Giorni (Days) in Italia

Prima Notte (1st Night) in Italia

The apartment was spacious and I loved the view from both the balcony and the kitchen. I did not waste any second to unpack the luggage and arranged all the items we brought into the drawers and cabinets provided. We went to sleep late and to our surprise, there was a fireworks display at the park nearby. I guess it was the longest I have ever seen. We managed to have it recorded for almost 4 minutes out of 30 minutes, the actual duration. I felt so excited and cold (yet warm and glowing  inside). 'What a romantic evening," I was happy to be there by Hubby's side at  such place. Well, we certainly felt great at that moment. \(^0^)/

<Love was in the air>

Prima Settimana (first week)

        Hubby was scheduled to go to work early in the morning at 9 AM and came back around 5 PM everyday. We had to wake up earlier than that for Subuh prayer which ended before the clock struck 4 AM. 'Oh dear.' 

        The first few days I was still in a high spirit to join Hubby and Mr. W (Hubby's colleague) at breakfast. We had nothing on our plate except for cereals and milk. We dared not consume other meals since the Halal status was unknown and it'd be best if we played it safe. I was recommended to take only two types of packed biscuits which seemed free from the u-know-what-i-mean content. Sometimes I even took more than two packets and brought it back to the room.

 The dining room

         Whenever I was left alone, Facebook had become the place for me to kill the time while waiting for Hubby's return. I also switched on the television and jumped from one channel to the other. There were 1000 channels altogether but I found myself preoccupied with TLC channel and gosh I forgot what the other one  was. Apparently The Cake Boss, Say Yes to The Dress and Paint Your Life were the programs that I liked to view the most. The spoken language was of course in Italian. FYI, not even a single channel was aired in English. Everything was translated into Italian, let alone Spongebob. I was quite breathless and went half crazy (a lil bit of a drama queen here :p) at first over the sounds of the language. As time passing by, surprisingly I got used to it. 

       Oh yeah, I forgot to mention about the daily 'room cleaning' early in the morning. Since the room floor was cold (the aircond was on and the weather was cold), I was eager to meet the cleaning lady on the first morning I was there to ask for a few things. Around 10 Am, the door bell rang and I found an old lady standing with her paraphernalia outside.She smiled at me and greeted me with 'Ciao. Buongiorno." I answered in English instead due to tongue-tied (actually I had spent my time googling some of the important phrases in Italy back home. I just couldnt let out the word 'Buongiorno' from my mouth. Not yet). She said something in Italian. I didn't get her message but I knew she meant 'cleaning the room.' I let her took her sweet time tdying up the apartment, emptying the trash bin, strengthening the bed linen and mopping the kitchen floor. (Our bathroom didn't have a drain hole. Instead of having a bath under the running shower which got its own drain, Hubby had it outside of the shower area. Thus, the water couldnt go elsewehere other than flowing out into the kitchen). 

       After the old lady was done with her tasks, she approached me who was lying on the bed that time to say thank you in Italian 'Grazie.' I nodded and stopped her before she made her way out of the room. I told her that I needed two bedroom slippers, a mop and a bottle of dishwashing liquid. She shook her head, clueless of what I was talking about and went to the telephone before she called someone on the other line. Not long after that, came the receptionist that I saw earlier yesterday into my apartment. He informed that the old lady didn't undertsand me and he asked me of what did I request earlier. I repeated the same message and he seemed to have problems in understanding of what slippers mean actually. I had to use hand gestures and expressions when describing the item. (I laughed out loud everytime I remembered this incident). He then understood me and the two people left my apartment. I got what I needed when it was really late in the evening because the old lady forgot to hand over the requested items. She said 'Ho dimenticato,' which meant 'I Forgot.' I smiled and replied 'Grazie.' Inside, I silently said "Va bene," (it is okay).

        

      I felt funny but It was a good experience...really.

Reality Struck

Hmm....Guess i should have not taken things for granted. Prior to what had happened last night, I just wanna say that I am finally able to calm myself after prayers today....I am thankful that I am safe, my husband is safe and my house is safe from any bad incidents....I thank Allah for protecting us and providing us good health and prosperity. May Allah blessed all of us too (including you of course).

Wanna treat myself with something yummy and tasty. Let's eat ice cream!! Yum Yum!!

Newsflash: Mat Pit should be JAILED forever

Earlier yesterday, I was informed that Hubby's colleagues were coming to my house to pick up the company's ladder (we had borrowed it for the home improvement project). According to plan, they would drop by later in the evening which should be around 4 PM. I waited and waited until it was getting dark and the clock struck 6.50 PM. Hours passed and I got frustrated of waiting. Since I was alone at home, I unlocked the padlock to the front gate and decided to place the ladder outside of the house so it would be easier for the guys to pick it up. Then I didn't need to have them walk into the house. Smart eh??

As to make things worse, the weather was really bad....it was raining cats and dogs outside. I had to perform my Asar prayer no matter what. So I called Hubby asking about his colleagues. He tried to reach them on the phone but failed due to bad signals. Not long after that, Hubby rang me up to inform that his colleagues canceled their plan. Feeling annoyed ( i was dressed up and even had my scarf on for hours inside the house), I got to my feet and closed the front gate and door after given a lot of consideration whether to take in the ladder inside or just leave it against the wall for a while. I opted for the latter. After I was done praying, I got myself carried away by watching Astro Movies channel on television. To tell you the truth, I got this uneasy feeling and my heart beat faster than usual. The worries about the probability of someone coming to steal the ladder came into my mind constantly. I shrugged  the idea away thinking that it was merely a silly thing to do especially in the heavy rain.

The movie that I was watching finally ended and I made my way to the front door. I felt guilty of leaving the ladder outside for quite some time. The moment i pushed the door ajar, my eyes fixed on the spot near the room windows. The long folded iron ladder which was supposed to be there leaning against the wall was GONE!! I repeat, it was GONE!!! I was rooted to the floor. My legs were shaking badly. I was speechless. I was scared..I was flabbergasted..I was extremely PISSED OFF!!!

  Who's effing around with me? D&*^ it!! 

I wanted to let out a bloodcurdling scream but I feared of the possibility that the same retarded persons who took the ladder were still lurking outside. I managed to get inside safely and fidgeted now and then, thinking of what to do. I felt guilty...very very very guilty. I should have followed my instinct. I should have seen the picture. I should have known that this incident would be happening. My residential area is not safe. Drug addicts are everywhere. There are many cases involving stealing and robbery in the neighbourhood. I just couldnt grasp the idea since day 1 I was here. I ignored the fact until late last night when all I could say was " It's TOO LATE now."

I remembered reaching for my handphone and rang Hubby again and again. I couldnt get through. There was no signal. His handphone's batteries might be dead. I messaged and called his close friends. I cried to one of them. I was not ashamed. I was scared. Nothing above the matter that I was not safe. I didnt care if he later laughed at me. I didn't care. I just wanted my Hubby to come home at once. It was already passed midnight. I cried uncontrollably, praying that I would not have to face this kind of situation again...ever again in the future. 

I PRAY THAT THE RETARDED PERSONS a.k.a. SAMPAH MASYARAKAT WOULD STARVED TO DEATH AND IF GOD WILLING, LOST THEIR ARMS OR LEGS IN AN ACCIDENT FOR GOOD!!!! 

There, I am happy with my DOA. You may think that I am out of mind to say such thing. You may say that I write this out of hatred. Wait till this happens to YOU. My brother's motorcyle had been stolen before. My Hubby's too. All happened in different places. But to top it all (the bottom line), MAT PIT SHOULD BE JAILED FOREVER!!!

Digging Up Old Memories

Pre-wedding house cleaning is a must thing to do before the arrival of the big day. Well yeah...at least to me. I had it started from my own room which I share with my big sis. I got boxes, books, cabinets and other things rearranged. Those old things that had been kept untouched for more than a year needed to go into the plastic trash. As simple as that. 

But in my case....nah. Frankly saying, I certainly felt quite reluctant to toss away my stuff at first. Why?? I just love keeping things that will always remind me of something in the past. Namely the bus tickets, letters, candy wrappers, tissues, and some silly things to add the pile of junk. No kidding.

After a lot of consideration, I managed to get rid of the used-to-be favourite things...sobsob T___T.

Enough with the drama. 

The good thing about cleaning is that you may find something good which has been hidden away from your sight. 

I got my hands on a couple of old magazines dated back in 1981. I found it inside a box, sealed neatly under the bed. They are my mom's. She had had it before she even got married. I laughed out loud when I flipped through the pages. Funny to have seen the differences that we have in everything today compared to almost 3 decades ago. I guess in the next 15 years time we would laugh at our today sense of fashion or styles too. ngee..

Check them out yourself.

The front covers

The car advertisement

Rolling my eyes twice.....hehe

Guess Who??

Back then, not many have this you know.

Accepted. It still sounds true.

Boom Boom POw..

Yummy.

Reminiscent

Oh My! Watching these two movies two days in a row made me missing being in Italy. Two weeks period was too short a time. Plus the last week I was in Italy was the first week of Ramadhan. The difficulty to get Halal food and the insufficient budgets forced me to think back home. Feeling guilty and baaaad....

Really wish to be given another opportunity to explore more parts of Italy in the future. Insyallah / God Willing.

Are You Pregnant??

      Getting a job Pregnancy has become an issue which I have to deal with lately. I am married for only 3 months yet this seems to bother me somehow. Many of my friends (some close but others don't) just delivered their beautiful babies and there are those who still have theirs in the oven. I am overjoyed when sharing the news. Who's not??

      It is difficult to go through the 9 month period having to carry the big tummy around yet many have survived. I am looking forward to experience such wonderful moment but luck ('rezeki') is not on my side. Not yet.

        I believe the happiest person to ever receive the news later if Im pregnant, next to Hubby is of course my mom. She has waited for so long to cuddle her own grandchild (flesh and blood) in her arms. Well, don't you worry mom. Im working my best here to bring the lil sunshine to you. (",) Just you wait...Insyallah the time will come.

We Arrived, We Rested, We Relieved

Ternate, Italy

It was really late in the evening (6.50PM) when we reached Ternate station. It was supposed to be at night. Since it was summer that season, the sun was still shining brightly. Yet, all doors and windows of the houses and stores that I saw were already being shut closed.
Checking the GPS (Hubby borrowed from his colleague), we set off to the apartments, the place where we had to stay for the whole two weeks.

Crossing the train railways

FYI, I had accidentally broke the handle to my luggage back in Sesto Calende station. So, I was taking my own sweet time (i had to..due to the prob) following way behind Hubby and Mr. W. They couldn't bear to reach the aparments ASAP. The jet lag and the walking distance were too much to handle.

The apartment's sign

 After pulling the luggage through a few row of houses, went down and up the streets for quite some time, around the corner we saw the sign to the place that we intended to go. It read Hotel Residence Montelago. Hurray!! At last!
My heavy backpack was killing me and I have to quench my thirst really really bad. 

 Hubby and Mr.W went straight to the front counter and settled the placement of our apartments. 

Later we were taken to our room by the person in charge. Let the pictures below do the talking.

Monalisa Smile

I am in a really Bad Shape these days.

Not physically but just a figure of speech.

I feel my life is running at a Slow Pace.

Though I get myself busy, it seems far from being productive.

Yet, I am Content.

I have just what I Need.

Thank You Allah.

Thank You Allah.

Shaun The Cat

All these years I was introduced to Shaun (hubby sweetheart) via MMS pics of him. 

Now he has become the part of my life. 

When I first laid my eyes on him

 Hubby adores Shaun really much and I was showered with lots of tales filled with his mischievous acts and funny incidents.

  

This was when he was diagnosed with unknown illness

Shaun had been admitted into ICU and stayed in the hospital for 2 weeks

Hubby was affected emotionally when he had to deal with the situation. His loyal company faced a critical situation in which Shaun had 50/50 percentage of survival.

 Alhamdulillah Shaun had passed the dreadful phase in his life. 

Now he is my LOYAL company whenever Hubby is away or offshore.

Getting Lost

      Malpensa airport was a big place for three Malaysians to find their ways out. haha.. Mr. W who is my hubby's colleague took the role as a tour guide. He had stayed in Italia for 5 weeks during his first trip compared to my hubby who only stayed for one week. Thus, Mr.W was automatically chosen to be responsible for guiding us to our next destination Ternate, where our apartments are located. 

     Instead of taking the train, Mr.W claimed that it was cheaper to ride a bus. Off we went to the nearest information counter and asked the man in charge on how to get the bus tickets and where to board the bus. He informed that we could do so outside of the building. Once outside, the cold blast air hit us on the face....Oh my..".this is supposed to be the Summer season yet it is way cooler than Malaysia," the usual self of me started on complaining...Lucky that I had a blazer on me and the extra thick sweater was given to my hubby to keep him warm.

    Each of us dragged our luggage to the nearest bus stand. We looked around and discovered another bus stand on the other side. We got confused at first. We didnt know which one was the right place to wait for the bus we intended to board. Not long after that, came a bus to pick up some passengers and only then we knew we were at the wrong bus stand. As to ensure that the other bus stand was the one that we were looking for, we headed back to the exit door of the terminal building and asked one Italian man about it. He spoke a lil bit of English but he managed to reassure us of the place to get the bus to Gallarate .

    Funny how I felt to be a foreigner at such foreign place. There is always a first time in everything we do right..right..?

   

   We waited and waited....the bus was still not in sight..I grabbed the camera and went snap..snap and snap until my hubby got irritated..hehe...I ignored his im-gonna-hit-u look and smiled innocently....he had to take my photos you see....that's what made him felt so disturbed..haha

  

The excited me..!!

 The cold hubby

Two married engineers

     If I am not mistaken, the bus came later after one hour had passed. On board, we took our seats  and enjoyed the short ride to Gallarate, the train station where we could take a ride to Ternate. 

The bus tickets

When asked where we were supposed to go next, Mr. W took out the documents he had with him and checked the address to our apartments. He failed to notice the word Ternate and mistakenly assumed that our apartments were in Sesto Calende instead. I was not aware that we were heading to the wrong place since I hadn't the vaguest idea of where everything was to begin with..LOL.

Stepping off the train at Sesto Calende station, we started to pull our luggage all the way to the place where Mr. W and my husband thought it was to be. We crossed a lot of roads, walked along small streets, jumped away at the side of poops on the sidewalk, stopped local people to ask for directions and rested in front of a store to catch our breath. It was Sunday and most of the stores were all closed. We had no clue where we were at that time and there came a local couple walked towards us. They spoke English and helped us navigating our destination. We were shocked to find out that we were actually lost. 

I was hungry and thirsty. I took out the chicken pie which I got from the flight and finished it all in a few bites. Then we set off to the train station once again. Glad that the Italian drivers were all polite on the road. They stopped their cars at the sight of us and let us crossing the road safely to the other side.

When we reached the train station, we looked for ways to buy the tickets to Ternate. FYI the counter was closed on Sunday. There were no machines for the tickets like we had in KTM station. ~sigh~

We had to board the train first and waited for the train conductor to come and got the tickets from him. (Actually in Italy, those who boarded the train without tickets or with unvalidated tickets [you had to punch the card through a small puncher machine at the station], the passengers will be fined.

We didnt get fine by the conductor. Lucky eh? Phew..

One thing that I want you to know about Italy is, everywhere you turn (especially in dark alleys, along the railways, old buildings, abandoned vehicles), graffitis are everywhere. 

 The train station underground tunnel

Despite my fear of the above phenomenon, I did enjoy the scenery, though...the culture the people portrayed and lots more.....tell me who is not gonna have fun when travelling?? ..It was a memorable getaway... I wished we had more budgets so that I could shop till I drop haha...

Wait for the next blog entry...i'll continue the rest of the story. \(^0^)/

Wedding Getaway

      I have never thought of actually had the chance to go oversea for a honeymoon. I was quite taken aback when my hubby told me that he wanted to bring me along to Italy. He had a two-week course and it'd be best to have me as his company.

     Despite the tight financial situation that we were in, he managed to get my flight ticket. OMG! I was too excited and nervous at the same time.....I felt like screaming out loud HUrrayyy!! HurraYY!! You can laugh or smirk at me but to me this is something that I have been looking for throughout my life...the opportunity to see the other side of the world and to be exposed to the charming of different cultures and life were within my reach.

    Off we went to KL in the early morning on the 22nd of July 2011, heading towards my uncle's house at Putrajaya. We spent overnight and the next day (Saturday) we set off to KLIA later in the evening to check in. The flight was scheduled to take off at 8.15 PM. We brought along two luggage, a laptop bag plus a backpack. One luggage was packed with our clothes while foods like MAGGIE instant noodles, beef floss, a pack of 5kg rice, a loaf of bread, a pack of MILO 3 in 1, a pack of MUNCHIES biscuits and etc were jammed inside the other luggage. Knowing the fact that we were going to have probs with HALAL foods, such food supplies were needed. 

    Oh yeah, i forgot to mention about meeting my hubby's colleague at the airport. He joined the trip together with us too. Both my hubby and his friend Mr. W had been to Italy once. So it made me the only person who had never been to any of the foreign countries. Lucky me to have two bodyguards who could protect me, guided me with such information and direction.  

 

      It took us some time to check in and later we waited for boarding at the waiting area. There were so many people who had so many plans in mind. Some brought the whole family members, some were loners and others were probably on their business trip. I tried to capture in my mind of every moment I had experienced through out the journey especially during the flight to our destinations which were our transit to Doha and the Malpensa Airport in Milan, the final destination.

First destination:

      Once the Qatar Airlines plane landed safely in one piece at Doha airport after the 7 hours of flight, we were taken by bus to the transit terminal. The local time was around 11 PM. I was really sleepy and tired. Glad that I was not that hungry as I had eaten some meals on board. I took out my camera and asked Mr.W to snap the picture of my hubby and I standing together in front of the terminal but before he could adjust the lens and click, one of the flight operators came and asked him to put the camera away. She said that we couldn't snap photos in that area. Sheeshh...well, never you mind!! 

     Feeling annoyed, I joined the crowd inside the terminal and headed to the check in counter for our next flight to Milan. I had to survive yet another 5 hours of sitting. Fortunately we got the two seats by the window. It was more comfy and relaxing. As to kill the time, some movies and songs were played until I lost my consciousness. I woke up halfway through the journey and never fall asleep again. Despite having the uneasy thoughts of being thousand feet miles up in the air above the sea, I worried about having a full blader and the need to go into the small toilet. God knew how I actually felt when the sudden nature call urged me to get out from my seat and made my way down the aisles towards the toilet. Oh god..oh god...I kept repeating the word in my mind as I had to make the decision of using the toilet as the final result. Once inside, I looked around frantically, trying to get used of the surrounding and figured out how things work. I spent my time quite a while in the toilet which later I heard someone knocking on the door. I was washing my face that time so I opened the door slightly ajar. The female flight attendant asked if I was doing OK. She just wanted to check on me and made sure that I did not faint or some sort. I smiled sheepishly and told her that I was absolutely fine before closing the door and continued washing my face and adjusting my scarf. Oh crap...how embarrassing...

    The hours finally passed and the breathtaking view of the land below me made me jumped inside with joy. I looked at my hubby and told him that we were gonna have some fun and both of us had to make that happen. hehe...

   

The above picture was taken right after we were inside the building. Lesson learned. LOL!

     

You Can Can't Have It All

Teaching is my passion and i had done that for more than three years. I had become a lecturer at UiTM Perak once i graduated from UiTM Shah Alam after completing my Bachelor Degree in TESL. The decision to get married had me quitting from my job and moved to Terengganu to start my new life. I expected that I'd be back on teaching duty as soon as possible but luck is not on my side. Not yet. Im trying to be positive and looking things on the bright side. God knows what is best for me and such belief keeps me looking forward to the future. I really hope that I am back working and getting busy because my life will be more rewarding if I am able to return my parents' good deeds and fulfilling their wishes as best as I could. Pray for my success in life and one thing for sure, my faith in God will keep getting stronger.

Tying The Knot

Falling in love is good enough. Getting hitched is even better.

After more than 6 years of having a stable relationship with my partner, on the 10th of June we finally got engaged and the following day which was on the 11th of June, we were finally pronounced as Husband and Wife. I felt extremely happy ...well tell me, who's not? Here are a few photos of the unforgettable events.

How It Started

       Life was perfect when i was single but it got better when I have my better-half entering my life. The moment I laid my eyes on him I just knew it...the man who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with was none other than him. How did i find him?Never did i know that fate had played its role when I was introduced by my friend's boyfriend to him by accident. Funny isn't it? Well, miracle happens when you believe. I believed that I would have found the one and only man who deserved to be loved and there...I got him!!It took us 5 days to texting with each other and later it led to a blind date. A week later we made the most wonderful declaration to be soulmates and promised to care for one another through the ups and downs for as long as we live. It was a big turning point in our lives, indeed.

      Now im smiling from ear to ear. Im blessed, content, pleased....well you name it. Hope our love will keep stronger and blossoming days by days. Looking forward for better future together. Insyallah, amin.