SOCIAL MEDIA

Saturday, August 27, 2011

You are Neat and Tidy, Aren't U?

That was the question asked by our property agent. He said they will have to see the tenants and match them with the house environment. Apparently they do not show all available houses to all tenants. I wonder if he hid some of the houses from us ;p

He said if he were to show that last, nice, big house to a tenant who'd like to party and get drunk, they'll go crazy with the hse. I can imagine that. The hse is big and nice, can fit A LOT of people for a gathering. A nice gathering will be amazing, but an uncontrolled one will be....ERK!

At night, in one of the kebab store. While waiting for the kebab, we had Faluda, that famous dessert, according to Fatin. Frankly, I find it too sweet


Anyway, at the end of the appointments, we had two choices. A very near to the hospital house, and a hse which will need us to take a bus unless we hv vry strong legs and ample time to walk. It's abt 1.4miles away from the hospital (acc to Google Maps). I plan to buy a bicycle..heh..
But according to Hui Fong, a bicycle in London cost a bomb! So I hope in Preston it'll be cheaper. Or if it is not, I might ask my mum to deliver mine here (sounds foolish but if it is worth it, why not?).

So yea, back to the house choices.
The hse that is near is a quite small hse, but cheaper (£750). Unfurnished, no carpet, and the agent wasn't friendly. We were worried that if something were to happen to the house plumbing etc, we might have to go thru sufferings b4 we can get her to get the landlord to repair it.

On the other hand, the further house is bigger, more expensive (£1000), furnished, carpeted and a vry friendly agent (hope he did not change aft we signed the contract).

Yesterday morning, near the Whitworth Building to get our verification letter to set up a bank account


So after consulting a senior, and discussing among ourselves, we decided to take the.......more expensive house! It's still within our budget, just that we hoped to save more. According to the senior, since we are very2 new here, and need a place to stay urgently, it'll be better if we take the one ready for us to move in. The contract is for 6 months so, aft 6 months if we find it unaffordable or unsatisfactory, we can always move into another house.

Even after haggling, the landlord refused to reduce the rent but he agreed to put in a few more furnitures for us (the house was empty when we viewed it).
So we asked for a bed and cupboard in each room, a dining table, a set of sofa, a washing machine and a dryer, a cooker, a refrigerator, a microwave oven (which we might not get) and a study table each (which he refused to give).

However, all in all we are very satisfied with the house.
Yesterday Syahidah and Ib met the owner's wife. She's a Muslim with full niqab, wow!
And she was very happy knowing the house will occupied by Malaysian Muslim Medical girl students. I hope this will be a strong reason for them not to increase the rent in case the economy gets worse than it already is now :(
According to the agent, this house worths £400 000 which is almost RM2 mil! =.="
I'm afraid it's too nice for students so let's just see how our financial status is for the next 6 months.

The toilet of the house. Nice leh? Ah Q can't wait to have her shower there. We asked about water heater yesterday. I hope they hv been installed or else I might chose not to have shower. Heh..


The two mannequins in the kitchen. Syahid and me :p


While waiting for the bus to Preston Rail Station. Me and Q learnt to take public transports by ourselves on the 3rd day in UK. *claps claps*


That night, Fatin and her housemate brought us for dinner/break fast at Rice, one of the restaurants near the university.
Funnily, there were a lot of Malaysian foods in the menu; Malaysian spices la, Malaysian chicken satay etc etc. But according to Fatin, the taste is nothing like in Malaysia. I wonder if the owner is a Malaysian, or have got anything to do with Malaysia. Why, of all countries did they choose Malaysia to put into the menu? Just for advertisements?



With this, I gotta end this looooong post.
Have to start packing my luggages. A senior and her husband will be coming to fetch us and drive us to Preston today, Alhamdulillah. At least we do not have to carry those heavy, back-bone-breaking luggages by train again today ;p

I will not have internet connection yet in my new house so I might be "quiet" for the next few days. :)

-Because life is a test-

Japanese Yaki Salmon!


-AkMaR-
http://nur-akmar.blogspot.com
Friday, August 26, 2011

How Extreme is the Winter in Malaysia?

And we laughed....
"No no no, we do not have winter in Malaysia. We have summer all year"

That was the question posed by our property agent that day. He came to Malaysia 3 years ago for his honeymoon and unfortunately I think he came during monsoon. So he said the weather was very unpredictable, heavy rains and storm appearing out of nowhere. And since yesterday was a vry sunny day in Preston, he told us to enjoy it to the fullest. And I thought, "I've been having vry vry good sunny days in Malaysia, all year for the past 2 decades so I this sunny day is actually nothing" Hahahaha.... But of course, since I hvnt seen autumn and winter, I can proudly say that... ;p

So anyway, we went to see 4 houses ystrday. 3 under Kingswood Estates and 1 under Farrel Heyworth I think. The agent from Kingswood Estates was very very friendly, and he is a Indian Muslim. He had a very smart tactic though. He brought us to see the worst house 1st (which is not really that bad actually), and the best house last. So of course, all of us do not want the first 2 houses, after seeing that very good and nice last hse. It is expensive though, as he put it, "you pay for what you get"
The last house has 2 lounges, 3 bedrooms and 1 quite small room. So he suggested we turn one of the lounges into a bedroom.

After that beautiful house, we went to see the other house under a diff agent. Well, this house is very very near the hospital but it is unfurnished, and small.
There were no carpets too. But it was cheaper.
So aft consulting a senior, we have made our BIG decision.

-to be continued-

Hahahahaha.. I need to go now!

-Because life is a test-


No this is just an illustration. Not the house we signed for.

-AkMaR-
http://nur-akmar.blogspot.com
Thursday, August 25, 2011

What is Jet Lag Anyway?

Assalammualaikum! Yes, I am writing from Manchester, Fatin's house! :)

And I've just woke up from an almost 12 hours sleep *blush*
Is that what you called jet lag?
I don't know. But ystrday, at abt 6pm here which is almost 1 morning in Malaysia, Ah Q and I just cannot open our eyes anymore. So we put our heads on the pillow and......the rest is history.
I have just woke up and performed my prayer.

I noticed most of the houses in Manchester are like boxes. They are squares and rectangles, unlike the houses in Malaysia, or my place at least. All of them look the same, with red-brown bricks.

I posted my first abroad post yesterday morning while I was in the BMI (British Midland Airways) lounge. And I spent my first hour there searching for my misplaced phone topup ticket. Silly me! I found it in one of my new bag pockets.

While KLIA has aerotrain connecting terminals to terminals, Heathrow has a shuttle bus


In the lounge with Ah Q


I then boarded a plane from Heathrow to Manchester. Guess what?
I think KLIA is more beautiful and new than Heathrow and Manchester airports.
Hahahaha... Congrats Tun Mahathir!

In Heathrow, waiting to board the plane to Manchester


Upon reaching Manchester, Ah Q, Lii Chyuan and me took a cab to Fatin's house.
The taxi driver was one the first few English ppl we interacted with and oh my...we can't catch what was he trying to say. He was asking if we'd like to hear some music, and when he sees all of us frowning our eyebrows, he kept quiet, switched on his radio and increased the volume. Then all of us laughed.... He said we'll get used to the accent as time goes.

In the cab


Once we reached Fatin's house, after washing our faces and all, we set off to walk to the univ (no, we are not THAT excited to study, just that we have a health check up appointment 1 hour aft that)
So yea! We started our first exploration in Manchester!
These are the pictures from Ah Q's camera, and I was holding it so of course, I am not in the pictures.




I had a meningitis vaccination, and a blood test done on me at the health check up arranged by the univ.

We walked along Oxford Road, where we can see faculties of the university scattered around.
But sadly, there were a lot of smoking women around. I pitied smokers, what more women smokers. Don't they know smoking will make them older faster? :(

And one more thing, there are a lot of colourful hairs here...Hahahaha...
I saw a woman with bright purple hair, bright red, green and turquoise. One scene rarely seen in Malaysia. :)

Okay, today I will be going to Preston by train. I made appointments with the property agent to view some houses. I hope I will be able to get a house in a day or two. :)

Wish me all the best!
:D

Btw, check this out! "Hollywood's worst British accents ever"

-Because life is a test-


-AkMaR-
http://nur-akmar.blogspot.com
Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Was it The Clouds or The Sea?

It’s 1.54am London time, and 8.54am Malaysian time. I’ve been on the plane for 9hrs 54mins now. The plane was supposed to take off at 2340 but it finally took off at 0020. I’ve put my seat to the maximum level of inclination yet I still feel it’s too straight for me to sleep on ☹ I’m having a back pain now. I have 3hrs 40mins more to reach Heathrow, London; that is 5.33am London time.

I am writing this on the plane and of course I’ll just save this is as a Word document and copy paste it into my blog once I get to go online. My seat is 56C, which is just next to the aisle but since Li Chyuan has longer legs, and he asked to swap, I am now happily on his seat, 56A which is just next to the window! *grin grin*

I get to see the clouds when we were still on Malaysian sky. Now it is too dark, I can only make up the plane’s wing (is that what u call it? Wings as in bird wings?) =.=” Eventhough I enjoy sitting next to the window, moving out of this row of seats to the toilet is so ma fan. I hv to cross over Kak Najwa’s bag and thank God Lii Chyuan has the courtesy to stand up to make way and not let me cross in front of him too. That got me wondering, I am a moderate size Asian girl, and I find it hard for me to move out of this 3 seats row, how would a big European man find it? Would he minimize his needs of going to the toilet, or would he just be indifferent and not care? Hahaha….

The toilet is very small and fortunately, clean. There is a little child crying now, perhaps he/she’s starting to be anxious and restless; being stucked on his seat for 10hrs already. Pity him.

What happened in the airport 12hrs before this was like a dream to me. I was supposed to reach KLIA at 6pm to check-in, and I was at least 20mins late. Diana was right, she said I might just need to rush out of the hse to the airport, like how I rushed out of hse for everything else ;p

MAS gave us 25kg and my luggage was 27.6kg! So the officer asked me to take some things out. After transferring my only two pairs of baju kurung into my hand-carry luggage, I managed to reduce the weight to 26.7kg (now I know 2 pairs of kurung weigh almost a kg!) Thank God the officer agreed to let my luggage pass eventhough I exceeded the 25kg maximum weight, heh…

Ain made a surprise visit! She did not tell me she’ll come to KLIA to see me off so I was really shocked when I saw her walking with her parents towards my family. Diana also came , alone by ERL! She went back after breaking fast.

After checking in, we had some photo sessions and my Pakngah treated us at Eden; a restaurant in the departure hall. I am sure that meal cost him a bomb but nvm, he said that was my parting gift; so generous of him I pray that he’ll be blessed. After Maghrib prayer, we have a briefing at 8.30pm, there were 14 of us boarding this MH002 plane to London; 8 will continue to Manchester, 5 to Southampton and 1 to Belfast.

We were given 30minutes after the briefing, to say our goodbyes to relatives and friends. Farahin, Athin, Mizah, Ijjlal, Eka, Sakinah, Asyraf, Syahril, Hanis, Lokman, and some other friends whom I either do not know their names, or did not notice them, or forgot to mention their names came to see us off. That’s so nice of them :)

So yea, when I hugged each and every one of my family members; the women in my family cried, except for Aisyah, my little sister. Cis… Hahhaha… My mum did not cry much, she had been crying every time she hugged me for the past two months so I guess over time she had become stronger. My Maksu cried, Kak Ra also cried, Opah too. Opah was crying because she’s afraid she might not be able to see me anymore, what with her old age; and I told her to wait for me. My mum even asked her to wait till I come back, get married and give her a great-grandchild. Hahha….so yea, Opah, wait for me!

I did not cry, I do not know why. As I am writing this, I am near to Pavlograd and Krementchurg; God knows where those places are. Istanbul was also in the map, so I guess I am somewhere there. Hahaha,,,, 2561km to London....hmm…that’s FAR!

After boarding the aerotrain, Ah Kiew, Syahid and me walked around the Satellite terminal, looking for drinking water. At last we paid RM2.80 for a bottle of drinking water! That’s 5x the price of a Giant drinking water! :(

My friend called, and asked how was I feeling. I didn’t know what was I feeling; mixed up. Sad as I have to leave my friends and family but excited too to reach UK. Perhaps the sad part was less than the excited part. But, as soon as my plane started to move, very slowly at first, it came as a pang to me. I realized then, I really am going far. Only then do I feel like crying..haha.. But of course, I did not. And when the plane really took off, I whispered “Goodbye, Malaysia”.

Okay, I shall sleep again now. It’s 2.28am London time, and 9.28am Malaysian time. My mother might be in school, teaching, my youngest brother in school, having his PMR trial, Wasil and Aisyah in campus and school, studying perhaps, my father driving his boss, while my maid; Kak Ra hanging the clothes.

I shall write again when I have the time!
Till then, love from MH002, 11, 604m high above the sea level, seat 56A.
=]

-Because life is a test-


-AkMaR-
http://nur-akmar.blogspot.com
Monday, August 22, 2011

24hours Before Leaving Malaysia

Luggage packed? NOPE.

House got? NOPE (Made two appointments)

Documents for immigration border ready? NOPE

Said goodbye to relatives? CHECKED

Said goodbye to friends? NOPE; will send smses aft this post.

Installed Skype in house PC? CHECKED.

Changed RM into pounds? NOPE.

Emptied my wardrobe? NOPE

Raya cookies? NOPE.

Put my notes into boxes? NOPE

Have enough sleep? NOPE

Wow...with some many things undone, what on earth am I still doing in front of this laptop?!

Better get going now!

Salam!


-Because life is a test-




-AkMaR-
http://nur-akmar.blogspot.com
Sunday, August 21, 2011

Pre-Departure Preparation

Few days left for me to be in Malaysia! How am I feeling now? I don't know. A cocktail of feelings perhaps?

Even though I will be studying at Manchester University, I will be spending more than 95% of my time in Preston as the univ put me under Royal Preston Hospital for my clinical studies.
So now, I have to look for a house in Preston.
And guess what? The property agent wants me to make an appointment to view the houses before renting them (which is logical) but they do not let me do early appointments, I have to do it less than a week b4 reaching there (logical too) but when I called them last week, they said all the properties are gone and I hv to call again next Monday to ask for appointments.

Okay, the explanation above was too lengthy; to cut it short, I HAVE NOT GET A HOUSE IN PRESTON YET AND I HAVE ONE WEEK TO GET ONE, ONCE I REACH MANCHESTER. AND IT'S BOTHERING ME.

My luggage might be too heavy, and I hvnt even finish packing.
I might need to leave a lot of things behind, I have only one full day left to pack all my things either into luggage, boxes or the waste bin. And I am really running out of time.

I have not registered online at Manch Univ website eventho they sent me an email to do so. My internet has been vry unstable and I do not want my registration to stuck halfway (adding up to the fact that I'm bit lazy nowadays).

You know they said the period of time between engagement and marriage is one of the most crucial time in a relationship? Anything can happen; ex-es coming back, new person appearing, instability and insecurity knocking in, all those emotional disturbances?

Well, I think that is somehow what I am feeling now. A mixture of all feelings, excited + worried + insecurity + hatred + self-pity + many many other emotional tests.

-Because life is a test-


-AkMaR-
http://nur-akmar.blogspot.com
Saturday, August 20, 2011

My Penang Trip

I have two wonderful aunts staying in Penang. Both of them are not married, and for that reason, they have been able to shower me and siblings with all the love they can give. And for that reason too, despite the lack-of-time, I went up to Penang last weekend. And the most fun part of it, I went by train! :D

I boarded my train from KL Sentral, and it is destined for Butterworth station. And I was in a terrible mood before I set off frm house.

Things were really bad when I stepped down from the car, i almost cried, the tears stopped only because I do not want to be seen crying in public. I was almost certain I'll cry once I take my seat in the train. As I wander around KL Sentral, I am sure I looked like a time-bomb. But then slowly, the thought of going far lightens me. I became excited without noticing it. And I started grinning to myself once the train reaches the platform, and when I board the train all the sour feelings have been replaced with excitements. And for a moment I forgot what was bothering me.




I took out my novel and started reading. With the exception of occasional sms-es with friends, the novel was my only company. I sat next to a Chinese guy who got down at Ipoh station. Thus, I had bigger space Ipoh onwards.

I slept for a while, and got up to read again and dozed off, and got up again repeatedly.


The journey had done me good. I had time to calm down, and think.
A terrific way to vent out :)

But I cant believe my aunts thought I will get lost on my way there. They were supposed to wait for me at the bus stand in front jetty; but one of them walked in halfway to the ferry station instead, worried I might be lost =.="

I went back to KL on Sunday, having spent two nights in Penang :)

My two aunts waiting for my bus to KL to set off


My bus to KL was at 3.30pm.
At 8.30 pm, I reached Puduraya and I ran to LRT station for Bndr Tasik Selatan, ran to ERL station for KLIA.
For what?
Because Hui Fong and other friends are flying off to London that night! I so badly wanted to meet them for one last time.
But I was too late, I managed to only see Hui Fong for a minute, hugged her, snap a pic and she's gone.



Hmm...
This is a very short post, because I have lots of packings to be done!
Bye!

-Because life is a test-

-AkMaR-
http://nur-akmar.blogspot.com
Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Weight Problem!

Yesss! Almost every girl has this problem. But somehow mine this time has taken a different course. My luggage is obese!


MAS allows us to check in only 25kg, and 5kg for hand carry.
My Davidson's is 3-4kg. My empty hand carry luggage is 3kg while my empty check-in luggage is 5-6kg.
Now, tell me how to survive? How do I bring my "civilisation" over there?

I decided to post some things over; but of course that means money.
Duh!
*nk nanges*

Okay...
Get back to packing!

-Because life is a test-




-AkMaR-
http://nur-akmar.blogspot.com
Friday, August 12, 2011

Can You Believe THAT?

Assalammualaikum.

Did I tell you abt my pre-departure briefing in Putrajaya? Yep!
Did I say I got my allowance that day? Yep!
And come let me tell you another thing, yesterday I received an email from the person in charge of our allowance.
They OVERPAID us RM430!

So now, we either hv to return the money to Putrajaya Bank Islam or they will be waiting for us at our check-in counters in the airport.
Well, I did my own calculation after receiving the allowance, but since they gave us allowance in Euro and GBP, and I am vry bad in converting currencies so I thought I calculated wrongly.
And now I hv to re-do my budget.

Wanna get angry, can't. Bcos the RM is not mine in the 1st place for me to get it.
But, how could they be so careless? =.="

Anyway, this is not the only thing that happened.
A lot of other things happened too, and a lot of them are the consequences of this allowance thingy while all of them are the side-effects of me having to fly off soon.
What a pre-departure test for me to go thru.


-Because life is a test-


-AkMaR-
http://nur-akmar.blogspot.com
Sunday, August 7, 2011

IMU to Me

Wah wah....it has been a long time since I left IMU, only now I wanna write about it?
;p

Truth is, I've nvr really felt I've left IMU. Because I hvnt!
I still go back there like, at least once a week?
And the visits were for various reasons; online (internet speed is faster in IMU), meet friend, settle some official matters, or sometimes even ATM!
I'm unsure whether I purposely made those visits, or were they really that important.
In fact, I dropped by IMU last night at 12; to topup Touch n Go, just to find the ATM is out of service =.="

Perhaps I was being overly sentimental but having spent more than 2 yrs there, even the buildings evoke some kind of memories to me.
If the people is the reason I miss INTEC (my prev college) so much, then what had attracted me to IMU was the building itself. I spent so much time in it that I know almost each and evry corner of it; even which toilets are smelly, which ones are always super-clean, which ones are not for students to use etc etc.

But of course, I am not saying I can easily forget the people I meet in IMU, that's impossible. Some of them gave vry good impressions to me, some left bad memories to me while some left permanent marks on me :)

I actually quite extensively wrote about my first day and even 1st week in IMU!
Here are the posts :)

Day 1 (Monday)
Pre- Registration
Post-Registration

Day 2 (Tuesday)
I skipped day 3 bcos I was home late. :p
Day 4 (Thursday)
Day 5 (Friday)
Day 7 (Sunday) and one more.

Of course, no need to re-read the posts...heh...

Since I don't stay in the apartment in front IMU like most of my friends; I tend to stay longer in campus to maximise my time usage.
I spent like more than 8 hrs in campus, almost everyday!
Sometimes I come during the holidays too; to study.

But one thing, I rarely eat outside. Unlike my other friends, they can name the restaurants; mamak or not in Sri Petaling area.
And I got to know abt Ajimal only during my sem 4 I think. =.="
That famous Sri Petaling night market, I've been there once during my first month there! And I got lost finding the way... Haha..

The guards....yea...
I know almost all the guards in IMU.. Hahaha...and I am almost sure they know me ;p

Student lounge....I rarely rarely rarely spent time there.
There was only once I think, that I actually hanged out there with my PBL mates.
During sem 4 I think. I think I even wrote abt it!
Here it is!

I actually so many things to write about IMU.
But I think I will stop here for now.
:)


-Because life is a test-


-AkMaR-
http://nur-akmar.blogspot.com
Thursday, August 4, 2011

JPA Pre-Departure Briefing and Ah Q's Birthday Celebration!

Assalammualaikum!
It's already 5 days into Ramadhan!

2nd day of Ramadhan saw me and fellow IMU friends in JPA building in Putrajaya for our pre-dep briefing; a briefing by MAS rep, Bank Islam rep and of course, JPA rep.
We received our allowance that day! *wink wink*

Right after the briefing, Lii Chyuan, Ah Q and me went to Wisma MCA to apply for our visa.
RM1301 for a visa application! Dried me out... :(
And I foolishly thought we can pay cash so I did not make any bank draft.
When I got to know that we can't pay cash, I ran to Citibank then to Maybank to make a bank draft.
And thanks to God, I managed to settle the payment on time. :)



After the visa application, I went Seoul Garden for buka puasa! :D
And was home at 11pm.

The next day, we celebrated Ah Kiew's and August's birthdays in Neway, Times Square.
Yup, Neway; a karaoke place.
And I was fasting....
So yea, goodbye to the meal package I paid for the karaoke, the tempting salad buffet and the birthday cake.
However, my friends were kind enough to give me half of the cake to bring home!
:D




And today, the 5th Ramadhan...I stayed quietly at home.
Didn't even step out of my house gate.
Tomorrow too, insyAllah.
:(

-Because life is a test-


-AkMaR-
http://nur-akmar.blogspot.com