Fuuuhhh... berhabuk2

Truth be told, I have not blogged since 2014. Woaaahhh... that's like almost 8 years ago. Ntah kenapa, I lost the desire to blog.

    So where do I rant and let go of my pent up anger/frustration? No where. Semuanya ku pendam saja. Lama2 lupa. Hahah. Ok lah. Occasionally, I will tweet about something. But even tweeting about my feelings is a rarity these days.

    But semalam, I interviewed a girl for a position at my Department. She said she's still writing on Wordpress. Wordpress????? Wuishhh... lama sungguh tak dengar orang sebut "Wordpress" or "Blogspot". Who even writes panjang lebar these days? Semua guna Twitter (it's a shorter way to communicate) or ber-tik tok.

    Tapi.. I was so impressed by that girl. She said, it doesn't matter if people don't read what she wants to convey. Yang penting, it's out there... in the open.

    I guess she's right. Writing is calming. When you are a mixed bag of emotions, writing helps put things in perspective. Kadang2 kita tengah marah.. tapi bila dah put the words down, we realise cam tak perlu marah pun sebenarnya. Not worth the anger.

    Anyway, so I here I am, blogging again. After 8 years. Here's to new stories and new adventures!

Saying "goodbye" is never an easy thing..

It's 4:41pm now.. and that means I have "officially" 19 more minutes before I call it a day in Sudan. Today is day 935 since I first step foot in Sudan.


Sahar asked me just now.. what is the most memorable thing that I have done in Sudan.. so I am gonna list them here:


1. My trip with her to Port Sudan was memorable. We had to bring back fish and prawns and I fell sick because the whole car smelled of seafood... and this was only from the trip from the hotel to the airport!


2. I went out with Ibrahim (the driver) in his amjad and the car battery died halfway. So me and another friend had to push the amjad in the middle of the road.. and it's just so difficult to do so, because we were laughing soooo hard! Hahah.


3. The yearly trips to the orphanages -- such a humble experience indeed. I mean, I have been to rumah anak-anak yatim in Malaysia.. but nothing like the ones in Sudan. I guess, you don't really know the word "miskin" or "daif" until you have been in a third-world country.


4. My Arabic classes with Ustaz Ibrahim. Heh. Thanks to him, I can speak a little Arabic (order food and buy stuff at the souq), I know some Sudanese idioms and I can even sing the Sudan national anthem! :)


5. I learned how to cook in Sudan. When I first arrived, I can't even cook rice and my maggi mee was tasteless. Now, I can cook curry, nasi lemak, sambal udang, goreng ayam garing, butter chicken, goreng sayur, nasi goreng, egg omelet, cheese pancake, chicken soup, porridge and awesome maggi kari with tuna. Hahaha. Not bad eh? I just hope I have enough time to learn how to cook zalabiya and dama'a before I leave Khartoum on Friday.


6. I have made amazing friends -- Malaysians and Sudanese. They have camped with me at the hospital when I was sick, became my food tester when I experimented with my cooking and teman I gi shopping and makan-makan.


7. Ahhh.. speaking of which, I will never forget my experience at Royal Care International Hospital, where I spent two nights.. what an experience it was, having the big Presidential Suite to myself.. but having no ability to walk. The room was too big but there wasn't a single nurse in sight. I would have to walk (crawl, more like it) maybe like 30m just to get to the door and call for help.


8. I have lost USD1,000 here in Sudan.. but I take it as that is not my rezeki. It's a lesson learnt, nevertheless.


9. I love the winter in Khartoum. It reminds me of summer in London. Cold, but sunny. Too bad winter only lasts for 3 months. Heheh.


10. I will never forget the time I did an event and we had power failure. Imagine doing a program (for the kids) in the dark! Oh myyyyyyy... But this is Sudan... where people are more forgiving. Heheh. So yeah, the guests still had fun and they still went on eating happily in the dark! :)


So itu lah.. my adventure in Sudan.


I am not sure if I will continue writing in this blog. After all, it is called Khartoum Tales.. so what will happen when I'm no longer in Khartoum and there are no more tales to tell? Heheh.


In any case, I have decided to start an Instagram account depicting my life in Khartoum the past 2 years and 7 months. If you are interested, send in a request to: munchkininkhartoum


So long, Khartoum. Thank you for the memories. I'm really blessed to get the opportunity to be here.. Alhamdulillah. May Allah bless this country and its kind people, always.


Signing off,
xoxo

The Guillain-Barre Syndrome

I was indisposed for almost 5 weeks due to the Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Frankly, it's an illness that I have never even heard of.


Gee-yaaahh bah-rey? (At least, that's how it's supposed to be pronounced.)


Anyway, never thought that I would suffer such illness. I woke up one morning feeling dizzy and numb all over. My condition deteriorated resulting in slurred speech and losing the strength to move my hands and legs.


Thank God the Company decided to fly me back to Malaysia immediately (as even the doctors at Royal Care couldn't detect what was wrong with me).


I was wheelchaired into the airplane.. wheelchaired at the airport.. and then whisked to the hospital in an ambulance upon my arrival at KLIA.


So what have I learned from the incident:
1. That health should never be taken for granted.
2. Please do not attempt long haul flights if you're on antibiotics with the antibody still fighting off the virus(es).
3. PCMC has got interesting ICU policy - one nurse per patient. Yup, they monitor you like a hawk in the ICU.
4. PCMC has got strict visiting hours - 10am to 1pm, and 4pm - 8pm. Oh. They only allow 2 visitors per patient at any one time.
5. Don't bother buying flowers for ICU patients. No way will the nurses allow for flowers to be brought in to the sterile ICU. I tried negotiating for the nurses to put the flowers just outside my room.. at the glass window near the nurse's counter.. so that I can see them from my bed. No way, they said. "I will let you see the flowers for 10 minutes and then we would have to get someone to bring them home," the nurse said. Oh dratttt!
6. The chocolate cake at PCMC is quite sedap.
7. Semangat kena kuat.. and you will be amazed to see the spirit of some people who want to get back on their feet. I met 2 men who had stroke recently and are now vigorously training to regain their muscle strength. It's always so motivating to see them push their limit during physio.. because you know they want to be all independent again.
8. Anyone can fall sick. Even rich and prominent people. One of the 2 men with stroke whom I met is a Dato'. But he is oh so humble and nice. The Datin, who accompanies him for his physio sessions, is also a very nice person.
9. You will know who really sayang you, when you are sick. And for that, I am so blessed to have family and friends yang sayang I and travel all the way just to see me. And they prayed for me too. And Alhamdulillah.. Allah maha mendengar.. and He must have answered one of our prayers, because segala urusan berkaitan my illness, dipermudahkan. I got an awesome neurologist who told me that I got to the hospital just in time (any later and the road to recovery would be harder). And yes, kebetulan the hospital had spare medicine (immunoglobulin) for me walaupun I needed 35 bottles and since it's a rare illness, very unlikely that hospitals would keep a lot of immunoglobulin in their stock. So yes.. Alhamdulillah. Segalanya di permudahkan.
10. Everything happens for a reason and we must always redha. Do our best.. and Allah will do the rest.


Okay.. Nak sambung kerja. And then I want to go home early... since I worked through lunch today. And since I kena keluar petang ni at 6:00pm sebab ada dinner function to organize.


It's good to blog again.. xoxo

A sappy weekend

Gabriel is having his little birthday party now.. And while I told the mum last night that I might join, I suddenly don't feel like it. 

For one, body is aching because I've been spending too much time on the carpet in front of the tv. 

Plus, Arsenal is currently playing against Aston Villa.. And if they win today, it will mean a first defeat for Villa this season. Heh. And though Arsenal has scored 3 goals, it's football and anything can happen. 

But oh well..

It's such a lazy weekend for me. Believe it or not, I spent the whole weekend finishing up Grey's Anatomy season 9. And now, I nak balik Malaysia next week and cari season 10 pulak. :)

Tapi tu lah. Grey's Anatomy is one of the few shows that can make me cry. Like really cry meleleh air mata. When they managed to save a patient, I will cry with joy. When they lost a patient, I will also cry. 

It's so sad... And full of drama, of course. 

Tapi ini bezanya dengan drama Melayu. Rindu Awak 200%, for instance, was a big hit in Malaysia. When I watched it, I rasa memang citer tu drama. It has 28 episodes and each episode is about 40 minutes. 

Grey's Anatomy season 9 has 24 episodes and each episode is also about 40 minutes. 

Tapi dalam citer Rindu Awak 200%, yang drama nya adalah the watak-watak. Armel was so mengada in the first few episodes that you just feel like punching her face. And then, she became so manja and so in love (with the husband) that you also feel like punching her face. And in between, you get stories how there's jealousy, bitchiness and relationship issues. 

But Grey's Anatomy is different. In just one episode, for instance, apart from trying to save lives, they were also trying to save the hospital by getting funds. 

Each character was given the chance to be a drama through different episodes. So in season 9, Meredith finally got pregnant and had a baby boy, Yang left the hospital and came back (and got back together with Hunt and broke up again), Torres had to tolerate her wife's drama when she lost her leg, Bailey got married and later went into depression when she passed on some virus to her patients which resulted in death, Kepner left Avery and met a guy who later proposed and she realized that she's still in love with Avery.. And oh yeah. Webber lost his wife the night Bailey got married. 

And in between, there's the drama with the patients. A boy (Ethan) who lost his mom and his dad (almost!) in an accident. There's also this woman who was mistakenly chain-sawed during a magic show that went wrong. And lots of stories revolving illnesses, deaths and recoveries. 

Not to mention things I learned watching the show - such as epilepsy can be treated by operating on the brain and ensuring that the nerves which are causing the epilepsy could find a connection without affecting the other nerves. 

Now how can I not love (and cry) watching Grey's Anatomy? There's so much drama and things you can learn from that one 40-minute episode. 

And Rindu Awak 200%? Well, the 28-episode drama is about a girl (Armel) and a boy (Zil) who were forced to get married. She threw her tantrums initially and agreed to the marriage just to spite her ex boyfriend. Even after marriage she annoyingly continued to irritate her husband until one day, her ex boyfriend wanted to rape her. 

It was the husband who came to the rescue and she later fell in love with the husband. Tapi the husband pulak ada admirer who was adamant to break them up. 

Tapi happy ending lah. Armel and Zil had a baby. The end. Itu lah drama Melayu. 

Not that I'm being judgemental or undermining our local dramas. Tapi you can't expect me to cry seeing Armel's perangai kan? Neither can I sympathize with her when she almost got raped. 

Heheh. Ok ok. I should be less critical. Anyway, malam ni nak sambung tengok Newsroom, season 1. I've only watched the first episode tadi and I'm already hooked. Put aside the fact that the first episode depicted the newsroom as they handled BP's Gulf of Mexico incident, I find the script very witty indeed. 

Sebenarnya, I've downloaded "I Love You Mr Arrogant" (mainly sebab ada Keith Foo).. Tapi sorry lah.. I cannot even get through the first episode. 

I cannot imagine watching a drama whereby we spend 5 minutes just watching a girl day dream in the office about some guy giving her flowers. 

So tu lah. Don't say I didn't try (watching Malay drama), tapi I just cannot lah. I find it exasperating. 

I will buy Grey's Anatomy season 10 but for now, I will make do with Newsroom. Awesome stuff jugak. Heh. Makes me miss being a journalist and being in the thick of things. :)

Yeah.. I had a happy; albeit lazy weekend. :)

Ps./ By the way, Arsenal won 0-3 (yayyy) today. Hamilton is a fan of Arsenal. So hopefully, the good luck will rub on him esok in Singapore for the F1. :)

Emo, iPad and kids?

It's an ex's (kinda ex lah) birthday today. I almost forgot about it, until I terbaca dalam Facebook his (new) girlfriend. (Ok. not so new lah.. but they have been together for quite awhile..).

Although I must say that his name is still there - in my birthday organizer. Well anyway, he looks happy (from the picture on the gf's FB).. and I'm really happy for him. He is a nice guy and he deserves all the happiness in the world. Sigh.

Okay lah. Tetiba emo jap. Especially since he still calls me by the nickname that he gave me ages ago. And I know he still remembers my favorite food and favorite football team. And our song and all. 

Hmmm. Sekali sekala, takpe kan.. mengenang kembali kisah lama. I have to remind myself that while he cares for me, he just probably doesn't love me enough to make that sacrifice to be with me.

Sebab now he has this girl, and it seems that he's willing to make the same sacrifice for her. Which is good lah. It shows that he's serious about her and wants to commit. Alhamdulillah.

I have no regrets being with him dulu.. and I don't have any regrets that things didn't work out the way I was hoping it to be. Sebab maybe ni semua dah takdir kan. We are just not meant for each other. It's that simple. No other excuses.

Well anyway... ntah kenapa, I was thinking about the iPad and letting kids play with them. I mean, if I have children, I would love to see my kids to get all excited over books and balls and things that they can grasp and hold and flip and throw.

Or am I too ketinggalan zaman already?

Mungkin cara didik anak these days, is not through books. It's through iPads and Tablets. Maybe lah kot.

Which is ... err ... I don't know ... weird? Shouldn't kids be running around and pretend that they are pirates and princesses? Shouldn't kids be reading story books, turn the pages one by one and dream about being on a wishing chair?

Or perhaps, you can get all those via YouTube and the Internet?

Sigh. Maybe I'm selfish.. but I want my child(ren) to have the same childhood I had. Naik basikal sampai berpeluh, play hide and seek, reading till late at night about the naughtiest girl in school etc.

Nasib lah I takde anak kan. If not, mesti anak I dah ketinggalan zaman kot... :(

In any case, the irony is that although I'm not keen on the idea of introducing kids to technology, I am now dreaming of the iPhone 6. I know it's just a lavish thing - I already have the iPhone 5 which is in really good condition. So why even think about the iPhone 6. Kan?

Tapi entah lah... nafsu kot... :)

I want..

Feeling a little under the weather

I try to stay positive every day.. to count my blessings and to thank Allah for all that He has given me.

I try to see the good in everybody I meet too.. after all, kita ni kan semua hamba Allah. Who am I to get all annoyed with Allah's creations kan?

Tapi tu lah. Sometimes, there will be people who will hurt me.. make me sad.. or treat me like SHIT. And so, to those people, I simply stay away. I mean, why hang around those who cause you pain or hurt or anger kan? Why even go near the negativity?

Well anyway.. I try to be happy. Sebab I think, once there's gratitude, you will be happy kan? (And that's something that the Sudanese here taught me. They have very little. Yet they are often very happy and contented. Alhamdulillah.)

Cuma again, I'm only human. And I have my bad days too. Like semalam, I woke up feeling sick. I purged a few times, and even vomited before I went to work. Body felt weak and feverish. I was feeling so super duper lousy.

I can't possibly mengadu kat my parents cuz they would be worried sick. So I only texted one or two close friends and slept the whole day.

Well, I did drag myself to the office lah.. And I was drinking 100Plus and some cookies.. but really, I was struggling to even finish up a cookie. Body was getting warmer and body just wanted to lie down and rest.

Biscuits and 100Plus pun don't seem to work

So I went back at noon and slept. Woke up at around 5.. a friend sent some bananas (which I hungrily ate with honey) and had some rice (leftover from the night before), took some panadols and charcoal pills and vitamins and went back to sleep.

I woke up at around 10pm.. bathed (because body was feeling hot, despite the aircond) and took more panadols and went back to sleep. (SUCKS giler to be sick all alone in a foreign country.. boohoohoo)

Woke up at 6:30am this morning and felt so much better.. Alhamdulillah. Got dressed and straight went to the office to finish up what I was supposed to finish yesterday.

And here I am right now. In the office. During lunch. Blogging away.

Nak semayang sat.. and then sambung kerja. I am only having biscuits for lunch sebab malam nanti, I promised Ivan that I will accompany him to Rotana Hotel for some seafood dinner.

So yeah. Kira tengah simpan perut lah jugak ni. Heheh.

Okay. Gotta go, but here's something that caught my eye yesterday. I was browsing through the papers and found that The Citizen had printed the date wrongly semalam. As a result, I have two different The Citizen newspapers with the same date. Check it out! Hahah.

Things you find in Sudan.. :)

Two separate newspapers with the same date

Two "Thursday, Sept 11"?

Favorite things in Khartoum..

I've just finished doing the LBVF (Leadership Behavior and Value Feedback) for 6 people. Tu kena buat online. Manually, I have 3 other people to assess. That makes 9 feedback forms to fill up. Nasib lah the Company tetapkan yang kita boleh buat maximum 10 feedback forms je. If not, mesti jenuh..

The thing is, I don't mind doing the forms.. cuma tu lah, nak fikir apa nak tulis. I don't have problems writing the positive stuff - the person is approachable, willing to listen etc.

Tapi masalahnya is writing about the things that the person needs to improve. Haish laaa.. Maybe the problem is I always see the good side of a person.. so it's hard to pinpoint the person's "weak" sides.

So I always end up with 3-5 "good" points and 1 "areas to improve" point. Hahah. Ntah lah.

I know some people use the LBVF to "kenakan" orang. I sendiri pun pernah terkena. My staff bitched about me in the LBVF and needless to say, it affected my appraisals for that year.

And last year pun, I kena lagi. Hmmm. Tapi tak pe lah. I redha. Maybe I memang ada banyak kelemahan. Cuma, I wished the person would tell it straight to my face so that I could improve myself. Not simpan semua and akhirnya bongkarkan through LBVF.

Tapi whatever lah. It's done anyway. And the person pun dah pindah department lain.

Anyway, doing LBVF this year is quite nice.. sebab I buat LBVF sambil duduk atas my new swing at home. Facing outside.. which is the airport. Dapatlah jugak tengok one or two airplanes take off tadi. Such an awesome view... hehe. Yes, I'm blessed to have an apartment that has got an awesome view.

So today.. I nak blog about my favorite things in Sudan..

1. Football! Hahah. Okay. More accurately -- the Barclays Premier League (BPL). Because the games are played in the UK.. and UK hanyalah two or three hours behind Sudan (depending on the British Summer Time), the games are "watchable". Meaning, I don't have to wake up in the middle of the night to watch football.

So yeahhhh.. I get to watch more Arsenal games! Woohooo..

Go Gunners!

2. Free food from friends.. haha. Yes, I'm blessed sebab I have friends yang selalu cook for me. Like semalam, I tapau-ed spaghetti goreng for lunch and makan kat office. The thing is, Dods cooked extra spaghetti goreng on Friday and he gave me some. So I simpan dalam fridge and had it yesterday for lunch. Yumsss..

Yummylicious spaghetti

3. MUNCHIES! - Munchies adalah tempat yang I would go to, if I'm suddenly craving for waffle or crepe. Yummmssss. Speaking of which, I went out with Ivan and Hafidz (and his family) tadi for lunch at Munchies because I was just craving for something sweet.. hehe. Funnily, Ivan, Hamzah and I were at Munchies jugak for dinner semalam. Hahahah. But ok, now I dah muak. I think I'm having an overdose of waffles. Hahah. So looks like I won't be having any waffles for the next few days / weeks.. :)

Munchies - one of Khartoum's hidden gems

4. Amazing things you see on the road. Tadi, as we were heading out to Munchies for lunch, I saw two guys sleeping under a tanker. SLEEPING UNDER A TANKER! Kelakar ok. Well, dangerous lah jugak kan.. but it's such a sight. Like so selamba mereka tidur bawah tanker. Granted, it was a hot day.. tapi takkan takde tempat lain nak tidur? Heheh. Oh Sudan oh Sudan.. How you never fail to amuse me.. :)

Suka hati je abang tidur mana mana kan? :)

5. My apartment .. my new swing .. the view that I get as I sit on the swing. Heh. I have a cozy home. I can truly say that it's cozy now. It's just not an apartment.. it's home. I look forward to coming home.. my books.. my nice comforter.. and now my swing. :)

So nice to do work while on the swing.. facing the window..

6. Oh.. And yeah.. I love the Company's billboards in the streets. Makes me feel proud being a Malaysian. Proud that our Company is famous in Sudan. That the people here see Malaysia as a wonderful country. Oh.. if only my fellow Malaysians know berapa ramai orang Sudan yang suka dengan Malaysia.. suka dengan Dr Mahathir.

"If only we have a leader like Dr Mahathir here (in Sudan)." - a phrase I've heard many times before. Bangga ok! :)

Nice to see the "green" billboard in the busy streets in Khartoum

Selamat Hari Malaysia. And hopefully, my fellow Malaysians will never take the peace and harmony in our Country for granted. God bless Malaysia!

xoxo