The Ash Cloud

Some friends have been asking me how bad the situation is here in Germany with the volcanic ash due to the Iceland volcano eruption last week.

Generally, looking around in my surroundings, things going on as usually...the weather is just general spring weather, sunny with bright blue sky, but the temperature is quite low, at the moment it is 5C. I do not know whether it's the ash that contributes towards the drop of the temperature when last week the temperature is generally above 10C.

What I know, the volcanic ash condition is up above the sky and that is why the air travel system is badly affected. And I know personally some people who get affected by this situation. For example, my friend, Kak Liza and her husband cik dee - both are working in the airport and they dont have to come to work since last Saturday. It may sounds like "yey, holiday!". But Kak Liza said it's not like you can have the break unrecorded, it's actually their minus hours have to be deducted and will affect the annual leave, which Kak Liza doesn't like it because she is planning for long holidays in Malaysia in June. Cik dee, however has resumed his work yesterday as some flights are able to take off and landing.

Then, Kak Liza' daughter, Zurina is now stranded in Singapore. She went there two weeks ago for holidays, and was supposed to be back last Friday. She was hoping the flight crisis would be over by weekend because she has to be at work by Monday. Unfortunately that was not the case and she has frantically looking for solution to get back to Germany. Her flight, Qantas - could only provide a place for her, the latest on 5 May. Yesterday she called her mother, asking for her help to get flight ticket from Egypt Air, and managed to get flight to come back on 27th April. According to her, so many Europeans are stranded in Singapore and all hotels are full. Imagine how much money stranded people have to spend to survive while waiting. Lucky for Zurina, she has free accomodation.

Then another friend I know, Maha the playgroup teacher, also stranded in Malaysia. She went back to Malaysia because her father passed away and was supposed to come back last Saturday. Her husband told me, he too like everyday trying to find way to get Maha back to Germany because she has job to do - she's not only handling the playgroup teaching jobs, she is also a day-care mother. So if she doesn't come back soonest possible, her job is very much affected.

Then, I have a friend who is coming to Germany for holidays. His flight supposed to be tomorrow. Although the Frankfurt airport has resumed the operation yesterday, I don't know whether he could come. I heard the airlines system is giving priorities to those are stranded first.

This is how it is....no matter how advanced the creation and innovation of human beings, when tested by natural disaster, nothing could be avoided. It was a total havoc throughout the globe when Europe sky is not safe for any air travel. No one, even those with money and power, would be able to overcome this problem.

Allah s.w.t is the most powerful and almighty after all.....

Sleeping Arrangement - The Success

Tahun lepas sy penah came out ngan isu sleeping arrangement anak2. Siap tgk Supernanny lagi nak melatih anak2 tido di bilik sendiri (baca di sini). Kaedah Supernanny tu berjaya dipraktikkan setelah struggle bagai nak rak tapi setelah tersilap teknik (diorg tertgk satu cerita seram yg kami pasang waktu kami ada tetamu berkunjung ke rumah), diorg terus refused nak tido kat bilik tido sendiri. Sy pon dah x boleh nak convinced diorg, campur malas nak start all over again (jenuh ye nak buat teknik Supernanny tu). Then came winter, kami pon nak jimat kos heater (sumbat semua org satu bilik), maka kami tangguhkan dulu projek tido bilik asing tu.

Tapi dlm pada masa yg sama kami dok psiko/pujuk/motivate (u name whatever the right term) la sikembar that by next year, abis je winter, diorg kena tido bilik sendiri. Menangis2 la budak berdua tu ckp x mau tapi bila atas katil kami berhimpit2, sorang dok bising rambut dia kena tindih la, sorang lagi dok ckp sempit la....kami pon ckp "hah, pegi la tido kat bilik sendiri"

About 2 weeks ago, we started the mission. Surprisingly, xde la susah sgt nak suruh diorg tido bilik sendiri. Before that mcm2 alasan dan syarat sikembar buat bg membolehkan diorg tido sendiri (Nabihah siap mintak bilik dia dicat kaler pink! Yg ini sy terpaksa la berdiplomasi dgn janji bila balik mesia, diorg akan dpt bilik kaler pink!).

Waktu tido antara pukul 8.30pm -9pm. Just i still have to stay with them for a short while - baca buku, baca doa, then say 'guten nacht', bg salam, kiss n hugs, on lampu tido then I can leave them regardless they are still awake or drifting to sleep.

The first few nights, Nabilah bgn byk kali jugak la, menangis2 dtg bilik kami. Tapi kami suruh dia balik bilik, dia balik dgn rela hati. X payah nak paksa2. Kekadang tu siap Nabihah yg dtg jemput adik dia...hehehe. Makin lama, Nabilah makin kurang bgn tapi ada la sesekali tu out of her habit kot, dia dtg cari ummi, nak kiss katanya. So sweet....

So skrg it seems diorg dah adjusted to the routine. Cuma part baca buku tu semua x leh skip la. Kadang2 sy naik malas jugak, ngelat baca buku nipis2 sbb sekali baca harus diorg mintak 3 buku at least. Tapi it is a good habit actually, so mak dia pon x boleh malas2.

Bila dah buat camni, sy sendiri pon rasa lega. Malam2 i can have time on my own. Kalau dulu, asal nak tidokan diorg aje, sy kena tido sekali, pastu selamat la terbuai sampai kepagi. Paling best, we have more space on our bed. X payah berhimpit2 dah. Xde lagi katil yg penuh ngan extra bantal, selimut, bears, toys, buku....

Rasanya utk anak yg akan dtg, awal2 lagi sy plan nak asingkan tempat tido supaya x perlu lagi struggle lagi mcm dgn sikembar!

Lenka - Trouble Is A Friend

Sy baru je jumpa lagu ni, terdgr kat blog Hantu Makan a.k.a K. Dalia. Probably lagu ni dah lama kot femes tapi being me - x tau sbb selalu x mengikut perkembangan hiburan semasa. Cute n cheeky je dgr lagu ni. And tgk la video clip dia, guna wayang kulit tu....

Perihal Bahasa

Hari tu sy terdgr perbualan antara Nabilah & Dina (anak dara Suharti):

Nabilah: Kakak Dina, tauschen (bahasa german) tu apa?

(being Nabilah, kalau dia tanya camtu bukan dia x tau tapi lebih kpd nak menguji)

Dina: Tauschen tu tukaq

(Dina & family mmg berbahasa melayu loghat utara pekat di rumah diorg)

Nabilah: Bukan la. Tauschen tu TUKAR. Bukan TUKAQ.

Sy tergelak sorang2 kat situ. Ye la, bukannya Nabilah faham yg TUKAR dan TUKAQ tu perkataan yg sama cuma berbeza dr segi pertuturan sahaja.

Haih...lepas ni dia balik KB dan berjumpa sedara mara Kelantan dia, jenuh la nak buat translation kat dia!

Birthdays & Kids Sleepover

Hari Sabtu lepas kami buat makan2 sempena birthday Mat & Kak Liza yg jatuh pd 7&8 April respectively. Nak buat weekdays masing2 keje. Sy masak bihun sup, pizza, kek segera dan muffin strawberi. Liza pulak sediakan asam laksa dan cucuq udang. Kami jemput Suharti sekeluarga. Suharti pulak bawa kuih bakar sbg buah tangan. Weekend ni jugak kami dah planned sleepover utk anak2 dara Suharti dan sikembar. Kesian kat budak2 tu, selalunya kalau diorg dtg rumah, mcm x puas aje bermain. Dah lama dah planned utk sleepover ni dan memandangkan suharti sekeluarga akan pulang ke Malaysia for good end of this month, maka weekend ni la paling sesuai nak buat sleepover. Tapi cuma Dina & Alia saja yg stay utk bermlm, Hanan si bongsu, kata mama dia ada jugak hajat di hati nak bermlm disini tapi memandangkan tiap2 mlm dia mmg tido ngan mama dia, Suharti risau lak nanti mlm2 dia terjaga cari mama dia pulak!

Makan time...

Antara menu yg terhidang

Budak2...

Waktu nak tido...menurut paparazzi, aksi membaca buku oleh semua anak2 dara ini adalah lakonan semata2 kerna sewaktu dia masuk nak amik gambar, masing2 tgh melompat bagai nak rak. Nampak ja kamera, masing2 kelam kabut capai buku dan berlakon...hehehe

Esok paginya, sesudah breakfast, sy angkut budak2 masuk hutan belakang rumah ni. Hutan ni sy baru discover bulan lepas. Baru tahu dlm hutan ni ada kandang rusa, babi hutan dan haiwan2 lain (blom discover sepenuhnya). Juga ada playground yg best. Kira mcm hutan rekreasi la. Kak Liza kata ada lombong utk mandi-manda. Tunggu la summer nanti nak teroka habis hutan ni.

Girls in action

Walaubagaimanapun, cuma sempat bawa budak2 main kat playgroud saja. Sebabnya tgh syok2 main playground, dtg lak angin ribut campur hujan. Kitorg pon berkejar la balik rumah. Nak tgk rusa2 pon x sempat. Petang lak, Suharti & Ijat bersama Hanan dah dtg menjemput Dina & Alia. Kata Suharti, Hanan dah rindu kakak2nya.

Walaupun diorg sekeluarga akan pulang ke Malaysia x lama lagi, harap2 kami akan bertemu lagi...

Day 7: Keukenhof & Kinderdijk

Ini merupakan hari terakhir kembara Europe ni (cam segan nak ckp kembara Europe sebenarnya sbb bukannya byk pon negara yg dijelajahi).

Tahun ni berkesempatan ke Keukenhof lagi. Hotel yg kami duduk terletak kira2 5 minit by driving dr Keukenhof. Tapi yg x bestnya bunga2 baru nak naik. Keukenhof pon baru dua hari dibuka. Tapi since kak Ti dah request nak kesini eversince tgk gambar2 Keukenhof kami thn lepas, maka pegi la jugak walaupun tahu Keukenhof belum seindah mana. Tahun lepas kami pegi masa kemuncak spring...mmg mengasyikkan layan berjenis2 bunga disana sini. Tapi yg x bestnya org terlalu ramai, so kami x masuk pon indoor exhibition. Kali ni since kat outdoor pon xde apa sgt yg boleh ditengok, kami amik masa layan bunga2 yg dipamer dlm indoor exhibition.

Bunga2 baru nak naik...

Thn lepas x jumpa pon tempat haiwan ni, thn ni siap lepak2 bg mkn kambeng lagi!

Walau bunga x byk lagi, Keukenhof masih indah dipandangan mata

Minah biru tu kan actually x pakai baju hokeh! Dia tutup part2 sulit ngan bunga2 saja ye...

Bunga2 di indoor exhibtion

Kami dok dlm Keukenhof ada la dlm 3-4 jam kot sbb pastu kena rushing nak ke Kinderdijk (nak tgk windmills) pastu nak terus berangkat pulang ke Frankfurt. Masa nak keluar dr Keukenhof, kami yg ladies dpt sejambak bunga tulip dr management Keukenhof dan masa nak keluar dr parking pon, the officer yg jaga siap interview lagi samada kami enjoy ke x our time in Keukenhof. Dia siap apologized lagi sbb bunga x byk lagi. Dia kata this year winter this year lama sgt, that was why bunga2 pon byk x naik lagi. Ye la, betul la tu...mmg winter this year lama. Tapi sgt terharu sbb diorg siap compensate ngan bg bunga, pastu siap apologize. Mmg betul2 ada courtesy.

Destinasi seterusnya adalah Kinderdijk. Kinderdijk ni sebuah kampung kecil yg terkenal dgn jumlah windmills yg byk dibina sekitar 1740. Since tempat ni pon terletak dah on the way balik ke Frankfurt, maka kami masukkan dlm destinasi perjalanan. Yg x sangkanya, laluan kami utk sampai ke Kinderdijk ni, kena naik feri kecik utk cross sungai. Merasa naik feri kat Holland...hehehe.

Feri nun diseberang sungai

Feri approaching

Waktu kami sampai kat Kinderdijk dah pukul 4.30pm. Cuaca pon mendung, hujan turun renyai2 gitu. Walau Kinderdijk ni area perlancongan, tp kami saja kot yg pelancongnya diwaktu itu. Ada la 2-3 org tempatan yg jalan2 bawa anjing sambil amik angin. Tempat windmills ni sgt nyaman gitu...suasana kekampungan Belanda habis....seronok betul jalan2...ngan angin sepoi2 bahasa (hujan dah berenti dah time ni), ngan canal yg ada itik berenang2, ngan suasana sunset, rasa begitu tenang tempat ni. Kat sini, cuma aktiviti amik gambar saja la. Windmills ni sebenarnya dibuka utk pelancong utk masuk tp hanya dibuka mulai April sehingga October je kot kalau x silap.

Pukul 6 pm, kami bergerak pulang ke Frankfurt. Perjalanan sepatutnya makan masa cuma 4 jam sahaja tp jln2 di Holland byk la pulak traffic jam. Campur ngan berenti utk minyak dan gas, kami sampai di Raunheim kira2 pukul 11 mlm. Liza dan Mat sgt baik, siap suh kami singgah amik dinner menu kambing grill, nasi mentega dan salad. Sgt terharu hokeh!

Maka dgn ini, tamat sudah cerita kembara Europe...yey!!!

Day 6 : Amsterdam

Sebelum bergerak ke Amsterdam, kami sempat menikmati sarapan di restoran hotel. Actually masa booking online, I was informed that the room price offered would not include breakfast, which I didn't really mind because the price offered was the cheapest I could get online for a decent hotel like this. But not only did we get breakfast for two adult, the kids got the breakfast for free too! I really like this hotel....the staffs were friendly, the room was lovely and clean and free Wifi was provided too. For the price I've paid, I think it was really worth it.

Bilik hotel yg sgt memuaskan hati

Breakfast time...not much though - typical European breakfast - breads, jam, cheeses tp kopi super sedap!

From Lisse to Amsterdam, it was supposed to take half an hour by driving but unfortunately, our route as suggested by Garmin was interrupted when one of the road was closed by police and we were directed to use another route. Tapi si Garmin ni asik suggest suh buat U-turn utk ikut the original route. So kami terpaksa buat our own decision, just follow the heavy traffic (with assumption semua org nak pegi Amsterdam!) sampai la at last Garmin recalculated the route plan. Akhirnya sampai ke destinasi yg dituju 1 jam kemudian.

Dari awal lagi, sy dah buat plan mmg x nak drive masuk Amsterdam City tapi sebaliknya park kereta kat satu P&R (Park & Ride) yg terletak di pinggir kota Amsterdam. Sebabnya sy baca dr Internet, pelancong amat la tidak digalakkan drive di dlm city due to many reasons. Besides, when you park at P&R, you'll be provided with a travelling ticket to the city which valid for 5 people at 6 Euro. I thought at first the tickets and the parking cost was two different things, but later found out that the 6 Euro includes a 24-hour parking time and the travelling tickets as well! Isn't it so cheap?

From this P&R we travelled to Amsterdam Centraal Station by train. It only took us 10 minutes. I was so glad that the train station provides free tourist information booklet. Kat Paris satu info booklet pon x nampak. Sampai Centraal Station, kami simply wandered around. It says, Amsterdam tourist attractions all located within walking distance from the Centraal so kami pon belasah je la jln ikut suka.

Looking at the traffic conditions, lega sgt rasanya kami buat decision utk tidak drive masuk city. Jalan2 Amsterdam adalah kecil dan kebanyakan jalan adalah jenis sehala. Parking pon sgt limited. Yg ada pon, sgt mencabar nak parking. Betul2 tepi canal! Kalau I yg parking, harus la selamat masuk canal kot!

Kereta kecik camni mmg sgt praktikal di Amsterdam!

Tgk la...mencabar ke x parking disini?

Amsterdam mmg terkenal dgn canal boat ride nya. Dr mula kami keluar dr Centraal, mana2 pon boleh nampak signboard Canal Boat Ride. Ada pelbagai pakej dan harga disediakan. At first, we thought we should get the boat ride later, but then when we saw some more cheaper price offered, we couldn´t wait anymore, hence we bought the ticket. The price of ticket for one-hour ride was 8€/adult.

The canal boat ride was quite interesting. We travelled along the canal where we could see Amsterdam´s famous landmarks and the boat captain gave English narration about the landmarks throughout the journey. The twins got excited at first but then became bored and fell asleep...which was good! I didn´t have to answer a lot of questions. Then we completed the 1-hour boat ride, the moment we stepped out from the boat, we saw all the passengers´postcard-like-photos pasted on a board . The photos looked so nice, that most passengers bought it including us. It was a bit pricey (3€/piece) but heck, the memory is priceless, isn´t it?

Us...on the boat

Some of the views from the boat

After the boat ride, we walked along the streets and got excited with the city´s panorama and the souvenirs shops. I found Amsterdam is really a tourist-friendly city. The souvenirs are much cheaper here than anywhere places in Europe than I´ve been to. Then all the local people I´ve met not only able to speak English but were so friendly. There was this one time, I was taking photo of my family when suddenly this one old lady greeted me and offered to take our family photo. I would want to say ´no, thank you´but seeing her so friendly, smiling all the way and because she was so sweet to offer, I accepted her offer. She even asked her friend to hold her handbag and stick (ye, ini makcik jalan pakai tongkat ye...how could u want to say NO?) while she´s taking our photo. And after she was done, she even insisted to see the photo, whether it looked nice or not. Oh yes, it was lovely.

Gambar yg makcik tu snapped!

We saw Madame Tussaud too. It is located the Dam Square. At first we thought of going in, but we were not sure whether we had enough time to venture Amsterdam later on. I insisted Kak Ti and Abg Lan to go in, because I was thinking, maybe I could go to Madame Tussaud in London or in Berlin (mungkin je la...berangan2 saja la dulu ye!) But then they also decided not to go in because venturing around Amsterdam was more tempting.

Dam Square....depan Madame Tussaud

Amsterdam shopping walkway

Few things about Amsterdam: selain dr canal merata2, basikal juga terlalu byk. U can see bikes everywhere u go. Diorg angkut brg2 pon pakai basikal. I was so amazed when I saw this one lady, dia bawa baby dlm umur below 6 months (i guess), letak kat depan dia, then belakang dia ada toddler dlm umur 2 thn gitu, dah tu pulak pompuan ni kayuh basikal laju2 di celah2 org ramai. Fuh...confident sungguh! Then byk coffee shops, only thing is these coffee shops are not selling coffee the drink, but they sell drugs - which is legal in Holland! Nasib baik I knew about this long ago, so xde la kes tersilap masuk kedai nak order kopi....hehehehe.

Kedai Kopi? NOT............

Kami actually berangan2 nak makan nasi padang kat Amsterdam. So berpandukan Garmin, kami cari satu restoran Indonesia ni but then bila sampai, restoran tu dah tutup for good. Aiseh! Sbb dah lapar sgt, kami makan kat satu restoran kebab yg halal yg sebaris dgn restoran yg ditutup tu. Tapi kebab dia x sedap mcm kat Jerman punya.

Makan kebab....

Lepas makan, kami pegi Flower Markt. Oh, lagi best tgk souvenirs kat sini. Tapi sy x beli byk pon, again setakat 2-3 benda utk kenangan di masa depan. Lepas tu ronda2 lagi. Dalam dok jalan2 tu kami nampak satu lagi restoran Indonesia. Kebetulan pulak ada menu diletak kat luar restoran. So sy saja2 la pi tgk. Bukan nak makan pon. Semua menu dlm bahasa Indonesia so syok la tgk. Dlm dok browsing menu tu sekali nampak "BABI KETJCAP". There you go...walau indonesia, x semestinya halal ye! Kak Ti kata even kat Indonesia itself pon kena berhati2. She went to Indonesia couple of times, so give it Bali ka, Bandung ka, Jakarta ka, better la check for the halal confirmation.

At Flower Market

At 5pm, kami pon dah penat dan it was time to end our Amsterdam day trip sbb nak balik hotel nak kejar waktu solat. But then since it was time org2 balik keje, train sgt penuh and jalan jam sama je mcm kat KL, maka kami sampai hotel pon dah kul 7pm.

Last episode: Keukenhof & Kinderdijk