Number 15

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Tourists and a Turkish merchant near the Blue Mosque.

"Where are you from?"
"Malaysia."
"Oh, Malaysia! I never been to Malaysia. You come three girls only?"
"No, no. We come with friends, family..they are inside the Blue Mosque," answered Mek while pointing to the mosque.
"Brothers? So you are married?!" he suddenly seemed flustered, like he was worried that if we were married, he would be chatting with someone's wife. He was fidgeting as if he wanted to leave at once.
"No. There are brothers, but we are friends. Not married." 
"Not married? Single? Okay. You want to marry?" 
 
We were a bit puzzled by then. We did not reply.

"Malaysia women are very beautiful. And nice. Not like Turkey. Turkey girls not nice. You want to marry?" 
I thought it was funny, so I jokingly asked, "There are three of us here. Which one of us would you like to marry?" 
He seemed all shy and replied, "Fifteen."
"Fifteen??" By then I was starting to think that he had got some psychological thing going on over there.
"Yes, fifteen. One, two, three.." he started to count and point to us, one by one, as he counted. Sure enough, Ms E who sat the farthest ended up as the lucky fifteen. I LOL-ed. This was getting more interesting. Ms E was all red, shaking her head and looking at anywhere other than the place where this weird, handsome guy stood.

"You want to marry her? You don't even know her." I could not help it. I think all of this was funny, I wanted to know what this guy was really thinking about.
"Yes, marry. No girlfriend. Girlfriend haraam."  Wow.
"But you have to come to Malaysia." I provoked.
"I can go to Malaysia. No problem." Erk. He was being serious. However Ms E was already giving the "you're dead" look to me so sadly I had to end the conversation.
"You have to ask her if she wants or not since she is the one you want to marry." Haha. I just had to.
 He looked at Ms E but Ms E hurriedly answered, "No, I don't want. I want to marry a Malaysian."
"Oh. Nevermind then. Thank you. Salam." He left as soon as he got his answer.

Me and Mek laughed hysterically afterwards.
"Hensem kot E, orang Turki pulak tu. Kau tak nak pulak. Beriman lagi. Ha, apa lagi nak?"
"Eeeeiii, tak nak aku. Takut!" 
If only she agreed, we would have a more valid reason to visit Turki again. Haha.

A picture of Ms E inside of the Blue Mosque

It was really weird the way he mentioned fifteen. I mean, why fifteen? Later in the evening when we were walking around Istanbul with other members of the group, I just realised that we had 15 members in total. Ms E was always the last person because she was always preoccupied with something while we were already moving and got left behind. Coincidence? Now that, still remained a mystery.

Istanbul Aku Datang

So I finally went to the cinema after quite some time not being able to. The last movie I watched at the cinema would be...I can't remember, Batman? Kot. Anyway if I'm not mistaken, this is probably my first time watching a Malay movie at the cinema.

Istanbul Aku Datang.

Verdict?
I'll give it..hmm...6.27/10. This is when compared to other Malay movies. Frankly speaking, Tomok & Aizat are better off as singers. Oh I think Lisa is gorgeous. A friend of mine developed a crush on Beto after watching the movie. I did not. Cliché storyline, very much like the korean movies. But I don't mind copycats. I mean, nothing is really original. We are all copies (read: DNA replication). Nothing is 'new'. We usually improvise, or innovate rather than invent, or create. Okay lari tajuk.

I actually went to see it because I want to see Istanbul again. It is a great place. Alhamdulillah I was lucky enough to get to visit Istanbul, although for only a couple of days. Some very interesting things happened during our trip, like, how Mr A suddenly became a celebrity.

You see, apart from his perfectly big, white teeth, Mr A does not usually stand out. So when this beautiful Turkish girl approached us just to get a photo with him, we were honestly surprised. Like, wth, seriously? We thought that girl had a weird preference, but it did not end there. I was walking with Mr A to go back when two kids approached him and asked for a photo. So I had to be their photographer. What lah. I did not stand out in Malaysia, and apparently not even in Istanbul. Seems like I have to travel more. Haha. Here's the photo I took.

Mr A and fans. 

Oh what is even more interesting, the Turks really look up to UIA students. When they heard that we came from Malaysia, most of them would asked us if we were from UIA and they'd be all excited. I wonder why.

Moving on to the next exciting event, an almost-love story, if I may say, happened to Ms E. Ms E, me and Mek were just chilling out in front of beautiful Blue Mosque, facing Haghia Sophia when a Turkish guy came towards us. He was wearing a white jubah with a white turban and carried a black leather bag. His features were like a typical "ustaz", except that he looked quite young. I'm guessing he must have been 21, 22 or 23, top. Did I mention that he was handsome? He was very fair, and shiny(?). Sparkling, perhaps? But not the Edward Cullen type. 

Haghia Sophia

Blue Mosque

Standing a couple of metres from where we sat, the guy greeted us. 

"As salamu alaykum, (something something)..arabiya?" I'm guessing it was regarding our language. 

Shaking our heads in reply, 

"Waalaikumsalam. No." (p/s: I really want to learn Arabic though, someone please teach me!)

"English?"

"Yes," all three of us nodded. 

"I know little English." 

We were getting a bit uncomfortable since, well, he was a stranger and we had no idea what was his intention. But he looked harmless and considering that he was alone and there were 3 of us, and that we were in a public place, we spared some time to hear what he had to say. 

To be continued later when I am in the mood. Haha. 

Old habits die hard

Very. 

Defective heart

"Kalau hati kita indah, kita akan sentiasa melihat keindahan. Sebaliknya kalau hati rosak, keindahan tidak akan ketara, sekalipun sudah tampak di depan mata. Atau kita mungkin akan mudah bosan dengan apa yang ada lalu mula mencari lagi. Percayalah, orang yang rosak hatinya akan menjadi pemburu kecantikan yang fatamorgana!” - an acquaintance

There's something wrong with mine. 

I'm going to try to fix it. 

Till the day comes. 

See you. 

The best

On my next posting;

"Doa lah aku dapat kampung halaman."
"Aku doakan hang dapat yang terbaik, kat mana tu tak pasti."

How sweet.

Aku selalu lupa. What we want may not be what we need. We always have this vision/goal/target set as the perfect outcomes we would want to have, of which we think would be the best definition of success or accomplishment for ourselves.

But we are merely humans. With that little, limited knowledge that we have, we can't say for certain that what we wish for are the best for us. We won't know. Scary, no?

This is when faith comes in.

Trust Him, He knows best. He's the best planner. 

Tapi tak boleh goyang kaki je jugak. We should always go for what we want, do our best and yes, pray.

"Ya Allah, jika ini (/dia) yang terbaik untukku, Kau permudahkanlah." 

"Istikharahlah," said a friend.

I've never done solat istikharah before. I'm pretty sceptic, you see. It's not that I don't trust the method, I just don't trust myself. From what I know, istikharah is best done when you don't have any tendency towards either end of the decision (read: bias).

But I will try, insyaAllah.

May every choice I make get me closer to You.

Sacrifices

Are necessary.

But to what extent?

Raya rambles

It has been more than one month since I last wrote something. I started this post with nothing in mind, hoping something will come up eventually. Today is the third day of Raya. I woke up a bit late than the previous days, as I have nothing planned. Checked the tweets, nothing interesting. Checked facebook, even more boring. Raya posts are everywhere. I have event invitations that I have yet to reply, for fear that I will disappoint them. I am most likely unable to attend their weddings. It can't be helped. I am stuck up here while most of my friends are down south. Every year, without fail, my dad will state the obvious: "Kakyang je yang kawan tak datang raya kan." Sigh. What can I do? I've got friends all around the world, but very few are from this hometown of mine.

***********

Today is 6 Syawal. I planned to get on with my neverending work but I ended up spending the day with my adorable nephew. Sis and BIL are going back tomorrow. I'm going to miss my nephew. Oh yesterday a few male colleagues came beraya at my house, (making it a total of 4 guests this raya) Sis: "Asyik lelaki je datang raya ni. Semua nak mengorat kau ke." Contrary to my sister's ridiculous assumption, not every guy I know would like to date me. Girl-school problem: Tak ada kawan lelaki, bising, takut lesbo. Ada kawan lelaki, bising jugak. Haih. I used to enjoy the attention I get from guys (assuming there is any). But that was then. Zaman kegedikan, zaman jahiliah. Haha. I love flirting because it is undeniably fun, but now I know better not to. I am not fond of the attention anymore, to the point where I find them annoying. I actually make an effort to keep a low profile. I thought it won't be hard, for someone as ordinary and regular looking as myself. I soon realised though, it was not that easy.

Firstly, I have to go against myself. I like fun, beautiful things. So naturally, I like dressing up. I like fashion. But I can't overdo it as it can initiate those unwanted attention. Tabarruj is a no-no. Google if you don't know what that means.

Secondly, it's my mother. She does not like it when I wear dull clothings, "Does not suit your age," she said. The multicoloured baju kurung she bought me this Raya said it all. I think she is kind of worried since I always look messy and unpresentable, I will probably keep away potential candidates and end up forever alone.

Thirdly, it's the age. I am at the stage where, how should I put this, if we were in the animal kingdom, this age would be the mating season. Everyone is either seeking for a partner, courting or settling down and expanding the brood. Those looking for a mate will be more alert of their surroundings and will probably notice anything that moves, despite our best effort to be invisible.

Fourth, the environment. Should I work in a big hospital in Selangor or KL or Johor, I can probably get away as a silent, forgettable face. But my current hospital is a small one, and since I am not from around there, with my fake Utagha accent, it is hard to get away unnoticed.

Okay, lets be real. I don't want to be invisible, not to that extent, no. I want to be noticed, but for the right reasons and by the right people. Some of you may misunderstood my point here. I am not saying I'm like a popular face ke apa, geez, if I am that attractive I'd be married by now. Haha. No, I am still the ugly betty you guys know.

Rather than avoiding unnecessary attention (there really isn't any, at the moment, if you guys are wondering), I think this is more about myself trying hard not to succumb to the need to impress people. The more I think about it, the more I realised that perhaps I should just try to focus on getting His attention, by then I will probably won't even notice or be bothered by these trivial things.

My grammar is horrible. Too lazy to proofread though.