Do you know that

Elisa is in Doha now. :D

She is here for a week because Taufik has some course. But she is not staying at my place because she has a place in Marriot. Lagi best tuuu.

But it is school week over here so I couldn't entertain her much. Her highlights of the week are
1. she had to masak nasi because I had to rush to pick up the kids and we still had not have lunch yet. And I claim I am a goddess.
2. Then she washed the dishes also. *malunya*
3. I masak pun cincai-cincai je. Tak spesel pun.
4. She followed me to pick up the kids. Adus panas.
5. She went to the Aspire. The plan was the kids to play with the bike and Izani is to be let loose and run around the jogging track while the mummies exercise (hahahah) and Elisa click photos of Izani. But Izani slept all the way.
6. She had to endure the river of smelly dirty sewerage water that has turned into a small stream at my house. Izani had also accidentally fallen into this "river". I HATE MY HOUSE!!!! Hu hu hu. Malu sangat-sangat dengan tetamu. Rasa nak nangis dah ni.
7. I had to complete decorating Sya's hat for her school's green day project. Guess whose help did I ask to put the fake fruits on the hat?





But then we
1. Went to a small fort/ watchtower in Umm Slal Mohammad.
2. We went to souq waqif.
2. Have a little picnic at the corniche (I didn't cook anything. Semuanya beli sahaja.) We let the kids play while we sew the fruits on the hat.
3. Elisa wanted to go to this shop selling lace that some of her friends bought here in D0ha. I have never been there but my oh my. Juling mata dibuatnya tengok lace-lace tu. And so cheaplak tu.
4. We went to this 6 riyal shop selling mostly err 6 riyal stuff. And I spent so much there. Ahaks.

Stomping the S1nging Dune

Last weekend, my friends and I went to the dunes. From the pictures you would think that it would be just another dune series. But this particular dune is quite special. It is called the singing dune.

There are about thirty singing dunes throughout the world. A few in the states, Mongolia, China, Morocco, Chile and other places that I didn't find in my google search. And of course one of them is in Qtar. To appreciate the singing dune, one really has to be there.

They say on a really really dry and perhaps windy day you can hear the low-pitch humming and sometimes roaring sound of the dunes as far as 10km away. The older days the locals around this area used to associate this sound to djins. Marco Polo in the 13th Century said the singing sands, which he ascribed to evil desert spirits, "at times fill the air with the sounds of all kinds of musical instruments, and also of drums and the clash of arms.

However, science explains that this sound is caused by the friction of the sand. It emanates from crescent shape dune or the barchans. The avalanche movement or slumping of the sand is usually triggered by passing wind or even walking. This movement if occurs particularly at the middle of the crescent will amplify the sound due to the natural amphitheater shape of the dune. There are many theories to it of course, too complex, to be read and told. In fact, there is still no conclusive findings to this phenomenon.

Initially we didn't hear any sound. I am disappointed. I was hoping to hear the humming sound the moment I stepped out of the car. Actually we did hear some humming low decibel sound and was temporarily excited. Alas to find jet fighter and army planes zooming above us. Ada YOU ASS punya kem tentera dekat-dekat situ. Camp ni lah yang supposedly shown in the movie transformer kena serang dengan decepticon yang canggih itu. Tapi dalam movie tu tipulah. Qtar mana ada gunung ganang macam dalam movie tu. Nampak macam Oman adalah.

Anyway, I was disappointed of the lack of sound but not surprised, because it has been drizzling in Qtar. Yes yes you read it right. It drizzled a bit that week. I read that any presence of moisture will reduce the sound production of the dune.

So I just took a walk on the dunes. As I was coming down running, I could feel the sand vibrating beneath my feet and sometimes I managed to produce a squeak or two. That discovery was an opening for more discoveries of the dune singing.

Later on we began to discover how to produce the sound better. Suffice to say that we managed to make the sound by sliding ourself downwards from the top of the dune. But still not as much.

I feel that we need to go again so I could take a video of us doing it. In the middle of the crescent with a lot of paddling movement and continuously going down. The more the merrier.

To appreciate the sound, I attached a recording of the sound produced by other people somewhere in the desert of Chile.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN THE DUNE SINGING



As usual some pictures HERE.

Progress kelas

Hazihi suratu usrati.

This is a picture of my family.

Hazihi - this is

suratu - picture. the spelling is صورة

usrati - my family أُسرتي

dalam bahasa arab usrah (أُسْرَة) maksudnya family. bila kita addkan huruf ya (ي)jadilah usrati (أسرتي)maka jadilah maksudnya my family.

dalam observation yang pendek ini taulah kita kalau kita addkan huruf ya kepada kata nama jadilah ianya sesuatu yang belongs to you. Contohnya

kalam (pencil) - kalami (my pencil)
kitab (buku) - kitabi (my book)
zauj (husband) - zauji (my husband)
habib (lover) - habibi (my lover)

berbalik kepada gambar di atas.

Minal yamin

from the right

haza zauji wa habibi. Hua mohandis
This is my husband and my lover. He is gorgeous (hahahahha)

Hua (هو)means he.

Thuma, waladi saghir zachary

then, my youngest son Zachary

wa waladi Haziq

and my son Haziq

and finally the one sitting down waladati or you can use binti Batrisyia. (he he banyak tak tau maknanya dalam arab)

waladi - my son
waladati/ binti - my daughter

maaf mungkin banyak tak betul kat atas

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anyway saja nak report progress. my arabic class have been going on well. exam hari aku dapat 59.5 out of 60. half mark telah dipotong on my reading. maybe i tend to suka panjangkan bacaan yang sepatutnya pendek.

but my written test dapat full marks. yes! yes! let's pull confetti. kali ni exam ada sikit susah..tapi nampaknya skill main hentam masih ada lagi pada diriku..and Alhamdullilah yang hentam tu menjadi.

I've always told haziq especially, when you are in doubt in your exam, hentam sajalah. jangan di biarkan kosong. untung sabut dapat gak markah.

I have improved slihgtly on my makhraj (ح). However I am rating it 40% only. sebab I did well kalau (ح) tu ada sukun atau baris atas. tapi kalau baris bawah macam (الرحيم) atau baris depan, kekadang jadi kekadang tak. Tak apa cuba lagi.

Baca surah dah sampai AlAdiyat. terus terang aku tak pernah hafal juuz Amma tu sampai sini. Tapi yalah kena recitekan. Walaupun asalnya hafal sebab takut kena soal, tetapi adalah juga kebaikannya. Adalah variety sikit surah dalam bacaan sembahyang aku.

Lagi satu, sekarang ni jadi macam aware pulak surah2 atau ayat2 yang pernah hafal tu betul ke huruf yang aku sebut. Tengok balik ayat kursi mana (ح), mana (ع) mana (dzal(asal dzal ni aku takleh taip pakai keyboard ni hah?)) dan macam-macam lagi. It certainly has open my eyes. Jadi bila dah selalu kena refer kekadang bila hafal tu macam nampak that particular page depan mata. Lebih aware.

All in all. The class has been going on tremendously well. I have added fiqh class as a must go. But can't story much about that one. Saya budak baru belajar. The more you learn, the more you know that you don't know.

Silalah minum air mango lassi. Saya jamu. Kita score exam bahasa arab hari tu.

Making the shaytan go away

I wrote in my previous entry about the kids listening to a scary story by Master Potty. Naturally they got slightly jittery.

Batrisyia was relieved though that she has memorised Annas and AlFalaq. She said, I can recite this before I go to sleep, no shaytan will disturb me. Haziq boasted that he can already recite Ayat Kursi.

Zachary, then realised that he didn't have any ammunition. And not wanting to be the only victim to this terrible situation, he exclaimed, "You know you know. if you read Bismillahirahmanirahim, the shaytan will go away."

He he. He is truly an original.

Today I thought him the use of Alistiadzah. (I seek refuge with Allah from Shaytan the cursed one.) Bolehlah tu for a start ek?

Sya is Seven

Sya turned seven last 8th April.

I must say this is one of the reasons I like to blog. So I can note down her progress as she grows older.

Let me see now, how is she doing so far. She reads very well and can gauge on her own the longer and difficult words. She likes reading on her own too. She is also doing well with her maths but I suspect that she might find it not challenging enough. If you have been following me, you would know that she is in the wrong year for her age.

She is close with this girl, Lena. I notice she tends to stay away from crowd and prefer a one-to-one friend. Even the teacher notices it. The teacher told me, batrisyia helps Lena alot. Lena has improved tremendously. That makes my heart swell. I smiled when I heard it. It's the kind of feeling that I know she is a good person.

Ask what she wants to be when she is older. She would probably say a teacher, because she likes teaching. But most of the time she said she wants to be like me. She wants to be a homemaker.

Err betul ke ni Batrisyia. I really should be proud of myself in a way. She must really like what she is observing. Haziq, the anal one, has been calculating and discussing with Sya, just how much pahala I am getting for cooking for the whole family and Sya just couldn't wait to get the same pahala too.

Sometimes she really wants to be handy in the kitchen. Sometimes I get annoyed because she is slowing me down. Sometimes I would call her in the pretense that she is the one cooking. Especially the simple food. The one that requires campak2 and stirring. The other day she made scramble egg. Well at least she stirred the egg.

But is this right? Is it ok not to want to aim for the sky? But well she is only seven. Let's check this entry when she is seventeen.

Her Iqra' reading has been progressing well. Actually I am slightly emberassed to tell you this because it is not as much as what she should be. The only reason is because I am the teacher. *hangs head in shame*. However she is progressing and this year the momentum is catching up. That reminds me not to stop the lessons during the summer break. 2 months is too long.

She is reading Iqra' 4 now. She has memorised four soorahs, Alfatehah, Ikhlas, Annas and AlFalaq. These have definitely been put on good use. When doing solat she can read the fatehah and the soorah part. i think she reads fatehah even during tahyat. hahahha.

You know the other day, Master Potty told them a scary story. The kids are scared actually. Master Potty was teasing sya too. But she said it's ok, I am reading Annas and Al Falaq before I go to sleep. And I have memorised too. the Syaitan will all go away. I think she is slightly worried that she has not mastered Ayat Kursi. But the point is, she believes. She believes that to seek refuge only to Allah. And Allah has bestowed us with these Soorahs. I think that is a tremendous step. To believe.

She is now in the midst of memorising Al MAsad and ayat Kursi. Slowly but Insya Allah surely.

Oh, just to note down here. She is still a messy girl. She never hangs her clothes or fold it nicely. Its always on the floor. geram betul aku dengan anak dara aku sorang ni! I have devise something about this. This links with weekly allowance. Another entry perhaps.

I didn't do much on her birthday because you know I am lazy. Tak yah cita lagilah kan. But I called up some friends to go to Aspire and play there. We brought the kids' bikes. Batrisyia was so proud to show her skills that day.

I made tiramisu, brought some drinks and chips. And my friends brought food too! Dah jadi macam a small picnic. Asalnya I cuma ajak dia orang main-main aje.

Anyway, dear Sya, I pray that you become wholesome person and excels in all aspects of life. the worldly one and the eternal one.

Pictures at Aspire HERE.

Compare her progress

When she is FIVE
When she is SIX.

Exploring Qtar

Man! I haven't been going around Qtar for quite sometime. I think this mostly was because I was busy with the ASS, meetings and events and all that. There never seem to be a quiet weekend. And then there was also the dunes. But it is so hot now, I dread to go to the dunes and get my skin burnt under the hot desert sun.

let me check when was the last time I went somewhere new n Qtar. Hmm..Ahah! It was the camel trip. HERE. Goodness! That was August 2006!

Anyway it is hight time to go places that we have never been. So I said to lover, why not go to the north. And he said why not. He then decided to get some friends to go with us as well. So to the north of Qtar we went.

As usual, a map to guide you along.



We went to Zubara which is about 90km to the North west of Qtar. There is a fort there called surprise surprise Zubara Fort.



I wrote a little about the history in my multiply.

Then we drove up further north and stumbled upon ruins of village. We were leading the entourage (cewah) because we were the only one with GPS. Mr. Fath was trying to persuade Mrs fatah to get a GPS. I must say to travel in the middle east, it is quite a useful gadget to have. Because the tourist map is not sufficient and the signboards are almost non existent. I read in someone's blog about his trip to Zubara and they got lost and took pictures at the backyard of someone's house which they actually thought were ruins of the fort.

You can see the map I attach here. The tourist map is almost like that. It shows a straight road to the fort, whereas to go to the fort requires you to make a sharp u turn and turn at a junction which looks quite insignificant plus there were no signboard. *roll eyes*



Anyway my lover loves the ruins. We came up with theories to what happen to the village. The village is just a walking distance to the beach. I can almost imagine what it was like in the old days. I imagine the children running to the beach day in day out, collecting shells, going further into the sea because the beach is so shallow, swimming to their heart content. Their fathers are most likely fishermen or pearl divers. They have sheep and perhaps a few camels. Their life was simple and everyone goes to the mosque to pray. Their mothers bake their own bread, make their own labban and goat cheese. They wove their own rugs. And they shout calling their children to come home for their dinner.

Digress.

We stopped for a little picnic at the most northern tip of Qtar, Al Shinowee. It's a quiet beach with a little fishing activities. the children collected small shells while we ate. Mrs Adub brought, what she claimed, an express food. nasi lemak bungkus in daun pisang and homemade karipap. *terbeliak mata* Itu express food ka? pengsan. I brought only fried noodles and keria.

When it gets dark, we moved on and pray at a little mosque and continued our journey home. We stopped at Al Khor first to meet up with our Al khor friends. And makan some more. I thought I was quite full, but I managed grilled hamour (garoupa) with butter lemon sauce. Boleh?

Everyone enjoyed this sweet day to the extent one of them suggested that we go for a convoy somewhere next time. Somewhere meaning places like UAE or Oman. Hmmm

hmmmm

hmmmmmmmm

They are really great pals. I do enjoy being with them.

The thing is I have never done convoys. I prefer small.

When I went around UK, the most is four in a car. Backpacking in Europe is just me and my chum. Turkey, me and my chum again. I am even willing to travel alone.

You see, I am inefficient, slow and I like things my way. I like doing the planning and enjoy being wrong executing them. Remember when I went to Oman and got myself in the mountainous road to nowhere? read it HERE. That is my kind of traveling.

I am not sure whether everyone is up for it.

Oh for pictures click HERE.

This is like a date!

The two weeks spring break are nearly over for my kids. Soon they will get back to their routine of sleeping early and waking up early. No more watching heroes for them too. Nyeh nyeh.

Batrisyia had a longer break. her school took one week off to facilitate them moving to a different location. And as usual, I let her watch TV to her heart content. Play the computer games as much as she wants, without either her brothers wanting the computer too. She had to follow where I go as well. i took her to my arabic and tajweed class. I took her to a morning coffee at one of the ladies' house. Psst I made tiramisu.

On the last day of her break, before the other two boys break loose in the house, I decided to give Sya a treat. After sending Jack to school, I took her for breakfast. Not in any shop but in a nice fancy restaurant. And just my luck they have kids meal there. He he. Lasagna with one cupcake and two pieces garlic bread on baguette and a box of juice for QR10.

Oh was she happy. She just realise that she could have me all for herself. No jackjack all over me. No abang stealing all the conversation. No ayah who talks to me all the time. Hmm its amazing how i can handle all these attention seekers at one time. How I do it? Well you mothers should know it by now.

Then we went to have her hair cut, which was very much needed. And we cherried the day with a little shopping for her. Ada sale mothercare!! We went through the normal process. She chose. I scrutinise. Fitting room. Size changing. testing. Twirling and all those things.

It was a girly day indeed.

She said to me, it is just the two of us today. It is like a date!

I just realise we have never done this before. me and her. I did it with Haziq before she came along. I am always with Jack, but never really with her. The two of us.

Sya, my only daughter. My middle child.

A mother should have mother-daughter day more often I think.

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Oh! We did those digital scrap booking. I'm printing it so she can scribble something and we'll have it bind in colourful ribbons and she can paste stickers and loves and whatever she likes. Syioklah!