OBS Gratitude

Alhamdulillah, 7 days of OBS are finally over. One trully great experience that I'll remember for the rest of my life.

There, I learn not to cry when I'm in need of someone to lean on to.
There, I learn not to fall into emotions when things go wrong.
There, I learn not to be exhiled when I am not being need of.
There, I learn not to quit when they tell me I can't.
There, I learn to stand up for myself when I'm not being understood.

There, there's no limit to my strengh.
There, there's no pain that I can't bear.
There, there's no time that I waste.

Alhamdulillah, I feel Your presence every second I breath. Every paddle that I made, is filled with your rememberance. Every glance to the sea, and to the mountains around me reminded me how beautiful You've created everything around me.

When I was reading Your words by the beach, You told me that;

2:115 To Allah belong the east and the West: Whithersoever ye turn, there is the presence of Allah. For Allah is all-Pervading, all-Knowing.


Alhamdulillah, thanks to You. I have survived here today all because of You. Ya Allah, how unfortunate it is for those who does not feel Your presence in their heart.

Alhamdulillah, You know things better than I do.
Astaghfirullah, forgive me for being upset not getting what I thought I need. You gave me something better. Much much better. I get to know a person for who he is. Not for what they say he is.

You've motivated me with the violent wave that You've sent, and the heavy rain that You've poured. You've presevered me with a great motivation to not pee myself in the kayak and paddle as fast as I could to the nearest shore. *^_^* and for that they've called me the iron-woman. Oh-no.

Whaling was awesome, thanks to the wind that You've sent so that we wont have to paddle the 5kilos paddle for 5 hours straight. I was sailing, and almost fell into the sea. Putting up the sail was fun, but pulling the anchor almost made me lost my neck. Heavy. Alhamdulillah, I managed.All the knots that I had to remember to make sure that the front sail was nicely secured, and the anchor knots and so many many more. Alhamdulillah, everything went well.

You are the best of all planners. Last but not least, I ended up lying in the medical bay for the rest of the last day, not being able to move even an inch. You've tested me with the greatest pain I've ever had to endure since the first day I've started kayak. The first time in my life that I did'nt complaint about any of my PMS pain yet it's the most painful that You had ever gave me. Astagfirullah, may all the pain cleanses my sins away.  I thought I'd fainted on the first expedition (which I did in the woods on the last day of the second expediton, all by myself- but You've protect me all the way through, Alhamdulillah).

You had Your own special ways, Allah. To reach out to me, to tell me things I did'nt know about myself, about You.

Alhamdulillah, SubhanAllah, Allahuakbar.

"Ho Chuay!"
"Hoi, Ha Ha"

.Arab Trip.

I've landed safely this morning, with a terrible-teribble jet lag.

I got on the plane from Bahrain at 8pm, but in less than 7 hours, its already 930am when I arrived in KL (while it's supposed to be around 3am in Bahrain).

Well, the 2 weeks trip with my mother was one of the most precious time ever!

We traveled from KL to Bahrain, then to Cairo (where I'm supposed to have my Arabic lesson, but due to the revolution last2 month, I had to cancelled them since all of the Malaysians I know are back in Malaysia).

From Cairo, we took a flight to Istanbul, then we traveled 2days 2nights with trains and buses to Damascus,Syria and stayed for 4 days. As the city is near to the border of Syria-Jordan, it only took us 3 hours to go to Irbid,Jordan by taxi. After spending quite some adventurous 4-long-days travelling in Jordan, we finally found ourself back to an airport in Amman, Jordan to spend time in our last stop, which is back to Cairo.

Like my mother said, "Penat berjalan dari Cairo ke Cairo".

We spend our last 2 days of the trip together, and my mother had to leave early since we didnt want to change our tickets (which will cost RM600, while its better for me to stay behind and spend the cash- that I didnt actually managed to so  ^-^)

So, when my mom left, it was like.. Oh no. The trip is REALLY over. Which was sad, really. But she was the one to pic me up from the airport 3 days later. And what a great coincidence that I've bumped into my father at the departure gate since he was leaving for Geneve, through Dubai.

Well, there'll be details on the trip,
but let me remind you that I no longer have 2,000 pictures that I took along the journey. That's the miracle of iPhone I guess. Easy come, easy go.

People lost lives, houses and basically everything because of the earthquake and tsunami. But I only lost pictures and a lot of data and memory. That should be nothing compared to them.
May Allah protect our brothers and sisters back there.