MY TURKEY EXCURSION DAY ONE

One place that I had dreamt to go is Cappadocia, Turkey where I wanted to spend a night in a cave hotel. Yea...a dream comes true! I had spent a night in DEDELI KONAK, Cappadocia. It was awesome as the room is cold at night! There was no air-conditioned in the room and the air there is mountain fresh. Our dining hall is on the roof top where we can see the scenic view of Cappadokia town and villages surrounding the motel. I had two memorable tour of Cappadokia with the first one started on the day we arrived at Cappadokya and the second one was on the day we were headed to another destination that is Pamukkale.

3 rd June 2009

I took a seven-day tour of Jasminne Tour Agency of Istanbul for around RM1880 more or less. We had a visit of four places; Istanbul, Cappadocia, Pamukkale and Kusadasi. The first day at Istanbul I agreed to join a daily tour that is Bhosporous Tour for 30 Euro per person. It was conducted by Plan Tour. We went for a boat excursion for a half day trip. It was wonderful and earlier on we had a sight seeing of the city. My sister, Norsiah and I went around the city on foot and met two locals and we took a snap with them. We needed local currency, so we went to a money changer outlet at Sultanahmet. We overnight at Hotel Erboy at Sultanahmet and the staff at first seemed unfriendly, except for the chief clerk named Sinan. After the boat excursion, we went to a nearby cyber cafe near the hotel to check emails and to send news home. The owner or may be a man on duty in the cafe, offered me an apple tea. After I had done with the internet, the man asked me to join him for a cup of coffee. I said, I had to go back to the hotel as I was about to be dark. To my surprised, it was 7.00 p.m. but it was still very bright outside! Wow....I forgot I was in Istanbul.

Happy Teacher's Day!

16 May 2009 : HAPPY TEACHER'S DAY TO ALL TEACHERS OUT THERE! From a teacher to a teacher : to my teachers, to the ones who are teacher-to-be, to my colleagues, to my mum and dad who were my great teachers, to all human beings whom have been educating anyone on anything....you are granted the title : TEACHER because you teach someone of something!

Disagree? Write a comment here!

Below is the Teacher's Day wish I got this morning from a friend :

Three people went to heaven. God stood at the gate, told them that only one can go to heaven. The others must go to hell. The first : "I am a Priest. I spread your teachings to the world. The second : " I am a Doctor, I save lives". The third : "I am a teacher, I teach". Heaven's door opened. God : "Don't say anything my child! You were in hell for many years!"
He he he...Happy Teacher's Day!

Internetting....Alahai....

Internetting....Alahai....

How often do you surf the net? Regurlarly? Once a week? Everyday? Whatever the frequency, you are connected to the virtual world, and as they said....at real time with real people! It is virtual and real? Irony!
I got hooked on the net too; I have to log in almost every night. I have to check my email box everyday! That is the best part of internetting! Here comes the danger....the chatting part. It was something that I was addicted last two years, but I regain "my consciousness" last year when I got stalked by a so-called "fan". Anyway, it was a good lesson for me not to trust too much people whom I get to know on the net. At first, you can't help to chat with people whom you are being connected. I prefer talking to people who lives on the other side of the world rather than people who live on the same land as I am. The reason? I do not want to be known to them and it is easy to be reached by them. As for the international friends, well ....they are thousands of kilometres from me. I am aware that they can be here in a matter of time if that is their wish. But the fact that they are far, makes me feel a bit secure to be connected to them. However, the danger is that the culture, mind set, social views of my international friends are different from those people who live next door. What I may not want to do, would be what my international friends wish to do.

Another interesting fact is that I now get to know my brothers and sisters of the west. I got a few muslim friends from Albania and Kosovo. I even got a muslim lady friend from Netherland whom is my best friend in the net so far. She was once married to an Arab and that is how she became a muslim. She added me as her friend at first with the intention of finding out the difference practice of muslim from all over the world. I told her that she has to be clear of the practices as some are culturally imposed and some are genuinelly religious law or practices. For an example; she asked me the practice of wearing a headscarf or veil. She asked me whether little girls as young as 8 must cover their hair? I told her; it is not imposed to little girls of that age unless she has reached puberty. Some parents wish to teach their kids from young so as to avoid resistant over the practice when she reaches 10 or 11 or when she has reached puberty.

How interesting to know what my friends are doing in Albania and how they are not so lucky to have very few mosques there. One of my friends, Mustafa told me he has to teach his children to read Quran using the CD ROM rather than having an ustaz or religious teacher to teach the kids, as they do not have such teacher there. Lucky that he knows how to read Quran. Sadly to note her, his children read Quran through the roman alphabet, not the Arabic letters. What makes me feel amazed of them is the fact that they want to learn and read Quran with or without a proper teacher.

Now, internetting really makes me feel so lucky to be living in Malaysia.....with its prosperous economy, social and political condition. Well, my fellow Malaysian, whatever problems that we are having, we are still..........very much lucky and fortunate than many people on the other side of the world. So? Please be grateful to God that you are born and bred here, my beloved motherland, Malaysia.

Bintulu Seminar 2009 & Long House

Recently (April 2009) I went to a seminar in Bintulu, Sarawak. It was a seminar of educators from 4 states of Malaysia i.e. Sarawak; the host, Penang, Johor, Pahang and Perak (lecturers from UPSI). I was one of the presenters in the seminar and it was my first presentation at a national level. My ex-students and I had produced a corporate video and a power point presentation for the seminar. I learnt a lot of people and places during the seminar. The best of all; I got to fly on a plane and visit Iban Long Houses in the interior of Sarawak. The Ibans were very kind to me and Miss Yip, my friend. I surely will never forget this visit. You can view the video of my visit to the Long House.