At the Beginning

Like a flower bending in the breeze
Bend with me, sway with ease
When we dance you have a way with me
Stay with me, sway with me

- Michael Buble's "Sway" -

my fingers are actually almost numb, my back is aching and my feet is screaming for rest...but i can't leave till i jot my jumbled thoughts down...i've been away for quite some time, and it seemed funny to get back into the mood of wriing down EVERYTHING....in fact, i think i might have lost it...eepss....

anyways, how's it goin peps? i've been gone for a while, and insya-Allah, if time permits it, i'll be back updating...dah rusty dah this blue background of mine, but somehow, looking at it soothes me...its like coming home, or looking at your favorite story book, or gazing at your favorite bantal busuk...ape nie...i'm crapping again...i think that is what happens to over-sored limbs..they send signals to the brain so the fingers will write C.R.A.P....

i, of course, have soo much to tell..heck, even in one mundane day, i can fill up the page..hey, guess what? as i type these words, i'm getting the familiar feeling again..the feeling of wanting to tell the whole world what i had for dinner..ehhehe...lame joke, i know...

i'm actually in one of my housemates room..the broadband hub-thingamajig is in her room, so i gotta carry my notebook over to her room, lie on her floor and type my heart out...i know i should get a network cable, and i did pesan one from my family back home..but brother dearest has gotten mixed up with the telephone cable..so now, i have 20 metres of unwanted telephone cable with me...sheesh...why 20 metres? well, simply because the geographical location of the notebooks and the hub in the house requires such a long one...wanna know about the geography here? well, let me tell you...

(at this point u can either grab a pillow, or resume your work at the office *you devil, you*, or else, be prepared to be bored/fascinated/nauseated at what might be a long entry...depends on how long i can stand having a stiff neck, or until my housemate shoos m from her room..fat chance tho..*whisper*..she's fast asleep under those heavy covers...)

*cracks knuckle*

welcome to my humble abode..and when i say humble, i mean humble with a capital H...i'm staying with 2 other postgraduates..Ainor and Kak Iza...i'm actually sharing a room with Ainor, a student from City University studying Property Investment/Finance, a graduate from UM...we are occupying the top floor of this Pakistani's family home in dodgy, gangsta-paradise-ish Clapton, about an hour away on those red buses from central London...we're actually in Zone 2, which suits me fine, cuz my uni's also in the same zone..back to the house...camane nak describe aa...literally, we're renting the top floor (so much for saying top floor, when it's only a double-storey house, hehehe)...there's 3 rooms upstairs, a tiny kitchen, toilet and separate bath...the three of us took up pretty much everything, except for one room, which the landlord (Sis Shaheeda) used for her itsy bitsy cutie daughter, Shazia, to sleep in at night...its pretty much a junk room, with a cot in the middle..go figure...Shazia is a cute little thing tho'...in the mornings when she wakes up, and when she remembers o, she would push open the door to our side and called out "Auntie.."but after that she'll speak some words in her own tongue, then kitorang pun sengih je laa...

my shared room with Ainor is a small one, i wouldn't say a box.but then again, i've never seen those box room either..but alhamdulillah, it is a room...nasib baik there's only two of us...however, at the early stages of my penghijrahan, we crammed 9 giggly girls for dinner on two nights in a row... it used to be Ainurul and Safurah's room, till they went back to Malaysia and Ainor and myself took over...Kak Dzun Noraini is now curently staying with us till she goes back to Malaysia this friday..she has finished her masters degree in chemical engineering at UCL, and is just hanging round for a bit before going home to report to UIA where she would resume her role as an academician...

my last entry was written the afternoon ust before i left Leicester.well, let me tell you...that was one of the most memorable day of my life!..dengan penuh machonye, i've crammed one of my suitcase with as many clothes and things as i can carry, and bought one of those shopper bags to isi all my dapur things and food...but it was a little bit heavy, i admit, at first...takpelaa...so the initial plan of going to the bus station on the local bus was scrapped, and i took a cab...i remembered after luggingmy stuff into the boot of the cab, the driver asked me where i was going, i replied London, and he said "Travelling light, huh?"hehhehe....my plan was, dengan penuh machonye,was to take the tube from Victoria Tube station till Liverpool Street Station, then change naik Wagn sampai Clapton terus..fom there i'd walk over to the house, dah tak jauh dah...

what i didn't take into account was lugging those two heavy bags as well...

when i reahed the coach station, my dad had smsed me to take a cab to the tube station, which was only about less than 5 minutes away...bt as i turun from the bu, this british-african gus came up to me with this trolley and asked me, "where you want to go? Train station? Underground?"rupa2nye, he was a walking taxi...so i engaged his service, then he wheeled my stuff sampai the tube station5 pounds die charge, ..itu ok lagi...but the ultimate best part was..there was no escalator at the tube station...i didn't realise that..as a matter of fact, there were no escalator at all throughout my wholejourney home.ther were stairs, stairs, and more stairs..... i walked to the first descending stairs, and was like, ok, how am i gonna do this...alhamdulillah, this Brit, walked past me and offered to help me carry it down..yang bestnye, i chose to arrive at london mase orang semua nak balik kejer, boleh tak?! so, there i was, waiting for the train...bile train datang je, the door opened, the crowd rushes in and out, and tak sempat i nak move both FEET (apa lagi suitcase), the door closes, and off it goes....3 kali!!!! by the last time, i position mysef betul-betul dekatthe edge of the platform, and as soon as the door opens, i campak my bags inside...hehehe, nasib baik dapat masuk..itu nak ignore the curious stares lagi...rase cam nak stare balik je...sheesh...bythe end of the night, i was ready to just chuckone of the bags away...mampus aa..dah tak kisah dah...dahlaa bulky, clanking pulak tu, sebab i had my pot and pan and canned and bottled food...berat toksah nak cakaplaa...kalau orang nak curi pun, i rela surrender them...

well, let's just say, that night je, ade 4 different mat salleh yang helped me with my bags up and down stairs...bile sampai Liverpool Street Station je, thought it was all over, and was ready to relax.tengok-tengok, one of the station somewhere had a kebakaran..and most of the trains were delayed..arghhhh!!!! there was sooo many people there...and i needed to get across the station pulak tu..dahlaa tak tau mane nak beli tickets, and dalam ramai2 tu, couter pun tak nampak...so after much shuffling and excuse-me-ing..i managed to get across..tengok2, the ticket couter was on the OTHER side!!! arrgghhhh...so, it was back to shuffling those bags, half pulling half dragging them, excuse me, excuse me lagi just to buy the ticket ...then tunggu train sampai..bile dah sampai, tarik bags lagi, excuse me, excuse me lagi to get on the platform...to make it more dramatic, the train was waiting at the far end of the platform...! by then, i was like, kalau train nie nak tinggalkan i pun, dah tak kisah, tinggal laa...i tido laa kat station nie..nasib baik it stopped for quite some time...

the final straw was when i sampai the capton station...bile tengok je the stairs yang tinggi cam jejantas puduraya tu j, i surrendered, and called Ainor...budak tu pulak, i bet she was expecting some cutesy bag, tengok2, she had to push one of my suitcase....kesian die..thank you Ainor! my suitcase tu pun, old-fashioned lagi tak boleh ke...? it can't even roll properly, buat malu tuan je! i was, by then, dragging my shopper bag, biarlaa koyak pn..janji sampai rumah...bile sampai rumah, tengok2 memang koyak pun...and i have a bruised bottle of Heinz tomato ketchup (U Can't Eat Without It) to show for it..

pancit, pancit....

the thing was, my dad offered to go up to Leicester when he comes to help me move, but i just wanted to get things outta the way...haa, padan muka....

oh, did i tell you? that was only round one...hehehhe, but round two was less horrendous, sebab i pinjam beg ber-trolley Ainor, and that made a HELL of a difference...and this time, i took the bus home...something i should have done in the first place..sebabnye? well, i got on the first stop and get off at the last stop...memandangkan both my bags were ber-trolley, it was much easier for me to handle them..itupun ade this French-African guy who offered to help me with it...Ok! hehehe..sempatlaa interview die kejap..he's working in the UK to improve his english or sumthing...nice guy...nasib baik jugak die ade...my only grouse i that i was lugging my dad's samsonite bag yang super keras, and yang by itself, must have weigh about half of my weight...

unfortunately, i balik on a Staurday night, and the doube-decker red bus to Clapton was as meriah as some dinner party...so much so that i got this snide remark from this makcik who goes ""ÿour suitcase has a seat"..heck, it wasn't me who put it there!! conductor bus tu yang letak so it won't be in people's way...sheesh..die tensionlaa tu, tak dapat tempat duduk..i offered her my seat, and she said "no, that's not much of a seat"...eee, rase nak hentak je dengan bag samsonite tu...i pun buat muke selamba, and continued reading my Agatha Christie, stretching my legs lagi..padan muke die...ehehe..jahatnye...

and the best part was, bag samsonite keras tu pulak, bile dah sampai rumah, tak boleh bukak! dah jammed!! i must have closed it the wrong way or something...

i left Leicester on Wednesday, and came back to get the rest of my stuff on Saturday morning on the 8.30 bus...berlai jugak sebab i was late...heeheehe..kat Leicester, my things were bergelimpangan all over the room....i sampai around 11.30 a.m., kemas the rest of it, went into uni, got a few strangers to take pictures of me heheheh..then sempat gi library lagi to check my emails..they haven't block my id yet..then, i gathered all my edibles yang tak boleh bawa ke lonon, and walked over to the medic girls'house...lepak kejap, makan lunch, tengok dvd lagi...explain my condition to them then walked back to my hall, last kemas, last look around, and i was off....

surprisingly, the same people who was on the bus from london that morning, was also on the bus that evening...and the middle aged Brit guy actually recognised me from that morning...we made conversation, and i answered him as politely as i could...tengok2, bile he got on the bus, he saved a seat next to him for me!!! alamak!! ape nak cakap dengan die nie!! tapi tak nak seemed rude, so i sat next to him, and layanlaa die punye citer, pasal politics laa, religion laa, london citylaa...cheh, tak boleh nak tido, cuz it would seem intentional and rude (not that he cares pun)...but mase dia bangun nak gi toilet, i terus grab my Agatha Chrisie and started reading..he was like, oh i've read that one, that's good...i pun sengih and cotinued reading...then die takkacau dah..die pulak tido! cheh!

now a certain part of my anatomy pulak yang aching..it's time to go to bed laa nampaknye..its already 12.25 a.m., and i have a 9 a.m. class tomorrow, and it would take me from half an hour to an hour naik bas to go to uni, so i have to get an early start..nak bangun sahur pulak tu...nanti will citer pasal my housemates pulak next time..(ade ke yang baca nie??)

**to all yang meramaikan my tagboard, to all well-wishers, thank you once again :) Selamat berpuasa kepada semua! **

p/s: thanks for the flooble tagboard afti!!! i owe u one..!! meehoon goreng with no telur and no taugeh coming up!!