Takziah :(

Pics from Al-Jazeera.com

(Villagio mall on fire: Mon - 28 May 2012).
It was reported that at least 19 people had been killed in the incident. Among those were 13 children whom trapped in a nursery, 4 female teachers and 2 firefighters. The nursery (Gympanzee), where most of the children were (mostly expatriates children of different nationalities), was on the first floor with difficult access. - Source: Al-Jazeera.

Shocking news of yesterday's mall blaze had caused injury & fatality to innocent people including the helpless kindy children. It's so heartbreaking to hear this and I extend my deepest condolence to the victims' families.

Oh my! Poor innocent kids :'( May this be a lesson learnt to the authorities in-charge for not compromising safety aspects in the building designs!! It should be a regular and strict QA/QC to ensure all the safety alarms, fire protection systems are working and safety procedures for hazard (fire exit, trained mall officers, etc) are clearly outlined and strictly followed. I pray such case won't happen again in the future. 

Below are our back-then pics in Villagio mall taken via instagram (year 2011). It was such a beautiful mall, a popular hang-out spot among the locals and expatriates...

Pindah rumah

After being here for almost 8 months, we finally moved out from the serviced apartment for which was planned as a temporary stay, to a new home. This new home is relatively smaller unit but cozy and just nice for our small family. I love this apartment, its layout, the provided furniture & stuffs, its hidden balcony, the ground level parking spaces (compared to previous basement parking) and its efficient maintenance support. 

Well, it was not easy to find a vacant fully furnished apartment within our specific budget in this specific location with quite spacious layout (for apartment standard) and reasonably good furniture provided (almost new). The reasonable ones were mostly fully occupied. After countless surveys, alhamdulillah, this one practically meets our expectation. It's just 5 mins drive to hubby's office and 10 mins drive to my son's school as well as to the airport. Furthermore, it feels considerably cool being inside the apartment even during this hot summer. Mode: happy :)  Well, no idea when it comes to winter though...  

Opps, no mover hired like the above pic. Below pic was the real one :p

Easy peasy recipe: Arabic Salad

Once in a while (maybe the right word is once in a blue moon;p) when I'm in the mood of learning the new Arabic words, I'll search for the lesson in the You Tube and I kinda love these simple lessons (few different sessions) by this lady by the name of Maha. One of the lessons that I followed, came with the salad recipe. I was listening to it while I was cooking for lunch and automatically, I searched for the ingredients available in my fridge and wallah, the Arabic salad was one of the lunch dishes for that day. I'm sharing the recipe here as well as the Arabic words for the ingredients :) 

Arabic Salad (Salata Arabiyyah) - credit to Maha's you tube.

Ingredients:

Main

-2 Cucumber (khiyar)

-2 Tomato (tamatem)

-1 small Capsicum (felfel) 

-Onion leaves (basal akhdar)

-Mint leaves (Na'na')

For sauce

-1/2 tsp of salt (melh)

-1 Lemon (laymoon)

-1 tbs of Olive oil (zayt zaytoon)

-a bit of black pepper (bahar)

-a bit of cumin (kamoon)  ~ I didn't add this as it was not available in my kitchen at that time.

Above is the original ingredient for Arabic salad, however I also added carrots and salad leaves to it. 

Method:

Dice the cucumber, tomatoes and capsicum. 

Chop the onion and mint leaves.

If you like to add salad leaves / carrot, cut them to small pieces.

Mix them (veggies) altogether in a large bowl and put aside. 

For its sauce, we need to extract the lemon juice and pour it into a cup. 

Then add a small amount of salt, olive oil, black pepper and cumin into the juice and stir it.

Finally combine the sauce with the mixed veggies and it's ready to be served :)

Easy peasy, right. Give it a try... It's yummy and it also goes well with Malaysian lauk pauk such as ayam masak pedas/ kari / kurma. It's more or less like the Malaysian 'acar timun'. 

his memorable days

When I first set up this blog, my intention was to share my stories with a close circle of family and friends. I've no particular topic to write except for things happening around me & family, especially when I was out-stationed and left the family behind. At that time, my hubby and son didn't have the facebook account and one way for them to view the photos were from my blog. I write especially about my son hoping that Insyallah, one day we'll have a chance to read the previous posts, looking back of our memories. I guess most mothers have this kind of passionate in treasuring memories of their children's life...

For the first 2 weeks here, Akid questioned us repeatedly why we had to come to Doha. Hmm kind of protest for coming all the way here and leaving the complacent life in Kl. I could feel his reluctance in leaving Kl, bidding farewell to his school and friends there. I can't blame him, I understand how he felt. I was once crying over the phone begging to my father not to transfer me from the school which I had just been for 2 months. (for which my father didn't listen to and to which later, I was doing just fine in that new school;p) What more for my son who had spent 4 years in his previous school and had to leave his hometown, to mix with a new circle of friends of different nationalities and to communicate in his second language. However, we believe kids are easy to adapt to changes and alhamdulillah, he proves us right.

From my observation, kids are more ready and sincere to accept new friend/s and innocent enough not to judge others. They can easily grab the language / slang (also Kelantanese slang if he's in Kb) and mix around. After 2-3 weeks, he has been more than happy to be in this new school, befriends not only with schoolchildren but also with his teachers. I'm always looking forward to hear his stories about the school and friends whenever he comes back from school.

Alhamdulillah so far he has adjusted to the new school system, making more friends, enjoying his school and has progressed steadily. Below are some of small recognitions from the teachers/ school which I believe will be part of his child's sweet memories later ;)

1. The certificate for achievement in Arabic class for non-Arabic speakers. This is given for scoring full mark in the 1st term exam. He and another Chinese girl received this.

2. The bling-bling bear key chain was given by his class teacher, Miss Jeanette for scoring full mark in Maths.

3. The cert given for scoring highest mark in the Sam learning homework (online homework).

4. The cute notebook was given by his Arab teacher, Miss Fatimah for the same reason as no. 1 ;)

When he showed me the notebook, it's kind of dejavu as I also had a notebook as a present from one of my teachers in my primary school and I still keep that book til now :)

As a kid, getting gift/s from his/her teacher is always the happening thing ever. I'm sure he appreciates the gifts from the teachers, especially the one bought personally by them.  I believe, these are given as the encouragement for him and the rest of the class too.

Last week was a 'Book Week' and Thursday was a Book Character day in his school. Akid decided to be the Alexandre the Great and the result was as the pic above. Thanks to Abah who had helped with the crown and bangles. (from the cardboard) I altered his white 'jubah' (Arabic cloak) and pinned the red cloth to it to make it looks like the Greek costume (as referred to the googled picture on the right. The idea was not so original then ;p). Surprisingly, his class voted him for the best costume. I shared his happiness as he hugged and thanked me for helping him with the costume once he reached home from school.

One of the activities on that day was that the pupils had to design a bookmark in a given time of 20 minutes and again he won the contest. (His bookmark with the dragon picture on it, kind of obsess with the dragon drawing at the moment). What a memorable day for him as he brought back two books as the presents for winning the best costume and the best bookmark.  Well, this is good as the school helps to encourage children to love reading :) Bravo N.I.S!