ezalman_too

Melancholic song - I'm Just a Girl, by Bachelor Girl

2008-08-25T22:54:00.000+03:00

I might be a little, concerned with my hair
I might need comfort, more than my share
I might seem to follow fashion, but claim that I don't care
My heart is your best friend, when it rules my head

I might want to talk alot, but don't ask me why
And I'll get impatient, if you don't reply
I might always search for something wrong, I want you to deny
But if you love me just stay close, and hold me when i cry

Don't try to understand me, I'm just a girl
One of the greatest mysteries, you'll find in this world
I'm not hard to handle, I'm just a girl

I don't seek money, but I want your time
Cos I'd give my life for you, when you are mine
And it hurts me more than I can say when you pull away
But if you love me, you should tell me everyday

Don't try to understand me, I'm just a girl
One of the greatest mysteries, you'll find in this world
I'm not hard to handle, I'm just a girl

You might think I'm too demanding
But you're just not understanding, no

I might like to take advice, but go my own way
And it's when I hurt the most, I swear I'm okay
And it's always when you least expect, I say I want to stay
it might take just a single kiss to steal my heart away.

Don't try to understand me, I'm just a girl
One of the greatest mysteries, you'll find in this world
You think I'm an x file, I'm just a girl
I'm just a girl

Don't try to understand me, I'm just a girl
One of the greatest mysteries, you'll find in this world
I'm not hard to handle, I'm just a girl

I'm just a girl

Note : When I listened to this song, I was reminded of Ckn - I miss her; I guess there is truth in the saying that distance makes the heart grow fonder

UK Panoramas

2008-07-14T11:34:00.004+03:00

Here are some more shots from our UK holiday (Click each one for a much wider version!)

Inside Windsor Castle

View of the Docklands from the Observatory at Greenwich

The family walking in St. James Park, near Buckingham Palace

Stonehenge

View of the Serpentine in Hyde Park

The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column

Ever since I had my dSLR, my interests have been piqued by the concept of panoramas. To me it's mind boggling while insanely beautiful; it's eccentric and mystifying (the latter describes immersive, or VR panoramas). To that end, I invested in an ultra wide angle lens, a Sigma 10-22mm. That lens sort of got me started due to very wide angle shots, with the only problem that pictures were warped near the edge of the field of view. The quality is very very good and I loved the pictures that came out of Istanbul.

So, I next tried another technique : the multiple panning shot technique using my normal zoom lens - and used software to digitally blend and merge the pictures into one continuous panorama. My poison of choice is Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0; it's a cool piece of software, but you do need a serious kit to run it fast (mine takes forever to complete tasks on a 3 yo Tosh). While preparing for this post, I also found this website that have these amazing immersive VR panoramas. I'll probably try doing that when I invest in a proper tripod and rotating head... I hope I can find a printer in Malaysia to print some of these; I'd love to mount them on my walls one day!

4Es in the UK

2008-07-11T02:00:00.001+03:00

The explorers at Trafalgar Square

Alhamdullillah, after being 11 years away, and after a year of planning, researching, saving and swearing, we finally made it to the UK, specifically London and some spots in the south and west of England. Our rendezvous was on Monday 23rd June, in London where Baba, Mama and Fyan came in via Dubai, while the 4Es traveled from Khartoum via Doha. Our trip lasted about 10 days and I'm glad that everything went to plan (except some last minute changes).

I know Ckn will be doing a day by day breakdown (like with previous 4Es outings), hence I'll just do a simple post to list down the experiences and things that we enjoyed (and a few that we didn't!)

Meeting a Beefeater who served in Malaya, at the Tower of London

What we enjoyed on our trip...

Buying an off-peak travel card and taking the London Tube
Crossing over to the Eastern hemisphere at the Greenwich meridian line
Finding (and buying) seven Ben 10 action figures - at Woolworth's and Argos
Experiencing Stonehenge
Revisiting 10 Upton Close, Henley-on-Thames, where I lived 27 years ago
Doner kebabs (got to love those unhealthy meat products!)
Strolling through Hyde Park
Enjoying a street performer's breathtaking show at Covent Garden
Taking pictures - with a total of 4 photographers and thousands of snaps
Meeting Penn Steynor - my mother's English friend since the 60s
Learning the history and tales of wharfs and canals on the River Thames
Getting a sun tan - in England
Shopping
Finding the Ckn Pfordtens' family coat of arms
Catching a west end show - the Lion King
Having an interesting conversation with a London cabbie - on Malaya, the Empire, and God
Picnicing on the grounds near Templeman Library, at the University of Kent
Witnessing Ehsan giving his mom a buttercup flower
The weather; it was perfect throughout the trip despite the forecasts
Testing the hot springs at the Roman Baths
Being treated courteously, wherever we went

Ezal & Ckn posing at the Tower Bridge ...auuw!

What we did not like...

6 hr transit times at Doha Airport, each way (thankfully, we all slept have way thru it on the way back)
Early shop closing times
Getting tired from all the walking
The Security, The crowds in Heathrow Airport
Changes at the immigration hall in Khartoum upon our return - really tested our patience and nearly spoilt the whole holiday

Thanks go out to

My family for being such sporting travel buddies and were so helpful with us and the kids
My friends Shahrin Imran, Raja Zurina, and Azam Abdullah(who all live in the UK) and Salina (who still thinks of the UK), who all helped fill in the blanks
and last but certainly not the least, My Ckn - the inspiration, the support and for being such a good packer!!

4Es at Stonehenge - it was my first visit too

Henley-on-Thames - the annual Henley regatta would have started a day after we left for home...

Though it was hard for us all to say goodbye to London, I felt happy knowing that I've finally fulfilled my plans to bring my wife and children to show them the country where I spent 10 years of my life. Who knows; maybe next time, I need not wait another decade to return?

Firefox 3 downloaded!

2008-06-19T14:39:00.003+03:00

Hopefully it was worth it... I've been using Firefox as my main internet explorer (pun intended) for the longest time - just because. We'll have to wait a week for the record to be ratified by Guinness World Records (it's reported that there were 8 million downloads during that 24hrs period)

Of Tahmiah and Samak

2008-06-19T12:50:00.004+03:00

View of the Burj Fateh from the Friendship Hall

Well it's the 2nd last working day before the 4Es embark on our holiday! Why 2nd last? Because I'll still be coming on Sunday morning for half a day of work.

Today Ckn tak larat nak masak lunch, pity her, since she has a few more of her MBA assignments to submit. At 12pm I went out to look for a driver to take me to any of the restaurants in Riyahd area.. Unfortunately, and this is nearly everyday, all the drivers have dissapeared. The office is running on a skeleton crew, and all the drivers have dissapeared...

So I thought - should I go starving waiting for the phantom drivers or should I find an alternative? I decided on the latter. I upped and walked about 10 mins to the Friendship Hall, which is west of the office, to have some 'Kusairi' (A cheap Egyptian dish, which is a bowl of various pasta shapes, topped with a nice sour onion sauce + shata) at the roadside restaurant.

It wasn't too hot; in fact it was nice and windy. The only thing is, no one was selling Kusairi today...Crap-usairi! I don't dig Sudanese Fuul, so I opted for the Tahmiah sandwich instead. Tahmiah is exactly like vade from back home - they stuff it in a bun (aish) with chili paste (shata), and sesame seed sauce (tahmiah), and it costs 1 pound (cheap, in any language!). I washed it all down with Pasgianos - it's only available in Sudan, but it tastes exactly like the cough syrup you can get in clinics back home; you know the kind in plastic bottles that them addicts like soo much...errr...

Today's lunch - scrumptious!

It was a pleasant lunch, and after finishing 20 mins later, I walked back. Only this time, it was a little hotter. I stopped to take some pics of the friendship hall, but all I got on me was my crappy Palm Treo cam, so I couldn't post nice pics - maybe next time!

3rd 4Es' 3rd Birthday

2008-06-07T00:59:00.004+03:00

Ehsan was born on June 3rd 2005 - it wasn't easy as he put Ckn through hours of labor, only to stop at 7cm dilation, forcing a c-section delivery. Alhamdullilah, all went as planned (except a slight infection on Ckn's stitches). And now, Ehsan is 3 years old!

Our own speed racer - this is the 3rd time blowing out the candles

When we were discussing Erica's besday party last January, we also looked ahead to Ehsan's as well. I had a trip back in February, so I was tasked to look for stuff for their parties. However, the one big dampener for Ehsan's besday was that it was in June; which is the height of summer and when our colleagues (and their children) were mostly away. So, it wasn't possible to organise another big do for Ehsan, like we did for Erica. Since we are planning to go away ourselves (2 weeks and counting!), we decided to have our own little party for Ehsan instead.

Ehsan really liked that cake...or was it the singing and blowing out the candles bit?

Ckn baked a chocolate cake for Ehsan. We couldn't find cooking chocolate for the topping, so Ckn bought some Cadbury bars instead (The side effect was that I enjoyed the cake immensely!). We propped the candles on 3 cute sports cars, and we had a fun time blowing out the candles the moment I came back from work.

My mom joined us on the phone as we were singing Happy Birthday to Ehsan. He behaved well and waited till we finished singing before huffing and puffing!

Ckn prepared a dinner of grilled lamb chops and I promised to help with the roasted potatoes. I even managed to make a sauce from the drippings (but it was crap!). I just digged the cake and I think that spoiled dinner a bit for me! We hope to have another mini party with Mama, Baba and Fyan in the next 2 weeks, and I'm sure Ehsan will enjoy his trip to the toy store then! I know I would... Happy Birthday, son!

Baking Therapy

2008-06-07T00:42:00.005+03:00

Ezal's frankfurter rolls

I told Ckn yesterday that I wanted to bake frankfurter rolls...and she gave me the usual 'we'll see...' look. Can't blame her coz I've always shared my intention of cooking this or that, but never got around it! so to surprise her, I really did my best this time.

I woke up early (well 8.30 on a Friday is early) and set about my task. I got the recipe while browsing to a website called Visual Recipes. We can't get these rolls in Sudan, and I really missed having them. I was determined to do this all by myself - and to my surprise, I did. When Ckn later joined me, she did point out that my yeast was expired and that the risk of that was that the dough would not rise...fortunately it did! I managed to yield 14 pieces (only had 7 franks in the fridge). Even Ehsan got in the act and helped roll out the dough - well, at least in his own special way!

Well, I finished the last roll at dinner; we had plenty of samplers today - Ckn, Devin (my colleague who was over to discuss her wedding montage), Nazri and Mahadir (our neighbours who joined us for lunch). They were polite enough to say that the rolls were good.

hehe and I agreed!

Sea Monstar!

2008-06-04T13:03:00.001+03:00

Look Mama - No Baba!

Ehsan's 3 years old yesterday - but more on that later.... Anyway, just to register that Ehsan is now a good swimmer; I can just leave him in the big pool now, and he'll merrily swim left and right, and float backwards to expose his feet. Not a great swimmer just yet (my definition of great is no Floaties and he can canon ball into the pool) but he is definitely getting there. We try to go for a dip every Friday evening or Saturday morning, and the weather currently is just nice for it - but we wouldn't last more than an hour in the hot sun. Pity Ckn who is the standby 'lifeguard'; she has to survive the heat blast!

The other good news is that Erica is also an avid swimmer - she can't do a lot, but she enjoys the water and splashes around, much to Ehsan's delight. We also have video proof of the elusive Ehsan and Ezalman swimming duo, courtesy of Ckn and her Pana:

Al Karaoke fi Khartoum

2008-06-04T01:00:00.001+03:00

What have the Alleycats, Lionel Richie, Anuar Zain, and the incomparable Sudirman all have in common? They are all here in Khartoum!! Not physically, mind (that would be silly), but their songs are karaoke-d here.

Thanks to our friends who have a well equipped karaoke system in their appartment, we've been able to let some pressure off by singing. We'd always go just the two of us (and sometimes some of our friends tag along!), and our sessions will be on a Friday afternoon (single staff frequent the place at night). We have a whale of a time! But we really owe them as we are sort of intruding; but they insist on us crashing their place and even carry a tune or two themselves.

Ckn's permanent playlist includes : Amy Search's 'Tiada Lagi', the whole Alleycats catalogue, and some Rahim Maarof's 'Cinta Kristal'. Ezal's playlist covers : Zainal Abidin, Alleycats as well and Lionel Richie - no Elton John 'Sacrifice' here, unfortunately!. We're quite 'competitive' when it comes to hogging the mic but we recently discovered some nice duets that helps reduce the hogging!

Good to have a choice of activities here in Khartoum then eh?

Ezal striking a pose near the massage chair, while Ckn is picking her next song. Our host, Azizan is so impressed with my singing that he had to sit down...

Operation Ipod Battery

2008-06-02T07:30:00.002+03:00

* updated : industrial design wiki

I have 2 iPods - the first, I bought back in 2004 (I think...dah tak ingat), and it was an end-of-line model; officially it's the 3rd Generation Ipod with a whopping 20gb capacity. At the time I didn't even look at the iPod due to the cost, but when I saw it at the computer fair in PWTC, I was tempted and so bought one. And I've never regretted it once!

I bought my 2nd iPod in 2006 - a 5th Generation iPod, with a 30gb capacity. I transferred all our songs (about 3,000 or so) into the new iPod, and it has since accompanied me everywhere I go (it's in my office bag)

The main reason I upgraded was that my second iPod can play videos and show pics; essential as I wanted to back up my pictures into a digital wallet. Further, my first iPod had a chronic battery problem - it would die after 20-30 minutes (which was expected, as a lot of the 3rd Generation iPod's complained of the same thing), but functionally it was still good. I had bought a Logitech mm50 micro speakers to house the iPods, and it was a great way for Ckn to use it at home as a cute music centre.

So to ensure that we can get the most out of our first iPod, I did a little project with Ckn - we changed it's batteries! It was no mean feat, and it involves ordering a new high capacity battery from Brando Hong Kong (my fave online shop!), 2 plastic flat-top screw thingys, a real _metal_ flat top screwdriver, fingernails and patience.

Why so many tools? well, if you've seen an iPod then you'll know that it has a nice flush appearance; there's no visible screws holding everything in place and everything's hidden. Therefore, some prying was needed. Took us some effort too, as the instructions were not very clear, and the plastic tools were nearly useless! But with a little preserverence and the metal screwdriver (with a little TLC) plus Ckn's ideas, we finally managed to open up the iPod casing...

Here you can see the ipod's innards in all its glory. The blue rubber on the left is the shock absorber for the tiny hard drive. You can also see both the new and old batteries. Even naked like this, I'm just amazed at the wonders of industrial design! Following the instructions, I then proceeded to replace the battery and promptly closed the case and rebooted the iPod (and held my breath) - it worked! hooray!!

One slight hiccup though at this stage. Despite my careful planning, I had inadvertently re-inserted the old battery into the iPod; I guess excitement took over ...and I felt like a right idiot! oh well, had to call Ckn again (can't blame that she was annoyed!) and we repeated the process again, only now making doubly sure which battery to insert!! Hooray (genuine one this time!)

KMA - not so obvious slang...

2008-06-01T13:45:00.000+03:00

I found this interesting link - about doctors' private slang used at the hospital - makes for fun reading! I had no idea my trusted doctor would be using these kind of abbreviations on their report - but then again, I'm not privy to their charts during my stay in the hospital!

Now if my cousin Azlie and his wife Nazlin can confirm if a similar lexicon is shared by our Malaysian doctors in Malaysia... if not, then may I share some suggestions:

BK - "Buntut Kurap". Used by proctologists when inspecting one's derrier (sic..read : ass)
GAEWFO - "Gave Atomic enema - wait for outburst". I guess this can be used from GPs to dentists...

Washing instructions (for those Stubborn ones)

2008-05-31T08:31:00.004+03:00

Step 1
Collect stubborn ones. The timing is entirely up to you, but it is suggested that the following times are most ideal:

After they have been playing non-stop for 2 hours
After they have 'going to the toilet', but not at the toilet
After your domicile acquires a 'comforting' smell and you can deduce that such smells come from the stubborn ones

Be careful; they may be strewn about in the house, or in corners where you would least likely to find them. Also, they may bite.

Step 2
For more stubborn ones, you must firstly give them a good soak. To do so, place a stubborn one into a pail half filled with water (for optimal results, please use warm water. cold water may cause shriveling). Clothing is optional.

Then, proceed to squeeze some soap into the pail and stubborn ones. Not too much as they have a side effect - they make the stubborn ones smell nice. See Illus. 1

Illus. 1 . The stubborn one must be carefully placed, in order to avoid yourself being splashed when soaking them. Please note the aforementioned biting (teeth)

Step 3
You may then proceed with the hand washing. Start at the top and work yourself downwards to the bottom. Otherwise, just start anywhere convenient to you as the stubborn ones are not known to stay dormant during this critical phase. You may find yourself occasionally losing the stubborn ones, as they have a habit of sliding everywhere and hiding. Please refer to step 1 on how to re-locate them in such circumstances.

Step 4
If you are satisfied with the hand wash results, you can then rinse the stubborn ones. Be sure to check all areas for leftover soap or suds. Also, it is best to make sure that there is no more 'leaking' from the stubborn ones, lest you find yourself feeling warm from said leaking when you carry them back from the washing.

Step 5
If you are NOT satisfied with the hand wash, you may then proceed to bring the stubborn ones into your top-loading washing machine. Top loaders are better, compared to front loaders, as they are easy to operate and the stubborn ones can be easily fit in it with the minimum of fuss. Washing instructions are the same as before, except for Step 3 as all the washing up is done by machine.

Just be sure to set the machine to 'super wash', 'hyper rinse' and 'spin to dry' functions to complete the wash. See Illus. 2

Illus. 2. This illustration shows the stubborn ones in the top-loader. Please ensure that the cover is completely closed, or risk losing the stubborn one. Again, please note the biting teeth.

Step 6
Repeat. Please note : YOUR RESULTS WILL VARY

The Attack

2008-05-27T01:51:00.008+03:00

I think by now everyone has heard of the JEM attack on Khartoum, which is unheard of - I don't think since the Mahdi times (when he fought the British in the 19th Century) has Khartoum itself been under siege by armed groups. but then again, I've just been here 2 years and Sudan has been through numerous coups in its 52 year history! Anyway, it's been 2 weeks since the rebels descended onto Ombdurman, which is the old capital city of Sudan, and is located just under 20km from our home in Khartoum Two.

Friday, 9th May
We heard of it at first as a possible threat, and we were advised to stay indoors - which we did - I was supposed to bring Ehsan swimming that evening.

Saturday, 10th May - evening
When nothing happend, we assumed that it was just rumors flying about. Until the next day that is, when Ckn received a call around 6pm, from a friend who is working in Ombdurman (the person was specifically in a place called Souq Libya - a market next to where we have our kharouf breakfasts). She told us that she could hear gunshots and a huge commotion from the streets. The fighting had begun.

The first thing going thru my mind was the safety of my family; I knew it was safer to stay put, and not appear on the streets. Ckn took it on herself to start communicating by any means necessary with all our friends in the city (ym? facebook? u name it, she had it! both my cousin Azlie and brother Fyan helped manned the Malaysia end!) while I tried to contact our security manager. The phone lines were undependable due to the congestion. I received a call from Mama from Malaysia the moment the news broke on CNN. Although we have never been thru this kind of experience before, I think we all kept our heads as everyone in our block was kept informed of what was happening in Ombdurman.

I kept going to the rooftop to check the conditions on the roads (which looked pretty normal to me - people were milling about, but traffic was light. A curfew was being imposed). But I felt something in my gut (and gasped!) when I looked to the west; we can make out the smoke trails in the distance, and see flashes from the fighting - and once in a while, we can hear loud noises, booms and even felt vibrations in our appartment.

Saturday, 10th May - night
Major fighting ended at dusk. In all, heavy fighting lasted for about 3 hours that Saturday, although reports said it started much earlier than that. Khartoum was eerily quiet that night. Most buildings were lit, including the Fateh tower which can be act as a beacon for anyone looking for the Presidential Palace (which was the prime objective of the rebels). The main road in front of our block was blacked out, but a strategic bridge leading to Khartoum North was lit.

Ckn wouldn't leave her makeshift communications center (read:laptop in the bedroom!), so I made us a simple instant noodle dinner, which she readily devoured despite earlier protests. The kids were their usual selves, but even they noticed our anxiety and kept out of our way (most of the time!). I wasn't concerned about food or drinking water lasting a few days, as we just went shopping on Friday, but I did fill the kids wading pool and charged all 3 emergency lamps, just in case (Others weren't so lucky. My big boss was due to leave on the ill-fated day, but had to turn back as the airport was closed - and as he was not expecting to stay in Khartoum, he didn't keep extra cash or had fresh food for 2 days...)

Throughout the day, Sudan TV was only broadcasting folk songs and documentaries, until around 9pm when the first news report on the 'failed' attack was broadcast. We couldn't understand the news, but the pictures spoke for themselves - burning 4WDs on the roads, captured vehicles and heavy weapons being driven around by security personnel and militias, prisoners, and of course, bloodied corpses. I stayed up late to watch all the news channels to get any scrap of information possible.

Sunday, 11th May
Although the rebels didn't cross the bridge from Ombdurman into Khartoum, they did however, managed to disappear in the vast surburbs of Ombdurman. So the curfew was extended a few times, and we all just 'worked from home' that Sunday (hehe if you can call it that). The situation was calm, but we _think_ we heard some shooting in the distance.

Monday, 12th May - midday
On Monday we were told that the situation was under control and that we were allowed back to the office. Traffic was nearly normal, although Ombdurman was still closed off. There was a sense of normalcy at the office, and everyone was excited to share their experience of the attack.

But any illusions of safety were crushed when we started hearing about 'clashes' at midday - and in Khartoum no less! So we just put everything down, and scrambled for our block drivers to come and pick us up! hehe - got an earful from Ckn for that episode! (We learned later that there were clashes with students and not rebels, and that the city was secure). To be sure, we only went back to work on Tuesday, 13th May, and even that was at midday. Alhamdullillah, nothing untoward happend!

So that was how we spent a 'nice' weekend cooped up while the city was under siege. We have friends who have even revisited the kharuf market recently and reported things are back to normal. We didn't realise how many friends and families prayed for our safety. Life here may have returned back to normal, but it doesn't feel normal - not anymore. We are comforatble going out, but seeing the extra 'uniforms' on every corner does raise our anxiety occasionally. The rebels may have lost terribly, but they did win in some ways too.

Epilogue
Back in the office on Monday and Tuesday, we all came together to try and figure out how the rebels managed to attack Khartoum. I've enclosed our observations here for my benefit (there is nothing secret here; everything was as reported in the press, but the maps are mine). Click on the picture below for a bigger size :

p/s Our home in Khartoum Two is right next to the airport...

Coldplay : Viva la Vida!

2008-05-26T16:43:00.002+03:00

Can't wait for this album - which is Coldplay's 4th. Between me and my brother Fyan, we have all their previous records (and I think we have at least 2 of their debut effort, Parachutes!). I've listened to their first 2 singles - Violet Hill and Viva La Vida.

So what do I think? For me, it's like their previous efforts - I need multiple listens to firm up an opinion...so far, I still think I still prefer X&Y, A Rush of Blood to the Head and lastly Parachutes ahead of this one...we'll see... and Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends!

Mirai - A New Day (and the cool shows Ehsan Watches)

2008-05-26T02:37:00.009+03:00

I think a lot of my loyal readers (Thanks Sayang, and myself...I'm sure there are a few more!) are getting tired with my tinkering with the my template. Well I've found the perfect one! It's highly customisable, and links nicely with Blogger so it makes my job of editing (or changing the elements within the template easier!). Thanks to ourblogtemplates.com! (link's at the bottom)

Now to a more serious topic. They say that our children become their parents, but in some aspects, there are loopholes that cause the parent to become their children. Case in point ; TV shows for the young...

When Ehsan was with Ckn in Malaysia last year, he enjoyed the Astro Ria channel, in particular 2 shows : Tom Tom Bak (Whatever that is) and ... Ultraman Ace (I think...). Of course, we don't get that channel on Showtime, so Ehsan can't get his daily fix on these two shows. I did the next best thing - and it involves the internet, and a software protocol made by the kind people at bittorrent (and utorrent). But where were we to get a regular supply of the 'good stuff'? Well, I managed to find a nice website called Fushigi-Chan Fansubs.

Ultraman Mebius (Brave) - upon combining his powers with Ultraman Hikari's Knight Brace in episode 18 where th... **groan** don't ask...

This cool website, based in Japan, provides 1) english subtitles to the most recent kid friendly Ultraman Mebius (Japanisation of the Mobius strip?) show, 2) torrent links to the TV show...28 episodes and counting (including one movie. The show has 50 episodes). Well, at first I downloaded just the odd 1 or 2 episodes, to keep the little tyke quiet, mind, but over time he got bored watching the same old monster getting the crap beaten out of him, so I was 'forced' to procure more...so much so, that said father (i.e. me) started to enjoy the show... The stories are actually really good, and the translators did a great job in capturing the humor. Nowadays, I can't wait for new episodes to be released by the Fushigi-Chan team, while Ehsan has moved on.(Yes, I have all 28 episodes and the movie in my Media Center). Mirai is the hero's name, and it does mean A New Day according to the subs...

'WAITTOORR'

Moving on to the second show that tickle's Ehsan (and my) fancy is a little known cartoon called Spongebob Squarepants. Now, I've heard of this cartoon for years; my friend Arman keeps praising it. But it's not until Ehsan caught it on Nikelodeon that I also started watching it. Let's just say that I enjoy - REALLY enjoy - their brand of 'comedy'. Which is absurd and hilarious, but cute in a way. We (father and son) don't bother with the regular TV episodes..we just watch the excellent Spongebob Movie. The best bits for me were 1) when Spongbob and Patrick get smashed on the Goofy Goober sundae and shouts 'WAITTOORR' 2) The Hasselhoff - like I said...hilarious.

Going Hero... Ooohh Maan!

Finally, we come to the creme-de-la-creme...of Ben 10... Oh Cartoon Network, you really hit me here! Ben 10 is a cool cartoon where the young hero, Ben Tenesson (or something) finds an alien watch called the Omnitrix (don't worry - Ehsan has his own. thanks to Ebay Malaysia) which allows Ben to convert to various Aliens like DiamondHead, Speedfreak, Grey Matter, Heat Blast, Four Arms (God Stop me!!) - and he saves the day. (p.s. check out the website - it's got tons of cool games!)

And the best part of all this? Erica's started to have the same interests too!! so I'll enjoy watching all the past episodes of Ultraman Mebius and Ben 10 all over again...

My first words (or I just scrambled my dad's blog)

2008-05-24T15:16:00.003+03:00

in February we took advantage XRFXRX vc
kjk./okllke4se4
post bvszbv b vsvn b bver4effffffffffahbhbh805rer498ugygv4 .;?L,.;4e,4.4eeayt hepo;k

This, by the way, is Erica Reeda's first ever blog post. My comment is that it's still a work in progress; needs a bit of polishing too.. Overall 3 over 5 for content. I'm so proud of my 1 y.o. daughter..

Baba - look ... Star Star!!

2008-05-24T13:44:00.005+03:00

Found this Japanese website that turns your pics into really cool turn-of 19th century pics!

The morning started normally. I left the room when Ehsan pointed excitedly to the back of my Nike T-Shirt, and shouted ' Star Star!!' . I knew my T-Shirt had a shoe print motif on the back and as I was still half asleep, I just shrugged and smiled at him and said 'yes, baju baba ada Star!!'. Ehsan gave me an 'okaayyy' look and moved on.

I prepared banana pancakes for breakfast, and then sat down with Ckn to tuck in. Meanwhile, our lil pear saw us sitting down, and ambled towards us. Erica is now in the habit of playing peek-a-boo behind my chair when I'm at the dining table, but this time it was a little different.

She snuck round me and proceeded to pick off something from my T-shirt - lo and behold, it was Ehsan's 'Star' - in fact, it was a honey Star cereal piece stuck to my T-Shirt. Erica, being the darling that she is, non-chalantly picked up the Star and proceeded to munch on it, much to our disgust! ... well we didn't stop her anyway...!

Ahh, what a story to jump start my blogging episode once more!!

Our Pear turns One!

2008-04-05T21:40:00.003+03:00

We celebrated Erica's 1st birthday last weekend on the 29th of March - for me and Ckn it was our very first kid's birthday party, that I can proudly say we planned and executed! by ourselves (well, Erica helped by turning 1, and Ehsan helped blow out Erica's candles...). We never had the chance to celebrate as a family as Ehsan was away in Malaysia on both his birthdays. InsyaAllah, we'll have one for Ehsan when he turns 3 in June!

Anyway, I created this video and put it into a VCD and gave it to the parents. We also had goody bags for the kids; I know Ckn is working on some updates on her blog so keep an eye out for her next posting on Erica's birthday bash!

A Message of Hope (Or Perutusan Pengharapan in B.Indonesia)

2008-03-27T12:27:00.003+03:00

There are many things in a man's life that are cherish; for example, I fondly remember my kain busuk (mama's baju satin from the 70s - which was cut into 2 - double the fun!), or the times I get sick when I go on theme park rides, and of course, when I lost my virginity...to CD players (1993, a Philips boom box bought from Argos in the UK!) ...

So it has passed that someone dear to me, my brother, is close to experiencing what will be a cherished moment in his life; entering a new chapter of sharing his life with someone else.

Tomorrow, InsyaAllah, Firhan shall be leaving for Indonesia with Karee, Rafek, Baba and Mama to meet some very important people (hehe, namely the parents of a certain young lady pictured here) to ask their permission for my dear brother to wed their daughter.

To be honest, both my wife and I still can't believe that this time is here! I've just finished the 'obituary' for my sis, and now my brother is also getting on the act? Well, people say that we shouldn't delay good things, right? Although this is just the first step towards their wedding and marriage, it is an important one, nevertheless - as it sets in motion the 'tidal wave'!

In my opinion, Firhan and Zariah really make a nice couple. I've had a lot of opportunities to see them together and with the family, and I can feel the love and respect that they have for each other, and for us all. Firhan has always been helpful to my parents, siblings and family (hehe anak bongsu, so easy to make the scapegoat for me and Karee!) and Zariah has been a good friend to my wife and kids.

So, on this, the start of more cherished memories, I do hope that both of you will enjoy starting to build your futures together, and that apart from love, you must also have patience and perseverence. Your journey together will be filled with joy (and the occasional bump; now that's where the fun really is!). Remember that from this point on, we shall be responsible for our lives and for all the decisions (big or tiny!) that we make.

Now for my hope for you is very administrative; save all your money! I've made that mistake of not saving enough in the past (I guess Karee is so much better at this than me). Yes, I know how tempting gadgets are; takpe, get Zariah to include one or two in the hantaran ok?

Finally, it is now my duty to pass a piece of wisdom that I received from both Mama and Mummy. When in doubt or the situation looks grim, please turn to our parents for guidance and advice. They are truly knowledgeable and caring, and will dispense wisdom to help us. You also have your Abalone and Kak Ngah to turn to (just make sure of the time difference when calling me ok? I won't answer if you call at 3am sudan time...)

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

2008-03-26T14:27:00.006+03:00

ave, Caesar, morituri te salutamus!

It's been a busy March. End of financial year. Performance appraisal; you know the drill! But we managed to squeeze in a short getaway to Jordan over Maulidur Rasul.

We spent 4 days in this breathtaking country, and was truly an eye opening experience for the 4Es. I can't wait to put up stories about our travels (but I just know my spouse will try to make me finish my posts for our trip to Istanbul first!)

For now, I've tried to select the best pictures of the country and the sights that we experienced, as well as selected family potraits on my facebook (please click on either of the albums above!). I learned so much from this trip and I hope I get to keep some of the knowledge here.

More than words can say...

2008-03-06T00:01:00.003+03:00

To my dear sweetheart | may you continually be blessed with bountiful rezeki, love, and happiness, on this, your 30th birthday | may we always have each other and our loving family | from your partner, lover, and friend | truly, madly and deeply - yours I remain | Ezalman xox

Obit : Cik Farah Kareena (19 Feb 1979 - 22 Dec 2007)

2008-03-03T16:45:00.002+03:00

This is an Obit(uary) for my Sis being a single girl, anak dara, and my little sister. This is a statement for all the times that we never shared then; when I was away at boarding school and overseas. For all the advise that I never shared or bothered to tell you.

This is a farewell to all the fights and raised voices we shared over the years. Of all the unfair requests and orders that, as your Abalong, was issued in spite. For all the anguish that I may have caused; is there a time limit for forgiveness to be given?

This is my hope; that you will find 'eppiness' (a play on your very words) with your chosen partner. That you will, together, go thru thick and thin, and thru sickness and health. May Allah bless all of us, insyaAllah...

Note : I planned to post this in December, just after Kareena tied the knot. But after reading her latest post, I felt obliged to post this in response to her recent loss. Our sincere condolences and doa to you, sis...

StudioLine Photography

2008-02-03T15:42:00.000+03:00

Just a quick note - after much pestering(!) from me and Ckn (but I don't think it was just us...), our wedding photog, Zainul Firdaus and wife, Ema, finally 'opened shop' on the Internet.. woohoo!

He did a good job for our wedding, and as a gift for my sis Farah, I also commissioned him to cover her wedding last year.

(no, Zainul didn't take this pic - I did!)

Erica is 10!

2008-01-24T12:21:00.000+03:00

...10 months old that is! It's fitting that she has learned how to stand up and wiggle her booty to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Lil' Star, but still can't walk. So far we have 2 tiny teeth peeking out of her lower jaw, and she can kick... I know coz she takes turns every night climbing over me or her mama. On several occasions she even managed to crawl away from us! Her fingers are strong as well; they like to dig into my lips and pull them hard till tears appear in my eyes. Don't even start on the scratching!

I can see that Erica is so much alike and at the same time, so much different than her brother. We love the fact that she can eat - and eat a lot! She doesn't complain - but we expect that to change once she understands what Ehsan has been trying to teach her all this while! Thank God for Erica - I'm really looking forward to celebrate her birthday in March, insyaAllah. Hopefully it'll be the first birthday that we celebrate together in a long time (I've missed Ehsan's birthday these past 2 years...)

Au Revoir dear Friends

2008-01-23T00:07:00.000+03:00

We just came back from a lovely supper with our friends Razman and his wife Dila. So what's the occasion? Unfortunately our dear friends are going to leave Khartoum soon.

We first got to know them back when we first arrived on these shores. They were a lovely couple, and somehow we clicked. I guess we've had each of our families over for dinner/meals several times now, including a breakfast they invited me to when Ckn was in KL awaiting Erica's arrival.

We wish them all the best back in KL, and God willing, we'll meet up again for some 'teh kangkang' again! (OK the actual term should be 'teh cangkung' but my BM is BAD)

Blood Sucking Technician

2008-01-20T13:45:00.000+03:00

We have had quite a few experiences with the medical facilities here in Sudan; it's been a year since Ehsan was admitted to hospital (...in an unblogged part of our story!), and we've paid a few visits to Dr Amanda Tadross, our paed, who has a clinic next door to the US Embassy in Khartoum.

What everyone experiences (most, if not, all the time) is that if you are sick and walk into a medical establishment in the city, the very first thing they will subject you to is a blood test. They love to look for 'parasites'; namely for Malaria and other mosquito borne diseases, in addition to the regular bacterial and viral infections. A Tip : I do not like me or members of my family to be pricked, so we do our best _not_ to get tested!

Well, the technician at Dr Amanda's clinic still uses his tried and tested (!) method of blood extraction. He uses a special glass and plastic tool (straw?) to _suck_ the blood. No disposable syringes here, friends - just a prick on a finger, a squeeze and controlled sucking (child crying optional). You can see the tech-dude with the apparatus in his mouth, in the pic above.

You can simulate this at home; use a straw to suck some juice then place your tongue over the straw opening (the juice will be suspended in the straw by the vacuum), then move the straw into another glass, move your tongue away, and let gravity take its course. Finally, celebrate how cool that would have been with OTHER PEOPLE'S BLOOD...

But don't fret as the hospitals I have been to uses disposable syringes - but then there's the problem of finding a vein - I'll leave that story for another day!

A decade with PETRONAS

2008-01-18T17:53:00.000+03:00

Well it's a month old, but last December 16th, I celebrated the end of 10 years working with Petronas. I couldn't believe it's been that long; why, I still look like I'm barely 20! But yes, a full decade has passed since my first day in the workforce. I haven't really thought of what I have accomplished so far - have I've been successful? has my contribution touched anyone along the way? how would the past decade influence the next one? What has time told me then?

I think I can start on what has NOT changed : I still love computer games (playing them, however, is another thing. Just can't find the time!). I still like to bedazzle everyone who cares to listen with irrelevant but interesting general knowledge (example : Black pudding is the same as Haggis!). I can still survive on bread and chili sauce (this is true since 1981, so no contest there...)

Being that this is a recap of a decade with my employer, I'd like to recall some of the memorable events that have happened, and how it has changed me:

1997 - It's reporting day, and we have a bunch of forms to fill in. One form that intrigued me was a 'next-of-kin' form; who would get whatever that is owed to me from Petronas, in the case of my untimely demise... I remember putting my dad's name (hehe made sense at the time).. until Mama found out and gave me hell!! so I divided my 'value' between the two ;-)

1997 - Ah yes the 'internal rotation policy'. When first touring Petronas, I agreed to join my first department on the strength of what they showed me; selling jet-fuel to airlines... but when i reported to duty, the head said 'Ezal, in here we believe in rotation... hence, you'll be doing the butt-worst shittiest job first... (my words!)'. So what was the job then? collecting hutang from government accounts...**groan

1998 - Part of History. I was involved in this project to produce fleet cards, and one of the pilot customers was the Ministry of Finance. I'm proud to have created the first 100 accounts, including one of a certain Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim... I remembered regaling this fact to my peers! However, 2 short months later, I got a letter asking for that particular account to be terminated... I've always wondered if it had anything to do with that person's 'sacking' from the government (Sept 1998 - go figure!). I still have that termination letter in my personal files somewhere.

1999 - Blank. You know, I honestly can't remember what happened throughout 1999. Must have been an interesting year then!

2002-3-4 - Being Pissed. Petronas decides to revise the employee grading system, and somehow I fell in a crack. Honestly speaking, this wasn't a good time in my career. I saw my juniors being promoted before me. I was fuming because colleagues who did not move or try anything new get promoted just because they were in a 'stable' job, while I was in projects (oooh If I would only name names!). You can say that from this point onwards, my faith in the system was shaken. Before this I considered myself a soldier who would take a bullet for Petronas. Well, I'm 'glad' to say that this is no longer the case. I try to rebuild my optimism (which I am usually), but I'm more cynical nowadays. I went to a lot of people sharing my pains, but I learnt that one can only depend on ones' self. This was the period that I noticed some changes; I became picky in choosing friends. I 'patted myself on the back' in public more often, I was more critical of my colleagues and bosses, I became arrogant (when needed). It was painful, and against my principles, but I just couldn't let this hurt me anymore.

2004-5 - Remembering Bosses. Since we spend so much time at work, it's only natural that some of our values gets influenced by our colleagues. I guess things started to improve when I had some tremendous support from 2 sets of bosses; the first set (both men) helped me rebuild my confidence and help me shine in my department, and the second set (both ladies, who replaced the earlier set of bosses) helped me shape my perspective...and ultimately, helped me to move from my 'comfort zone'. I don't think I would have done anything drastic, were it not for these 4 people. I remembered a conversation I had at the end of 2005; I told my boss that I'd like to move to Sudan, and that when I have gathered enough experience, I would someday return to my old department...and she said 'No Ezal, once you've seen the world you won't come back ever again'.. somehow those words are still with me; was it a warning? or was it something deeper?

2006-7 - Making the Leap. Sudan. The country of opportunity and challenges. At this stage of my career, I am happy, really. I put my money on the challenges I'm facing; to my totally new set of friends and colleagues, and to the environment. The biggest impact on my career now is the opportunities that I've had to meet Petronas' top management all the way up to the President; to get to hear from them of their aspirations (and BS!) and better yet, for me to tell them (respectfully) of what I felt of the organisation.

So here's a cup of hot chocolate for the next 10 years! I hope that I have 'umur panjang' to see it through; as a great employee, and personally, as a great husband and father.

I believe, time will tell all...

you are Tagged

2008-01-07T16:54:00.000+03:00

Wow - so much time has passed since my last post - so many things to tell, but so many things to do!! hehehe guess I'll just take 5 minutes to do this post before leaving for home today - 'Thanks' to my wife for tagging me...

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night?
Ckn

2. What were you doing at 0800?
Waiting for my driver to take me to work - it was quite pleasant as winter has come to Sudan

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Still going thru all the emails left untouched over the past 3 weeks holiday - then I chatted with Ckn and Alena

4. What happened to you in 2006?
The biggest thing is, of course, our move to Sudan... hehe and conceiving lil' pear. Next week will be our 2 year anniversary moving out here to this continent

5. What was the last thing you said out loud?
OK Thanks - to Hj Zul my colleague for helping me with something - his office is down the hall so I just shouted!

6. How many beverages did you have today?
Hmmm... 1 mug of Love Tea (fruit mix bought in Istanbul), 2 mugs of Nescafe gold blend, a bottle of Moya (hehe mineral water in loghatul arabiya)

7. What color is your hairbrush?
White - but I just use my hands currently

8. What was the last thing you paid for?
A 5 Gallon bottle of water and SDG 50 worth of top up credits for Ckn. If I can choose, I wished I had just paid for a nice big juicy Big Mac...!

9. Where were you last night?
At home! all of us slept at 7.30pm because of the jet lag!! Then all of us were up by 5am...groan

10. What color is your front door?
Dark brown.. Same as Ckn's answer (I wonder why??). Same as the door to my home in Kota Damansara and my parent's home in Sg Buloh

11. Where do you keep your change?
In a small copper cup near the door

12. What’s the weather like today?
Sunny, windy and really pleasant

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor?
i just love chocolate and vanilla and banana (I don't care I love them all!)

14. What excites you?
hmmm...I'm a guy, so I'd like to say - gadgets and gizmos!!

15. Do you want to cut your hair?
Sure, when it gets long! I experienced my first visit to a proper salon in the last 2 weeks - no mamak haircut for me then!

16. Are you over the age of 25?
unfortunately...NO !

17. Do you talk a lot?
I do - especially If it's on something I'm really passionate about... and it depends on the company ... mostly I talk very fast , and like my reading, I sometimes even skip words when I talk

18. Do you watch the O.C.?
Nope - but I downloaded its god-awful soundtrack song - ... CALIFFORNIAAA!!

19. Do you know anyone named Steven?
HAHAHA - This is partly why I wanted to do this tag - YES I know a Steven - he was the dude who cut my hair at the aforementioned salon! I also like to watch Steven Segal (kill me now)

20. Do you make up your own words?
Don't think so - but I like to piss Ckn off by saying supercalifragilisticaspialidocious!

21. Are you a jealous person?
Yes - but my wife doesn't think so... ;-)

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’
Arman and Alena (one of each sex)

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’.
Had to do a search on my Palm - Nope I don't have any

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list?
Sayang (code word for Ckn)

25. What does the last text message you received say?
"Hantar kat rumah aku..." from my friend who volunteered to carry something back to Sudan for Ckn

26. Do you chew on your straw?
Nope

27. Do you have curly hair?
Well... No - wavy yes

28. Where’s the next place you’re going to?
We're planning to visit the pyramid ruins of Meroe!! maybe over the long weekend in Sudan starting on Wednesday (still thinking of Malaysia though...)

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life?
I'm an optimist - I can't name anyone (in public)

30. What was the last thing you ate?
Lunch - nasi, sayur kobis and a fish curry/rendang kuah mix that dear Ckn sent - I finished it all!

31. Will you get married in the future?
Nope - I'll stay married!

32.What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks?
Hmm - the only time i could watch a movie was on the way back home on the flight - it was the Invasion with Nicole Kidman. Ok-ish. On the way back I watched Rescue Dawn, with Christian Bale. Ok-ish too. I also half-watched Mukhsin with Ckn - pretty lame, save for the last parts which were sad...

33. Is there anyone you like right now?
The kids - coz they make me laugh and mad at the same time. Ckn - for pretty much the same reasons too!!

34. When was the last time you did the dishes?
trick question!

35. Are you currently depressed?
Nope! Malaysia-holiday after-glow...

36. Did you cry today?
No - alhamdullillah, no need to do so

37. Why did you answer and post this?
Well it's kickstarting my blogging engine - and STEVEN!! heheh

38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey.
Firhan - Radzi - Arman - Alena - The boy who lives down the lane - and Azrul

p/s this took me 33 minutes to complete...

+ve Thoughts

2007-11-05T09:29:00.000+03:00

I got an email this morning from a colleague saying that he was moving to greener pastures. What's interesting (...and interesting means hilarious!) was a short note on 'positive thinking'. I just had to reproduce it here

Positive Thinking is like this :

A little bird in the sky,
You look up... and it shits in your eyes,
You don't mind, You don't cry,
You just thank God... that cows don't fly -author unknown

The Adventures of Sharkboy and Dugongman

2007-11-05T01:27:00.000+03:00

I had to work last Saturday - it was a long day and I was really tired. On the way back, Ckn asked me if I could bring Ehsan out for a swim. We were supposed to go the day before, ~~but we had guests over for dinner,~~ but we were tied up with something, and Ehsan was sleeping in the afternoon anyway.

Reaching home, and after a 15 minute breather, we left for the pool (it would be another 15 minute drive back to where I just came, as the pool is in the hotel, next to the office). Just me and my son; mano-e-mano! I can tell he was really excited and well prepared - he brought along his backpack (with Spiderman and his handy-dandy notebook stowed away...) and he had his bright green slippers. I asked Ckn to pack his brand new Floaties too (best to test them!)

Arriving at the hotel, and before you can finish saying 'swimming pool' (34 times), Ehsan was out of his clothes and in his trunks, his arms waving about awkwardly through the inflated Floaties. It was already 5 and the sun had gone behind the building, so the pool was in a shade (not good : it was cooler). I was a bit apprehensive; this would be the first time we tested the Floaties, and he seemed a bit too excited.

The moment Ehsan hit the water, his instincts (and his muscles) reacted perfectly with the Floaties - he was bobbing up and down on his own! He was actually moving both arms and legs - and he was floating! And swimming forward. I felt so proud! Ehsan doesn't need his 'trainer floating vest' anymore! He did, however, got so excited and constantly talked to me (I presume to tell me he can swim!), that he sucked in water... his gag reflex worked, and I let him 'cough' a little, and tried to explain to him that we had to control our breathing!

So we spent half an hour bobbing from one (short) end of the pool to the other. He managed to find his balance and lifted his toes out of the water. All the while, if he felt scared or tired, he'd grab my arm and rest himself on my thighs; and he'd be off again as quickly as he came!

I wish I could have taken pictures or a video, but since it was just the two of us, it'll just have to wait. Being the over optimist, Ehsan was soon complaining about the Floaties, and wanted them off. So I obliged... Apparently, he was prepared to swim like baba! So I let him...he did his normal waving of the arms, and promptly sunk! He was gasping, but it was nothing a good hug and a pat on the back couldn't make better.

Good things always come to an end, and poor Ehsan was soon shivering. I quickly took him back to our chairs and wrapped a towel over him, with another over his head. Hugging him close, I rubbed his back and rocked him gently. Ehsan just stayed there; unmoving and quiet. I was concerned that he was feint and unresponsive, but after 5 minutes, he looked up and beamed me a smile! All's fine then! I already decided that we'd take our shower at home so that Ehsan wouldn't get cold again.

Before we left, Ehsan had his bottle on a nearby deck chair. I sat on one myself and looking up I felt tranquil and content; and not tired as before. I guess Ehsan helped 'wash' all that away with his newly found swimming prowess, and I'm glad we had some time alone with him.

Greeting Cards from the Past Part Deux

2007-11-02T23:25:00.000+03:00

Well we've just come back from the penultimate Hari Raya open house at one of our housing blocks (just One more major open house to go next week) - it was a blast, considering they bought 30kg of frozen sea critters (read : udang!) to the party.

Trust me, having udang in Khartoum is _a big thing_, as it's really a luxury item here! One kg of frozen udang from the Red Sea easily costs USD 20; that's about RM67 (thank God the USD is slipping...). And we're not talking about udang galah - this is the normal medium sized white udang... (I did say having udang is big right?)

Anyway I didn't have any udang - I had Erica strapped on me tonight, so I decided to keep my mitts - and Erica's hair - clear of sea critter keratins (skin). But they had nasi impit and kuah kacang, which is a favourite of mine (sour grapes la...). So the party wasn't have bad...except them udang!! Note to self - remind Hamidi and Nadzifah's husband to send in pics of Erica strapped to baba!

So what better way then to spend the rest of the evening posting on my blog. Ah yes, continuing with my online greeting card portfolio...

bla bla bla, October 2004. I mouse-drew this on my computer, free hand. It was a birthday card for my brother Firhan; I forget the gift... I do admit in not having skills at drawing. I think I can manipulate images (remember this?) and I'm a wizard at scanning (who isn't?), but I suck at creating hand (or mouse) drawn images from scratch. Which is a perfect lead in to...

Cat on window sill Hari Raya card, November 2004. This was our first properly done Hari Raya card (..I have a nagging feeling that this _wasn't_ the first I created but since I no longer have the earlier files, this will have to do). Hand drawn to boot! I had just bought a handy Wacom art tablet - which uses a Stylus (read : non-working pen thingy) and was dabbling in art! I thought the image was nicely created, if I say so myself. I did bring the tablet to Sudan; but have yet to find the _time_ to use it (frankly speaking - I haven't used it in, oh...3 years)

Jemputan Rumah Terbuka, November 2005. Back to normal designing then. This was a simple invitation card created for our first open house with our lil' tyke Ehsan. The picture was of a tea plantation in Cameron Highlands. Notice the lame posing by moi!

Happy Birthday Amir, January 2006. I created this card (and one more) to put on presents for our friend's kids' birthdays. This one reads Amir, who is our dear friends Ramzul and Diana's eldest son. We couldn't attend the birthday party because...we were leaving for Sudan! So, even in the hustle and bustle of our mobilisation, I managed one more card ...for the road!

EidMubarak, October 2006. This is one of my favourite designs, especially for the use of green and brown as the base colours. That's it really...except that I should have put a star near the crescent, but then jadi macam flag Pakistan pulak...

Kadeer's Card, October 2007. My colleague Kader was commenting on the design of a presentation I made, and asked if I could design a card for him to send to his friends. I took the photo of the Masjid Besides the Nile (sorry I haven't a clue of its name!) last July when I was on the Nile cruise.

Mohon Ampun dan Maaf, October 2007. And we come full circle...our latest Hari Raya greeting card, and one that had all 4Es in. Earlier, I posted a teaser card to celebrate the arrival of Ramadan. I thought that this cut & paste design was nicely complemented with a collage for our family pictures - taken recently since Erica 'returned' to Sudan.

There you have it; bits of ERH, represented on greeting cards .... and here's to more cards to come!

Day 1 : Arrival and First impressions...

2007-10-30T08:32:00.001+03:00

The Airport...same problems here - where's the front?? (ckn pana pic)

The Istanbul International Airport was, in my opinion, just like any other European airport, so it was easy for us to find our way around. Getting past immigration was easy, esp. since Malaysians do not need a visa to visit Turkey. I even managed to ask the officers if Turkey already celebrated 'Baygam Ramazan'!

We changed some money at the airport - went to the place with the highest rate. But I forgot a cardinal rule; some money changers charge a commission... oops... Too late for that, but we had some Turkish Lira to last our trip into town.

4Es posing at the arrival exit (Mohamed pana pic)

As promised our Hotel sent a driver, Mohamed, to meet us. Pity he didn't speak English too much. We got on the van and sped off towards our hotel in the Sultanahmet area. The journey took about 20 mins, but it was a holiday so traffic was light. We were treated with a nice ocean view all the way up to the old city walls, when we dived into the old roads behind the Blue Mosque and up to Divan Yolu road, where our hotel was.

The Star Holiday Hotel - the doorway is between those 2 restaurants in the background (Ezal pana pic)

Let's get this out of the way - the rooms were small. Smaller than my master bedroom. Smaller than my stomach. AND it was a crooked L-shape to boot. It was a family room with 3 beds (yay!), but the furniture didn't fit in the akwardly shaped room (boo!)...but then again this wouldn't be that kind of holiday where we would spend most of the day in the hotel, would it?

This room was crooked! but it was comfy and clean for the most part (Ckn pana pic)

We'd planned to rest once arriving at the hotel, which we did - but not for too long coz we were really excited in getting on with the program. The hotel location was exactly as our friend, Razman Hashim, suggested - it's minutes away from all the tourist sites in Sultanahmet, and it has a killer view of the Blue mosque (...from the breakfast terrace, that is).

That's our room (1st floor, the 2 bottom right windows). Yes, our room faced the back alley (Ezal canon pic)

We did get about 37 winks, and after getting the kids ready, we all ventured out to start our holiday proper! But first things first - LUNCH! We decided to just buy a packed lunch and find a place to picnic, especially considering it was already past 1pm and the day was nice and warm.

Our first stop for the day would be the Topkapi palace - not by choice really; we were supposed to have cleared the St Sophia Museum and Basilica Cistern, but the _long_ queues scuttled those plans. To add insult to injury, we experienced the one thing that would always test us with the kids...baby strollers on uneven brick roads!!

View of the Blue Mosque from one of the Cad (Alleys) next to the hotel. Notice the brick roads? (Ezal canon pic)

Resources:

Star Holiday Hotel. 3 Star(!) hotel, our main base of operations

60 Euros a night for a family room (considered cheap I think for the period and location). Comes with so-so breakfast (learnt a new trick - take natural or plain yogurt, and flavour it with ...honey! Nice)
Pros : Location was perfect! Restaurants were plentiful (but high prices - it is a tourist area!), but there was a small tuck shop nearby selling cheap water etc. Kitchen facilities (well, it was the hotel bar kitchen, and I used the facilities). Views to die for (at breakfast!). The staff were warm and helpful (Yassin and Altin Ditko)...shhh, a McDonald's was just an 8 minute walk away...
Cons : Little crooked room! No lifts, so we had to take a lot of stairs. Oh yes, our view was of the offices BEHIND the hotel...

Greeting Cards from the Past

2007-10-29T13:30:00.000+03:00

It's now a tradition for me to produce greeting cards for special events and holidays. I do try to be as original as possible, but usually i try to ape what's currently 'in'! While preparing for our greeting card for this year's Eid, Ckn suggested that I showcase our previous years' cards.

I'm not a trained graphics artist. My earliest experience with computer graphics was in Secondary school, when I was a member of the school's computer club (geek alert!). I made this lame program which drew an outline of Michael Jackson (imagine his Smooth criminal pose...) accompanied with his music (can't remember which), at which time the outline ...changed colours. Did I mention it looked lame??

The only regret I have is that nearly all of my work before 2003 was lost due to a hard disk crash...so please; make sure you back up, back up and back up again!

Thank You card, November 2003. This was complementing Ckn's idea to give away kuih raya to our closest friends and families. I felt that the packaging needed a card so I created this one - it was printed and attached with a ribbon.

Firdaus and Sy Hisham Wedding, January 2004. I made a simple card to attach to our wedding gift to my cousin Firdaus, when she got married.

May your love shine forever, February 2004. Continuing the flower theme, I created a simple generic design; If I recall, a few of Ckn's friends were getting married during that time so we could easily reuse the design .

Happy Birthday Mama, July 2004. For mama's birthday I wanted to create a simple design (hehe and something I can complete in 10 minutes since I forgot to do the design earlier!)

To be continued...

blogging the miniblog

2007-10-28T16:08:00.000+03:00

I've decided to separate my posts about Istanbul into a new miniblog so that I can continue rambling here, and taking time (read : procrastrinate...) on posting entries about our holiday to Istanbul. And since Ckn has started her updates on Istanbul, this miniblog will allow me to write on the more technical aspects of the holiday; who knows it may provide some hints for your trip to Turkey!

So I hope you can just click on the icon that says '4Es in Istanbul miniblog' on the top righthand column, and it should open up my posts on Istanbul. Hope you like it!

p/s - I've also been uploading more pictures into Flickr - so you should be able to see more pictures in the rotating Flickr badge on the sidebar, rather than the picture of me at Pizza hut or the Sudanese Toilet that I just patronised...

Day 1 : Predeparture at Khartoum, Flight on THY...

2007-10-28T08:34:00.000+03:00

Day break on Eid, somewhere north of Khartoum (ckn pana pic)

People who have traveled to Turkey in the past would usually take Royal Jordan airlines - their return flight included a one day stopover in Amman (so people would have gotten a 2-for-1 holiday). However, we decided to concentrate solely on Istanbul, and since it's best for us to minimise transit times, then I decided to get tickets on Turkish Airlines (THY).

The only problem with THY is that they do not operate daily flights to and fro. But it worked out for us since we would have one week for our holiday; going out on Friday 12th and returning on Thursday the 18th.

Our flight was scheduled at 5am on the morning of Eid (in both Krt and Istanbul), so we bundled the kids and our bags and left the appt by 3am. Our night driver, Sadiq was on standby, and he even called us up just to be sure. The airport was a hive of activity, considering it was early morning! But it was a routine check-in for us, Alhamdullilah.

Group pic of 3Es - the fourth E was busy... (ckn pana pic)

We met several of our friends at the airport that morning - the Egyptian Air was leaving an hour after us, and this year's choice destination was Cairo. Ehsan was excited at the airport and was continuously running up and down the waiting area to immigration. As always, I was deemed the master of 'travel-diaper-exchanger' (Ckn had the first round with Erica, but she went again, and Ehsan had a rare 'double'...euuuw)! We had to use the public loo, and at one point I had Ehsan standing up on the toilet bowl so that I can use the hand bidet to wash him. An unused filing cabinet was made the changing area. I guess I'm now an expert at this (it started with planes!) and I can handle the stares and smirks easily!

The THY flight was a connecting flight from Addis Ababa, and they were delayed by an hour - Ehsan used that time to clean half of the waiting lounge with wet-ones...

Trick Photography- they look to be the same size, don't they! Both kids had their PJs on because we just took them straight from the bed to the airport (ckn pana pic)

Anyway the flight did arrive and we boarded to a half filled plane and since this was a connecting flight, we found out that other passengers had been bunking on our empty chairs. People were still arguing to be seated as the plane rolled onto the runway! But by this time, the 4Es were tucked in nicely for the trip (I was hoping that all the activity would make the kids sleepy...how wrong I was!). Our flight was scheduled to take approximately 4 hours (which it did), but the time passed nicely and Ehsan was not that unruly, considering.

Our Eid feast - omelette's with turkey and cherry jam (ezal pana pic)

We touched down in the Istanbul Attartuk International Airport at 10am local time (which was the same as in Krt). So far so good!

Resources:
Turkish Airlines. National airlines from Turkey

Pros : Very good service (e.g. both baby strollers were delivered at the plane door), good food, plane was new and comfortable (definitely more room compared to Austrian Air)
Cons : Flight out of Khartoum was delayed, and disorganised. Seat assignments were only given at check-in (but priority were given to us)

Erica Crawling

2007-10-27T01:31:00.000+03:00

Yay, lil Erica can crawl...a bit. She just turned 7 months, and we've noticed that she's been really working on her leg squatting prowess. She can self propel forward well now! She really makes an effort in reaching objects beyond her reach (mama and baba's phones are her favourites!). She has been practicing on her hand-eye coordination for some time now, so when she reaches the foreign objects, the only natural thing to do is to put them in her mouth... yes, it is possible to spoil your handphone by 'water damage'!

Gadgets Galore in Istanbul

2007-10-26T10:24:00.000+03:00

Like any other trip that I've taken (including trips back home), I've always been in charge of the gadgets that we have to pack and bring - with the express intention of using said gadgets during the trip. It can go from the 'take-for-granted' (ie phone charges) to the bizarre (travel hotplate and bowl for cooking rice...hey, it was useful!)

Well after several holidays and taking into consideration that we are a young family, I knew pretty much what kind of equipment we needed to bring to 'document' our trip to Istanbul (ala Sir Richard Attenborough...)

Cutey, Chubby, Cheeky (Ckn pana pic)

Canon 350D Digital SLR - big macho camera used most of the time by moi of course, since July 2005!

I brought along only 2 of my lens, taking into account that I would only bring either one on our daily outings (it's cumbersome and too heavy for both). The first lens was a Sigma 10-20mm super ultra wide angle lens. I bought that recently in KL exclusively to be used during this trip (it's shown above attached to my DSLR), especially with the promise of beautiful vistas and landscapes of the city. I also used this lens for interiors, considering that some had really high ceilings (look at the background pic - this is a wide angle pic of the inside of the Blue Mosque)

The second lens was a Tamron 18-200mm zoom lens. I've had this for some time now, and it was recommended by a good friend, Arman, late last year. This is my workhorse lens; excellent for the walkabouts, interiors, and closeups of the kids.

Mean Boy at work - so I had to use the zoom lens and take this from far away...! (ezal canon pic)

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX01 - This is Ckn's camera, which had its first full field test in Istanbul. In our earlier travels, the main complaint that I would receive is that the monster Canon (hehe) would not come out as often as Ckn would have liked.

So she was adamant that we also invest in a pocket camera, to capture those opportunistic moments. I wouldn't have considered this camera had it not been for (a) its excellent capability in capturing 640 x 480 25fps MP4 movies, which were better than my vidcam (more on that later) and (b) it came in a nice matte Black finish (matches the monster; none of this grey/silver digicam crap, thanks very much!). Anyway, the camera performed very well (just look at the Dervish pic at the top and the one with Cheeky in this post). I don't have a pic of it being held due to its size and Ckn's preference to keep it in her jeans pocket.

Sony Handycam (Can't remember the model number!). Finally, for our video needs, we went back to our nearly-2 year old handycam. Sony really knows it's stuff; this little wonder was invaluable in capturing videos of the holiday. It's cheap to run as we use MiniDV tapes, and the size is a bonus. If you don't have a vidcam and you're looking for a cheap reliable one, then buy a Sony. I originally invested in this when preparing for our move to Sudan, and I've had no regrets.

Alas, we lost the function of the fold-out screen; it just died (witnesses say they saw Ehsan fleeing the incident...). We could still use the eye-piece, but it got harder to use. Hopefully we can repair it in KL later on. Nowadays, if we need to get some fast videos, we just use the Panasonic.

Gorillapod SLR. This is a special camera tripod that was a present from Ckn for my 32nd Birthday (she took the trouble to find out about this device from our wedding photographer, Zainul Firdaus, StudioLine Photography). Take a look at the link and see the monster-legs in action! the funny thing is that I only got to use it once in the St Sophia museum - before 2 policemen came to me and 'politely' reminded me - NO tripods! auuw shucks...but not before I took this pic :

Inside the St Sophia museum. Pity it was full of scaffolding used for the ceiling restoration (ezal canon pic)

Tamrac Velocity. All that gear was initially carried in the Tamrac camera bag that we brought - we used the bag for a few days, but because we decided to carry Erica exclusively in the baby carrier, we decided to use the Deuter as our main mule (...hmm I was carrying the Deuter...so that makes me the ...mule?)

Philips World Stewardess. Finally, we also brought along our iron. Trust me - it's essential! sure we may have gotten it at the hotel, but we couldn't be sure. And with Ckn's tudungs and my shirts, the stewardess proved invaluable for our trip to Istanbul.

Selamat Hari Raya!

2007-10-11T15:16:00.000+03:00

By this time, most of my friends and colleagues in Malaysia would be winding down for the final days of Ramadan, making preparations for Balik kampung and, most importantly, celebrating Eid with friends and families!

Salam Aidilfitri, Mohon Ampun dan Maaf dari kami semua - 4Es di Sudan!

[ Please click here for our greeting card, hosted by Ckn on her blog ]

InsyaAllah, we'll be celebrating Eid in Istanbul, hopefully on Saturday. We've got a busy week ahead of us but I am very excited nevertheless. We've planned a lot for the trip, and we pray that Allah will give us clear skies and strength. Amin!

Preparation : Istanbul - Travel Plans

2007-10-07T10:30:00.000+03:00

So far we've been progressing well on our preparations for our trip next week. We've just got back our passports, with a 1 year extension on our temporary residence permit and multiple entry/exit visas.

As I posted earlier, we've confirmed how we're going to move the kids around. On October 2nd we had a late night discussion to plan our itinerary; the exact hour-to-hour breakdown of our holiday! Ckn beat me to posting about this, so you can read it over at her blog

Field test in Progress : Using the Tamrac Camera sling-bag at Assaha Restaurant. I recently got this bag in KL to carry all our camera gear for the trip. I think Ckn will use the Tamrac, and I'll be taking my beat-up Deuter day bag to carry the kids stuff and misc.

The main things that drew the boundaries for our trip was of course the kids. Unlike our last holiday to Egypt with my parents, we'll be traveling alone this time. Also, we needn't worry about Erica's transport because she was 'attached' to the party (...she was resting peacefully in her mama's tummy. I don't think her mama was restive however...). This time around, we have to factor in the mobility and limits of the kids.

We came up with a plan that allows for at least half a day of sight seeing, with ample time to rest in the afternoon, followed by some light plans in the evenings. Taking into account the time we have in the city, we've divided our plans to cover several areas in Istanbul :

Sultanahmet - Old Istanbul; This is where all the main Ottoman and historical sites are. We'll be staying here as well so most of the places we want to see will be minutes away

Galata - North of Sultanahmet, across the Goldn Horn. This is 19th century Istanbul (or older?). There are embassies and Parisien style buildings here, with a museum and a palace

Bhosphorus Sea - The main ferry terminal of Eminonu is also north of our Hotel. We hope to catch a cruise to get a vista of Istanbul from the sea.

The Bazaars - There are 2 or 3 bazaars in the area, the biggest being the Grand Bazaar, followed by the Spice Bazaar. I know it'll be full of tourists and may not be the cheapest place to shop, but then this is a once in a lifetime visit!

We've also planned some must-do things in Istanbul, and hope to do all this in our down time after the sight seeing during the day:

Watch a swirling Dervish dance

Shop! I hope to find a Hereke kilim rug to hang in our home, some unique decorative plates, apple tea, a Fez hat for Ehsan, and costume jewelery for Ckn. From what i read, shopping in Istanbul should be a nice experience!

Experience a Hamam - a traditional Turkish Bath, with soap massages and a sauna

Dine - I guess Turkey is known for it's kebabs, but we hope to find a decent fish meal as well

The biggest challenge I feel is the timing. We'll be going before or on Eid and we expect the city to be 'different' because of the holidays; closed businesses, busy-than normal public transport and the crowds. The sites ought to be opened, but I'm emailing the hotel for assistance on some of our other plans. It would be lovely to see places outside of Istanbul, but I think we won't do justice to the city; so all our plans will focus on Istanbul (for now...)

Iftar at Assaha Restaurant

2007-10-06T15:00:00.000+03:00

I think Ramadan this year has been kind on me, Alhamdullillah. It's already past 3 weeks and insyaAllah we will be celebrating Eid next week flies. Yay!

As a huge thank you, I planned to treat Ckn to Iftar at a restaurant. It wasn't going to be the first time that we ate out for Iftar. Early in the Ramadan, I treated Ckn to Iftar at the As Salam Rotana Hotel. That was a good place to have dinner and it really helped build Ckn's spirits. So where could we go this time then?

Recently we've been hearing a lot about this new restaurant called Assaha; our friends claimed that their coffee easily beats Solitaire (a local establishment with an international menu), and a colleague was heaping praises on it after failing to get a booking due to it being full last week (obviously a good sign of patronage). Naturally, we'd thought that this would be a good idea to pay them a visit (pun intended).

Much to our surprise, we discovered that this new restaurant was just a 5 minute walk away; we could even see the roof from our unit. I went there directly after work last Thursday to make reservations and they managed to squeeze the 2 of us for that evening's dinner service. Ckn thought it was a good idea to bring Ehsan along as he had been cooped up in the house for far too long.

...yes, I'll go with the house red please! (Notice the Lebanese spread)

I suggested to Ckn that we ought to go earlier to give us the opportunity to take some snaps of the unique building architecture. So we set off about a half hour before Iftar. As usual lil' Erica had to be left behind (more on that later!). I tried to cajole Ehsan to walk with us, but he firmly said no, so Ckn had to carry him all the way - I wonder if it was related to the new shoes he had on?

We found out that the restaurant was actually part of a Hotel, which shares the same design and theme of a traditional/historical Lebanese building. I guess they mainly used shale rock to construct their homes (don't ask what they use for cement - it looked like 'mud' and it had straw in it...God please let it be just mud...!). The crowd came in fast, as a company had booked their corporate event for that evening.

...so Baba just follow my handwriting and surely you'll get that promotion, ok?

When we went into the dining hall, the concierge said 'sorry but we're full' - I had to point out that we made reservations earlier. He still said no...until I pointed out my name clearly written on the booking sheet!. He relented and we got a nice table in the nook of the main restaurant - He wasn't rude or anything so it was OK.

Unlike Rotana, the Iftar here was going to be served from a fixed set menu. It was traditional Lebanese fair, which I had to accept at face value since my knowledge of Lebanese/Arabic cuisine is limited to Fatoush and tabouleh salads.

We started with parsley potatoes, chick pea humus (lovely), yoghurts, fish and tomato salad, green salad of jirjir, cooked veg that looked like sawi (but tasted sandy!), fatoush, chicken soup (nice) and puffy lebanese bread. Our entrees were a selection of small fried tid bits (imagine curry puff and spring rolls), chicken breasts baked in a tomato sauce and a briyani (with pistachio nuts & raisins) served with roasted kharoof (lammmb!). We finished with watermelon, and mouhallabia, a surprisingly tasty desert - akin to semolina pudding, but smelling strongly of rose water. Ckn couldn't finish hers because of the taste, but she was looking forward to try their umm ali. Unfortunately, they were not serving ala carte dishes until after the dinner rush.

All in all, I can say that we were impressed with the Assaha. The food was nice (a bit too expensive perhaps), it had a nice ambiance and the building was really unique - it wasn't tacky or gaudy. The staff were also efficient, for a packed house. We even planned to come again later that night with friends to sample their coffee (and umm ali desert!), but they couldn't make it in the end. So, you can say we're glad that we have an excuse to make another date with the Assaha soon!

p.s. So what about Erica? I guess she made us notice that leaving her at home was a no-no! Ehsan went to bed quietly enough, but Erica really made us work - she was crying non-stop and not drinking from her bottle! Only when we sat down in front of the TV with her on our laps did she behave herself, the cheeky lass! I guess all she wanted was a bineeded our attention... Sorry darling, perhaps when you're bigger and have gotten all your shots, ok?

Painting a Nu Face

2007-10-05T03:01:00.000+03:00

baba tak nak tido ke? ok Ehsan sleep for you

Ckn was commenting the other day that my blog looked, well... blah... I had just recently changed the look of the blog (in July?), and to me it was serviceable. But after looking hard at it, I guess she had a point; It was dull. Colourless. Sterile. My postings would usually focus as much on the pictures I post as well as the actual blog, and somehow my old template just didn't bring the pictures to life.

So here you have it - it's still blah (!) I guess, as it's not animated and there are no moving parts to speak off. Maybe if I'd bother doing php, flash thingamijig, then maybe I can inject some life into this blog. Since I like to work with my photos (i.e. touching up all the bad-out-of-focus pics...believe me - there are a lot! still learning to be photog...haha) then this template will allow me quickly change the theme of ezalman_too, by changing the background picture once in a while (with thanks to Photobucket).

The bad news is that I had to revert to classic blogger templates, so I've had to do more hard-coding (wooo) than my previous template. But as I am lazy-assed to find out more about how to customise it, I'll just stick with this.

In the end, I guess the main focus ought to be the posts anyway (why else would I start a blog??) and not the template, which is a means to an end (and it should be a beautiful end as well as entertaining...). I hope Ckn likes it; if she asks me to help update hers, I'll jump right in!

(yes it's 3am...just waiting for Sahur)

Preparation : Istanbul - Children Conveyance

2007-10-01T10:38:00.001+03:00

Well the 10 day countdown to our family escapade to Istanbul will be starting tomorrow. We've been preparing a lot over the past few weeks - tickets and the hotel, but I still haven't sorted out the main deliverable - our travel itinerary! Ckn has been a dear in finding out all there is about the city and Turkey in general, while I've been doing some research myself. I think we've agreed on the places we'd like to see, but we haven't figured out the order that we do so.

One of the main things nagging me is how we will be moving about, the 4 of us. Due to the weather and the amount of walking that we expect to do, we think bringing Erica's stroller and our Mothercare Onyx 3 way carrier (hehe all technical, natch!) would fit the bill.

I tried the carrier on with Erica first - she seemed comfortable, and with the lumbar support, so did I. But that was for about 10 minutes, walking in the house. Would we both be able to stand the sun, pavements, uphill downhill walks? In the end, we decided to bring both strollers and the carrier as well - that way, we can choose the appropriate conveyance for the kids to match our travel plans.

Ehsan wanted a piece of the action, so after testing the carrier with Erica, we tried it on Ehsan. Well, let me share the experience - do not consider putting a 2+ yo child in the carrier! he was moving all about, my back was killing me, and he kept playing with my head...and more importantly - we both just looked plain silly in the contraption!

4Es Cup Cake Ventures (un)Ltd.

2007-10-01T10:30:00.000+03:00

Cup cakes to die for!

There have been several things that I have aways longed to do with my life; for example, I wanted to go to outer space, but the Malaysian Astronaut program came 25 years too late... and I don't think Malaysians would have approved of an overweight, short sighted paper pusher representing them as the first Malaysian in space! So that dream of mine was confined to watching Star Wars and Battlefield : Earth (ask my brother - it's the worst movie we've seen!)

I also had dreams to become a cook - I don't know why, perhaps it was a cool way to be creative and it sounded more alluring then being an accountant! Well, I recently managed to realise that dream and another grown-up longing of becoming an entrepenuer! Don't get me wrong, I've been cooking for a long time now. I made a killer masak asam pedas when I was at Kent, and my tiramisu was legendary (i.e. its no longer being made, hence it becoming 'legend'). But I've never (knowingly) sold anything before!

The Tiny Cup Cakes being set by Ckn (not pictured - me working the hand mixer before!)

So the story goes; Last Thursday, I promised Ckn that I would help her bake some tiny cup cakes for iftar. We started with gusto after I got back from work at 4pm. Using a recipe our neighbour in Sg Buloh gave Ckn, we managed to produce a batch of the lil' scrumptious tidbits. It wasn't too difficult; but I was made to understand that cake making was not to be taken lightly, that it was a delicate process and that the wrong timing of ingredients going in or doing something too much will spoil the batter.

...now open wide for some uncooked batter!

We were fasting and someone had to be the batter tester! So Ehsan and Erica helped out; Ehsan with the cleaning (i.e. licking the mixer attachments clean! Hey that was supposed to be my job!) and Erica with the 'batter quality Assurance' test.

Erica's not into food yet, but she liked what we were putting in her mouth, I guess. She was squirming, asking for more, but we stopped at just giving her a taste as the batter had raw eggs in it. Don't want lil Erica to fall sick now do we!

We had our first taste at iftar...and we loved it! I just looked at Ckn and she did the same - we both had the same thought, that we had to share this with the world (you can say it was a Eureka! moment...)

After much soul searching (30mins or less only!) we both decided to go into business to 'bring the goods to the market'. The timing couldn't have been better as there was a Petronita ramadan bazaar the next day, on Friday. We agreed that the costs of producing a batch of 16 packs was minimal (each pack had 5 cup cakes), while the proceeds from the endeavour would be substantial! Ckn would be in charge of the coupon selling for the whole bazaar, so the cup cake marketing would be my responsibilities! yipee... Finally, an opportunity to become a businessman presents itself!

My 'muka welfare marketing gimmick' and I at the bazaar ramadan

As this was as much a business as it was a learning experience, I told Ckn that we should have a little fun; so I decided to take pictures of all the people who bought our cup cakes. I got some odd looks from the others selling their wares at the bazaar, but I was on a roll (of course I wouldn't have considered this if I had a few hundred customers la).

The lucky few who went to bed satisfied (hmmm!)

The bazaar started at 4.30pm and I had my tupperware opened and ready by 4.40pm. Nobody gave the goods a second look for the first few minutes (maybe because we didn't put signages..DUH!) so I resorted to telling (nay, shouting to!) the patrons about the cup cakes and how scrumptious and cheap they were. Once the crowd rushed in at 5.00pm, my cup cakes literally became... hot cakes!

Throughout the event, Ehsan was not really himself; we thought he would have fun running around making friends - but it was a hot evening, and he managed to have missed his afternoon nap earlier, so fatigue and grogginess was sinking in. He spent most of the time sitting beside me. Ckn bought some lin chee kang to cool him down, and when I left the bazaar later, he cried himself to sleep in the car! Such was his tiredness that he slept soundly till the morning (so it was a restful night for Ckn!). However, he did take a liking to one of the patron's cutey daughter; and Ehsan took a picture of her himself :

Cute little Nur Ain, thru the eyes of Ehsan

All in all, we made a profit of SDG 13 or about RM22; not bad huh? The only problem was that we spent more than SDG 70 (RM120) to buy food for ourselves...! (well it was for 2 days - and _it is_ Sudan!) I now know the feeling of making ones own money and can appreciate how tough it is for people to have to do this on a daily basis. We're still deciding whether we will continue selling the cakes at this week's bazaar... but I'd like to quote Mr Gooding Jr from Jerry Mcguire '...Show me the moneeey!'

Independence Day in KRT

2007-09-21T01:35:00.000+03:00

Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! Those hallowed words were shouted proudly by all those attending last 31st August. And I was one of them!

This was our second Merdeka celebration with the Malaysian community in Khartoum and it was as meriah as last year, more so this year as it is the 50th anniversary of our independence. It was also an extra honor for us, as our Block J was 'selected' to help out in organising the event with the Country Office and the trainers from Giatmara. Ckn was already involved as she was on F&B detail with Petronita; I got the easy job of ushering at the main gate (not so easy as I was the only one there!) which was a great way for me to get reintroduced to the bulk our our fellow countrymen.

Our event started with Negaraku, followed by raising the Jalur Gemilang, and speeches from Petronas' rep, Hj Jabbar, and the Malaysian Ambassador to Sudan, Hj Zainal. While everyone else was seated, I took on my regular role of 'roving photog' - there were several of us, and we even had a pro from KL cover the event. The one benefit of this was that I could just stand infront of everyone and looking important taking snaps ...secondly, I didn't need to get all sweaty joining in the senamrobik we always do on Merdeka Day!

Then the fun started! Since it was Oil week in Sudan, we brought in our Performing Arts troupe for some shows in Khartoum. Naturally, they also joined in the festivities and handled the senamrobik event and even surprised us with an impromptu zapin performance. The MC later got them to perform one more time; the twist being that their partners would now be from the audience! Somehow one of the dances coerced Ckn to join in - she was game for it, and I was just happy snapping pics!

Well from the pic above you can see that my wife can really hold her own when it comes to dancing! later she told me that it was so tiring - it didn't look like it was, but she was panting and begging to sit down and rest!

The whole day had a festival feel to it, especially in the next few events where we all had a chance to make a fool of ourselves in the fun games. I entered the 'Mens-Single-Eating a Granny Smith on a Lidi' game (Open category). How well do you think I fared?

Incidentally, I was the only grown-up (and kid for that matter!) who had shorts on...and worse; a T-shirt with 'AUSTRALIA' written on the front...malu! luckily I had my wife's gadget bag slung over my chest...

Ckn then entered the 'Ladies-Fishing the Bottle' contest. The game looked totally hilarious - and it was, as she had to get the nail at the end of the string into the bottle and somehow pick up said bottle and transport it to the finish line...no she didn't fare any better than I did. But it was fun all the same!

I'm sure you're wondering if Ehsan enjoyed the event as much as we did...well we decided not to bring the kids this year; they would have had to wake up very early and we didn't want them to be left unattended while we were busy with our tasks. It was a fun day, and since it was a Friday, the event ended earlier than normal, at 11.45am.

A week later, on the 9th, we were invited to the Malaysian Embassy Merdeka reception at the GHV. It was nice to have the night out and it was also our first official diplomatic do! so only the best batik had to come out for this! haha!

There were quite a few of our colleagues in attendance. My friend, Izwan, was the roving photog for this event as he had just gotten a new Canon 400d camera and was itching to try it out! We also made some new friends - among others : Ms Machiko, the medical attache to the Japanese Embassy, Mr Hua You, a diplomat from the Chinese Embassy who served in Turkey for 5 years (hmmm... coincidence to our future holiday perhaps??) and we even met Wendy, a Malaysian working for UNCHR, whom we first met in Cairo during our holiday there last December!

Funny thing was Dr Machiko just loved Ismail's songket and couldn't stop touching it!! Sadly, he recently left Sudan to return to Malaysia - he'll be missed!

So, by the end of the week, we had celebrated 50 years of our nation's independence in Sudan and in the process made a lot of new friends and got reacquainted with old ones. I honestly believe I wouldn't have celebrated Merdeka this way back home. Oh, and as a bonus, I also turned 32 on the 8th! heh

Ramadan is Back!

2007-09-14T15:38:00.000+03:00

Ramadan Kareem! Allahu Akram!

Time sure flies and so much has changed - Last Ramadan, there were only 3 of us; Erica was still some ways away! Now Ehsan has hair(!), we have a helper in the house, and finally Erica - who was made in Sudan, gets to see Sudan with her own 2 eyes. We are truly blessed, Alhamdullillah!

August was a hectic month, as I went home in early August to take charge of my wards that I have left under my parents' supervision since January. This was a truly hectic trip as I only had 6 days to repatriate my family. The most challenging I feel, was the packing - between the 4 of us and our helper, we had approximately 170kg baggage allowance, to bring back our clothing, foodstuff and RM400 worth of fresh fish! We managed to meet the allowance (thanks to group check-in!) and the fish (which was frozen solid) arrived safely in Khartoum still frozen solid.

Well it's the 2nd day of fasting, and while I don't consider myself a good fast-er, I guess I'm coping well (ask me again in 2 weeks time!). We do miss going out to the bazaars to look for juadah berbuka, but it's more laid back here. We do have our own Malaysian-organised bazaar that happens every Friday, but that only starts next week. So for the next few days we're going to iftar ala-carte, Ckn style!

Celebrating 4 Memorable Years...

2007-09-05T01:58:00.000+03:00

Summer Madness

2007-08-03T00:27:00.000+03:00

...technically it wasn't summer, because it just ended...

In 2004, the whole Hadenan family (plus Ckn, minus Ehsan and Erica) went on holiday to Perth. My brother Fyan had his graduation ceremony, so we all took the opportunity to tag along. The picture above was taken at Penguin Island and Seal Island, Rockingham. I don't recall who had the gall to suggest taking this photo, but looking at it more than 3 years later, it looks damn cool!

Looking at Ckn in the photo above brings me to a long-standing belief I've had - that one must be born with the ability to 'roll' their tongues. I've always felt like the odd one out, since Farah, Fyan, Mama and Baba (I think) can do it. To add insult to injury, even my loving Ckn can do it too.

Well apparently, it's a myth - the art of tongue rolling can be learnt OR there's no proof at all that it's genetically hereditary. So that means...I can learn to roll my tongue too! But going thru the explanation, I think that I've missed the boat on this one! and since it can be prevalent in children, I wonder if both Ehsan and Erica have this hidden special ability...

Ezalman the Lecturer

2007-08-01T23:15:00.000+03:00

As part of the company's outreach and engagement program, we sometimes participate in local university events. I had the opportunity to do so last July 12th at the College of Petroleum Engineering and Technology, Sudan University (located on Amarat Street 61, about 15 minutes away from home). The 4th year students requested Petronas' help in making their Engineering week a success by contributing presentations and an exhibit. Well, considering that they came to us only a week before the propose dates, I decided that a half day presentation would suffice for this event.

With the help of a senior geoscientist, Mazman and a seeding executive Caesar, we manage to put together a 3 hr presentation on Petronas's 10 year presence in Sudan, followed by a technical paper on Geosciences. I thought our efforts were well received, and the students did their part by asking meaningful questions. They have really smart students here, and it was an eye-opener for me to see the condition of their college (in comparison with what I am accustomed too back home and in Kent). It didn't deter their learning, but I could see that they needed support in terms of industrial training (which they didn't have at all)

A Poem for Erica

2007-07-29T17:15:00.000+03:00

This is a lovely poem read by the head of the Marhaban group that presided over lil' Erica's majlis kekah last June 17th. Ckn was so touched by the kind words and advise contained in it. I was busy snapping photos to hear the full version, so it's great that she forwarded it to me.

Dengan Bismillah kami mulai
Alhamdulillahi wasalatu’alannabi
Dengan takdir ya Ilahi Rabbi
Sampailah maksud yang kami hajati

Seorang anak cinta yang lama
Sekarang sudah kami terima
Seorang puteri diberikan nama
Kami ayunkan bersama-sama

Kus semangat puterimu tuan
Jangan tergamam di dalam buaian
Dipanggil kami orang sekalian
Hajat ibu bapamu minta dibuaikan

Bismillah itu mula pertama
Zat dan sifat bersama-sama
Keadaan zat mengatakan istimewa
Qadm martabat sediakan lama-lama

Ayuhai anak muda bangsawan
Pengajaran ibumu jangan dilawan
Wahailah anak jangan dibantah
Ibumu memelihara terlalu susah
Dipeliharakan daripada ribut dan taufan
Takut terkena penyakit dan syaitan

Jikalau pandai engkau berkitab
Sertalah dengan jawi dan arab
Barulah ibumu hatinya tetap
Makan dan minum barulah sedap

Kitab al-Quran jikalau qari
Disuruh pula pergi ke Haji
Pergi menjejaki tanah yang suci
Supaya terbuang fi’il yang keji

Jikalau dapat ilmu yang setia
Sertalah engkau yakin percaya
Di dalam akhirat tanah yang mulia
Duduk di dalam Pangkuan auliya

Jikalau mendapat ilmu yang teguh
Engkau amalkan bersungguh-sungguh
Tertutuplah pintu neraka yang tujuh
Teranglah jalanmu seperti suluh

Jikalau terang jalan nanti
Ingatlah kamu bersuka hati
KepadaNya tuhan engkau terpuji
Mendapatlah engkau syurga tertinggi

Cleaning Up

2007-07-29T00:01:00.001+03:00

I got a nice surprise in my gmail today. My brother, Firhan, posted a link to a video of alledged child labour practices in Malaysia. Being the good citizen of the world, I had to check it out...it was shocking!!

This is the second video of Ehsan. I posted the first one some time back, which I'm thankful that I did since the original was lost when my hard disk decided to go to hard disk heaven!

The Power of Speaking...when you're 2

2007-07-27T12:17:00.000+03:00

My troubleshooters! Taken at the Hilton Hotel, Port Sudan, 2006

I was having a bad day a few days ago - somehow I got myself a personal swimming pool. But before you say "how lucky you are, Ezal!", let me explain what the difference is with my 'pool':

1. It's in the office
2. The pool is installed on my desk
3. ...all my work, books and files are floating in said pool

Yes, the roof was leaking, and somehow this year (it only rains about 5 days in a year in Khartoum) the roof decided it was best to piss over my parade! Relating madly to Ckn from a makeshift office, she said I should call home and speak to Ehsan; she was convinced that my 2 year old son can help cheer me up... I did just that and called them.

So, Ehsan picked up the phone ... and said 'Hieee... Baba?' I was gobsmacked, my mouth wide open. I could hear Ckn in the background saying 'Apa nama adik?', and Ehsan replies 'Erica'. The night before Ehsan hurt his foot, so Ckn asked him what he did when his foot hurt - and Ehsan made a crying/hurting sound - he even managed a 'snore' when asked about sleeping...

Well, after a few precious minutes hearing Ehsan 'speaking', I just kept laughing (Ehsan joined in too, mind) with tears in my eyes (hey c'mon I'm a father, but the tears never left my eyes. Promise). But Ckn was right; my condition was fixed and I forgot about my bad day!

...and one more thing about that nose

2007-07-23T21:49:00.000+03:00

Ehsan and Ezalman, separated by 30 years

Having done the previous post and including a photo of a pre-schooler Ezalman, I noticed something startlingly similar between me and my son Ehsan. I just can't place it, but the feeling is so strong... but what is it I wonder?

i Google u

2007-07-23T21:47:00.000+03:00

Ezalman, circa 1970s, not suspecting he would make a splash on the internet in the future!

I like to do this several times in a year - checking up on me! I always tell people that I have a unique name (for example, I am the only 'Ezalman' in Petronas, where I work - which is cool as there are about 30,000 employees now!). However, my 'uniqueness' is humbled once the population size increases exponentially (...try 6 billion people).

What this means exactly is thus : Short of checking phone directories the world over, I wanted to see what kind of digital footprint yours truly has on the web; and the main way to find out is to google my moniker and see what comes out...

The first link that arises is this : a profile for a Mr Ezalman Thambi Lee. I can see he's some kind of university lecturer or tutor. Never met the guy, but he seems to be getting more hits than me! Well he has students opening up his page all the time (sour grapes!)

Discounting appearances from this blog, I found to my horror, that my name only comes up as number 3 in the list, and that is from a website that had my contact details. The website in question is called Oil Financier . I enrolled in this online reality life simulation game when I first came to Sudan to learn about oil & gas industry financing. So I became a J.R. Ewing and tried to make my fortune prospecting for oil! Needless to say, I lost everything (I never had)...

When I first run the google search, it says that there are 109 hits, and somewhere at the end of the 1st page of Ezalman-related sites, I find this one. Now before you investigate further, bear in mind this question : what is the connection? I guess a webcrawler must have picked up the 'mini' reference and automatically added me into the site!

People who know me know that I like to play with computers, so I was amazed to find that my name is represented in this favourite pastime too! Ezalman cooler systems is a line of cooler systems that are used by overclockers to keep their souped-up PC's temperature in check. I know that there is a line of Korea-made headphones called Zalman, so I guess this would have come from the same hole...

So far so good - only one site making the connection. But there must be related sites with my name on it right? Right! Next I found that my name appeared on my sibling's farious Friendster and Blogspot websites : There was a link on my sis's website and a comment I left last year on my brother's friendster page . I also found a mention on my cousin's wife's personal blog too! That's nice...

Lastly, after 2 or 3 more pages of gibberish links (I think it was French, with a smitten of Ezalmans thrown in here and there), I decided to check out what would be at the end of the google search. Somehow my old University of Kent at Canterbury email address has survived all of a decade in cyberspace! I used this email address from 1994-1997 during my more formative years studying. Don't know if it's still active?

There you go. I'm glad that I am able to find my name on the web! Does it amount to much? No, I guess not, but this is my tiny contribution to the global fabric that is the internet...

What I had for Tea yesterday

2007-07-22T09:48:00.000+03:00

Like always on a Friday, I would be walking to Amarat Hall to join the other Malaysians to play badminton (it's about a one-half kilometer walk). Before going any further, I would stop at the small fruit stall near my home and ask for SDG 1 (RM1.70) worth of bananas (I would get about 5 bananas!)

During the game (my stamina's totally off, so I only play a game!) I would usually finish one or two pieces of banana, so I have the remaining fast-riping bananas lying in the fridge. So what do i do with those bananas? Lemping pisang!

I shot a text message to my wife for a recipe; but being a man, I didn't wait and foolishly went ahead.

Ckn gave me this recipe : 1 level Tablespoon sugar, 3-4 level tablespoon flour and the bananas

And this is the actual that I used : 2 shakes of the sugar container, about 5-6 heaped tablespoons flour, pinch of salt, and 2 pours of milk (that's using Ezalman's metric system..) and the bananas.

I used a pancake pan to cook them dry - non-stick so I didn't use any oil and managed to get about 8 lemping . They look scrumptious don't they! How about the taste? well... I finished them all. I think they tasted fine, except it had a floury taste - I'm guessing I put in too much. Oh, and the flour expired 6 months ago...

Thnks Fr Th Mmrs : Messages for Pear

2007-07-19T09:56:00.000+03:00

Just after Erica Reeda was born, I sent out about 20 text messages to friends and relatives both here in Sudan and back home in Malaysia. Some of them were kind enough to respond. While I didn't transcribe the congratulatory phone calls, I did keep the text messages. I've had these messages in my Palm for the past 4 months, with the intention of publishing them on ezalman_too. So here it goes, listed in order of them being received :

Sabri Azam (24/3 10:16 am): Congrat for the new entry in yor family. Hope ShIkeen recivering well n baby grow faster. Dah ada nama ke belum? My wife send regds to Syikeen.

This is my ex-boss in Sudan. He has the honour of replying the fastest to my message

Hackean (24/3 10:58 am): Sykr & thniah 4 u & syikin 4 the birth ur baby girl. Frm us hackean & yana

My cousin on my mom's side. He just got married a few months back, but I didn't manage to attend

Saiful Azli (24/3 12:05 pm): Congrats!smoga smua sihat.

My friend and neighbour in Sudan. His indonesian helper helped iron my clothes (but she's gone home now and I do my own ironing - and it feels so rewarding and satisfying!)

Lanie (24/3 1:34 pm): Congrats! You've got a pair.

My friend and ex-colleague from KL. The one person I always make time to have lunch with when I'm back in KL.

Razman (24/3 2:47 pm): Salam,alhamdulillah,congrats from both of us 2 u & syikeen.Moga erica mnjadi anak solehah.Our regards to your family&parents-razman&dila

Nice couple, who care our close friends in Sudan

Paska Mia (24/3 3:07 pm): Congrats! Happy to hear the news.

My current boss in Sudan

Nonnie (24/3 3:30 pm): Congratulations! Our warmest regards to Ckn. Luv, Nonie, Fino, Syaqil, Fariqe

A good friend who I knew only through the phone and emails for a whole year before meeting her in Sudan!

Shanizam (25/3 12:50 am): Congrats. Selamat berpuasa

Colleague and friend in Sudan. I wonder what he meant with the 'puasa'?? haha, of course I do! But he's getting his Karma; his wife Ira is now back in Malaysia expecting their fourth child in September. Who's doing the 'fasting' now?

Aman Pfordten (26/3 12:36 pm): ASW, ckin&rizal, i tried to call both ur hp but it goes straight to ur mail box. anyway, congratulation on the new born baby. tq

My brother in law, currently residing in Jakarta. One of 2 people that Ehsan always confuses with me; guess we all look alike!

Thanks for the well wishes everyone. I always know that a simple sms with a simple message are the best ones to be appreciated and cherished..

Growing Young

2007-07-17T16:32:00.000+03:00

It's been a long day, so I thought I'd take a breather and post something on the blogg. I just love the recent photo of the kids taken at my sis' engagement do last week, so it got me wondering how well they've grown up. For example, Ehsan has a nice mop of hair now - we always thought that he won't be blessed with much of it! But, his tembam pipi is shrinking... luckily we can still torment our Pear, Erica!

Kids really do grow up fast. I'm getting daily snippets about how the kids are interacting with their environment and how everyday something new and wonderful happens. Thank God the 7 month wait is ending next month (well I cheated of course, since I've had opportunities to be with the family on several occasions since January!)

14 months ago and Look what I found

2007-07-16T16:10:00.000+03:00

I think I've posted this on ezalman_2 before but I can't seem to find it anymore... Anyway, rummaging through my drawer back home for some documents to fax to Ckn, I found this caricarture. It was made by our very own Dato' Lat, who was on a working visit courtesy of Petronas last year.

Well I'm a big fan comics and satire, and luckily Lat excels at both! Of course, Lat is at the point of his career not to do many of these caricatures for the fans, but he was a jovial bloke and very friendly... in any case, how many times would I be able to spend time with a celebrity right?

Breaking Down the Walls at Kota Damansara

2007-07-13T21:25:00.000+03:00

Khartoum last week - nearing dusk, I caught this nice pic of blue skies and 'habub'. There hasn't been a sand storm for some time, on accord of the coming rainy season

Continuing on from the previous post...

I've had a sucky day - I'm bored beyond belief, and just can't wait for my kids to run around here and for Ckn to be here and cook up something nice for me. Rest assured, I didn't sit around and mope all day long! I played at our weekly badminton meet; the difference this time is that I walked to the venue, which was about 2 km away. It helped - my mind was clearer and was warmed up for the games (well just a little...!)

Progress of Renovation

Since it'll be sometime before we move into our beautiful home in Kota Damansara, it's only prudent to do some of the renovation and preparatory works. We've always thought that the living/dining room downstairs could do with a bit of extra room, so we decided to do the ground floor and kitchen works in phase 1.

The Living/dining room before the renovation...

Here's a view of the works in progress - the kitchen wall will soon disappear

...and the same, circa last week

Luckily I have a good Project Management Consultant; Ckn! She has been dropping in to check up on the progress for the past 3 weeks. Together, we decided on the look of the kitchen (we wanted it to be open and practical) and living room (cosy) and the dining area, and the electrical circuits for the lights and power points. The 2 major parts of the works, includes what you see here; ie resizing the living room and storage room. The second is to extend the kitchen to the back yard.

From what I'm seeing so far, I'm quite pleased with the progress. To draw the plans in Photoshop and seeing it being translated into reality is a joy! I think I now know how architects feel when their creation comes alive (for me it was just some walls up here and there, so of course my accomplishments are minute, comparing!)

Once this phase is completed, I'll have all the windows and outside doors grilled and locked up - it'll be like a bear in winter hibernating! Hopefully, we'll move on to Phase 2 in the coming year - and I can't wait to design our interior decorating...

P/s Blogger is real cool - it has a spellcheck now!

Sis Gets Engaged - Story Below!

2007-07-08T22:15:00.000+03:00

My babies! and my Babe!

Time to catch up - it's been 3 months since we had our little Pear - Erica Reeda. She's growing up a treat, thank God! I miss them all back home, but one must do what must be done eh?

I've had the good fortune of making several trips back to KL. I enjoyed all my trips naturally, and they all ended as soon as it started. Oh well - on the bright side, in about a month and a half, we'll be a complete family in Sudan again. Let's recap what events have transpired recently (in no chronological order!)

My Sis got Engaged!!

Rafik's mom symbolically puts the engagement ring on Farah's finger

The reason I highlighted the title a Shrek-ish green is because that was the colour of the day; a nice pale green! I still can't believe my sis Farah is a step closer to getting married and having her own family. I did wish I could be there for them, but I have promised everyone that I'll be there for the wedding in December

Well like any good Abalone, I pledged to provide some kind of support for Farah. I thought of something that was personal and after discussing with Ckn, we thought sponsoring the photos and videos portion would be meaningful, and ultimately, uniquely attributed to me!

Farah posing with her hantaran - where's the latest mobile or car key

My mom contacted the photography at my wedding : Zainul at Studioline Photography. We were pleased with the pics he took at our wedding so it was only natural that we went back to him for the job. Although he couldn't make it for the Engagement, he did promise to personally handle the events at our house and hall in December.

From what I heard, Thank God, the event went well! I can't wait to see the video and all the pics.. Farah if you're reading this; the pressure will only get worse as it gets closer to the BIG DAY! haha don't say I didn't warn you...!

Here's the lucky fella - Rafik; whoa nelly - ni baru bertunang!

[I'll have to continue this story in another post - the internet at home is doing a yoyo; going up and down every minute or so! So rather risk more of my story being lost, I'd better stop here]

Erica Reeda

2007-04-07T08:28:00.000+03:00

Alhamdullillah, 2 weeks ago on Saturday 24th March 2007 at 8.38am, we welcomed the arrival of our second baby - Ms Erica Reeda Ezalman Reezal. She was delivered by Caesarian section by Dr Ummul Wahiy at Apollo TTDI Hospital (haha not a lot of people know of this small establishment...).

Of course we planned to have a normal delivery. but it wasn't meant to be (again). At least it made it easier for me to plan my travel plan to go home. We walked into the hospital at 7.30am and had Erica just over an hour later! I think it was better this time around as we knew what to expect. I was allowed back in the Operating theater; alas, without my handycam - I guess I'll just show the kids Ehsan's 'introduction' video when they're big enough and explain that the process was the same (down to the 'popping' sound when their heads, well, popped out!)

Here's mama with the little princess. She had slight jaundice, but nothing to worry about according to Dr Sharifah, her Paed.

Now it's Baba's turn! In some ways Erica has benefited from her being the 2nd child; we're more comfortable handling her, changing and bathing her. But there are some minus points too; we're always comparing her with Ehsan...but I think things will improve when she gets older - we have a pair now and I'm really looking forward to seeing them interacting with each other, and the fun of raising both a boy and girl, InsyaAllah...

Here we have Dr Ummul doing a checkup on Ckn's stitches. Dr Ummul asked for our permission to have her niece (Aisya) and her friend (Max, English guy), both pre-med students, to attend the C-Section. We consented since they'll just be observing the procedure. The funny thing is that towards the end, Max fainted - right there and then in the OT! He'd already witnessed a vaginal birth (euww - that is the technical term!) but I think the sight of Ckn being cut open and a head popping out from the wound was just too much. Guess all doctors have to go thru this 'rite of passage'! We met Max a few days ago during the checkup - I'm happy to report _he_ is doing OK - I don't think you can faint from manning the patient registrations at Dr Ummul's clinic! haha

So far Ckn's healing quite well, and we even imported a tukang urut from Kelantan specially to urut and tunku and take care of Erica. I got all my family members (and mummy) helping out to take care of all three of them; thankfully, since as I'm writing this I'm on transit in Dubai back to Sudan. I don't think I can ever repay my baba, mama, fyan and karee...

...now we come to one my favourite pictures - Ehsan and Erica together. I feel so proud coz ever since Ehsan first laid his eyes on his sister, he's always wanted to kiss her, encourage her, touch her hands, and cuddle her (supervised of course!). I think that's a good sign, don't you? I pray that they will grow up loving each other. He's the Abalone now (just like me!) and one day he'll do all the Abalone stuff; and I hope I'll be there to give him advise.

p/s Erica looks like Ehsan when he was first born, with 2 differences; she has a more 'sepet' eyes, and a wider/bigger nose...but look at the pic above; they have the same hairstyles!

Hosting a Simple Get Together

2007-03-10T02:57:00.000+03:00

I told Ckn last week that I wanted to host a simple 'do' at home - as a 'Thank You' to my neighbors who have helped feed me(!) since Ckn went home (if this do is succesful, then I'll *still* get free grub!). It's also been some time since all of us had a nice cuppa teh tarik and a chat. I'd hoped that this do would be a great way to do so.

Anyways, the more memorable comments I got after mooting the idea, was that everyone couldn't believe that I would host a 'hi-tea' without Ckn around(!). I admit, a women's touch is essential to the success of such a party, but I thought it would be a simple affair to handle (see my steps below!)

By the end of the day I think they were impressed (thank God), which was great! All the food was finished (either by eating or giving away; but there wasn't much to give away, anyway!) Of course I had a secret methodology for those who are single and want to host such an event too. I will share with you this secret...now :

Steps to Host a Simple Get Together

Send out Invitations - very important; you don't want to be slaving away for a 'lifeless' party, do you?
Cleaning - make sure the house is clean and conducive for your invitees, including the toilet; and the last important step...
Get someone to cater the party! hahahah. Easy as pie huh?

I ordered a pretty full menu; but I forgot that my neighbors were capable of 'sabotaging' it - by bringing a dessert each! haha - so it's a good kind of sabotage! Being the practical creature that I am, I suggested that I would set aside my dessert (not pictured; caramel custard), for the next day's event being held by my neighbor downstairs (irony - from NO parties in a while, to 2 parties hosted in the same weekend!). Well, everyone agreed! We don't want any food to go to waste right?

p/s by now I can admit that I took the very, very easy way out in using *a contractor* to prep the food. Hey, don't blame me; my wife wasn't here, was she? :-) haha sorry Ckn sayang

A Bit of Malaysia - Stored in our Larder

2007-03-10T02:02:00.000+03:00

Another challenge for us living here is the lack of Malaysian essential 'stuff'; The stuff that we can find in any kedai runcit on any corner back home; The stuff we take for granted because it's easily obtainable; The stuff we can get cheaply...

But don't fret - we have a solution for that : Larders! or a place to stock-pile our consumables (read : food and soap...don't ask!)

We are given an allowance to transfer personal effects when we were 1st transfered to Sudan. Apart from the various personal effects (e.g. speedos, selipar jepun, Low yatt dvds, the usual...), we also send *some* food and household stuff ('Some' meaning a lot, enough for our 3 year tour of duty)

So you can understand the *excitement* whenever we know of a new transferree, because our sole duty would then be to 'hitch a ride'/'tumpang' - somehow, we have to get all the stuff we miss and want from Malaysia shipped together!

Well I got such a load 2 days ago (I've managed to secure several loads and 'milk runs' in the past, thanks!). Usually Ckn would be home to help sort out the mess...no luck this time! So I spent Friday morning clearing up the boxes (small shipment this time around - just 12 boxes!). We have 2 metal larders - the one on your right is for foodstuff and the other one is for the soaps...I said don't ask! Ckn reorganised the larders before leaving in January, and being such a 'wise' husband, I thought I'd just continue the sorting theme she had established.

It took about 1hr, and I _think_ I did a good job. haha! Anyway - here is a sampling of the stuff we have (or had) in the larder; perhaps this could inspire you to get your own!

Large 1kg cans of Tuna chunks - hey, if it expires _only_ in 2009, then it must be good for you right?
Maggi Mee - the ever-ready standby meal replacement...so what if they're *only* 6 months expired?
Sardines - another handy alternative. Ckn has used them in sambals to laksa - works fine by me!
Sanitary pads - after a few months in Sudan, Ckn *mysteriously* didn't need them anymore...
Chili Sauce - due to some 'miscalculation', we've got tons of the stuff. I need to chug down One bottle every 4 days to finish it all before they expire; So... a splosh in my cereal, a splish in my tea...
Curry Kerang Ayam Brand - 'nuff said!
Soaps - (well you did ask) it's expensive here (we're talking about laundry soap), and it lasts forever, and somehow the Breeze fragrance just reminds me of Malaysia...

It doesn't hurt to prepare - and I think we got a fair amount of Malaysiana stock-piled for the times we yearn for home; just look at the picture (and that's just it being opened halfway somemore!). We just need to visit the larder for an expired tin goodie, or dry ingredients for that laksa. Failing which, we can always raid our friendly neighbors' larders for that 'air kotak' that we *didn't* bring at all!!

The Most Sweetest Thing

2007-03-06T23:26:00.000+03:00

I think I'll try and make Ckn blush today - it's her birthday today! well, technically that was 29 hrs ago (Malaysian time)...hey isn't that ironic? coz it's been 29 hrs since she turned 29 years old!! haha jangan marah sayang!

There was another irony, too. Since I couldn't be there to celebrate, I got my brother Fyan to help me arrange for a flower bouquet (sic i think) to be sent on the morning of Ckn's birthday. I thought it would be a pleasant surprise ! (part of the act was for me to _totally_ forget mentioning about wishing her a happy besday)

Well, she got the flowers - but I also got something! I received today a card that Ckn sent out over a month ago! a Valentine's card. So, the Surpriser became the Surprisee too! Auwww...

Can't wait to be back home with them both - Baba'll see you soon enough!

Arab-a-day
Bahazer - just joking

Father and Son Grows Moustache

2007-02-23T02:21:00.000+03:00

I have my brother, Firhan, to thank for this video. He gave me the Logitech webcam before I left for Sudan...and here is my favourite outcome (the others show me in bad light!)

I've downloaded this video onto my PSP and most nights, I watch it before I turn in...missing you, son!

Interesting : Do it 21 times!

2007-02-23T02:05:00.000+03:00

Apparently, research shows that for an action to become a 'habit', one must repeat doing said action at least 21 times before it becomes a habit which can be easily repeated. I got this snippet from watching Oprah (AAARGHH!) - interesting show nevertheless on debt management - the Debt Diet.

At last I now know why I have the habit of walking upright; I've done that action for at least 21 times, right? I'm so proud of myself.

There's No Place Like Home!

2007-02-23T00:48:00.000+03:00

After 14 months, we've just recently gotten some excellent news - our home in Kota Damansara is complete! Well we're thankful that the whole process went smoothly...now the hard work begins, I guess!

We can't move in yet as (1) the end-financer still owes the developer a progress payment and (2) we're not currently living in Malaysia. Renting the property out it a no-no; we'd really like to 'break-in' the house ourselves. So, the only viable option is to uninstall everything, ZIP it and ship it back to Sudan with us...seriously!

A good buddy of mine was being a lil' devil's advocate and informed me that the property is now valued at least with a 30% appreciation... but it's my first house; I can't just turn around and sell it, right? When we first went to the sales office, there were so many units up for grabs. Needless to say, all of them have been snapped up (takpe Arman, next time!)

It's a blessing Ckn is back home - she helped settled everything at the developer office. I'll have to call the financier and enquire about the progress payment, and hopefully, she can go and get the key early next month (haha the end-financier is actually my employer too, so I can't be seen to be pushing too much! but heck, I'm thousands of miles away!)

To start with we've decided to install the necessary grills on the windows and doors - necessary evil this, unfortunately. I've seen the whole range of options; in Australia, grills are unheard of, while in Khartoum each home is a tiny fortress - with a rent-a-cop dozing outside! It'll seem daft hiring a 'pak-guard' sitting infront of my vacant house, so the grills would have to do.

Over the coming months, we'll have to sit down and make important decisions for the interior decoration (suede wallpaper, lava lamps and rattan chairs for the living room are so IN, and so '70s!!). To get ideas, I started with a store that is nearby to our new home : IKEA!! I know it may sound cliched - 'I just want to kit out my house with Eye Key Yah'.. but they really have some great stuff at great prices (chewarrr! plug for the Swedes!)

They have a great online catalog - but I found the interface cumbersome, so I downloaded the PDF version; all 16mb of it, to browse at my pleasure (note to self : get the hardcopy version; it'll be easier to make decisions when referring to the catalog while I'm on my 'ceramic thinking chair')

Another great tool that they have is the IKEA Kitchen Planner software; which is a fancy 3D Computer aided Design (CAD) software to design .. tada : kitchens, using IKEA stuff. After much googling (or is it oggling?), I found out that the best way to do this is to make an appointment with IKEA designers to design our dream kitchen; but I think the software is a great starting point. You can download the IKEA Singapore version (containing the kitchen modules available in Malaysia - at least I think it is!!) and try it for yourself.

...well that's it for now! We've got a lot of planning, saving, spending, re-saving, painting, and cussing before we'll see this thru. And whatever happens, at least I'll be a proud homeowner, insyaAllah!

Arab-a-day
1. lasiz - lazat...or as a certain cartoon character would say - Delicioso!
2. ferda - friend

p/s Truth be told, our 1st choice for a kitchen system (we just love talking about kitchens!) was Signature Kitchen; inspired partly by a visit to our dear friend Salina's house. You can see her busy cooking ayam goreng for our iftar, and parts of her Signature Kitchen in the fore/background. Unfortunately, this practical and beautiful kitchen comes at a price (don't they always!) - so we decided to widen our horizons (haha to IKEA)...but who knows what our kitchen would look like in the end?

(Ok this picture doesn't do justice to the kitchen, but look at those cute kids. Picture taken in Oct 2005)

When You're alone You talk to Yourself

2007-02-17T23:08:00.000+03:00

I've got so much to write about - imagine if you can : getting your friend (who just returned from a 6-month trek to Egypt - walking backwards) updated on your going-ons; in the least amount of time possible...indeed such a trek would take considerably longer than 6 months, I gather...

Well - since my last update, I've had the privilege of travelling - some locations in Sudan, and some, in other places around the world. I'm glad to remind myself that a MAJOR change is coming to my family unit. We also recivered from a near-near death experience for my son Ehsan (touch wood) - don't worry we're fine!

I'm currently alone in Sudan, but it'll be for such a short period - 7 months **trembling** My wife wife and son are back home because we're expecting a baby soon! numero duo! isnaini!

Arab-a-day (ha I have, like 200 days to update huh!) - food:

1. Kisrah - light pancakes (like putu mayam/tosai) to eat with...
2. Tagaliah - minced meat and okra savoury sauce, like bolognaise, which can also be dipped with...
3. Tahmiah - wade!!

About

2007-01-01T17:10:00.002+03:00

4Es are :

Ezalman Reezal Hadenan
Nur Esyikeen Pfordten
Ehsan Reezal Ezalman Reezal (he's the shy one in the picture)
Erica Reeda Ezalman Reezal

Hence the 4 Es. Don't worry. It's not that confusing.

We are currently living in Khartoum, Sudan. We hope to go home for good in the coming months. But until then...

Ezalman uses...

PCs

Toshiba Satellite xxx (dono model!) - 2.5 yr old workshorse. Since Jan 2006
Asus EeePC ultra mobile PC - Since Feb 2008
Old desktop - running AMD64 processor. Since Jan 2004, but currently switched off

Communications

Palm Treo 680 - Qwerty keyboard and official Bejewelled machine. Since Jan 2007
Canon 350d DSLR - since July 2005

Play

HMC35 Home multimedia centre. Since Dec 2007
iPod 3rd Gen, and iPod 5th Gen. Since 2004
Sony PSP

4Es are hosted on 320+320+120+120+60+30+20+4 = 994 Gb of hard disk space

The Transit Blues (the start of many If I continue taking Emirates)

2006-05-30T11:18:00.000+03:00

So I'm stuck here in Dubai International Airport for 10 hours - time to catch up with work that I've missed the past 2 weeks right? Wrong! Go for a little sight-seeing? Not a chance - especially with the baggage I have with me...so Here are some Time Wasters to fill in the 10 hrs sitting around doing nothing (in no particular order, and you're welcome to repeat these until you're bored!) :

1. Read a book (0 mins!) . I bought john Grisham's 'the Broker (which proclaims to be the no 1 best seller - all books seems to be that huh?), to read while I'm here. As of the time of going to 'press', I still havent taken the book out of the plastic bag... maybe after lunch

2. Have something nice to eat (45 mins). I feel like a bloody Hobbit having like 13 meals a day. I had my first breakfast at 4am in the morning (somewhere over west coast India) and after a few hours here, I went to check out the McDs! They've got a good foodcourt here, so I'll check out that again

3. Tour the airport (30 mins). Did that from the second I landed - took out the Canon and took some photos of the airport - It was great as it was 5am and there werent a lot of people around.

4. Blog and surf! (2 hrs) The whole airport is Wi-Fi'd so you can be sitting anywhere and be doing this - well look at the pic up there. Planted myself near a wall-socket (juice for my phone and laptop) and busy updating ezalman_too (which has been neglegted for about a month!). Yes, I'm sitting on a hard floor by the way. Time sure flew by when you're busy racking the brain for ideas and proper written grammar...

5. Go to the toilet (30 mins). Haha had to go twice here, the memorable thing was that the water from the bidet was hot - butt-scalding hot!! Don't know if the germs in 'the surrounding areas' survived - I think they did...they always do!!

6. Sleep (2 hrs)...or attempt to anyway - its the usual scene after a red-eye flight. Passengers waiting in transit making the empty hallways their second home. I mean people were sleeping behind the benches, under them, over them, nowehere near them...found myself a nice leather seat and slept on-and-off for 2 hrs. At the end of it I had a stiff neck and tired legs...should have slept underneath the benches like everyone else eh?

7. Window shopping (1hr) not the same with touring the airport. I was told of Dubai's legendary duty free shops - and I found out that you can see all of it in 15 mins...what a let down. I think it is worth checking out the larger shops in the city, so I'll definitely do so in July. Of course, I spent the most time in the Gadget/PC/PSP corner...yes, iPod's are cheaper here, sayang!

Ok, that's about 6-7 hrs accounted for. Since I'm still here, I think I'll use up the remaining waiting time to go to the toilet (!) and repeating some of the time wasters above. Shortly, I plan to get some chocolates and maybe get a spot of lunch (last chance to eat McDs for a month!)...and maybe, just maybe, start on Time Waster #1...

Happy Birthday, Young Man!

2006-05-30T10:23:00.000+03:00

Happy Birthday, my lovely son
I can't believe you're already One
Your smile, your laughs, your little touch
God, I miss you oh so much

Once, you were so very small
Now, you're proudly standing tall
My, how you've grown to be so strong
We pray to God you'll do no wrong

To baba and mama, you're our brightest star
We'll love and cherish you, wherever we are
We'll show you how big the world can be
And how you can change it, son, you'll see

For now, do help to look after mama
As we can all be so near, yet so far
and do enjoy yourself in being One
A Happy Birthday to you, my lovely son

Going Home

2006-05-30T10:14:00.000+03:00

It's 4 months to the day that we all upped and left Sudan, that we have the opportunity to go home. The whole troop is going with me - ckn and the little tyke too! It's Summer in Sudan and I think the break from the heat is very welcome indeed.

We booked a flight out on 17th May - and true to form, the notorious Sudanese 'Habub' reared its ugly face - we were stranded for a few minutes on the tarmac due to strong winds, dust storm and a little rain! but thank God all went well and before long we were on our way.

The flight was great and Ehsan was on his best behaviour (I think!) - however we had an 8 hr transit wait in Dubai. Not that we can enjoy it too much - we arrived in the dead of night and had to leave at 7 the next morning...

We met a few colleagues and their families en route to KL - Zabuddin and his family on the Dubai-KL flight and Rosliza and her 6 kids (!) in the Khartoum-Dubai flight. It was also the first time that were able to video tape our experience on the plane - as soon as we left Dubai, out came the Sony - capturing our experience in the air. Even had a little prosumer commentary to boot!

Ehsan was of course enjoying every minute of it! Being cuddled and praised by the female flight attendants helped too, I guess. He was unashamedly being flirtatious with them in return! I wonder where he got that little trait...

Ckn and Ehsan will be staying in Malaysia for the better part of June - then I'm going to bring them back in July - with a short stopover in Dubai. I think this will allow us all to 'recharge' whatever Sudan and our experiences in the past 4 months have taken from us (except Ehsan, who's like a moving /talking sponge, absorbing everything - god, he's been walking for the past month and a half anyway!)

I'm a little worried the Mrs would have a tough time without her partner around. Sure, she's better prepared this time ( compared to the period after giving birth to Ehsan), and although she won't believe me, I do feel the loneliness and pain of being away from family just like she does (I'm currently in hr 5 of a 10 hr transit in Dubai, without access to the Business lounge...oh, the hurt!...on my ass!)

Nevertheless, I think we enjoyed the past 10 days together. I just fell in love with shopping (again)! The freedom, the choice and the sales were just overwhelming. Don't remember how many 'KLCC-One Utama-Low Yatt' pilgrimages I performed, but I risked blowing all my overseas allowance on every little new thing that I fancied and was not able to procure in Sudan...haha - thank God for responsible spouses eh?

...I miss giving Ehsan a bath, and I miss Ckn's over-protectiveness...

Consolidation

2006-04-17T09:44:00.000+03:00

Well, I've managed to merge all my blogs into one : ezalman_too ! (...I'm not going to link back to this page, because ... you're already on it!)

Now I will do the honourable thing and retire the other blogs to history:

1. Friendster Blog : Travelations - Well my dark friend, it was good knowing you. but towards the end , the ads just got too much, and it feels so painful to let go

2. Blogspot : My Story - To think that this all started with you. I will always remember the first steps and boring banter that I left there. Rest assured all of the 3(!) posts there will forever be enshrined here

Good bye dear blogs

Arab-a-day :
1. Karama = Celebration event like a birthday etc.

April 1, 2006 : Ehsan Reezal in … The Moon Crawler! (cue compatible James Bond theme song)

2006-04-17T09:39:00.000+03:00

We’re at our usual haunt 2 Friday mornings ago. Syikeen was checking her emails and we made our weekly phone calls to our family back home. Of course, I held the baby-affairs fort for the day (I can do my work and check email everyday, so of course my wife wants me to cut her some slack…).

Knowing the little dude, I’m sure I could get about 30 minutes of baby-ly conduct out of him (nowadays, we’re lucky if we can keep him calm for 10 minutes!) . Giving up after 15 (!) I surrendered and put him on the office floor; I know what you’re thinking – the dust, dirt and germy-wearmies! Trust me – The things Ehsan sniffs and licks and the corners he wanders into at home, has given me the confidence in his resilience, Thank God!

Anyway, after a few minutes inspecting the Xerox machine cables and lifting the office carpets to look for something remotely exciting (gee, thanks baba for bringing me somewhere SO nice!), Ehsan suddenly eyes the ‘edge of the world’ – read : the ledge of the staircase going down…(the shock and horror!)

I hover closely to see what he’ll do next; He’s sizing up the ledge with his black round eyes, and does his usual I’ve-never-done-this-before routine - He sticks out his cute cubby right hand and feels the ledge (I’ve noticed he’s more of a south-paw – which he likes to use to pick up things. His right hand is reserved for touching hot plates and inspecting Xerox machine cables…). He then shoots me a look-at-me-baba-I’m-doing-nothing-naughty facial expressions (hmmm I like to do that word-dash-word gimmick, sorry!) – I think he was seeking my approval… which I readily gave!

(just realised the date ; NO, they're not doctored pictures - my son really did this!! haha)

Arab-a-day:

1. Wallad = Boy

2. Kuis = Good

March 22, 2006 : mmm-Food!

2006-04-17T09:36:00.000+03:00

We have this BBC - Food channel in our satelite subscription, and it's a great watch - they have so many chefs concocting so many wonderful dishes. Even to the point where we're trying out some of the recipes

Wish Astro had this back home...now if only we can substitute 'kicap masin' for all the wine and balsemic vinegar that they seem to splash into every dish they cook...!

Arab-a-day:
1. Kharuf = a sudanese sheep, tasty but not smelly!
2. Samak = Fish, but I can't remember what they call tilapia here (this fish originated from the Nile and can be found in fresh waters worldwide!)

March 12, 2006 : Accidents do happen

2006-04-17T09:34:00.000+03:00

Oh dear, oh dear - we've met our first true test of being expats here in Sudan - last wednesday, Ckn and Ehsan were caught up in a road accident. Ckn decided to come to the office to check her email after office hours. The driver misjudged the speed of an oncoming car, which according to Ckn was driving very fast. Turning into the office too slowly forced the oncoming car to slam into the van.

Ckn was holding onto Ehsan for dear life! she got knocked out of the seat, hitting her head on the side door (the one you see here) and scraping her kneecap on the floor. By the time I arrived on the scene - about 1 minute later - Ali had Ehsan, and Ckn was standing close to the van; my staff and colleagues were trying to help. I gave Ehsan a once over and he looked fine. Ckn wasn't so lucky; she had a nasty bump on the right side of her head and she looked faint. Getting them both into another office car, we sped off to Al-Faisal Hospital for checks...

Luckily the x-ray turned out ok, and Ehsan was happily drinking from his 'lunch' at the hospital. The swelling reduced overnight and we managed to go to a Sudanese wedding later on Thursday evening. Phew - it was a close one!

We partly blamed Ali on this one, and it's forced us to keep Ali at a distance for the time being. but he's been very concerned for both of them, I just dont know how well we can trust him again and when! The people here live by 'God's will' - I believe in that too, but as humans we do have a duty to do the best or make sure that we're responsible; after we've done all that , only then can we surrender our fate to God.

Oh dear, oh dear...

March 8, 2006 : Oasis in the Dessert

2006-04-17T09:30:00.000+03:00

This is a map of Khartoum City - I've marked some places of interest that we have visited. I'll refer to the map in future stories, and hopefully will update it along the way.

I got the map from Google Earth, which is a great application to see maps; It's got a cool view of KL, but unfortunately this is as far zoomed into Khartoum as possible.

Anyway, legend-wise here are some pointers:

Khartoum is made up of 3 cities - Ombdurman and Bahri in the north (Bahri means north in arabic)
The city is at the meeting of the 2 Niles. Right smack in the middle is Tuti Island, a fertile piece of land full of farms. There's a small ferry jetty nearby and I plan to visit the island one day
Souk means Market; this ranges from traditional open or wet markets to a large area made up of small shops. It's a wonderful experience shopping here; but be prepared to haggle! I'm not that good though

March 4, 2006 : A Tale of Elephant hair and Kindness

2006-04-17T09:22:00.000+03:00

Yesterday was a fun day for the family - a fun, long and eventful day!

We started out early with Syikeen attending the women's association AGM, where, just like the Oscars, she was tipped to be elected as the Secretary. All of the 15(!) people who attended voted for her nomination! Well, good luck dear, I'm sure you'll do just fine!

In the afternoon, we already planned to visit one of the bigger Souks (market) in the city - across the Fitihab bridge, in Omdurman. Interestingly the bridge has 2 tanks guarding its approach; dont know if they're working or not coz I can see the crew sitting leisurely under some trees nearby; I for one am not finding out!

Anyway, we parked nearby the household-ware section of the market; it was starting to get a bit sticky, but we did go at 3pm! and started to do the rounds - goodness! there were so many shops, and we only had 1 hr before we had to surrender the van to my neighbour.

First stop: a shop selling china (we needed a fine set, but we'll shop around first I think!). One thing you'll notice here is that lot of the shops sell similar items, and confusingly, prices are quoted in USD, Sudanese Pounds or Sudanese Dinars. I've found the best way to circumvent this is to flash the numbers on my mobile and show a sampling of the currency i have. All said, the things here are all imported and reasnobly priced

There was one part of the Souk that had a lot of souveniors (sic) and trinkets. One item that I wanted to show my wife was a nice black bangle made out of ... elephant hair! now these hairs are thick and strong - it looks like plastic, until the salesman showed me the eneven size and textures. Well we took out a few and handled them - our driver Ali even put one on Ehsan's wrist - so cute (he looked hip, like his dad! haha). after a few minutes smelling (!) them, we returned them back...but the salesman looked at Ehsan and said 'mafi musykila' - 'no problem' : Ehsan got his bangle for free!

I was stunned! we didnt even buy anything. Quietly waving us away, I offered my Syukran and gave the good man a strong hand-shake and my widest smile, which he graciously accepted!

That was a good, valuable lesson - Up until now all i knew of Sudanese hospitality was from what my fellow expats told me or what i read from the Brandt book I bought back home; but to experience this first hand was quite a delight and a surprise...makes me feel at home already (don't think i ever got any free bangles from strangers back home tho...)

i wonder what else this country has in store for me and my family..?

Arab-a-day:
1. Tamam - I'm OK!
2. Kulu Tamam - I'm Very OK!
3. Mafi - a nicer way to say No (La)
4. Mafi Musykila - No Problem!

March 2, 2006 : Habub!!

2006-04-17T09:20:00.000+03:00

Yesterday was pretty uneventful, with exception of the HUGE sandstorm going thru the heart of Khartoum...oh dear

Ive been told stories of the fine-ness and pervasiveness of the sand here..and some are true. We thought we had the house all sealed up, and yet we still got sand everywhere! I was just standing outside of the office for a 'dagiga' (1 minute) and I was chewing sand (literally) when I got back to my table

It does remind me of home - how the monsoon rain can conjure up a wall of water, reducing visibility to mere centimeters! Luckily traffic conditions were not too hampered - we could still see couples braving it out and dating near the Nile, oblivious to the dust storm!

Arab-a-day :

1. Habub = dust!

2. Habub Kabir = Big Dust storm

How Much is USD 1 in Sudanese Dinars?

2006-04-17T09:12:00.001+03:00

Well, the opportunity of a lifetime is here - I'll be moving my family to Khartoum, Republic of The Sudan, effective on 1st January 2006 (that's roughly 4 months ago!)...it's quite hard talking in the present past tense or whatever you call it...

We've been put up in a nice apartment 10 minutes away from everything, but it is on a busy road. The oft-rumoured heat is not unbearable (yet) - it's still winter. The family's settling in nicely. I should be talking more about this experience in coming posts.

BTW, USD 1 is equivalent to SDD 227!

February 18, 2006 : List of things to write about

2006-04-17T09:12:00.000+03:00

1. My 'kecik' - Ehsan Reezal, born on the 3rd of June 2005

2. My ckn - beside every succsful man, there's a supporting wife

3. Moving out of the box - why i think sudan is ok for me and my family!!

4. home ownership - and how they can help shape one's economic outlook (ie mine!)

5. the top n things I miss of home (n being any number between, oh, 50 and 100!)

April 4, 2005 : Anger Management

2006-04-17T09:09:00.000+03:00

It's funny how one can get angry so fast - i guess anger is infectious and once it gets into one's system then it'll all go down the drain

Part 1 : I was at my local mall - small place called The Atria - shopping with the missus, when we stopped at Nando's to get her dinner to go...well we ordered and proceeded to wait at a table near the entrance...then we continued to wait (granted, the place wass full - it was raining, and they had an all-u-can-eat soup table)...but when other take out customers where getting their bloody chicken faster then we were - that was it! angrily we went to the counter to 'politely' enquire them of our poultry product...and lo and behld it was there - the manager had the nerve to say "ah - this was here the past 20 minutes...didn't know whose chicken it was..." - how lame!!!!!!

of course...anger is infectious...now Part 2 - the mall just implemented auto pay car parking...since we just shopped, we were eligible for free parking so we went to get the ticket validated and paid up ...problem was the pay station was at the other end of the mall, away from the validation...and it was pouring - guess who had to the walking and getting wetting??

on to Part 3 - upon reaching the exit...now this was funny - a car was stuck at the barrier...having NOT paid the ticket as instructed (mind you the bloody signs were too small in the first place - Part 3.1) ... so the 3 cars behind him had to reverse ever so slowly to give the bloke a chance to save face (no way! I eyeballed him)

...So there's my story - I think there was a Part 4 and 5 (possibly) but I can't be bloody bothered to write...anger is re-surfacing!!!

So kids - my point is : once you're angry - you'll find that pretty much EVERYTHING ELSE will piss the crap out of you!

abalone

January 20, 2005 : Dummies Guide to using your MP3 Player at the Office

2006-04-17T09:07:00.000+03:00

I work in a nice office environment in the world's 2nd tallest building (DAMN YOU Taipei 101!), but it is quite a boring place - very quiet - except nearing closing time (when everyone's jumps into a working frenzy)

So how is one to work productively? by listening to music, silly! I had to introduce my iPod into my blog sometime right?

so here is my guide to use an MP3 player in the safe confines of a sterile, cold office:
1. Get an MP3 player - guess you know what I recommend right? IPOD's rock
2. get out your old cds and bootleg-mp3s (is there such a thing?) and do what you have to do to get them into your said MP3 player - i suggest some nice pop candy, radio friendly tunes
3. find a nice discreet pair of earphones and insert neatly into your earlobes
4. Press play on the tape deck (haha gotcha!)
5. Place a small mirror beside your pc - this will allow you to monitor incoming traffic (read:boss and boss's cronies)
6. Do your work normally (ie random typing of keys, scribbling in red ink, cursing into the phone...)

Of course - I dont offer any warranties on this method - your actions are your own! ha

Going Home...

2006-04-17T08:43:00.000+03:00

...no not my real home, but blogspot. I've been away from this blog for about, well, a year! if you can see my last posting was in April 2005.

Ever since moving to Sudan, i've made a pledge to regularly post something to a 'journal', if you may, of my family's experience in Sudan. I do hope to make this a semi-permanent arrangement (for who can really tell the future)

the following posts were taken directly from my Friendster blog. and hopefully, they'll be new ones soon

Ta