Monday, November 30, 2009

Only in Qatar..

In a hurry to feed his/her empty tummy I guess? Dah tak sempat dah nak adjust.. Hiks
We just left Ponderosa, when this 'brilliant' act of typical driver in Qatar took place... Yeah, why bother, It's a 4wheels drive for a reason huh?...
By the way, thanks again for the treat 4zerdills, slamat pindah rumah baruuuu!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Squashed

It was the time of the year again, where many free sports events are lining up to entertain the ever so dull life in Doha. And I thank the Emir for that ;)
One of the wajib sport competition is the Qatar Squash Classic 2009; which mean we have the chance to meet with World number one, our very own Malaysian player, Nicol Ann David.
After seeing her play, I understand why I can't even be the world's 100th, she play so calmy, despite the tension pushed from her opponent. On Saturday, she was up against in Quater Final, were we saw a very tight play between the two, and yesss.. as we expected, she won!
But sayangnye on Sunday, during the Semi, she loss to her petite opponent from England. It was a very tough game, and I could tell that her opponent is somehow seeking revenge, that she struggle to beat Nicol to the end. Well, anyway I still salute you Miss Nicol, you are truly an inspiration!
Come back again soon! ;)

Kite & Above

Last Friday, there's a kite festival going on nearby the big empty space just at the corner of InterCont hotel. Hundreds of peoples turn up with their colourful (and I bet slightly dusty ) kites or Wau. And, not forgetting this one tiny person- Myra. It was her first time, but she flew it like it was in her nature. SO, cute! Boleh je die jalan menonong sambil pegang kite tu.. I'm not sure if she even realize she is playing a kite? hehehehe.. but anyway, that's the day we realize, the cold breeze in Doha, which means, Winter is finally here! Yipeee!

Hyde park in Doha

Yeah, I know.. what is this la.. compare to Hyde park, or to Tasik Titiwangse even! hehehe
But as jakun as Doharean would be, we were still excited to see a big lake in a middle of a beautiful green field here in Doha; be it artificial or not ;)
I heard about the park before , briefly drove by the other day to see what's so great about it, to found an empty field of green grass, and I told Mr.Ai.. that's it? This is 'the park' that they've been talking about? Then come Wednesday, after Mr.Ai's return from work, we just had to get out for some fresh air, and we decided to take a walk there... and to my surprise, the park is so huge, complete with lake, air pancuts and all! Waaa.. how come we didn't see it before? Great, now I have something to remind me of the good ol time with parks in london. Another hangouts to add ;)

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Brasil vs England


I never tot one can fall asleep with eyes wide open whilst watching a football match, until today. It was such a boring game.. and yeah i know, who am I to judge such a game as I don't quite watch football match before. But my hubby seems to agree with me. The first half saw our countless yawn and sigh; the Brazil team keep attacking but couldn't finish the job, as all; yes I mean ALL of the England player turn to defend. Yikes.. memangla.. friendly match.. most of which just lika warmup session for the reserves players. Oh yeah,, you must be wondering, whattehell am i talking about aite? hehehe.. i just got back from Khalifa Stadium; there's a friendly match between Brazil and England...organized with two agenda (as I was told); one, to celebrate Aljazeera Sport's 6th anniversary and two, to show that Qatar bids for World Cup 2022 ain't a joke. Apparently, they want to do it all (yup.. still got their bid for future Olympics eventhough their summer is like 40degree-boiling-hot!).

But things has gotten pretty exciting after the second half, 2 minutes after the wisel blown, Brazil scored their first goal. It was quite unexpected, maybe because everybody were down with boredom (well if not everybody pun, I'm sure I was! hehe). Lepas dah masuk satu gol tu, barulaaa ade thrill sket from pihak lawan. Tapi, sampai sudah England gagal nak lawan. So at the end they settled with 1-0. Maka, happy la kami-kami yang menyokong Brazil. ;)

But the thing about tonite is, although it was an almost-full stadium, with lots of waves around the clocks, and opposing trumpet song from England fans, I still kinda think it was not as meriah as i expected, something definitely is missing. Hurm.. (or maybe it's just a tiny guilt for leaving Myra behind, while the moms n dads having fun at the stadium? hehehehe)

Yeah.. with no Brazil's jersey to wear, we opt for a green-Amsterdam and yellow-bali to make up their colours.. hiks.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Friday without a date

Actually we do have a date, but we missed it by 2 hours! haha.. I hope the host won't get mad. We were s'pose to go to a Kenduri Doa Selamat early this morning..(truly sorry guys!) semoga mereka2 yang bakal mengerjakan haji in these few days akan diberkati olehNYA dan dirahmatkan dengan haji Mabrur.. insyaallah.

But since we were up and dressed, we tot why not just swing to a nearby restaurant for a relaxing friday breakfast-out; where the road is still as smooth as a silk (ye ke valid such perumpamaan? hiks). Tot of going for a mamak breakfast, but some says all the good food must have gone by now, so we went to Johnny Rockets for an all american dish instead.

Makanan die, sedap hingge menjilat pinggan.. nice clean environment with lots of matsalleh, so memang ade rase cam kat New york sketla.. hehe. But what insterest us the most, is their own retro-style diner, and..
the friendly waitress

The typical (but totful) goodies for kidsAnd of course, the food (wait, did i mention it already?)

Menarikla untuk melepak2 bersame family or friends. So, there.. another place to add for an ideal weekend hangouts in Doha.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Winter?!

With the global warming getting more n more serious, will the winter season ever come soon?

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Perhitungan

Friday, like usual will be filled with some sort of activities, or else the Doha peeps will go out of their mind (but our case is different, due to the shift hours of work, so kiteorg slalunye belasah jek). The week before last week, we had MAQ bowling tournament, in which my dear hubby participated (yeah, takde menang pun, so tak yah la citer panjang2..hiks). But my stand as a viewer are more concentrated towards the out of the alley acts. Since most of the parents are busy menjatuhkan pin, the kids are left to play on their own, which mean the more adult of the group had to take some sort of action to somehow monitor them, so jadila saye babysitter tak bertauliah pade malam itu. The best part is, I was kinda been bullied by the bunch of underage kids! Cisss... First, they ask if I could buy them water, then chocolate, then fries, then ice-cream (tapi malangnye ice-cream tak lepas piawaian), then some more fries. Then after sometime, one of them started to 'pau' me a riyal, so being the melayu-yang-senang-kesian-kat-budak-budak-and-wanna-treat-them-equally, I gave all of them 1 riyal each. Naseb baek kene pau seriyal je.. hehehe.. pandai korang ek, seb baik auntie tengah good mood, so layan aje la.. Tapi once all of them ask if I could take them to the toilet, I started to panic, Errr... can't you guys like go on your own? Nasib baik ade rescuer, a more senior kids among them then volunteer to take 'em to the loo... fyuohhh..lege.

Then last Friday, another MAQ event took place, but this time it was bigger and merrier. The Malaysian communities are up against the Indonesian communities, for Badminton, Volleyball and Football games. But since there's no available sport complex for such an event in Doha, we then had to take it to Al-Khor; where the big community of RASGAS & QatarGas are (Most of the Indonesian lives there, so boleh pakai the facilities). The compound is like a mini town. Everything is there; be it school, medical centre, mini market, post office or bank. No wonder they don't quite need to go to Doha that often.

Anyway, talking about the sport tournament; as you can see, Mr. Ai was literally flying to fight the Indo-team. And yess, the Malaysian did win the whole set of badminton games. But a sipi-sipi kekalahan untuk Volleyball for both men & women team; which I somehow contributed on the first round (main after many many years without traning, yang bestnye memang dah jangke akan kalah, tapi tak sangke kalah tak seteruk mane, hiks). And yeah, it surprised me too that I manage to play in peace, sebabnye Myra tido, jadi dapatla saye main sekejap, kalau tak, toksah harap la.. sure satu dewan dengar suare die meraung..hehehe. Dan tak lupe, sipi-sipi kemenangan for football team; Go Malaysia!
Yup, it was indeed fun, make me miss my high school era, main volleyball suke2 lepas kelas petang. Hurm... how I wish for a multi-sport complex that we could rent by the hours ere. Anyway good team effort to all, and well done MAQ for organizing such an event to merapatkan lagi siratulrahim. I hope, after this takde la lagi bising2 isu tarian p4nd3k la m3nd3k la..kekeke

Saturday, November 7, 2009

When Myra goes to school

It has been 4 times since Myra went to the nearby Nursery, and yet still no sign of her being comfortable, let alone getting use to. The first week, we tried seding her for an hour session each for two days. Both days she clinged onto her teacher. Both days she'll cry the minute she saw me. And I can't even describe her sad look and her screaming tears when I pass her to leave. It was too emotional, but the teacher said it is an essential stage where the mother/father has to be strong, not to fall for their sappy look, yesss.. it was hard. She will eventually get use to the idea. But, even for that one hour, I feel like I've done wrong, I felt that I should have not even suggested the idea to send her to school. I regretted to ever register, but after much consultations, i then come to my sense. It is for her own goodness, so she'll have more friends and learn to be more independent.
Then, on her first official start of her school day, she was up from 4:30am. All happy, and playful. I bathe her, feed her and ask if she wanted to go to school, and she nodded. But.. little that she knows, school means no Mommy. And school means the same place that she went to the other week. So, she wasn't even panic and just felt happy and excited that we are going out.
But, the minute I pull off infront of the Nursery, she started to cry. She now realize the meaning of my earlier question, school means another disasterous moment of being away from Mommy. For her first day, I left her from 8am till just before 12, not to leave her for too long, as I don't want to torture her too much. On my return to pick her up, I saw that her face was all red and her eyes were bloated from tears. I guess she was crying the whole time she was there..sigh.
To make her (and me) feel better, i took her out to Landmark for some Spagetti Bolognese, but not long after we arrived, she's already fast asleep. Poor thing, must be too tired from all the crying, plus being up from 4.30 in the morning.

Then come her second official day to school. This time, I had to pick her up from bed. I had to wake her and get her ready. But seeing me in my hijab, she's already screaming, panicly saying 'No No No' while trying to bukak my tudung. Hehe.. funny, now she learn the concept of early morning wakes means- school. And the same emotional-process of handing over continue. But day 2, went by with some progress, she cried much less says the teacher, but was very possesive of the teacher and got all jealous if the teacher is entertaining other kids.
Oh Myra, i hope your school next week will get better, nasib baek 2 hari seminggu jer, Mommy pun tak sanggup nak ngadap muke sedih Myra hari-hari... but on another hand, Mommy syok, that now I have few hours all to myself that I could catch up on my pending list of things-to-do including Pilates.. hiks.

The Cinderella story

One day, miss Cinderella decided to throw herself a second birthday party for Doha peeps. But, since Mommy is still tired and in her very-lazy-self mode, Cinderella oughtta do all the preparation by herself. So, from early in the morning, she..
Do the cleaning..
Bake the cake..
Blow the baloons..

Put up the hiasan-hiasans..

After much success of her before-party efforts, she then started to parteeeeee.... Most of her friends were there.. but since she's a bit tired from all the hard works plus no evening nap, her ability to enjoy a smile let alone a cheer has reduce to 2%..(dalam takde mood pun, bleh tahan jugakla).


Selepas acare tiup lilin (with the very funky party-pooper blown through the air) , daddy Cinderella dengan kejamnye menyembelih kek to-be-serve.

Yesss... that proves the cake IS real ;)

The party was then finished off with the ever so exciting open-gifts-ceremony. Cinderella was very thankful to all the cool peeps that attended her party, with their generous-generous gifts! Thanks again for coming!

So now, Cinderella live happily ever-after with her new toys and clothes...

The End..

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Menyotong

Last nite was the first time I joined an outdoor activities without my Hubby. Me, being the sole driver to and flo to Simaisma for a crabbing nite out (so they called it).
From Doha, I picked up Kak R n kids, then off we went to the sea....which turn out quite a joyful journey, and best part is, it's only like 20-30 minutes from our home.. A straight highway road, so takdela adventurous mane pun, hiks..
I never intended to even touch the cold sea water, let alone crabbing, but there I was, with one hand holding my pants up, and another one menyuluh lampu picit underwater while it's attached to a boat, that carries 4 kids!! Mannn, tahan sabar jugak rupenye aku ni, hahaha, come to think of it, I was quite impressed, camane tah bleh ade daye tahan letih yang agak tinggi malam tu, boleh aku angkat si Myra crossing the yucky mud for berkilo-kilo meter before finally reach the water. Oh yeah, air agak surut time tu, so jauhhhhhh sangat baru sampai air, as some claim, best time for crabbing. I tot of turning back, but persuaded to continue, so when we finally reached the water, i quickly tried to put Myra into the boat, but she scream and struggle to hold me tight, with her special-koala-hug. Mannn, memang menguji iman! So akhirnye cik Aina terpakse masuk bot, so that Myra will join her and stay calm. That's how I end up, with a hand locked to a boat, pointing torchlight underwater looking for Mr. Crab sambil menarik budak2 dalam bot!
I think it was about an hour or so that we move right n left whilst Myra busy entertaining us with her lupe-lirik-and-pelat mode of singing, when cik R finally saw a crab right under his nose! The excited me then helped to point some light... Wow, never tot i can enjoy being orang-batu like hunter. But, funny thing was, that's about the only crab we ever got that nite, followed by 2 or 3 other sotong, hence the title.
It is surely a nite to remember, coz I don't think I ever want to do it again until Myra learn to make full use of her own OP water shoes, and walk herself out to the open sea. So I guess after this, I will only join you ladies leisuring with the BBQ n yummy yummy food! Hiks

Anyway, in case you are stuck in Doha, with nothing better to do, marilah same-same menyumbang dalam industry mengetam atau menyotong (yang dah nak pupus gare-gare melayan kebosanan warge Doha hehehe).

So, what you basically need are;

1. A tombak and a baldi (minus Miss Z4ir33n - oh btw if you r reading this nyettosan, this is ur x-schoolmate!) picture dicedok dari facebook Kimi..hehehe
2. A pair of underwater shoes, or any comfy shoes that you think can handle the sea..banyak batu2.. sakit kalau tak pakai kasut
3. A rumbling empty stomach for the after-crabbing BBQ (although i guarantee, most of which will come from the supermarket, don't get your hope too high on your own catch! hehe
Till then, Enjoy~~~