Salam Aidilfitri

Today is the day where Muslims are celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr and 31st August is the Independence Day for Malaysia. Merdeka!Yes, 54 years ago, Malaysia was freed from British colonization. However, what's more important for the youngsters like me is how I appreciate the freedom in my country. Freedom is important to administer and develop a nation without any interference with the outsider.

Historical City of York

     I'm still in the mood of writing.lol.This time I want to share my experienced travelling to the City of York which is located in North Yorkshire. Before I decided to join the trip, organised by International Society of Manchester, I was skeptical about this trip. That was because I don't have any friends to accompany me to go for the trip. I was the only one who had a free time because most of my friends had their own activities. At first, I want to cancel joining the trip but I don't know because I felt that Yorkshire was calling me.Haha.Just kidding. I actually already bought a bus ticket to join the trip and it's difficult for me to sell the ticket to others.        

   Then, on Saturday morning around 8.00 AM, I went to the International Society's office to wait for the bus. While waiting for the bus, I looked around if there were any people that I might know so that I can joined them and had a good chat but as what I'd expected I was the only Malay and the only Muslim who joined the trip. It's quite challenging because I never joined any occasion or activities without my Muslim's friend. I stand alone near the office to wait for the bus to come until I heard a voice asked me "Are you going for the trip?". I turned around at her, smile and said "Yes, I am". Then, after some conversations I knew that she too was on her own for the trip. Her name was Dana and she was from Russia. Dana was very friendly and she kept talking and chatting while we were on the bus. I like her attitude and her well-mannered. Although we just knew each other but it seemed that I already knew her for a long time.  

       After 2 hours in the bus, we reached City of York. It is actually a historical city surrounded with many old buildings. William the Conqueror was related with this city in which he had stopped the rebellion of the York people in 1068. William the Conqueror was famous in English history as he was the first Norman King of England (Wikipedia). Yes, I did read about him while I was in school. One of the reason why International Society organised this trip was because there was a festival being held at this city. It is known as Jorvik Viking Festival. Viking is the warriors, merchants and pirates who explored and settled across the Europe (wiki). In 866, Vikings conquered York and from that history, people of York created this special event in order for them to celebrate viking heritage. There were lots of events and  activities in this city and we felt that we were actually in the era of vikings. Some people were hanging around in the city with viking costumes and they pretended that they were the real vikings. Sometimes, Dana and I stopped them just for us to snap some photos. (This festival gives me an idea if we can do the same thing in Malaysia by wearing a costume just like in zaman Hang Tuah and walked around in the City of Melaka.Haha.Ada ke orang nak terima my idea?).

        Dana and I travelled around the city by our self and we were free to go anywhere and joined any activities. We had been given the map of the city and it was up to us to explore. It's good to know that Dana had a strong interest in culture and heritage and I too love to get to know other culture.

Then, after sometime I noticed that it was time for me to pray. I told Dana that I need to stop at the side of the park near the old building in order for me to perform my prayer. Luckily, I brought along  a prayer mat and I can just wear my winter coat to pray. There were a few people passing-by besides me but Alhamdulillah everything was smooth and nobody interrupted while I was praying. 

       Dana seemed understand with my ritual prayer and she just waited for me. Then, we went to the national gallery before we finished our trip. But, it's already 5 PM and the gallery was closed so we just took some photos in front of the building. Around 7 PM, we waited for the bus as we were ready to go back to Manchester.While in the bus, Dana was never tired of talking and chatting.Haha. There were so many things she want to talk until I was surprised when she asked me this question, " Why Muslim wearing a hijab?" Then, I answered "Because Muslims were told to cover their beauty and only our family is allowed to see the beauty inside of our hijab". Huh? What am I saying? (Betul ke apa yang aku cakap ni?). I just don't prepare this kind of question. Nobody asked me before this type of question. Then, Dana nodded, and said, "I think it's true". Then, she asked me how many times do you pray in a day? When she asked me this question, I realised that she was wondering with my prayer. It seems that it was her first time watching how Muslim perform a prayer.Never in her life got the chance to see what I did just now. She told me she didn't know anything about Islam. Perhaps, she know what Islam is but she didn't know what Muslim does in everyday of life. I just response to all her questions but when I go back to my room,  I suddenly remember the khutbah given by the Khatib during Jumaah prayer which I heard in McDougall Prayer Hall in Manchester. He reminded us to mix around with the non-Muslims in order to deliver the messages about Islam. Not everyone know about Islam and we as a Muslim is responsible to let them know what Islam is all about.

The land of Heidi and Peter - Zurich, Switzerland

            Travelling is one of my interest and I believe that most of us love travelling. I still remember when my friend asked me this question,"If you want to go for honeymoon, where do you want to go?" Haha. Reporter always asked this question to the celebrity who has just got married. And my answer to my friend's question is Switzerland.Haha.Berangan jer.....

       Switzerand is located in western Europe and it took 2 hours by flight from Manchester to this beautiful country. I always want to go to Switzerland since I was 14 years old. I even have an email account with a username of switz84 but that username is already deactivated. Hoho. I don't have time to check my email and automatically hotmail deleted the account.

        Why I want to visit Switzerland? Thats because I always admire the mountains which covered with snow and I've always been fascinated with the scenery. Not only the mountains, the lakes, river, and the surrounding area absolutely beautiful. SubhanaAllah. These are all Allah's creation.

      Alhamdulillah, after 12 years, I have the opportunity to visit Zurich which is a part of Switzerland. I went to Zurich for 3 days with Nina and Hana. We visited Schaffhausen where there is a waterfall known as Rheinfall and according to wikipedia Rheinfalls are the largest plain waterfall in the Europe. Then, in the afternoon we went to Uetliberg and this is the best place for panoramic views around Zurich city. Uetliberg is the highest hill in Zurich with an altitude of 813 meters (Wikipedia). From here, I can spot a snow up in the mountains but it looks like a snow cap because it was a summer season. If you go during winter, definitely not only the mountains but all this country is white all around. 

     On the second day in Zurich, we went to Rapperswil-Jona or known as City of Roses. I used to be a girl who doesn't care about flowers. I don't feel acttracted with the flowers and if I watched a malay drama, I will say "Apa la mat bunga ni, asyik bagi bunga je,bukan best pun bunga.Haha" Now, after I grew up and become a woman my interest changed and I myself love flowers very much. Roses and Tulips are my favourite flowers and I have to admit that why flowers are synonym with women.

         In Rapperswil, the city is calm and quiet and the grasses here are so green. It reminds me of an English idiom which says "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence". This idiom actually want to define that people are never satisfied with their own situation and they always think others have it better.     

However, in Rapperswil and Uetliberg, the grass is so green and you will amaze with the colour of the grass. It is very green and clean.SubhanaAllah. 

       Besides of the nature,  Switzerland is a developed country. The transportation is superb with a double-decker train (Jakun gile bila tengok tren 2 tingkat, haha). There is no train's officer who actually checked our tickets. After we bought the tickets, we just jumped into the train and off we go..........I think if Malaysia apply this method, mahu bankrup KTM or LRT's company because ramai orang tak bayar tiket. Nobody checked your train's ticket in Zurich and probably trusworthy and honesty are their policy.

        People in Swiss are friendly although some of them like to keep an eye on us as we were wearing hijab. Swiss is not like in the UK where there are many Muslims with a hijab. Perhaps, they feel weird or awkward with hijab styles. But its okay as long as they don't offend us. However, there is a situation where a man who speak Italian (I think) came to us and greet us in Italian. He tried to be friendly and shake our hands. I was just laugh when he approached us in Italian and of course we don't understand what he was trying to say. Only after he showed a sign language to us then I understood that he knows that we were leaving Zurich by plane. He was excited with his hand showing the movement of the plane. Haha. Thats how people say (cakap macam ayam dan itik because sorang cakap bahasa lain and sorang lagi bahasa lain).Yes, not every people in the Europe can speak English. 

        I was very grateful to Allah for giving me this great opportunity to visit Zurich, Swiss. My dream place eversince I was in the high school. Alhamdulillah.

Here are some photos:

                                                Double-decker train.

Green green grass. Love it.

Rapperswil-Jona. A beautiful scenery

Panoramic view of mountains in Zurich

Rheinfall (Waterfall in Schaffhausen).

Start,begin........

          Eversince I was in school, I don't like writing.I love reading but not writing. Thats because I don't have the talent in writing and I always got B in my karangan or essay. lol.

But personally, I enjoyed writing about my feelings toward something or someone.I still remember when I was in Form 2 I had a book like a diary and when I was in the mood of writing, I will write whatever I felt regardless the grammar mistakes that I made. I have to admit that I'm not good in languages but I never give up in studying especially when it comes to the examinations (pergh, time ni memang study giler.haha).

          Anyway, today I am in the mood to start my own personal blog (ramai dah kawan2 stat, baru la ni nak stat, ketinggalan zaman betul). Today, I want to share my view towards LOVE. Love is not only between geli friend or buayafriend (Ustaz Hasrizal from saifulislam.com always use both of these words.hehe). But love can be happened between parent and children, teacher and student, human and the environment, and most importantly between human and The Creator (Allah swt). In my opinion, when we have the feelings of love we tend to be good and care the one that we love. Love is about give and receive. For example, if we love our environment, we will definitely take a good care of our land and river. Consequently, our environement is free from the pollutions and thats what I mean from give and receive.

           However, due to my age, people around me tend to talk about love between man and woman. My grandma and grandpa are those people who sometimes forced me to find my future partner. They keep on asking me this ayat ( bila mahu kawin?).I just can assure them, only Allah knows when is the best time for me to get married. Probably, my grandma can't wait to see her eldest grandaughter wedding ceremony and thats why she keeps asking the same thing.lol. 

             I always believe that Allah has set my destiny and what can I do is to be patient and pray. Allah has mentioned in the Quran " And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquillity with them, and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts): verily in that are Signs for those who reflect". (Ar-Ruum, verse 21).