now, i am back

I am back.
Back to Malaysia
Back to my small little apartment
Back to my desk with piles of work

I am bored
Bored of explaining things to auditors, again and again for the last one year plus
Bored of having series of meeting on the same topic
Bored of cleaning up someone else’s mess

I am tired
Tired of not being able to sleep at night
Tired of having the feeling to unpack the luggage, wash & fold the clothes and but unable to do so as was tied up with family affairs for the last 2 days

I am not complaining
I am just expressing…

he finally made it!

the medal is on top of the scroll received. cool huh?

i wore my black sport shoes with blazer and kain kebaya hahah kelakar gler. sib baik la org kat situ xtau what is the actual combination of the real attire LOL.

a glimpse of jimi i tried to capture when he turned back

The moment we waited for had finally arrived. On 22nd October 2008 at approximately 6.30 p.m. local time, Jimi received his master degree in Aerospace Management ending his 15-month life as a student.

It was tough for both of us being separated just after 3 months of marriage, missed two of our birthday celebrations, his absent at my two bros’ wedding, his sister and my sister’s engagement, not able to be anywhere near to his late grandpa September last year as well as his late grandma a week before Ramadhan this year.

When it comes to hardship faced by those who study abroad, everyone has his/her own version of story. So does Jimi when suddenly his normal routine within his comfortable territory became otherwise – he had to prepare his lunch himself very early morning since his class started at 8 a.m. ended at 5.00 p.m. 5 times a week for straight 12-month, been chased out from the place he normally used for Zohor and Asar prayer, was a victim of IAS’ bureaucratic and internal politics that had resulted in failure to secure his place at Airbus for internship, just to name a few.

On the brighter side of it, he is now able to cook himself (which is super important *wink*), more sensitive to his surrounding, more confident to speak his mind (he used to be very reserve of his opinion), the international exposure has somehow built precious friendship and network with 14 different nations in his class and yes he can actually look for a better job after this regardless of the ‘ridiculous contract’ bonding him with MIGHT for the next 7 years!

The distance makes our hearts grow fonder and I thank God for us more appreciating each other. For the hardship we faced makes us ‘really’ understand that nothing comes easy or can be traded off with our pride and dignity.

The scroll may contain his name on it but nothing is in comparison with the experiences we gathered along the journey. Having said all this…I congratulate him for the achievement. Well done!

Finally...Barcelona...

Paella - special Bercelona cuisine, if Malaysian version, it is called 'Nasi Goreng Seafood'

La Rocca Village

Day 2

terasa mcm marakech, morocco

Rambla de Mar

Barcelona trip was somehow like chipsmore…now you see it, now you don’t. I conclude it as ‘macam jadi tapi tak jadi tapi jadi jugak’...

Plan A: M’s car. M couldn’t join us due to some personal reason.

Plan B: N’s car.
The moment N informed Jimi that he was yet to renew his recipecee (sort of an ID for those stay in France), I was still positive that we could still make it to Barcelona since the recipecee can be renewed immediately. But when N told us that he was stuck with class all day and didn’t have the opportunity to renew it, the chance was so slim.

Then Plan C emerged…

Plan C: Rent a car for €63 (2 days). Place to stay yet to be searched for when we reach Barcelona.

So we opt for Plan C, since that’s the only option anyway. The 3-hour journey with a brand new Yaris (not bad actually for the price that we paid) led us to Barcelona, the most well-planned city I’ve seen so far and the first stop was La Rocca, a shopping heaven for those crazy for branded merchandise – from MNG, LV, Chanel, Gucci to Timberland, Puma, Nike, Polo and a lot more including those famous brands that I never knew, heard and not even seen in my entire life (and maybe you should read as: how naïve/foolish I was for not knowing it hehehe). This is similar outlet in its range in Paris – La Valle Village mentioned in my Paris Trip.

The first objective the moment we reach the city was looking for a place to stay that night. If I remember it correctly, we were on foot for almost 3 hours looking for a hotel somewhere near Rambla and outskirt of the city and still none was available. It was then made known to us that the week itself was a busy week in Barcelona mainly because of Halloween and few international conferences and symposiums held over that weekend. With no other option seemed to be available in such situation, we decided to have a sleep in the car!

Don’t mention about sleeping in the car…you know how it feels – I don’t mind having to sleep without pillow and all, but with the autumn and the nearing winter, huh, sejuk sampai ke tulang hitam! I had experienced sleeping on the top of few mountains not long time ago, but this is truly different.

But it is all worth the moment we saw the most universal artworks of the architect Gaudi at Park Güell; famous for its unfinished so-called church – La Sagrada Familia; Casa Batlló – the first artwork plainly guanidine; World Trade Centre – which locating Rambla de Mar and few others.

Since we were out very early that morning, yeah what else could you do if you slept in the car, we managed to get a free parking spot at Park Güell. Alhamdulillah the metro was quite reliable…it’s a nightmare to explore Barcelona by car for its traffic congestion owing to the town-planner for the ‘hundreds’ of traffic lights all over the place, if my calculation is correct, at every 1km.

While me busy choosing few souvenirs, 2 Malaysian approached us and asked Jimi whether we are Malaysian. They were in great trouble looking for Malaysian Embassy as one of them lost his passport, wallet and air ticket…in short he lost everything! I got the number in my hp (thanks to Maxis for the extra added services by providing Malaysian embassy’s number for each country their customer visited) but unfortunately I could not switch it on as the battery was out. Leenda being sort of the savior of the day although she only handed the embassy personnel’s number in Paris, the most we could do and hopefully they manage to get some help.

Off to Toulouse at about 5 pm…

So long…farewell

Khairil bid us goodbye on 3 Oct and headed back to Malaysia after one and a half years leaving Leenda alone. Hmm I pity them for this separation as it was really none of their plan and they could not do much about it. Life goes on…it is only for another 2 months…sabar ya Leenda.

d missing luggage

Local time was 11.30 a.m. when I reach Toulouse. Jimi was patiently waited for me at Blagnac Airport…the end of our 4 months of separation plus another 18-hour journey.

I guess it was not my lucky day apart from meeting Jimi, the luggage that was supposed to be on the same plane, somehow was missing. I saw more than 10 people faced the same problem. What an efficient system France got after claiming themselves an Airbus hub and one of the best aerospace experts in the world!

I was not really concern about rendang and few other lauk I brought for the next day Aidilfitri, indeed it was because of Irfann & Irhamm’s baju raya that was tuck in the bag. On the same reason for Kak Atin’s box sent by her mother especially for this hari raya. *sigh*