2007 January « Shereen’s journal

1 week passed by January 25, 2007

Filed under: Personal — shereen @ 4:38 am
Tags: jan 2007

Assalamualaikum families and friends,

It has been 1 week now.. 7 long days. Yesterday, we went to a Car Boot Sale in an area just of Sheffield can’t remember the name. I’m thankful that the host bring us along. We bought some warm clothes for the family – me, Mizi and Hazeeq. They were very cheap. We can find a used sweater/jumper for only 1 pound(RM7) and they are in good condition. Most of the things here sold cheaply. But as usual, it’s difficult to find a size for Mizi. So we bought 2 brand new jumpers and 1 jacket for 18 pound.

Last nite, we went out to a meeting held by Sekolah Melayu Sheffield. We ate a delicious nasi briyani ever and went home after spending 2 hours there.

Few times I cried myself. And on Sunday night, I woke up and really pray to Allah to help me find a suitable house for the whole family. All weekend I was busy trying to call Tahir, the Pakistani which own a house at Tinsley to be rented at ₤330. The house is in poor condition-that’s why we didn’t want it at the first place. The wall is purple and the smell is so…. Can’t describe what it is – but terribly smelly! Anyway, seems like we don’t have much choices; that force me to accept the house and told myself it’s going to be just for temporary, until we have found a more suitable house. But, again.. I can’t reach him. All my calls went into voice messages.

So, on Monday; I took a day off from doing research. We went house hunting. I bought a Sheffield Telegraph newspaper and look for houses. I called some prospective landlords and made appointments – all planned for one whole day. We went out early morning and with map in hand; I tried to figure out the best way going to that place by public transport (bus or tram). One of the houses we went is situated at Tinsley, S9. Hazeeq was hungry as it was noon already. We went into a shop and what a surprise – it’s Tahir – the owner of the house said earlier – and he’s the owner of the shop too! Alhamdulillah, he gave me the key for me to take a look at the house again after they have cleared the house. We went to see the house that we were supposed to look at and then his house. But still, the house is not up to our taste. We can’t accept the poor condition of that house. So, we gave Tahir back his keys and I discussed further so we can rent for a short time period. He agreed – minimum 1 month. Minimum 1 month means that I would be paying for 4 weeks but I intend to stay there only for 2 weeks. Worst come to worst, we would opt for house managed by house agency and that require another 2 weeks for bank check and legal documents to be sorted out. But, hopefully something good will comes out sooner, I’m sure that was the best that Allah has planned for me.

Next, we went to the university house at Ruth Square. It is at the moment being rented by a Korean family. The house is very nice – 2 bedrooms with one bath at the attic! I love it at an instance. The rent is ₤399 – slightly lower than my maximum budget ₤400. But it was relatively cheap after taking consideration ₤0 for transportation to the U. After looking all around, I managed to call a Minibus and charter them via sms to pick my family at 9.15 pm that same night. It was 7 pm that time. But I was so excited. Yes, this is the best for us. That is why all the weekend I can’t reach Tahir – and I just saw him in the shop then.

We arrived at Jan’s house at 8pm. I told Jan that we have found a house and wanted to move out in 1 hour time. I went up and packed up things; while Mizi chat further more. Yeah, somehow we should be thankful to them for hosting us the past 1 week. Just about 5 minutes after I packed up, the minibus came. We hopped into the bus with cheerful help from Jan and Saiful. Arrived at the house, we waited some time for Saiful and Jan again. They took us to shop for groceries and basic equipments for the new house. I should really be thankful to them, right? We spent about ₤55 for a whole lot trolley of groceries at ASDA. It was relatively cheap. But for RM55, just how much we can get in Malaysia?

So, on Tuesday, I went out to the U first time from Tinsley, taking the tram. The walk from my house to the tram station is 20 mins. On the tram I called Ms Barbara Wild of the U Accommodation Dept to book the house. She asked me to come at 1.30pm to sign in the agreement. I arrived at the city centre and walk 5 mins to my dept. Oh my.. there’s a lot of walking around here! But I’m okay with that as long as the weather permits.

Selamat! January 18, 2007

Filed under: Personal — shereen @ 4:40 am
Tags: jan 2007

I dah selamat sampai 2 hari yg lepas di Sheffield. Tiba di Paris jam 6.30 pagi kerana cuaca yg tidak begitu baik. Orgnya tak begitu friendly, tapi bila nampak Hazeeq, depa sukakan children. Airport di CDG (Charles de Gaulle) agak unfriendly spt orgnya – tangga yg curam di tempat-tempat yg tak sepatutnya. Tak seperti org kita, Europeans travel lighter-less bags maximum 2 hand luggages; which is one of the things that we should really think about before going abroad. I will suggest to you all to stick to 2 hand luggage and the rest should be posted later or put as cabin luggage.

6 jam menunggu di Paris seperti cepat berlalu. Maklumlah, tempat org.. tak jemu kita melihatnya. Tapi cuaca sangat sejuk. Flight ke Manchester delay pula dan at 2 pm, baru dapat bertolak ke Manchester. Sampai di Manchester, I saw a man holding my name. Atually a friend has booked a cab for me which would cost me ₤80 for a trip to Manchester. But another kind hearted friend promised to fetch me at the airport and I should just pay her ₤60 for oil cost from Leeds-Manchester-Sheffield. So, I have just to ignore the cab driver for good reason.

Arrived at Sheffield, I stayed with a host, named Janmaizaitaul, 30 yrs, staying at S4 7EB. She’s very kind. Doing her PhD at the same Uni and her husband is working in a factory nearby. They have 2 kids and they bring their maid along. After eating dinner and solat Isya’, we went to sleep.

Second day, we went out in the evening to shop for some clothes. On the third day (Wednesday-today), I went out to meet my supervisor; Prof Peter Willet at Information Studies Dept at Regent Court. He even walked me to the Student Union building for registration and waited for a moment before left for a meeting. He’s very kind and generous; but at the same time really strict on getting things done. I ought to view some houses today but due to some circumstances, it has been postponed until tomorrow.

Am I missing Malaysia – yes, very much. I miss my family and friends back in Malaysia. Even at 5 am(KL) in the flight going to Paris, I really cried when listening “Kau Tak pernah Jauh” by Nora. You should listen to every bit of the lyrics. On the second day here, I cried once again when I’m out of phone credit. I want to call home to tell my family not to worry – but I can’t because I have been using the credits to confirm my arrival with friends at Manchester. Mizi gave me his credit so that I can talk to Ibu for a while. It was so cold. But my world seems as small as this house. I want to go out and ease the pain – but I was so afraid of losing my way back home in the cold weather. My hands felt numb now and then. And even taking shower is so hard. Sometimes the water is too cold, and when I tried to adjust using hot tap, it would be too hot. There’s no way you could just wrap your towels going to the bathroom. You’ll be very completely dressing like going out in Malaysia while you are just going to take your bath. The food is tasteless in the cold weather and the spices don’t taste the same like in Malaysia. On the third day, I’m adjusting myself. I managed to walk around from the host house to the city and around the Uni. It’s a long walk and I love it – except for the very cold weather. He city is not as clean as we might seen in the TV. In fact, KL is much cleaner than here. The supermarket and stores are not as neat as in KL. Even their city centre is cramp with vehicles and traffic jam on peak hours – just like KL. But not many tall buildings. All in all, I would say that KL is a lovely place and beautiful that we must be thankful we have been born in Malaysia. Foreign place is a lovely place to look at, but our own place is always the best.