Penghijrahan Yang Lain Macam

Yesterday was our last weekend in Kuala Lumpur. Hati terasa sayu. Rumah ini memberi banyak kenangan kepada aku, WF dan Damia.

Jiwa jantan Sang Suami turut tersentuh tatkala beliau mengemas pinggan mangkuk lalu dibungkus kemas di dalam kotak-kotak. "I rasa sayu la. Selalu orang pindah rumah, barang tu akan dipakai balik bila kat rumah baru. Tapi kali ni, kita memang dah tak akan pakai barang-barang tu dah" T___T

Sesungguhnya, keputusan untuk berhijrah bukanlah suatu keputusan yang mudah. Kalau hati tak secekal mana, iman tak serapi mana, akal tak diasah mana, mungkin bendera putih bakal berkibar megah.

Semoga kecekalan dan ketabahan sentiasa mengiringi aku, WF dan Damia. InsyaAllah


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PhD Journey #4: Oh Flight Ticket. Oh Rumah.

Untuk part flight ticket, we have got settled on that. Phew.. Pening hokkay nak beli flight ticket ni rupanya. Segala-galanya pening la actually bila nak pergi sambung belajar. I mean, kalau kau single, takde apa yang dipeningkan SANGAT tapi kalau kau nak pergi belajar abroad dengan spouse and anak, there are toooo many things that you have to consider.

On the flight ticket, our initial plan was nak pergi Exeter by KLM. Kira macam ni route dia:

KLIA-Singapore (MAS), Singapore-Paris (Air France A380), Paris-Exeter (Flybe) ATAU;

KLIA-Amsterdam (KLM), Amsterdam-Paris(Air France tapi boeing biasa je bukan airbus),Paris-Exeter (Flybe)

Advantage kau naik KLM, dapat student fare, baggage allowance 23kg extra. So total up untuk aku sorang je dapat 46kg TAPIIII aku hanya boleh bawak 2 bags sahaja 23kg each. Memang tak lahhh... Kotak je dah berapa kan. Ya aku memang ada banyak kotak dibawa. Antaranya kotak buku-buku. Masa master haritu dapat free company bagi kan. Harus aku angkut sekali bawak pergi UK. Haha

Maka, hanya disebabkan KLM hanya benarkan bawak 1 piece per passenger, terus cancel beli KLM. Walhal masa tu aku and WF dah kat kaunter KLM ni weh bawak cash RM7k nak bayar duit tiket. Oh KLM boleh main booking camtu je tau. Within 48hours kau kena pergi bayar la kat kaunter KLM at Parkroyal Hotel/KLIA. Masa tu aku pergi kat Parkroyal Hotel je.

Last sekali, we decided to go there via MAS. Turun Heathrow. But then tak decide lagi either naik train or mpv terus ke Exeter. Naik train, 2hrs away je from Paddington. Kalau naik mpv, it takes about 4hrs jugak tapi tak berebut and boleh tidoq je sepanjang journey nanti. Baggage everything pon tak perlu risau sbb memang tahu duduk dengan rapi je dalam bonet tu nanti.

Maka, let us decide masa sampai tu nanti. Hope aku tak perlu long queue la since I'll be going with Damia kan. Those passengers yang pergi dengan baby akan ada kaunter khas kat immigration tu. So tak perlu la kitorang beratur panjang kot. Amin........

Oh aku beli flight ticket via one of the students sponsored by MARA jugak. So we managed to get 15% off. Total of the flight tickets dalam RM5k je instead of RM6k++. Alhamdulillah.. Semoga Allah murahkan rezeki kawan-kawan yang bantu kami sekeluarga. InsyaAllah =)

Ok habis part flight ticket. Now the house pulak!


Managed to find a house yang cantik, 3beds, besar, depan pos ofis. Senang nak pos barang bagai. Haha. WF siap cakap, "Ok rumah ni cantik. Kitchen view ada garden cantik".

Sekali google punya google, kitchen view itu adalah cemetery bessaaaaarrrr punyaaa wehh. Garden lah sangattt kan WF!! Hahahahakuh stressed!!! Pffffffffffftt +__________+

Memula tu WF siap cakap nak bela ayam bagai. Choyyy. Mampuihh semua ayam tu kena kacau dengan roh time halloween nanti.. #kthnksbye

Sewa rumah kat sana, minimum RM3500. Baiklah. Berjanji dengan diri sendiri untuk tidak convert ke MYR. Jika tidak, marilah kita pengsan secara berjemaah.

Kat sana yang tolong kami buat house viewing adalah one of the Msian postgrad students kat sana, Kak Normy and her husband,Abang Zul. Bole dikatakan more than 3 houses dah mereka buat house viewing. None of the houses yang okay untuk kami. Naik segan dah. Kitorang okay kalau Kak Normy kata okay. Kalau Kak Normy kata rumah tu tak berapa okay, means tak okay la. Hehe

Kami dah naik segan actually. Tapi both of them memang baik sangat. Siap suruh cari rumah bila dah sampai UK nanti. Kira nak bagi tumpang dulu la tidoq at their house. Terharu sangat rasa. Nanti nak belanja akak makan nasi lemak lah. Hehehe


Oh ya. To those who are still hunting for a house to rent in UK, kindly read this blog. Hope it helps =)


Doakan kami dapat cari rumah yang cantik, murah, besar, tapi bukan belakang kubur. Sekian.


Selamat Hari Raya. Maaf Zahir Batin.


mak budak takdak cuti raya,
aj-the-mommy

Aku Orang Kuantan!

Dah lama tak balik Kuantan. More than 4 months barangkali. Sampai my childhood friend yang bernama Farah Nadia siap warning,"Jangan cakap raya pon tak balik Kuantan!" LOLOLOL! Wajib ah balik weh. Ni last raya kat Malaysia kot. Pasni tah ada duit ke tak nak beli flight tickets balik Malaysia aka Kuantan dowh!

Dah lama tak balik, tapi bersebab. Bukan saje-saje. Satu sebab utama, money constraint lah. The rest of them, only me and Husband know why.

Sesungguhnya, aku rindu Kuantan!! Walaupon aku tak membesar kat Kuantan, hidup merantau sejak Form 1, tapi sesungguhnya aku rindu Kuantan!!

Kawan-kawan kat Kuantan, belanja aku teh o ais kat gerai tepi Berjaya Megamall pleasee... Cc Shera, Ain, Emi, Ijat.

Selamanya Orang Kuantan,
aj-the-mommy


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PhD Journey #3: Packing Itu Penat!

See. The pictures tell us everything.

Rasa macam dah banyak aku packing. Tapi tak abes-abes packing lagi. Adakah aku terlalu banyak baju? Adakah terlalu banyak barang? Adakah apakah bagaimanakah?

Honestly, aku rimas actually tengok bag merata-rata. Tapi memang takleh nak buat apa. Kerja punggah-memunggah barang tak pernah abes. Maka, aku biarkan saja begitu rupa. Mujur sofa coklat sudah terjual. Lapang sikit dada ruang tamu rumah aku. Selapang mata aku yang memandang. Lapang lagi trek larian anakku Damia Zahraa. HAHA EH?!

Oh ya. Kami dah borong macam-macam jenis rempah. Hampir satu NSK kami jelajahi. Cewah. #EpicSangat!

Thus, we decided that some of the stuff have to be shipped via surface parcel. Waaayyy cheaper than the air parcel.

1kg = RM34.50
5kg = RM54.30
10kg = RM71.30
15kg = RM95.50
20kg = RM116.60

Kalau nak post via air parcel memang agak pricey la. Tapi it would take around 10-14 days je unlike the surface one, could be 1-2months.

However, those bekalan makanan yang kami beli which perlu digunapakai urgently like spices, santan, and all that, they will be sent via air parcel. The most important thing is of course la Maggie bebehh!! LOL

So here you go.

5kg = RM202.90
10kg = RM374.90
20kg = RM718.90

Utk air parcel, kami post 20kg. Utk surface parcel, kami post 10kg. Investment utk masa akan datang. Ikat perut Ikat perut!

Ok tata! Nak sambung packing. Bluerrghh.....

Emak yang mengantuk,
aj-the-mommy


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PhD Journey #2: Garisan Mula Seorang PhD Candidate

Hari ini, aku nak membebel pasal perjalanan PhD aku. I mean, perjalanan untuk sambung PhD. Uii.. Baru perihal perjalanan nak sambung PhD. Belum perihal perjalanan ketika mengambil PhD. Aaaaa gua nervous!

Baiklah. Mari kita mulakan dengan entri berilmiah. Bismillah sekarang!

First and foremost, if you have an intention to pursue in PhD, you must have at least one personal diary to jot down all important notes related to PhD thingy. I personally think that writing down those important things in the diary is much more relevant as compared to key in everything in my Ipad. #EpicSangat!

So here we go. Below are the 'Standard Required Documents' to apply PhD:

1.  Research Statement/Proposal
              1.1  Cover Page

                              1.1.1  Title
                              1.1.2  Name
                              1.1.3  Address/Faculty
                              1.1.4  Supervisor's Name (if any)


              1.2  Statement of Research Topic         
              1.3  Research Aims
              1.4  Research Objectives
              1.5  Literature Review
                              1.5.1  Introduction
                              1.5.2  Rationale

              1.6  Problem Statement
              1.7  Research Questions
              1.8  Theoritical Framework
              1.9  Methodology
              1.10  Expected Findings
              1.11  Expected Milestones/Timeline
              1.12  References

2.  Personal Statement
               2.1  Why further PhD?
               2.2  Reasons for your choice of study?
               2.3  Why applying to XXX Uni?
               2.4  Why suitable candidate?
               2.5  How choice of programme fits with your future career planning?
             -SELAMAT MENGARANG HOI! AKU BUAT 3 PAGES JE. HAHAHA-

3.  IELTS
4.  Transript (Master/Degree)
5.  Referees (2 people) - Depends on the Uni itself. Oxford nak 3. Hohoho
6.  Resume (optional)
7.  Evidence of Financial Support/Scholarship


Yup. Kelihatan begitu simple tetapi the truth is IT'S NOT as simple as 123! They are just the BASIC documents required by the universities. Like in Oxford, they required 3 referees and 3 types of personal statement which I didn't manage to comply while the application was still running up. I didn't get a chance to finish up the 3rd essay of my personal statement. Tetiba 'Application is now closed'. Rebah depan pc serta-merta +___+

Part paling hardcore untuk aku haruslah part nak buat PhD Proposal. Thanks to my UM friend, Leli for helping me out by providing me her username and password for all database engines. I really appreciated it. Dulu time kat UM, asal aku malas je dan perlukan aura untuk study, aku akan lepak bilik Leli. Sebab aura tu penting. Hahaha.

I had to crack my head to write a looooong essay with one aim; To convince my future SVs in the UK. I wrote my research proposal during my confinement days okayyy. Syle tak?!! Masa tu lah baru nak baby bluuueeeesss.. Masa tu lah nak adapt dengan new chapter of my life. Masa tu lah dugaan kiri kanan datang menguji. But heyyy! Alhamdulillah I managed to get through all the hustle and bustle. Pheewww. #LapPeluh #TepukBahu

Apa yang aku tahu time tu, aku hanya perlukan Unconditional Offer Letter (UOL) from the Uni that I've applied to. Itu sahaja. Then, barulah boleh proceed with the scholarship, visa and all that.


Oh before I forgot, you have to rajinkan diri to choose which universities you'd like to go. Like in my case, I applied to almost ALL universities in the UK. Some in US also. Tapi US aku apply secara senyap-senyap sebab WF tak izinkan aku further study in US. Katanya muka dia macam ada ala-ala Taliban. Maka, cuak di situ. Miahahaha Sengal. Aku pon tak terpikir part tu :p

See. Gigih tak aku? Hehe. Aku apply banyak-banyak sebab I don't really think that all Unis have an expertise in my area. Some of my applications have been rejected as they have no staff to supervise me in this area.

Thus, I only got 5 UOLs. They are Durham, Exeter, Coventry, Brighton, and Beds. After going through the pros and cons, I finally chose to go to Exeter University. Reason being, School of Business in Exeter Uni is one of the best Business Schools in the UK. As reported, it ranked at top 10 out of 100++ universities in the UK. Tapi ada banyak version, here and here. The most important thing is, Exeter tergolong dalam Russell Group Universities. Kalau tak, masakan Khazanah, Bank Negara and KPT recognized this University kan. Alhamdulillah :D

Maka, tamatlah sudah riwayat Garisan Mula Seorang PhD Candidate. Oh bagaimana pula dengan Garisan Tengah ye AJ? Oh Garisan Tengah akan bersambung kelak. Kemudian diikuti oleh Garisan Akhir. Oh tapi itu semua hanyalah perancangan. InsyaAllah.........

Till then peeps. Xoxo.



A PhD Candidate,
aj-the-mommy