What's up so far

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته and good day!

I know you want me to continue with my big apple stories, but before we get to that, let me tell you what has been going on so far. 

1) I have passed my Late Stage Review!!

This is by far the biggest news. If you don't know about PhD, or specifically PhD at Imperial College London (ICL), we need to go through two different assessment levels. The first one is after 9 months of registration, there's the Early Stage Assessment or some people might call it as PhD upgrade. That is when you need to defend your project, sometimes a proposal, presenting your initial data (if you have any). So the late stage review comes after 18-24 months for ICL students. Here, they will assess your progress, your future work, whether they think you will finish on time. Some people call this transfer. Meaning that if you pass, you'll continue as a PhD candidate. If not, they might either transfer you to MPhil or stop your registration completely. The harsh way of saying it is that you failed. So I passed it last Tuesday, thankfully. After a year and a half of banging my head on the walls, God knows how much hair I've lost, I finally did it!!

2) One of the people that helped me a lot since the day I've arrived has gone home. 

Another one from the many..many that have gone home before. It felt a bit more lonely in London nowadays. A lot more have finished their studies and gone home. No new postgraduates anymore. I guess the batch after me will be the last one if things don't change in Malaysia anytime soon. 

3) Eid Festival

Because my bestie and I spent our Eid in Lisbon, Portugal this year, we only get to feel the festivities during the Eid festival. This year the festival was sponsored by Lebara. You know how in Malaysia kids will get money packets when they visit, in London, they give you raffles!!! hahaha...I got a selfies stick (awesome!) and my bestie got a mug (boring...=P). But the best part of all, I get to have a selfie with the good Mayor of London, Mr. Sadiq Khan. #pleasebejealous

4) Canada 150th Celebration

The day before the Eid festival, there was another festival, which is the Canadian 150th Celebration. My bestie has been in Canada, so I'm a bit jealous of that. Even if I haven't been there, at least I get to taste a lot of their food, such as the maple syrup waffles, cookies and even drink! 

5) Royal Naval College Painted Hall

This was the most recent, but I've bought the ticket months before. The painted hall in the Royal Naval College in Greenwich is undergoing restoration (they prefer conservation) work from July to September this year. They haven't done this in 60 years. So while the people doing the work trying to conserve the paintings, they also open tours for people to go up and look at the paintings up close. If you have been to the painted hall before, you'd know that the paintings are from top to bottom. So with this tour, you get a chance to see it up close (if you're tall enough, you can even touch it; but not recommended since the oil from our hand may destroy the paint). They hope this conservation work will last for another 100 years. So if you miss this, just pray you'll live for another 100 years to see it. The Times magazine calls it as a once in a lifetime experience. 

The tour costs £11 per person. You need to wear hard hats and reflective vests for safety since it is a working site. You'll go up about 70 steps while the guide tells you stories about the paintings. The painted hall was painted by Sir James Thornhill. You'll be amazed by the accuracy and the detail of the painting. One particular example; there is a painting of a date of an event occurring a year ahead of its time. Meaning that their astronomy at the time was so accurate, they can paint it a year ahead. 

There are a lot more stories behind it, you should go and have a listen and look at the paintings yourselves.

It has been an eventful month. But the month has not ended just yet.

Until next time...

Mengambil lesen di bumi England.

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته dan selamat sejahtera semua!

Pertama kali untuk saya menulis dalam bahasa ibunda secara penuh!

Alkisahnya adalah berkenaan proses yang saya lalui untuk mengambil lesen di sini, di bumi United Kingdom. 

Setelah dua tahun menetap di sini, saya bernekad untuk mengambil lesen di sini selepas tamat tempoh lesen Malaysia bagi memudahkan urusan sekiranya terdapat hal2 yang menyebabkan saya perlu untuk memandu (manalah tahu sekiranya ada kecemasan satu hari nanti), lebih mudah sekiranya saya sudah ada lesen di sini. Untuk pengetahuan semua, lesen Malaysia boleh digunakan untuk memandu di sini, tetapi hanya layak untuk digunakan selama setahun. Sekiranya lebih dari itu, boleh dikenakan saman, atau ada kes saya pernah dengar, kereta mereka ditarik oleh polis dan mereka terpaksa menaiki kenderaan awam. Kalau di tengah perkampungan jadi macam ni, apalah jadi agaknya??!

Lesen L

Maka bermulalah proses mencari bagaimanakah cara untuk memohon lesen. Kalau di Malaysia, untuk mendapat lesen L, perlu hadir ke kelas teori dan menduduki ujian teori. Bila dah lulus, maka dapatlah lesen L (percubaan).

Di sini pula, lesen L (provisional) boleh dipohon melalui atas talian. Isi borang dan masukkan maklumat yang patut. Cuma mereka memerlukan passport original bagi mereka yang bukan warganegara. Dalam masa tiga minggu, dapatlah lesen L. Nampak mudah bukan? Lesen L ni ada banyak pantang larang mak nenek dia. Tak boleh memandu di atas lebuhraya (motorway), perlu ada pelekat L di kereta yang dipandu, sekiranya ada penumpang, perlu ada yang sudah mempunyai lesen penuh dan banyak lagi.

Ujian Teori

Untuk mendapatkan lesen penuh pula, perlu mula dengan ujian teori. Ujian teori di sini bagi saya susah. Mungkin sebab ada peraturan jalan raya mereka yang berlainan, atau mungkin ujian mereka tersangatlah terperinci. Jarak antara kereta (dalam meter/kaki) bila hujan, panas, salji, banyak lagi. Bila ada kemalangan, orang cedera disebabkan terbakar, apa patut buat? Kalau berdarah bagaimana pula? Bila ada kecemasan atas jalan raya, apa patut buat? Bila ada kuda atas jalan pun kena tahu apa yang perlu dibuat. Tu antara soalan yang ada. Tiada soalan untuk tengok buta warna seperti di Malaysia (yang pada saya segmen yang paling mudah dalam ujian teori). Multiple choice questions adalah segmen pertama.

Untuk segmen kedua, diberikan ujian yang dipanggil hazard perception test. Ujian ini berbentuk video yang memberikan visual ketika memandu. Calon perlu mengenal pasti sebarang perkara bahaya yang kemungkinan boleh berlaku, dan markah akan diberikan pada 'potential hazard' yang akan menyebabkan seseorang perlu bertindak samada memberhentikan kenderaan atau beralih arah. Contohnya bila ada orang secara tiba2 keluar simpang, atau bila ada kereta yang park di tengah jalan. Sama seperti main permainan komputer, calon perlu tekan pada 'hazard' tersebut, sekiranya terlalu awal atau lambat, markah yang diberikan adalah sedikit (1 contohnya). Sekiranya calon menekan berkali-kali, 'hazard' tersebut akan dikira sebagai 'foul' dan calon tidak akan diberikan markah. Calon akan diberikan masa sebelum ujian untuk berlatih dengan menggunakan visual latihan.

Apa yang menariknya untuk ujian kedua ini, visual yang diberikan seolah2 dari kamera hd yang betul2 ditangkap dari kenderaan yang sebenar, sedangkan ia hanyalah rekaan grafik yang dibuat seperti dalam permainan The Sims. Setiap detail walhal sekecil-kecil perkara seperti bekas air atas jalan raya pun dibuat dengan teliti sehingga visual dilihat seakan-akan benar.

Ujian teori ni boleh diambil untuk berlatih di atas talian. Cuba lah banyak kali sehingga dapat pass. Markah pass untuk ujian teori agak tinggi iaitu 43/50 untuk bahagian pertama dan 44/75 untuk bahagian kedua.

Di tempat ambil ujian teori, proses untuk menduduki ujian sangat ringkas dan cepat, tetapi ketat. Selepas mendaftar, perlu meletakkan semua barang peribadi ke dalam loker berkunci. Kemudian akan diberikan komputer. Masa menjawab bagi ujian akan bermula bila calon mula menjawab. Untuk ujian teori, saya terpaksa ambil dua kali kerana gagal kali pertama dengan kekurangan dua markah sahaja!!! 

Ujian Praktikal

Untuk ujian praktikal pula, sekiranya anda tidak mempunyai kenderaan sendiri, anda perlu berdaftar dengan mana-mana syarikat yang latihan memandu. Di sini, tempat ujian tidak menyediakan kenderaan sepertimana di Malaysia. Calon perlu hadir ke tempat ujian dengan kenderaan sendiri atau kenderaan syarikat latihan memandu yang dipilih. Disebabkan ada ramai 'senior' di sini yang pernah mengambil lesen, saya dapatkan maklumat syarikat yang mereka gunakan, maka berkenalanlah saya dengan Anthony, tenaga pengajar saya. 

Saya mendaftar untuk mengambil dua kali latihan (3 jam setiap satu) sahaja kerana bayaran yang agak mahal iaitu sebanyak £20 sejam! Kereta syarikat yang digunapakai Anthony adalah Mini Cooper jenis manual kerana saya akan mengambil ujian kereta manual. Ini kerana sekiranya saya mengambil ujian memandu kereta automatik, saya tak boleh menyewa kereta manual kerana maklumat ini akan diletakkan di atas lesen nanti dan harga sewaan kereta automatik lebih mahal berbanding kereta manual. 

Mengambil ujian semula selepas bertahun terbiasa dengan cara pemanduan sendiri adalah agak sukar. Perlu lupakan kebiasaan dan berlatih semula untuk memandu dengan cara yang betul, lebih-lebih lagi bab pusing stereng, toleh kiri/kanan sebelum signal dan banyak lagi! 

Pada hari ujian, saya pun pandulah kereta Anthony ke tempat ujian (dalam 20 minit dari rumah). Tiba giliran saya, nama saya pun dipanggil untuk ikut pemeriksa ke kereta. Dalam perjalanan, pemeriksa suruh berhenti di tepi, lihat kereta yang diletakkan di seberang jalan (lebih 100 meter dari tempat saya berdiri) dan disuruh untuk baca nombor plat kereta. Kemudian sambil kami berjalan, pemeriksa tanya soalan2 seperti bagaimana nak tau kedudukan 'head rest' yang betul, bagaimana nak tau 'hazard light' berfungsi. Semua soalan ni Anthony sudah maklumkan pada saya untuk ulang kaji beberapa hari sebelum ujian dengan video ini.

Selepas tiba di kereta, ada seorang pakcik berdiri berdekatan dengan kereta mengucapkan selamat maju jaya pada saya. Bila pemeriksa lihat saya sudah bersedia, dia memberikan arahan untuk saya pandu (at the junction, turn right, then turn left. Drive until the end of the road and turn left). Bahagian ini dinamakan 'independant driving' di mana pemeriksa akan berikan arahan sebelum memandu. 

Selepas arahan pertama yang diberikan, pemeriksa ujian akan berikan arahan contohnya untuk belok ke kanan/kiri, keluar lorong kedua dalam bulatan dsb. Bahagian ini dipanggil 'instructed driving', di mana calon perlu peka dengan arahan pemeriksa, lebih2 lagi bila pemeriksa suruh ikut jalan sekian-sekian, maka calon perlu peka dengan papan tanda jalan. 

Sampai di jalan yang agak kecil, pemeriksa akan menyuruh untuk berhenti di tepi jalan. Kemudian buat salah satu 'maneuver' samada 'three-point turn', 'side parking' atau 'reverse into a corner'. Pemeriksa menyuruh saya untuk buat 'three-point turn'. Saya masih ingat semasa belajar dengan Anthony, dia menyuruh saya untuk buat 'side parking' tanpa memberikan apa2 tips sebelum itu. Saya dengan yakinnya buat cara sebagaimana kebiasaannya. Dia buka pintu untuk pastikan kedudukan kereta. Dengan kagum dia bertanya bagaimana saya pastikan kereta dalam kedudukan tersebut sebab parking yang saya buat adalah perfect. hahahaha...bangga sikit. tapi bila nak ulang kali kedua dah tak jadi. Maka, perlu untuk saya tau tips yang betul supaya setiap kali saya buat, kedudukan kereta akan tepat. 

Ada salah satu 'maneuver' yang tidak semua pemeriksa akan suruh buat iaitu 'emergency brake', di mana pemeriksa hanya akan ketuk 'dashboard' dengan kuat sebagai signal untuk berhenti mengejut. Kemudian calon perlu tahu apa yang perlu dibuat seterusnya, contohnya untuk neutralkan gear, tarik handbrake dsb. 

Bila hampir tiba di tempat ujian (tempat kami bermula), saya perasan pemeriksa tulis sesuatu atas kertas. Bila jeling sikit, nampak tulisan pass certificate. Masa tu dah rasa gembira yang amat. Nasib baik masih fokus untuk memandu dan berhenti dengan cara yang sepatutnya. Alhamdulillah...saya lulus! Ikut fakta dari majalah yang saya baca semasa menunggu, kadar kelulusan ujian praktikal di sini hanya 40%!! Alhamdulillah...syukuuuuuuur...

Selepas tamat, pemeriksa tanya samada nak lesen dihantar ke rumah atau ambil di pejabat, dan saya pilih untuk dihantar ke rumah. Bila pilih untuk dipos, pemeriksa akan ambil lesen L. Lesen akan dihantar dalam masa dua minggu. 

Maka, berposing lah saya depan kereta Anthony dengan pass certificate. Tapi tak jumpa pula gambar dia ambil. Malu pula untuk nak minta semula. haha...maka, gambar orang lain sajalah letak dalam ni.

Sampai situ sahaja buat kali ni. Silalah baca post saya yang lain.

One of the best experience of my life

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته and good day!

This actually happened quite a while back. I came across an ad from the Muslim hands that popped up on my facebook newsfeed for a tandem skydiving experience. As my dad did a bungee jump when he was in his late 30's in New Zealand, I have to top that up a notch and do a bolder move, which is skydiving.

I found out about the event from Muslim Hands, a charity that I have been involved with since I came here. They held a lot of interesting events, some that I've been to include Winter Walk for Gaza in 2014and All Girls Paintball in 2015. They have many more events that I couldn't join. I only managed to be involved personally once a year.

This is another poster for a different date. Couldn't find the date we went to.

Without any hesitation, I immediately signed up. I only needed to pay £50 for registration. The term is that you need to raise a sum of money, but they're not too strict about this. Even if you can't raise the whole amount by the time of the event, you can still raise them afterwards. It's all about 'amanah'. 

My bestie is actually afraid of heights. She gets vertigo and doesn't like any of extreme activities. We went on a mild ride at a funfair before, and she blacked out when we were on it. I hadn't even noticed until she told me later on. LOL. But I still signed her up and told her a few weeks after. hahaha..It's once in a lifetime opportunity man...how can you pass on it. Even if you could do it later, it'll surely be more expensive than this!

We went to the airfield by a provided transport by the organiser, where we departed from London at 3AM!!!! It was around Spring, so it was still quite cold, especially in a British weather. It was clear the whole day, which was lucky for us because the previous group had to cancel due to a heavy rain. So we ended up being the first group to do the jump. Woha!

As we arrive at the airfield (it actually didn't look anything like an airfield from the outside, you'll only see the take-off path when you enter further), there were already a few groups that had arrived earlier. We registered our names, some even signed up for a video/photos while jumping (which we didn't take because it was a wee bit expensive). 

We were grouped for a pre-jump briefing inside the hangar. The instructor made it looked like so easy. He was super young too. 

All these are lined-up after safety checks and ready to be used. 

The best thing about doing this with Muslim Hands is that they have made sure that only female instructors allowed for the female participants. Beccles Airfield is the only place in the UK with female instructors, there's only two of them when we were there. Amazing!

The plane was small, so there are only three tandem skydivers allowed at one time, the rest are these solo jumpers. They are both amateur and professional divers. 

The first person to successfully made the jump. Woohooo!! That is not what a tandem skydive is. Tandem skydive is where you are strapped in front of you instructor, and they'll do the parachuting and landing for you. For this type of skydive, you'll land on your bottom, and not your feet, so it's safer for first timers. 

See the guy laying down, he's training for his jump later on. That's me at the back, pounding my hearts off my chest. hahaha...

My instructor is called Zeus, like the greek god, just because she is awesome in skydiving. She has done more than a 100 skydives, and has been doing it for 15 years!!! She just drops from the plane, land, ran back to the hangar to get another schute, and off for the next one. No wonder they call her Zeus. This is me waiting for Zeus. Thankfully, I wasn't the last to board the plane, because the last person will be the first to jump!! Climbing on the plane, as you feel the wind blowing from the plane's fans very strongly, you'll feel your blood just drained from your body and your chest felt tighter and difficult to breathe. 

Inside the plane, the instructor will brief you again while strapping his/herself on to you, making sure it's nice and tight and asked you to practice what they had briefed earlier. Just writing this down makes my fingers cold as I'm reliving the feeling. hahaha.... =P

As the plane took off, I didn't feel anything, literally nothing at all. No emotions. Not nervous, scared, anxiety, none whatsoever. As the plane reached 13,000 feet, the siren starts sounding (like the emergency siren). The first to jump are the solos. They jumped like it was their day job (which is true for some of them). It goes so fast...then the person in front of me. Then...it's the big moment...MY TURN!

My instructor scooches over to the edge, hence pushing me along, so you don't really have a choice in the matter. No second thoughts. Then she let me dangle as she sat by the edge of the plane as shown in the picture for a brief second and off we goooooo....

As we freefalling, it felt very difficult to breathe. The velocity of the wind towards your face is like when you put your face outside your car window as it goes 100km/hour, or maybe faster, like you put a leafblower directly in front of your face. Plus, the temperature up there is close to -10 degrees bruh!

It wasn't really long (but it felt like a lifetime) before she pulled and open the parachute. As it opens, you'll feel as if you were yanked from above...a bit painful in certain places, if you can imagine.

These were the solo skydivers. Their helmets and goggles were much cooler than ours. The one we used, the goggles felt like being pulled off my face when we were freefalling. Flappy darn things.

It was such a phenomenal experience. Taking in the gorgeous view of the seaside, the countryside...so much more. The landing part is as much thrilling as the jump because you can see clearly you are descending and felt it right in your guts as you go down, fast! Just as you almost touch the ground, the instructor yanked the ropes to make it slow down a bit and badabump...safely landed...

I went before my bestie, that's why we managed to take a video of each other landing. Lucky!!

Can you see her nervous face? hahahaha...poor girl.

She had to wait her turn quite a while, so I distracted her by taking loads of pictures.

Kept reassuring here, it'll be great!!!

Almost time...

dupdap..dupdap...

I asked her after she jumped, how did she felt, and she said it was amazing!!! Definitely, she will not try again, but absolutely worth it!  

Here's a short version of our jump. I'm glad I got to do this and help a good cause at the same time.

Another bucket list checked. Woohoooo!!!! I'm thinking of doing it again...hmm....

Until next time...

Around UK in 7 Days: Swansea

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته and good day!

So after Liverpool, we continued our journey along the west-coast of UK, towards Wales. As you might remember, my parents studied their undergrad in Liverpool. However, my mum did her A-level at Swansea. 

My mum came from a modest family, and she's the youngest girl, with loads of sickness like me. So it was naturally difficult for my late grandparents to let her go. But being a rebel as she is now, she managed to go with their blessings.

Swansea is located at South Wales, around an hour or so from Cardiff. I've never been to Wales before, so I was definitely looking forward for it. Especially after listening to my mum's stories of how it used to be back then.

My mum had booked a house near Ammanford, which is about 20 minutes from Swansea. We used Google maps to search for the address, but then it lead us somewhere else. As we arrived to the wrong place, there were no connection. I was driving, so I decided to just drove to the Ammanford town to get a better signal and re-search for the house. Finally when we arrive, the owner was already there which was lucky because we didn't have to call for him.

 

The house was two storeys, three bedroom, two bathroom and a huge beautiful backyard.  

 

The bedrooms are very comfy as well.

 

 

Even though it's located quite far from the city centre, it's quite a nice place for a night stay.

 

The house is very big. I felt as if a bit wasted since we only stayed a night and didn't really get to enjoy the house fully.

 

That evening, we drove around and search for some food. 

 

We didn't find any suitable places to eat until it was getting dark out. We found a Persian restaurant at the seafront, which was nice.

 

While waiting for our food to arrive, I stepped outside to get a glimpse of the sunset. It was gorgeous! I didn't stay long since it was getting cold and breezy. 

 

While we were driving, my mum saw this ruins and told us it used to be a bridge. It was only about 30 years ago, now the bridge is no longer there. When we drove by, it was already dark, so I only managed to take pictures from Google maps. It's a good thing I have a good memory to remember when it was. 

We did drive to where my mum used to live at, but she didn't seem to be excited to take pictures with it. haha...so we just did a drive by instead.

 

The next day, we head back towards London. My mum found a nearby outlet on the way, so we stopped for a look (initially).

 

In the end, we bought a lot of stuff until it couldn't fit in the car anymore. There were massive sales at Clarks, Fossils and many more. We almost bought the whole store. =P

 

After all the excitements, we finally head home. We managed to go around UK (east, north, west, south) in 7 days. wooohooo!! So much fun! Ah...home sweet home..

Until next time...

Around UK in 7 days: Liverpool

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته and good day!

After St. Andrews, we head back down towards Liverpool. We went to Liverpool before with my grandparents, my parents, my bestie, my sis and her family. This time, we went to the places that we didn't get to go before.

 

Liverpool is the birthplace of the Beatles...where they first played their gig.

 

This is Mathew Street.

 

John Lennon's bar. One of the many famous people who visited the street and bar.

 

This is where it all began. The Cavern Club. This is where they first played.

 

The club is still in operation, with a lot more addition to it.

 

 

A lot of memorabilia surrounding the street.  

 

This wall is one of the most important piece in the street. Let's get closer..  

 

It has a lot of engraved names and bands on it.

 

The Cavern Wall of Fame. There's a lot of names of bands that made it, where they begin from the Cavern, just like the Beatles.

 

We walked to the Queen Square.

 

When we get hungry, we walked to the Bond Street. You can find a lot of restaurants along this street. We ate at the KO Grill, which is a very comfy place to eat. Great and affordable food too!

 

Is anyone reading this a Downton Abbey fan? If so, do you remember Lady Mary when she had an affair with Lord Gillingham in season 5, episode 5. This is the place they went to, The Adelphi Hotel! The hotel is also said to be haunted, since it has been there for more than a 100 years!!! uuuuuuu...

 

Trying to get a good selfie. =P

 

We parked the car earlier near the New Street Station. I did show these place before, but we didn't really take any pictures with it. As what my mum said, if you're not in the picture, there's no meaning because anybody can take the same picture from Google. She has a point though, unless the person photoshopped themselves into the picture. hahahaha..

 

The arrow shows one of the most important icon in Liverpool which is the radio tower. It has been there for decades. Trivia: in which city is the oldest radio station? I knew this from Who Wants to be a Millionaire while I was staying here. Anyone knows? Don't Google it! That's cheating.

 

Moving on...this is the Lime Street Station. My parents first arrived here. My mum told us, she arrived there, alone, not knowing anybody. Kind of a scary thought if you ask me. I've felt it when I first came to London, also alone and not knowing anybody. Plus the incident. 

 

My parents' first date, at the Empire Theatre. 

 

At the back is the Liverpool Old Cathedral. My mum told us this is where her school had the graduation, though she didn't attend the event. When we were there, there was a graduation ceremony.  

 

Last but not least, of course, we went to the Anfield Stadium. Since last time we went here, the stadium were closed, so we didn't get to go to the souvenir shop. This time, we had the chance to. My dad was so excited, he grabbed a handfull of jerseys, keychains and what-nots. I don't even know to whom he would gave them to. 

Well...as long as they were happy, it's fine by me. Plus they used their own money..haha..

Last trivia, what is the official bird of Liverpool? Come on...this is an easy one. Hint: It's not a real bird. 

Until next time...