Darling Buds of January

It's still cold, but I suppose sbb this year x de snow, it isn't as cold as the past few years? The buds are coming out in January, SubhanAllah!

Out of Hours

Hari tu Aisyah ada tanda2 mcm susah bernafas sket, as in wheezing la kot, mcm org baru nak dpt asthma, or maybe sebab sejuk sgt, udara kering sgt, and dia pon dah ada batuk2 sket sebelumnya. Anyway, satu mlm dlm 2 minggu yg lps, dia batuk2 non-stop, pastu nafas laju, sampai ngadu 'My chest hurt', and x bole tido langsung sampai pkl 5 pg. Seperti biasa, benda2 ni kalo nak berlaku it happens on a weekend night, so sbrg klinik adalah tidak dibuka di sini. Jgk pada masa tu I was kelam kelibut nak kejar deadline nak jumpa SV, so agak la stressed. Anyway, lps consult Dr kat phone, kitaorg decided to take her to the Out of Hours Treatment Centre at Derriford Hosiptal (berbeza dgn Accident & Emergency).

Centre ni nak dtg kena approve dulu over the phone, kalo x de appoitment x leh menonong masuk mcm A&E. Tp Alhamdulilah waktu menunggu x lama, dlm sejam kot, dpt jumpa Dr. Cuma nya, ingatkan Dr tu nak bg la Aisyah sedut nebulizer ke, mcm budak2 kat Msia slalu dpt kalo bawak gi jumpa Dr kat klinik sbb batuk and x leh nafas properly.

Tapi I should have known better, ini UK maaa... Mana ada senang2 bg ubat. Ubat nya apa tau? STEAM INHALATAION. What is it, you ask? Basically, rebus air, tuangkan dlm mangkuk, duduk ngan Aisyah dlm selimut with the bowl of hot water pon sama dlm selimut, tutup kepala, dan INHALE then steam. Itu sahaja tuan puan. Kos jumpa Dr=Free. Kos ubat=Zero. Kos naik teksi gi Derriford=GBP20.

Kalo kat Msia, sohih dah kena nebulizer, sbb on my side of the family, SEMUA yg lelaki ada asthma. And Aisyah herself ada eczema, which is medically linked to asthma, tu yg aku risau tuh. Tp Dr sini kan relaxed. Walau pon dia ada berubah sket air muka bila aku ckp bapak aku, adik2 laki aku semua ada asthma (a cause for concerned la sket kan aku agak), tp dia kata dia x leh buat apa2, sbb test utk budak2 asthma or not di UK hanya lah bole di diagnose kan after budak tu 6 years old. Imagine that?

Alhamdulillah, lps tu Aisyah got better. Tp aku mmg x pakai la method selimut bersama air panas semangkuk tu. Gilo apo? Sat gi kena gi A&E plak, for 1st degree burn kang. Sudah nya aku jerang air panas atas dapur for a few hours, kasi wap tu memenuhi satu rumah. Bil elektrik? Tinggi la kan. Damp dlm rumah? Possibly. Apo nak buat...

Tp pengalaman la gi Out-of-hours Treatment Centre ni. Sblm ni dah 2 kali masuk A&E, tido satu mlm dlm Paediatric Ward, and naik ambulance plak dah buat satu kali. Tinggal masuk Maternity Ward je belom lg, ehhh... keluar topik plak.

Work (Present), Play (Past)

Ok sbb janji pd diri sendiri jgk nak publish semua pics jalan2 ni sblm cukup setahun usia mereka, even pon dah lapuk, still lah aku persembahkan, gmbr basi masa jln2 and cruise naik Brittany Ferry ke Roscoff February 2011 hari tu. Entry sblm2 ni psl Roscoff , France, leh rujuk sini, sini dan sini.

PS: Kalo dah baca (or re-read) links di atas aje, maybe the next part comprendo nya lebih sbb aku nak main sambung je cerita nya spt mana aku stop hari tu.

[1] Ok, hotel ni mmg aku rekomen. Yg sebetulnya, winter trip pon mmg aku rekomen sbb dpt harga sgt murah. Kalo nak gi Roscoff, France, masa ni dah lebih suam drpd Plymouth. Tgk aje nyaman nya bukak tingkap bilik hotel pagi2 sambil angin bayu segar menerobos langsir. Org pon x ramai, so x kalut nak gi mkn breakfast free, or tgk attractions sana sini. Bila customers x ramai, local businessmen (tuan hotel, tuan restoran, tuan taxi), semua bg layanan top class, ye la, sbb ko la punca pendapatan dia di quiet season ni kan? So stereotype yg org French mmg kentut lah bab2 sosial dgn tourist, adalah x benar di Roscoff (at least not in the winter!).

[2] Breakfast

[3] Lps dah mkn kenyang, ingat nak gi beach, main2 air. Rupanya air dah surut daaa... pkl 6 pg td lg dah surut. Surutnya, haaa... 2 km lg ke depan. Aiyooo... manjanglah terlepas masa air pasang. Tp amik2 gmbr jg la kat sini. Budak2 mmg suka sgt, main pasir la katakan

[4] Lps dah puas kat beach, berkemas2 utk catch the ferry at 3 pm. Kali ni kitaorg booked bilik 4 berth with porthole, so bole la tgk luar kapal. Kali ni agak haru sbb aku rasa mcm terhuyung hayang sgt. Mabuk laut bah! Masa dtg hari tu x mabuk pon. Kali ni (mungkin sbb siang), mmg x leh bgn. Bilik ada TV pon x leh layan. Haihh, mknan order mahal2 pon hilang nikmat. Terus balik kabin dan baring x sedor kan diri sampai la Plymouth. Aisyah sorg je yg x rasa apa2, padahal kalo naik teksi, naik more than 15 minit dia mesti muka berubah pucat tanda2 nak muntah. Rezeki membesarkan dia tepi laut sungguh hehe...

Apa psl bukak cerita lama? Well.. sbb before gi holiday skali lg ni, rasa nya nak perabiskan dulu cerita lama, especially since it's the same place as where we are heading now hehe... haih, cerita basi Portugal jgk yg x sempat2 lg nak upload..

 

I Turned Inside Out Waiting For You This Twilight

Tajuk mcm romantik abis kan?

Sbnarnya, nak share pics I took whilst waiting for Hubs to finish his job lps Maghrib td (tggu beliau solat jap dkt opis beliau, to go do our food shopping). Terasa kreatif smcm plak masa tu, Aisyah plak tido, so ada la peluang bereksperimen.

I am by no means a photographer since I know no difference between aperture or shutter speed. But what I know, I love taking pics that means something artistic to me. So perhaps an artist that uses photograph as her medium? Umm.. terlalu stretching it kot label ni. Cukup lah blogger ciput yg gila gambar kot hehe. Maybe terlalu byk pegi tgk art gallery kot, I now to appreciate 'art' in its rawest form :)

So this is Plymouth in twilight mode, circa 5.11 pm mcm tu. I loveeee the clouds in the background! It was a lovely day today, the sky was bright and the crescent moon was out. Perfect, but freezingggg! Beku jari2 tau (it might have been around 2-3C, but felt like 1C with the strong winds). Obviously, as the shot gets darker, the day light diminishes into night.

Semasa menunggu Hubs solat, aku amik gmbr latar belakang Plymouth city dari dlm bangunan. It was such a breathtaking view. Tp secara x sengaja nya, terambik gmbr yg ada my reflection in the pic. So ala2 mcm kalo filerm tertindan gitu, ada 2 imej, the background of Plymouth city behind on one layer, and myself on the second layer. But I find this inside out pic mcm enticing, so buat dan buat lg. The last pic shows you how it's done, basically. Aisyah and I were sitting in the cafe. Can you tell?

This last pic ni x berapa cantik (blurry), but it is the essence of 'Waiting for Ayah'. Aisyah tertunggu2 sampai tertido, Ayah coming out of that long corridor from his office meeting us yg menunggu di lobby :)

 

Busy Sebelum Lazy

Wah, byk preparation nak kena buat kalo nak gi holiday ni, I almost forgot, aduhai. Shopping for bekal, packing, sorting out travel docs, printing out maps, tickets, accommodation address and receipts, searching for places of attractions, collect tickets kat train station, study the map of the transport links, prepare itenerary, tukar duit, masak utk bekal dlm perjalanan, dan mcm2 lg, argghhh...! Termasuk la mohon cuti utk Aisyah from her nursery. Guru besar kena sign tau, x lulus x leh cuti, mcm boss Hubs jgk hehe..

And in a minute, after Aisyah finishes her after school tea, we need to get to the surgery as soon as possible to pick up her prescriptions, and collect them at the pharmacy. Bkn apa, di UK ni susah sket nak travel with medicine, especially kalo naik flight or departure yg international, unless ada prescription Dr yg dah sign di botol ubat tersebut. Trust me, dah pernah kena, walhal ubat Paracetamol budak2 je pon, dia x bg bawa dlm handbag. With Aisyah's allergies, we need to have medication on hand, bkn dlm bagasi yg bole check-in, so nak x nak, everytime travel I need to get Dr's signature.

Yg buat lg terasa hari adalah packed adalah sbb hari ni kelas General teaching Associates Scheme (GTA) aku dah start. Huih, kelas ni dari 1st year lg aku menggeletik nak masuk, tp asyik la clash ngan shift keja aku pada masa tu. Then the last 2 sems, nama naik, tp in waiting list aje sbb demand terlalu ramai. This sem (cohort January 2012), baru nama betul2 accepted, Alhamdulillah...

GTA ni kursus utk menggarap skill pengajaran. Ye la, aku fikir2, balik nak kena mengajar jg, x sket, byk. Selama ni mengajar student main hentam keromo pakai teaching model sendiri olah hehe. So course yg terang2 free ni xde salah nya ikut. Kursus nya selama 6 minggu, dan 3 jam seminggu. Upon completion, dpt certificate. Selain introduction to teaching, kita bole proceed to the next level of the course, which is PGCAP600. Kalo lulus kursus yg additional ni, akan dpt recognition nationally and by the Higher Education Authority UK. Eh eh, mcm nak stay ngajar kat sini je bunyi nya... Bkn gitu, but kalo dpt pengiktirafan tertinggi di sini, pasti lah rugi kalo sia2 kan peluang ni (pendapat aku lah). So, let's see what it offers lah in the next few weeks.

Already aku x rasa rugi attend kelas ni, sbb td dpt jumpa org2 yg sama dgn bidang aku, yg sblm ni x kenal mengenal pon sbb lain2 research group (similar, but not the same field). Yg paling menarik ni buat modeling of the cochlear, which is kinda related to what I'm doing. Dia dah viva, so we had loads to discuss masa tgh lunch td (td they offered lunch as well after class). Lebih best lg, she will be presenting at this workshop I'm due to go in Feb, so x de la pegi menonong x kenal sapa. And since I needed participants for my performance studies, she has actually volunteered herself (sbb dia rasa nak tahu psl bidang aku lebih mendalam lg), and even offered to help dragging people from her lab to join in the study too. Aku kata tgk lah dulu, test pon x design properly lg, but if I needed her help, will definitely cari dia!

First off, 25 org yg hadir td diminta memperkenalkan diri sendiri, what you do, what's interesting about you, blah blah. Ni kira ice-breaking la kot, sbb we will work in the group for the next few sessions. Then belajar psl model2 in teaching, dan yg mana sesuai utk what situation. The third part tu masuk lab, dan belajar guna tool 'Tulip' (Teaching and Learning in Plymouth) utk upload, share and download materials utk belajar dan mengajar dlm UoP. During the 3rd session onwards, we are expected to perform a 5 minute micro-teaching each, which will be assessed on hihi.. nervous plak..

End of the session dapat mkn lunch free. So that was that. Mudah2an berkat pengambilan kelas ni. Semoga kalo esok2 mengajar anak bangsa, mengalir manfaat nya... Insya Allah...

Feels Like A Sunday

Hari ni hari Selasa. Kalo kat Msia tgh cuti ni, sbb Chinese New Year. Tp aku kat UK pon cuti sama. Sendiri declare, sbb sblm baru lps meeting ngan SV, and I feel I deserve a break hehe.

Those long nights in the library had paid off, when I had my meeting with my SV yesterday. The discussion went for a little over 2 hours, a record for us, coz normally our meeting usually lasts 30 mintues-45 minutes at a time. But since the last couple months, we have lesser and lesser meetings, coz I think he trusts me to work on my own. Although exciting and challenging, ia adalah sgt mendebarkan, coz I really, really don't want to let him down (with that high expectation of his) or worst, keja syok sendiri tp salah direction.

Alhamdulillah, he verified that I'm on the right track and I am so relieved that a few experiments that I thought I still needed to do, he said could actually be dropped. There are a few minor ones that I am halfway through that I need to finish, and I hope I can finish them off in a couple of weeks time, so praise be to Allah for that.

I really should qadha tido, but during the day when Aisyah is at school, I find myself that I can't. Bykkkkkk sgt benda To Do List (yg non-academic related), like for today: Lipat kain, basuh baju, jemur baju. Then gi bank. Then gi Treasury, check dah byr fees belum. Then return buku2 kat library, email semua org dlm lab ckp seminar this Thursday cancel, look up and plan metro station, attractions blah2 for our upcoming winter break (one of the reasons I worked so hard the last few weeks was becoz I want to have a GUILT-FREE holiday).

X termasuk benda2 I want to do for leisure, yg dah lama dlm KIV list becoz I couldn't find the time to do, like: watch re-runs of Judge Judy, tgk 2 episode of Desperate Housewives Season 8, update blog (ada 4 entries tertangguh, x termasuk nak buat scheduled entries coz I don't want my blog sans entries whilst we are going away ), tunaikan hajat nak pegi tgk the Art2Day 4 exhibition at the Cube3 Gallery and the Intersection Exhibition at the Peninsular Art Gallery. AND, I have new stash of FICTIONAL books to read, oh sweet! I've bought quite a number of books lately bcoz they seem to be on offer, and now it's payback time. So far on my to read list is 'Mini Shopaholic' (chick-lit, I know, tp since dah buat koleksi from 1st Shopaholic series tu update je lah bacaan), and Jodi Picoult's newest book, 'Sing You Home' (I am also an avid collector of almost all of Picoult's number). Terkini, sudah habis baca buku 'After River' by Donna Millner, mmg menyentap jiwa jgk la coz she plays the theme of family, how a family broke down after something that happened during one night, and 30 years after they reunite. Sedih gak la, and it reieterates the pepatah Melayu, "Air dicincang takkan putus'. Made me miss my family.

Syok betul sesekali bole sit in front of the TV, dgn x mandi, and watch back-to-back reruns silly sitcoms. Ok peeps. Gotta run. Got long list of stuff to do now! At least dah bole cross off 1 blog entry, 2 episodes of Judge Judy. Next to tackle, mandi, kemas katil, dan jemur kain, and out the door, see how much I can get down within these 3 hours before picking Aisyah up from nursery again, hihihih.

 

Thermostat

Semalam kat library panas gila2, sampaikan tercongong laki I kjp tgk bini dia balik mlm2 sibuk mengipas diri hehe. So hari ni tukar strategy gi duduk outside dkt ruang lapang library. Ketar plak dah... Siap kena pakai coat bagai sambil menaip. Agak x seswai sbb baju bulky. Pelik la thermostat library ni, time panas, panas kemain. Time sejuk, sejuk gile. Amoi dpn aku tu pon amik jaket dia pakai jgk. Jaket dia lg tebal, so lg kelakar terkial2 nak menaip. Apapon, salute dkt study group dpn aku ni, budak2 Chinese. Esok lusa nak raya dia masih steady study, dah lps midmite dah ni.

Mlm ni mlm minggu dan aku berdoa kat luar tu x de apa2 yg pelik berlaku. Smlm ada jejaka2 muda tepuk blkg aku masa tggu lampu cross jalan tukar kaler hijau seraya menegur, 'You alright?' (mabuk atau mengejek, Allah aje yg tahu). Aku jawab, "yeah, thank you". Ni standard jawapan aku sbb biasa nya dia x bajet kita berani jawab. Bila kita wat2 konfiden (tp bkn kurg ajar, dia akan terdiam dan in fact malu snediri sbb nak menyakat x jd). Apapon, polis mmg ramai di mlm minggu sbb x nak kekacauan di luar bar sana, so Insya Allah selamat.

Sbnarnya nak aje aku rakamkan kemeriahan mlm2 mggu, tp takut x psl2 kena renggut kamera plak, so biar lah terakam dlm minda aku je. Kalo tgk around 8 pm, agak sunyi dan x de sesapa kat jalan, tp from 11 pm onwards, happening... mmg ramai lah manusia atas jalanan, yg bergurau senda, terjerit2, menyanyi, yg goofing around (pra-romen barangkali di tepi2 jalan) pon ada jg. Tu psl polis mmg berjaga2, siap ada 2,3 biji kereta lg parking spjg jalan aku nak balik. Tawakkal aje lah semoga semua slmt.

Pe'el org bila dah mabuk ni pelik2. Ntah la, setiap mlm ada aje yg 'amusing' dan menghairankan. Nampak jelas benar kenapa Allah melarang kita drpd meminum air kencing setan itu. Manusia yg baik2 siangnya jd hilang pertimbangan diri seketika.

Makhluk yg berupa paraskan manusia tetapi akalnya tiada ini lah barangkali yg M Nasir referkan sbg 'Lang Mengsilang, Kui Mengsikui' (Org bkn org, hantu bkn hantu) dalam lagu nya 'Tanya Sama Itu Hud2' yg pernah memenangi AJL satu ketika dulu.

Pelarian

Kena halau pak guard. Aiseh, potong stim betul.

Maka, merempat lah aku. Kat library. Sbb aku nak pakai dua monitor (one from laptop, one from the PC in the carel room), terpaksa la aku amik bilik karel yg meruap itu (overheated, heating psg max kot). Selalu nya kalo gi library aku duk luar je, but skang nak wat sound editing plus nak sambung scripting, so tamak nak 2 screen mcm kat lab sendiri. So, fanas pon fanas la. Risiko kulit kering pas nih. You can never fully win, can you?

Amik sket gmbr bilik. Ni bilik nya moden drpd yg pernah buat entry sblm ni. Very quiet. Top-floor. Bilik smart, ada laptop, desk, chair, wifi, whiteboard, marker, white board eraser, heater full-blast. Kurg best sket sbb ada dinding kaca yg org luar bole tgk. So kalo tiba2 rasa nak korek hidung, kena cover. Memandangkan mlm ni mlm mggu, student x ramai, so bole la korek hidung sepuas hati dan keruk bont*t skali kalo perlu tgk la kat luar bilik karel ni, kosong. Tp Insya Allah ok, sbb bilik ni auto lock, so org x leh masuk, dan kalo aku nak gi toilet, brg leh tggal dlm. Kalo duk kat luar mcm slalu, kalo nak toilet, kena disconnect laptop dan hangkut sama.

Ni bukti panas, tepek gak walau ada risiko termengetengahkan my emerging double chin. Muka merah bukan sbb blusher, semula jadi tu. Tindak balas bilik panas nih, aduh... Headphones terpaksa pakai yg cikai, sbb sayang nak bwk headphones best kuar daripada lab, takut patah dalam beg semasa transport from lab ke library yg hanya lah er... 20 langkah hehe...

Yg syoknya, kat tingkat ni ada coffee machine and drinking water fountain (free). So kejap2 gi minum air. Kulit kena jaga maaa... Panas2 bilik ni, dehydrated nanti.

Malam makin larut (technically, it's pagi already, hmmm), students pon ramai dah balik. Aku pon time2 stretching tu merayap (dlm bangunan) gi amik gmbr plak. I kinda like this pic, coz it  blurs out the edges between the inside of the library (the plant, carpet, furniture in the room that you can see via reflection from camera), and the outside of the library (the building, etc that you can see in the dark). Kinda what I'm feeling like at the moment, my night and day, my work, my play, just all blurs into this one whole entity. Ah... PhD.... Enjoy it while it lasts, or so I've been told ;)