Friday 19 October 2007

Mengorak Langkah

Img_4762_1



Aku menghayun langkah demi langkah. Adakala memandang ke belakang, melihat jejak-jejak bekas yang tertinggal. Walaupun sudah lebih sebulan aku disini, namun bulan puasa baru saja berlalu. Kehidupan selepas bulan puasa agak berbeza. Jika sebelum ini aku jarang masak kecuali untuk bersahur, tetapi kini aku terpaksa masak setiap kali tiba waktu makan.



Aku memang selesa menjalani ibadah puasa disini. Cuaca yang nyaman dingin sekitar 8-14 darjah Celcius sememangnya tidak meletihkan. Cuma kadang-kadang letih disebabkan berulang-alik mendaki tangga ke tingkat 5 untuk balik ke bilik. Terutama pada hari basuhan dimana aku terpaksa turun-naik berulang kali untuk membasuh dan kemudian menukar basuhan ke mesin pengering. Adakala aku mengambil masa melelapkan mata seminit dua sementara menanti waktu berbuka puasa.



Hampir setiap hari aku berbuka di Dundee Mosque. Mungkin kerana lebih mudah, aku tidak perlu menyediakan sebarang juadah berbuka. Dan semestinya, aku tidak perlu mengeluarkan sebarang belanja. Biasanya di masjid aku akan berbuka bersama-sama pelajar-pelajar Malaysia yang lain yang rata-ratanya mengambil jurusan perubatan. Abang Bob, calon PhD juga selalu datang bersama-sama tiga orang anaknya yang masih kecil. Kesemua anak-anak Abang Bob hanya tahu berbahasa Inggeris. Aku pernah melihat mereka menonton animasi berbahasa Malaysia, tetap mereka langsung tak faham apa yang diperkatakan.  Tetapi aku tertawa apabila mendapati mereka memahami dengan baik loghat Terengganu yang berbentuk arahan digunakan Abang Bob terhadap mereka.



Kadang-kadang Ustaz Amin juga hadir sama. Ustaz Amin merupakan Presiden Kesatuan Melayu Dundee. Beliau telah selesai memperoleh PhD, dan kini hanya menanti isterinya, Kak Fa yang juga dalam proses menyiapkan PhD. Pernah satu hari, ada satu juadah sampingan disediakan yang dipanggil sweet rice. Dek kerana mahu mencuba, aku ambil separuh pinggan. Ustaz Amin dan Abang Bob bertanyakan aku tentang rasanya. Mereka tertawa apabila aku menjawab “cannot go”, yakni terjemahan terus dari istilah ‘toklih gi’(tak boleh pergi) dalam dialek Kelantan. Rasanya sangat manis sehingga aku tak termampu menghabiskannya. Mungkin itu kali terakhir aku menikmati sweet rice. Toksir doh.



Tugasan yang aku terima semakin bertambah. Sedikit sebanyak menyebabkan aku bertambah sibuk. Namun, kadang-kadang ada juga sedetik dua aku terkenangkan tanah air serta orang-orang disana. Tetapi sesungguhnya amat berbeza jika dibandingkan dengan waktu ketika aku mula-mula sampai dahulu. Mungkin, aku kini sudah terjumpa sebahagian besar dari istilah settle down yang aku cari-cari sebaik menjejakkan kaki di tanah Dundee.







*pict1-Dundee Mosque(yang kubah macam cendawan)



Img_4768_1 *pict2-me inside the university

Thursday 11 October 2007

Check Point

The time moves faster day by day. Now, it’s been a month I’m here, in Dundee, UK. It’s been a month I left RU Jalan Pekeliling, I left USM, I left Penang, and left Malaysia. A month isn’t a short period of time. Lots of things happen as the clock turns from second to seconds, minute to minutes, hour to hours, completing a day. Let me write that happen since last month. But I prefer to begin with the part where I was in Malaysia, prepared to make my first international flight.



Penang International Airport



I felt overwhelmed when there were lots of people, gathered together and wishing me the best of luck. Apart of my own family and Upi’s family, my Kelana USM fellows, members of RU Jalan Pekeliling, Abang Zubir and Pak Wahyu, and some other fellas also join the team. It’s the only moment since I will never meet them anymore because some of them will no longer stay in Penang especially the USM students, after their graduation. Thanks a lot to those people who hold their effort to come. The flight departure 10 minutes late and arrived KLIA about an hour later.



KLIA



It’s a huge airport. I moved my steps faster; I don’t want to be late although it’s still early. In the mean time, I had received a phone call from Cikgu Asuar and still manage to reply some final SMS. I met Kak Na (RLKA USM), together with her baby and hubby, as we’re going to take off on the same plane. I felt blank, couple of minutes, the last time I’m in Malaysia; 11.45p.m, 10th September 2007.



Heathrow, London.



The plane arrived at 7a.m. (local time), 11th September2007. Here, it’s huger and even complicated, plus the security check that required the passenger to take off their shoes, shows the x-ray report and bla bla bla... I’ve made it and then took of another plane, left London to another place; Edinburgh.



Edinburgh.



I reached Edinburgh about 11a.m. With the big luggage, I took a bus that then bring me to Edinburgh Waverley, a train station. This will be the first time I make my journey using a train, since I never had any experience even when I was in Malaysia. But exception gives to the LRT. The train took more than an hour to reach Dundee.



Dundee Train Station



The journey almost completed when I reached the station. I felt relief a bit because Abang Zaidi (who I’d never met before) will fetch me. As I saw a man, holding a baby girl approaching the station, I waved my hand through the air and he replied the same. Well, it’s not that difficult to recognise a Malaysian outside of Malaysia. I reached the university’s residential college about 2p.m., left all the stuff then went to Ustaz Amin house to have some food and rest.



End of part 1...

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