The start of my Charlotte's adventure

The first 2 days were dedicated to get over the jetlag, but we did drop by the college on my second day, and I was introduced to Kak Ieta.

Thursday 13th, I met my supervisor and was shown around the department and lab, and on that same day, I confirmed my apartment, and moved in. I had to make a quick detour to Walmart again to get some important stuff (supaya tak menggigil di malam ari):

Friday 14th, marked the start of my days in Charlotte all by myself = to be independent and resourceful (i hope!) There are few people who have offered to help (especially rides) if I needed any... like Fifa who teman me to get the 'hidup bujang trang tang tang' starter kit - which consist of a lot, lot of stuff like periuk, sudu, pencuci muka, pencuci mangkuk tandas, kain lap meja, roti, susu, ubat gegat, bakul sampah, butter, rice, air freshner... bla bla blaaaaaa.... 

Other than settling down, there's some adaptation I need to make.

1. The weather!

When I have to walk out when it's windy.... yikessss! when the temp dropss, even the heater's not helping (still afraid to tamper with it)... masa tu la terbayang-bayang suasana penang tercinta tatkala elektrik takda... alangkah nikmatnya! Haih, rindunya nak berpeluh... huhu.... After 2 weeks, I'm getting used to it now :-) not that bad after all.
Cabaran: waking up! hybernating under the sheets n comforter iz juz irresistable.

2. The measuring units.

awatla depa tamo pakai metric system? everything needs to be converted, fahrenheit to celcius (ooo skang rajin cek temperature n weather...) then gallon to litre..... miles to km... pounds to kg....

pros: trus la jadi terer mengkali darab bahagi segala skang ni :P

cons: I will look confused and blur .. i.e "its not that far, just half a mile from here..." So I'll be like... a mile... yeker not far? (and start converting and calculating)....

3. The road system
this one pun, its oppposite way than us... and since I walk most of the times, I've got to be more cautious and alert.

4. Language

It's ok, but sometimes some of them talk too fast plus accent lagi, and I'll be like lost sikit coz takleh pick up exactly wht they are saying.  This one time, at the store's counter, I said 'pardon?', and the lady gimmie a blank expression, and when I rephrased it "i'm sorry, what did u just say"... and she got it and repeated. They understand if u say pardon, but it's not very common here..
I was having a chat with my labmate, I told him about my accident with a lorry.. he was like "Lorry? how's dat??" (he thought a girl named Lori hit me)...only then it striked me "Ouuhh... u dont call it lorry right... aaaa its a truck!"  haha... And also I figured that they dont say "black coffee or white coffee" here... just go by with cream or no cream/milk... Since we are brought up with british-english, there are some differences but not that obvious I guess :) 

5. Food

I am not very fussy when it comes to food... and I have always loved to try new food. But there's one restriction though... it has got to be halal :-) So I cant just rush into Walmart and pick everything I want, but must check the labels and ingredients first. So far, I don't have problem with food, and I am starting to cook my own meals... haha... masak ntah hapa2 ntah.... There are few Halal Meat stores around, and there's few asian stores as well.. selling spices and stuff... However.... I kinda misssssss the food we have back home. I am from Penang weiiiii!!! what do u expect?! :P

Hmm.. well... that's about it.. for now!
plus minus plus minus.... I kinda like this place :-) hope to make the best out of my time here.

merentasi lautan pasifik...

Dear Blog, (cewah)

I have safely arrived in Charlotte, North Carolina and after a week here, I have found myself an apartment near campus and have settled most of the things (habis harta beli barang2 basic jaaa...swipe swipe pastu menitis air hingus tgk baki).... and have started my day at the lab.

A big thanx to Prof and his wife, as well as Kak Ieta, a Malaysian and her daughter Fifa, for their helps and concerns to get me settled.

Before this, I never travelled further than south east asia, with Bandung, Indonesia being the furthest city I've been... So when my attachment has been confirmed, I have been warned about long haul flight. Erk...yikes!

Then the weather... Charlotte shouldnt be that bad coz it doesnt snow dat much, so maybe not so cold down there :P I guessed wrong. Lucky thing, I did get one winter jacket!

Saying goodbye... its hard... away for 6 months?? and to a location where I can't get home in just few hours of bus-ride? Oh my.. Ok, Its not a big deal, ppl do this all the time, but kan... for me, who have been in the comfort zone for almost 3 decades :P
Tho I can be a lil unpredictable every now n then...I usually prefer to be "Safe and Sound" most of the time... so I shocked myself with my decision. The thing that worries me is that I'm leaving my parents. But, them being positive and supportive gave me enough confidence to go through with this.

My Flight itinery:

Penang -- KL(KLIA) -- Taiwan, Taipei Airport (transit 1 hour plus) -- LA (LAX) -- Charlotte (CLT)

= 40 mins + 3 hours (at KLIA) + 18 hours 50 mins (include taipei transit) + 4 hours (at LAX) + 4 hours

= 30 hours 30 mins !!

Penang to KL... didnt sleep

at KLIA...
I met my sistas and kiddos...second round of saying babai

Oh ya just as I reached KL, I got a text from my boss... she forwarded an urgent email frm Prof.

"Please note that due to possible snow storm in North Carolina, especially in Charlotte area, your flight from Los Angles can be delayed! Therefore,  keep my home and cell phone numbers handy so that you can contact us. We will try our best to arrive at the airport by 6:30 am, it will be still dark and early morning! , But it is also a possibility that due to snow and ice some roads may be closed and that can further delay our arrival at the airport. Please be confident and stay calm, you can make phone calls from the help desk at the airport to inform us or checking our arrival time. Be confident and Insha’Allah, you will be received at the airport. Have a safe flight"

Alamak.... oh ooh.... Kept praying that it wouldnt be that bad....

KL to Taipei...
I got a seat by the window and there's no one beside me... ahaaa.. yey! Didnt sleep.. sibuk melayan movies berbagai...

at taipei airport... went online while waiting at the transit room.. haha sempat lg tuh

Taipei to LAX, no more empty seat beside me..

Put some songs in the playlist and kebummm...Zzzzzzz... ilang dibawa hangin pasifik melayan mimpi indah...slept for a few hours... Oh yaa, the flight attendant and kapten pun announced dat we would land an hour later than the scheduled time...beacuse of the weather.

Dalam dok bangun sat-sat, jenguk luar a few times - sometimes its dark, then cerah balik then dark balik, sbb melawan arah time zone kan. There's this snow flakes on my window... nyaman terasa, ahaks :-) Ok, sambung tido.... then sampei lah kt Los Angeles Airport @ LAX.

Passed the security with flying colors.. hihik... even my bags are spared...which is a good thing coz I didnt bring anything sangat pun except for packed food, but if they were to inspect in and out... would be a headache for me to reorganize em back....so dat was a huge relief :-) then my next flight was from Terminal one via Us Airways. I had to walk out from the current terminal and 10-15mins walk to terminal 1 which was like 2 buildings away.

ok la gak jalan, layan blues jap....

aaaa... dekat dah....

....

I had roughly 2hours plus after custom clearance, checking in with us airways and all... so I entertained myself with a cuppa of kopi and just looking at people moving in and out... but  buat expressi monotonous je coz didnt want to look like budak sesat sorang2 or terkebil-kebil excited dengan environment baru :)) hoho

the next flight was on-time... no delays... legaa....

Off we gooooo to charlotte... and bubye LA for now....

Tried to sleep in da flight but mcm tido2 ayam aje....

Then d plane landed safely... but took somtime to look for available gates coz most of the flights out were cancelled thus many planes still hybernating in the airport.

got all my bags... ok now... where do I go now from here?

My phone was roaming but restricted any calls out, or maybe I didnt put the right country code or somthing. I did try calling him from 'what looked like a public phone' but it didnt get through as well. There were 2 ladies seated somewhere near and they were kind enough to give me coins change and when dat failed, one of them borrowed me their phone to make a call to Prof and it got through. It seemed that the weather was kinda bad before I arrived and they couldnt drive out from their house because there were frozen ice along the pathway. Ok... cuak sket dah time tu :P They asked me to take a taxi from the airport and assured that it will be safe (I had doubts coz I don't really take taxis back home... hoho...) ouhh well... Man vs.Wild 101 - go and get a taxi now already will ya!

And the taxi driver was alllll grumpyy when I told him that the address would lead him to a housing area. He at first thought that I was heading to the uptown area.

He kept on driving though... so I just have to tahan sikit dengan all his grumbles... but deep down inside, I berdoa-doa dah... please, just take me there! and was practically preparing myself to embrace the 'wild'.. haha.. in case he were to drop me off somewhere in the middle of the road...

Lucky me, I didnt have to go through Man vs.Wild 102.... phewww.... He brought me safely to Prof's home, he dropped me off by the main road in front of Prof's home coz the pathway to his house was all icy and slippery... prof and his wife were there to welcome me. sempatt la ber "ice-skating" bbrapa meter utk masuk ke dalam rumah...  Alhamdulillah, selamat sampai.

the housing area. p/s: not prof's house

So cosy inside.... and warmerrr... legaa ok.
Had breakfast....with this as the view....

Lovely....

 

Went online and one of my friends was online, asked her to call my parents to get online...though I had called them from prof's place and sent sms to them... I still wanted them to feel more assured...so we Skyped... they looked happy that I arrived safely.... but I can see tears in their eyes.... I know they have already starting to miss me... coz I have been missing them too since I depart from Penang...

in the midst of insignificance...

Just one of those insignificant events - I parked my car, went to settle some matters/work, came out, approached by the parking attendant, he charged me, I paid, he issued me a receipt, and I was out of there.

But that day was quite different.... I was greeted by this much older man... Very old, his frame looked fragile. Very old you would imagine he would prefer to sit at home and relax in this golden years of his. Instead, he was all energetic and lively and seemed to enjoy his job. When he first approached me, I didnt know he was the parking attendant. He had the "friendly-neighbour" aura...

"Helllo Miss... going back already?" in a happy, joyful tone.

I was like "ermmm......" didnt know how to respon, huhu... a bit weird for someone u didnt know to be that friendly out of nowhere...ritee? to top that, I can't see his face clearly at that time.

"Going back? Do you have your car here, miss?" and as he asked and came nearer, I saw him taking out the parking ticket book from his small sling bag. Oooo.... parking ticket rupanya...

"Ooo just here... haa there..." pointing towards my car, 4-5 metres away. He followed me and took the yellow ticket and gave out a small laugh, "Haha, not very long...Hmmm, ok. that'll be only 30cents, miss"

uncle ni.... friendly and speaks english in a very polite manner..I handed him the coins and said thank you.

"Wait a minute ya, miss.. I will write you the receipt" wrote and gave it to me "Okeyyy, done...here is your receipt... Have a nice day, miss..."

"Same to you, thank you....thank you yaa" went into my car and lifted my hand as a gesture of appreciation and he waved back at me and then to the next car behind me, stopping the fella's car, to issue the ticket.... all with smiles and the consistent "friendly, happy" face :D

That uncle, he reminds me of the good old days... 15-20 years back, when people are friendlier... Well that uncle actually brings me back a lil more to the past, through colonial times, clearly shown from the way he speaks english which is different from our generation these days :P But above all, worthy of note.... is how his positive attitude made me smile that day :-)

From this so called insignificant event, I learn that if you are happy with what you are doing, or stay positive, you project positive energy to only to yourself but also people around you. Memang betul lah bak kata pepatah,

1. Senyum itu Sedekah
2. A smile is a curve that sets everything straight ~ Phyllis Diller

  

Penang Bridge Marathon 2010.

First time join a real Marathon.... Haha... I never thought of joining this year or anytime soon...Zue invited us to join her mission to run in this Marathon... and tup tap... here we go, with Kak Ilah and Mar.

Since we are all first-timer, we opted for 10km run...

(other categories: Full Marathon (42km),
                           Half Marathon (21km),
                           FunRun (10km but with no qualifying time/medal))

Those who manage to complete their marathon within the given time, they get a medal.
Full Marathon - 7 hours, Half - 3.5 hours, 10km - 1.5 hours.

and when Zue said she wanted to target the medal... I laughed.... and I told her, I will be lucky enough if I can finish the run.

The route map for 10km.... i edited a lil, coz there's a change in the route compared to the map they provided earlier. 

I walked for like 70% of my marathon :P coz

1. my stamina not that superb

2. I happen to have mild muscle strain at my right thigh joint, so i dare not stress out the muscle too much.

10km run started at 6.15 am.

as shown in the map... first part, we ran on the highway that goes straight to the bridge. At the fork towards the bridge, I bumped into Mar, and asked for the time and was told it was 6.30am. I quickly made some calculation, and figured I might be able to make it on time if I maintain the speed. But, my muscle started to sore a lil. Afraid I might end up hurt thus not able to finish... I walked, but in highest speed I could and berlari-lari anak a few times :P On the way, I asked 2 random people for time, just to check whether I was on the right 'track'. I maintained the same walking speed from the bridge towards the end. About 10 metres from finishing line, I ran :)) so that I won't feel like I did walkathon instead of marathon... miahahaha...

Finally, 7.30 am - I reached the finish line, took me 1 hour 19 mins. phewww..... Mar was just behind me in less a minute, then followed by Zue, just 2 minutes away. We bumped into each other a lot on the way... aku potong ko, ko potong aku, dan potong memotong sambil share ayaq :D Kak Ilah was nowhere to be seen, vanish into thin air gitue... haha... No lar, She finished earlier than us, took her 59 minutes oni...tak terkejar beb! :)) 

And all 4 of us managed to get medals.............. shared happiness is the best one ;-)

Thanksss u ollsss.... for various reasons i.e the invitation, lodging, motivations, jokes... etc etc

Hmmm... will I do it again? Hmmmmm...... we'll see... kalau ada kaki-kaki... maybe lah :P

p/s: PErghhhh... KAGUM lah.... those who did Half/Full Marathon.... cannot imagine myself braving thru 3-8 hours of marathon??? oucchhh

p/s/s: Adik-adik sekolah (junior category) sungguh incredible... they started 15minutes after us... but quite a number of them overtook us... ewah2.. mentang2 la metabolisme stamina korang masih tip top kan.... eksen nooh :P ahhahaa... cute nonetheless :D

Last but not least...

Tiring but Heppi!

How to build ant colonies... yg bleh tolan.

My obsession with 80's recipe is not new to my family and some of my frenz. Having done 8 cookies altogether, I figured that should be enough. But then recently I was goin thru websites, (blogs n fotopages sharing recipes) and.. I found myself scouting for more recipes... and I fell in love with biskut makmur and biskut sarang semut. These are considered as evergreen, especially makmur. Sarang semut was famous in the 90s I think... hoho... but still evergreen gituw. Looking at the recipe... I realised I could still afford to make another cookies, and I chose sarang semut as most of the ingredients are already available.

When I searched the net, most of the recipes are the same. So here I share one of the links from a famous foodblog. http://hanieliza.fotopages.com/?entry=901155 . I rewrote... konon kasi variety sket dan takla copy paste je kan :P btw can also refer to the link for the resepi, in case mine tak clear sgt  :P

The Ingredients:

• 
  
  350 gm wheat flour
• 
  
  100 gm corn flour
• 
  
  250 gm butter
• 
  
  100 gm castor sugar
• 
  
  1 egg (just the eggyolk)
• 
  
  1 teaspoon vanilla essence

 For Deco:

• 
  
  Chocolate rice

Things you need (other than the normal baking stuff):

• 
  
  Grater
• 
  
  Small Paper cups

Method:

1. 
   
   Sift wheat flour and corn flour together.
2. 
   
   In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. 
   
   Beat in the eggyolk and  add vanilla essense.
4. 
   
   Blend in the dry ingredients (both the flours) gradually. Add and mix well.
5. 
   
   Form into big doughs so that it will be easier to grate the doughs.
6. 
   
   Grate the doughs into a bowl
7. 
   
   Take a spoonful (/or accordingly) of the grated doughs into the paper cups.
8. 
   
   Spread some chocolate rice for decoration.
9. 
   
   Bake for about 12-15 minutes in hot oven at  around 160-180 celcius.
10. 
    
    DONE !

Guidelines to use Grater:

As seen in the photoblog, Ms.Hanie used this :

seems handy and easy right. But I dont have one of these!

therefore... I resort to this:

less blades huh.... imagine the efforts needed :P

But it was not that troublesome... So here's a demo of how I did it... cewah:

har har har... as u can see... I'm not using the dough. As this demo was done after the cookies dah siap! So I used Ain'a plasticine instead :)) huahuahua....

And your final result... would look something like this:

inset: how it looks like inside.

The Ant-Queen will be very excited!

 So Am I  !!  Siok sendiri kuasa dua :P