Monday

Wah, tetiba aku cam rajin asik update blog kan....

Layankan saja.....

Pagi ni elok aje aku turun tangga wohnung nak hantar Nabilah gi kindy (ye, Nabilah aje sbb Nabihah masih mcm x sihat) tetiba jiran rumah bwh yg org Morocco tu tetiba buka pintu rumah dia dan bagitau kindergarten hari ni ni ditutup sbb heizung (heater) rosak. Anak dia pon gi kindergarten yg sama dgn twins dan agaknya dia gi hantar anak dia awal ari ni so dia dpt tau la pasal kindy ditutup.

Aku agak surprise aku boleh memahami setiap butir yg dia ckp (dia ckp German of course!) dan siap tanya beberapa soklan lagi. Sebenarnya aku jarang sembang ngan minah ni sbb jarang bersua muka. Aku selalunya nyorok dlm rumah aje....hehehe.

Apa2 pon aku sgt berterima kasih atas maklumat dia tu. Save us from walking in the snow. Sekolah tu walaupun dekat, still dlm cuaca macam ni, agak mencabar la jugak bila berjalan diatas black ice itu. Lagipon snow tgh turun pagi ni. So mesti la agak kecewa kan bila ko dah jalan2 dlm keadaan mencabar itu sekali bila dah sampai, sekolah tutup. Sia-sia aje kan...

Ramblings on Sunday noon

Semalam berlalu tanpa apa2 gangguan walau seluruh Germany dilanda ribut salji yg dinamakan ´Daisy´.

Bunyinya cam innocent saja kan?

Tak tahu la kalau ditempat lain kesan Daisy adalah teruk tp di Raunheim ini biasa2 aje. Cuma petang smlm sewaktu sy keluar utk menambahkan stok makanan dan keperluan lain di supermarket yg terletak lebih kurang 300 meter aje dr rumah, mencabar la jugak berjalan dlm keadaan angin yg kuat dan salji halus berterbangan. Sejuk tu jgn cerita la....

Tapi bila BBC kata bersedia ngan stok makanan utk 4 hari, maka sy redah juga la.

Salji penuh di balkoni rumah sy, cukup membuatkan anak2 teruja utk bermain salji. Sy pon teruja, terasa mcm nak pi main salji di park belakang rumah. Lebih luas kawasan lebih menarik. Tapi masalahnya sy doubt ngan tahap kesihatan si kembar. Nabihah demam kembali pd hari Jumaat selepas dua hari ke kindy. Tapi main sekejap mungkin ok kot?

Sy tgh menggoreng karipap (dah selamat telan 3 biji pon! cemana nak kurus camni?). Sekejap lg nak menghadiri majlis harijadi Zurina dan bawa karipap sbg buah tangan. Good excuse utk sy singgah ke park utk main salji selepas majlis kan? Kalau x, malas sungguh la sy nak siapkan budak berdua pakai berlapis2 sebelum keluar dr rumah.

Winter Sonata.

Daunting Winter

It is so lovely to see snow falling outside, forming white scenery everywhere but the effects of the heavy snow is just too much....

View di balkoni rumah sy di pagi ini

BBC news ari ni membuatkan hati terasa bimbang. Never thought that winter this year would be so daunting. It is said in the news, that the Germans are to be ready to face possibility of power off, insufficient of food rations, roads are going to be closed, transportation stops operating....

Power off la paling merisaukan. Sebabnya di musim winter ni mmg sgt bergantung pd power supply. Heater, dapur memasak semuanya menggunakan elektrik. Even kalau bukan winter pon, sama jugak. So far sepanjang di Germany, belum penah lg mengalami situasi terputus bekalan elektrik mahupun air. Jadi, kalau betul akan berlaku power off, hmm...macamana ye?

Katanya lagi dalam news, it is recommended to find alternative cooking fuel. Hmm...macam harus ke pegi mencari cooker kecil yg ada gas tu, yg selalu org bawa gi camping? Ok la, tp kalau heater off? Sejuk gedi yg selalu suhu dibawah tahap beku ni, tanpa heater mau kebas habis satu badan. Lain la kalau rumah2 lama yg mmg ada chimney. Kalau heizung x berfungsi, maybe boleh ganti ngan membakar kayu2 utk memanaskan rumah. Kalau rumah moden camne? Dan tanpa air panas, nak sentuh air mmg x sanggup rasanya.

Itulah...kehidupan moden yg serba mudah ni jika dicabar dgn bencana alam pon akan menjadi satu masalah kepada manusia jika tiada back-up utk menghadapinya.

Time2 camni mmg terasa sgt kerinduan ngan tanah air tercinta. Yg walaupun panas terik di setgh2 masa, masih tidak terasa begitu tercabar dibandingkan dgn kesejukan yg ber negatif2 ini.

Apa pun, ini cuma dugaan kan....

Oh, sat lagi sy harus memaksa diri berjalan ke EDEKA utk mencari apa2 makanan yg boleh dimakan tanpa perlu dimasak jika betul akan terjadi power off. Dan lilin juga!

Hidup biar Sihat!

Nampaknya Januari masih lg merupakan bulan melawat doktor buat kami sekeluarga.

Smlm 2 kali sy berkunjung ke klinik. Paginya ke frauenarzt (klinik sakit puan) utk membuat follow-up check-up selepas D&C procedure tempoh hari. Alhamdulilah, hasil scan menunjukkan semuanya berkeadaan baik dan sy juga xde apa2 masalah berkaitan dgn masalah miscarriage ari tu. It´s just that doktor menasihatkan agar berhati2 supaya tidak hamil dlm tempoh 3 bulan akan dtg. Dan full result on why my miscarriage happened akan diketahui dlm tempoh sebulan lg. He said it could be because of chromosome problem or hormonal problem (blur???). Tak sangka pulak diorg akan menkaji dgn mendalam permasalahan ini. I thought when miscarriage happens, it just happens, you are provided with treatment and so forth and that´s it. But here, they investigate in details to get the answer of the problem. Which is good kan, sbb I am wondering myself what had happened.

Sikembar pon tgh demam sebenarnya. Bermula ngan Nabilah pd ari Ahad, kemudian berjangkit pada Nabihah lak. Tp by isnin, Nabilah mcm dah ok. Tapi Nabihah la yg melepeknya. Ngan muntah, ngan panas...kesian betul tgk dia. Dah la pulak kinderarzt yg dekat rumah ni tutup sbb doktornya pegi bercuti. So terpaksa la mencari kinderarzt di Rüsselsheim. Ingatkan bila call sebelah ptg, dpt appointment the next day tp waktu call nak buat appointment tu, klinik tu suruh dtg time tu jugak.So kitorg pon pegi la. Tapi punya la ramai org. Dari kul 3.45pm menunggu, akhirnya dipanggil utk rawatan lebih kurang kul 5.15pm.

The doctor, even struggling ngan Englishnya, is very friendly. Tak mcm kinderarzt yg selalu kitorg gi. Muka muncung aje. Mcm biasa, doktor checked mulut telinga, then tekan2 perut. Dan tanya samada Nabihah ada diarrhea ke x. Kitorg ckp besides muntah, diarrhea mmg xde tp doktor ckp based on bunyi kat perut Nabihah, it indicated there was something wrong ngan perut dia. So dia kata dia kena buat ultrasound utk tgk condtion perut Nabihah.

And I was like....wow! Ultrasound?

Kalau kat Mesia la kan...(aku x tau la pengalaman org lain sbb aku selalu pi klinik biasa aje) bila buat ultrasound esp. utk kanak2 ni bunyi cam kes serius aje. So aku dah agak takut dah kemungkinan apa2 yg serius berkaitan penyakit Nabihah.

Bila doktor buat ultrasound, he took time explain satu2 benda2 dlm perut Nabihah - tunjuk kidney, tunjuk liver, tunjuk usus...n kitorg nganga je la. Sbb kitorg takut kalau ada apa2 yg abnormal dijumpai. Turned out, Nabihah ada sedikit infection di perutnya. Something I suspected berjangkit from me - kes cirit birit ari tu. And lega bila doktor ckp it´s nothing serious and easily treated. Dan kenapa dia buat ultrasound, dia takut it was something else. Maybe appendiks ke...sbb Nabihah demam, then muntah2, pastu komplen perut sakit.

And even though doktor ni sgt sibuk, sbb mmg ramai patients dia ada masa time kitorg dtg tu, I was amazed betapa detailnya dia check satu persatu n then took time lg nak explain kat kitorg. And time tu dah dekat kul 6pm, yg mmg patutnya klinik dah tutup, tapi dedikasi doktor ni tetap maintain.

Hari ni Nabihah masih belum pulih seperti biasa tp alhamdulilah dia dah nak makan sikit. Nabilah nampak mcm dah ok, hari ni dia gi kindergarten tanpa kakaknya disisi. A good attitude for me, sbb Nabilah selalu asik berkepit ngan Nabihah, so bila dia nak ke kindy sorang2, I´m so happy.

Harap2 no more winter bugs lepas ni....

End Year & NewYear @ Saarland

Dengan perancangan last minute, hari2 terakhir kami di tahun 2009 dihabiskan di negeri Saarland dan ketibaan 2010 disambut di Homburg, rumah kawan kami, Iu and family.

Kisahnya yg tetiba boleh berjalan kesana disebabkan Kak Liza ygtgh off day 3 hari mau berjalan2. Sy pon mmg teringin nak berjalan2 sementara semua org masih cuti lg ni, so apalagi, terus check ngan Iu samada dia sudi menerima kedatangan kami kesana. Bila Iu bg green light, hari Rabu kami bertolak ke Homburg dgn train. Kami namakan trip ini 'Rombongan Cik Lijah', sempena Kak Liza...kekeke

Twins with Kak Liza & Cik Dee on the way to Saarbruecken

Sewaktu train hampir tiba ke transit station, Arif (husband Iu) called n bgtau sorang lg kawan yg berada di Saarbruecken, Azma bg cadangan supaya kami terus aje ke Saarbruecken dan Azma nak bawa kami jln2 sekitar bandar Saarbruecken yg merupakan ibu negeri Saarland.

Saarland ini salah sebuah negeri Germany yg terletak di sempadan Swiss/France/Luxembourg. Dan kalau kami byk masa harusnya kami lanjutkan aje lawatan ke Luxembourg atau Strassbourg yg femes itu. Tp disebabkan kami cuma ada masa 2 ari aje utk trip ini, maka lupakan saja jalan2 Luxembourg atau Strassbourg. Mungkin di lain masa.

Setiba di Saarbruecken, kami simpan dulu beg2 besar (kunun trip 2 ari tp beg gabak2!) dan yg kelakarnya, siap ikan dan udang fresh yg kami angkut dr Raunheim utk buah tangan tuan rumah (sbbnya di Homburg kata Iu susah nak dpt fresh seafood) pon kami simpan dlm locker...hehehe. Nasib la tgh winter. So seafood tu semua masih ada ais waktu disimpan.Dgn Azma n family, kami meronda bandar Saarbruecken dm masa lebih kurang 1 jam.

Weihnach Markt @ Saarbruecken yg masih dibuka

Sempat gak naik fun ride...

With Azma n family

Kemudian bergerak ke Homburg yg terletak lebih kurang 1/2 jam dr Saarbruecken. Sampai2 je, tuan rumah menjamu kami dgn nasi minyak kismis, kari kambing, ayam masak masak dan mcm2 lagi. Hebat sungguh tuan rumah ni, walaupun dpt last minute notice, mcm2 juadah dia masak. Dah lah anak2 tgh x sihat.

Esoknya, tuan rumah bawa kami ke Zweibruecken, factory outlet pelbagai barangan berjenama. Wah! sungguh rambang mata melihat brg2 disana dgn harga yg jauh lg murah dr harga yg ditawarkan di outlet jualan biasa. Nike, Esprit, Levi's, Mango, Puma, Mexx, Burberry....haih, jenuh mengawal diri agar tidak terpengaruh dgn nafsu shopping yg membuak2. Disebabkan hari itu 31/12/09 dan kedai2 akan ditutup by 2pm, maka kami pon marathon shopping benda2 yg ada dlm top priority dan benda2 yg x perlu difikirkan panjang sebelum mebelinya i.e murah dan cantik. Sy sgt puas ati ngan blouse Esprit yg dibeli ngan harga 10Euro dan dompet Esprit, juga dgn harga yg sama. Hajat di hati mau membeli sepasang sneakers tp disebabkan sy mmg cerewet when it comes to membeli kasut dan kesuntukan masa, maka sy lupakan hajat itu dulu dgn harapan lain kali nak dtg lagi....ngeh..ngeh..ngeh..

Sekitar factory outlet Zweibruecken

Pulang dr Zweibruecken, kami berjalan2 sekitar bandar Homburg dan berjumpa ngan Azma n family yg dtg berkunjung. Sayangnya, bandar dah seolah2 jadi pekan tinggal sbb semua kedai2 dah ditutup sempena New Year Eve. Maka kami pon sekadar window shopping je la. Geram jugak bila tgk kat tingkap2 kedai tu, kebanyakannya menawarkan SALE sempena winter. Rasanya cik2 suami mesti lega sbb kedai2 dah selamat ditutup, kalau x selamat la poket diorg...hehehe.

kanak2 di Homburg

Mak bapak di Homburg

Malam itu sgt meriah sbb kami bergotong royong masak dinner. Then sementara menunggu dinner siap, main bunga api ngan budak2. Pukul 12 mlm, budak2 di bawa keluar lg utk main bunga api. Agak meriah sambutan tahun baru disini walau tiada sambutan official di bandar Homburg. Ramai yg keluar memenuhi jalan2 dan main mercun n bunga api pelbagai rupa. Terhibur jugak melihat warna2 bercahaya di mlm hari. Malam tu dek leka bersembang2, rasanya pukul 4 pg baru sy melelapkan mata.

Main bunga api

Esok pagi, selesai breakfast dan sembang yg x abis2, menjelang tengahari, kami bergerak pulang ke Raunheim.

Kepada Iu n family, terima kasih byk2 kerana sudi menerima kunjungan kami dan memberi mcm2 layanan walaupun anak2 tgh x sihat.

Kak Liza, Azma, sy, Iu dan si comel Izzah

Oh, sy dah rindukan si kecil Izzah yg manja ngan sy itu.

Winter Yg Mandom...

Winter mmg la mandom kan? Adakah winter yg ceria?

Cemana la x mandom? Ari2 adalah sejuk melampau dan gloomy...kalau ada hari2 yg ada matahari pon, jarang la...tu pon bukannya lama. Mmg boleh buat diri terasa depressed dan moody.

Winter kali ini mmg satu dugaan. Lepas kes miscarriage aritu kena lak muntah2 n cirit-birit. Tak tau kenapa. Winter bug kot. Sepatutnya start cuti krismas aritu dah plan nak jln2 ke Saarbrücken dan Heildelberg ngan sekali menziarah rumah Iu di Homburg dan rumah kak azi kat Kaiserlautern. Bila dah kena D&C then cuaca pon x menentu (suhu terlampau sejuk last week , dropped sampai -18C), maka kami amik keputusan utk x join trip kesana. No point gak gi jln2 bila badan pon sihat kan?

Tapi sakit tu kan ujian dr Allah s.w.t. So bersabar dan redha sahaja. Ini pon alhamdulilah, no longer cirit-birit or muntah2. Cuma selera mkn je xde. Semua benda pon rasa x sedap. Cuti Krismas baru ni Kak Liza ajak mkn kat rumah dia, siap ada ayam turki panggang lagi, lengkap ngan side dishes pelbagai. Tp aku x mampu pon nak mkn. Ikutkan ianya adalah bagus utk mengurangkan berat badan. Tapi percaya la, bila hilang selera makan, hilang satu nikmat kehidupan.

Cuti Krismas masih lg berbaki seminggu utk si kembar sebelum kembali ke tadika dan lg 2 minggu utk cik HB sebelum sibuk semula dgn kelas2nya. Masih terasa ingin berjln2 i.e cuti2 Jerman sempena cuti panjang tp adakah keadaan mengizinkan?

Entah....

English Playgroup - The Last Session

The English Playgroup has ended.

The last session was the day I found out the bad news of my pregnancy. I was thinking of not going at first as I was a bit depressed and we were considering to go to the hospital on the day itself.

But then the last session was the important session not to miss. We, mommies had arranged weeks before that we were going to do gift exchange for our children on the last day and baking cookies. If I were not going, one kid will not be getting her gift and I had also promised I would be bringing decorations for the cookies. So it´s not nice not to go. Besides, though I was having health problem at the time, I already checked with my gynae whether it was ok to wait for another day before I go to the hospital, and she said yes.

We had fun that day. We had the baking session in the centre´s big kitchen and it went well. My twins enjoyed it very much. They insisted to do everything on theirown from beginning and became annoyed when I tried to help. Hmmm....

Twins and me...

Look at Lil´Chalise and her obsession with rolling!

Gaby, Celina & Hisae

Baking end result!

Later, when we were done with baking and cleaning up, surprisingly, Maha (our playgroup teacher) had arranged for a friend of her, dressed up in Santa Claus costume, came into the kitchen, ringing a bell and carrying a big bag of presents ( we, mommies had gathered our presents before we began with the activities). The children were excited to see that they were going to get present. Unfortunately, the mommy who supposed to give present to Nabilah, forgot to bring hers. And Nabilah were upset to see that she only got an envelope instead a nice-wrapped present like the others. The envelope though contained some money as a replacement for the missing present and the mommy apologized profusely to me for her mistake. Luckily, it was easy to explain to Nabilah why she was not getting the present as the rest of her friend and she was willing to share with Nabihah (Nabihah got a set of beads and accessories).

Gaby and her daughter, Lauren...present was from me...I bought her a small-sized keyboard

Nabihah and her present

I enjoyed being in this playgroup. Most of the ladies are nice and friendly. During the dinner session with the mommies, a week earlier, I told them that I might be pregnant, and when they asked whether I´ve seen a doctor, I had to break the bad news. And they were very concern and sympathized. Gaby, the Aussie was nearly on tears. It touched me...

The last session ended longer than usual. We, mommies hugged and said goodbye to each other. Darshana, the mommy from India, will be going back to her country for good in the end of December. The rest said though the playgroup is over for this year, they are still looking forward to hang out together just for fun.

Maha said she will continue with the same group on next February and I am most welcomed to join which I´m not sure about it yet. Reason being, the twins are now in kindergarten and cik HB thinks it´s quite tiring for them to attend both, although playgroup is only being held once a week. The last two sessions, we went to playgroup right after their kindergarten time. I had to feed them lunch on the train and they fell asleep throughout the journey.

But the twins do enjoy this playgroup and it´s an opportunity for them to learn English. It´s considerably cheap too. Roughly around €50 for 17 sessions.

I don´t know....I told Maha I´ll think about it.