Joyeux anniversaire et enceinte

So yeah I just turned twenty-five. I mean 4 days ago. Turning twenty-five is a pretty big thing for me since I kinda have a list of things that I should achieve by 25, not 20 or 24 but 25. My mom says being 25 is about being a good person. Dah suku abad. It is time to get really serious with your life, you should know what you want and you don't want. 

It seems like only yesterday when I blew candles on my 20th birthday cake in Dublin which was also my first snowy birthday. Now, I'm 25 and very pregnant! Alhamdulillah, I think I managed to achieve most of my life missions that I should unlock by I'm twenty-five. I could not be happier than now. You know how people say another year older, another year wiser? I totally get it now. Now that I'm 25, I finally realise so many things like how to choose friends wisely and just keep in mind that it is not possible to keep them all and that is totally fine. I also realise how my parents are actually much much cooler than they were when I was 17. I can't be more closer to my mom than now, to be honest. Another important thing that I clearly understand by heart now is, Allah's plan is definitely the best plan for you. I'm a 'planner person'. I plan everything, from A to Z. I have all the list what I should achieve today, tomorrow or even by I'm 30. I  used to get really upset and frustrated if someone or something ruins my plan but I learn along the way that nothing is more superior than God's plan. If you think your life now is not what you imagine it should be, fret not my friends, something super great is waiting for you. Trust me on this.

Anyway, put the serious talk aside, my sweet husband set a treasure hunt for me for my 25th birthday. I did not expect it at all since he seems pretty hopeless when it comes to lovey dovey things.

So, early this year, I told him I want something that  I can match with my favourite handbag. When I said that, I meant a handbag should be matched with a pair of shoes. It was only one time thing and as I thought men do not notice small things (because their brains are engineered to see big and obvious things only),  I assumed he already forgot about that and I did not expect him to remember pun. Surprisingly, he stored that information somewhere in his manly brain and perceived that a  handbag needs a watch and in order to match them, they should come from the same brand. Men's brains can be that complicated, you guys! HAHAHA! You should see his face when I told him it could be just a pair of shoes to match with the handbag. Oh well, you cannot take it back. I guess I will not be getting any birthday presents from him for the next 5 years. heh. 

I somehow love how my man thinks.

He has been extra sweet this year, maybe because I'm carrying his baby. Other than a treasure hunt, he also planned a candlelight dinner after asking me where he should bring me for that. -.-' 

So, he chose to bring me to Floral Kafe in Ampang. It is a quite romantic and pretty place to eat dinner with your loved one. The food is surprisingly good. Their signature menus are traditional Johor food. If you are up for western food, for me this is not the place.

Many people come here to celebrate their partner's bithday, hence, all the balloons.

I'm 25 and very pregnant.

The next day, we went to shop for our baby. I never knew I can be so happy in a Mothercare store. They got end-year sale and I went a bit crazy. My husband keeps reminding me that baby grows very fast and we don't need too many newborn cloths. Now, everything is ready. We only need to get a few more things done and the baby can come out. heee.

Pray for my uneventful pregnancy and labour.

Light writing 7 - Vienna, the musical city.

So I finished my interview last week and Alhamdulillah it went well. They asked me about dengue from its pathogenesis to shock management (including the dose of fluid at different stages). KKM takes dengue fever very seriously (it kills thousands of people in Malaysia each year). I shall write in another post about the process to apply for HO position in Malaysia especially for those who are studying in Ireland or Uk. Better to know all the process earlier to avoid headache later on. Plus, sharing is caring, no?

Anyway, where were we? Yeah after Prague, we went to Vienna by train. The journey took 3 hours from Prague to Vienna. That was my second time in Vienna. I went there alone in 2013 during my spring break. So, I did not expect much. We arrived at Vienna main station around 12 pm and we took another train to our hotel. 

After checking in, the first place we went was Die Wiener Deewan restaurant. It is an halal restaurant and what really interesting about this place is, you can eat as much as you want and pay as much as you want too! For those who watch 99 Cahaya di Langit Eropah ( it is an Indonesian movie), you should know this restaurant. My friend, Raja, who is studying in Prague told me to go to eat here. The food is good as they served lamb briyani ( my fav briyani) and like I said the price is totally up to you but come on they do this for charity so don't be so cheapskate, ok? We went there twice. haha! In case, you are planning to go to Vienna and want to eat halal Pakistani food ( and love cheap lamb briyani), the nearest metro station is U2 Schottentor.  No need to find McD and eat their oily fish burger and fries.

muka high sebab kenyang

After that, we went to Maria-Theresian-Platz. It is basically a public square that has two museums, facing each other. Since I had been to both of the museums when I visited Vienna for the first time and my husband is not really a museum freak like me ( call me nerd but I loooove museums), so we decided to just chill out, taking pictures at the square.

This is the The Rathaus or Vienna City Hall. I think it is the most beautiful building in Vienna with Neo-Gothic style. Can you appreciate that? We did not go in but I heard its interior design is  very pretty.

This is Hofburg Palace. You can actually just walk from Maria-Theresian-Platz to here. I mean you just have to cross the road. It used to be royal winter residence and now it becomes museums.

One does not simply go to Vienna without enjoying at least one Austrian classic orchestra concert. I love classic musics. It all started when I stop listening to my mp3. I used to listen to all sort of songs almost all the times like when I cook, study, mandi, jogging, walking, on the bus. One day, I realised whenever I tried to concentrate doing serious stuff, my mind keeps playing the songs and even worse during solat as well. I feel so guilty and my housemate suggested me to listen to piano or classics orchestra instead of listen to anything with lyrics. Since then, I did not touch my mp3 and deleted all the songs in my iPhone. Alhamdulillah I can focus when I really need to focus and bila solat pun dah tak tengiang-ngiang lagu Coldplay. Itu yang penting. heh. Anyway, my husband decided to buy us tickets to an orchestra concert because he started to notice my growing interest into orchestra-ish music (his words). 

I cannot just stare at this random pakcik without taking his picture.heh.

Before the concert, we decided to go to a quite famous cafe here. Very classy and pretty cafe called Griensteidl Cafe which was opened since 1847. Due to its location and history many artists and musicians used to come here to enjoy their coffee. 

Oh see that couple? They were discussing about metaphysics theory and the existence of God. Meanwhile we were sitting there just look around and had a conversation like 'oh this tea is quite good. How's your coffee, honey? You need more sugar? Hmm.. the scones look good too, no?' Felt so 'smart'. -.-'

The 2-hour concert was amazing and worth every single euro. Since the concert, my husband seems to love orchestra too! After that, we went back to our hotel. It was already 10 pm. The Vienna city at night is quite pretty. At first, we planned to just walk to our hotel because we were still moved by the orchestra music and the atmosphere was pretty romantic you know, with pretty lights, classic musics and surrounded with beautiful buildings but suddenly the love-is-in-the-air moment was ruined by heavy rain. Then, being squeezed between tall and huge Austrians in metro seemed like the best idea to go back to our hotel.

The next day, we went to Schonbrunn Palace. Just like many other palace in Europe you are not allowed to take pictures. The ticket to go in is pretty expensive for me. We bought the ticket to visit half of the palace only. If you are willing to pay more then, you can visit the whole palace and their maze which I heard they are pretty cool too.

Then, we went to Salzburg by train. The most comfortable and cheapest train throughout our Europe trip . It only costs 15 euro, free wifi on the train and no need to pay extra to reserve the seat and very bery comfortable. We just bought the tickets at the counter. Easy peasy.

of The Script and Dublin

I was listening to The Script's Science and Faith album and suddenly burst into tears. Crazy pregnancy hormone plus The Script reminds me of Dublin. My second home. Then, suddenly the wet, gloomy and cold weather of Dublin hit me. Okay, nope, thanks.  I bet it's already winter there. But oh oh the pretty Christmas tree on the Grafton street and the colourful Christmas light all over Dublin City. Dublin is sooooo pretty during Christmas albeit it's hormonal weather (not so much different from my mood right now).

Anyway, try to listen to this song while you are pregnant and not crying...heh.

Oh yeah 80 days to go if she wants to stay for the longest time. 

Coffee break

Well, after almost 5 months,  I need to get back to my medical books. Need to do some studying before the interview and work. After months of being a 'housewife', I must say it is the hardest job ever. Hugeeee respect to stay at home mom. It is a hard job, I can't deny it. My baby is not born yet but it is really hectic to do all the house chores alone. We live in a double storey house with 4 rooms. The first 2 months after we moved in, I tried to clean all the rooms everyday, you know, dusting, vacuuming, mopping despite of having morning sickness that time. Then my effort reduced to clean two rooms and living room per day. Now, with growing-fast baby (you have no idea how fast baby grows inside you after 16 weeks)  inside me I only able to do laundry, cooking and sleep. It is so exhausting and why does our bedroom need to be upstair, honey? Now, I'm wondering why do I want all-white kitchen, again?  And all-white interior design for our living room too. -.-'

You can't just look at the dust on your white comfy couch without try to clean it and you can't just ignore your white lily flower decoration on your dining table to be covered by dust too. So, I end up cleaning it everyday and it is exhausting. When people come over to our place and say oh, nice house. I like the concept and bla..bla..bla. I cry a bucket while telling them it's freaking hard to keep them white!

 When I got an email saying the interview is in another 2 weeks, I have a mixed feeling. I thought I'm gonna be just happy because I finally have a reason to ignore the dust but somehow a big chunk of me feels sad. It is like ok sh!t just got real. Hospital images, management of this disease and that disease, this drugs and that drugs suddenly running through my mind. These past 4 days, I didn't even check my white lily on the table. Heck, I didn't even read to my unborn sweet baby ( don't judge. That's how I bond with my baby). Now, I'm thinking dusting and vacuuming are more interesting than studying. HAHA! Manusia.

I need a coffee break. Oh wait, I can't take caffein. -.-'

Here are some pictures but they are nothing to do with my rambling today. These picture were taken last winter in Dublin when my friend from Cork came to visit me in Dublin and we decided to do cafe hunting. I thought I need to post them here.

ps: almost update about Vienna but that can wait after the interview and please pray for me.

Life at 18

I was about to write 'Light Writing 7' but suddenly a girl who used to be my belangkas when were in college asked me if we can Skype. So, we had a quite long conversation and it somehow reminded me of our time during college where we used to stay up and just talked and talked about anything. We are still close now but time and place drifted us apart, I guess. I was in Ireland and she was in another part of the world. Now, both of us already graduated from medical school and both of us are expecting! Isn't that great? 

"Hey remember back in college I was the one who always had problematic and pathetic relationship and you were like 'I  couldn't care less about boys'?"

HAHA! It 's true. We can't help but just laugh. Man, it was like what, 5 or 6 years ago? We were young and stupid and reckless. Not like any other people in the college who always berkepit dengan boyfriend masing-masing 24/7 yucks, we pretty much spent our time with our own things in our own world together. We came from the same hometown, we speak the same dialect (which I knew some people didn't like us for this but heck, we didn't care at all), we laughed at jokes that can only be understood by us. I think the only fun and good memory I had about my college was this girl. 

"Remember when you said, we are gonna be old and no one wants to marry us and we will end up doing IVF at the age of 40 to make babies?"

HAHA! We talked about this after one of our friends actually said to me that if I don't have a boyfriend before going abroad to study( that time we were doing our IB diploma), I will end up being an anak dara tua.  She said it with a bitchy tone. I still remember it was an awkward conversation we had during our dinner time at our Dewan Selera. That's how I came up with the idea of IVF. HAHAHA! No worries, I'm happily married now and pregnant without any help of IVF, Alhamdulillah.  Oh that girl who said that me? I don't know, we were not too close but I heard she is not married yet. Moral of the story, don't be a bitch. Kidding.

Anyway, many things can change after you are 18 or 19. Adik-adik, if you think your life is everything when you are 18, sadly, you are wrong. That's okay to be a bit rebellious and rasa kononnya dewasa sikit but I tell you what, that is all your trashy hormone talking. At the age of 18 or 19 you were driven by your testosterone or oestrogen. Tak payah nak gedik-gedik nak kahwin la even though you are at the legal age to get married now. Trust me, I know a lot of people who ended up marrying someone else not their high school boyfriend or girlfriend. A lot of things can happen at this age. You have so many potentials and ideas. Testostrone and oestrogens are not all bad. I mean other than acne, they make you think the impossible is possible.  18 it is the time for you to build your self-confidence and finding yourself, to get to know your passion, you know. One thing I wish I did when I was 18, to use all my potentials, be more confident and ignore what people say about me. I was so consumed battling with my low self-esteem when I was 18 and it dragged me down in so many levels. I also lived with other people expectation and too worried about what people say. 

Take home point is, if you think you are a loser or pathetic at the age of 18, trust me dik, your life in not over. Andddd...tak payah nak gedik-gedik bercinta, nak bergetar tulang rusuk kiri sangatlah. Tak ke mananya semua itu. When you are 24 or 25, then you can start to talk about relationship and getting married.

It took me a few more years after that to learn that life is more than what people say about you. Life is more than what you were during 18. Life is about loving yourself more than begging anyone else to love you. Life is more than a 'cheap' relationship. Life is about giving as much as you can. Life is about taking the risk. Life is about commitment. Life is about being the best servant to Allah not to people.

Good luck of being 18!

Ps: I have my job interview in another 2 weeks. After almost 6 months of hiatus from medical world, this is not an easy interview for me. Please pray for me.