Journey to the West (A reflection)

Salam/ Peace be upon you,

There are actually few things that I wish to share here about what I’ve seen and learned while on my journey in the States. Hope it’s useful to anyone reading too!

1. I can’t help but to notice that most Americans are practicing the way of socializing promoted by the Prophet (which ironically, aren’t really practiced, at least in Malaysia, by the Muslims themselves). They smile and greet you, even if they don’t know you. Saying “Bless you!” to anyone that sneezed. I have to admit that over there it is easy for me to do so because everyone around is doing it but back in Malaysia, saying “Yarhamukallah” (meaning: May Allah bless you) in public does feel a little bit weird, at least for me it is. Dunno why. More about Islamic customs here.

Journey to the West (part 5: closing)

Salam/ Peace be upon you,

This part here kicks off rather sadly. I left Wildwood together with Christy, Soon Kiat and Mimi on a gloomy Tuesday morning. Thanks to their landlord, we didn’t have to drag our bags all the way to the bus station. They were really really heavy. Once we were in the bus, I started to feel horribly sad. God, feels like I’m in a movie, with this sort of mood and scenes. Sobs. It took us about one hour to reach Atlantic City Bus Terminal and from there, it’s another 2 hours before we reach Port Authority of New York. It started raining in Atlantic City, making the journey all the more sadder.

Wonderful landlord and his wife, Herman and Christine. Bid goodbye to them the night before.

Kemas katil dan bilik before keluar. Sedih tau time ni.

Goodbye, Wildwood!

Started raining at Atlantic City Bus Terminal

Journey to the West (part 5 : pre-closing)

Salam/ Peace be upon you,

Oh so can’t believe that I’m already in week 6 of my final year 1st semester. Nonetheless, memories of traveling in the USA still lingers strongly in my mind. Can’t believe that that’s over too! As if I was dreaming. Anyways, this post goes to you, F.A.R.

Picking on where I stopped last time, it should be obvious that this gonna be a long one. Please bear with me, okay? To make it easier to follow and less messy, I’ll use the point form.

1. First stop, Delaware

Tanger Outlet in Delaware is one of many shopping paradise located nearest to Wildwood. You can find branded items there i.e. Levi’s, Coach, Hush Puppies, etc at a much lower price. A thing that makes it more attractive compared to the one in Atlantic City is that there is no sales tax there meaning that you can shop more, for less! I went there with Christy and Soon Kiat by ferry, Cape May – Lewes Ferry to be exact, and it took us about 1 and a half hour to arrive there from Cape May jetty. By the end of the day they spent about 600 dollars, each. While the only thing that I bought is a pair of Levi’s jeans. I’m not much of a spender, I guess and I’m kinda saving my money to pay back to my dad (haha..guess how it goes).

Somewhere in Cape May

Sun bathing atas feri

Journey to the West (part 4)

Salam/ Peace be upon you,

It is now the 16th day of Ramadhan. About 2 more weeks left for the fasting month to end. Oh how time flies. Fasting in the States during summer isn’t as bad as I imagined. Sure, the fasting period is significantly longer (from around 4 a.m. until 8 p.m.) about 16 hours but Alhamdulillah (All Praise to God) I managed to get through so far.

This week is gonna be my 5th week working as ride operator. I’m the one who asked for the change actually, in order to get more working hours. More hours, more money so I thought. Since the admissions team are pretty small and in my view somewhat over hired, I guessed that my only way to get more hours is by joining the operations team. There are actually other reasons on why I decided to change but it is better for me to keep it to myself. Bulan puasa tak baik mengumpat. Kurang pahala puasa nanti.

Last day kerja dekat ticket booth 7/17/2011

Working as ride operator is totally different from working in the air-conditioned ticket booth. Instead of cool air and sitting down, you gonna have to face the hot sun and stand throughout your shift (talk about 5-7 hours long, with one 15 minutes break). I knew that before hand but as mentioned before, in order to get more hours I am willing to sacrifice the comfort that I’ve been enjoying for the past 1 and a half month. With my back bone problem and the holy month of Ramadhan coming, it is not the smartest move to be honest. Kinda regret it the moment I asked for it (was granted the next day btw, tak ada masa nak appeal balik pun adeh..). But one thing for sure, I believe that everything happened for a reason and only God knows what is best for me.

Resepi Cheese Cake

Salam/ Peace be upon you,

Post kali ni pasal resepi cheese cake. 2 ke 3 minggu lepas saya cuba buat cheese cake kat rumah sewa Christy and Soon Kiat. Sukatan bahan-bahan yang biasa saya guna saya alter sikit sebab kat sini banyak barang2 tak guna gram. Oven pun guna Fahrenheit jadi agak2 je, boleh je nak convert tapi saja malas (padan muka sendiri kek hangit, haha).

Masukkan cream cheese dalam mangkuk/bekas

Bahan-bahan:

• Cream Cheese (16 oz @ 454 g)
• Gula (100 g)
• Tepung (20 g)
• Telur (2 biji)
• Orange/ Navel (1 biji)
• Heavy Cream (8 oz @ 227 g)
• Choc. Chips/ Cookies (1 pack)