currently in a mood of listening to reggae music

guess im still not over this. i was recently been away for 11 days to a slightly remote area in Simunjan. i was living in an Iban village called Kg Kedumpai. it was a field course for our second semester (wow second semester already *gasping), also a joint field course with Copenhagen Univ, i think i had mentioned this in my previous post. so, there are 5 selected villages; Kedumpai Tekalong Semalatong Kesindu and Empili. so my group was assigned to go to Kedumpai. each group is a group of 9-10 people, 4 of Unimas students (excluding 2 interpreters) and 6 of KU students. i had a great time there. the village folks were very nice very welcoming and excited that we come to their village. the population is small, but even so, there are 4 headmen in that kampung. having more than 1 tuai rumah is a unique case, so it has become one of our interest in our study, along with our main interest which is to identify the livelihood strategies of the people in Kg Kedumpai.

we were staying in one of the headman's house. he is living in the house with his wife. their children are all working in the city. one of their in-laws is a Sabahan and a Dusun from Kota Belud, and some of the people there also married to a Sabahan (and Dusun), so the tuai rumah and his wife often introduced me to the villagers as 'Si Sabah' rather than 'Si Melayu' (which i am not, but people in Sarawak usually called any muslim as Melayu). one time during the minister's visit, he introduced me and saying like 'orang kitai bak menua lain' something like that la (meaning: orang kita juga ini tp dari tempat lain). on our first day, we were welcomed with 'ngajat' and 'joget'. it is a tradition of Iban people. afterwards, we had our lunch. since i was the only muslim in there (thats what i thought), i had an issue whether to eat or not (but it would be impolite to not eat what they had served), then suddenly a group of aunty2 and kakak2 came to me and said 'makai2, anang takut nadai jani ditu'. i love the people in there, they respect me even i was the only muslim (thats what i thought). one day, our cook wants to cook ayam kampung masak kacangma, so i thought i cant eat it because of course ayam kampung itu tidak di sembelih cara Islam. then suddenly our guide came to me and said 'jangan ragu2 makan ayam ini, saya muslim, saya kahwin dengan melayu tapi isteri saya sudah meninggal dan saya balik ke kampung ini sebab mau menjaga tanah pusaka kami' soo, i was not the only muslim there.

on the evening we had our informal transect walk around the living area. later that day, we had our discussion to plan what to do on the next day, task delegation and recap from what we have learn. i can say that i was a lil bit "cultural shocked" with how the orang putih conduct their work. they are so serious and overall we had such long hours spent just on the discussion. making decision is.. i say.. it is hard for them, its complicated. it is so different from how we usually make our decisions. it is almost impossible to reach a consensus. one time, two of our teammates were almost fight with each other because of the opposite opinions. but, overall, i am so glad with my teammates at least we were having less of drama like some groups.

we included both social and natural science methods to conduct this study, but we had exclude the questionnaire approach for this study. tbh i still a bit blur with what the hell actually we were doing. haha. most of the time, my job is a note-taker since they said i was good at it because i can listen to iban language and i can directly jot the info without waiting for the translator to translate from iban to english. almost everyday we went into the forest/crop fields *which i like*, even it was tiring. on our last night there, we had a little farewell party, invited the folks to come over, they had some drinks, the iban introduced their liquor to the orang putih and then the orang putih also have brought theirs, we play some games, we dance, and had a little feast. it was fun :')

even though during the trip i said i cannot wait to go home, but on our last day before we leave the kampung, i was reluctant to accept the fact that we're done, especially when seeing the aunty2 menangis when we were saying goodbye to them. 'datai baru' they said T.T

oh..i miss the moments already

im not in a good shape right now. current weight is 52kg but i dont feel good because not doing workout for days. i dont feel fit, and not feeling fit is baaad. i currently am enjoying my semester break. really? am i really enjoying? definitely absolutely no. why? because one day i received an email from my lecturer telling that on 15th (yest) there would have a meeting regarding to the field course and on 16th (today) should be the proposal presentation. whattt? hey we dont expect any meeting/class on semester break, come on! lucky for me i was not the only person who is absent haha. next week i will be at kuching and will start to get busy to get ready for the field course at simunjan, with the danish student counterparts. there are 6 of them so we will be a group of 10. i hope they are nice.

we had 3 days stayed out field trip last weekend. we stayed at unimas training center hostel located at Bau. we were assigned into groups. the first day of the trip which was on friday, we had classes the whole day, from 9am-9pm, given 1 hour for lunch and 1 hour for dinner. the second day, we left the hostel to somewhere near serikin particularly prof's kebun, to do the practicals on soil sampling, water quality and forest inventory. these three activities we have to mastered it so that we will be able to do it our own later on for our next 10 days field trip on march. my groups managed to finished the practicals early, so we were assigned to do the veggies chopping and preparing for the BBQ night. i made "lada", or people in here called it sambal cili. i never tested it because i doubt prof's barang dapur to be used for non-halal foods, i even dont eat from the bbq except i ate banyak rambutan that night. a senior of cohort 11 came that night, he is also prof's good friend, he said "i dont know who make this chilli but she really knows how to make it" and the class pointed their finger at me. i considered it as a compliment *kembang hidung* :)) the last day we went to kampung gumbang, i dont know how far the kampung from our hostel but i assumed it is very far from town, it is located next to kalimantan only separated by mountains. the uncle from the kampung brought us to the boundary sign within the forested mountain. you know i love forest, i love trekking. i followed the uncle from behind and the next thing we know we were always a bit far ahead from the rest of the class. my classmates, even the uncle keep asking me why am i so fast, how did i managed to walk in the forest with mud, slippery rocks without falling and all. and them whom behind me and the uncle always keep telling us to slow down. the uncle said to me,teasing, "pandai kamu jalan dalam hutan, boleh kawin orang gumbang ni". and the uncle also told mr kelvin our lecturer, "dia ni jalan dalam hutan sangat kreatif, memang orang gunung" -.- hahahha

this saturday is our last paper for this semester and then we will have semester break. i cannot believe first semester is coming to an end already :') and even we have 3 weeks break, i thought i can enjoy the break without thinking or doing anything academically, when actually i must be prepared for the next field trip which will be held a week after the sem 2 begin. and tidak boleh main2 because this field trip, actually it is called field course, we will going for it with the danish students, if you dont want to look stupid in front of the danish, better be ready with knowledge and information, not only with the tools and equipment.

Salam Maulidur Rasul. hi.

as i grew older i have learned many things. the problem is i do not know how to use the information (like statistics that we've learned in class previously). life is never fair. i never felt being treated fairly even it is just a small matter. in order to be treated fairly, you need to earn it. and some people need to do absolutely nothing but yet the world, life is fair to them. you see what i am trying to imply?

but, dont lose faith yet. Allah Maha Adil. He is the reason im still alive. He knew what i really want and what i dont know what i really want. dalam berdoa, meminta dariNya banyak2, saya jadi malu ketika berdoa sebab kebaikan yg telah saya lakukan terlalu sedikit untuk meminta lebih daripadaNya, namun Dia lebih suka akan hambaNya yg sentiasa berdoa T_T

hi happy 2014

actually it was a tradition to post a new year entry filled with last year summaries and new year resolutions but i was too lazy to update my blog.

so, to summarized 2013, it was a good year. i had achieved some of my resolutions i made earlier in 2013 i.e be a 50 kilos baby, i once had a job for 5 months, i graduated with not so good pointer but at least qualified me to further my study (now) but in different field from my degree background. so far those are what i achieved. i never learn how to make doughnuts, i still had no chance to climb mt kinabalu, im still socially awkward in public, i dont used my 5 months salaries for braces, annnnnd still have no boyfriend.

so whats my new year resolutions? idk. havent thought of any to add on the list. just to complete my obsession to be fitter. what about love? i am 24yo this year and always single, and i dont want to say something like 'i am ready for love'. nooo thats bullshit in my dictionary. my real focus this year is to respect my body more and focus on my study and to grad next year, on february with a good grades. god willing.

im in the third phase on 90days challenge currently, today is day 4. will talk about this challenge later on. kalau rajin lah.