One week to raya..2 weeks to exam

Yeay yeay raya is near........I've just come off the phone with my family who were about to buka puasa and having the "raya blues syndrome".....:(

Ramadhan is nearly over.....this month has flown by...the first week of puasa I was on an outstation job..luckily my colleague was also fasting so we could buka puasa together.

Last weekend, went for a weekend trip with Meem and Bobby to Leeds and stayed at Abang Nas's family house. We wanted to check out Cheshire Oaks factory outlet store near Manchester.
I'm not a big shopper but I do like a good bargain when I see one. Cheshire Oaks is cool! It's one of the McArthur Glen Designer Outlet stores which you can find all over UK but Cheshire Oaks branch is one of the biggest ones I've seen. It's mostly high street shops ranging from Gap, Oasis, La Senza , Nike , Puma , TM Lewin, FCUK, NEXT and many others......
All of us managed to do some bargain shopping......as it was Sunday the shops closed early at five.. so we didn't get to cover all of the shops...may have to do a return trip...need to start saving some more shopping cash hehehe

We decided to buka puasa in Manchester. I haven't been to Manchester before so didnt really know what to expect. We decided to check out this Malaysian restaurant called Jati...it was like Malaysian hall but it turned out to be quite disappointing.....
Service was slow and food was disappointing considering the price we had to pay.......I think if they had better management the place would be a profitable place.....

It is now the third week of puasa......and my exam is in two weeks ..aaarghhh a week after raya! I have been revising for it but this case study paper is different from any other exam paper I've come across....it's not a highly technical paper so the only way u can revise is by getting ur planning technique right. I haven't been able to get time off from work before the exam but insya-allah a few days before the exam will help get me focused.

I still can't believe it will be raya end of next week...It's another raya for me in London..I wish I could be back home for raya but it's not meant to be...So those of u who are back home spare a thought for us in London who are celebrating yet another raya di rantau orang.....


Wishing all of u Selamat Hari Raya & Maaf Zahir Batin if ade tersilap cakap or any wrongdoings I may have caused u............

Bulan Ramadhan di London

Alhamdulillah....at long last I finally have internet at the flat. It's amazing how reliant we have become to technology.

It is now the second week of Ramadhan, weather in London is getting colder and it's getting gloomier each day......I hate this time of the year when the weather is gloomy like this. I would not be surprised if Oct/Nov would have the highest suicide rates in the UK.

But let's not have unhappy thoughts right......

So this year is yet another year spending ramadhan in London..I've lost count of how many times I've celebrated Ramadhan in the UK. The best part of Ramadhan is going to tarawih and this month helps us get that much closer with Allah. It's also a chance for families to buka puasa together. Nowadays, modern families don't create enough time to sit down and have a proper meal together as everyone is busy with their everyday lives. Ramadhan can help strengthen family ties by breaking iftar and going to tarawih together.

I miss being back home this time of the year but this is all dugaan kan. Only by being away from home does one realise how lucky one is.

This year, it's been fun having friends over to break iftar together. Last Saturday we went to the Indonesian embassy to break iftar and it was an experience how other countries celebrate. Once a week the Indonesian embassy buat buka puasa session and it felt like being in a kenduri. Everyone sat down and the older folks dishing out food for us..it had that 'kampung feel to it' which was nice.

This week, we went to Qatar mosque for tarawih. I could only do four raka'at and continued witir at home though because I came down with a flu and wasn't feeling too well. Nevertheless it was an interesting experience. I hope to be able to check out how other cultures experience tarawih by the end of this month.

Ok well better start preparing for iftar..........