Carboot sale

On sunday, we went to the carboot sale again but this time another location i.e.Stanley...we went in the morning and reached there at about 10.00 a.m...when we arrived there, some of the sellers have started to pack their things...we guess that they are moving to the next carboot sale location which starts in the afternoon...kat sini ade banyak location carboot and the timing is either in the morning or afternoon...so apalagi terpaksa jalan dengan pantas tuk cari barang...lucky gak sbb we managed to get the things in our list...min siap beli pyrex lagi tu for £1 and £2 each...memang murah...rambang mata nak pilih mana nak beli...on the way home, we singgah gi ASDA (one of the supermarket) to buy some groceries...since we received a voucher of £5 to spend on baby products there, we used it to buy avent bottles...so we got it for free...

Masduke...

On Friday, Director of Malaysian Student Department (MSD) came to Durham to meet with the Malaysian students here. En Nazri came with Pn Azimah (Officer in Charge for Midlands up to Scotland) and their spouses. As one of students here (sbb kat Durham tak ramai Malaysian students compared to Manchester, Liverpool, etc), Faizal joined the meeting to memeriahkan the majlis and discuss issues regarding Malaysian students in UK. Lagipun, he's got an appointment with his supervisor, Prof Rodney at the same building at 12pm.

Faizal submitted the draft of his Chapter 1 on Monday to Dr Mehmet (main supervisor) and also to Prof Rodney for their perusal. Since Dr Mehmet was not around (went for a conference), Prof Rodney asked Faizal to meet him for a short discussion. Hope Faizal can finalised his first chapter soonest possible...

Weekend activities

On saturday, we were invited by fauzi & adlina for lunch at their house...they buat makan2 kesyukuran for their new born baby, nashwa...most of the malaysian kat durham ni dia invite...sedap makan nasi dengan lauk kurma ayam, sayur campur,sambal belacan and more...meehoon sup pun ade...for dessert ade ice cream and tiramisu...kenyang both of us...thank you for inviting us fauzi & adlina... for dinner, both of us decided not eat nasi...fikir punya fikir at last we decided to eat pizza...i decided to make homemade pizza...kat sini kalu beli yang frozen boleh makan topping yang cheese je...since homemade boleh bubuh mince meat,mushroom and sausages...inilah hasil our homemade pizza...terubat rindu nak makan pizza kat pizza hut...

On sunday as planned we went to the carboot sale at Peterlee...before pergi we singgah to pick up amirul & yusrol...kali ni lagi banyak stalls jual barang and lagi ramai orang...we managed to get the baby car seat and bedsheet...siap beli sayur and buah lagi...price dia lagi murah dari supermarketlah katakan...since still ade barang yang tak dapat...nampak gayanya ke carboot lagilah kita next week...

 

Baby

Yesterday we went to the hospital for the baby's growth scan...Syukur alhamdullillah everything was ok...baby is now about 2kg...based on the midwife's calculation, my due date is expected to be on 040408...hopefully everything goes well and do pray for us...

Currently, we are getting the baby's things...so far we dah nak complete...now tgh cari yang belum ade such as baby cot together with its bedding set, car seat, bouncing net and changing mat...hopefully will get it settled before my mum and aunty arrived in middle march...they will be coming to jaga me during pantang...yeyeye...

This sunday we are planning to go to the carboot sale at Peterlee...hopefully we can get baby's stuff at a reasonable price there...

Karipap

Yesterday we decided not to go anywhere...so we just lepak in the house...surf internet, main psp and tgk tv...i decided to buat karipap since a few days back faizal informed that dia teringin nak makan karipap...this time around faizal helped me in the kitchen...its a team work...i masak the inti and buat the dough...faizal isi inti dalam dough and kelim the karipap...faizal cakap the karipap sedap...here are the karipaps...

Royal Quays Centre

  

   

  

  

Yesterday, both of us drove to North Shields and arrived at Royal Quays Centre (RQC) at 12 pm...its about 30 minutes from Durham...RQC is a factory outlet for branded items e.g. nike, marks&spencer, next, fila and more...here the prices are 60%-70% cheaper than the normal price...most of the shops were on sale...seronok cuci mata...faizal managed to get two sweaters for £14 (the original price was £40 each) and for myself managed to get two tops for £10 (the original price was £40 and £30)...ade gak jual jeans levis for ladies for £8 but due to my physical appearance right now abaikan jelah...

In the evening, faizal's friend from Newcastle, man and his wife azah came along with amirul (master student in durham) and kak suhaili (another phd student in durham) to our house...they just came back from Dalton Park which is another factory outlet...but its nearer to our home...looks like it will be our next destination...

P/S:our congratulation wish to our cousin, Arizah on her engagement on 10/2/2008...

Happy 1st birthday baby gael

Today's Raja Ahmad Gael Azhar's birthday (my cousin's son)...Happy birthday to you...dont't be naughty...aunty min and uncle faizal miss you...

Not to forget...our birthday wish to our friend...Rajina Abdul Rahman...be happy always...

Dinner @ Ustaz Maszlee's house

Last tuesday (5/2/2007) both of us were invited to ustaz maszlee's house for dinner...2 orang bujang, amirul and yusrol pun were invited...we picked both of them at their hostel at 6.30pm...for dinner we had nasi with lauk i.e. ikan pari asam pedas, tomyam campur, udang masak kicap, sayur campur, hati goreng kicap & kerabu sayur...seronok makan ramai-ramai...the food was delicious...

After dinner, the men moved to the tv hall and borak-borak sambil makan kacang and minum air panas...as for the ladies we sat at the another hall and min layan ustaz maszlee's 3 cute daughters and borak with kak midah i.e. ustaz maszlee's wife...
 
At about 9pm we left ustaz maszlee's house dengan perut yang kenyang...Our grateful thanks to ustaz maszlee and family for the dinner...

Metrocentre...

Last weekend we drove down again to Newcastle to send abang zul to the airport...on the way back we singgah the biggest shopping complex in europe...METROCENTRE...Memang besar shopping complex ni...tapi 2nd tot it is not as big as One Utama and Midvalley...seronok gak cuci mata...since winter season is coming to an end, most of the shops are on sale...

For lunch we ate at nandos...kat sini its halal and siap ade certificate halal gantung kat depan kedai...the menu is the same as Malaysia cuma ade additional here and there...both of us had quater chicken with the side dishes...

After lunch we continued to browse the shopping complex...but after a while walking, we decided to balik...al maklumlah kaki dah penat and perut pun dah kenyang...

it was a fun day...yang, nanti kite pegi lagi yek...

Newcastle here we come

  

Since our halal meat/chicken have finished, we drove to Newcastle to get out stocks...kat sini selain halal meat/chicken, kedai dia jual macam-macam...serbuk kari & cili, cili merah & padi, pisang tanduk, frozen roti canai etc...just name it insyaAllah ade...

There is another shop named Wing Hong Ltd which we went and there they sells asian stuffs...kedai ni siap jual kuew teow, meehon, maggi mee, fishball, kicap kipas udang, rencah brahim's and lots more...not to forget batu tumbuk pun ada jual...when we were at the shop, terlupa that we are in UK rase cam kat Malaysia jek...

Sebelum balik, we singgah makan at dixies chicken...its a halal fried chicken shop which is similar as KFC...sedap sehingga menjilat jari...thanks yang...

Next on the list...TV

Since the internet was still not available...we definately need a TV for entertainment...After searching for a while, we finally got a 14 inch tv...kat sini nak tengok additional channel we have to buy a freeview box...kalau tak just dapat tengok 5 channels...unfortunately, this tv could not be connected to the freeveiw box...so nak tak nak tengoklah programme based on the 5 channels...intially it was ok but later BORING!!!...

We then decided to search for another tv which will enable us to  watch more channels from the freeview box...we managed to get a 25 inch tv and yup this tv can be connected to the freeview box...heaven gile dapat tengok tv programme such as friends, desperate housewives, one tree hill etc...but later ade pulak masalah seterusnya...external aerial tv problem...currently we are waiting for the internal aerial which we bought online to solve the problem...at the moment we just can watch certain channels...

Cepatlah hantar our internal aerial...

We need a car....

Without a car here is like patah kaki....maklumlah in Malaysia sikit-sikit naik keta...faizal had to take bus to university and walk about 20 minutes...pith him...keletihan but luckily it is winter of which the weather is cold so kire oklah sikit...

after thinking much and calculating our budget, me and faizal decided that we need a car...faizal advertised in the internet and paper and there were several calls we received...On 26/1/2008, we decided to see a car -Ford Escot at Houghton le Spring...we went there by bus and it tooks about 30 minutes to reach the town...at the town the buyer picked us up...the buyer wanted to sell the car for £550 but due to our effective negotation skill we managed to reduced the price to £450...faizal test drove the car and it was ok and in good condition...so apa lagi terus we decided to take home the car...kat sini beli kete cam beli barang kat kedai...kalau suke bayar and you can bring the car home as its yours already... for the ownership documentation, the previous buyer will send later...we only need to ensure that we have a car insurance...ni yang mahal kat sini...

Yahoo...after this no need to to wait for bus anymore...Lega rasanya after three weeks witout a car...

Settling down...

Our intial few weeks here was horrible...there was no tv, telephone line and internet...we only have our mobile to play with...However, we managed to past our time...Both of us went to durham town which is about 10 minutes by bus from our home...The scenery of the town is very beautiful and the size of the town is just nice...Branded shops such as topshop, miss selfridges, mark&spencer,dorothy perkins etc are available...Since winter season is ending soon, most of the shops were on sale...yeyeye...but since we just arrived and will be here long, we managed to control our emotion not to shop...maybe summer sale will be just nice for us to shop as our dearest baby will be borned...currently we are concentratring in settling the baby's stuffs...

During our 1st weekend, ustaz maszlee and family brought us to the carboot sale...it was kind of interesting and fun...baby's stuff was cheap and the choices for the baby's clothing was marvelous...pening kepala nak pilih...we managed to get a gym mat for our baby for only £3 which at the shop it is selling for £50 and some clothing for our baby...We also managed to get some kitchenware for our home...We had so much fun and thanks to ustaz maszlee and family for bringing us there...

Our journey start here...

      

We left to Newcastle, UK on 5/1/2008...We stopped by in Dubai about 3 hours and continued our journey to Newcastle for another 8 hours...The journey was fine and we reached to our destination safely...The immigration seemed like had a good mood that day...The weather was cold as it is the winter season here...At the airport, we were picked up by ustaz maszlee and brother rahimie and from the Newcastle airport we went to Durham and it took about 35 minutes...We went to one of the Malaysian student @ Tok Penghulu's home for lunch and managed to met some other Malaysian students...

As a normal practice for newcomers, we stayed at abang zul & kak nani's house for 2 nights...Really appreciate for the hospitality...On the following day, both ustaz maszlee and abang zul accompanied faizal to buy groceries and all other household things for our new home later...They went to Newcastle to buy halal meat and most of the other things they bought it here in Durham...On Monday (7/1/2008), faizal went for his registration and later part of the day we moved to our home in Langley Moor...Its a bit far from the Malaysian community but both me  and faizal will managed...

      

Our home has two bedrooms and has a cozy environment...The house is just nice for both of us and our coming new born baby...It is a walking distance to the bus stand, post office, supermarket, charity shops, etc...Since we do not have a car yet, we move around by bus...Bear in mind that the bus service here is very efficient and not like in Malaysia...