Akira~chan: Ramadhan Kareem everyone!

Salam all! How's your Ramadhan going on so far? I hope everyone's doing alright.. i'm sure you will.. :) insyaAllah

I am back and kickin'! last few weeks were stressful and nerve wracking for me..i've had my 2nd year review progress meeting last 2 weeks , Alhamdulillah, it was fine but i guess i have to improve myself more on certain aspects of my PhD.. The heat is finally here, and I can feel it all over me.. the studies are about to reach nearly quarter to the ending, and still, so much works to do!

Holy Ramadhan is here, and as I am trying my best to maintain my research works during the day, I also want to make full of the ibadah during the night

I want to do more than i did last year -- i want to try my best to finish reciting the whole Quran before Syawal, do the tahajjud as well as trying to fill most of my fasting nights with terawikh prayer with dearest hubby.. insyaAllah.. may Allah grant me strength to do all of these.. Amin

Having my 3rd (in-a-row) Ramadhan in the UK, there were good and challenges time to face through.. i wouldn't use 'bad' or 'not good' points about fasting here, because i think those do not matter compared to what our Prophet has gone through in his life. He was battling in wars, man!

Our Ramadhan here:

- at the moment Fajr (Subuh) is around 2.48am and the sun rises around 5.28 am. Maghrib is around 8.48pm and just count how many hours we fast! The weather is warm and quite dry lately and as we are in the daylight saving time zone anyway, it has been so far mercilessly stretching it out for us

- we don't have pasar ramadhan here, which is a relieved! so, the cliche phrase of 'beli makanan ikut hawa-nafsu' is totally irrelevant here..everything must be home-cooked by the wife..ehem.. i should say it is quite tough to decide what meals to cook everyday for buka puasa.. what kuih should i make and i keep checking on recipes in the internet to be cooked for my husband.. kalau kat Malaysia, i would probably just ring my hubby to get me this and that at pasar ramadhan esp roti jala, murtabak, cendol, neslo ais at pasar ramadhan...and all i do is just cook the rice and fry the fish/chicken and one-type of sup sayur, not to mention my all-time fav sambal cili api and the rest will pop out in just seconds from pasar ramadhan..haha...

- orang putih tak semuanya faham about this fasting month. i have met people who is certainly disapproving of our holy ritual ni, "why do you have to stop yourself from eating from dawn to dusk? It is ridiculous!" , "if i were you, i don't think i can do that..i'll be shaking if i didn't eat anything in a couple of hours".. yeah, that's what they said.. but who cares, I know if we put full trust in our Creator and obey Him, He may as well strengthen our heart to face this challenge.. insyaAllah.. but for you guys in Malaysia, you don't have this kind of thoughts wandering around, plus most everybody around you is fasting and some muslim restaurants,cafe or pasar ramadhan only open their businesses somewhere in the afternoon towards evening, so you can see much supports from there..

- we are quite popular with the "pot-luck" system here, among Malaysians.. well probably for some other foreign society too.. when we are having iftar (breaking fast together), we always email each other and let everybody know what dish we are planning to bring for the iftar and try not to overlap with other people's dish.. kasi nampak banyak lauk dan banyak pilihanla... in fact most of us are relying on the government's scholarship and the budget is pretty tight for us to provide everything for everybody, so this system is really helpful and benefits everyone too... :) ..

- personally, i think fasting in this foreign land would be able to strengthen your iman and patience and love for your religion even more (or vice versa.. nauzubillah..minta dijauhkan). Not that I say i am pious enough to become an ustazah after this, but living here really made me realised that there are a lot of things that i should change/improve on myself in terms of ibadah, my aurat, the way i speak to people, the way i should response to people who speculates about any aspects of Islam, the way i should treat my husband and my parents, and the list goes on...... oh yes, so many aspects that i have not realise that will be counted in hisab later in akhirat even though they are as tiny as microbes... i know that i myself not perfect and do sins and mistakes (intentionally or accidentally), but i am still learning and i will keep learning and fixing myself to the better person. InsyaAllah

well, enough with my serious thoughts, let us look at some of our pictures taken while we were having short getaway to Kent, placed at the end of south-eastern area in England two days before Ramadhan. The journey was from Egham - Snodland - Margate - Ramsgate - Sandwich - Dover - Ashford - back to Egham! It was short but meaningful getaway for me.. thanks mr hubby for taking me away from the workloads even just for awhile..i really appreciate it.. we should do it again someday!! hehe...

Margate beach..

i love the feel when the waves waving through my feet and as they washed away to the sea and taken away several amount of sand underneath my feet.. and somehow it makes you feel that your feet are kind of moving and itchy (but in a softy and smoother way) a bit.. betul ka susunan ayatku ini.. belasah jela! tapi korang faham kan?? kan??