Al-Fatihah......

Khamis, 29 May 2008, sedang sibuk memasak di dapur, suami pula sedang asyik menyiapkan assignment, terdengar muzik mesej handphone. Siapa pula yang bagi mesej, sebab jarang benar dapat mesej ni kecuali dari suami. Mesej dari abang di Malaysia, berita duka yang disampaikan...bapa saudara yang mesra dipanggil Busu, adik bongsu arwah ibu telah pergi menyahut panggilan Illahi sebentar tadi. Perasaan bercampur baur, sedih, terkilan juga kerana tiada di sana untuk berziarah. Masih ingat kali terakhir berjumpa dengan beliau, memorinya sudah tidak berapa kuat, short-term memory only. Baru sebentar dia bertanyakan nama selang beberapa minit kemudian dia akan bertanya kembali siapa yang menziarahi beliau....sebak sungguh suasana ketika itu. Busu bukan sahaja bapa saudara tetapi dia juga adalah ustaz saya dan mudir saya ketika di sekolah menengah, walaupun beberapa minggu cuma kerana kemudian saya berpindah ke sekolah lain. Dalam beberapa minggu itulah saya ke sekolah menaiki kereta Busu pergi dan balik. Kenangan itu akan sentiasa segar dalam ingatan. Beliau banyak memberikan nasihat dan tunjuk ajar,,,,semoga Ruhnya di berkati Allah dan digolongkan bersama orang-orang Soleh....Amiiin....

Happiness and sadness...

Dah lama tak update blog kerana kesuntukan masa dan hubby sibuk dengan assignment tak boleh guma laptop. Sekarang dah agak lapang sikit bolehlah sentuh laptop ni....

I just want to share the happiness of my youngest son that on Friday, 16th May 2008, his class, Pre-Primary led the assembly at school. All of them be the moderators of the day. During the assembly which is held every Friday, parents are encouraged to attend to witness their childrens fulfillment. The pre-primary kids surprised everyone when they performed their singing. The very good thing was Hasif got his first award for showing great improvement in learning and using English. He was very excited! I am happy for him too...My hope, he will continue exploring the new world he is in now and get more experience.

Hasif with his award...

On Sunday night, 18th May 2008, I received sad news from home, my brother in law's mum has passed away. I had known her since I was small...semoga Allah mencucuri rahmat ke atas ruh nya dan digolongkan bersama mereka yang di redhaiNya. Al-Fatihah. Agar Bang Lang dan Kak Lang sekeluarga juga tabah dan sabar menghadapi dugaan ini. Terima kasih kepada ahli keluarga yang menyampaikan berita ini, walaupun kita jauh tetapi hakikatnya masih dekat di hati...

24 May 2008, we got another great news from Melaka. My mother in law called us and informed that we got new member in family. My sister in law gave birth to a boy after 3 daughters. Congratulation! Then my children especially Iffah and Hasif keep on telling me that they want to see the new baby, how? I told them it is not possible to go back to Malaysia, we just wait for the picture...

Before that , on Friday 23rd May 2008, Bentley Primary School organized the school fete. Ala-ala Hari Kantin gitu. All classes made their own dishes and sale them along some other things such as jewelleries, clothes, magnets etc. The money will than donated to China, the earthquake victims through the Red Cross. All the goods were sold at low prices, 20cents, 50 cents, the most expensive is $2.50. Zarif was lucky because he got a nice reversible jacket for only 20 cents! This is the good way to teach children helping others in need.

Di bawah ni saya sertakan gambar2 ketika BBQ dengan rakan2 dari Malaysia di Burswood Park. Inilah kawan-kawan yang sama-sama baru sampai di Australia dan yang selalu tolong menolong. Anak-anak kami pun dah jadi kawan rapat.

Kids......they are adorable

At the Library, bag full of books and puzzles

Be the mother, I cannot avoid myself from worrying about my children. How are they doing in school? Do they make friends? Can they understand their teachers and friends? Can they cope with the subjects? And the list going on and on.....To be sure, I always asked them when they coming back from school. I am amazed when they told me they are doing okay, they enjoyed the schools and they started to tell me stories about their friends, teachers and what they have done.


But one day, my youngest son, Hasif, crying sadly back from school. I comforted him and tried to make him explained why he being so sad. Its difficult though to make him talk because he kept on crying......that made me anxious. Then, stuttered, he told me that he did not has friend in school, he missed his friend in Malaysia especially Ahmad and he missed his kindergarten teachers too. OOOOhhhhh darling.......! The next day, I asked his class teacher whether he played around and mingled with his friends. The teacher said that he doing well and chatty with his friends. Then I understand what he meant. It does not he has no friends but he has no best friend like he used to has in Malaysia. Ahmad was his best friend, they played together, shared their foods and do things together...he missed that! I hope along the way, he will get use to it. I always encourage him to tell me about his friends so he will aware that he does has some friends.



Meanwhile, my eldest son, Afiq, is excited in trying himself to represent his school for sports and competition. Everyday he tell me about his try out and one day, he told me that he is chosen as soccer player. And the next day he brought another news, "Mama, I enter the chess contest!" (he has the talent in chess, at his school Sekolah Rendah Agama Integrasi Sg. Chinchin he won the inter class competition, not bad ha!). And afterwards, everyday he remind his Papa to buy him the soccer boot. Mujurlah Papanya dah kerja, adalah extra money to buy him the boot.



My second son, Syarafi, develop interest in reading books and drawing, especially cartoon. Tiap hari balik dari sekolah mesti ada buku cerita. bukannya apa, dia tak sabar nak penuhkan log buku cerita yang dah dibaca. Sesiapa yang dah penuh, log tu akan dimasukkan ke dalam kotak di sekolah dan akan dibuat cabutan bertuah. Hadiahnya boleh tahan, ada basikal, ipod, etc. I am impressed with his drawing talent. He drew a cartoon character, Manga, and looked exactly like that. His brothers and sister also always request him to draw their favourite characters, and he enjoy doing it. Harap dia akan terus mengasah bakatnya dan saya akan sentiasa memberi perangsang untuk dia mempelajari lebih banyak lagi teknik melukis.

My third son, Zarif, shows his ability in academic. He is a fast learner and in few weeks he has many english vocabs. He already got the Honour Certificates for being good and paying attention in class. Bentley Primary School has a tradition that every students that show their good attitudes or performance will be granted the Honour Certificates during the Assembly. Its encourage students to be good in their actions as well as their academic. Zarif was very happy with the certificates. Recently, he was awarded the present by the Principal for being caring and helpful, he got the ball for the present. Luckily, the next day, he got another present, binocular, for being decent and focus in class. Way to go my son! You make me proud, hopefully you will mantain this attitude.

And...my daughter 'Iffah, she is collecting the Gold card! The Gold card is given to the students who are very helpful, well-behaved, active, positive attitude, and have interest in learning. The Gold cards will be collected and put in the box for lucky draw during assembly on Friday. Last Friday was the lucky day for her. She managed to collects the Gold card as many as she can and got one lucky draw during the assembly. Pelajar yang dapat lucky draw diberi peluang untuk memilih hadiah yang telah disusun di hadapan pentas. Iffah pilih tali skipping....she wants to mantain her fitness! Satu hari saya berpeluang berbual dengan guru kelasnya....I am happy to hear the teacher said,"Iffah is very brilliant for her age!" That sure something to lessen my worries.



Bila semua anak2 ke sekolah, apa yang nak dibuat selain memasak dan mengemas? Minta kerja tak ada yang bersesuaian.....Allah maha Kaya dan Pemurah.....husband dapat email mewar-warkan satu keluarga Oman tgh mencari orang untuk menjaga anaknya yang berumur 11 bulan. I think, why not? I have nothing else to do and I can help the family that both husband and wife still studying. The baby's name is Al-Hawari. Very cute and charming boy. He did not give me any trouble....at the minute his parents send him at about 10.00 in the morning, he will drink milk and sleep until 12.00p.m. I give him food prepared by his mother, clean and change him, then he will play until his mother come at about 2.30p.m. Sometime, he still sleepy after eating! My husband and I are very fond of him, my children love him too.

Itulah kanak2, masing2 ada kelebihan mereka tersendiri, and they are so adorable........I love you all!!!!

New Life Begin.....

Lega sebenarnya dah dapat rumah....sebab sekarang ni agak susah nak dapat rumah sewa. All my friends were surprised that we got the house after 3days we arrived, because some of them had to wait for several weeks, even months to get house. In addition, the rental here is expensive. Actually, Perth is in crisis of house rental. To buy a house also very expensive, the range of house rate is between 400.000 - 500,000++ dollar and apartment more than 200,000 dollar, want to buy one?

This house we rent is bigger than our house in Malaysia, its called bungalow here. There are four rooms and the master bedroom has a suite, one hall, one dining hall, kitchen that well equipped with wall to wall cabinet, laundry area and a car porch (kami takda kereta pun...). It is fully furnished and comfortable enough for us.

Di hadapan rumah kami sebelum ke sekolah, uniform baju hijau

My eldest son, Afiq is enrolled at Kent Street Senior High School in year 8. He has to go by bus on his own. At first I was worried to let him go because he never ride on bus before. So, before start schooling, my husband and I trained him. Kami bawa dia naik bas dan tunjukkan where exactly he has to push the bell and how to get to school safely. Luckily, after the registration, the Deputy Principal informed that there is a special bus that pick the student from our house to school and from school to home, it sounds better!! And my other children entered Bentley Primary School which is about 15 minutes walk from home. The school start at 8.55 a.m. and finished at 3.05p.m.

Sekolah kat sini kena jagalah dari segi makanan. At schools, the canteen not providing halal food. So I have to prepare their lunches. They have two recess, for the first recess they eat fruit, usually apple, and the second recess they eat their lunch. Kat sini they are quite particular of what your children eat, so I have to prepare healthy food, most of the time bread, salad or potato. Once a while i cooked them nasi goreng...

Alhamdulillah, tak susah nak dapat ayam atau daging halal, sebab ada halal butcher, makanan lainpun senang sebab banyak juga produk Malaysia dijual especially kat oriental shop. Jadi masih boleh nak makan nasi lemak, briani, kari, kurma.....tak misslah masakan Malaysia!

After a week we were here, we got the invitation to attend the BBQ meeting with the people from embassy. They wanted to meet with the new students, undergraduates and postgraduates. It was not a formal meeting but more to makan2. We gathered at Burswood Park. Ramai gak yang datang termasuk students yang dah lama kat sini. We got to know more Malaysians. The most exciting part when we sang Negaraku, all the mat saleh looking at us and deep inside I feel proud of my country.

At Burswood Park , jom makan....

With friends, Razak & Kak Lin..

Rehat sekejap...

Look at the gooses....

After weeks of being housewife, I tried to search for a job, to support the expenses, cannot depends on the allowance only. Furthermore, I have intention to take certificate in Counseling and i need money for that. Unfortunately most of the jobs required own car, and to work as cleaner, the job start as early as 3 o'clock in the morning. I can't afford that because I have to prepare breakfast and lunch for my kids and I don't have car. I applied to work at halal butcher, and during the school holiday, the taukeh called me, I got the job......but how's my kids? I can't just left them and go for work, so, I asked the taukeh to start after school holidays, she hesitated, and said its difficult if I can't work during school holidays, and she said if she get another worker by then, I have to ceased the opportunity. Well, my children are more important surely, no regrets..

Ok, I want to send my kids to school, see ya later....

Our journey

(My family saying good bye..)

On February 9, 2008, my family and I departed to Perth, Australia. My husband is continuing his study in Information Management specialize in archive and records at Curtin University of Technology Bentley Campus. It was sad day, leaving family and friends behind but study is important too. I, as a matter of fact a bit worry staying in other country with my five children along, how they will cope with new environment? Only Allah Knows.......










(happily waiting for departure)

One hour late of departure we arrived at Perth Airport around 4.30p.m. We met one family from Malaysia who also had the same purpose of journey. Curtin had arranged the transport to go to hotel but the van only accommodate one family, so they go first. We felt hungry and tired but cannot find any halal cafe. Then I heard somebody gave salam, one Malay lady!. She is studying here also and guess what....she is the President of Perth Malay Student. I consider we were lucky to meet her, she gave us tips on living in Perth. Through her we got to know that my classmates are here! How exciting I felt.

Then the van came...all have to fasten set belt (compulsory, Malaysia recently in the process to implement...I read through internet) and we were sent to All Seasons Hotel. New in this place and its began to dark we only drink milo to fill our stomach...On Sunday, we strolled around the city and we found Sri Melayu Restaurant but it opened at 11.00a.m. meanwhile, we buy Maggi made in Malaysia at one continental shop. At 11.00 off we go to the restaurant, nasi goreng more han 8 dollar, wow! but we were hungry, just eat !

On Monday, my husband went to uni to settle his enrollment and dealt on the rental house with the uni housing department. At the hotel, I asked the receptionist about my stay there, the uni only booked until Monday, i tried to extend but the hotel was fully booked...! Oh my God...what to do? I have to checked out at 11.00a.am. Luckily, the hotel gave me time until 2.00p.m. I called my husband, he tried his best to get the house to rent that very same day. 2.00 o'clock....I have to packed my things, checked out, and nowhere to go, we just wait at the hotel lobby. Called my husband, still no progress on the house...I called my friend at University of Western Australia, and about 3.00p.m. he turned up with his wife and brought a long list of hotels, hostels, inns and yellow pages. What a great friend I have! We called the numbers until my friend had to top up his prepaid but unfortunately, all were fully booked. Actually I felt guilty because I dragged him and his wife with my problem, but they are very kind and helpful. Thank you friends.

Then, using my friend's handphone (because I don't have mine yet) I called the uni and my husband still at the housing department, he gave me the number of one of the hotel called Bentley Motor Inn. My friend called the hotel for me, Alhamdulillah there were two rooms vacancy, without any further thinking i asked him to book the rooms, no need to think about the money now. At 4.00p.m. they have to go and there, me and my children waiting, what's next? My children were starving, luckily there were fruits that my husband bought before and drinks that my friend left for us. I felt really like Musafir at that time. About 5.30p.m. my husband came, we called the maxi taxi (taxi like a van) to accommodate 7 people and the luggages. Off we went to Bentley Motor Inn.. My husband then told me that he already got the house but it will be available on Tuesday, the next day at 4.00p.m. Its fine with me.

"Mom, where we gonna stay tonite?"

On the next day, he went to uni for orientation and came back on the afternoon with halal foods. Afterwards, we settled the house rental process with the agent. Here, most of the house owner rent out their property through agent, we have to sign the agreement and pay the bon. (this bon will be returned back if the owner satisfied with the condition of the house at the end of the contract). Any complain or problem regarding the house we have to liaise through agent.
At about 5.00p.m. we checked out from the hotel and moved in the house located at St. James suburb. We felt very grateful and relieved. To add to our gratefullness, my friend, Razak and his wife, Eda came over to my house and brought pizza. A moment later, the lady from the airport, the president, I called her Kak Ijan also came with spaghetti. Already, I can felt the spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood and washed away my worries.

More fortunate, my house is near to halal butcher and primary school, my children can walk to school. I will continue the story of my new life later.......