat Ride

Assalamualaikum all! 

Let's check out how was our weekend!

On Saturday morning, we went to few garage sales. It is our routine to check out garage sale because we love the surprise we get. You never know that you need the item until you found it in the garage sale. For example, we never look for waffle maker, till we found it and now it is our breakfast saver. However, for this week, nothing much attract us. 

Then, off we went to Gosnells Railway Market. Apparently the market situated in the old railway station. The ticket machine and the the railway are still exist. The market is divided into three areas; the wet market where you can find seafood, vegetables and fruits; the food court with many kind of cuisines from Asian to pizza, and some Halal stalls; and the shops - clothes, books, spa, massage house and toys shops. We thought of having our lunch at the food court, but we changed mind and ended up in Perth City. 

Aaron and I

Hubby brought us to a Malaysian restaurant, Insan's Cafe. It was his favorite cafe when he first landed in Perth. He ordered mee bandung and teh tarik for me and he had nasi campur. He bought a box of pizza for the kids from Pizza hut hich is two doors away from the restaurant. The mee bandung was fairly delicious. i miss having mee although it isn't my favorite noodle. The teh tarik wasn't 'kaw' enough. I assume it is the instant teh tarik. Oh I miss Malaysia!

Mee Bandung

Nasi Campur

Later, we walked down the road towards the Bell Tower till we met kangaroo statues and camera -whoring for almost half an hour! In the middle of the day, under hot sun! Haish! And we strolled down the part with big trees. Seriously beautiful and breathtaking. The park led us to the Bell Tower and the Barrack Jetty. Many cruises stop at the jetty, as you can choose to stroll down Swan River, or go to Fremantle which will take up to an hour or just across the river, like what we chose to do. The fare is $2 for adult and free for kids below 5 years old.

This tree is freaking huge!

The view from the jetty looking over Perth City

I'm wearing FAITHFatin Paisley Collection. You can get it here

The journey took several minutes for us to cross the Swan River to South Perth. Immediately after the jetty is a playground. That was where we 'parked' ourselves and the kids dived into the playground. I must say that they totally had fun. What a great family day for us!

View of Perth City from South Perth

Watching over my kids

One leg standing

Hello 2014!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

How did you spend your first day of 2014? 

It was a simple day; relax and intimate family day. 

We eat, we laugh, we play and we rest. 

As most of the malls are closed today, hubby and I decided to stay at home. Although we thought of spending the day at beach, but we changed our mind due to the weather. However, the weather was lovely during the day, but it is pretty cold now, at night. 

Our family hardly have our breakfast at outside. I had a burger in the morning and the kids and hubby had toast bread. And we headed to the Macca's playground. I could tell that Maleec and Aaron really had a good time playing there. They made friends, they ran all over places and had ice cream too. 

As for lunch, we had barbecue at our alfresco. hubby marinated steaks and chicken. We had corns and sausages too. It was nice. Very nice. 

We spent our late afternoon snoring on bed. Everybody on a bed! And now I'm like a zombie; can't get to sleep. Top of all, I'm bless with what I have today, and NOW! Alhamdullillah!

It isn't complete the new year without flashing back on what happened on the past year, and speaking out loud on new resolutions and hope. But to me, I am bless with what I have now and hope nothing but the best in everything. 

How we survive in using electrical goods from Malaysia in Australia

Assalamualaikum and happy Sunday!

When we moved in to Perth, basically I brought everything from Malaysia. As small as spoon and toothbrush to big as king size bed and 6 seater sofa. It is cheaper to purchase them from Malaysia rather than buying in Australia. And plus, my husband's company complimented him with sea shipment and air shipment to Malaysia. We have a container to fill up our belongings and of course I leveraged it.

I brought in the electrical goods as well for the usage in Australia. As Australia's voltage is almost the same as Malaysia, it shouldn't be a problem to use the electrical goods from Malaysia in Australia. But hang on there. Perhaps we wouldn't face any short circuit, but we faced few minor difficulties. First, you need plug converter. This is easily get in Malaysia. We bought mostly from ACE hardware shop. You could get them in Tesco or Carrefour or any hardware shop. 

Plug converter

Second is with the television. Please be informed that Australia had switched off analog TV signals, meaning that only digital TV signal is used. But no worries, you can always get the Top Box to receive tv channels if you are using analog signal TV. We bought the top box from Dick Smith store. You just need to plug in the you TV into the top box and plug in the top box to the antenna plug. With that top box too, you will receive 99 free channels. It is enough for us and we don't subscribe to FOXTEL, the only satellite tv provider across Australia. The monthly fees is high and we don't encourage our kids to watch tv too much. Plus, we can always streaming from internet if we want to watch movies. Problem solved!

Top Box: view from back

Top box: Front view

Another headache is with washing machine. In Australia, they have to water taps; hot water and cold water. But in Malaysia, we have only one; cold water. Therefore, the pipe attached to the washing machine couldn't resist hot water and you'll damage the pipe if you put water running through it. Only plug in your pipe to cold water tap.

In Australia, the outlet water pipe should be attached to the sink. Usually Australia houses have laundry area where there is a sink next to the place where they recommended you to place your washing machine. At the sink, they provided a hole for you to attached your outlet water pipe and water will straight go into the drain. But the washing machine that I brought from Malaysia can't apply that method. The outlet water pipe has to lay down horizontally on the ground. If not, the water can't go up as there is no pressure to make the water goes up. To solve the problem, we bought a pipe that connect to the outlet water pipe to the drain outside of our house. problem solve. But the permanent issue that you have to face is that you have to let the door opens all the time you do use the washing machine. As whenever go through winter in Australia yet, but cold only imagine how cold our house to be as we have to let the door open freely for a good hour during the washing. Haish!

Water inlet

Water outlet hole at the sink, not suitable use for washing machine from Malaysia

Water outlet pipe is connect to pipe extension that help water to be released into drain outside of the house

So far, those two are the problem we face in using electrical goods from Malaysia in Australia. Hopefully this post will help you if you are going to move to Australia from Malaysia. 

The sprinkler, the house owner and me

Assalamualaikum and good evening!

 

How are you? Me fine, super fine. Last night was a sleepless night but magically my energy is at full bar today. Alhamdullillah.

 

The owner of my house just went back from 'inspection'. I'm just kidding. It is not inspection like you had during hostel time. In Perth, usually the house agent will come now and then to check the property, to ensure that it is not vandalized by the tenant. The tenant seldom has the opportunity to get to know the owner of the house as all the communication is via the house agent.

 

But we are the lucky one today because the owner came down to help us to make the house better. You see, now is the transition season from spring to summer. The weather is pretty hot and dry. We humans are not the only creature that suffer, but plants too. Grass is turning to yellow and leaves are turning to brown.

 

The house is equipped with sprinkler. However, I didn't know how to use it till last Monday. And starting from then on, I switched it on everyday until yesterday. I was told by my gardener that there are days that you can switched on the sprinkler as it use bore water. The schedule is according to the house number and my house number is 7, so I can switch it on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. Yippee!!Actually, the gardener came yesterday to trim the lawn and he noticed that the lawn's condition was poor. He failed to setup the sprinkler timing so he called the owner. That's the reason why the owner knocked on my door today.

 

The control panel

 

The owner is a pretty nice chap, different with what I've imagined. It seems that he is happy with us as his tenant. He promised that he will change the current control panel of the sprinkler as we can't setup the timing. With the programmed control panel, we don't have to bother about the days and time when the sprinkler should be working. The cutting edge technology really makes works easier but make we have less connection with the world. As it replace out effort, it takes our appreciation on what we have. If 20 years ago, we will pull pipe to water the plant and lawn, 10 years ago, e made our maid to do so, but now, we let the technology to replace our routine. But that's life, and we are the one who determine on what should lead us.

Check out the programme. Eventually we are using the manual programme

It's pretty sad looking at the grass

The sprinkler is at work

 

When Juma called me in the afternoon mentioning on the owner's visit, I gave a big sigh. I was busy and tired yesterday because I tried hard to finish the remaining work so I can have today just for myself. But yes, sometimes your plan doesn't work. I cleaned up the house, sweep, mop the floor, wiped the kitchen, vacuumed the whole house and cleaning up the outdoor.

 

I haven't prepared dinner yet as Juma will be home in anytime. Till then, take care!

The Whiteman Village

Assalamualaikum and hello. Few weeks ago, we went to Whiteman Park. It is quite a distnce from our house and took us 30 minutes to arrive. It's on the east side of Perth, near to Beechboro.

It is a famous park and the famous Caversham Wildlife Park situated in the Whiteman Park. There are many parks else at the Whiteman Park.

Aaron ran his heart out once he stepped out from the car. They were many families, armed with picnic gear, enjoying the sunny day. We parked our car near to the train station, at Whiteman Village. Maleec, who is obsessed with train, said he wants to have a ride. So off we went. The ride for the whole day cost $2 per adult and free fro kids below 4.

The train ride was fun and the kids were imagining that they were in Thomas the train. We past by the reserve forest and supposed to see wildlife, unfortunately we managed to catch few glimpse of kangaroo.

Later, we brought the kids to the playground. I think Maleec and Aaron really had their fun. They didn't show that they were hungry or sleepy. They played like there is no tomorrow. Unfortunately for me, my tummy was acting as it needs to be fill.

We found the nearest Nando's at Beechboro. There is Woolies in the mall as well. The kids enjoyed their meal and for the record, we managed to finished the food that we ordered. Alhamdulliallah. Syukur. It's a worth trip!

From Kuala Lumpur to Perth

Assalamualaikum and hi. How are you? Great? That's wonderful, alhamdullillah. 

I know, I know, I was MIA for a long while. But I have a good reason for that! Hehehe... Well.. I'm blogging from Perth, Australia! Yes, I moved to Perth on mid August. See?! I've told you I have a strong reason why I didn't blog for quite sometimes. 

Oh, one more thing, please bear with this post, it's a lengthy one. 

Remember that I told you that I went to South Korea? Well, that was the time when my husband told me that he is transferred to Australia. And I had a very short time to plan the transition. And I had to do it all by myself since my husband will be a month ahead us in Australia. 

The most important thing is house. So I started to browse the houses in Perth. By doing so, I became familiar with the type of houses, the rental rate and the location. Mainly in Perth there are three types; bungalow, town house and condominium. The condos mostly in Perth CBD area. I prefer bungalow because I want to have my own lawn. The rental rate also varies based on the location, size of the house and age of the house. But please beware that Australians pay their rental weekly. And for the location, I try to find the place that is near to Perth CBD and also public transport. The houses that near to the beach area (Fremantle, Hillarys, etc) are more expensive than the one in the east side. Then I narrowed down my findings by putting the priorities on the small elements like the total bedrooms and bathrooms, the maintenance services (mainly on the lawn) and house facilities (e.g heater/AC, dish washer,  walk in cabinets). I sent to my husband the link of the houses that met my criteria. And my husband will go through the link and do the shortlist and send to his agent. Together with the agent, they will hunt the houses that are still available. It is important that your agent make appointment with the house agent beforehand. If you are interested with the house, then you can submit t the house agent along with your reference. If your application is successful, meaning you get stay there!! Our first application was unsuccessful and it was really wasting time since we have to wait for the result of the application to be out before starts looking for a new one if it is unsuccessful. 

If you intend to move to Perth, Australia, I suggest you make the research on the house before anything else. It is important that we have the idea on the value for the rental we are paying. Most of the houses in Perth offer small bedrooms. The second bedroom is hardly fit queen size bed. 

Second thing I did was listing the item that I need to bring to Australia. We were lucky because his company provided us with a container to chunk in our belongings. I grouped my needs into 3 categories; items to send via sea, items to send via air and items to carry during our travelling to Perth. For things to be send via air, mostly they are kids stuff and cooking utensils. I also brought the bedsheet, some toys, some clothes and shoes. These the items that my family mostly need while waiting for the complete belongings to arrive. While waiting for the sea freight items to arrive, we rent most of the big items such as washing machine, tv and bed. 

Other stuff of us mostly would go via sea, excepts for food. I carried the food by myself when we traveled to Perth. Perth customs are very particular on food. There are many forbidden food such as dairy product and fruits. Any food that you are bringing have to be declared upon arrival. The stewardess will hand you the form upon landing for you to fill up. Take your time to think of the items you are carrying because the penalty is big if you fail to declare. 

I also made another list on the items that available in my house currently and the items that need to buy. I bought most of the furniture. That's the reason why it is important to find the house because from the layout plan of the house, we can figure out what we need for the house. We also could figure out the color scheme and the size of the furniture. 

I was lucky because the time I shopped for the furniture was Ramadhan month. I really enjoyed the sales everywhere. But the down part was I have to do all the survey by myself since hubby was already in Australia. 

The third thing that bother me is what I leave in Malaysia. I have my house, cars and some other small commitments (e.g internet line, phone line, Astro). We didn't sell the house and the cars. We arranged our immediate family members to take care of them. We terminated the phone, internet and Astro service. 

I think that's all that I can think of for now. I'm not able to share with you the visa process since my husband's company did it to us.

Please ensure that you watch the packing people pack your belongings. Sometimes the way they handle is is not as per we expect.

It is nice if you can arrange you house to make room and space for packing work. This will make packing work goes smoothly and efficiently. 

Place your items together in their groups. Example, cooking utensils, toiletries, books, toys, etc. This will help the packing people to pack accordingly and to make you life easier when you unpack.

Situation with Maleec

I saw a squirrel at my garden and called Maleec to check it out.

But the squirrel was gone before Maleec got his butt off his seat.

When he got to me, I told him that the squirrel when off already. And below is his replied:

'Mummy, you trick me??!!'

Pffftt!

Aaron is Almost Two Years Old

Today's post is a special entry to my second son, Aaron Idris. Aaron will be 2 years old in 2 weeks time. I delivered him on the 26th June 2011, at around 3am. It was a normal delivery and alhamdullillah, it was pretty easy. My husband, Juma, was there, giving me support and welcoming his new hero. 

At almost 2 years old, Aaron is an active boy. Like the meaning of his name (full of strength), it seems like he never lack of energy. He is like a robot, working non-stop. It starts once he opens his eyes and stops when he falls asleep.

His best friend is his big brother, Maleec Ismael. He will holds Maleec's hand whether they cross road or climb stairs. He will imitates Maleec's action. One thing that I'm so grateful is that they love each other unconditionally. Maleec will check on his brother whenever he notices Aaron is not around. Same goes to Aaron. He will ask on his brother where about when he realizes Maleec is not around. They hardly quarrel and fight. They share toys, food and stuff. 

Maleec also gives a lot of impact in Aaron upbringing. Like I mention above, Aaron will try to act like his brother. He also loves to wear what Maleec wears. He always want to put on whatever Maleec is wearing. After taking bath, Aaron will rush to his bother's wardrobe, looking for Maleec's clothes. Therefore I exchanged their wardrobe. So far Aaron hasn't notice the changes and will bring his clothes that he thought from his brother's wardrobe, but actually it is his now. Aaron also speak the same language and 'accent' like his brother. 

Maleec speaks in English, at most of the time. And with that, Aaron speaks in English too. But he can't pronounce the words correctly. If the word is having more than a syllable, he will pronounce the last syllable. It is so cute looking at his lips when he is talking. I feel like tying a ribbon on his lips. 

Aaron is a great explorer. He doesn't know fear. If his brother will scream when he sees lizard, but not Aaron. I guess if I don't stop him, he will pick up the lizard and play with it. He wouldn't play with children toys much but he prefers the 'real' thing. If he wants to play cooking, he will ask for the real utensils. He also loves to play with eggs. how many times he drops eggs at my house and his grandparents' house. He is calm when he got his immunization injections. He also doesn't afraid of taking medicine, which is the opposite to me and Maleec. He loves green color and will go with anything that is in green. 

Aaron is not a picky eater, unlike me and Maleec. He will eat anything. like his daddy. But he doesn't like spicy food. He loves juices and any cold drinks. And now too, Aaron's fondness towards cartoons is growing. He loves to watch Hi-5, Timmy Time and Banana in Pyjamas. He is becoming like his brother, a television junkie. Hahaha.

Oh, one thing about Aaron. He loves animals, especially cats. He cried out loud once when I caught a kitten in my house and hand it to our handy man for him to bring back home. Aaron was swimming in the pool, came out of it and chased the guy till our house gate. He cried loudly when he saw the guy when off with the kitten. 

At almost 2 years old, Aaron is still drinking his milk from the bottle, and sucks his thumb to soothe him away. Aaron is mummy's sweetheart, daddy's lucky charm and Maleec's partner in crime. Happy birthday sayang!