Seorang

Seorang penjual roti,
Berdiri di penjuru sebatang jalan,
Menunggu sesiapa untuk bertandang,
Sambil menikmati keadaan sekeliling,
Keadaan yang aman di petang Ahad.

Seorang peniaga buku,
Sedang rancak melelongkan buku-bukunya,
Manusia tidak putus-putus datang dan pergi,
Nasibnya begitu berbeza,
Untung berlipat ganda,
Rugi jauh sekali.

Seorang penjaga kedai,
Sibuk mengemas rak-rak barangan,
Tanpa mengendahkan sesiapa yang berkunjung,
Fokus kepada kerjanya tidak berbelah bahagi,
Menyusun dengan begitu teratur dan sempurna.

Seorang pengunjung pasar,
Berhajat untuk membeli,
Menggunakan segala deria yang dianugerah-Nya,
Mata, telinga, hidung,
Melihat, mendengar, dan menghidu,
Segala yang diingini.

Dalam kekecohan ini,
Seorang peminta sedekah,
Sedang bertasbih di tengah-tengah laluan,
Tanpa kaki dan sebelah tangan,
Menagih simpati kepada yang datang,
Memohon dinar, meringankan beban.

Kini, tiada lagi pengunjung,
Tiada lagi peniaga,
Yang membeli dan menjual,
Pasar yang dahulunya hingar dengan lelongan-lelongan,
Menjadi padang jarak padang terkukur,
Penuh dengan katrij peluru,
Penuh dengan mayat-mayat homosapien,
Tersusun rapi, berlapis-lapis.

Mayat-mayat dihampar di antara langit dan bumi,
Terbiar reput di bawah pancaran sang suria,
Tiada siapa sanggup melihat,
Mahupun menjenguk,
Dihembus angin sepoi-sepoi bahasa,
Tenggelam di bawah timbunan pasir,
Pasir buatan manusia,
Daripada dentuman simen dan konkrit.

Ice Skating in Gorky Park

It has been a while since I last posted anything here. What can i do? Our holidays have been filled up with either something not really useful or useless. Sleep late, wake up late (of course), staring at the laptop's screen and listening to some antique yet exotic songs. No trip to other places whatsoever, after the plan to go to Murmansk were canceled due to some technical reason. Moscow will be our place of exploration this winter, and I hope that we will at least get to go and see other places in the world as well next year. Well, since we are totally free and absolutely have nothing to do, lots of ideas came pouring out of my mates' brilliant brains on what to do during our break.

First is classic. We used to play this when we were in primary school. Anyone our age that does not know about this game, well, hurm, I can't say anything. Either did not go for standard one to 6 studies, or you just don't want to bother knowing about this game. It is popular by the way. Whoever that does not know how to play this back then in Sek. Keb. Minden Height (my primary school), has a great chance to be deserted. Hehe. What they call this game differs in different states (now only I know about this since everyone in my room and comes to our room frequently came from different states). In Penang and Kedah, it is called "tudung tin" while in Johor and Selangor, "tudung ceper". Here is a quote: Boredom makes everything spills out. From foolish ideas, to the most creative one. Trust me on this :). And it is really nice to recall back our days when we were in the range of age 7 to 12. A lot of good and even the greatest memories happened along these period. We played until morning, laughing and chatting based on the game.

tudung tin, tudung ceper etc. (since I do not know what they call it at other states)

see the concentration on their faces?

(since I am the cameraman, all that I can do is laugh at their way of playing, fun!) :)

Second is ice skating! We have always been wanting to go for ice skating since the start of our holiday, and only yesterday we got the chance to go for it. After searching through the net, I found one interesting place to skate in, the Gorky Park. At first I thought it was free of change to enter the park, but when we arrived there, 80 roubles were charged. I can't believe that even the internet deceives! Since everyone agreed to pay for it, I have no choice but to say yes. It was actually a part of my mistake of not getting the details about that place first. Sorry!

Once we got ourselves inside, Fairuz and I began searching for the place to rent the skating shoes, while the rest did their Asar prayer. We found a place kind of far from the entrance, rented the shoes first then went back to where the others were waiting for us. To our surprise, they have found a place to rent the shoes nearer! All our hard work went down the drain T.T. We did our prayers after that and after that we skated freely! The rink is so huge that I haven't finished exploring every corner of it. Even though the condition of the rink is not like what you expected (with holes and unsteady surface), it was really worth it. It was also my first time so I do not bother about the surface very much. The company of my friends and the excitement made this experience priceless. The rink is outdoor by the way. It makes the excitement a lot better. All of us had a great time, falling onto the hard ice, learning the real way on how to skate, improving ourself, and laughing at each other. After an hour of skating, almost half of us bailed out, reciting that they have blisters and too "weak" to continue. Since we still have the energy to carry on, Fairuz and I decided to add another hour, along with Evana, Kucai, Fuad, Afiqah and Kumbang. We skated in the dark and finished at 1730. It was very exhausting. Fairuz wanted to join the large group of Human Train, but as we were shy of time, maybe next time Pai!

From back: Syahir, Fairuz and me on the skates

Thanks Fairuz for this pic

Post skating picture (except for Fairuz who is now the cameraman) :)

Sore back, swollen toe nails, wrist pain, the parts and parcel of ice skating if you are an beginner, like us. So do not afraid to try something new. There are risk of it but life is about facing risks. Even during eating you might face the risk of getting choked by the food you eat. If you can not face it, then I don't think that you have a life. Just go for it and have fun, that is what matter the most.

I think that wraps it up. Sorry for the long silence. It seems like time flies very fast, especially now, on the holidays. Till then, salam and tata! :)

p/s: In whatever cases you are in, please, do not forget to do your prayers. People gets drowned by entertainment easily, therefore we need to casually remind our friends about this. Have fun for the holidays!

Done!

Bio-Organic Chemistry Finals-done! Alhamdulillah, all of us here passed the exam with flying colours. Well, most of us. Some did not make it that well that they only passed. Still, everyone could carve a smile on their face, maybe their effort matches the results that they get.

But, some of them could not take it. They thought that their effort exceeds everyone and yet, they still can not produce an excellent results. Here is an incident I would like to share with all the readers out there. After we got our written test results, I saw one of my friends burst into tears. It was all of a sudden. Then I get to know that she did not do that well for the test. She is a bright student, yet is getting an average kind of result. I am not saying that she is not grateful whatsoever. A girl's sensitive emotion, can be easily provoked by the environment. Maybe she thought that she did not put enough effort on this, or maybe she has worked harder than everyone that she did not deserve this kind of results. Whatever it is, I just like to point out that at the end, everything is determined by Allah, the most Merciful. We have the right to plan, but to execute it, it all depends on Him. There must be some hikmah hiding behind anything that is planned for us by Allah. Be grateful with what you have (or get), and if it is not enough, double the effort up. You won't loose anything by doing this. Please, do not let the emotions controlling you, but instead you are the one controlling it.

Sorry for the very short post. I will update my blog more often since we are having our "real" holidays now. Toodles to everyone and have a great holiday!

Visit to Kuzminki

Yeah. Even though the bio-organic chemistry is just around the corner (it starts with the skill test on Monday), I could still find the time to write something here and of course, shopping :). Yesterday we went to Mega Белая Дача (Belaya Dacha) near metro Kuzminki. It was only the three of us, Haziq, me and Fuad. The plan of going there came out of nowhere. Fuad and me were thinking of just going to Okhotni Ryad but then Haziq came into our room and said that there is a place with a lot more variety to shop near Kuzminki. Without hesitation, we waited until after Asar then we began our journey.

Going there was not a big problem. We reached at Kuzminki in no time although it took around one hour to there. Decided to eat first, we got ourselves each a set of Filet-o-fish, and we headed to our destination-Mega! Bus number 655 brought us there.

O.M.G!!?? That was our first impression of that place. Haha. It is the largest place of shopping we have ever seen around Moscow. It has 2 wings. And we need to cross the highway to get to the other wing. We went in, did our Maghrib prayers and started our stuff-hunting. Hehe. Went to every single shop in the complex, marked those jackets, hats, jumpers that are considered as "cheap", and survey everything that is up to our budget. Duration=roughly 2 hours of doing this. Yes, choosy we are :). Sorry. Was too busy surveying and being wow-ed by all the stuff that I forgot to snap any picture. Hehe. At the second round we began picking up all those "marked" stuff and buying them-this time for real! No more surveying and trying-outs. The place is so huge even the toilet was hard to find. Done with everything and we decided to head back home. That time was 8.30 p.m. Kinda late to be outside over here. Only 2 pictures were manage to be taken. For remembrance, at least one pic is enough :). Thanks to the timer of my camera and the kind Russian who snapped our picture. Here goes:

Tired of walking 3 hours non-stop, at last we had a little bit of rest :)
Thank you Miss kind Russian :)

Now the best part is, the journey back home. Boarded the wrong bus and we ended up somewhere only God and the Russians know. Bus number 52, "thank you" very much. We got out of the bus and the only thing we can see was our white teeth. The surrounding was very dark! The other two guys were swearing at me as I am the one encouraging us to get into the bus. "Takpa. Sume bas lalu nye metro nih". Sorry! Lucky us, there is a nearby bus-stop and we waited for another bus over there. 112 was the next one. Since we have nothing to loose except for our time, we boarded the gloomy and scary looking bus and pray to Allah that it will at least pass through a metro station. We were very desperate for a metro sign! Haziq and Fuad showed their worried faces as we were the only one left inside the bus for almost half an hour. Suddenly, "sleduyushaya astanovka: stansiya metro Bratislavskaya" (Next bus stop: Metro station Bratislavskaya). Fuuhhhh!! Relieved is the most perfect word to be used here. Now I am the saviour eyh? Stop swearing and at least give me some credit for this. Haha. A failed tour-guide. Nevermind. Once a mistake, it will never be repeated again. Insya-Allah.

Can you see the worriness of their faces and gloominess of the bus?

We took almost the same route back home as going to Kuzminki. The slight difference was that we need to change trains at 3 different stations. That's all. Nothing big :). Arrived at Kaluzhskaya safely and again we were very lucky. Bus number 226 arrived right in front of our feet at the very time we were there. Took the bus home and there you go! The longest ever outing I had since I am here in Moscow. Exactly at 10.30 p.m., we stepped on the 7th floor safely with no bruises, cuts whatsoever. Alhamdulillah nothing happened to use that night. Actually we were kinda intimidated to come back this late at night because recently there were a lot of cases in between the Malaysian students and the Russian hooligans. A not so decent case by the way.

Whatever it is, we have no regrets on travelling that far as it was worth going. I bought a jacket and a belt, Fuad had a blast shopping that he spent a four-figured amount of money with a new jumper and casual jacket while Haziq went crazy with the sale that he bought a pair of jeans and some winter apparel. To all readers out there, if you are in Moscow, this is definitely a place to go shopping to. Haha. Now I sound like a shopaholic.

Well I guess that is it and wait for my further updates. It is already 3.30 in the morning and yet, I am still not asleep. Caffeine maybe? Nah. High head, groggy nose, scratchy hands, blur looking keyboard-signs of being sleepy! That is all my update for now. Do not expect too much from me eyh since most of the time I spend indoors (too cold outside). Brrrrr!

Updates will come shortly after something interesting happens :). Toodles. Salam

Someone told me

I have no idea why, but when I first listen to this song on my friend's friendster profile, suddenly I fell in love with it. It is because of her lovely voice or the meaning of the song itself (which I found it out after Google-ing it for a quite a while)? Check this one out. You might not fell for this song if you have a heart like a stone, but I am sure most of you will love it. The lyric and translation can be found under it. Enjoy listening to it :).

Quelqu'un M'a Dit-Carla Bruni

Quelquun ma dit - Carla Bruni

Quelqu'un M'a Dit :

On me dit que nos vies ne valent pas grand chose,
Elles passent en un instant comme fanent les roses.
On me dit que le temps qui glisse est un salaud que de nos chagrins il s'en fait des manteaux pourtant quelqu'un m'a dit...

Refrain
Que tu m'aimais encore,
C'est quelqu'un qui m'a dit que tu m'aimais encore.
Serais ce possible alors ?

On me dit que le destin se moque bien de nous
Qu'il ne nous donne rien et qu'il nous promet tout
Parais qu'le bonheur est à portée de main,
Alors on tend la main et on se retrouve fou
Pourtant quelqu'un m'a dit ...

Refrain

Mais qui est ce qui m'a dit que toujours tu m'aimais?
Je ne me souviens plus c'était tard dans la nuit,
J'entend encore la voix, mais je ne vois plus les traits
"Il vous aime, c'est secret, lui dites pas que j'vous l'ai dit"
Tu vois quelqu'un m'a dit...

Que tu m'aimais encore, me l'a t'on vraiment dit...
Que tu m'aimais encore, serais ce possible alors ?

On me dit que nos vies ne valent pas grand chose,
Elles passent en un instant comme fanent les roses
On me dit que le temps qui glisse est un salaud
Que de nos tristesses il s'en fait des manteaux,
Pourtant quelqu'un m'a dit que...

Refrain

Someone told me (English translation)

They tell me our lives are not worth much
They pass in an instant as roses fade
They tell me that time slipping by is a bastard
he makes coats from our problems
However someone told me

That you still loved me...
It's someone who told me that you still loved me.
Is it possible then?

They tell me that fate enjoys making fools of us
That it gives us nothing and promises everything
It seems that happiness is within arm's reach
Then you reach out your hand and find yourself foolish
however someone told me...
but who is it who told me that still you loved me?
I don't remember now it was late in the night
I still hear the voice, but I can't see the features
"He loves you, it's secret, don't tell him I told you"
You see someone told me...

that you still loved me-- did they really say it?
That you still loved me, is it possible then?

They tell me our lives aren't worth much
They pass in an instant as roses fade
They say that the time that passes is a bastard
That from our sorrows it makes coats
However someone told me that....