Chiba, then we say goodbye.

While I had my training in Chiba (which was an hour away from Tokyo), my loved ones had fun in Asakusa. Asakusa is a historical place with a big temple and a street to buy souvenirs, somewhat like jonker.

Back from Asakusa, our nightmare began. Khaira had a bad food poisoning, causing her to throw up for more than 10 times that day. Lucky we had a friend who stayed for a few months already in Japan. He gave us a list of some hospitals and english speaking clinics that opened the next morning. Khaira didn't sleep well that night.

The next day, she vomited only once but developed a fever and colic since he refused to eat the whole day.

Anyhow.. all we could think of was to go home at that time. I'm glad we're home now. Both love and mil developed a fever and diarrhea as well :(

Still, we had fun. Especially in chiba castle..

The view of sunrise from our hotel room right before we left for the airport.

It's just good to be home :)

Fun in Tokyo

That Saturday, I moved from Tsukuba to Akihabara alone. Tsukuba and Akihabara are two different prefactures (in Malaysia, we have states, Japan divides the area by prefactures). Tsukuba is in Ibaraki prefacture, and Akihabara is in Tokyo prefacture, an hour away by train.

Love arrived at 11 pm and MIL around 11.30 pm. So I picked them up at Haneda airport alone. Gamble je naik train, first time had to switch from one train to the other. Alhamdulillah.. I survived the complicated Japan train.

View in Haneda airport, Christmas spirit is on

We managed to catch the last train at 1210 am to Apa hotel, Akihabara. Otherwise it would cost us around 8000 yen (rm250) by taxi. The hotel price in Tokyo over the weekend hikes up to 2.5 times than usual. Crazy.

That Sunday morning, we went to Odaiba. Had lunch with our cousin which happened to be there for a 3 month training as well..

Odaiba is an island filled with shopping malls and other attractions like legoland, madame tussauds, park, etc.

After lunch, we strolled along the beach, overlooking the rainbow bridge. They called it rainbow bridge because at night, the lights change the bridge to rainbow colours :)

There's a replica of the statue of liberty here.

And a real size Gundam that moves during show time.

With Lil Ezra,  imagine if we have 2 kids! 

That night we shopped around Akihabara,  got the feel of the worst earthquake during our stay (not so bad, Alhamdulillah), packed up because the next day, I'm leaving to Chiba prefacture for work.

My last day in Tsukuba :)

Hye everyoneeee *wave*

I'm in Japan currently. Been here since Tuesday.  Alone. No Ks.

My first time leaving Khaira made the both of us so miserable. She kept asking mom why I didn't bring her. Sadddd.. it's 2 am now in Japan.  Couldn't sleep cuz I was so excited counting down the time I got to hold her again.

Japan has been fun. It was in between fall and winter now. Temperature ranges between 1 degree to 13 degrees. I survived with only 3 layers; long john, normal clothing and jacket since it wasn't that windy compared to Korea. Long john is a must, it really helps a lot.

I'm here for some trainings actually. At the moment I am in Tsukuba, my training is at Natural Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster (NIED). Basically I'm learning on how the Japanese alert the residents when disaster happens. So we can have a flood and landslide monitoring system in our country as well.

Before you saw the geeky side of me, let me just stop and share with you the pictures..

Day 1.

Arrived at Tsukuba around 9.30 am and straight to NIED.. omgggg so beutiful Subhanallah..

The Japanese technology amazed me, I was speechless looking at their research. So ethical and sincere and hi tech.

I stayed at Toyoko-Inn hotel which was in Kenkyu Gakuen. A station away was Tsukuba station which was filled with shopping malls. Seriously, shopping malls are everywhere here. Had dinner there that night.

Day 2.

Started the training with a presentation on what we have done for flood and landslide monitoring in our country so far.

After training, we took an hour train to Akihabara, Tokyo. This is like Low Yat, since I am here for work, I took the opportunity to survey their technology in gadgets and such. So geek I know.

Slept over at my friend's hotel because I was scared to walk alone to my hotel and also because it became so lonely to a point that I felt like I could break into tears anytime, missing my lil ones..

Day 3.

Woke up really early.. it was so cold.. and we strolled down the park near my friend's hotel before the training.

It was a half day training before we moved to visit Ibaraki University which was an hour and a half away from Tsukuba.

That night, I shopped for a while at one of the malls near Tsukuba station and off to pack my stuff for the morning.

Day 4.

Checked out, left my bag and shop again for some souvenirs in Ijas mall near my hotel.

So hard to find clothes for people back at home, everything is for winter.

Then I left Tsukuba for good and started my lonely journey to Tokyo. See you in my next entry.

Leaving my baby

I'm leaving to Japan tonight for work. Alone. Without my baby.

Even typing that causes a hollow in my heart.

I'll be there for 10 days. Love will come on night of the 4th day with K.

I don't know how I'm gonna survive without her. The first day ever in her almost 26 months life in this world.

But I received a good news yesterday, making the lonely nights in Japan bearable.

Of course I'm dying to share.

But let's wait until I got back from Japan.

Pray for a safe trip for us. In shaa Allah.  Ameen.

In the mean time, I leave you with an idea of how paranoid a mommy can be, leaving her daughter flying alone with the dad.

Happy 28th birthday, Love!!

It was Love's birthday today!! Yayy!!

We celebrated with a breakfast at Putrajaya, then we watched Flight. While he was out for Friday prayer, I prepared whatever left needed to be prepared for his homemade lunch birthday celebration.

I took a half day leave a day before. Shopped at Giant and cooked 3 hours straight. Another hour cleaning up.. oh my god exhausting! But totally worth it..

Look at this happy face..

For appetizer I tried Masterchef's onion soup, this is the most difficult and time consuming of all. I replaced Sherry with apple cider. So delicious!!

For main dish, I cooked salmon with shiitake and spinach, recipe from finedining.com. You totally get that fine dining feel, but I'm not a big fan of mushroom, so I rate this 3 over 5.

Then, for desert, I made cheesecake in a cup which I improvised from pink stiletto. So rich and awesome, Kapal loves it a lot.

Had pear and cranberry juice for the beverage. Both of us had a wonderful day to ourselves today.

Yesterday was our 12th anniversary and we had a humble celebration at Sunway with the little ones.

May Allah swt blesses our marriage and little family so we can stay happy and loving for the rest of our lives. Ameen.

Khaira time and Ibu time

My life at work has been super hectic.. wayyyy tiring than I thought it would be after PhD. Nonetheless.. that peace of mind I have is just blissful. Alhamdulillah.

So after convo, I took a day off. Brought this little girl to kidzoona, jusco equine. Mother daughter time. And all she played was the things she had at home.. balls, masak2 and lego (T_T)

I'm proud of myself, for once I didn't bath her straight away after I brought her home. Friends said I gotta control my OCD level that gotten worse these past couple of years.

After letting her having her afternoon nap, I went to my definition of world's heaven. Spa!! I guess the usual spa I went closed down already, so I went for my second best and signed up for a year's facial. I'm so gonna cry looking at my credit card statement end of this month.

Then, I spent 2 freaking hours looking for a muslimah hair saloon in equine. Found 2, both tutup. Why is it so hard to find a muslimah hair saloon, whyyyyyyy?? *cries*

On a lighter note, Khaira is progressing super well in her arabic, she can read hijaiyah with signs now. May Allah swt eases up our journey to seek for His blessings. Ameen.

my phd convo and my interview with rtm

Last Sunday was the day where I became the happiest girl in the world. It was my PhD convo.. the day I've been waiting for, for as long as I could remember.

Alhamdulillah.

I graduated with most of my friends from the department..

It was also a special one as Tun Dr. Mahathir was awarded with honorary doctorate from our uni at that day. What better way to have your convo right.

Being the youngest to get her PhD at the convo, I was also later being interviewed by the RTM.

After having our lunch on that day, we had a family photoshoot done by Elegant Vision. It's a door to door photoshoot.. very convenient for Khaira.

I bought the deal from mydeal for RM100. And paid additional RM350 for the raw and edited pictures both soft copy and printed.

Some raw pictures captured on the day.

Though I was hoping both my grandmoms and uncle were here to celebrate,  I guess I miss my co supervisor the most.

The first journal I made, he gave me about 30 revisions. Now, I published around 30 journals and conferences already.. and a renowned reviewer in my field.

The first exhibition I attended he gave me 17 revisions. Up to date, I participated in 10 exhibitions and won medal each time.

I miss him.. so far away in Oman now.  But my supervisor is still here to mentor me, so much I need to learn still.. so Alhamdulillah for His plan.

To both my supervisors, Prof. Dr. Norashidah and AP Dr. Mansoori.. thank you for making me who I am today. God knows how much I change.. both of you witness the evolution.. I pray every day.. only Allah swt can pay back all the debts I have to you guys.

I love them a lot.

While at it, the university suggested me to write a book and gave a talk on how i finish my phd part time in three years.

In shaa Allah.  Let's pray I'm given the strength to share it with my dearest readers.