Turkey Through The Ages : Day 1, falling in love :)

Assalamualaikum

Alrite, the journey begins! The very first place to visit was Aya Sofia, or some called it Hagia Sofia. Basically, what is it Nawal?

Actually, it was a church when it was built. Then, after the 1453 conquest (I’ll get back to this later), Sultan Muhammad Fatih changed it to a mosque.

*the entrance*

Entrance to this museum was a bit expensive, but since it is among most important place to visit, never mind! When I first step into this place, I was very amazed. Subhanallah. What a huge historical building. I was touched to see its transformation. To see a big board, which on it written Allah, Muhammad and 4 caliph, the feeling was indescribable.

What so special about this place is, it is very unique. It shows the transformation of a church to a mosque. After being transformed into a mosque, the minarets, minarets and mimbar was added.

Sadly, it was again transformed into the museum after the secularization!

The second place we visited this day was Basilica Cistern.

*me with Kak Fida*

The fee for this place was 10 lira. It was quite expensive to a small place like this one. But we decided to just pay. When I stepped into it, me and Nad were like, whoaaaahhhhh worth our 10 lira!! Haha, this place is magical!

Dim, dark, and wet yet amazing! Walking through it, Nisha the storyteller told us the history of this place. It was once the cistern that filtrate the water and supply to main building in Constantinople. I murmured alone, “wow, hebatnya orang zaman dulu2”

During daurah (before the journey), they told us that in this place, there’s Medusa column. Haha, I am really interested in Medusa since she has snake-head hair and her eyes can transform someone into stone (believe me, this is just legend, and it’s not true hahaha). So I was so excited to go to that column. Then, this was what I found hehehe

 

Yay! I met Medusa haha even only as simple as that. Medusa, y u know more scary??

Allahuakbar.. We heard azan. Time to pray. We went to Blue Mosque.

Blue Mosque also known as Sultan Ahmed Mosque. Why blue?? It is called blue mosque because of its interior design which mostly in blue. But, nowadays, the blue colour isn’t obvious as ancient time. Still, to have chance to pray in this historical mosque, alhamdulillah Yet, the niat is more important!

What’s next??? Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum!

Errkkk again, the entrance fee dissapoint us. We decided to just make a photo outside, and story telling of its history outside.

The building of the museum used to be the Ibrahim Pasha Palace. Who is Ibrahim Pasha?

Ibrahim Pasha was the first Grand Vizier in Ottoman Empire. He has no royal blood at all. So what make him so special until he could own a palace?

During childhood, he was sold to Anatolia, where Sultan Sulaiman the Magnificent got his education. There he became best friend with Sultan and at the same time, he received his education there too. Ibrahim Pasha was very talented that te got promoted rapidly by Sultan  until he said to Sultan to stop promoted him to avoid any misunderstood. Sultan Sulaiman gave this palace to him as the gift. Sultan swore that under his reign, Ibrahim shouldn’t be executed. But due to jealousy of the wife of Sultan, she accused Ibrahim for doing bad and at the end, Sultan executed him after taking back his oath. But, Sultan already gave chance for Ibrahim to run away but Ibrahim chose to stay true to Sultan. Sultan regretted his decision after the execution.

The story of Ibrahim Pasha really touched me. How fate of someone could change drastically. Wallahualam.

In front of this museum is Hippodrome! It was once a place where horse ‘s races took place. But it was completely destroyed by earthquake and only 3 things remained.

And last place to visit…. Grand Bazaar!   

People said, shop till you drop! But Nawal…. not yet! Today is just the first day! Haha ;p

Day 1 : I came without expectation to Istanbul. No at all. But then, Allah had widen my eyes, and Istanbul seemed so interesting, beautiful to me. I'm falling in love with Turkey <3 <3 Alhamdulillah!

What about day 2? Wait……… Assalamualaikum!

Turkey Through The Ages : Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. The beginning.

Assalamualaikum

Long time no see. Long time no write. Hehe I miss you blog! So, exam was over, alhamdulillah. And next was winter holiday! *excited* this is my first time ever to experience the winter holiday. So for months, I’ve been thinking where should I go. At first, I was planning to go to Spain. But then, I change my decision. Based on the clue He gave me, I decided to go to Turkey

To be honest…… Turkey wasn’t even in my wishlist. Ahaha. I don’t even know what’s so special about Turkey. Is it beautiful? Is it favourite holiday spot that I must go before I die? When I heard my other friends are going to European countries, I was really confused with my own decision. I’ve been spending 1k just for the tickets, and still I’m confused. I did research about Turkey. Then I found out that Istanbul is actually Constantinople. Haha silly me! I was like, seriously? Then I slowly became excited!

So the day come, 25 Jan 12 here we go! bismillah…

Alhamdulillah. Safely arrived at Attaturk International Airport around 10pm. After a bit sesat2 finally we found our hostel. Cheers hostel. We stayed there throughout our trip. It was a nice place to stay eventhough every night we could here the party yang sangat bingit and sakit telinga. At least we got free breakfast everyday!

 

to be continued……….

Ujian. ujian, ujian!

 

Assalamualaikum salam 2012!

1st post ever 2012, patutnya post pasal resolution ke, highlight ke, apa ke, ni post pertama 2012 dah pasal ujian. Haha tension! Takpela, marilah kadang kadang mengstresskan diri!

Okay.. Basicly, dalam hidup ni penuh ujian! Waah ayat.. puitis dan gramatis. Tapi tu lah kenyataan!

Warghh penat! Kat sekolah ujian, periksa, spm la, pmr la, upsr la. Even upsr pun boleh buat budak kecik nangis taw! Mak kata dapat 5A, keluar2 result dapat 4A 1B. Menangis budak tuu. Kejam! Tak kesian ke? Dah kerja, ada assesment bagai. Woaahhh. Bilakah harus berhenti ujian2 ni? Tak cukup tuuu.. Ujian dalam hidup. Kalau kecik2, patah pensil, hilang mainan pun dah cukup sedih. Macam masalah besar satu dunia dah tu! Dah besar2 ni, bermacam2 lah. Tak cukup duit, takde kawan, putus cinta, tak perform study.. CUKUP! Anda taw masalah anda. Haha.

Dalam berjuta2 manusia dalam dunia ni, saya pun tidak terkecuali juga lah untuk menghadapi segala2 masalah tu. Kadang2 sampai serabut kepala, pening dah nak fikir. Nak lari, tak tahu ke mana. Dulu masa duduk asrama, ada masalah je nak balik rumah. Balik rumah, kena marah ngan parents, gaduh ngan adik pulak dah. Haha. No where to go dah.

I’m stress. Don’t come near me!

Okay. Baru baru ni, saya ada menghadapi satu masalah (pengakuan ekslusif). Haha maka saya merasakan masalah saya lah terbesar di dunia! Kenapa saya? Mengapa saya? Why why why? Lebih kurang macam tu lah perasaan saya. Thanks to NMH for being my ear But then I got BIG SLAP on my face.

I saw someone, with bigger problem, don’t complain a single thing, hiding her feeling, and smile.

And me, complaining complaining complaining. Feel like slapping myself.

So rakan2, setiap kali ujian tiba, janganlah kite lupa untuk bersabar seperti saya. Out there, a lot more of people are suffering, having problem, worse than we do. Believe me

So folks, take a look at those pictures, and you’ll understand.

Hang in there, the best might come.

“if Allah have a good plan for someone, He will tested him first”

Have faith.

Happy New Year.

p/s : winter exam is just around the corner! dear me, please thinking like a neuron!

Salam

Who are you?

Assalamualaikum wbt

I hope all of you in pink of health!

Today’s random topic is “who are you?”

I’ve done survey on a topic, who are you. And these are the answers.

I’m a doctor. I’m a successful engineer! I’m a hardworking teacher. I’m a humble maid. I’m beautiful stewardess. I’m great architect! I’m low class worker. I’m tea maker. I’m a despatch. I’m a sportman!

Ahaha, actually the survey was a lie. It just me making those answers. So, actually my point here, in this world, we met different people with different job. Someone could be as successful as Donald Trump, someone could be drop out of college but still manage to be a billionaire like Bill Gates, or someone could be the student with first ranking but fail as a human being.

Nowadays, people like to judge another people based on their  ranking, status quo (okay seriously I don’t even know what status quo means, but it fits there, so never mind haha). Oh you are a doctor, you must be really smart! Oh you are penyapu sampah, you must be the one who didn’t finished the homework during school rite? Ah, you’re father is an engineer! You’re really lucky!

But actually, in this world, in this dunya, you could be anyone. When I said anyone, I really meant anyone. Ahaha you get my point, ANYONE. You could be a doctor, you could be an engineer, you could be a singer, you could a farmer, as long as you want. But remember, in after life, you could be only winner or loser…..

 

Dan katakanlah : “Bekerjalah kamu, maka Allah dan RasulNya serta orang-orang mukmin akan melihat pekerjaanmu itu, dan kamu akan dikembalikan kepada (Allah) Yang Mengetahui akan yang ghaib dan yang nyata, lalu diberitakanNya kepada kamu apa yang telah kamu kerjakan”

at-Tawbah /9: 105

So, actually we could be anyone. It doesn’t matter who you are in this dunya, what matters is who you are in akhirat. People always said, doctor is the most honourable job as doctors help to save people life. Then, people also always said, teacher is the best job, as they teach someone to be someone we called human.

Allah is really fair. He loves us, no matter who we are as long as we did our job with full of sincerity for Him.

We could be a doctor, but if we do our job not for Him, our niat is only to get the fame, to get respect from others, nauzubillahuminzalik, we are only loser in akhirat. I’m sorry if I made a wrong assumption. Only Allah could judge us. Wallhualam.

But, if someone, his job only to pick trash in town, but he did his job with full of sincerity, to help others, for the sake of Allah, insyaAllah his fate in akhirat is good. People may look down on him in dunya, but only Allah knows who is him in akhirat.

So again, you could be a doctor, an engineer, an artist in this dunya, but in akhirat you could only be a loser and winner.

So, who are you? Choose now!

May His barakah with us no matter what job we did insyaAllah!

Assalamualaikum!

I need you. I want you.

Assalamualaikum

The title kinda jiwang I thought. Haha. But I’m definitely not gonna talk about love. And I won’t even talk about anything today. Just wanna share some interesting and cool pictures I found in internet.

Alrite let’s begin!

 

HAHA. And lastly….

#On my face.

That’s all folk. See you again ^^

ps : teringat pesan abah tiap kali lepas call ke, skype ke, “duit tu jimat2 lah sikit” . Hehe baiklah abah. InsyaAllah

Bitter sweet :)

Assalamualaikum

Just watched “Laura in the Kitchen” by Laura Vitale. Haha, Konon mengidam nak buat cupcake ;p

Then saya agak tertarik dengan satu benda yang dia cakap. Dia cakap dia suka letak garam dalam setiap masakan dia. Even cupcakes. Dia kata garam ni ibarat meng-complete- kan rasa. Then saya pun terilham. Bila kita belajar memasak, pernah tak dengar….

“Jangan letak garam banyak sangat, nanti masin”

“Jangan blend banyak sangat bawang merah dalam sambal, nanti jadi pahit”

“Gula tu jangan terlebih, nanti jadi tak sedap”

Tapi still, dalam masakan, kita akan letak garam sikit, gula banyak sikit, bawang2 dalam amount yang betul sebagaimana tertulis di myresepi  

Thanks to this site ^^ I am 30% professional cook now

So, mari kita apply dalam kehidupan kita! Garam tu masin, bawang tu pahit, gula tu manis. Kalau dalam hidup ni kena insert mana2 bahan, anda nak yang mana? Mesti la nak gula kan? Everyone want their life to be as sweet as cotton candy, right right right?

Why I love cotton candy? Simple, it is pink \(^^)/

Tapi, cuba bayang, kalau buat kari, letak gula je? Euwwww. Manisnya! Sambal letak cili kering je? Okay *sungai mengalir di hidung* pedas pedas! Tak sedap kan?

Same goes to our life. Our life is dull without problem  

TAPI KAN PENAT LA ADA PROBLEM NI. KAN BEST KALAU BOLEH BERSUKA RIA JE!

Hey, listen to these words :

If we never fall down, we never learn how to get up.

If we never lose something, we never learn how to appreciate thing.

If we never get lost in our way, we never know the way back.

If we never fail, we never know the real meaning of success.

If we never been cheated in love, we never know our true love.

and goes all saying..

In our love letters from Allah, al Quran it is all written.

“Diwajibkan atas kamu berperang, padahal itu tidak menyenangkan bagimu. Tetapi boleh jadi kamu tidak menyenangi sesuatu, padahal itu baik bagimu, dan boleh jadi kamu menyukai sesuatu, padahal itu tidak baik bagimu. Allah mengetahui, sedang kamu tidak mengetahui”

Al- Baqarah : 216

He knows the best for us

Dan ingatlah bahawa Allah takkan sesekali menguji hamba hambaNya dengan ujian yang tak mampu dipikul oleh mereka. Setiap ujian pasti bertepatan dengan kemampuan kita. Itu janji Allah.

Ujian itu ibarat garam, gula, bawang dalam masakan. We as the cook will put them all in right proportion to make sure our cooking will be as delicious as it could be. So does Allah, He always put the ujian in right proportion in our life for He always know the best for us ^___^

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Lollipop might be really sweet, but sometimes, it give me toothache. Ouchh.This medicine might be bitter, but it soothes your cough ^^ *

 

Thanks for reading Assalamualakum!

Learn To Let Go

Assalamualaikum dear readers and friends.

Today I got physical training class. Haha, yes, in my medical school, physical training is compulsory for 1st and 2nd year students. Sometimes I feel really lazy but sometimes it was fun to play with my groupmates rather than stuck in the long-hours classes!

So, today, I played badminton!

I’m not a good athlete but I do enjoyed the game. I was trying hard to catch the shuttle cock even it was obvious that the shuttle cock already flew out of the court.

Then I learnt something.

LEARN TO LET GO.

do you ever feel like “its so hard letting go?”

even when the situation was already in a mess, you don’t what to do, and it was the worst case scenario ever! But, deep in your heart, letting go is the last option.

back then in MRSM PC, my senior had a backache. The serious one. Her condition made it difficult for her to continue the routine of the boarding school. She needs to do the prep session in the room, couldn’t go to surau and even her friend need to take the food from the Dewan Selera for her.

So, she had only 2 choices. Stay OR leave.

It was really hard to make the decision. SPM was just around the corner, will she adapt in new school?

After istikharah, Allah had shown her the way. She found a piece of paper, saying..

“when you let go of something, something better comes along”

she made her decision. She leaved our school. I never heard of her again but I’m sure, she already found the hikmah

So, what’s the relation with badminton?

Sometimes, when thing are out of control, we just need to let go.

I said earlier,

“I was trying hard to catch the shuttle cock even it was obvious that the shuttle cock already flew out of the court.”

quoted, Nawal Amalina

As analogy, if the shuttle cock already flew out of the court, don’t run for it. For you might made mistake. Just let go. You got your point and new round start! And this time, don’t lose your shuttle cock again.

But but but but but… it is not wrong of making the effort. Who knows, you might catch it!

Because road will always be the road not taken.

p/s : Allah knows the best for us.

Assalamualaikum!