Consistency Builds Character

I'll begin my post with an analogy. If you want to start a business, what do you need first? Not money, before that. You need a business plan. Similar to your life, you need a plan to live a successful life.

"Failing to plan is planning to fail" - Benjamin Franklin -

However, sometimes (or most of the time), all the things we have planned remain plan, no implementation. Perhaps they are so big or so many that we find them difficult to implement. 

Three days ago, I attended a talk by Sheikh Abdulbary Yahya, entitled "Ambition - Journey of a Thousand Miles". From his name, you know he is a Muslim speaker (a great one btw), but his talk can be applied to anyone, regardless of their belief. However for Muslims in particular, I'll share some of the things he said at the second part of this post.

Start making your plan with small things!

The plan needs to be small to make it achievable. Not only small, there has to be regularity in it. Make your daily, weekly, and monthly plan! Sheikh shared a couple of examples of his own plan:

• Tidy up room for 3 minutes everyday
  
  Sheikh's mother and sister are "clean freaks". They always maintain everything in the house tidy and clean. So, he grew up as a spoiled child because he didn't need to clean anything in the house. They had done it. When he studied abroad (in Medina), the mess started to pile up. Of course his mother's gonna come to clean it. So, he made this plan: he would spend only 3 minutes to tidy up or clean his room every day. He did it. Eventually, his room's always clean and tidy, and he came to the point when he was looking for dirt/dust to spend the 3 minutes he had allocated. Finally he had to reduce it to 1 minute a day.

  
  
• Take 3 pieces of rubbish from the car
  
  Sheikh made this rule for his children. Everytime they are travelling by car, each one of his children has to take 3 pieces of rubbish from the car to be thrown away. The rubbish is like a ticket to get out of the car. This way, his car is always clean.

The point here is consistency. If you're consistent with your plan, it will become your habit. It's no longer a burden. Eventually, you won't even realize that it has become your character. If the plan is applied to your family, then it becomes your family character, and you won't need to remind them anymore.

Consistency is not only about doing your plan, but also doing it in time. For example, 5-minute exercise every day (daily plan); visiting a friend once a week (weekly plan); cooking for the whole family once a month (monthly plan); etc. You should stick to the time you've set for every plan. Try your best to be consistent in time of ease and hardship! How to do it? Do not choose deeds that are too difficult to do! Do not choose too many deeds! Once you succeed with the small plans, you can work it up.

"If you can do something consistently, it becomes your character. It won't be a burden anymore, you'll enjoy it." - Sheikh Abdulbary Yahya -

For Muslims

Here I'm writing several ideas shared by Sheikh regarding our spiritual plan.

As Muslims, we have to pray¹ 5 times a day. Why did Allah SWT order us to pray 5 times a day?² There is a wisdom behind it. It teaches us consistency (istiqomah), which is one of many principles in Islam. The 5 prayers have their specific times when they have to be performed. If we're consistent performing all the prayers in time, then we can take it to the next level, which is to pray no later than 10 minutes after Adzan (the calling for prayer, when the prayer time starts), for example. This could be our daily plan.

I'll tell you a story. Since embracing Islam, Abu Hurairah RA never missed the first takbeer of congregational prayer for 40 years. If you think it's easy, try it for 4 days only, it's hard! Especially when you're busy with study or work. However, you can include this in your monthly or 2-week plan.

Another story about Abu Hurairah RA; since he mentioned Muhammad SAW as his khalil (means intimate friend in Arabic), he never missed these 3 things:

1. fasting 3 days every month,
2. praying witr before going to sleep every night, and
3. praying 2 raka'at of Dhuha every day.

All of them are sunnah (not mandatory), but he was consistent doing those 3 until the day he died.

If we look at those 3 things above, they are achievable. We can start by doing no.2 as our daily plan. Note that those are Abu Hurairah's minimum requirements; he did more than those. For example, he fasted one day, off the next day, fasted again one day, off again, and so on.

Another thing Sheikh suggested was related to technology. We all know that we use computer/laptop/iPad almost every day (if not every day). So, what Sheikh does is that everytime he turns on his iPad, the first thing he does before doing anything else is reciting a page of Qur'an (the Qur'an application on iPad).

With all the routines that have been planned, one might ask, "How to make it not feel robotic?" Try to focus on the quality of your deeds too, not just quantity. For example, when you recite a page of Qur'an, read and understand the meaning too! This way, you learn something that can be applied in your life.

Once you get used to your new habit, please be careful! The plan you've been doing is your personal plan. Do not force others to do exactly what you do! If you do so, it becomes bid'ah.

There are many other ideas we could include in our plan. Some of them are:

• giving €5 every week for shadaqah,
• praying at mosque at least once a week,
• reciting surah Al-Kahfi every Friday,
• performing sunnah prayer (qabliyah and/or ba'diyah) every day,
• etc.

Now you have a good number of ideas for your plan. Of course you're allowed to be creative as long as your plan only contains good deeds. Just remember: start from small things, be consistent, and work it up! :)

¹"prayer" or "pray" is actually not the precise word to describe the prayer Muslims do as it has specific rules and procedures regarding movements and recitations (unlike "pray" in general). So, in Islam the prayer is called "shalat/salah". However, for reading convenience, I'm using the word "prayer" or "pray" in this post .

²The wisdom behind the revelation of the mandatory prayers can be read in this post: http://zahraeyes.blogspot.ie/2012/11/the-wisdom-behind-isra-miraj.html.

 

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The Wisdom behind Isra' Mi'raj

The order to perform mandatory prayers¹ was conveyed to Prophet Muhammad SAW during Isra' Mi'raj. Those who don't know what Isra' Mi'raj is can read it here: wikipedia and IslamiCity.

All Muslims know that the number of mandatory prayers per day was 50 at first. However on the way back, Muhammad SAW met Prophet Moses AS (peace be upon him). He advised Muhammad SAW to go back to to ask for reduction. There's no way Muslims would be able to perform 50 prayers every single day. So, Muhammad SAW went back to do what Moses AS suggested. Basically, Muhammad SAW went back and forth asking from Allah SWT for reduction as Moses AS kept telling him that the number was too many. In the end, 5 is the final number of mandatory prayers Muslims must do, until this day.

Now, read this carefully. Allah SWT is God. Did He not know that Moses AS would tell Muhammad SAW to go back and forth asking for reduction from Allah SWT? Of course Allah SWT knew, He's the Almighty and the All-knowing. So, why did He do this? Why didn't He order 5 the first time? Why did He start from 50?

There's a wisdom behind this. If we had to pray 50 times every single day, how much time left for anything except praying? Let's do the computation roughly: 24 hours / 50 prayers = 2 or 3 prayers per hour. Thus, you would only have a few minutes to eat, study, work, and sleep! Imagine you sleep for a few minutes and then have to wake up to pray. You see that most of our time would be spent in prayer if we had to perform it 50 times a day. It shows that Allah SWT wants us to constantly worship Him. That's the purpose of our life. However, Allah SWT is the most merciful (one of His 99 names/attributes). He knows that we won't be able to perform 50 prayers a day. So, He reduced it to 5.

The order to pray was the only revelation that was conveyed from Allah SWT directly to Muhammad SAW (other revelations were delivered to Muhammad SAW through the angel Gabriel). Why was that? There's also a wisdom behind this. By praying, we, as His creation, can worship Him directly, pray to Him directly, confess our mistakes/sins to Him directly, ask for forgiveness from Him directly, ask for anything from Him directly, without any intermediary whatsoever. No human-being can be an intermediary between you and God. It's like having a direct plug-in to your Creator. He's the most powerful, the Almighty, the All-knowing, so your relationship with Him doesn't need anyone/anything in between.

¹"prayer" or "pray" is actually not the precise word to describe the prayer Muslims do as it has specific rules and procedures regarding movements and recitations (unlike "pray" in general). So, in Islam the prayer is called "shalat/salah". However, for reading convenience, I'm using the word "prayer" or "pray" in this post.

Source of the picture above: http://bahesti.wordpress.com.

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Desire

A regular normal day, regular routines
seems boring? No, that's just a surface

One exciting day
that's what I thought
overwhelming feelings
I kept it calm, unwritten on my face

Just a gratitude I could express
perhaps one tiny smiley curve on my lips
nothing else

It's clear
one thing made me happy
just one thing
but that's enough for me to think
The world behaves nicer towards me today

Suddenly
heard a word
unpleasant word
usually took it as a joke, no hurt feeling

But now completely different
the source of my today's happiness, that's where the word came from
it brought me down, it really did

The moment had passed
brought me to a realisation
something I've already known
but unintentionally ignore it, deny it
nothing I can do to fix the past moment but learn one lesson
one valuable lesson


by Amalia Zahra

"Following your desire in this world will bring you down at some point. If you follow only the Almighty Allah SWT, you'll feel the total freedom. Be grateful and peaceful for whatever Allah gives you as He knows what is best for you."

 

source of the picture above: http://www.masjidma.com.

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Dancing in Dublin (cekiii!!)

Friday afternoon, windy outside, sitting in front of computer in the office, while waiting for my experiments to finish, I'm spending my time updating my blog. It's actually an old story I posted on my other blog (in Indonesian). I'm retelling the story here. Happy reading!

12 November 2009, it was 25 year anniversary of Indonesia-Ireland relationship, celebrated at Shelbourne Hotel. One of the programs showed that day was dance performance. Ireland presented the Irish tap dance and Indonesia presented some of our traditional dances. One of them was Saman dance. It's a traditional dance from Aceh, a province in north part of Sumatera island. The characteristic of the dance is its movement that gets faster gradually as it goes. The only instrument used was a wooden drum, played by one lead singer. Several times during the dance, the dancers sang too or made distinct noises that sounded like we're shouting. :D

13 November 2009. We held a fundraising event at the "Break for the Border" to help the earthquake victims in Padang, West Sumatera, Indonesia. A week before the event, we had initiative to promote the event and raise some fund at the same time. So, we danced in the middle of crowded Grafton Street on a weekend. We did it five times at two different spots on Grafton Street, not forget to show our poster as well. Overall, it went very well. We had a blast! We raised around 250 Euro and there were a lot of people coming to the actual fundraising event on the 13 November.

At the Break for the Border, not only Saman Dance was performed, but also Sundanese and Balinese dances, Indonesian martial art ("silat"), and vocal groups. We made it! All money we got was handed to the Indonesian Ambassador for UK and Ireland to be delivered to those who need it in Padang. It had been days of hard work, commitment, and of course joy. :)

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Assalamu'alaikum, Istanbul!

Hi again, readers!

I know I just posted something about Stockholm yesterday. Sometimes I could be so eager to write, write, and write. The other time, I could be extremely lazy that this blog is untouched for months. So now I'm writing some stuff I found interesting (or not) about Istanbul. I stayed there for only a week. Here are some random things I experienced while I was there. Happy reading! :)

• The tourism spots you can visit in Istanbul are plenty. Some of them are Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet Mosque), Hagia Sophia, and Grand Bazaar. 
• Blue Mosque is the only mosque in Istanbul with 6 minarets, which is the maximum number you can have in a mosque. It's called Blue Mosque because of its blue interior (tiles and windows). 
• Hagia Sophia used to be a church for 916 years, then a mosque for 481 years. Now, it's a museum.
• Grand Bazaar is one of the largest covered markets in the world with 60 streets and 5000 shops. It's huge! If you go there, I would suggest you to take a picture of the gate you get into the market from, just in case you forget your way back (fyi, there are many gates). They have almost everything: clothes, tea sets, plates, carpets, jackets, sweets, pashmina, shisha, and many more. Here, you're allowed to negotiate the price, ask them to cut the price by 50%, don't be hesitate! If you love shopping, this place definitely suits you. ;) 







Blue Mosque

Hagia Sophia

Grand Bazaar



• Most local people don't speak English. There were a few times when I had to use my body language to explain what I wanted to say. One day, I went to a small shop to buy a notebook. I looked around the shop and didn't find one. So, I decided to ask a man, who I assumed is the owner of the shop. At first, he thought I needed a tissue (I had no idea how he got that from my question). Then I took out a small booklet from my bag and acted like I was writing on it. He seemed to understand what I meant, but no, he gave me an envelope. :D I gave up, "That's OK sir, thank you."


• Regarding public transportation, there are buses, trams, funiculars, and boats. All of them require a special card, namely akbil card (or Istanbul card). You can buy the card at small shops around Istanbul that have the sign "akbil card". You pay 7 (Turkish lira) as deposit and then you can top it up using ticket machines. At first, I didn't know about this card. I still remember how I went back and forth asking different people at the train station in Taksim (the area where my hotel was). I was unlucky because all the people I asked don't speak English. They all pointed to the ticket machines, but the problem was I didn't have the card and wanted to know where to get one. I tried my best to explain it, but they didn't understand. After a while, one of the staff at the station allowed me to get into the funicular without ticket (I think he was a little bit frustrated dealing with me). So, I got into the funicular and there I met some people from the conference (I went to Istanbul for a conference). I found out about the card from them.


• The temperature in Istanbul was HOT! Just like in Jakarta. You will get sweaty (corn-size sweat!). If you touch your head, you can feel the heat. So, sunglasses is a must, although I forgot to bring mine. >_<


• To change currency, it's better to do it at a money exchange than a bank because the rate offered there is better.


• As far as I know, the dinner time in Turkey is pretty late, around 9pm. Even the gala dinner held by the organisers of the conference started at 9pm and finished around midnight.


• Talking about food, which is something we always want to know when we visit a country, they were all delicious! Tasty and spicy, yum! :9 Even the rice tasted good. I could eat the rice without anything else. That's how good it was. And they were all cheap! I suppose everything in Turkey is cheaper (compared to Dublin). And oh, I always got a free cup of tea everytime I had lunch or dinner at a restaurant or even take away. That might be common here.

  

  Turkish Foods



• The local people are nice and friendly. Let's just leave it that way. If you plan to go to Istanbul and want to know more about it, you can ask me in person.


• As you might know already, Istanbul is the only city in the world which is both in Europe and Asia geographically. The conference I attended was in Europe side of Istanbul. However, I got a chance to go to the Asia side (by boat). The difference between the two is pretty noticeable. The Asia side is more crowded and less organised in terms of the structure of the city while the Europe side is more artistic in terms of the architecture of the buildings. For Indonesian people, I have to say, the Asia side of Istanbul looks similar to terminal Blok M or Tanah Abang. XD However, I enjoyed the boat trip from Europe to Asia and return. :)

  

  The view from the boat heading to Asia side of Istanbul



• Did you know that the Turks (Turkish people) introduced coffee to Europe? They also gave the Dutch their famous tulips. 


• I found some words in Turkish that are the same in Indonesian. For example, "soap" in Turkish is "sabun"; "tower" is "menara", so is in Indonesian!
  
  

Those are a few stories I could share during my stay in Istanbul. Oh, I almost forgot, one place not to be missed is Topkapi Museum, especially at the Islamic relics section (I'm absolutely sure that muslims will find this section amazing!). It's full of history, mA!

ps: I didn't get a chance to go to Cappadocia. So, I might visit Turkey again some day. ^_^

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Stockholm in a Nutshell

Halo! or should I say, "gurdy gurdy gurdy!" ;)

Filling some spare time I have now, I'm writing a few things I experienced when I was in Stockholm, Sweden last week. We flew with Ryanair, and it was definitely better than the last time I flew to Edinburgh, which was shaky! Anyway, we arrived in Skavsta Airport, which is a small airport and all I could see there was only Ryanair, no other airlines.

City Hall

To reach center Stockholm, you can take shuttle buses (Flygbussarna) which will cost you around 25-30 Euro, return (valid for 3 months). Oh, if you're 25 years old or younger, you can get youth tickets, which are slightly cheaper. The buses stop at Central Station, which is next to the Stockholm City Hall. It's the venue where the Nobel prize ceremony takes place. Around the building we saw crescent, cross, and a statue of sleeping Budha. There might be some history behind those three religious symbols in the building, but we didn't get a chance to ask the tour guide.

One of Irish pubs in Stockholm

Regarding dinner time, apparently it's earlier than normal. Not sure around what time, but definitely before 9 pm as it was difficult to find restaurants that are still open above 9 pm. However, you can still have something to eat at pubs as they open until late at night. Oh, we found many Irish pubs in Stockholm (I think they love Irish). Oh, not only that, several things here are very similar to Dublin. Blue bus seats, yellow hand holds in the bus, the small equipment for pedestrians to cross the road (hope you know what I mean), and public bicycles, to name a few. However, it's less crowded than Dublin.

Classic Swedish Meatball

Now about the food. Swedish cuisine is so creamy. One popular delicacy from Sweden is their meatball, Classic Swedish Meatball to be precise. I didn't try it, but only the sauce (sweet). So, what did I have? I had salmon, which was delicious. As far as I remember, I had salmons quite often in Stockholm, probably 3-4 times, which I didn't mind so much. :)

 

The architecture seemed very artistic. I'm talking about statues decorating the buildings. They were everywhere, even above regular doors or windows of offices/apartments. Some statues made me think what they actually are because I couldn't picture it, for example a statue of half woman, half airplane. :D

What about the people? We found that Swedish people are nice and friendly. Never had a problem dealing with them, they were helpful. And oh, most of them are tall! Even the Swedish teenagers are taller than me (well, that's not surprising). Talking about teenagers, Swedish teenagers have their own celebration when they finish school (high school, we assumed). They got into a truck, turned on musics out loud and went around city. Some of them wore a white sailor hat, which is common for students who have finished school, apparently.

Seeing a movie at cinema was quite an experience. As usual, a few trailers were shown prior to the screening of the movie. After the trailers were shown, there was a lady coming into the theater and saying something in Swedish. We had no idea what she was talking about. We thought the movie had been canceled. After asking a local guy sitting next to us, apparently the lady was welcoming us! Never saw that before anywhere else. It felt like we're going to see a live theatrical act or something. Nice! :)

Closing my post, here are a few pictures of Stockholm. ;)

Overall, it's been a great experience. Tack for reading! :)

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[Poem] Hijab

I read this poem on the Muslim Youth Ireland page on Facebook. I love it so much that I want to share it with you, readers. Dedicated to all sisters. ;)

Hijab
I turn the corner find people looking and staring
Simply because my hair isn’t baring
I wonder why…
I then realise…

Some think I am controlled
Whilst others believe I am uneducated
I wonder why…
I then realise…

These people with these thoughts feel I have no voice
They think being hooded means I have no choice
I wonder why…
I then realise…

People whisper that I am oppressed and rejected
For they do not know I am covered and well respected!
I am not judged by how I look
But the way I speak and my conduct

So while passers by may see me as a reject
I know inside I am perfect

~ anonymous (will be updated once I know the author)

source of the picture above: my private collection, taken at Botanics Garden, Dublin.

 

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Common Phrases, Perceived Differently

Hi readers, now I'm writing about a few small things related to English. It's not about grammar, vocabulary, tenses, bla bla bla, don't worry! :P But it's rather about my experience in Dublin regarding 3 English expressions (or 4). 

How are you?

What would you say if someone asks you that question? I'm pretty sure you'll tell them how you are, either fine, sick, or whatever, right? So will I. However, in Ireland sometimes when people say "How are you?", they mean "Hi!", which means no proper reply is fine. :P 

At first, I was so confused. When seeing some people on campus and they said "How are you?", I was going to respond to them, but they just passed me. *imagine me trying to say something with my mouth open, but then cancel my intention to reply and look confused* LOL. I thought, "They really want to know how I am or not?" *never mind* :P Btw, it happened several times, and from that I figured out the phrase could mean 2 different things.

Compared to Indonesian culture, if someone asks you about how you are, they really want to know. That's why I never say the phrase as a greeting only (read: Hi!). A couple times I had to repeat it when the person I was talking to didn't answer properly. :P

Nice to meet you!

This is the phrase used when you meet someone new. I know that, but once when someone said the phrase to me (when I viewed a lot of accommodations 2 years ago), somehow I felt ... (can't find the right word). Hmm.. how to explain it? It's like this: How do you know it's nice to meet me when the time you've spent with me is only less than a minute? :D I know that the phrase has a good intention as being friendly, but it could be perceived as just friendly words, and that's fine. But personally, when meeting a new person, I will say the phrase twice: in the first 1 minute (for the sake of following the society :P) and when I'm or they're about to leave. The second time is when I really mean it.

Are you OK?

This is the phrase that took me a long time to realise that it's not always about asking my state of feeling or condition. >_< For example when I was at a shop, the staff/cashier always asked me, "Are you OK?" And I always replied, "Yes, I'm fine." LOL, and then followed by what I wanted to do, which was to pay the stuff I bought. I thought, "Nice lady/guy!" :D But then when it happened many times.. wait a minute, they didn't actually ask about what I thought they asked me, LOL. It's just an expression to welcome the customers, to give them a clue that they're next to be served. And me, I finally realised that after around 6 months living in Dublin. :P

Those are 3 expressions that gave me a little confusion. Not anymore, note that! :P It's just interesting to see how some phrases in a language are used in different scenarios, which might have unexpected meanings and also might be perceived differently. I'm sure other languages have their own story similar to this. :)

Bonus:

X: "Are you about?"
Me: (in my head: "About what?" and 3 seconds later realising what it means) Yes, I am! LOL
At least, now I don't take months to realise it, less than 5 seconds. Again, note that! :P

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Homemade Treatment for Asthma

Hi, readers! :)

It has been more than 2 weeks I didn't update my blog. Now, I'm going to share some information I got from an Algerian brother, which might be useful for people out there who have asthma. The only ingredients you should prepare are fresh cloves.

This homemade treatment was discovered by a Sudanese engineer. He himself experienced attacks of asthma that were so severe. He noticed that cloves would help to cure the symptoms, so he did some experiment until he found a unique recipe that gave him a total relief. He recommended this treatment to his friend who was also suffering from asthma so severe that she needed to go to the hospital constantly for oxygen. After trying this treatment, she was cured. It was also useful for another friend who was on a breath inhaler.

This treatment is simple and natural way to cure or give relief to some people who suffer from asthma.

1. Take 6 stems of fresh cloves.
2. Remove the head of each clove and keep the stem (this is very important).
3. Put the stems in a 1/2 cup of cold water, cover it and let it sit over night.
4. First thing in the morning, on an empty stomach, drink the water and discard the stems.
5. Repeat this process for 15 days, continuously.

Hope this simple recipe works like a charm, and feel free to share this to your friends as a potential treatment for asthma relief. May you be blessed with health and happiness! :)

source of the picture: gizmodo.com.

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Do you fancy Irish breakfast?

Picture 1. Full Irish Breakfast

IRISH BREAKFAST. I've seen this phrase many times, either on a menu list or a small board in front of a restaurant or cafe in Ireland. I didn't know what it consists of, but wasn't curious to order one either. I thought, "Hmm.. It's Ireland, a country where the people LOVE drinking alcohol. I wasn't surprised if the breakfast also contains a taste of it." That's my presumption. :P

One day, I and my friend went to a cafe to have breakfast. We ordered some normal meal for breakfast (I think it was scrambled eggs, hash brown, and a cup of tea if I'm not mistaken). Out of curiosity, I asked the waitress who took our orders about what are in the Irish breakfast. She said a lot of things, which I can't remember all, but I remember saying, "Nice!" when she mentioned pudding (black pudding to be precise). Pudding for breakfast, didn't sound bad at all. I love pudding!

So, what does Irish breakfast have? It has sausages, bacon, one pack of black pudding, one pack of white pudding, eggs, tomatoes, hash brown, mushrooms, and beans (Picture 1). That's quite a big portion for breakfast, isn't it? Well, the size might not matter anymore once you know these two "things/specimens": black and white pudding. I thought pudding always correlates with sweet and spongy dessert with wonderful and mouthwatering taste. Ladies and gentlemen, I was wrong!! >_<

Black Pudding

Picture 2. Black Pudding

Black pudding (Picture 2) is a blend of oatmeal, pork fat, blood (usually from a pig), onions, and flavourings. OK, I don't eat pork, bacon, and their friends.. lol, but blood! I didn't expect that at all! It's official, one pudding has ruined my imagination of what a pudding is supposed to be. >_< What about white pudding?

White Pudding

Picture 3. White Pudding

White pudding (Picture 3) is similar to the black one, but without blood. Sounds better, right? Hold on. My colleague said it's worse. How come? Before I tell you what he said about white pudding, I'm going to let you know a proper recipe I got from the internet. In that recipe, white pudding is a blend of oatmeal, onion, beef suet, onions, spices, and seasoning. Sometimes, people also put pork, sheep's heart, liver, and lungs in it. My colleague said it wouldn't be surprising if you find a white pudding that contains any part/organ of a cow/pig/sheep, like nails, ears, everything! :-o How do you know? They're all blended together. Can you imagine how much saturated fat contained in the pudding?

I found these two puddings in particular very weird. I kinda feel lucky I've never tried one. Well, I guess every country has some unusual meal. To name a few, octopus in Hungary (tastes fine btw), pig's *a** in Portugal (shocking and disgusting!), bats in North Sulawesi (Indonesia), frog juice in Philippines, etc.

Anyway, readers, going back to my first question, after reading this article, do you (still) fancy Irish breakfast? :P

sources of the pictures: thedublinerbangkok.com, farm2table.co.uk, eurobrits.com. 

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Are you planning to live in Dublin? Here are a few tips from me. ;)

It has been more than 2 years I've lived in Dublin. My first impression about this city was COLD, not the people, but the weather. I wasn't that prepared for such a cold temperature, and the wind, strong and cold, lovely! :/ However, Irish people are VERY friendly. :) That makes Ireland, after 2 years living here, feels like a second home for me. It's not weather, food, or entertainment that makes me like a country, but the people. I heard that Irish are the most hospitable people in Europe. I couldn't agree more. :)

Based on my description above, it seems like Ireland is a welcoming country, isn't it? That's about the people here, what about other things like transportation, accommodation, shopping, etc? Below is a few tips I could share to whoever plans to stay in Ireland or just visit.

1. The weather in Ireland is quite unpredictable. For example, this winter I expected to see snow, but where is it? It's raining instead, and the rain here is not like the one in tropical countries (e.g. Indonesia), which typically lasts for 1-3 hours, heavy rain with thunder and lightning. Here, raining could last all day long, but not heavy, with strong wind as its companion. >.< So, first tip from me: it's better to use a raincoat instead of an umbrella. Why? Irish wind is so powerful to destroy your umbrella. OK, I exaggerated it. But true! My first three umbrellas were broken at their first or second usage. Now, I've learned my lesson not to use umbrella while the wind is blowing so hard. Why did I have to wait until my three umbrellas were broken? No reason, just to make sure. :P
    
2. The public transportation here is comfortable, but quite expensive. There are three options: bus (http://www.dublinbus.ie/), tram/luas (http://www.luas.ie/), and train/dart (http://www.irishrail.ie). If you take a bus, there are two payment options. Firstly, pay with coins only, and better to pay in fix fare. Why? because the payment machine in the bus (if that's called a payment machine.. lol) only accepts coins and don't give you change. Well, it will give you "change" but not in the form of money (i.e. coins), but a tiny piece of paper with the change value on it. (Picture 1). >_< This paper can be turned into cash if you hand it to the Dublin bus office in city centre. Such a waste of time and energy! So, always have coins in your pocket, and have them in various values. :)
    



   



Picture 1

   

Picture 2

3. Continuing from the previous tip, there is a more efficient way if you travel by bus frequently. Buy a rambler ticket! (Picture 2) There are 3 types of tickets depending on their valid durations: 1-day, 5-day, and 30-day ticket. You should know that 5 and 30 days here are not consecutive. That means you can use the ticket on any day as many as the duration written on your ticket. And this is the best part.. each day you can get on the bus as many as you want, unlimited. If you want to get on and off like 100 times between North and South or West and East Dublin until you feel like you wanna throw up, that's permissible! :P The fare is still the same! Isn't that great? Even greater for students! Students get discounted price. ;) All you have to do is to sign up for a student travel card (for more information, please click here) and show it when you buy the ticket. The point is that using rambler ticket is much cheaper! ^_^
    
4. Still about public transportation.. If you take a tram, or here commonly named as "luas", the ticket can be bought from the machines at every luas stop. Unlike bus tickets where you have to pay in coins, the luas ticket machine accepts either coins or notes. One thing I found strange on luas is that there's no one who checks your ticket, well at least most of the time. Sometimes, there is staff doing so, but that's quite infrequent. Even though there's no one checking your ticket, you still have to buy one though. If you're found with no ticket by the staff, you'll be fined around 50 Euro. Compared to the ticket fare, which is around 2-5 Euro, 50 Euro fine sounds very expensive, well it is actually! Besides, it's not good to use public transportation by cheating, that's dishonesty! *Even kids know that* XD So, another tip from me: always buy a ticket everytime you're using public transportation even though it's rarely checked by the staff. :P
    
5. When you go shopping, don't forget to bring your own plastic bag. In Ireland, plastic bags are not free. You have to pay 22 cents per bag to get one. It's actually a good effort to reduce plastic waste, which needs a long time to decompose naturally. The point is to reuse your plastic bags for the sake of our environmental sustainability. :)
    
6. Regarding choosing an accommodation or a place to stay, choose a house/flat/apartment that is less than 30 years old of age. New buildings usually have walls with better quality, which can preserve the heat inside and block the coldness coming from outside. The most important aspect in choosing a house/flat/apartment is to choose the one whose windows have double glass. It's for the same purpose, which is to keep the warmth inside. I had lived in a house with single-glass windows, and it's always cold, despite how long you turn the heater on. Trust me!
    
7. Don't walk alone at O'Connol Street area (city centre) above 11 pm! People say that it's dangerous, especially for women. There are drunk and stoned people there. *Is "stoned" the correct word?
    
8. For muslims, there are 2 big mosques in Dubin: Islamic Foundation of Ireland (IFI) on 163 South Circular Road, Dublin 8 and The Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland (ICCI) on 19 Roebuck Road, Clonskeagh, Dublin 14. If you want to know more about these two mosques, please click here.
    
9. Still for muslims, you can get halal meats at the following shops:
   • A shop at ICCI. ICCI also has a restaurant and a salon.
   • Asia Food & Co on Henry Street, city centre
   • Medina on Parnell Street, city centre
     
   
    
10. For muslim women who wear hijab, keep wearing it, don't take it off. Even though Ireland is a Catholic country, most people here are open minded. As I've said earlier, Irish people are well known for their hospitality. So, don't worry, ladies! ;) Actually, even though the people of a country you're going to are very discriminatory, just take it easy, don't take it personally. We should maintain our principle and always be strong! If you experience any form of discrimination, just smile and say nothing. Allah is always by your side. :)
     
11. If you're driving, bear in mind that some roads in Dublin are divided into two: road for buses only and  that for any types of vehicles. Moreover, sometimes ways are diverted to others to tackle traffic jam or if there's an event. So, always beware of the traffic signs while you're driving!
     
12. This last tip is special for those who live in a country where the traffic is on the right side. In Ireland, the traffic is on the left side. So, don't forget to look at your right first, and then your left everytime you're crossing the road! hahaha.. *no, seriously!

Those are several tips from me, hopefully useful for you. Welcome to Dublin! :)

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It started from a game..

Saturday morning.. have a little headache from last night. Last night I and my friends went to a pub. I was overwhelmed by the crowd at the pub. It was so loud that I couldn't hear my own voice. The ceiling was very low. The pub was so packed full of people. I know what you're thinking. "What am I doing there?" The answer is nothing. I was just curious how the social life of Irish people is. My opinion? Not a fan of it. I prefer a quiet place where I could have a relaxing conversation. OK, maybe my definition of relax is different to Irish's definition. :P

Anyway, at the pub, we had a little game. A friend of mine tried to find his potential wife there. Looking for a wife at a pub didn't sound like a good idea. I knew he was joking (I hoped he was). He asked me to give a score to any woman passing us. The score was from 1 to 10, 1 meant yes (could be potential wife) and 10 meant no (could not). For about 15 minutes we played the game, I gave a lot of 9s or 10s. My reason was simple. A lot of women there put too much make up on, so it didn't look natural at all. Some of them looked scary. I'm sorry to say this but that's my honest opinion. Sometimes, too much make up makes you look older than what you really are. I don't say make up is bad, but for me less is more. That night, it was hard to find a simple and naturally beautiful lady there.

One more thing, some of the dresses they wore were outrageous. As a woman, I felt embarrassed just by looking at them. I'm not going to say further about this. I think you get my point of view.

That night triggers something that has been in my mind for a long time. I heard so many times about the statements saying "Women are not objects", "Stop treating us as objects!", and so on. If you don't want to be treated as objects, don't treat yourselves as ones. It's as simple as that. If your mind focuses too much on how you look, what you're going to wear to 'highlight your feature', which part of your body you need to 'improve', etc, can you really blame others who think of you as objects only? I didn't say you can't look good, not at all. Instead you should make an effort to look nice, but don't try too hard, please have some self respect. 

There's another quote: Don't judge a book by its cover! It's true, and I didn't. Don't get me wrong. You could be a wonderful human being with a big heart behind all the heavy make up and the outrageous outfits. What I'm saying is let all the wonderful things inside you shine without being distracted by any other things that are irrelevant. ;) Don't you want to be loved for who you really are? not for all the accessories you put on. Physical appearance will eventually fade, but a big heart won't.

ps: I didn't intend to offend anyone, just my honest thought. If you feel offended, I apologize, and just close this page as soon as possible. ;)

note: Pubs in Ireland are not like the ones in Indonesia. Here, cafe-like and restaurant-like places, some of them are called pubs.

The picture above I took when I visited the Dublin Botanical Garden.

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Simply Amazing! :)

Flowers, who doesn't love them? Well, most men might not. :P (I might be wrong) Everytime I passed a flower shop, I couldn't resist not to look inside. :)

I had never been to a proper flower garden until two years ago. A friend of mine took me to a botanical garden here, in Dublin. It was spring, perfect time to see flowers. I had seen a couple of flower gardens only on magazines, had never gotten a chance to see the real one. That time, I didn't expect much because you know, it's Ireland. The weather here is unpredictable. So, I guessed spring didn't correlate with blossom flowers like those I'd seen on the magazines.

We entered the garden without paying anything. It's free! And it's also easily accessible by bus (bus no. 13). The first thing we saw was a line of trees. "OK, it looked like Bogor botanic garden (in Indonesia)", that's the first thing that popped up in my mind. Just for your information, Bogor botanic garden is rich of various species of plants (in general). It has flowers too, but not many, and it's HUGE!

Anyway, go back to Dublin botanical garden. We kept walking and then had a look briefly at a small sign board not far from where we were standing. Then, we continued walking further to the main flower garden.

"There they are!" my friend told me while pointing to a line of collection of various types of flowers.

"Oh my God! Subhanallah!", I was so surprised. Look at the picture above! It's amazing, breathtaking, incredible, any word that describes amazement! I inhaled deeply and kept my mouth open for a while, literally. That showed how much I was surprised, wonderfully surprised of course. :)

The rest of our trip at this garden was simply wonderful. We didn't get bored at all. How could we get bored being surrounded by beautiful flowers? ;) We were beyond excited!

It was definitely one lovely day. I won't mind to go there again, instead I'd love to! ;)

ps: My friend said that Dublin botanical garden is better than the famous Keukenhof garden in Netherlands (she's been there).

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Recall the giant tsunami in Aceh (December 2004)

Today, I heard a news that an earthquake happened again in Aceh (the westernmost point of Indonesia), with the magnitude of 7.3 RS. A warning of possible tsunami had been issued. It reminded me of a giant tsunami that happened in Aceh at the end of 2004. It was catastrophic. I saw how bad it was from the news broadcasted for around a week. This is one of the videos that showed how strong the tsunami was.

When I saw this video (especially the clip during the tsunami) for the first time, I was in utter shock. The power of the water was unbelievable. Cars, trees, even houses were swept away as if they were made of cotton. It was scary, and I have families living there. We worried because we couldn't contact them at that time, but at the end we finally could. Our houses there collapsed, because of the earthquake, not the tsunami (our houses are on the hill), but my family were fine fortunately.

Behind all the damage it had caused, there was something I found astonishing. A lot of photographs taken not long after the tsunami showed that all buildings and houses were flat on the ground except ones, the mosques. Subhanallah! The mosques in Aceh survived after tsunami. They're still standing strong. Below are some of the photographs.

   

My family living there said so. You may believe it or not. I just hope that tsunami won't happen again after today's earthquake. Amin.

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When does someone start crying?

Have you ever noticed when someone starts crying?

When someone has a problem, does he/she cry immediately? Most people don't. They rather keep it inside, and be quieter than usual.

A couple times, I saw my friend so quiet, and I sensed there's something wrong. I could tell from her face. I asked her, "Are you alright?" That's when she started crying. Have you ever experienced this?

Based on my experience, that someone starts crying is usually not because of his/her problem, at least it's not the main reason. When someone asks him/her if he/she is OK is when the tears come. We are moved by the attention other people give us. Even though it's just a simple question, sometimes that's more than enough to show our form of attention towards someone else. That question is something that triggers whatever it is inside someone's heart.

When you have a problem, you might feel lonely. No one you can share your problem with, or you just don't want to. You tend to keep it inside. People like this have reason why they don't want to talk about their problem. They are simply uncomfortable or they just don't want to make other people worry about them. Thus, when you check their condition by asking one simple question, it's usually considered as an attention that shows that you actually care of them. :)


source of the picture above: sansdosage.blogspot.com.

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"I love you, Mommy.."

A couple days ago, I went to Winter Wonderland with my friends. At the ice skating area, I saw a little girl (about 4-5 years old) playing with her ice skating shoes. She just took them off and carried them around, running. Her mom shouted, "Stop it! That's dangerous! Come here!" The little girl came to her mom and gave her the shoes, then she walked away. Seconds later, she came back to her mom, hugged her and said, "I love you, Mommy!" "I love you too, sweetheart!" her mom hugged her back and smiled.

Awh...

It's so sweet. The little girl somehow understood that what her mom did (shouting) was part of love. Good girl! :) Love is not always melancholic or romantic, a tough love is sometimes needed. :)


source of the picture above: clipartof.com. 

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Quotes by Shaykh Samir Abu Hamza

From 23rd to 26th December 2011, I attended a winter camp organized by Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS) in Co. Clare, Ireland. We did a lot of activities: lectures, physical challenge, mental challenge, games, and entertainment night. The lectures were delivered by Shaykh Samir Abu Hamza. He flew from Australia just for the purpose of giving lectures at the camp (May Allah bless him).

During his lectures, I took note of several things I found interesting or inspiring. Here are some of his quotes:

• If you feel upset or angry when someone says something bad about a person, that's a clue that you love him/her.
• Your body needs food, so does your soul (shalat). Shalat (prayer) is nutrition to your soul.
• When you're going to do something, the first thing you should do is to think: Do you want it to be done to you or your family members?
• Shyness is part of faith. The greatest character a sister can have is shyness.
• Read the biography of Prophet Muhammad SAW and take him as your role model.
• If you become angry, be quiet! Control your anger!
• Being quiet is better than bad talking. This is very relevant since a lot of people curse nowadays. If you feel like you want to say bad words, just don't! I'm surprised that curse has become a habit for some people nowadays. It's not cool. Personally, I just can't curse, neither through my tongue nor in my mind.
• Sunnah is like the peel of an apple. If you neglect Sunnah, you neglect the foundation. ps: If you don't know what sunnah is, please refer to its brief explanation on Wikipedia (click here).
• What would you do if your boss calls you? I'm pretty sure that you will come to see him/her as soon as possible. What if Allah calls you? If Allah calls you, you must come quickly. This reminds us to perform the 5-time prayers on time and as early as each time comes.
•  Sometimes, Allah puts us in a test (in the forms of sickness, natural disaster, loss, etc) to bring us closer to Him.

What Shaykh said was something that muslims have probably known, but sometimes we need a reminder. The same message could be absorbed or ignored depending on how it's put in a sentence, and Shaykh was so good in conveying the messages that we understood everything he said easily. :)

source of the picture above: islam44.blogspot.com.

 

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