My Excuse...

Last weekend, fate has not been kind to me... or maybe... it is just that i am tested....

There i was all ready with plenty of photos of food snapped on saturday nite where the zaim siblings got together for iftar to celebrate Selim's birthday (and for becoming the first child of baba's to become a professor...)... and iftar food at the çavdır kösk.......

....before being able to upload the photos into the computer....it was yesterday.. i discovered that my camera is BROKEN!And a better news is.... the servis for repair is at the other side of the bridge!..huwaaaaaa.... how will i live without my camera??

It was also another challenge for me.. when that sunday nite, while having dinner at çavdır kösk..my handphone fell.....now it is at the hands of one of the workers there....the manager of the place is halil's student.. he promised to deliver my phone to halil one day... but that one day can be any day...much much later...day...huwaaaaaaaaa...

2 dearest things in my life... n i am without them now... like i said.. this is a challenge for me...
Allah is testing my patience...... consequently, no food photos for this blog for now. for that, i beg u to forgive me...

But one good thing about everything was... on Sunday, for the first time ever, Hatice managed to fast one full day! What made that fact sweeter was that that saturday nite, halil and i suggested that she fasted till 3 pm.. and at her own accord, she replied... *i wanna try to fast full day*..aferin kızıma benim :0)

Tomorrow, we will attend an iftar at hatice n baddin's school where baddin n his classmates will perform serveral performances ie..songs for the parents to see...

I also have to excuse myself from the blogging world at least for a week...coz i will be busy hosting iftars at our home n somewhere else......

wednesday (tomorrow) - school
saturday - all the zaim family (our home)
sunday- all the zaim family iftar *at baba* (all the brides will contibute the food i suppose)
Monday - halil's friends (our home)
tuesday- hatice n baddin's class teacher with their kids n some of hatice's classmates (our home)wednesday - university students whose parents live in other cities (our home)

ı am fully packed..i will be suprised if i can spend any time outside the kitchen at all!! Wish me luck please!

And to entertain u while i am away... i have put up one of my all time fav song...
*Hati Kama*

here is the lyrics

Mengindang-ngindang padi huma
Mengindang dalam tampian
Memandang-mandang hati kama
Memandang dalam renungan
Bisik-berbisik pada pekerti mulia
Risik-merisik mana lahir asal usulnya

Mendengar suara lela lebur
Bertentangan mata panah arjuna
Terbayang senyuman bunga gugur
Siapa gerangan bagaikan betara
Adakah dia hamba sahaya
Ataupun bijak mentafsir mimpi
Mungkinkah jua benar diduga
Hingga terusik hati nurani

Tawanlah jiwa ku
Bebaskan sayap juwita
Turutlah janji ku
Tinggalkan segenap lara( 2 x )

Burung yang terbang
Salam utuskan salam
Pada renungan pandang
Selayang pandangBukan betara ( 2 x )
Atau pesona ( 2 x )
Insan biasa ( 2 x )Ah....

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Empty Nest Syndrome

2nd day of school..3 cousins waiting for the school service..


And off they went!


The first day of school.. hatice entering the first grade and baddin the pre school (both attending the same school)



with the uncles and aunties and cousins... That guy climbed on top of the entrance of the school to snap pics hehehhe

The balloons being released saying farewell to the previous school session and welcome to the present school session..

I shooed them out of the door by 7.35am. I was ready with my trackbottom n windbreaker…Only my shoes were left to be worn. I waited with them downstairs…Keremcan non stop telling met his and that as baddin was basically sitting n even lying on the floor…sleepy..and Hatice…? On her feet watching me chatting with keremcan… for some reason, she was nervous.

7.45am… the school service came. They left for school and i….off to achieve my resolution…to lose weight within 7 months…and off i walked….slowly…but determinedly…with my mp3 on…lulled by the Surah Yasin n surah Al Rahman..(halil’s fav surah)..

From Kazasker to Bostanci…from Bostanci …towards Sahilyolu..all the way to Caddebostan…with a 5 minutes break to read a newspaper...(n watching the people on mountainbikes with envy…Halil..PLS PLS BUY ME A BİCYCLE!!)straight into Bağdat Caddesi…..into Migros for some shopping..and with all the heavy plastic bags containing my shopping…i walked home….

From 7.45am till 10.45am…of walking! And I was fasting too!!
Naturally, by the time i reached home, i could barely step on my feet.. as i was cooling down on my bed…with the fan turned on facing towards me and i chatting with my mom on the phone…..i was thinking that i had overdone the walk…at least not while fasting….and by 2pm…the zaim ladies went to visit Funda’s mom to convey our condolences (Al fatihah) for the death of Funda’s auntie….that done… and by the time i reached home, it was time for Hatice n baddin to come home from school…

Oh yeah… my empty home syndrome has started….!! Both my kids r in school.. Nur Hatice in grade one while Sabahaddin in pre school….and that was my recollection of the second day of their school day! I havent had the chance to do the crazy walk again ever since..(though i am planning to)… but i had not done non stop walking each day…from going to the kid’ school for things to setle..to the daily chores outside…. Trust me… my feet r never the same again…..ouch ouchhhh sakittttttnyaaaaaaaaa And they say that having no kids at home means that i have plenty of time to kill…hmmm…

But i am glad and Thankful for one thing though…. Both Hatice and Baddin loves school. Hatice is still in the shock of having to do homework everyday while baddin is in the discovery of pre school life is so much fun!

I have also discovered that i like my newly freedom. I dont feel depressed that my kids r in school. There is no need to hang on to them .. they need to grow n expand themselves… and i need to do the things i need to do… will i achieve losing weight within 7 months’ time healthily? That is for all to see…i do not want to go back to malaysia for a visit next year in this weight..i want to go there as a chubby person..not as obese as i am now. I also need to attack the kitchen..scrub the floors (though i have a lady who comes to clean the place once in 2 weeks)… attack the wardrope… too many things with so less time… n i can barely update my blog as i used to…

My life is adapting…into this new phase. ..the phase to rediscover what i wanna do…to reacquaint myself with the simah i know (hopefully wiser) that the simah before the kids.

The kids r adapting too. Baddin especially is learning to eat on his own..to eat what is served at school…(though occasionally they do serve pizza n burgers)…learning to discover himself..to socialize in the real sense…not hiding under his sister and mine’s shadow…Hatice will undertake the process of learning to read this first few months in school. We will see how soon she will learn…my prayers r with u both…

But most importantly, i myself have to learn to fiinsh all my work before 4.30pm coz….after the kids come home from school…i need to put my total energy on them…This week has proven to me that there should be a discipline and timetable in some form to smoothen the day…so every school days.. my kids r stuck to this Schedule…:

4.45pm – 5pm…
*.the kids will reach home, put their shoes inside the shoes closet, put their bags inside their own rooms, wash their hands and faces and change their clothes

5.05pm…
*dinner time

5.50pm…
*Praying time

6pm…
*homework time…Hatice is given homework everyday so far.. the length depends on the homework..it could go on till 7.45pm….. baddin has homework only during weekends but on normal days as he too demanded homework like the sister …i often made up mock homework for him..mainly to improve his writing skills..

7.30pm - 8pm…..
* Free time! This is the time when the kids r free to do what they please…to watch the dvd… to play.. ..(with an inclusion of Maghrib prayer somewhere)

8.30pm…
*Bath time!

8.50pm…
*Supper… mainly fruity yogurt or puding or dessert or fruit coctail in syrup accompanied with fresh milk (kena la minum susu..kalau tak nanti ketot macam mak dia hehe)

9.00pm
*Bedtime! With Yasin listening on the Mp3 every alternate days…

and guess what? Though the homework time is a stressed out time (i hate homework n so does Hatice n she does her homework like a snail… and i had to come up with stuffs to keep ker concentration intact coz she has one very short concentration span esp when exhausted)….i find myself enjoying these hours spent with them. … just me n them… my focus on them n nothing else…i couldnt do that last year….

My kids r learning n growing……n now i am able to do things i didnt have a chance to do with a kid or two tagging along… Alhamdulillah… despite all the obstacles….our life is a bliss… n i am blessed ….
To check out my kids’ first few days of school…. Please hop to:

For my daughter’s blog:

http://www.haticeveokul.blogspot.com/

for my son’s blog:

http://www.baddinveokul.blogspot.com/


OK..OK...stories of Ramadhan and the food here coming up in the next entry..tungguuuuuuuu!! :0)

Thank You for hopping by...Hope to see u again the next time..

Edremit 2007

Edremit.... the land where u see thousands of acres of olive trees n famous too for its wonderful figs...

Hatice..posing with the olives

I just cant believe my eyes when i see the last time i updated this blog... this is really a record time! i really have missed u all... But then..well.... i was away for the holiday for 2 weeks.. and after we came back..well....got hit by the flu..etc... was not really in the mood to do anything computer related....:0)

The holiday was wonderful Alhamdulillah... We went there earlier than the usual date (we usually go to edremit 2 weeks later)....so the squid season was not in yet... no big squids for me this year...n very less squid i had eaten... still....it was a relaxing holiday...n yup! we ate loads of fish too...bought fresh from the fishermen's boat

That first day we reached Edremit, after lunch n a bit of rest, we went straight to the beach.Baddin had promised us that he wont be demanding the arm float while swimming in the sea this year (he learned swimmming properly only this year)... and he had held on to his words...hatice? well... she is a good swimmer... she worried us not.... but what made me beamed that day most was....the four of us that day swam together into the deep blue sea...!! I mean my first time that i had actually swim like that was 4 years ago!! and my kids... at the age of 5 n a half and 6 and a half... they have started swimming in the deep sea despite the waves etc!!...That really made the sea swimming much more worthwhile ...halil.. hatice.. baddin n i...as a family..u bet everybody was looking at us :0)

And after 8 years in turkey... i was finally reunited with my childhood love....the waterfall... i can still imagine the durian perangin... the lubuk sembilang and the telaga tujuh water fall weekends i used to have with my mom n neighbours while i was living in langkawi years back... and we discovered the existence of waterfalls at edremit! The trip was quite dangerous of course since the road was so steep and small.....2 waterfalls.. but they were worth it! It was the first time Hatice and baddin ever see a waterfall... n hatice in particular..despite the freezing water of the fall..she loved it to her very core! Baddin loved the waterfall too...but he gets cold much easier than hatice... Am sooo glad that there is the Malay in my kids still despite being brought up in istanbul....

I love nature..i love green... i was getting worried that my kids wont share my sentiment... the wild nature for adventure wont be within them... i am sooo glad that the genetic transfer from me to them includes the love for nature....

I wont mumble much today... i promise that i will update this blog more often after this... just give me some time to blog hop... rindunyaaa kat koranggggggg....enjoy the snaps :0)

Hatice n Baddin in front of the place where we stayed



halil n simah...still very much in love 2007

My kids n i

Halil n the kids..

This is halil's favourite picture...coz he snapped it hahahahaha

To be hills as the background and the olive trees on his left n right

The view on the way to the waterfall

A fresh fig tree

On the way to the waterfall

Terjunnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!

2 freezing male species n one very happy girl :0)

due to the draught, the water is not much....but wait till spring....

The nature..

At the second waterfall area...

A cute pose from 2 cute kids

The swimming suit was upstairs (quite far)...
Anne.. baba.. can we please soak our feet inside the water? just a little bit?

Can u understand now why i think he is cute? :0)
An overburnt skin simah (as if i need to tan myself at all in the first place eh? hehehe

u have to climb up to get back to the car.... a hotel on top (still under construction)

From the little bit of leg wetting... they started to wet themselves (after hatice agreed to change her t-shirt)

And in they go! heheheheh




And frozen they were! hahahah

baddin was wearing hi normal t-shirt n pants underneath... with athick windbreaker and topped with halil's t-shirt on top (n he was still freezing! ) hahaha

Hatice was wearing her normal t-shirt n pant ... and her windbreaker on top and my own windbreaker on top of her windbreaker...

very fashionable eh? hehehehe

more stories coming up later :0)

Thank You for hopping by...Hope to see u again the next time..