Fall 2015 : LIGHT

There's a LIGHT!

Piccadilly Gardens, Fall 2015

Fall 2015 : Let's blame the plain paper

I give the kids a writing exercise and a plain A4 paper each.

Nazreen (below) seems to have trouble writing in a straight line. He blamed the plain paper.

Fall 2015 : The first hair cut

Among new skills that we learned in Manchester. 

How to cut each other's hair. We bought the hair clipping machine for less than GBP10 and we learn how to cut hair from the Youtube. My husband cuts my sons' hair. 

Then I cut my husband's hair. I really need more practise. haha.

Fall 2015 : Learn about shapes

I turn a corrugated sheet from the car seat box into a puzzle for Nazmi. 

Fall 2015 : Nice puzzles on the tarmac

I love how they drew the puzzles/games on the tarmac at Nazran's school!

It keeps Nazmi occupied while waiting for Nazran to finish his class and of course, keeps the students occupied during their break!

We need to send Nazran to his classroom and pick him up from his teacher, at his classroom, every single day. The school did not allowed Year 1 and 2 students to walk out without being accompanied by their parent.

Fall 2015 : Storm Clodagh

We were out since morning around Oldham. We noticed that the wind was picking up its speed starting from 1pm. We were in an open area between 1-2pm and the kids were having trouble to walk in the strong wind. I told my husband that we must be in the middle of Storm C that we didnt aware of. We didnt have a TV or read any news that day.  

When we came back later that day, I read online news and I found this:

We were in the middle of Storm Clodagh. And we were out (literally outside the car, in the open area), during the highest wind speed and gust. wow.

Fall 2015 : Storm Barney

We just came back from a takeaway. Nazran wants to send a weather report (on Storm Barney) to his grandparent when the gust blew and rendered him speechless.

But in the end, they seem to enjoy the gust!

Fall 2015 : Storm Names - Storm A B C

From the Met Office - 8 September 2015 - The Met Office and Met Éireann, the Irish Met Service are running a pilot project to name wind storms (click here for more).

So they have names. I mean, the storms.

It must be a frequent event that they require names to refer to each storm, I told my husband.

It is true, indeed!

We were bombarded with storm after storm after storm starting from November 2015. Although some missed the Greater Manchester, but we still get the gust (sudden rush of wind) and gale (strong and continuous wind), and of course, the torrential rain! 

From the Met Office

We received a lot of wind because we are living on the hill! 

In November alone, we welcomed Storm Abigail (12-13 Nov), Storm Barney (17-18 Nov) and Storm Clodagh (29 Nov). These are some of the headlines from the Manchester Evening News:

Fall 2015 : Heavy clothing

The kids started to put on winter wear to school at the end of November.

We received a newsletter from the school to remind the parent to make sure the kids wear proper winter wear (boots, gloves, scarf, head wear and heavy jacket) to school starting from next week (the last week of November) since the temperature starts to drop.

I have no idea what kind of boots should they wear. I contacted a few friends who lived in the UK/US, observed what other kids are wearing and asked the teacher.

That weekend, we went for winter clothing hunting.

Fall 2015 : Our first frost

Our first experience scraping ice from the windshield. 

We were really excited to see the grass covered with frost early in the morning. I can smell the winter!! Kids thought it was a snow. They were kinda frustrated, but life goes on. lol.

In the afternoon, we saw a lot of car covered with snow. I am sure they came from Rochdale or somewhere higher since they received the snow last night. I asked the kids keep on making du'a for snow.

Fall 2015 : Breakfast by busy mum

When mama is busy with essay deadlines, this is how their breakfast looks like :(
Sorry.

Fall 2015 : The day we joined the community

Since we already have a car, we decided to go to the school where most Malaysian in Manchester gather every Saturday (if you follow my blog, you know I will not reveal the name of school/place/hotel if I am still at that particular place for safety reason).

We have three missions:

1. To submit the form to join the Malaysian Community.

2. To enroll our sons to Malaysian school every Saturday.

3. To have Malaysian breakfast.

We managed to tick all boxes.

We had nasi lemak, mihun goreng and Malay kuihs. 

After that, we went to a Chinese supermarket, located quite a distance from our house, to get some cooking ingredients. We bought lemongrass, bok choy, Malaysian Kicap Kipas Udang, chilli sauces (Malaysian sungguh!), dried rice noodle, sushi rice, nori (sushi seaweed), mung bean, soy beans, to name a few.

Now our pantry is complete to cook any kind of Asian food :)

Fall 2015 : Private standards

Studying about globalisation, trade and industry taught me a lot about agriculture and manufacturing sectors, global value chain, global production network, labour-related issues, the origin of fresh produce that I buy at the supermarket everyday and fast-fashion clothing sell by leading brands worldwide.

Starting from now on, I try my best to buy certified products to support farmers/workers out there and those complied to the private standards that aims to protect the environment - in this case a Fair Trade- certified drink and Soil Association-certified organic muesli bar.

My lunch.

Fall 2015 : The grumpy mule

When I need the hot chocolate fix.

I am not a coffee or tea person. I just drink plain water. Unless when I am working on a few essays at the same time and I have no time for a lunch, I will go to the vending machine and get this GBP1 hot chocolate.

Fall 2015 : Let's grow some garlic!

Kids' project.

Fall 2015 : When they missed their grandparent...

....they will go to Instant Google Street View to see Atok & Nenny's house :(

Fall 2015 : The day we got the free car

A Malaysian student just finished his PhD and he is going back to Malaysia. He gave this 8-seater MPV to us, free of charge. He always wanted to give the car to a big family, who just came to Manchester because he understands the struggle of a big family.

Thank you very much, Dr. Rusdi and family!

Nabil, as always, wanted to capture the 'historical event'. So, this was taken by Nabil after our first ride.

Our purple MPV. The colour of the University of Manchester!

I paid the insurance and vehicle tax online before my husband picked up the car.

Fall 2015 : Car seat hunting

It was the last time we went out on a bus.
We went to Manchester Fort to buy a car seat for Nazmi :)
Winter is coming. They started to sell winter clothing.

We walked home for nearly 45 minutes, taking turn to carry this massive box. 

Fall 2015 : Roti canai aka paratha

My friends in Malaysia were talking about roti canai aka paratha in our WA group. I told my husband that I feel like eating roti canai.

And he made me roti canai.

Fall 2015 : Pasta for weekend breakfast

Big breakfast for energetic kids!

Fall 2015 : Alan Gilbert Learning Commons

I have a few blog posts on Alan Gilbert Learning Commons. 
It is my favourite spot for doing essays at night.

Watch this video to learn about our cool learning commons!!!

Fall 2015 : The Coolest Sleeping Pod

We have a sleeping pod in the Zzz Zone in Alan Gilbert Learning Commons!!! 
Cool sleeping capsule. LOVE IT VERY MUCH!

(Photo: University of Manchester)

In the news: 

University of Manchester unveils student sleeping pod - The nap pod allows users to have 20 minutes of rest with ambient music and lighting to maximise relaxation (more, click here).

Fall 2015 : Overnight at the Learning Commons

When Azreen asked me to stay up doing essay together in Alan Gilbert Learning Commons, I just cant say no. I really need a proper place and time to complete my three essays and staying up together would be great!

We brought luggage full of books, jumper and snacks.

We went back at 8am the next morning. She completed her essay. I completed 80% of it. We need to do this more often!!!

Fall 2015 : My brave lion!

Nazmi just received a flu vaccination. Winter is coming. Toddler has higher risk towards influenza. He didnt cry at all. He laughed after the jab. (?)

Fall 2015 : The Golden Ticket

Nabil and Nazreen received this ticket a few times. Good boys!

Fall 2015 : Sending personal information and bank details to PSD London

I have officially have my bank account in the UK.

For HLP scholars, what you have to do next is send the bank account details (including Sort Code and IBAN) to PSD London. I also send in my personal information forms (a copy given to you by PDS Putrajaya for PSD London - I supposed to send it as soon as I reached Manchester but I did it two months later - erk!) 

My lovely friend Azreen offered to send my thick forms to PSD since she is going to London on the weekend. It saves me a lot!  

Alhamdulillah. Allah answered our families' prayers. We received help from everybody, all the time! 

Fall 2015 : Ayam Percik aka Roasted Spiced Chicken with Coconut Sauce

Ayam percik or roasted spiced chicken with coconut sauce is originally from Kelantan, one of the 14 states in Malaysia. It is best eaten with warm rice. 

Cooking is a therapy.

Fall 2015 : Rocking designer pelekat cowls!

I have designed two pelekat (a traditional Malay sarong for men) cowls for an international design competition, nearly 10 years ago. It was my attempt to promote kain pelekat in four seasons countries.

They have three layers. Pelekat, fleece and plain fabric. It could be worn around your neck and on your head (as a hood), to protect your hair/head from cold/snow. They are reversible as well. You can wear the pelekat side out or the plain side, whichever matches your outfits.

I brought them here and we rocked the pelekat cowl all the times! Who said we cant wear kain pelekat in a cold country? 

The pink cowl is for adult and the green is for kids.

the blue box. I know.

Fall 2015 : Sleeping. Standing.

This is a cute way to fall asleep while watching an ABC video.

Fall 2015 : The fog

This is the beginning of our experience on the weather roller coaster in Manchester.

One morning, we woke up and found our house covered in thick fog. It was Nazran's first day at school.

The whole journey to the school was like a setup in a horror movie with silent roads and heavy banks of fog. Well, maybe there were people walking nearby but we cant see them. The visibility was less than 40 metres.

I went to the campus after meeting Nazran's teacher and came back at 8pm. I have a class which ended at 7pm and it took me one hour to reach home. The fog was thick, still. It was so scary walking alone in the fog, at night. You cant really see if there is bad people until they come too close. Walking for 15 minutes seems like an hour.

This is one of the news headlines on the fog:

Flight disruption at Manchester Airport as fog causes traffic and travel problems across region

Let's learn about fog from the MET office: