The Dark Knight has Risen!

Wheeeee I finally watched The Dark Knight Rises! And in the cinema no less! Talk about being excited (!!). Heeeee!

Whoa...too may exclamation marks, need to chill out a little.

Anyways, yesterday (Saturday) husband took me to watch Batman. First cinema experience in Glasgow and it was kinda awesome. The seats were damn huge, something like Gold Class back in Malaysia. It's two seaters and in the middle there's a small bench-like-thingy to put your drinks or whatever. We didn't have anything since we were fasting but oh Gooooooood, the smell of the popcorn was so so menusuk hidung and mengacau jiwa! Tapi we were fasting so; big, fat cannot eat. Another tiny detail about the popcorn smell, it smelled like the fancy Garret's popcorn. Hmmmmmmm. The next time we are going to the cinema, it has to be once Ramadhan is over! ;)

Anyways, the cinema was actually pretty damn near to husband's uni. Super convenient, but super unfair because husband gets student rates (6GBP) and me (8GBP). It sort of makes me want to be a student again. Haih. I also finally took the camera out and took some random photos while we were walking to the cinema.

The super striking flowers in front of the GU English Lit Faculty. No pictures of the faculty though, but it's soooo pretty. I will have to make sure to snap some pics of the faculty next time.

Husband leading the way, which turned out to be the wrong way! Thankfully though, it wasn't raining at that time. It was predicted to rain off and on through out the afternoon.

When I turned this is what I saw. Kinda breathtaking isn't it. Somehow, when I am not expecting to be blown away, the city of Glasgow manages to take my breath away. But only when it's sunny!

Okay I know the picture below is a bit out of focus, but check out the sign that says 'Nude'! Hahahahaha. I was cracking up when I saw that and I told husband, 'I wanted to watch Batman la, not Boobies!' And the cinema is actually just a few doors away! I got a shock when we stopped there. Muat ke? The box office was actually really small. But the cinema was big! Smelled like raw ikan masin, but methinks that it was caused by the leather seats.

So anyways, about Batman; it was kinda predictable. And holy shit, that eye wart on the right side of Christian Bale's face NEEDS TO GO! It is so so so extremely distracting that when they closed up on his face, that was the only thing I was focusing on. But at the end of the day, it was a good summer blockbuster and it was fantastic closure for the whole Batman trilogy. Oh and if you're wondering what husband's thoughts on the movie was; he slept halfway through it. Yeah, real party animal that one!

On that note; Goodnight Scotland, Good morning Malaysia!

♥♥♥

What In The Hell??!!

Finally, the Olympics has officially started with the athlete's march, oath taking and lighting of the Olympic torch. Nice. However, all through out the live telecast, all I could think of was; 'who in the hell approved the attire for the Malaysian team?' It is really really hideous! And don't take this wrongly; I love Malaysia as much as the next Malaysia and I am also equally proud of our culture and heritage. But once again, what the hell were they wearing??

Did someone came up with the design in the dark? Or did the electricity go out right about when they were discussing color swatches at the garment factory? I mean I would go as far as saying the possibility of someone color blind designed it and that, well, that would just be an insult to all the fabulously dressed color blind people.

The outfit was so atrocious that BBC One (the channel I was live streaming from) showed the Malaysian team for like five seconds and then cut to the Great Britain team waiting outside. It was really that ugly!

Come on Malaysia, I mean it's as simple as hiring a designer (which we have loads of) to come up with a simple and elegant outfit for our athletes. Heck, even simple batik would have done the trick! If we can't even come up with smart and classy attires for our athletes, how the heck are we supposed to be taken seriously in the eyes of the world? Already some people refer to Malaysia as 'Malaysia Truly Asia'. Is that all we got?

Done with the rantings of an outraged Malaysian living in Scotland. And the image is courtesy of Yahoo Malaysia.

Goodnight Scotland, Happy Saturday Malaysia

♥♥♥

A Very Depressing Train of Thought

It's been how many days already? Of Ramadhan I mean?

I know right I'm so terrible, not that I am ungrateful but I am just so tired. And still in between healthy and really bad sore throat! The only time my throat feels remotely cmfortable is after I've berbuka and guzzled hot drinks and warm water. Oh God, please let me be healthy agaaaaaiiiin! Aaaaamiiiiiiiiiiiin! 

Well, the cause of this ridiculous sore throat could also be the fact that I did talk to Soul Sista for two whole hours on Skype the other day. Two whole uninterrupted hours! Never has happened before. We would always be running into some kind of bad luck with the sucky internet connection. Thank God for fibre optics! Heeeeeee!

Talking with Soul Sista is always fun; she cracks me up with almost everything she says. This time she was telling me stories of her recent family vacation, and anyone who has heard her vacay-stories would definitely want to go on a trip with her. Proof; even my Mom has said she wants to travel with her!

All that aside, I really miss her. I wish I could kidnap her and make her live next door to us or something. Be my neighbor forever (!!!!!!!)! This long-ass distance also really makes me wonder if friendships can last? I have always been that girl who puts in their heart and soul to keep in touch with people, but I seem to always get burnt. People tend to forget, replace and use (whenever necessary). Unfortunately, Soul Sista and I share this very same fate with our other friends. I would like to say that I have quality in friends over quantity but can I really say it and mean it? The only person who I know will drop everything for me and be there if I need them, would be Soul Sista (husband excluded as we are talking about friends here). And likewise I would do the same for her.

Wow, this is getting depressing.

I really do wish that I can grow old with this really tight knit group of awesome friends. But as I am growing older, I find difficulties in seeing it materialize. I wonder if the friends I have made over the past year (for example) would even last me till the end of this year. I wonder if in the next four years, who will still be there by my side. I wonder if what husband says (sometimes) is true; 'You really care for your friends even if they don't do the same for you'. And now, this is getting even more depressing. The thing is, I can't even be mad at husband for saying (that even if it does hurt like a mo-fo), because it's true. It's been way too many times that he's seen me get hurt by people who were supposed to be friends.

I don't wana type anymore....

Let's just conclude that when it comes to frienship, I am still naive as a newborn kitteh and as gullible as a cat thinking it can catch the laser dot.

*bigfatsigh*

Goodnight Scotland, Good morning Malaysia.

♥♥♥

Food Post

Finally a food blog post! I haven't done one in a while now (another would be an outfit post, yikes!). Ever since arriving in Glasgow, we were stuck eating out until we moved into our own place. Our host family was extremely gracious and wanted to cook for us but unfortunately husband is a non-rice and non-spicy food type of eater. We didn't want to burden our host so we ate out like little monsters. But once we moved in to our own place, we became even bigger food monsters (I wanted to say 'piggies' but since it's Ramadhan and all let's be a bit more respectful shall we?)!

So, I basically stuffed my face with strawberries, jaffa cake (best thing in the world, I tell you!) and tea with ginger biscuits before fasting month began. These little things were my *cough* desserts! And the strawberries are so fat and juicy! I still have one box, sitting quietly in the fridge. Just waiting for it's demise! Heeeee!

And then when Ramadhan started, husband decided it was time to eat our first baby chicken (a.k.a. spring chicken). It was delicious (I sound like a real carnivore)! I only have before photos of the 'before' chicken but I can tell you that it was delicious! So juicy and tender; God, I'm salivating right now just thinking about it! Oh oh oh...the potatoes were also delicious. Yuuuuummmmmmmmm!

Day 2 of Ramadhan we got all Desi-d up and had a proper Indian meal; with homemade chapati and the works! Although I did have some miscommunication with the atta flour and all but it turned out edible at the end, so it's all good. *Phew* Eh eh...last picture, is chicken tikka masala. Apparently a staple British Indian dish. What do I know, I'm from Malaysia and our staple dish is nasi lemak. *rolls eyes*

Day 3 of Ramadhan and it's homemade salsa and Chicken Quesadillas. I experimented a bit with the chicken by marinating the mince meat in Nando's Lemon and Herb marinade, with extra lemon juice and some cayenne pepper. It was mui delicioso! I still have some leftover mince meat and that is gona be sahur for me, boys and girls.

I'm not too sure of what exactly I'm gona be cooking for Day 4, because I am freakishly tired right now. Who knew that fasting 20 hours can be so tiring? I knew a bunch of people are gona be like 'Duu'uuuuh' to me but I really havent been doing any heavy work though. I just stay at home, pray, sleep, surf the net, and cook. So, why am I still yawning non-stop right now??

Anyways, I need to go. It's time to prepare sahur for both husband and I. And then I've got a Skype date with Soul Sister. Hope it works out this time. Hmmmmmmmm.

Goodnight Scotland, Good morning Malaysia

♥♥♥

Ramadhan in Glasgow

Second Ramadhan as a wife and first Ramadhan in Glasgow; I never thought I would be actually saying that, the Glasgow part I mean (I lie, I sorta knew but didn't really think it would materialize)!

Now, what can I say about fasting in Glasgow...what can I say....hmmmm....oh yeah, it's 20 hours of fasting bitchez! I kid you not, it really is! I mean night time is only four hours. That means in that four hours, we have to berbuka puasa, pray Maghrib and Isyak, then sahur and then Subuh! We baru berbuka, and then we have to eat again! And not eating is really not an option because the hours for fasting is so long that not eating will most definitely produce a symphony in our tummies; a symphiny rivaling the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra I kid you not!

But honestly though, the challenge of fasting for 20 hours is keeping our (or should I say mine) patience in check, not the hunger. Since yesterday was the first day of Ramadhan, the last hour, the 19th hour was a real trial. By that time your body has used up all the carbs that you put in there for safekeeping (i.e. sahur) and you are basically running empty on all levels. If you were a car, all the lights will be doing the blinking disco. In other words, I am a giant cranky monster at that hour! I mean who can blame me, I am slaving away in the kitchen (not really), it's bloody hot facing the stove (in front of the stove is the only warm place in the whole house) and my back aches from washing so many god damn dishes (this is true)!

So far, after day one and enduring day two of Ramadhan, that is my biggest problem. Being patient, and not getting angry for whatever nonsense reason out there. As for day two, I am currently salivating over the recipes from All Recipes Asia (heck, I didn't even know they had an Asian section!). I am strongly, very very strongly on the verge of making my own murtabak. I am so serious its not even funny!

I will let you know how that goes! ;)

Good evening Scotland, Selamat bersahur Malaysia!

♥♥♥

A Truly Malaysian Moment

Today was the first day alone at home for me. *jeng jeng jeng* Well, not really the whole day but husband went out in the afternoon to do some banking and to look at some furniture that we are getting. But seriously, I was alone. And there is something about Glasgow...Scotland (?)....or should I say the whole UK (?)..that it is so so so quiet. Even when I was staying with the host family (and they have two kids) I still found it really silent. I guess living in an apartment in the middle of Mutiara Damansara has gotten me quite used to the noise at any time of the day. But, thinking about it, even when I was living in a more kampung-esque area with my in-laws was it never this quiet as I find it over here. So most of the times, I just select a playlist (according to my mood) and let it play for however long I want it too.

And that goes for today as well, seeing that husband was out. I selected my dance mix playlist; blasted it loud from the living room so I could hear it in the kitchen. So while I was happily chopping away green peppers, onions and tomatoes in my tshirt busuk, sarung batik and super coulorful apron, I heard a loud 'Clunk'. Like something banging against something metallic. My heart literally skipped a beat and I was all like, 'chill, there are so many heaters in this place, might just be something fell there'. So I tiptoed out of the kitchen (apron still on) and tried to investigate.

I was at my bedroom when I heard a louder and longer 'clank clank'. I literally jumped where I stood (that would've been one ridiculously funny sight to see)! It seems like it was coming from outside, and I opened it to find a tall-tattoed Scottish (errr...not really uncle...but erm...nevermind just call man la) man saying he's come to check our gas and stuff. Oh my God, he really gave me a shock of my life! And I realised then that I don't have a house bell. Which was why he resorted to...err...banging my door to get my attention. And I was freaking out thinking it was some kind of....errr......activity *shifty eyes*.

Dah la he scared the bejeezuz out of me, he was this heavily tattoed type man. The songs that were playing on my iTunes at that time; Willow Smith (go on and judge, I bet you've sung along to 'I whip my hair back and forth' before)!! A total facepalm moment! It totally killed all my machoness. And let's not forget my outfit of the day, yeap I was still wearing my colourful striped apron. The only plus side was luckily I wasn't still holding the knife when I answered the door. He would have probably though that I am a cannibal or something worse! The Scottish are apparently really strict on safety issues and all that, compared to the English.

Other than that, the safety check went on grrrrreat (roll your 'R's' like a Scotsmen)! Whenever I couldn't really understand what he was saying I asked him to repeat but after that I kinda got lazy and just smiled and nodded and everything still is fine! LOL. I wish I could have taken pictures of the man doing the inspection but since I was already in such a staple Malaysian outfit (sarung batik) I didn't want to embarass myself further. Which would've been highly likely, can you imagine me saying, 'Can you stand there, there isn't enough light la' or 'Hold that up again please, you moved in the earlier picture'. Come to think of it, I actually can imagine myself saying it. Scary!

At the end of the day, the house is gas and electricity safe! Whoop whoop!

So goodnight Scotland, good morning Malaysia.

♥♥♥

Snort Snort

*cough cough*

Flu, fever, cough, runny nose, sore throat, joint aches; you name it I've got it. Oh, oh, oh...I forgot to mention headaches as well.

In actuality, husband and I were already not feeling well this past week but because we were really wanting to move out into our own place; we pushed ourselves really hard. We have been taking the bus to go grocery shopping and if the place was near enough, we would just walk there to do more grocery shopping. And the walks back home, with all the heavy stuff is definitely not one for the faint hearted. Not to mention all the cleaning that we've done of the house. At least now we can sit on the floor in the living and walk barefooted in the kitchen. Before that, the kitchen floor was really really dirty. I mean turning your feet black kinda dirty! I guess all this has basically pushed us over drive until husband is coughing so much that he cant sleep and I am feverish (and shivering).

But, we are both happy to be finally living in out own place. Really. It's so much more relaxed and without worry. And I can cook!! *I've got the chills again :(*

I'm not going to write much right now but I do have to say this; husband still manages to look sexy while being sick! What kind of sorcery is this??? But the one upside (well the only upside) of me being sick; I get to bermanja-manja with my husband. But other than that, where's my duvet? I need to make a burrito wrap with myself!

Good afternoon Scotland, Goodnight Malaysia.

♥♥♥

Bard in The Botanics

Today I'm in a pretty good mood. The sun is shining. Yeap, that's the cause of it the joyous mood: the sun! But also the fact that last night I finally did get to cross off another thing off my bucket list; I managed to catch a performance of Romeo and Juliet in the Botanical garden. It was definitely a first for me. Since it was summer they were set to perform the play in the open space but unfortunately it was raining (surprise, surprise *rolls eyes*) and it was performed indoors. If it was outdoors, it would have been so awesome! *nerd on*

Well, I wouldn't say that it was a professional staging but it wasn't all amateur either. The dialogues were spoken as in the original script and it was breath-taking (at points). I could go on and on about the play and the staging and how the recycled the actors for a few characters, but really all I can think about right now is the time I spent in my undergraduate years attempting to stage plays, failing and succeeding in it and oh my god..the worst was when I had to act. In my undergrad years I had to act a grand total of three times. Although one of the three times I was a tree so maybe that one shouldn't be counted.

But I really find that I miss all of that (except the acting part). I miss the team I had, the friends that I made and the lecturers/advisers that I got close too. Is this the beginning of homesickness that I start thinking of all those things that I left behind?

Anyways, no point dwelling on ghosts past. The acting was really great, even though Juliet was kinda moti (chubby); there I said it! I know I am moti too, so yeah. *sticks tongue out* Pfffffft. I almost did cry at the end though because I could really believe that these two people were so young and so madly in love with each other that nothing else other than togetherness, either in life or death, would suffice.

Husband said, it was like a Bollywood movie/story. I told him, 'It's the love story that inspired all the others' and all I got in return was him rolling his eyes at me and a #notbad.jpg look. *sighs* Can't teach people who love numbers to love words, I guess. But all in all, it was a good way to spend the evening, and let me tell you that by 10pm it was 10degrees in Glasgow! Ten ten! LOL! I was attempting to entertain myself at the bus stop by singing (don't worry we were alone) and I could see my own breath! Erm..hello Scotland, if you haven't gotten the memo, it's supposed to be freaking summer! I suggest that you buck up and let the sun come out to play! Kthxbai!

Oh..wait..wait...not forgetting this Saturday is going to be the coldest day in summer; 4degrees. In summer. I rest my case. If you see me, I shall be busy wrapping myself up in any and all available blankets that I can get my hands on, kthxbai.

Good evening Scotland. Goodnight Malaysia.

♥♥♥

My Bucket List

1. Go to Paris

2. Go to Rome
3. Go Bungee jumping
4. Visit my soul sista in Australia
5. Go to a concert by one of my favourite musicians
6. See the Taj Mahal and eat pani-purri on the streets of Mumbai
7. Take a vacation with my girlfriends
8. Sharpen my photography skills to at least of an intermediate level
9. Go to USA
10. Own at least one pair of Jimmy Choo's, Monolo Blahnik's and Christian Louboutin's.
11. Watch the play 'Romeo & Juliet' (professionally)
12. Go to a real strip club
13. Go to Greece
14. Go to Italy
15. Watch a football match in the UK (in the stadium)
16. Learn how to bake
17. Get high in Amsterdam
18. Experience a white Christmas and New Years.
19. Have a spa experience
20. Go to Bali

21. Meet up with at least one blog friend.

It's Been One Year...

And one day since husband and I got married. Yeap, one year already and no sappy anniversay post? How could that be? How could I just skip it? I know some people are screaming 'Details, details!' (I wish), but honestly there are no details to be given. We didn't celebrate. Period. Boring. Sad. Ummmm...what's with the one word sentences? Well, that's just how the day was. I viewed a flat (I keep typing apartment, goddamit!) with my host family because husband was stuck in the city center (thank God for the host family, if not I would have been one lost, sad lamb!). We also decided to rent out that flat even though it is empty as, well, empty means. The place is great though, the walls are painted and the kitchen is pretty spacious. Pictures are below. These pictures are taken from the ad (it looks exactly the same) but I'm not linking it back to the source because you jokers (and potential stalkers) will know where I live. It's called privacy people! :p

Anyways back to the one year; God...oh God...I've been married for one year! *panic* How the hell did that happen?? It's too soon to turn into that old boring couple!! What the hell...wait, I thought we were kinda that old boring couple? *confused* I don't really know actually what kind of couple we are. Like right now, the both of us are on our respective lappies and are doing our own things. And we are fine with that. The comfort of silences are more important then the irrelevance of noise. That's what I think anyways.

So yeah, we didn't get to celebrate. Initially we thought we would be able to get a flat by then and celebrate by cooking up a fancy dinner for the two of us but that just couldn't materialise. We won't even be moving in to our flat till Friday *fingers crossed*. So that idea went down the drain. So we basically spent our anniversary at home, online and deciding on which flat should we move into. How sedate (!!). I'm cringing as I write this. I really wished for something different but I guess, sometimes you just can't get everything right no matter how hard we try. :( I was sad (kinda still am) and a bit depressed (trust me, I even broke down on Sunday wanting to go back to Malaysia already) but at the end of the day I should be thankful I am where I am. I just have to try really hard to remind myself of this. Really, really hard.

I mean the reason why I broke down was actually kinda stupid: I didn't want to make new friends because I like my friends back in Malaysia just as they are and I feel like I don't fit in the Malaysian community here. Logically, of course I don't fit in; I just arrived. But when you are already sad and down, who the hell thinks logically right? So yeah, I have to remind myself that I am lucky to be here no matter what is going on in my head and heart. LUCKY! *breathes*

I think this is it for my post today. One year and one day. It feels good to be married but sucks that we couldn't celebrate it. But, we are together and healthy (sorta, husband is flu-ish at the moment); and that is the important thing right now. That is all, class dismissed!

Goodnight Scotland, Good morning Malaysia.

♥♥♥

Tourist Fail

We woke up super early in the morning, looked out of the window and there it was; Scottish rain. The unpredictable hujan renyai-renyai (drizzle) but still sejuk as fark Scottish rain. Couple it with some strong wind and you may be presented with fingers as popsicles! Thinking that the rain will ease up really soon and the sun will be out to frolic like a couple of days ago, husband and I decided to go out to Glasgow and be all touristy. The first half of our outing was a colossal fail. We walked and walked (while raining mind you) looking for this restaurant that husband wanted to go to but we couldn't find it. We really walked quite a distance until I even accidentally found a place to develop my 120mm film and to purchase more! *happy Farah for a grand total of five minutes*

We then continued walking through a park next to the uni and then sumore until we were well lost and then just chanced upon Costa (the British version of Starbucks). We basically threw our hands up in the air, thanked God and went in (at least that's how it was in my mind!). My jeans were damp throughout, something like getting stuck in heavy Malaysian downpour for five minutes. And if you think I am melebih-lebihing and exaggerating, well there is nothing that I can do about it than to say why don't you try Scottish rain and tell me!

But luckily just as we were about to decide on going home, the rain finally let up and we went to the University of Glasgow for a walkabout. The thing I wanted to see the most were the cloisters (picture below). Don't you think they look like something from the Harry Potter set? I swear when I was looking at this piece of architecture the only thing in my mind was the theme song from Harry Potter! I'm a nerd and I know it! 

Next is one of the towers of the main building. I have no idea what's it called (tourist fail) but it is so majestic looking. And sorta creepy. But I do suspect that it would be nice to live there and wake up everyday to an amazing view. The University of Glasgow is built up on a hill which makes the view opposite this tower the whole city basically! 

As we walked through yet another park to get to the city centre, we bumped into this good ol' man chilling out at the top of this monument. He looks like he is having a jolly good time up there! We walked so much today that my feet were screaming for an ice cream. Ben & Jerry's to be exact. But alas, as soon as we got into the city centre it was already 4.30pm and the shops all close at 6.00pm. Boooooo! Oh wait, you didn't know? Yeap, no such thing over here as malls or boutiques opening until real late at night. Everything promptly shuts down at 6.00pm. Even the coffee places and what not. City centre practically starts looking deserted really at 6.00pm!

So there it is. The adventures for today. At Glasgow University (GU) there were actually having a wedding reception and it looked lovely. There were men in kilts and we even saw the bride's arrival. She looked gorgeous in a white lace sweetheart cut tube-type-dress (I really have no clue how to describe it). And since it didn't have any sleeves, we could see her tattoos which I think looked really, really cool! Here's to wishing two random people all the best!

Now on to the not so cool: the judgemental looks from Desi people, regardless local or not. If you don't know what Desi means, it just basically mean people who come with an Indian origin background be it Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi, Nepalese and so on. Since I am Desi too (click here), although not literally having being born in Malaysia, I have basically been the object of every other Desis eye. Especially when walking around with husband. And these people have the most judgmental looks on their face. Even the busboys give me the same looks! Busboys! WTF??!! It's really awkward and kinda annoying but I think I just have to accept it that Desis are one of the most judgy type of people around and move forward with my life. Fuuuuuuh. I can do this!!

Tomorrow is Sunday and all I want to do is stay on my bed. Eat, occasionally when hunger stirkes but mostly, I just wana lay on my (urgh I forget it's not really my bed *cries* it belong to the host family!) bed. Hope my plans for tomorrow goes through!

Goodnight Scotland. Good morning Malaysia!

♥♥♥

Observations

Since the title says it all, here is what I've noticed in the past few days:

1. Seagulls are mean and nasty looking birds! I swear, they have dead eyes. The blackest eyes without any emotions whatsoever. Dead eyes. Don't believe me; here you go:

They are mean looking birds and I stand by it!

2. Glasgow is not as clean as I expected it to be. I suppose I thought that it would be spick and span all over the area but it seems that only the city is cared after thoroughly. The further you are from the city, the more housing areas you come across and these places have the standard cleaners and that's about it. Nothing much.

3. I also expected Glasgow to be a Romantic city, filled with wonderful medieval architecture and what not. But it's a bit disappointing really. I keep waiting for a sight to take my breath away and so far the only reason I've been breathless is because I've been walking up countless flights of stairs.

4. The Malaysian community here is super tight knitted. It's too soon to say how this will affect husband and I.

5. People who have desk jobs don't work on Saturdays! Such a refreshing change, although it really messes up our plans! I mean even when I was in Malaysia I used to work after office hours all the time. It was considered as part of our job and if we didn't do it, we'll be in big-ass trouble!

6. Other than my face and neck, every other part of the skin of my body is extremely dry. To a point even husband said that it looks scaly. HOOOOOOW? I want to get my proper lotions and creams but I am still tumpang-ing at someone's house and I really don't feel comfortable doing anything. Plus even moisturizing my face I have to make sure that I have cleans hands and that means going in and out of the room. I feel really awkward. We even told them not to cook for us because we feel that we are troubling them! :(

7. Most females no matter what they age dress up when they go out. So this really gives me no excuse to be sloppy anymore (even though now I'm using the 'I don't have a proper mirror excuse' excuse!). I tried anyway, I wore mascara today before going out. One step up for me. *pops confetti*

So far this is it. I am pretty sure that there will be more of these observations coming soon! Oh and we viewed a flat today and are still deciding on the place. We have two more viewings next week for now and fingers crossed we'll get a place real soon!

♥♥♥

First Day in the City

So, today was the first day in the city of Glasgow. We started off the day at 5.30am. Yeap you read it right, husband and I after sleeping for a grand total of 13 hours, we woke up at 5.30am with me panicking all the while thinking it was already 11.00am. Yeap, it was that bright. At freaking 5.30am! And it's 9.38pm right now; the sun is still up. Maghreb is at 9.58pm. I am so gona get screwed during the fasting month, which by the way is fast approaching.

Anyways, we got husband matriculated (congratulations husband, you're officially a student!) in the morning. The process was relatively simple and fast. Husband even managed to briefly meet one of his supervisors. Whom I do have to say is quite a looker (for an Englishman) plus he married his PhD student. See husband, I do have valid reasons to be cautious about the proximity the female students keep to you! I really do!

After that we went to the high street and just walked around to look see and also run some errands. We finally have our local number, husband managed his banking details and I found my temple of worship: TOPSHOP. So all is good. We didn't really venture in the shops that much as we were taking in the surroundings. I have to say that it wasn't as cool as I expected (and was terrified that) it would be. When the sun is out it's actually pretty warm. But, when the wind blows, bloody hell it's cold. So that sums it up: wind chill is a bitch!

Being Muslims, we found it hard to have something to eat for lunch. At the end, we ended up at a cafe (surprise, surprise) for a good cup of coffee and some vege paninis. I could literally see the steam rising of the drinks. Holding a hot cup of coffee has never been this enjoyable, I do believe. 

Walking around the high street I saw this random church and I immediately took out my phone to snap a picture of it. I just found the composition of it so striking! *ooooh...fancy photography talk!*

At our second coffee stop for the day. The reason I snapped this: Malaysian Chicken Curry! *dusts shoulders* Proud to be Malaysian, hell yeah!!

We were given this chocolate sample to try: salty chocolate. All I can say is that it's actually quite confusing on my taste buds. It tastes like chocolate but it's salty. I'm still not sure if I like it or not. *confused*

So that was our day today. I am really tired. I've been awake for so long that my body thinks it's already 1.00am instead of the five minutes to ten that it actually is. Also, I think my writing is suffering from my tiredness. All my sentences are disjointed and....erm....weird-ish....erm...disjointed?

All the photos taken were with my little camera phone. We were carrying way to many uni documents for us to bring along the camera. So if you prefer more live updates, you can follow me on Instagram at @farahanw where I update my ongoings. Mostly.

Okay, so now I'm off to wash my hands, put on my moisturizer and then crash on the bed like a whale.

Goodnight Scotland. Good morning Malaysia.

♥♥♥

Sudah Sampai

Well, we have finally reached Glasgow, Scotland safely and soundly. My head is aching, ears are ringing, body is aching and feet are dried up prunes! But still, here I am sitting on the bed at my host's place with only the sound of the clock ticking and the banging of the keys as I am typing this. So at this moment we are homeless in the sense that we haven't found a place to rent but we are living with a Malaysian family over here. Bless them for their kindness.

Hopefully by this Friday we can either finalize our housing option or better still move out to our own place. Other than these boring stuff, Scotland is well......Scotland (???). I don't know how to explain it. There's a lot of green, no high skyscrapers, looks kinda boring (at least the parts that I've been driven past), and yeah that's about it. I guess I need to find out where all the hipsters and wannabes hang out so that I too can be in the loop. Or it could be that fatigue has made me really lost my mind since I'm talking about wanting to be hipster!

Anyways, I've got my sleeping socks on and that only means one thing: I'm going to sleep.

P/S: Staying in transit for 9 hours sucks like hell!!

P/P/S: This post is delayed by a day due to no internet! ;)

Lost in Transit

After enduring a six hour flight, complete with crying children for the entire six hours, we are finally in the Dubai Airport. *chants* We are halfway there, we are halfway there! Yeap, we are lost in transit. Lost in terms of, oh God; sleep where have you gone? Lost in terms of missing all the parentals already. Lost in terms of missing all the nieces and nephews already.

I am humbled to report that both husband and I had a Bollywood type of goodbye. With Fenin popping up unexpectedly to say goodbye and nieces clinging to me until the very last minute. I was really in the 'I cant believe this is happening' zone all the way until I started saying my goodbyes.

I have been functioning all these while with so many family members around that being completely on my own with just husband, is scaring the shit out of me. Who am I going to call in case of an emergency? I can't talk to my brothers that often anymore. I will always have to take into account the time difference before calling.

And the final blow, after years of meeting Soul Sista whenever she is back on holidays, this is the first time that I will be missing her. And she is back on holidays since last Friday. God, trying to keep up with the hours between Malaysia and Australia was kinda daunting and now its between Scotland and Australia! Long distance sucks!

I realize that this is fast becoming an emo ranting post, but damn I miss everyone already! Ladyboss Anne was the cutest, she told me not to speak to strangers over there! LOL

So yeah, back to Dubai. You know that you are in Dubai when the first thing you see after you leave the plane is Salman Khan's face! And also that there are so many many many Desis working here.

Here's to Dubai and their 24 hour duty free shopping!

♥♥♥

The Story of June in July

I left my job not because I had a different opportunity lined up, not because I was going to be a full time house wife and not because I was pregnant.

I left my job because; I am moving to Scotland bitchez!

Yeap, you read it right; I am moving to Scotland for a grand total of three years (possibly four). Husband got this fantastic opportunity to get his doctorate and I of course told him to grab it with both hands and feet!

But dear Lord the process of getting there was so strenuous. We had to go through so many organisations and officers of the respective organisations that at the end of it all, what I really want to do is look them dead in the eye and ask, 'Main-main ke awak ni?'

This is what happened: let us name these organisations A and B respectively. Husband submitted his paperwork in April since we were planning to leave before June. But A completely messed up and only passed the papers to B on the last week of May. Naturally B said, 'Hold up. We can't process this so near to the admission date. It needs to be processed at least a month before!'

And for A, that was it. Husband was furious and took it upon himself to talk to officers from B to help him sort this thing out. And after numerous calls and emails not forgetting trips to their office,they finally started processing the documents. But the thing is documents for husband were already issued by B and all we were waiting for is A to issue my visa letter. And knowing that we were in a rush and running out of time, the officer from A was on leave when we were to collect my documents! That was basically when I lost it. How can these people who deal and handle issues like this on an almost daily routine can mess up so bad?

It's not like sending the first astronaut up into space, for God's sake!

I can just imagine the mess that they would have created for that actually, which really isn't saying much about A and B.

It was a really stressed out period for us. If husband didn't get his visa processed by the 1 of July, husband's offer would have been revoked and that would be the end of it. And husband would have to start the application process all over again, from zero. And that my friends, was something that we really, really wanted to avoid.

And after all the paperwork on our end was completed, it turns out B could not issue us the finance cheques and  flight tickets imidiately. Even though knowing full well that we were in a mad rush and were already delayed by one whole month! At the end of the day, we bought our own flight tickets, managed to sort thing out with the finance side and off we are going. Even if that means that we are totally mad-ass-broke!

This whole process was ridiculously grueling and straining. I can seriously say that for the past one month, the only thing on both our minds was getting this done and leaving the country. We are still however not entirely in the safe zone yet. Having to go through UK immigration is probably not going to be a walk in the park, but goddamnit if I let them deport us! RAWR! We went through way to much to get here. Don't even get me started on the packing and shipping, the packing up of the house, the unpacking at the in laws and now finally packing for the flight. How many times did I type the word 'packing'?

So that's the whole story. And throughout these times, there have been countless people asking us when are we leaving until at one point even my mother was skeptical! How in the world do you react to something that you have absolutely no control over and people keep asking you the same thing over and over again?!

But now that we are actually leaving, I am sort off afraid. I lie, I am freaking terrified. What if my friends over here forget me? What if I am lonely? What if I can't make any new friends? What if? What if? What if?

Wish us a safe flight lovies and I will check back with you as soon as I can!

♥♥♥