The differences of being interviewed over here and in Malaysia

I've had a couple of job interviews since I've been here in this foreign country. Some were for internships and right now, it's for an entry level job. I used to be so scared of job interviews. The ones I've had in Malaysia were always so negative. The interviewer would always look at things to put you down and you really had to fight for yourself. "You got a B in English?! tsk...tsk.." I remember one of the interviewers commenting. "Why are your exam results so bad?" another would ask because I got a C in one class while all the other grades were an A. HUH?! Over here, the interviewers always have good things to say about you. But don't be fooled. It doesn't mean you'll get a job. I've never been to an interview where the interviewer has questioned my abilities. In fact, over here they're not allowed to ask personal questions such as whether you're married or if you have a family. I remember the one time in Malaysia, I was asked if I was single or not. Beats me why they asked that question. I think it's coz they didn't want me to have other priorities that needed attention and could focus on work. Giler

Anyway, yesterday I went for a job interview and I suppose it went ok. I didn't feel extremely confident walking out just because of the expereiences I've had. The employer tho has quite a long interviewing process. I had to attend a casual dinner to get to know them better, then attend the formal interview. If I pass this interview I'll have to attend a 2 day interview function. On the first day we mingle with all the other candidates and the manager we would potentially work with. Then we'd have a formal interview with the manager the next day. Quite a process huh? I think it's great. They'll get to see the other side of a candidate besides just the formal interview. I don't do so well in formal interviews. But sit me at a table over dinner, and I'll be able to carry a conversation just fine. :)

Well, whatever happens I can put this down in my experience library. I've learnt not to get too worked up over whether I get a particular job or not. The dissapointment isn't too horrible that way.

Random events

It's the weekend but hubby's working today (Sunday) so it doesn't really feel like it's the weekend. We were able to go do some window shopping yesterday but the weather was so horrible that I didn't really enjoy the outing. It was cloudy, it was cold and at one point, we were pelted with a hailstorm. Poor hubby had bits of ice dropping into his clothing through the opening at the neck. One hit his ear and it stung for quite a bit. Horrible..horrible weather. Just as I thought the weekend weather was going to continue being crappy, the sun came shining out on Sunday morning. What horrible luck for hubby to have to go in to work on such a fantastic weather-day. I ended up going out alone and getting some things for the home. Oh, and I bought a new suit too. The other day during the career fair, I managed to secure an interview with one of the companies. I'm ecstatic! Some of us 'chosen ones' were asked to attend a casual dinner the evening of the career fair and I found out that only 5 of us were chosen for an interview from our university! Man, who wouldn't be happy? The only thing is though there are many stages of the interview process and well, this was only one of many hurdles that all potential candidates have to go through. I just hope I get through the next phase at least - the test phase.

Anyway, besides the one good opportunity from this company for the interview, the other 15 company reps I talked to didn't seem too eager to hire anyone. Other than giving my resume to them and hearing the same "I'll forward this to our HR department", there wasn't much to look froward to. Some companies weren't even looking to hire graduate students! What's so special about undergraduate students compared to graduate students anyway? I was about to give up and just leave. I'm glad I left with at least one opportunity for an interview.

So today I went suit hunting for the interview. I had worn the only other professional suit to the career fair and also to the casual dinner hosted by that company. So of course I have to wear a different suit to the interview. Can you believe how hard it is to look for a suit for someone who's 5 ft 2 over here where everyone's supposedly obese and tall?! It was so horrible. I went to a department store that has petite sizes, but they didn't have small petite sizes so the pants were too big even if the length was just nice and the suit jackets were to flabby. Then I went to a really nice store where I knew would have my size, but it turns out that they don'tt carry the petite line for suits in their store. They had casual wear in petite size, but not suits. Blurgh! Finally I went to a store that I saved for last coz the suits tend to be more on the trendy side. But the store layout was so stupid. The suit tops would be hung on the rack and the matching pants would be folded in a different section of the store. And because they carry so many patterns of pants, it was so hard to find the matching pants for the suit top. On top of that, there was only one suit top for every size. And because I'm a size 2, and everyone else here is a size 2 too, I couldn't find myself a suit top! I finally found one, the store assistant found the matching pants after scouting all over, both top and bottom fit well and I was already at the counter about to pay for it when I realized that the pants and top didn't match! There were double stripes on the pants but single stripes on the top. Should've looked at the expression on the store assistant's face ok. She seemed to flustered. We finally found a solid black pantsuit that matched and came in my size, but I was just dissapointed that the store assistants couldn't be more competent. The last time I went to the store the same thing happened. I was looking for a suit and the store assistant kept insisting that I could wear this one pants with a suit top. It was so obvious that it didn't match but because both top and bottom had stripes on it, she kept saying it matched. Yesterday a person at the cash register insisted that she had made sure that the items we bought were discounted but we had to point out to her that if you do the math, the discount was not given to us. Luckily hubby was paying attention to the numbers. My mind was elsewhere and I would've just paid the cashier without any questions. Tsk..tsk..

Oh, did you know that you could get on the reservation list at T0y$ R U$ to get the PS3 when it comes out in Nov? Hubby found out and quickly asked me to go get on the list. But by the time I got there, they had no more space on the list. I saw some signs outside the store which directed how one should line up for the reservation list. I think some people probably started lining up really early in the morning. I wouldn't be suprised if people slept outside the store to be first in line!

Anyway, I have tons of homework to do and tons of laundry to fold. I also need to cook. Am hoping to get everything done by tonight before leaving for a birthday party of a friend.

Job Hunting

Oh man, can it really be that close to graduation date already? I can't believe I have to start job hunting. Actually I've been trying to get a job for quite a while now. But most companies don't even want to look at my resume coz they need someone to start immediately. It's always "Call back when you graduate." Blurgh!

But we're having a career fair at our university and I would think that the companies who are attending the fair are looking for entry-level job candidates right? So I don't have to graduate yet. I just wonder how to go about the whole "we are only looking for permanent residents and US citizens only" bit. That's a whole different story. I just want experience. Lantaklah if it's just a full-time internship for the first year. Ugh, so many things to think about. I know I'm going to be nervous talking to the employers. But unless I relax, things will surely go wrong. I've had so many bloopers in my past interviews, I just hope this time around it won't be so bad.

Clean shoes? Check
Ironed suit? Check
Resumes? Check
References? Check
Neat hair? Check
Minimal make-up? Check
Potential questions and answers? Check
Firm handshake? Check

I'm sure there are things that I can't remember right now but I'll have to go and get myself prepared. Wish me luck.

It came and went.

First day of eid was celebrated moderately. I had a nice time, albeit the monthly visit that prevented me from joining the congreration for the eid prayer. sob sob, but that's ok. I still went to the mosque anyway and just sat in the community hall where I could hear the imam recite the takbir and the prayer. Right after it was done hubby and I quickly left as he had to be at work. We managed to take one picture together (oh thank goodness it turned out well!). After sending hubby to work I hung out with Rins the msian girl here. We were hoping that some other people would come over to visit but huh, no one came till later in the evening. By that time I had to go to class. Too bad. :p

The other day I had three people over for the break of fast. I thought it would be a nice gesture for a couple who just arrived here in town. I suppose they didn't think we needed to be nice to them. They were rude to hubby by changing the time they would meet us (more than once), being late after confirming the last time they would be at home so hubby could pick them up and bring them over to our place, and never said sorry for actually being late. The drive to our place apparently was filled with said new boy dissing hubby's car, the fact that he had to use the GPS system to get around and then even dissing our things and apartment. It wasn't obvious, but he seemed to be one of those people who like knowing that they're better than other people. Hubby was flaming mad and has decided that we will never have the couple over to our place again. I'm quite saddened coz I thought they would be a couple that we could hang out with since we don't have many couple friends here. But it looks like that won't work out. I thought the wife was quite sweet, but if the boys can't get along, then I don't think the friendship is a good idea either. I'm very forgiving see, and you have to be nasty to me many many times before I decide that I don't want to be friends with you anymore. First impressions are very important to hubby though. He sizes you up the first time you meet him and he'll decide whether he likes you or not. He has this knack of reading people very well. He rarely gets hurt, unlike me. How different yet compatible we are.

Anyway, it's back to our daily lives here. Hubby is at work and I'm going around the house catching up with school work and house work. Hopefully we can have a nice eid gathering this weekend. Question though.... do we invite the new couple or not? They'll hear about the gathering coz I'm friends with all their other friends. Ponder...ponder...

Eid Mubarak

Ok, its the night before syawal and I'm feeling a little bit lost, a little bit out of place. I miss the sounds of the takbir in Malaysia which can be heard all over the tv and from the local mosque. I guess I'm feeling like there's something missing here. Last year I remember being really homesick and feeling like it was unfair that I had to celebrate the joyous occassion without my family yet again. I thought of the years that my family would wake up and have breakfast together... go the mosque for our raya prayers together and then come back home to sit down and ask for forgiveness from each other. Then we would go to my grandma's house where we would meet all my cousins and aunties and uncles. We would all wish each other eid mubarak and ask for forgiveness and the party would begin. The little kids would run around making us laugh, the young ladies would sit together and catch up on each other's news, the young men would go around taking photographs and videos of all of us. The best thing was seeing my mom and her sisters with their mother chatting away. My cousins and I would be amazed at how similar their facial expressions were and how they all had the same sort of laugh. The first day of eid was definitely fun. In the evening we would pack up our bags and head for my dad's hometown. We would then spend a whole week there visiting relatives. It was bittersweet in a way. I hated the part where I would have to answer the same questions over and over again "What are you doing now?", "When are you getting married?" And now that I'm married "When are you going to have a baby?". But it was familiar and comforting knowing that the same ritual would happen every year. Year after year I would see my dad's aunts get older, and some, would pass away. My cousins would one by one get married and have children. And our family just grew and grew. Now that I'm away from all that, it feels quite odd.

Being away from Malaysia I've tried instilling the malay culture in our everyday lives. Hubby is very much a malay eventhough he's lived abroad all his life. He LOVES malay food. Even more than I do actually. And because of that, I've had to learn how to cook malay food. I'm enjoying it more and more. Throughout the ramadan I've tried to cook as much as I can, being as creative as I can. Today as I cooked the last meal we would eat this ramadan, hubby came up from behind me to give me an appreciative hug and kiss "Thank you for all that you've done this ramadan" he said. He knows it's a special month. He knows it's special eventhough we live here without the ramadan bazaars, the sounds of the terawih prayers from the mosque and the sounds of hari raya songs being played on the radio and in the shopping complexes. Today he seemed quite nostalgic as he thought about how he grew up celebrating raya in this foreign land. It was quite the same as he would don his baju melayu and join the other malaysians here for prayers and a gathering. But the celebrations always lasted only on that day , and then maybe the weekends that followed.

Tomorrow all we're doing to greet the special day is to join the others at the local mosque for the eid prayers. Hubby then has to go to work. I on the other hand will try to spend some time with the Indonesians and one other Malaysian girl I know here. Hopefully it'll be fun. I'm not inviting anyone over to our home as it just doesn't feel right with hubby working and me having to go to class in the evening till 11pm. So maybe that's why I feel as thought it's not really raya. I'm itching to cook and make a feast for all of us to eat - the lemang, the lontong, the kuah kacang.... but it's not the right time. I think I'll try having some people over on the weekend. Maybe it'll bring some cheer to this heavy heart. I still wish I could be back in Malaysia for the festivities. But you know what? that wish isn't as heavy as it was a year ago. Maybe I'll start getting used to celebrating this special occassion away from family and friends. After all, hubby and I should start our own little celebration tradition. I look forward to that.

Happy Eid everybody.

Salam Aidilfitri!

I just checked out the local mosque's website and apparently we could be celebrating eid on Sunday. Seems a bit odd coz I thought it was either Monday or Tuesday. I know we started fasting on the 23 of September. And the islamic council did say that they were going to adhere to the whole calculation methods of knowing when eid would start instead of doing the whole "looking at the moon thing". According to the council, eid is supposed to fall on Monday. Sometimes simple things like this can be so complicated. I'm going to follow the advice of my uncle and what most religious leaders say. Follow the leader of your community. Better to adhere than to fight among each other. So the community leader's word is to follow then. And if eid falls on Sunday, heh, even better. That way hubby won't have to take a few hours off from work on Monday to do a little bit of celebrating.

Preparations on this side aren't a plenty. I'm probably going to make the obligatory rendang and lemang (lemang in the foil - not the batang buluh!). My grandma always had lontong on the first day of raya, so I'm probably going to try to make some of that. I have the lodeh part down to pat. The kuah kacang, well... last year I made it from scratch and it actually turned out good, so maybe I'll try it again. The nasi impit part is gonna be kinda hard. I've always had the nona instant mix where the rice is prepackaged in this plastic bag which I just boil in a big pot. The rice cooks and expands but because it is in the plastic case, it gets 'mampat'. How do people make nasi impit without that packet? I'll have to find out. :p Other than that, I just got a call from the UPS guy who has delivered a package from KL and has left it with a neighbour. Hehehe can't wait to delve into the many raya cookies that my parents have packed and shipped over. What great timing too since it's arriving just before eid. Lucky thing it didn't get stopped at customs. The last package I received was stuck in customs for about a week. Sheash.

Anyway, to all who are celebrating eid, Eid Mubarak! Or in Malay, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Ampun dan maaf di pinta sekiranye ada tersalah dan tersilap bahasa. May we all be blessed this month!

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Oh I almost forgot! Happy Diwali too, to those celebrating it this Saturday!

Thankful

No wonder I was so upset a few days ago and ranting about the smallest things. It was PMS! I have to admit I can be very easily provoked during that time of the month. Anyway, just so you all know, I felt a lot better after the post. And a little bit guilty too, coz as I came out of the room where I was, I found that the whole apartment had been cleaned and vacuumed by hubby. I apologized for the way I acted (I was b!tchy to him!) and being the wonderful husband that he is, he forgave me. Apparently I shouldn't have gotten upset so quickly. He said that he was planning to help me with the housechores when he found out that I was going to be busy with studying for the exams. But I had let my emotions get the better of me and exploded before he could get to the chores.

Sometimes I just feel so unappreciated for the things that I do. It's not that I hate doing the chores. I do like to make the home a nice place to live in and I do want to make hubby happy, but sometimes there's not enough time in the day to do all of that AND to take care of myself at the same time. But I know we can work on that. It's nothing biggie. I've come a long way from being the spoilt daughter that didn't need to think about cooking or cleaning. I know I can continue to be a better person. And sometimes my evolving is really due to the encouragement hubby has for me and the expectations that he has of me.

Anyway, syukur alhamdulillah I say for the health that we both have, for the love that I get from hubby, for the opportunity to better myself in terms of education, for all the things that make our lives more comfortable than some people will have (not like we're super rich, but just enough you know?), for parents that understand the decisions we've made, for true friends who've stuck by through thick and thin, for new friends who have expanded our small minds to the bigger things in life and for so many other things that would make my list unneccessarily long.

Last week of ramadan

Can't believe it's the last week of ramadan already. It feels like we just started fasting a few days ago. Everytime the end of ramadan comes along I feel quite nostalgic. I'm quite sad to see the holy month go. The month of ramadan always brought my family closer together. Everyone stopped their activities to have dinner together and to pray together. Even over here where it's only hubs and me, we will sit down for a proper dinner. I try to cook a few extra dishes and something sweet too, as a dessert. I feel a lot closer to The Creator too as I am somehowe more in tune to my thoughts and to serving Him. It should be this way all the time, not just during Ramadan, but maybe the whole 'satans are all locked up' has something to do with it. I dunno whether to believe if its true or not. It sounds quite comical sometimes, but then again, why the concentration now, and not during other months?

Anyhoo, I'm starting to think about what to do for Eid or Hari Raya. Since it's falling on a Monday, and since it's not a public holiday over here, hubby will have to schedule his working hours. Even then, I doubt he can spend more than a few hours to just go to the masjid for the morning prayer and then off to work he'll have to go. I on the other hand am free during the day and will only have classes at night, so I suppose I can celebrate the hari raya somewhat. I know another malay girl here who'll want to celebrate. Other than that I don't know anyone else. It's quite sad how hubby and I have closed ourselves off from other people. It's always just the two of us. We go do things together on the weekend, sometimes we join our friends, but most of the time it's just the two of us. We don't live close to the friends I've made at the university. It's about a 30 min drive from where they live so we don't bump into them when we're out and about in our shopping area. Hubby's friends or colleagues are all married and with children. They have their own families and friends that they hang out with so we don't see much of them. Not that hubby wants to hang out with them anyway. He sees them at work every day of the week, why on earth would he want to spend more time with them on the weekends? So we live in this little bubble.

Well, I'd better be off. Gotta study for my last paper. It's almost midnight and I need my sleep or else I won't have any energy to wake up for sahur tomorrow and stay awake for the rest of the day.

Exam Week

So it's exam week. I actually sat for one paper last week and have two more to go this week. I'm feeling soooooooooo demotivated though. I can't make myself read the notes that I need to go through for the exams. I remember the first semester I was here and how my heart would just beat a million times faster (figuratively) just counting down the days to the exams. Now I can't give a hoot! Two of the exams are open book tests and you know what that means right? The answers aren't in the book so you can bring all the books and notes you want, but you won't find the answer there. Most of the time it's because the exam is all about the application of the concepts that you've learnt in class. It's all those "what do you think about...." questions. The grading of those types of exams are so subjective. If you think the way your professor does, that normally means you'll get a higher mark. They all say that we have to back up our conclusions with concrete reasons and facts. But you can tell in the discussions in class that sometimes the way you see things are the 'wrong' way. You'll argue your heart out with the professor and he'll say oh, I'm not saying that you'r wrong, but this is what I think the answer is. See who gets the most points for thinking the answer the professor thinks is the best. hmph... Whether I like these exams are really dependant on how well I can read the professor and which direction I think he'll take with an opinion.

The multiple choice question types of exams are sometimes are a drag to sit for too. There's only one answer that is correct and my memory isn't very strong. When it comes to definitions and concepts, sometimes I can't remember the exact words so I end up not knowing what the answer of a question is.

I like exams that let you play around with a software or program on a computer. You can tell if you'r wrong if the software won't allow you to do a certain thing. hehehehhe..... I don't know, is that cheating?

Anyway, yeah as I said I don't have the strength and motivation to read anymore for my exams. I thought I would, but hmph, nothing's making me study. Sigh... I suppose I should just look through my notes again. At least I can say that I tried even if the exams go bad tonight.

Wish me luck!

Rant

I'm so fed up. Days like this make me so mad that I am the only one who is responsible for all the cleaning, ironing, cooking, grocery shopping, dusting, sweeping, mopping, scrubbing and overall care of another human being. It's only one human being ok.

On days like this I cannot stand seeing the t-shirt lying by the side of the bed that is waiting to be picked up. I cannot stand the scribbles of notes and papers that do not need to be stored but are just lying around in the kitchen or the dining table or the bedroom. I cannot stand the pile of clothes that are waiting to be ironed just because I haven't had the time to get to them due to school work. I cannot stand the pile of dishes and pots that need to be cleaned just because I slaved away in the kitchen trying to cook something nice for the other human being. I cannot stand the piles of journals and textbooks that are strewned all over his side of the bed because he can't be bothered to put them away after reading them. I cannot stand the sound of the video games on the tv while I'm trying to cram for my exams. I cannot stand the fact that I have to go to sleep much later than him after slaving away at home and at school but still have to think of his needs. He goes to sleep right away. I have to take a shower, wash my hair, dry my hair (or else I'll catch a cold), lather on lotion (that got washed off because of the shower) and then wake up in 4 hours just to do everything all over again.

Sure he's the one that has to work hard to provide for our home and the car and all the other materialistic things that we have. But it's so unfair that he expects me to care for the house and for himself just because I'm his wife. Caring for him does not mean having to pick up after all the pieces of clothing that he can't bother to put in the laundry basket. Caring for him does not mean cleaning the floor of all the pieces of hair that is falling of his head. Why can't be volunteer to help with the housechores without me having to ask for help? Unless I get worked up over all the things that I have to do and make a big fuss, he won't help. He thinks its easy. He thinks its nothing to complain about. But if you're like me, and have to pick up after him over and over and over again, you'd go mad too. Especially when I have my education and my sanity and well-being to think about. Gone are the days that I could spend doing my nails, my hair and going for facials. Gone are the days that I can leisurely pluck every inch of hair on my body to loook presentable and nice. It's now all about his comfort and health. I come second.

No amount of clothing bought for me will wipe the frown off my face when we come home and find the floor and tables dusty when it was just cleared a few days before. At least he's helping a bit you say? Well, I don't like the feeling of making him feel bad before he gets up and clears everything.

I'm just feeling crappy and used.

Snow in October?

Oh what a shock to the system! On Wednesday it was around 18 degrees C and the next day it went down to -2 degrees! It even snowed for a bit. All of it melted as soon as it reached the ground but I was shivering the whole day! The only time I wasn't shivering was when I was standing in front of the stove cooking for dinner (or the break of fast). Even then, I had my sweater on. Oh man, what a weather pattern. I told a friend from Malaysia and she thinks that the world is coming to an end. Talk about being morbid! But I have to admit the weather has been acting really wierd the past 5 years or so. Maybe its the effects of global warming. I've read very little about how to be more environmentally friendly but I cannot imagine my life without a car or without releasing CFC everytime I open the fridge. What about the abundance of aerosol cans that are sold?! Plus the more environmental friendly products are more expensive. I care about the earth and all, but it's just so hard for me part with cash when I know I can get a product that will work better for a cheaper price.

Oh how selfish of me. I'm not doing any good giving excuses for not taking better care of the planet I live on. Please don't punish me!

Back to the weather... since the cold weather is here we'll have to prepare ourselves again. I'll have to take out all our bulky sweaters that I put away when summer came just 3 months ago. I hate the cold, really I do. Even in tropical Malaysia I get cold so easily.... can you imagine how cold I get during true winter weather? And why on earth does gas prices have to be so high anyway? Even if we switch the heater on for a few hours a day, the bill can reach $200!! So because we're trying to so hard to save money we're always freezing at home. I am dressed in at least 3 layers with double socks on sometimes and a hat because my ears get so cold. *sigh* I'm not looking forward to slipping under the covers because it's always so cold. It takes a while before our warmth gets trapped underneath the duvet. I'm not looking forward sitting on the cold toilet seat in the morning! I'm not looking forward to the slippery roads and the short daylight hours. *sigh*

The only things to look forward to during winter are:

1. Food! It always tastes so much better coz u tend to look for comfort food.
2. Snow! When it's nice and sunny out and there's fresh snow on the ground, everything looks so pretty and crisp.
   
3. Winter coats! I get to finally wear the many coats that hubby has bought for me. hehe....
4. Nonexistent insects! The insects and bugs that come around the summer suddenly disappear. Ooooh this ones the best!
5. Winter sales! hehehehe
   

Other than that, I don't think there's anything else that I look forward to when winter comes around. Maybe this year I'll put up pictures of how winter over here looks like.

Comments and the like

I switched over my blog to the beta version today. Only then did I realize I had comments on my blog that had to be accepted! So sorry to oj, elisa and richard who dropped comments on my blog months ago. i've accepted them all and replied to them too. i've also changed the comments moderator setting on my blog so that I don't miss any more comments that all you nice folks are dropping on my blog. Many thanks!

Hari Raya Greeting Cards

Every year I since I've been abroad, I scramble to get a decent looking eid greeting card printed for all my aunts and uncles and grandma's in Malaysia. Every year after I slave away at the computer trying to design a special greeting I think about how I should've started the project earlier and not wait till the middle of ramadan to come up with a design. Alas, that never happens. This year, without fail I spent the whole of yesterday designing very simple cards to send to my relatives back in Malaysia. I think about just buying the eid greeting cards that might be sold in the US but huh, it says Eid on it.... not Hari Raya, or Salam Aidilfitri which is the malay greeting for Happy Eid. So I refuse to buy those english greeting cards.

But oh my goodness was it hard to design a card! I tried to even take pictures of my 'kain songket' to maybe incorporate as a border. Then I thought of maybe putting a picture of hubby and me in a frame that was shaped like the state we live in. hehehe lame! Then I stole another person's picture of a mosque and tried to work with that. But it all printed out oh so horribly. So in the end I used the little creative drawing skill I had and used M@cromedia Fl@sh to design some designs.

This is one of the designs that I came up with:


It printed out better than this one:


Ok, so it's reeeaally amateurish. But it's not too bad is it? At least I tried. Anyway, I also spent the day writing messages and short notes for all 20 cards. My minds all muddled up. I was trying very hard to write in proper malay. You know, the whole "Kehadapan nenda yang dikasihi" stuff. Huahahaha.. fail I tell you! Fail! I ended up just writing in English to my relatives who lived in the city and would probably be more forgiving to me for writing in a foreign language. tsk...tsk...

Anyway, I found some pretty nice greeting cards on ebay when I almost gave up designing this year's card. Maybe I'll just buy some off of that website next year. hehe.....

My own pressure cooker

Yay. I got a new gadget to play with. So men can have their plasma TVs, their sports cars and other wat nots.... I got this!

heehheheee.. Ok so it may not be that high tech. But I can say for sure that it will last a long, long time. It's a pressure cooker! Hehehe.. hubby loves ox-tail soups and this is the only gadget I know that will tenderize meat in less than an hour as opposed to 5 hours on the stove. Anyway, I tried my new gadget today and it tenderized hubby's favourite meal - the ox-tail soup in 30 minutes! As in, the meat was falling off the bone! But, now I'm so freaked out coz there's so much oil in the soup. I cut off the fatty parts of the ox-tail pieces but the soup was still so very oily. I'm cooling it down in the fridge right now and hoping that the oily parts will solidfy so I can scrape it off. If not, its going to be oily soup for the break of fast tonight!

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List of new dishes I've learned to make for the ramadan:

1. Ox-tail soup
2. Fried Chicken Rice (instead of roasted chicken rice)
3. Caramel pudding
4. Pengat Pisang
5. Jemput-jemput pisang
6. Kuih Ketayap (or some ppl call it kuih dadar)

I have a recipe for currypuff and sweet sour egg which I have yet to try. I'm quite happy with the new dishes I've learned. This is a huge feat for someone who never had to cook her whole life, ok! Even when I was living alone in the UK I brought boxes of thos brahim's instant paste that all I had to do was just add the meat and I'd get a decent tasting malay dish to eat with hot rice. I think my parents would be extremely pleased to know that their spoilt daughter can now cook some malay dishes from scratch. :)

Online Shopping

I quite like online shopping. Especially when it comes to buying books and make-up. I mean, why would I spend over $100 for a new textbook when I can get it for half the price online? Sure I have to wait for a few days for it to be shipped over but that's a savings of $50! And when you're on a student budget like me (I pay for my own school supplies and tuition - hubby pays for putting a roof over my head), I'd take any bargain I can get. I've had a lot of confidence in online shopping too. In fact, hubby started selling things online and we found that he could make quite a bit. As a seller hubby will also try to make a transaction as smooth as possible. We've had one or two 'bad' customers. One said his items never arrived and hubby couldn't prove that he had sent them out (now we use delivery confirmation service). Another was a very picky customer who was unhappy that her white jacket wasn't as white as she thought it would be. Oh well.... that's part of running a business right? Picky customers I can take. But fraudulant ones? I bought a book online and should have trusted my gut instincts when I saw that the seller didn't have any feedback on his profile. Two weeks went and the book never came. I ended up having to buy the book at the university bookstore coz we needed the book for class. Multiple emails were sent and were never replied to. At the end of the two weeks I saw that the seller had started getting negative feedbacks and a lot of people had not received the books the bought from this seller. Ugh, I got such a horrible feeling at the pit of my stomach. I had already paid off my credit card bill thus the money had already gone to the company that hosts the website. I couldn't even file a claim with the company 60 days until the transaction had been completed. Bl00dy hell. I was SO not happy with that. Sigh.. it's been 2 weeks since I filed my claim and it still hastn' been processed. I want my money ok! geram rite now.... so geram

2nd week of ramadan

Phew, so it's already been a week since muslims started fasting. Hubby and I are doing quite well fasting away from family this year. I think since it's the third year I've been away from KL, I'm starting to build our own family ritual and practices. Sure I miss the ramadan bazaars and breaking of fast with friends, family and relatives, but I don't like thinking too much about all of that. It'll make me quite nostalgic.

Anyway, I've been pretty good at waking up for sahur. Hubby and I dont eat during sahur anymore. Just have some hot tea and some other form of fluid. Lukewarm water for me, juice for him. Sometimes if I feel like I didn't eat much the night before I'll have a piece of toast. But I think my body has adjusted itself to the nightly meals and early morning drinks. And as usual during ramadan I get a little bit creative with the cooking. Except for the one day on Saturday when I was craving for cheese, we've had malay food all week. Not to mention some malay desserts. Granted they're easy and not as sophisticated as the ones you'd see at the ramadan bazaar in KL, but it reminds me a little bit of home. No pictures of all the dishes of course. Don't want to make fasting even harder (for me! hehe).

By the way, how sad is it that we've managed to use the coffee table instead of the dining table to set the dishes and drinks for the break of fast? Yeah, so unhealthy. I hope when hubby and I have kids we make sure we use the dining table to eat, and not the couch and coffee table in the living room.

At least I get to break my fast at home more often this year. Breaking my fast in class is not fun at all. The one class I have ends at 7:50pm which isn't so bad. I have a tumbler of water by my side and a little snack, like a date or a piece of cookie or some kind of sandwich (cut into little pieces) which I pop in my mouth when maghrib. By the time I get home it's 8:30pm and I eat a proper meal. The other day is tough coz I have back to back classes from 5:20pm to 10:40pm with a 10 minute break in between. First I have to haul myself from one classroom to ther other. Second, even if I brought a heavier meal to eat, I would have to gobble it all up in record breaking time. The other option is just to eat a slightly more than a piece of date. Either way by the time I get to eat properly, it's 11:15pm and by that time the gastric has kicked in. YEah... my body can't take it. Nothing in the stomach for too long, it screams. Some food in the stomach but eaten very quickly, it still screams. Very spoilt I guess.

In other news hubby actually ran the marathon over the weekend. He was in a relay team so he didn't have to run the whole 30km but it was still quite a feat as he didn't break his fast. On top of that he didn't even train properly and I have not been feeding him healthy food and portions. I can't believe he finished his part of the marathon without either twisting his many joints that have been injured in the past and are prone to injuring itself without notice, or get a heart attack. This is a private joke of ours as his family has very bad history of heart attacks and high cholesterol. I've nagged and nagged for him to go get a medical check-up so we can be aware of his cholesterol levels, but he's very determined not to admit that he could be a potential victim of his family's health pattern and history. Sigh....

Enuff blogging. Gotta go think of today's menu.