On the way back home

Date: 16th June 2016, Thursday 

Start: 9am (Malaysia time, but I'm still on the plane so) 

Assalaamu'alaikum, everyone! Good morning? I'm currently on the plane back home now. That vacation really passed by fast.. 

I remembering promising to update the 2nd day I was in NY, and I apologise for the empty promise.. hehe. Looks like I wrote on the first and last day xD 

In my defence, when we come back at the end of the day I am too pooped to write anything. There's only so much time between when we get back and suhur. 

Anyway, let's get to what I did during my vacation. 

Firstly, let me describe where we stayed. We stayed in this one basement-house place, that had a gate with the sign "Prohibido el paso" in Mexican. (No trespassing in English). At first I was sceptical it would be nice since the outside was so dirty, but when we went inside it was actually really pretty! There were 3 rooms, and small living room, a small kitchen and one bathroom. The beds were really soft and comfy uwu 

Day 2

I remember that all we did was drive around, I think. In the evening we drove to New Jersey to visit Dad's childhood friend. He brought us down the neighbourhood to this park that overlooks the Manhattan Skyline. It was very beautiful! (Although cloudy) When it started to drizzle, everyone started to leave. My sister and I made it to their house just in time, because for some reason it started to rain very heavily very quickly. It was surprising how heavy it became so suddenly. 

While my sister and I were nice and dry inside, the others were soaking wet. Afterwards, we talked and had dinner. Dinner was good! Wait.. 

Wait a minute. 

I've written about this, haven't I? Silly me. 

Day 3

On the third day, we basically spent two hours in the morning driving to SixFlags in New Jersey. It was extremely fun, but I do regret going ^^' It was extremely hot, the rides reminded me of BTS, the tickets were super expensive and not to mention it was the first day of Ramadhan and we were fasting. 

Not the best way to start Ramadhan, huh. 

Anyway, I suppose disregarding all that, it was fun. The most noteable rides we

went on were 'The Nitro' and this other twister-style ride. Sky-something. 

SixFlags, NJ is home to the best rollercoasters in the world, I think. It has the world's highest (and only?) vertical rollercoaster, and the Nitro. Nitro apparently is the 3rd best rollercoaster in the world, according to my mom. 

It was super scary but super fun. 

At first we were going up, up, up- overlooking the whole park- and then we were going down so fast! It felt like we were going down vertically for how light I felt. The ride was really fast and had a lot of twists and turns and ups and downs.. //sigh I just love rollercoasters <3 

The other ride was a twister kind of ride, but it brought us up ~250ft in the air, overlooking the whole park and spun us at 40 miles an hour. It was very fun as well! Afterwards we got dizzy and too hot so we decided to go home. I was asleep the way home but apparently we stopped at the Bronx (?) to get some meat and my mom really hated the place.  We all crashed when we got home amd I had a headache because of how dizzy all the rides were. 

Day 4 

Today we just drove around to almost all the iconic places. We drove through Wall Street, Queens, Fifth Avenue, went on the Brooklyn Bridge and drove to Long Island, I think. The scenery was definitely very pretty. It kind of amazed me that this was the daily life of the people that lived there. 

Day 5

Today Mom and Kakngah went to go pickup Kaklong in Chicago because she was taking just too long to get to New York already. So Dad, my other 2 siblings and I drove around the airport for most of the morning (not on purpose) and didn't go out till after Zuhr. We decided to go to the Natural History Museum. 

Unfortunately for us, when we went out it was raining, windy and cold! I regretred not bringing my umbrella. It was a struggle trying to get to the nearby subway because of how windy and cold it was >< Some locals were wearing quite short clothing, and I could only wonder how they managed. 

We had some trouble at first getting a MetroCard, and then we got into the wrong side of the subway, but eventually it was all good. It was my first time on the subway! At first I felt a little nervous, afraid something bad would happen to one of us, but the people were totally.. normal? I don't know what I was so paranoid for. The subway wasn't so bad either, save for the loud noises the trains make. 

When we went out, it was still cold, windy and rainy. In fact, it was so cold, when we blew out air, you could see our breaths! Crazy. Anyway, so we walked quite far through the streets and through Central Park, and eventually we arrived at the Natural History Museum of New York! 

My dad said it's the largest in the world. 

I don't like learning history as a subject, but I do love history museums. Everything amazed me! Well, almost everything, but we'll get to that later. 

We saw the different dinosaurs first, like the stegosaurus and the T-Rex. It's interesting to think they used to live on this Earth before we did, that they actually lived. 

Hrmm, I can't remember in order but we saw some galleries of birds (they were extremely lifelike!!) and walked through different culture's histories, like the American-Indians, the Asians, etc. To be honest, learning about the people made me sleepy. I couldn't keep my eyes open ^^'. We also saw the different animals and their habitats of the world, which was also very fascinating! 

We also went to this one place that showed exhibits about natural cycles and phenomena in the environment, saw the biggest tree stump-thing I've ever seen, and looked at the rainforest section (a very colourful and diverse section ouo). 

Weirdly, when we exited the museum it was extremely blue and sunny! Still cold, but very blue and sunny. Summer in NY is very weird, indeed. 

Overall, it was definitely interesting. 

(It was only later that I was told that they shot Night at the Museum here, by my mom. Should've guessed that when I saw the stonehenge-like object.) 

Kakngah and Mommy returned that night while I was sleeping, and they brought Kaklong with them. I was happy to see her, but it felt like she never even left. 

Day 6

Dad kept telling us how annoying it was to find parking for the car (they're always ready to hand out fines, and there're so many restrictions and it's just so much trouble), we took the sub to Battery Park instead. It was really sunny and windy! Battery Park was very pretty and green, and I managed to see the Statue of Liberty from a distance xD 

We walked for a long time, going down Fifth Avenue and Wall Street, and ended up going into this one store called Century 21, after Mom saw the 'Up to 70% off!' sign. At first I think we weren't really going to buy anything, but when we looked at all the shoes (most of them were branded!) and how cheap they were  (in comparison to their original price), we were in there for quite a while. I bought a pair of Fred Perry's, my sister Adidas, Levi and my brother Polo's. They were nice shoes xD 

Then we went to go pray Zuhr and Asr at the Islamic Centre in NYU, which had a very pretty view of Washington Square Park. 

Then we tried walking to the Empire State Building (which was ~20 streets away), but Mom got tired so we headed home. Empire State doesn't actually look that tall, to me. There's this one rectangular building (reminds my brother of a french fry) that looks taller than it. 

Day 7

For most of the morning, we drove through NYC and saw Times Square for the first time! It's a very pretty place, but too many people. We also drove past this one avenue that my dad told me is called 'Fashion Avenue'. I thought that was cool. 

Then through the afternoon and evening we drove to Connecticut to see Anastasia (!!) at night in Hartford. 

Okay, about the drive to Connecticut: it was such an amazing scenic view. Wow. The countryside of Connecticut is just so breathtaking. There were so many beautiful houses and they had such green grass and wide gardens and it was just.. !! I honestly hope that I get to experience living somewhere like that somehow, in sha allah. 

Anyway, we arrived in Hartford an hour early for the musical, and I was way too dressed-up. -.- If I had known I didn't have to change into a dress, I wouldn't have. Oh well. 

Now about the musical: It was amazing!! I loved the singing and dancing and it was just so captivating, but what really made me excited was the royal family. I just got so excited everytime they appeared, probably because their crowns and tiaras and beautiful dresses and clothing just took my breath away. And probably because I think being royalty is pretty cool <3 

I liked how there were still songs from the movie, and how they made it pretty realistic (unlike the movie) in terms that the Romanovs got overthrown by the people and government. 

The singing was all very amazing, but I didn't really enjoy the love between Dmitri and Anya like how I did in the movie. There was just no spark, no development. But I suppose they did their best, and that's good enough. 

I'd definitely try to find a chance to watch it again in the future. It's so enjoyable to watch :D 

Before we headed home, we ate at a halal restaurant nearby, called Al-Addin (I think). I had my first  slice of pizza in America xD 

Day 8 

We left quite late, and basically spent most of the day (before Iftar) at the MET. Some things bored me, some things really interested me. I also, again, was amazed at the fact that real people made the artifacts we saw- that they had the knowledge and skill even without the technology we have. I was particularly intrigued by the armoury exhibit. 

We also saw all sorts of very old and valuable art, such as by Van Gogh. 

Unfortunately for me, I don't really know how to appreciate art (like the Korean vases or most of the paintings or sculptures) so I couldn't really be amazed. Ah well, at least I got the experience x) 

That night, we ate dinner at this place called EAT as my 'birthday' dinner. Thankfully they didn't sing happy birthday to me or something. Dinner was okay. 

There was a mirror in front of me, and I could see this woman sitting next to us who kept glancing and smiling at us, as if embarrassed or something. I wanted to turn around and ask her "Yes? Do you need something?" but I reminded myself that maybe she wasn't even looking at us, or maybe she was saying something good. I didn't have the courage to do that anyway xD It still did make me annoyed that she kept glancing at us, though. 

Oh yeah! At noon today (which was 12 June back in Malaysia) I got a lot of birthday wishes which really made me happy :) Someone who wasn't my best friend wished me at 12am on the dot, which I thought was sweet. I was really

touched by all the birthday messages :3

Day 9

Happy Birthday to me! We didn't go out till after Zuhr (because I wanted to jama' at home). Our destination was Central Park, but we stopped at a Flea Market first. There were all sorts of cool things! There were very pretty pocket watches, hats, clothes, cute jewellery, etc. 

Eventually I didn't want to deal with the heat outside, so my sister and I went into Barnes' and Nobles. (I love browsing bookstores) I enjoyed looking at the stationery and books and little gifts. Eventually my whole family came in and they started choosing stuff they wanted. I

bought a Dr Who kit for a friend who wanted it. Kaklang took a long time, so we had to wait for her. 

Eventually we walked to Central Park because Mom wanted to see the Bow (?) Bridge and this other thing. Apparently Enchanted was filmed at the Bow Bridge, so that was interesting. The park was extremely pretty! A lot of lush, green trees and a very pretty scenery of the lake. Along the way, my sister, my Dad and I had to wait for my other siblings and my mom who were taking a looongg time to catch up with us. Eventually I managed to grab my 2 siblings and we just left my sister and my mom to catch up with us later. 

We took a lot of pictures on the bow bridge, and the scenery from it (it overlooked the lake) was gorgeous. At one point, as I walked towards my family who was standing at the end of the bridge, they started singing happy birthday to me. It was a surprise 'birthday celebration' xD I was very touched to say the least. They handed me a card, my sisters gave me a necklace (I'm going to try to wear it often) and my mom got me a Japanese calligraphy of my name in Kanji! (Nice, right?) 

My mom told me that my birthday present was 'going to Japan', which I honestly can't believe. I'm blessed to have such sweet parents who are supportive of the things I like x) <3 

I think it just might become a family holiday in the end, though xD 

Day 10 

In the late morning, we sent Kaklong off to India. Then, we drove to the New York Centre of Art Supplies to get, obviously, art supplies for Kakngah. Then, at Kaklang's request we went into Grand Central Station (which indeed, had a very pretty ceiling). It felt very posh. 

Then Mom wanted to see the Nanny's house, so we did that. 

Day 11 

We spent most of the morning packing and cleaning out the kitchen, then left to do Mom's 'errands'. We stopped to do some last-minute shopping in Bloomingdale's, and I bought trackpants, cool sunglasses and a cool watch. The mall was like an American version of Alamanda. 

Then we stayed at an airport inn while waiting for our flight, and left NY at around one in the morning. We arrived in Dubai at around maghrib, booked another hotel while waiting, and now we're on the plane home. 

The trip to not only NY, but New Jersey and Connecticut as well, has been fun. I thought that there'd be anyone who'd tell us we were terrorists or pickpocket us (which is why I was scared to come at first) but the people in America have proved me wrong. They've been so nice to us! It was great :D 

In sha allah I'll get to visit the US again someday. 

This marks the end of my vacation to New York. 

End: 10.45am 

New York (Day 2)

Date: 6th June 2016, Monday 

Time: 8.27am 

(I'm going to be writing about yesterday xD Maybe that's what's going to happen for all my posts..) 

Assalaamu'alaikum and good morning! 

Yesterday, we didn't really have much of a plan but Mummy wanted to drive into 'the Village' where the outside of the FRIENDS' apartment was. It wasn't the set, but it was basically the fake 'outside' and at the bottom of the apartment there was this little cafe called 'The Little Owl' if I'm not mistaken. 

The first thing we did was have lunch at this diner bc Mum wanted to use the bathroom, and it was for customers only. As usual, we ordered too much and had to have takeaway. The food was good though. Our waitress was egyptian and said "Apa khabar?" to us xD (Makes me wonder how obvious it is we're malay) 

Afterwards we just hung outside of that café I said and took pictures. 

Then, we went back home and then went back out to our dad's friend's house. It was 3 stories tall and it was quite cozy! It was comfortable finding someone who was also malay lol x) He took us down the street to this park where he showed us the Manhattan Skyline view. It was very pretty!

We could see Times Square and the Empire State Building, and a lot of other cool buildings. Then it started to rain! So we quickly made our way back. Thankfully my sister and I came back before it started to rain heavily, but my other family members weren't so lucky. 

While waiting for dinner we played with the family's daughter, Marissa. She showed us around her house (like her basement where she plays. It was super cool! She had this device that had the same function as Siri, but it was called Alexa instead. You could ask it any question and to play songs and such) and we played the game of life. Didn't  manage to finish it though bc we were called down to dinner. 

Dinner was good! There was lobster and lamb and grilled salmon and chicken chop. We also had strawberries, cherries and blackberries at the end. Yum. 

Alhamdulillah, it was a good dinner! 

Then we played 'What I'd bring to a picnic' with Marissa. Kakngah and Kaklang fell alseep later and so Marissa, my brother and I started to play with an 1000 piece puzzle. But we were stopped bc my parents wanted to leave, so we cleaned up. Then we bid our goodbyes and went home. 

Overall, the view of the skyline was enjoyable at least. 

Today is the first day of Ramadhan! Ramadhan Mubarak! (First time spending it overseas owo) We're going to Six Flags, in sha allah. 

Well, that's all for now. I'll write about today tomorrow. 

Assalaamu'alaikum! 

End: 8.48am 

 

Welcome to New York (Day 1)

Date: Sunday, 5th June 2016

Time: 1.23am 

Assalamualaikum! Hello! 

We arrived in New York at 9am yesterday morning and reached our apartment at around 12pm >u< 

I'm going to try to journal this trip bc if I procrastinate in the end I'm never gonna write at all haHAHAHA 

So it's the first day and we were so jetlagged we slept the whole day! So now I'm awake and its 1.30 in the morning. 

I'll sleep after I pray Subh at around 4. 

Also, Ramadhan is tomorrow! Yay! I'm trying to be excited to fast òuó First time fasting in the summer (from 4? to 9 uwu) In sya allah we'll manage like how the muslim-americans have ouo 

Not much to say about yesterday. Our apartment is at the basement of those connected houses you see on tv, but ours is really cute and pretty! Dad bought pizza earlier, and there're strawberries and cookies and juice too >u< (imma have a good breakfast tmrw haHA) 

I'm excited to drive into Manhattan this week!! See the Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge, etc.. 

Well, that's all for now! Hopefully I'll be rajin enough to write tomorrow. heh. 

Assalaamu'alaikum and good night (?) 

End: 1.30am 

Saturday, 21st May 2016

Start: 9.44pm 

Perhaps the title of all my posts will be just the date? Seems better that way.. 

Anyway, hello there! Wow, it's been 4 months since my last post?? Time flies so fast!! 

Hrm, basically the noteable things I can say I've done in the past few months are:

1. I got no.10 in cross country! Yay! 

2. I can't believe I didn't write about this! I went to Melbourne on a horseriding trip in March for a few days. It was very fun! 

3. Just 2 days ago, I finished my 1st Semester Exams which was two weeks long uwu It was hard! Two weeks passes by so slowly! I'm really bad at Add Math, so I pledged to try to do better this sem 😂 I got some of the best marks for Geo tho (bc I love Geo) so that's good :) 

Just now I came back from watching Avengers: Civil War. It was very interesting ouo It really made me think about a lot of things while watching it.. What's right? What's wrong? Who decides that? I had a good discussion w A about it.. Speaking of which, I originally stayed over at A's house, and just now we hung out together w R and D! 

We had Thai food and had really long discussions about how to split our money 😂 (Note to self: Thai Ice Green Tea is really good) 

Ughh I've already told this to me sister and Pe'ah and I'm not sure if it's appropriate to say this out loud but there's this guy who likes me and he's just.. I don't know what to feel? I feel so perasan 😂 He's sporty and really smart, but I'm not sure about his Islamic points. Anywho, I'm sure I don't like him that way but I admit I'm quite flattered xD

So yeah, that's basically it. My birthday is in 20 days!! And.. we're going to NY on the 2nd! I haven't told my best friends yet, but I'm super excited! 

Ah, also today my sister decided I'd be her canvas and she put makeup on me xD I've never put on this much makeup as an adult before.. www I think it looks nice but I hope I don't grow up wearing makeup.. 

I've decided that I should try to blog once a week as a method of journaling, somewhat. I think it'd be interesting. 

Assalaamu'alaikum and good night, then!

End: 9.56pm 

It Starts Here

Day: Monday, 11th Jan 2016 

Time : 12.23am 

Hahaha good morning xD I'll try to make this really quick. 

So, it's been 3 months since I last updated? Happy New Year~ Or rather, that was 11 days ago. 

Right now I have the tough decision of deciding the fate of my future.

What exam am I going to take. 

(Speaking of exams, I got 2A+, 3A and 4B+ for JHSA. Not the best results (though I'm getting awarded for it), but that's my own fault.)

I've thought about for a loong time, to the point my friend told me that I'm too much of an over-thinker (and even my family is pretty annoyed). It's hard, though! 

This exam decides your future, your whole life. Pros and cons of SPM, pros and cons of IGCSE. 

I don't know what I'm going to do yet, tbh. I went to the Star Education Fair the past weekend, but I'm still not sure. 

Maybe I'll take IGCSE. 

In sha allah it's the right choice. 

My parents just returned from Italy, today. They bought me a handbag, which is quite cute. I'm glad they had fun :) 

Last month I also attended Comic Fiesta, which was also fun!! For me, anyway. I've recently been really into Osomatsu-san, so seeing it during the con was exciting. I met a lot of my favourite artists! 

Aaah, also.. Cross Country is this Sunday! It'll be a year since I've made this blog, huh? How time flies uwu 

Hopefully I'll do really well!!! 

Also, I'm house captain this year! By vote. Honestly, I wanted to be house captain next year to compete w my own friends, but this is my rezeki. I hope

I'll be a good leader too!! 

I'm joining badminton and volleyball, wonder how that's gonna work out.. 

I'll try to update soon, it's pretty late. 

Good night! 

Assalamu'alaikum~ 

End: 12.32am 

Chicago, Chicago

Date: 14th September 2015, Monday

Start: 1.14am (Abu Dhabi time) 

Good morning!! It's 1.15 in the morning here in Abu Dhabi, which means its 5am in Malaysia. 

Why are we in Abu Dhabi, you ask? Well, It's because we're sending Kaklong to her college in Chicago!! Yaaayyy :D 

Our transit was in Abu Dhabi, so our flight to Chicago is in 2 hours. 

I don't know what to expect, but I'm very excited since it's my very first time to the USA! (The land everyone talks about) 

Just now, our flight was as exciting as the trip! (Will be- I'm sure) We went on business class. Can you believe it?! No, it's not because we're super rich and can afford things like that. I think it was because that all the economy seats were taken (idk), so they moved us up to business because there were free seats there. Lucky!~ 

Astaghfirullah xD It was our rizq, sorry- our rizq. As my friend said, we had 'murah rezeki'. I was very grateful!! 

I sat next to Kaklong, and was very surprised and excited at being in the seat I was in (I was shaking). Me being the jakun person I was, I explored everything. 

IT WAS SO COOL. There was a footrest, the seat could lean back (there were buttons for upright mode, relax mode and sleeping mode!!), the remote and tv was super cool, there was a loott of legroom (I'm very thankful), there was a charger and we had great food! It was my first time (and maybe last, unless I become rich as an adult heh) sitting in business, so it was an experience! And we didn't even have to pay extra, how great is that??! 

Anyway, right now we're waiting for our flight. I guess I'll look for other ways to fill up my time. 

Ah, that's right! This week (or rather, last week) I finished my JHSA trials!! I was confident for some papers, and less for some but I guess it was all good B) 

I guess that's all for now? I'll write some more later, in sya allah. 

Bye for now! 

End: 1.27am 

Emotions

Start: 12.33am (23/7/15) 

Oh yeah. 

Possibly this will be Part 1. Where I talk about how I feel? Idk. Fight me. 

Technically this would be Part 2, then, huh? After the last post X) 

Anyways, 

yesterday we were at my Uncle's house. He lives on the 15th floor. 

I walked onto the balcony and for a pretty long time, I just stood there- leaning against the rail. 

I don't know. The view was spectacular and the wind felt nice, but my heart twisted and grew uncomfortable for some reason. Especially when I looked over to Genting. 

Amazing how something so far (in a different state even) could be seen so clearly. 

Maybe it was a sense of longing. I wanted to be somewhere else. I wanted to not care about stuff right now. To travel? Probably. 

What were the people there doing? I bet the temperature felt nice. It's cold up there, so I think I'd enjoy it at least. 

I reallyyy want to be somewhere other than here, to be honest. 

But I guess I still have a lot to do. 

End: 12.40am