Our Last Raya at Perantauan

Salam and Hello everyone! How's your Raya? 

Before my Raya mood gone far far away, I wanna share our Hari Raya celebration in here although it is not so cool like yours. Deep inside me, I really missed celebrating Hari Raya in Malaysia. In Sweden, we only have 'Raya Pertama' term. There's no Raya kedua, ketiga, ketujuh or Raya sebulan and 'open house'. Sobs..sobs..sobs..

It is so nice to see everyone posted (I'm still scrolling and likes your Raya photos through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter..) family photos, #OOTD on 1st day of Syawal...Day 2 Raya..3rd day Aidilfitri..and so on.. visiting relatives and friends, and those delicious Raya foodiessss. Seriously, you guys making me jealous and craving for one.

By the way, it is our second year and perhaps the last time celebrating Eid al-Fitr abroad. Nothing much about our Raya stories this year because we're celebrated it in Uppsala... again. On the other story, Stockholm have celebrated Raya one day earlier (Tuesday, 5 July, 2016) from us in Uppsala (Wednesday, 6 July, 2016). This is something new for me, as in one country can have two different date of Raya celebration. Konpius kejap...

Anyway, excuse me for spamming with our last Raya photos taken in Uppsala..... Enjoy!

Family photo.. Five of us..still..

(masih belum ada unsur-unsur penambahan ahli ye..hehe)

Raya theme for 2016 was Orange & Raspberry Pink

Doakan perjuangan tahun akhir kami di sini. InshaAllah we are going back home end of the year.

Anak bujang dah mula pandai ber'posing.

Wore Aleefa Jubah by Bella Ammara. Simple, perfect cutting and length. Loved it. 
Besides, it is wudhuk friendly and nursing friendly.

And Auni wore Poplook Suraya Mermaid Maxi dress.

Terlebih labuh pulak dress ni untuk Auni, so maybe later we sent it for alteration.

No baju kurung this year, girl. 

I got Alya a Scallop Jubah Dress from Poplook.

We're lucky because our parcel from Malaysia arrived here before Raya.

Shahar and Adel wore baju Raya recycled from two years ago. 

Nasib baik muat lagi tapi sudah menunjukkan tanda-tanda bakal senteng tidak lama lagi.

Mini ME!

Do you think this mommy and daughter look alike?

This year we're celebrated Hari Raya together with another three families at Mat and Mimi's new house at Smålandvägen. Tahun ni Raya agak kurang meriah macam last year sebab ramai yang balik beraya di Malaysia..selain takde geng orang Patani beraya sekali dan orang Stockholm pulak dah beraya satu hari sebelum kami...so, tinggal kami empat family je la di Uppsala. 

On the first day of Hari Raya, we took a bus and went to Mat and Mimi's house. We arrived around 9 in the morning and had our Raya prayer lead by Mat. The khutbah Raya was about the quality of our worship (Ibadah) and some advice on how to increase the mercy (belas kasihan) and forgiveness from Allah SWT upon us. We should build a good relationship with people..(menghormat orang, bercakap dengan menggunakan perkataan yang baik-baik, banyakkan sedekah). He also reminded us that this world will be end soon, so we should not prioritize dunya over akhirah. Keep praying sincerely to Allah SWT, give the best, make zikr, selawat and du'a.

After done with our prayer, it is time to enjoy the foods. We already planned to have Raya potluck, where each of family will contributes a dish of food that to be shared. Thank God I still have one last big pack of six cubes nasi impit to cook and served with kuah kacang and my very first trial of making rendang daging. *winks*

Lemang ada OKAY, walaupun tak bakar dalam buluh

Kids' favorite made by Auntie Siti.

Kuih raya takde..okay..

Makan time! *thumbs up*

Girl's team..

Hanya kami bertiga (tak termasuk tuan rumah) beraya di Uppsala tahun ni.

Boy's team..
Tahun depan tiga-tiga mungkin tak beraya di Uppsala lagi.

Raya photo with Mrs. Ambassador, family and staffs Embassy of Malaysia in Stockholm.

We'olls tak dapat nak join beraya di Rumah Malaysia pada hari Selasa (5 Julai), sebab we'olls sambut lambat sehari dan masih berpuasa pada hari tu. 

And that's the end of our Eid al-Fitr for this year in Uppsala, Sweden........ (lepas ni nak beraya ala-ala perantauan di negara mana pulak..hihi..)



So with this opportunity, I would like to wish all Muslims around the world Happy Eid Mubarak! I hope u'olls have a very happy and blessed Raya with your loved ones. May these Raya memories will be the precious ones for you. 

To those who start six days fasting of Syawal, Happy Fasting guys!

Abu Ayyub (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:

       "Whoever fasts Ramadan and follows it with six days of Syawal, it will be as if he fasted for a                       lifetime."

                     ~ Narrated by Muslim, Abu Dawud, At-Tirmidhi, And-Nasa'i and Ibn Majah

Fasting Experience in Sweden

Today marks 22 days of Ramadan. 8 days more to go before Ramadan leave us again. Alhamdulillah, this year my little family have a second valuable opportunities to gain experience fasting in Sweden. 

Sweden is located in the Northern Europe and lies between latitudes 60.1282° North and 18.6435° East. Due the high latitude, Sweden have very long hours of daylight in the summer and long nights in the winter. Since the Ramadan falls in June, during summer, the period of fast in Sweden is extremely long. It is a fact that it is going to be challenging and tough to us as fasting here span about 20 hours a day.

We started fasting by having suhoor before 1.52 in the early morning and have our iftar at 10.20 in the evening. 

In the beginning, I'm pretty worried about the children. Would they able to fast for 20 hours especially our 7 years old boy, Adel. Surprisingly, they managed to fast and doing very well again this year. 

9 p.m at Uppsala, Sweden

View at 10.00 p.m. The sun's still up and the sky was bright!

Truthfully, we don't feel so thirsty, hungry or too tired. It might because the cold weather here with average temperatures between 13°C - 23°C. On the other side, the most important aspects for the success of fasting long hours are be prepared for mental, physical and spiritual challenges.

First day Ramadan kinda one long day for him. As the day passes by, he doing so well, patiently waiting for adhan Maghrib.

In order to cope with long hours fasting, we filled with some fun activities. During Ramadan, we have changed our sleeping time. We went to sleep after Subuh (around 2 a.m and sometimes around 5 - 6 in the morning) and woke up before noon. Tak boleh nak tidur lama-lama sebab kat luar dah cerah benderang dan kadang-kadang bunyi kuat from nearby construction. 

I am so thankful because this blessed month falls during long summer holidays. The reasons are our children do not have to go to school and will have enough quality sleeping time since they sleep late. Secondly, we will not have to prepare the long explanation to their Swedish teachers why our children have learning to fast (tiada paksaan) at very young age. Nak suruh dorang je bagitau kat cikgu, ntah-ntah lain pulak yang difahamnya. No..no..no..

Feeding birdies and duckies at the lake in the city park.

A walk in the woods.

On the way ke Coop Konsum (grocery shop) di hujung hutan sebelah sana. Kalau naik bas nak kena tukar bas 2 kali dan perjalanan jadi jauh. So better jalan kaki je la, ikut jalan shortcut, jimat duit tambang bas. hehe..

Spending time playing outside at the playground.

Playing football at nearby school field. They're still fully energized even fast.

Grocery shopping with mommy.

One of their activity at home is playing LEGO.

Solat itu tiang, puasa = dinding, zakat = bumbung dan haji pulak tangga. 

Jadi, kalau puasa kena la solat. Kalau tak macam mana dinding rumah itu nak berdiri.

Dalam rukun Islam, solat nombor 2 dan puasa nombor 3. Jadi, yang mana dulu akan ditanya Allah nanti. 

(My explanation to our kids) 

Mari belajar mengaji.

Definitely we missed all those enjoyable moments throughout Ramadan that we have back in Malaysia. Here in Sweden, we are not able to get together with our parents, families and friends for iftar or suhoor. It is pretty troublesome to break fast at someone's house or at restaurant (already closed) as the breaking time was around 10-ish in the evening. We also missed to join Taraweeh prayer at the mosque. And the most thing that I missed a lot is the beautiful live adhan. 

Fasting in another country with minority Muslim is totally different from Malaysia. There's no family iftar with mom's cooking, Bazar Ramadan, buffet Ramadan, variation of delicious foods, nasi kerabu, nasi kandar, murtabak, satay, ayam percik, kuih-muih and many more. If we're craving for one, I have to made it from scratch. 

Halal meat (chicken, beef and lamb) can be found in many Middle Eastern grocers in Uppsala. Sometimes I also bought chicken (brand Eldorado) from Swedish grocery store, Willy:s.

Yusuuuuf Taiyoooob takde , Maghadi dates pun ok jer.

Sini takde bazar Ramadan jual kuih-muih yang macam-macam jenis. 

Ada jual baklava je kat kedai Arab ni.

Our simple home cook menu for iftar.

We have less than four hours to break fast, perform Maghrib and 'Isha prayers, Taraweeh, suhoor and Subuh prayer. Definitely this making us to be more grateful on what Allah has given to us all this time. Although, we sometimes neglected that priceless long night in blessed month by delay the prayer or go sleeping instead of make time to perform a Tahajjud prayer or Qiyaam-ul-lail. 

There is still a heated debate among Muslim scholars over fasting hours. Some Muslims living in European countries and closer to Arctic circle (like Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland who have to fast for more than 20 hours a day) have raised concerns over whether any exceptions can be made to allow them to fast according to the time in Mecca. 

Based on the fatwa (Islamic ruling) writes by Sheikh Dr. Usama Hasan;

"Those who wish to follow dawn-sunset timings of 18-21 hour fasts and can do so safely, are free to do so."

and... 

"Those who find this genuinely unbearable, or are convinced of the non-literalist approach of "morning to evening" rather than the literalist "dawn to sunset", may wish to fast for 12 or preferably 14-16 hours, beginning from dawn, sunrise or even their usual morning meal (breakfast)." 

Yet according to Imam we referred to in Sweden, a Muslim should fast according to the times of the country they are living in as long as there is visible sunrise and sunsets. 

Regardless of which Islam ruling you are following with, the beauty of Islam is its flexibility. It doesn't matter either you fasting for 13, 18 or 24 hours as long as you believe in what you're doing. May the Almighty accept all our good and lawful wishes. Indeed He knows the secrets of hearts and no one can accept dua's except Him. 

As we enter the last 10 days, the gem of Ramadan, let us intensify our Ibadah. This is our one last chance to multiply our rewards. I will pray from my heart that Allah accept all our good deeds and effort this Ramadan. Please do not forget us in your dua'.

Happy fasting!

Life Abroad in Sweden

Is it just me or does it feel like time is seriously passing by so fast? 

It has been a year since I left my home country and lived abroad. It seems like it was only yesterday that I came to Sweden with my children. Oh man! That means there's only a few months left before we moving back to Malaysia. I can honestly say that I loved and enjoyed every single minute of my time here. 

I never thought I would be in Sweden again. 

Our first trip was in 2003 when Mr. Hubby attended short course programme, Operational Hydrology Course in Norköpping, Sweden. It's just a couple months after we got married and I'm 8 weeks pregnant with my first child. So it can counted as wonderful wedding gift package, honeymoon in Sweden together with tiny baby inside my tummy while learning new things about water technology. Orang tua-tua kata, rezeki anak. 

Picture taken at Nordiska Museet, Stockholm.

Zaman muda remaja time ni, dua-dua tengah kurus kering lagi.. hihi..

And after twelve years, we're in Sweden again with three children. We will living here until end of this year. Living in another country challenges us to learn how to live in a different, grow into more independent and gives us the ability to be a local in amazing cities. I'm forever grateful that through these new experiences, it has broaden our perspectives and open our mind to different opinions and ideas.

I fell in love with Sweden since my first trip and I haven’t changed my mind one bit! I've been fascinated by Swedish culture and lifestyle. The beautiful old buildings and nature, the high importance on the balance and quality of life, free education and health care, good public transport, recycling, safety, walking a few kilometers out of the city, mingle around in the forest, lepaking by the river or lake and of course 'fika' (no more 'teh tarik' for me..)  are the reasons why I am crushing on this wonderful country. 


Personally, I admire Sweden’s approach to the work life balance (the prioritizing between work and lifestyle; health/family/leisure). Yes, I know many of us still struggling on it. I used to have a situation where I have to choose between family and work. What is important to me is not my career success, but the people in my life, my family.

We were never planning to live abroad, but two years ago when Mr. Hubby have been offered to study in Sweden, we decided to jump on the opportunity. So here we are, live together in Uppsala until Mr. Hubby completed his thesis successfully. 

Living in foreign country provides us with novel life experience. From the moment we touched down in Sweden, our life turns into a journey fulled with uncertainty. Things seem don't go exactly as we planned. Besides of high-cost living, we never thought that finding a house to rent in Uppsala would be such a challenge. Seriously, I am not making a joke ya. It is extremely hard to find place to live in Uppsala since thousands of new students move to Uppsala to begin their studies each year. 

For student (fee-paying or scholarships holders) from non EU/ESS countries, the university will help finding a place to live. Unfortunately, due to the high demand for housing, Uppsala University Housing Office could offered us a rented studio apartment for period up to one year only. After that we have to search our own housing.

Our first home in Uppsala was a small studio apartment 

at Student Housing in Eklundshovsvägen

All the stuffs has been packed, but we still have nowhere to go.
At the very last minutes, we received an e-mails from University Housing Office offering 
an emergency housing in Salixvägen, Lilla Sunnersta for two weeks. 

After two weeks stayed at Lilla Sunnersta, we're moved out again. 
Tarik beg dah serupa macam peserta Akademi Fantasia yang tersingkir pulak. Siap galas beg plastik biru Ikea penuh dengan periuk belanga tu. Hahaha..

.
There are different kinds of housing companies to turn to in a way to find accommodation. The largest housing companies in Uppsala are Uppsalahem and Studentstaden. But these housing companies operate a queuing system. So the longer you've been in queue list, the more points you accumulate and you'll be offered when a room becomes available. However, these queues are long and it can take up to 2-3 years of queuing, and by that time Mr. Hubby may finished with his studies. Sighh! We also had tried looking through Studentboet and Heimstaden, sadly nothing available. 

Another quickest (legal) way to find a place is to go through popular Swedish site, blocket.se. This site is entirely in Swedish. So, Google Translate used to be our best-friend. We searched and applied for every apartment we could find on blocket.se. We had sent at least five e-mails a day to various people who were renting out their house. From my view, it might easier to find a room for single than an apartment for family of five like us. 

Last year, we managed to rent an apartment for 10,500 SEK per month for four months. Although knowing that one-bedroom apartment was quite expensive, we had no choice. According to our previous tenant, she received over hundred applications within the first hour after she advertised to rent out her apartment. We're the lucky number one who sent an e-mail first. 

Upon signed a rental agreement, we paid the first's month rent plus three months advance. Total payment was 42,000 SEK which equal to RM 21,000 for four months rental. Mahal gilerrrrr... Alkisahnya, habis duit simpanan kena korek sebab nak buat belanja makan sementara tunggu next elaun sara hidup masuk dalam akaun. 

Our fourth home was at Rosedalsvägen

The apartment is fully furnished.

We used to be homeless in Uppsala but we are grateful to have been blessed with wonderful and loving friends. For a couple of months, we stayed (2 kali menumpang) at our Malaysian friend's house. They have an extra room that could fit us temporarily. 

Stayed at our friend's house at Väktargatan twice. 

Dah la tengah musim sejuk, tempat tinggal pulak takde. Nasib baik ada yang baik hati sudi menumpangkan kami sekeluarga.

On last February, another Malaysian friend subletting their 'first-hand' rental apartment to us. It is because their current tenancy still last until end of July. Alhamdulillah, when we are in a desperate need of help, Allah ease everything. May Allah bless and reward our Malaysian friends for their great efforts of helping. 

And this is our current (fifth) apartment at Dag Hammarskjölds väg.

Most homes in Sweden will include a fridge, freezer, stove and oven. 

Btw, moving houses often is kinda part of our lives here. Since living here in Uppsala (within a year), we have been in five different apartments and moved house at least six times. I'm always a bit worried about our children complaining why we have to move repeatedly. But thankful they seems enjoy this new adventure because we always continue to talk a lot about the move. 

For first time in life, we used public transportation (bus) to move house. 

We took about five trips to clear up everything. Phewww!

Banyak beg tu.. Lari rumah malam-malam ke bang? 

Cool experience.. moving house during snowy winter. Brrrrrr!

All these difficult times happened to us like a great eye-opener and make us realized that we do take for granted on lots of things. So, we need to be grateful for what we have today, because we might not have it tomorrow.

Okay guys... Enough blabbering with our never ending housing stories. Selagi tak balik Malaysia, selagi tu ada je kisah kami pasal rumah sewa di sini. =#@$^@^&%!

After housing, groceries shopping in Sweden is also a bit expensive and eating out at restaurants can take a big chunk out of our budget. The only way to eat cheaply (halal) is cooking our meals at home.  I am not a good cook but living here personally helps me improved my cooking skills. I even try to learn some new recipes. 

I did tried make this popular traditional Swedish confectionery, Chokladboll. 

They are quick and easy to prepare. Chokladbollar often eaten with coffee during fika.

This menu of Kebabtallrik (with soft drink) costs about 75 SEK.

Life is not about being the best, but about giving the best. A year without a full-time job and becoming a temporary stay-at-home-mom was a gift. By staying at home, I was able to focus on our children growth and have more quality time with my family. Furthermore, I also able to give full of attention listening to our children interminable stories and endless questions. Everyday after school, our children always excited to share their activities in school.

I love to take our kids do some outdoor activities like having fun time together playing at the playground, walking through a forest trail or along the river and lake. It is one way to limit my kids' gadget time. Many of Uppsala's playground have exciting themes like Pelle Svanslös (Peter No Tail), fairy world, shipwreck, the jungle, the circus or the farm.

Living in Sweden has changed my family and me (in a positive way). Generally our lifestyle is much healthier now. Since we're living without a car here, walking five miles or more a day has become part of our routine. 

Walking in cold winter (for short distance je la)

I find that it is safer walking or cycling around in Sweden. Most major roads here have clearly marked lanes for pedestrian and bikes. Besides, crosswalks are everywhere and cars will start lower the speed dozens of meters before reaching the crosswalks and stop for pedestrian to cross. 

Bike and pedestrian path in Uppsala

Pedestrian crossing

Along the way living in Sweden, we meet lots of people from around the world and have made some new international friends. It is really nice to indirectly experience different cultures, languages, ideas, beliefs, socialize and so on through them. Our Malaysian friends in Uppsala are the sweetest people and 'like family' to us.

Some of Malaysian students in Uppsala

Alya and Adel's Swedish friends.

Living in another country gives us amazing opportunity of learning a new language. Learning the local language is vital to gain acceptance in society and allows one to experience the culture from within.

Unfortunately, after a year, despite living in Sweden, Mr. Hubby and I still spoke mostly survival Swedish. Most Swedes can speak English fluently, so it put zero effort in learning Swedish. Bila nak pandai kalau macam ni? I think our children speak Swedish much better than us.

Nevertheless, I'm going to keep learning Swedish because it was one of my goals from the moment I stepped off the plane at Arlanda Airport. I think it's a worth and pretty cool if I able to speak another language. I am striving to improve my Swedish, so I enrolled in online course Learning Swedish and Duolingo.

Another best way to enhance my Swedish, I watched Swedish movies or English movies with Swedish subtitles on Netflix. It helps me practicing to pronounce more like Swedish and pick up common words that are often in casual conversation. Besides, I've also watched Youtubers who teach Swedish like TheSwedishLad and GoSwedish. 

Since I enjoy listen to music quite often, I have made a playlist of my favorite Swedish songs playing on Spotify. I think this method is more practical to me because I always paying attention to the lyric. 

Being able to speak little Swedish helps us to travel around Sweden. Until today, we had traveled to Stockholm, Göteborg, Malmö, Enköping, Sigtuna, Gävle, Örebro, Västerås, Borlänge and Karlstad. Travel has always been a passion to both of us, Mr. Hubby and I. Hopefully, once our renewal resident permits ready we might able to travel to other countries in Europe. 

Although living abroad gives us an enriching experience and wish if we could stay in Sweden for a long-term, our heart will always belong to our home country. To be frank, we missed Malaysia and cannot wait to return home. 

Malaysiaaaaa... tunggu kami pulang! (tak lama dah..hehe..)