Sweden in spring

Family

F A M I L Y

I ran into a stranger as he passed by,"Oh excuse me please" was my reply.

He said, "Please excuse me too;I wasn't watching for you."

We were very polite, this stranger and I. We went on our way and we said goodbye.

But at home a different story is told,How we treat our loved ones, young and old.

Later that day, cooking the evening meal,My son stood beside me very still.

When I turned, I nearly knocked him down."Move out of the way," I said with a frown.

He walked away, his little heart broken.I didn't realize how harshly I'd spoken.

While I lay awake in bed, God's still small voice came to me and said,"While dealing with a stranger,common courtesy you use,but the family you love, you seem to abuse.

Go and look on the kitchen floor,You'll find some flowers there by the door.

Those are the flowers he brought for you.He picked them himself: pink, yellow and blue.

He stood very quietly not to spoil the surprise,you never saw the tears that filled his little eyes." By this time, I felt very small,And now my tears began to fall.

I quietly went and knelt by his bed;"Wake up, little one, wake up," I said.

"Are these the flowers you picked for me?" He smiled, "I found 'em, out by the tree.

I picked 'em because they're pretty like you.I knew you'd like 'em, especially the blue."

I said, "Son, I'm very sorry for the way I acted today; I shouldn't have yelled at you that way."

He said, "Oh, Mom, that's okay.I love you anyway."

I said, "Son, I love you too,and I do like the flowers, especially the blue."

This story was sent by my beloved cousin Fasha. Really touched my heart. A nice reminder to myself...

Midsummer celebration

Smlm kami ke Gamla Uppsala ngan kengkawan dr Indonesia dan Thailand. Ada perayaan menyambut midsummer. Kami tak lepaskan peluang bgambar dgn penari2 Swedish, dan juga melawat rumah2 lama yg terletak di situ. Kami bawa bekal utk berpiknik. Nabeeha lak, dok mengacau org2 yg berpiknik, dan mengejar anak2 org lain. Tradisi Swedish nie merapatkan lg hubungan kekeluargaan antara mereka, dan turut menjadi tarikan utama pelancong ke Sweden. Tak sangka pula hujan masa tgh syok berpiknik. Kami pun, apalagi, kelam-kabut mengemas mknn dan lari cari tempat berteduh. Mujurlah tempat piknik betul2 di bawah pokok, takla terasa sgt hujan. Sian Nabeeha, tertidur kepenatan setelah lama beratur dgn ayahnya utk membeli air.

Belajar naik basikal...

How easy to ride a bike when u were juz a kid. But, now, dah besar camni, susahnya nak belajar tunggang basikal semula! Uwaaaaa.... Luckily abang bought me a new bike, which is lighter and easier to pedal than his. Ntah berapa kali aku jatuhkan basikal tu ke tanah, sbb panik, hehehheh... (kalau terjatuh sekali ngan basikal tu lg kelakar agaknya!). Pertama kali mendaki bukit (ewah! dgn beskal la..) bertemankan abg dan Nbha di belakang, aku dikejutkan dgn bunyi motorbike (actually a bicycle with a motor) yg menderum dr depan. Oleh sbb panik dan terperanjat tahap dinasour, aku pun campak beskal ke tanah (cam biasa la...). Muahhahaha... I've no idea why I reacted like this, but it has to stop soon, or I'll damaged the 2000 crown bike in juz a week! Jangan marah, abang...

Glad Sommar!

Summer is finally here! So hot and dry, la... My family in Malaysia reads my blog too. So I'll start blogging in Manglish, muahhahaha...

Can't believe that it's gonna be THIS HOT in Uppsala. Maybe because I'm used to the high humidity in Malaysia. Most of the time, I feel like being in the house all the time, but that was a problem too...terperap aje dlm rumah tanpa aliran udara! We finally bought a small fan, at least for a good long sleep at night. Everyone seems to walk in the sun; we, on the other hand, will try our best to find a shade. No more tanning for me! Also bought new summer clothes for Nabeeha and myself, hehehheee. Sommar rea! Halva priset! Yay! My favorite items now include dressess! And nice, shiny scarves! Mix and match, yeah! Dan, abang pun terpaksa menghulurkan beberapa ratus kronor, heheheh...Luv u!

Penat shopping, kami pun bjalan ke Linne Garden. Sempat singgah kedai utk beli aiskrim jap. Terjumpa lak mak mertua kak Nita (sorry, can't remember her name) dan Gunilla, bersama2 Prof dr German. What a small world! Not much happening in the garden. Pokok2 baru disemai. Maybe we'll pay another visit in late July to see the wonder of Linne. Dan setelah bbrp jam di Linne, anakku yg comel ini tertidur dlm stroller...dengan strawberi di tangan!

Funfair

Nabeeha and I were very happy on this day, coz we enjoyed ourselves riding on the flying fish, roller coaster and ferris wheel. Unfortunately, there's no picture of my baby on the coaster... Quite surprising, she didn't even show any fear while riding on it (I, on the other hand, scared to death that she'll scream and cry during the ride!). But she did cried- after the coaster finally stops - haahhahaha...She didn't want to get out of the seat and screaming to get back on it, which I can never do coz I've run out of tickets! Poor Nabeeha...

A trip to Granby

Yesterday we went to Granby Centrum animal farm. Nabeeha was really excited touching those nanny goats and kids. She laughed, a lot, when the goats tried to eat the flowers in her hand. Well, it was kinda funny coz the goats never stop chasing her! And she was juz the right size to be a friend of the kids, hehhehehhee...

Baby Nabeeha

Isn't she a beauty? My baby Nabeeha is my miracle. My world revolves around her. She's the one that I've been waiting for, and she finally arrives with all the rizq that Allah has provided to her. Alhamdulillah, our life as a family becomes more meaningful with the arrival of our beautiful daughter, Nabeeha Safiyya.

The choice...

It's hard to put your trust fully on someone's hand, even though he's the man u love. But, I made my choice to reside in Sweden for the next 4 years of my live, thanx to this man...my dear husband! and, this happened to be the best choice ever! I love Uppsala, a town which I never heard before, and I love the environment, the people and the system. Alhamdulillah, our journey to this place seems much easier than we thought. My baby girl has already reached 16 months, and she is so....friendly! Well, I think that is from her father's side, and other personalities too; brave, cheerful, focused, calm... Hmm, where's my personality in her? Maybe, full of smiles and happy faces to offer to everyone?
One place which makes me happy everytime we pay a visit (and shop) there; the Vaksalatorg open market. I can get cheap things there, from clothes to household items, even a brand new dress which the owner sells coz she mistakenly picked the wrong size! Well, u know...leaving in a country where almost everything is expensive, buying used things is perfectly a better choice. The tip is to find things which is less than a year old, or look new. No one can tell that it has been used before (well, at least I can't), hehehehee...
Finally, we found a mini baby stroller for Nabeeha to play with at the market. Costs us only 100 kronor. I can't help myself from buying things for Nabeeha each time we go there . Baby clothes still look brand new, with no stains whatsoever...and costs us only 5 to 10 kronor each. So cheap compared to the ones in the store (60 kronor and above). And I finally have to accept to learn how to wear a hijab, in a fancy, Arabic way, coz no tudung bawal sold here! My husband said that I look nice in that style, and that gives me confidence to try putting on the new styles.
But I still miss home. Though the temperature sometimes reach 40 degrees over there in Malaysia, I still prefer to be home. It's cold here, but summer is very nice. Today might be the beginning of a nice wheather ahead. I'm kinda surprised coz I found out that I hate snow. Being covered in snow is one of my dream, but when greeted with thick, heavy snow, plus a minus 15 degree snowstorm, and a long....winter, I realized that I don't want to be in that situation again. I even think to fly away to Malaysia each time the snow reaches the lowest temperature in the future, but with a RM25,000 return flight ticket for the 3 of us, I do not dare to think about going back home within this first year.