Zurich Trip - 2

Just have to write down more of my experiences while in Zurich....short and sweet..next time insyaállah we will go to the Alps etc...but this time without any of the kids we feel it's not justifiable...

• If you couldn't find the gifts shop in town..these are the few at the airport....Downtown Zurich and at the Main Train Station you can find Heimatwerk House of Crafts & Plaza under the main train station..

• Teuscher is a boutique chocolate shoppe..at first I thought it was a flower shop but than.... Another famous choc shoppe is Springli....I misplaced it's photo somewhere..

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  I was very..very impressed whenever wanna cross the road at zebra-crossing..if berdiri tercegat kat tengah or tepi jalan sbb takut tengok kereta laju...kereta2 tu akan berhenti at the zebra-crossing to let you cross walaupun tadi dia laju..sure driver tu dok ingat.. hmm..alien dia orang ni to our country so tak tau undang2...
  
  
• The bus will almost always come to your stop at the said time.... Tak payah nak tunggu awal sikit just in-case dia awal..tak payah nak kejar if terlepas..just wait for the next one. If you know the stops..bus/trams/trains..it is easy to switch transport mode to go where you want....



• I almost always have to remove my jackets and shoes at the "checking"gate sebab trigger the alarm...so make sure..get rid of your clips, brooches, etc... Dont forget to pakai decent last piece of clothing under jacket just incase dia surung bukak and nanti tinggal tanktop je pulak..I also experience this while taking the Eurostar from London to Paris....urghh..takde apa2 pun..myb my body static charge is high..Zayd yang ada pacemaker pun tak bunyi...



• Bawak siap2 charger/adapter...batteries....nak beli mahal juga lah bila dah convert... the 2 pin plug type is small 2 rounds..just like some of the handphone charger...



• I love sitting on the benches all over town and watch people move around....One thing I see.. almost 2/5 people-female having an LV bag..mengancam betuii... is it that cheap here in Zurich..I wonder...mid-size shopping bag dia at the LV boutique on Bahnhofnstrasse cost CHF880....I forgot to check KL or UK price so tak leh kata apa2...



• Almost 1 in 3 cars will be either a BMW or Audi. Mercs are taxi while not many American cars...although I saw same JEEP like mine while walking near the lake.
  

• The shopping anchor like Jemoli, Globus, Manor etc...costs of things on the high side.. probably branded items...shopping complex like Migros, Co-Op is lower price tapi tak murah jugak...but if nak beli chocolates yang normal type..pergi lah to Migros or Co-Op...same type at Jemoli may cost CHF2 more... Can you see the lemon grass, bak choy, chillies etc....?? These can be bought at jemoli's..I'm sure it can be found elsewhere too..only I did not explore enough...We did however find some Malaysian foodstuffs at Co-Op & Migros...
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• Almost all shopping centers have an area where they sell colorful prints paper products.. ber-rak2...of serviettes..wrapping paper...table covers...I am crazy about this things too..but limited to purchase....boleh tengok2 and usik2 je..arghh...



• I don't find Royal Albert or Royal Doulton..Vileroy&Boch adalah...Ingat nak cari teapot tapi tak jumpa yg deserve to be bought...Nak cari lace table cloth pun takde...dapat lace hand-kerchief je itupun dah CHF33



• Gift stores...puas berjalan mencari...actually banyak at the Zurich airport itself...in town you can find a few also like Hematwerk, Elderwise & Tourist Center at Main train station.. plus the shopping plaza under the main train station.



• I love going on the trams....sbb punctual and organized...


• Makan2...ada few fast-food like Mc-D, small stalls in Jemoli with Thai, Indian, Japanese food. A Thai stall outside of Globus facing Mc-D, park & Bahnhofnstrasse... Seafood Restaurant at Main Train station...expect to spend between CHF20~CHF50 per person per meal depending where and what you eat...Along the Limattquai and near Central.. there's an Asian food shop also... Otherwise..you can survive on fruits, pretzel, bread, chocs etc....



• Our first food stop was Grut Farm..which was near the hotel and the school...you can get ice-tea...refillable fried chicken wings..rice&vegetables thai style...We got confuse on deciding the male&female toilet..he...he...While crossing the road to get to the restaurant..we met a Malaysian boy who upon passing us..say te salaam..I responded and asked where he was from...says he's Ädi"and dad working for Alpha.. something.. that's abt all I can recall...it was a nice surprise though in the middle of a foreign land..

The hotel where we stayed..convenient and cheaper...

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Guess?? Which is male / female toilet..Is it obvious to you...?

Zurich Trip....

Had a lovely time in Zurich..mainly the weather was nice. We planned to go up the Alps with some of the tour but end up canceling coz'the kids were not with us. They were busy practising.. so looks like planning another trip here someday. The transportation was good for goin around... the food that we can take were available...but only $$$$ pretty expensives most things if you converted the value.

Since only the two of us were roaming the town...so the photos will be full with only either one of us..he..he.. My father-in-law called us while we were at the bridge above & he was confuse when he asked where we were. We always have our Maxis hp roaming...

AMIS Honor band Zurich Feb. 25~28th.

Concert Nite ~28th. Feb.2009

B4 Performance the School Assembly ~27th. Feb 2009

After the Concert Nite~Smiling Zayd

Hannah, ACS Student , Mabry Jackson

THe Dhahran School Grp. of 10...

The kids attending from Saudi Aramco School in Dhahran....

Bahrain...What To DoThere?

Usually on the weekends..Thursday & Friday for Saudi's...many people from the Eastern Province will drive thru the causeway to go to Bahrain. This will take about 45mins depending on the traffic..sometimes on school holidays..the queue on the causeway can be up to 4hrs. As such, this is an important factorto note if you plan to take a flight out from Bahrain. Anyway... while in Bahrain, what can you do or where can you go :-

• Shopping complexes are many in Bahrain...the most congested I believe will be in Seef Mall..near the Seef District...Seef Mall has 2 cinemas plus many food stalls/restaurant and shops with varieties..plus its new extension having more shops...parking can be a hassle on weekends especially...but go early in the morning...along the highway back to saudi from Manama city center. Beside Seef Mall..adjacent will be Al-Ali mall where many many branded boutiques are here.
• There's also a brand new shopping complex along the same highway before reaching Seef Mall too...here you will have stores like Debenhams, H&M etc...forgot its name...City or Central Center or something.
• Bahrain mall which is opposite to Seef Mall is where we always frequent bcos Geant is there..we can do our groceries shopping where many oriental items are avaiable plus..they have food courts and of course more shops...parking is easier too. Applebees restaurant is just outside the mall..near entrance. Further down the same road will be Dana Mall where there's a cinema too and Giant stores...
• Downton is where the Souq is...more traditional kind of shops in the Manama area...park somewhere near the Intercontinental Hotel..and walk to the area. Gol Souq is also nearby..you can get Bahraini pearls here...

Enough about shopping complexes and souqs.....Some attractions in Bahrain will be :-

• The Tree of Life ..a very very old tree...myb hundreds of years...many people visit just to see how it is...I haven't been here coz' we lost our way there..
• The Quran museum...
• the Grand Mosque..
• The forts..they have a few forts to remind of yesteryears..Arad & Bahrain forts...
• Delmont Water Theme Park
• Handicraft centers for Bahraini culture
• Dolphin Water shows near the corniche...

Basically...that's about it..as you arrived in Bahrain...pick up some maps at the airport. Probably it will have more information. But for me I love the area between the Diplomatic water edge towards Muharraq / airport...as the beach cove is beautiful with small boats and water edge... I just love the scenery...

3-Day Weekend

It was an eventful 3 day weekend. To start it of :-

Wednesday nite....

• after Isya' the plan was to follow Azlan to the soccer field for some warm-ups. I planned to play badminton with the ladies while the man played soccer. But the wind was blowing quite strongly so the idea for badminton is off.We arrived early to the field...the parking lot was dark where we parked...since we face the entrance we saw who was coming...we saw Nik's family came but parked a bit away from us....waited for a while and still they are in their car..soon saw Wafiy came out and we decided to come out too...than only Zahrah came out laughing bcos she said...ingat2 kan siapa dok dating ke...?? Ooo..so..we came in our old car so they did not think it was us.
• Anyway..once all the families came..it was not enough people to play a soccer match therefor the men ask us to man the goals..Okey..not a big deal. It was a small goal coz' we played only half field..Ha..ha..it was a hilarious nite coz' more balls went out of field rather than into the goal coz' the ladies who were manning them make sure no balls slip thru...what thought of as a simple game turns out to be more fun and did work out some sweat too...it was more of a family bonding time.

Thursday

• The afternoon was spend at Ting's family for a Chinese New Year feast...soo much food and fun to hear the stories from everybody.
• After lots of food and relaxing, its time to leave...
• Reach home about 4:30pm and its time to bake the lasagna...the white sauce and meat sauce was earlier cooked in the morning. Turns out beautifully about an hour later..just in time for our next event.
• After Maghrib was a dinner invite to Fandi&Za's house..to meet a new family Zamani&Norizan. Found out that Nor when to the same Univ in Duluth, Minnesota as a close friend of mine Murni. She said..she might ahve her contact number and will give it to me..If so..what a small world.
• The feast again was wide...soup gearbox, BBQ stuffs & Grill chicken, Lasagna, rice & dishes with lots of desserts etc...Aahh...bliss....
• Before we leave..sort of promised for a bowling game on Saturday.

Friday...wake up late...breakfast at Hobby Farm...cooked a simple lunch..and laze around. Azlan when for monthly tazkirah at Izz's house

Saturday....

• Adzrul's first pay and treat to us..yay..it goes a long way..so many emotions come with it as usually the transfer is to his acount and now we got some transfer from his account..
• Cooked nasi ayam for lunch..mean main meal...yummy..yummy..pack some for Ayman to take back to Bahrain..hope he keeps it in the fridge and knows how to microwave them for his next dinner...
• At about 2:20pm..when to Dhahran Bowl on camp for our promised game..18 heads all together..Nik's family, Fandi's family, me sans Azlan who plans to go to the office but was spending some zz's instead...Aida & Ritz came out to watch....It was loud..lots of laughter..lots of spares and strikes and into the gutter..I score a few zero's and the champ is Za Fandi..who said she played for the first time...yay...
• Now..plan to pack for Zurich..but remembered I still have my homework for tomorrow to revise.....good nite...

Reflections...Morality ??

** I read this in The STAR On-Line today...I am sure you can relate to most or some of what the writter intended. Amidst all the hot news of political spats..naked photos discrediting Eli... Honor and morals have really come to a fine line. Dah jadi macam cerita2 Hollywood pulak... Anyway..We have to know..it is a sign of end of time bila somebody who do an indecent or immoral act basically sins do it publicly or if done in secret .. unashamedly will broadcast to all of the sins done without shame...as Muslims we are not to spread even if we know for sure the bad things done by somebody..unless it is for marriage..when somebody ask the character of someone... to prevent sort of a cheat to the other party of the true reputation. You also do not have to declare all or any part of what you have done in the past IF it will create a disharmony. What is only known to you so let it be... Like they say let a sleeping lion lie... For your sins.. Allah swt is Ar-Rahman and Ar-Rahim....

Hypermarket tension By PATSY KAM

You can find ugly Malaysians aplenty at hypermarkets.
MOST of us have done our fair share of shopping at hypermarkets. They’re popular because they house everything under one roof, prices are more competitive and heck, it’s a day out for the whole family come the weekends.
But there are certain things you’re just not supposed to do – well, at least not if you’re educated and civic-minded – at the expense of other shoppers. Nobody likes a queue jumper, or shoppers who push and shove their way to get what they want. And it’s certainly never acceptable to hijack another shopper’s trolley!
There have been instances when people tried to take my empty trolley when they thought no one was looking, especially a few years ago when you had to put in a RM1 coin to get one at a certain hypermarket.
Recently, I went to the one near my home to pick up some groceries. In fact, I was feeling quite good about the way things were going as I found most of the items on my shopping list and the staff were helpful.
Then, just about 20 steps from the cashier, I stopped to take a better look at the prices of some items. I left my trolley unattended at the beginning of one of the aisles because I figured it would be more troublesome to push it through the narrow aisle full of people.
When I returned, my trolley was missing! At first I thought I had absent-mindedly gone to the wrong aisle. But after hunting around a good 15 minutes, I concluded the staff must have thought I didn’t want the groceries any more and put back the trolley. What was worse, there were things that I had bought and paid for from outside the hypermarket in the trolley.
Furious, I complained to the manager and the staff on roller skates went around on a trolley hunting mission. The manager explained that the staff do not normally return the items to the shelves so soon. Perhaps some mischievous child had pushed away the trolley for fun, he suggested.
After another fruitless search, I gave up, and took a basket and grabbed a few essential items. I was tired and had already wasted an hour of my life. I was already mapping out the complaint letter in my head.
Then miraculously, the manager told me he’d located my stuff minus the trolley. True enough, there was my packet of fish, detergent, shoe polish and some 20 other items, unceremoniously dumped behind some boxes in an inconspicuous corner.
Either the irresponsible shopper was too lazy to get his own trolley or didn’t want to part with 20 sen to get his own. Of all the inconsiderate things that happen in hypermarkets, this takes the cake!
And surely you’ve seen those flyers promoting specials for one day only? Only to arrive to find the shelves empty ... You wonder how it is possible for a fresh supply of chicken, garlic, Milo or even chilli sauce to disappear so fast when surely the hypermarket would have made sure they had enough stock before advertising.
More often than not, it’s the small grocery shops or food vendors who will fill their carts and sweep the shelves clean.
Once, I asked, no, almost begged this guy who, judging from the conversation with his family, obviously ran a coffeeshop, to spare me a bag of Milo. I didn’t want to go home empty-handed and after all, he had like 20 bags in his trolley. He promptly refused, saying he didn’t have enough for himself.
No wonder hypermarkets sometimes have to limit shoppers to two packets per family. Even then, Malaysians find a way to beat the system as father, mother, uncle, grandmother and three kids, all queue and pay separately at the same counter to take advantage of the discount.
Speaking of separate bills, it is not good manners to split a RM150 shopping bill into five parts (although you have every right to), just because for every RM30 spent you get a lucky draw!
And the situation is made worse when you have a whole line of customers behind you, just waiting for you to get lucky.
And don’t get me started on shoppers who ignore the “10 items only” signboard and insist on paying at the express counter when their shopping cart is filled to the brim!
In the face of the hypermarket wars, the ugly side of shoppers surface to reveal the survival instinct of the typical kiasu (afraid to lose) Malaysian.
During the recent festive season, some shoppers were seen lugging around boxes of arrowroot (nga ku in Cantonese). Shoppers were supposed to either pick and choose from the trays, which offered smaller bulbs, or take their chances with the unopened boxes which apparently contained bigger ones.
But some decided to have the best of both worlds by opening the boxes, taking their pick and discarding the rest in the common pile. What’s even more annoying than trolley hijacking: one shopper had her bag of carefully hand-picked bulbs from the tray stolen from under her nose when she turned away to talk to someone for a short while. Now that’s what you call daylight robbery!
But the epitome of bad hypermarket manners is when the shopper parks herself and her children at the fruit station. While picking the fruits (like grapes, kumquat or longan, for example) for weighing, some people eat their fill while they’re at it.
Then again, one may argue there’s a fine line between testing a fruit and having a picnic. Makes sense why in Europe, they have a “see no touch” policy and items are all prepacked.
No choosing, squeezing or any suspicious behaviour allowed, least of all, tasting the goods before paying!
Shopping at the hypermarket has become a way of life for urban folks. Instead of sabotaging your fellow shopper, won’t it be nicer if we help each other out to make it a pleasant experience?

Goofing Around & My Garden...13th. Feb 2009

Customs..on the way to Bahrain...



BISA Dorm...Lovely flowers

Goofing around b4 leaving for Bahrain...

This were taken before we drove to Bahrain..thought of watching a movie there..but after picking up Ayman and lunch at Ponderosa...by the time we reach Seef mall....takde movie yg menarik.....and Ayman pulak says..ooh..oh..need to work on my EE....

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Just Reflecting..How They have Grown....

Well...on this cloudy day in Dhahran...after breakfast at MK of nasi lemak and mee goreng and tea tarik...I was just looking thru the kids photos and realise they have grown up...Amid all the struggles together and each and evryone faced..it was never a waste no matter how dissapointing the results were. It goes to make a person with the experiences they had.. I am proud for each and everyone although there were many exchanges of words...some caning and and many tears...May all is for Allah swt sake for them to grow and be a better person and a good Muslim...

Dhahran School Student Led Conference

Yearly in February...there will be a student led conference in school. Each student will present to their parents and oasis teacher where they are in their time line for the year. They will go thru each core subject..LA,Math,Social Studies & Science and talk about them either in detail or touch-n-go..I know Zayd was very nervous but he got calm about halfway presenting...but I am very proud of them both and Ayman and Adzrul too...because any effort is never wasted..that's what I always told them...but do not easily take things..than again things can be easy... While with Zayd..his teacher Ms. Matza says that he always talk about how he like his mom's cooking.... woo..hoo...Mmg kuat akal bila suruh study selalu mintak makan dulu...masa dalam elementary school lagi lah pulak..kene ada snack breaks bila study...amboi..I kata..banyak break-makan dari study akhir nya...

Hannah presented using Powerpoint...one cool young lady...and she says that she dont like everything...this difficult and that dont make sense etc..etc..pendek kata pada sume ada je yang tak suka....but she really do well in most subjects as compared to last semester.

Mr. Snakenberg..their PE teacher took the photo for us before we went in for the conference.

RT Fun Futsal Day

These photos were actually the after event tea at Harun & Su's house at Mallard Street in Ras Tanura..though tired but everyone was game enough for doses of nasi tomato, mee goreng and loads of desserts. I have dificulty loading the pics from the field..but it can also be seen at Facebook. So..its okey..

It was just to find reasons to spend the day with friends far and near..young and old..to relax and enjoy the day till sunset..after Isya..we left for Dhahran but stops at Dr.Razali's first in KFUPM since it will be the last day for Aysha before returning to Kursk...