Iftar Picnic and Etc. September 29, 2008

Finally, the last weekend of Ramadhan has just passed. On both Friday & Saturday Iftar were spent with friends. On Friday we were invited by Fasha & Syam for bukak posa at their place. The menu was sup tulang, sambal udang, pecal, ayam/ikan/ketam/sotong bakar.  I brought my bread pudding and others brought lots of kuih including seri muka, agar2 milo kastad, kuih talam, cucur bawang and not forgeting the special puding raja, a first try by our host. Hmmm ber-round round makan akhirnya.

On Saturday, the gang decided to have a potluck Iftar at the Corniche. Weather was quite pleasant, takde la berpeluh. As agreed, everyone brought one dish to be eaten with nasi putih. Hubby teringin makan mandi lamb, so we had planned to tapau from a restaurant which was highly recommended by his Qatari friend. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, dah licin.. So we went on to the second restaurant in the list, but again disappointed that it wasn’t mandi lamb but cooked in a different way with spices & some gravy. As expected, banyak giler food. Gang2 bujang pun came with KFC, and all sorts of food. After eating picnic style and solat in the park, the kids were engrossed with roller blades, skateboard, scooter & bike. And so the parents continued eating and chatting.

It was a fun weekend except for kejadian yang tak diingini at the public toilet. Malas nak cerita panjang, suffice to say, another typical minah penjaga toilet yang tak sedar diri tu datang dari mana, cuba nak tengking & halau we Malaysians. Silap la, don’t mess with me, siap call manager dia to complain. Deport dia balik kampung karang baru tau.

Persiapan Raya September 25, 2008

Raya is only a week away. One after another of our friends have left Doha to spend Raya back in Malaysia. This will be our family’s second consecutive Eid thousands of miles away from our other family members. And our first Eid in Qatar. I have no idea what Raya is gonna be like here. In Oman, it was a really cozy get-together as we were very close to 4-5 other families whom we did most of our activities with. But over here, the community is so big that they tend to form their own cliques. Apart from those few friends and their families who have welcomed us with open arms, the rest are quite happy to stay within their own crowds.

Persiapan raya will never be the same when you are abroad. Takde Jalan TAR and Kompleks PKNS to shop for raya goodies, takde irritating but festive sounds of mercun, semua serba takde. Tapi baju raya tetap wajib. This year we will be parading around town with our made-in-Dubai baju kurung and baju melayu. Everyone except Myisha who had special delivery baju kurung from her TokMi in Klang. Our baju2 raya arrived in Doha from Dubai last weekend. Not bad tailoring dia, and believe it or not the tailoring cost me much less than my regular tailor kat Shah Alam.

This weekend nak gi beli barang2 dapur for the looked forward once a year Raya dishes. Dah start search recipe biskut raya, al maklum saje lah, all this while kuih tunjuk je. Hopefully berjaya projek kuih raya kali ni.

Our front neighbour has put on lampu kelip2 since Ramadhan started. Siap buat shape lampu Aladdin lagi, over la pulak. I was trying to coax Hubby to get those lampu lip-lap as well to get into the festive mood, but he was quite reluctant, paham2 saje community kat sini, tak pasal2 rumah Melayu disangka kicap pulak.

The bad news is, business plan tak siap lagi arrgghh! Walaupun the mind is all set for raya, work demands hinggalah the last day of puasa.. sambil dengar lagu raya berkumandang..

Hepi Besday My Significant Other September 24, 2008

Today, 24th September, is my Hubby’s birthday, exactly ten days after mine. Not much celebration during this holy month of Ramadhan – just the traditional family birthday dinner, for the kids’ sake. A sumptuous Western dinner which left everyone senak perut sebab makan banyak sangat.. We were also joined by Khairul as his farewell treat before he leaves Doha for good this Friday.

So Dear Hubby, many happy returns of the day. Another year older, another year wiser nonetheless.. Well anyway, you got your birthday present one month early this time around – I’m sure you love it coz you chose it yourself! Last but not least, semoga dipanjangkan umur, dimurahkan rezeki and happiness till eternity. I am often lost for words when it comes to this sort of situation, but no one knows me better than you.. Love you sayang..

The one about budgets & forecasts September 21, 2008

OMG I am so the very the stressed today. My Business Unit budget is way overdue thanks to the late submission of forecasts from the other business units. Getting tons of reminders from the finance people didn’t help either. Made me more edgy. To top it all, the people who did the budget last year did not leave any models behind so my team of planners had to do everything from scratch. The revenue projections have been completed. This had little dependencies from other departments and so it was pretty smooth going. A matter of analysing the historical traffic patterns, finetuning the assumptions on market growth and factoring in the loss of market share plus potential price drop. But when it comes to the capex and opex projections, this is where the mess is. Yang buat capacity forecast dah keje kat this company berpuluh tahun, tapi the word forecast probably means something else to him. Ada ke patut, senang2 je ambik the existing capacity and increase it by a certain percentage without studying the traffic profile. Camtu kerani cabuk pun bole buat. No thoughts put into it at all, apatah lagi strategy. Penat2 la kitorang from business side ni painstakingly meng forecast each top 20 destinations and cost of sales. Database of existing costs incurred pun takde. How the hell do they track the payments made and for what services? And they call themselves capacity planners? Ish ish ish…

Unlike the organizations which I have worked for before in which every little budget needs to be justified, kat sini, key in je amount yang kita nak dalam template ni. A one-liner justification can suffice even without full working calculation to show how that value was derived. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of those values were plucked from the sky. And, the budget does not even have to go with key initiatives. What the heck if the investment isn’t gonna generate new revenues. We’re a cash rich company aren’t we? Wakey wakey, let’s not forget that competition is coming soon and we need to be more cost efficient!

It has been 8 months since I got here and I’m still getting used to all this. Maybe I should just let those million dollar consultants do the job like the rest of the people in my company and goyang kaki. Tak yah nak pening2 kepala.. But you know and I know that I’m just not the type of person who can let go of her responsibilities and live in peace. It will haunt me if I chose to do that. Even last night I was having nightmares of the incomplete budget!

Wish me luck people, I’m a survivor…

Iftar Weekend Frenzy September 20, 2008

This weekend has been filled with Iftar get-togethers. On Friday, we invited our friends over for Iftar at our place. Three of our close friends will be leaving Doha for good this coming week - two of my colleagues King & Atuq and Hubby’s office mate Khairul, who is also our neighbour. So this makan2 was like a farewell for them as well. The RG crowd sponsored most of the seafood BBQ i.e. udang & ketam bakar as well as satay, while we prepared ikan bakar with air asam, nasi putih and simple lauk pauk. Didn’t have enough time to make too many kuih, just popiah, pulut seri kaya and agar2 marble. Loly brought teh tarik and her special cupcakes – they were sooo beautifully decorated with little rainbows & butterflies, sampai sayang nak makan. My neighbour Zu brought pudding with custard sauce, my new friend Ima brought homemade donuts, Noreen with her bubur jagung, Nadia with arabic sweets & choc cake and fruits from the others. Semua licin. Sorry guys kalau ada apa2 yang tak cukup…

After makan & solat maghrib, the guys went off to solat terawih while the mummies had to entertain their kids at the swimming pool. After terawih, one more round of makan, several rounds of billiard at the clubhouse and the short but must-have karaoke session by the accused ‘pare’2..

Saturday, another round of makan2 organized by the warga Indon & Malaysia of the Coliseum Compound, potluck style. Since I missed the housewifey meeting that they had in order to plan this, I was only assigned with the easiest task – drinks. The Indonesian women cooked yummy dishes to go with nasi putih while the Malaysian women brought kuih-muih. Sedap betul lauk diorang!

An interesting weekend no less, as by next weekend most Malaysian Doha residents will be safely back home in Malaysia for Raya, except us. Uwahhhh!!!

Cebu Trip September 15, 2008

In case anyone was wondering where I was last week, I was in Cebu for 4 days to attend a carriers event cum bilateral meetings. This event is the Asian version of a similar event which I attended in Washington DC last June. A must-attend for those in the wholesale international business within the telco industry.

Left Doha at 1.40am Tuesday and arrived Cebu after the 9.5 hours flight. The first thing that struck me when we landed was how green this country is – it almost felt like home. Definitely a nice change as compared to un-green Doha. But as we drove past through the jalan2 kampung in the island of Mactan towards my hotel, I realized that it’s not like Malaysia after all as I could see kehidupan rakyat yang susah di sebuah negara yang tak semaju negara kita. And right smack in this kampung, tiba2 ada 5-star resort, where my meetings took place. Lebih kurang macam kat Cherating, resort ni. Great view of the sea, coconut trees lining up the shores, cool breeze blowing. Hmm, a quick and short escape from steamy Doha is good once in a while. Tapi bila pandang kiri kanan penuh dengan Pinoy, eh, rasa macam kat Doha la pulak..

The whole event was organized in a casual manner. The organizer displayed great hospitality, slotting in golf, spa, island hopping and sailing in between the meetings. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to join any of them as my schedule was full with meetings. Sponsored dinners were provided on all three days for the participants. However, after joining the welcome dinner on the first nite, I decided I would rather skip the partying and networking in place of ‘real’ food. It was a good experience though, as the ambience was really festive, with colorful cultural dances and all.

As with other telco events, sure lah jumpa member2 from Malaysia. So the next two nights were spent with the gals eating seafood for dinner and shopping for souvenirs. On the last day, after checking out from the hotel, sempat lagi pergi Spa. Wah, imagine, dah setahun lebih tak buat facial. Co-incidentally, the Spa also uses the same product as the salon that I used to go to in KL, memang tak boleh miss lah. One hour of back massage and facial is definitely a treat! Last but not least, back to Doha in time for my birthday eve.

Happy Birthday To Me! September 14, 2008

 

Back To School September 8, 2008

Yesterday 7th September 2008, school re-opens for the 2008/2009 academic year. Some schools in Doha have started last week, but the Doha Montessori & British School (DMBS) started yesterday. Kids were excited to go back to school after lepak-ing at home for over two months. Their lives during school break were made up of repetitious rounds of Hannah Montana, swimming, PS2 and internet games, not necessarily in that order.

DMBS is located only 7km away from our house. Only 10 minutes ride. But so much hassle to get a driver to fetch them to and from school everyday. At the very last minute i.e. two days before school started, we managed to find someone who is willing to take up this transportation arrangement. Unlike most other schools, DMBS does not provide school bus. Nak buat camna, anak2 mat salleh semua di chauffeur driven by their housewife mummies.

Dina is in Year 5, the kids in her class all look so grown-up. During my quick glance I also noticed that there are only a handful of girls in her class, majority are boys. Only a few students from her old Year 4 class, according to Dina. I hope she can cope well. Myisha is in Year 1. Most of her classmates are from her old Reception class, so she seemed fine. As you all know, Myisha normally takes some time to ‘warm up’ but hopefully she can increase her socializing skills this year. Last but not least, Ikhwan, is in Reception. The Reception classes in DMBS are fully equipped with all kinds of toys you can think of, and the classroom is so huge. So yup, I think Ikhwan will be ok too. Only this time around, his class is located far away from Myisha and Dina’s, at a totally new wing which just opened this year. Good news for the kids is that the swimming pool is finally ready, so they are already looking forward to swimming class, what with their newly acquired swimming skills. Ada additional facilities baru lah justify bayar fees mahal2. One thing good about DMBS is that all its teachers are mat salleh. Only teaching assistants ada berbangsa non-caucasian. Somehow, this factor memang diorang betul2 maintain.

Ramadhan Week 1 September 6, 2008

Syukur alhamdulillah, 6 Ramadhan days have passed by smoothly. The weather in Qatar isn’t getting any cooler, but i guess that’s part of the dugaan. Office hours for Hubby are 7am-12noon, so he’s normally home by 1.30pm. For me, I’m normally home not later than 3pm. This gives me ample time to cook. In fact, on the first day of Ramadhan, punyalah berkobar, lepas Asar at 3pm dah start masak, lepas Iftar terus flat. So now I tend to take it a little bit easier. Menu for the first week ni, bole tahan jugak. Everyday, I will make sure ada at least 1-2 jenis kuih – one sweet and one savory, and kalau sempat, one non-rice dish in addition to lauk-pauk. So far for Week 1 for the kuih muih category dah buat seri muka, roti john, popia, dadih, kastad jagung, bubur kacang, putri mandi, sardin puff, keledek goreng, hmmm not bad kan..? Seronok pulak masak bulan puasa ni.

Dina has successfully puasa while Myisha is still struggling on her half day attempts. Waking them up for sahur however, is rather challenging. Kelas mengaji has gone on as normal during Ramadhan with slight change in timing. And tomorrow once school starts I hope the kids will not give up. Over the weekend we took all 3 kids to terawih at our next door mosque where their ustaz mengaji works / lives. I am glad they loved their first terawih experience amongst the Qataris. Even Ikhwan was well behaved.

The menu for Week 2 is all set in my head, unfortunately I’m off on a business trip for 5 days next week. So I guess it’ll be boring hotel food for me next week..

Merdeka! September 1, 2008

Selamat menyambut hari kemerdekaan yang ke-51. I know this entry is one day late, nak buat camna, yesterday was a working day, and the evening was spent at the so-called Merdeka celebration at the Embassy berserta solat terawih.

The Merdeka event at Embassy was uneventful, to say the least. Last two months, Embassy organized sambutan keputeraan DYMM Agung. It came as no surprise that the flow of the function went similarly. Apart from the kibarkan jalur gemilang of course. First the speeches, then doa selamat, then cake cutting. Creative la sikit. And eventhough the dresscode was batik, only 10% of the men were in batik. Typical of these people tak reti nak respect dresscode, and I bet half of them did not RSVP. But nevertheless, kudos to the organizers for making the effort, unlike that other Embassy in the GCC country where we used to live.. hint!hint!

Sempena Ramadhan yang bermula hari ini, the function yesterday included solat terawih dan tazkirah. It is always a nice feeling to be able to solat berjemaah with fellow Malaysians when you are overseas. Almost rasa cam kat Malaysia. Teringal lak zaman study kat US dulu, solat terawih dengan pelbagai bangsa kat the designated university mosque – a bungalow house turned into a mosque. Iftar with dates and fresh milk and followed by yummy briyani…

Ok now, back to work. It’s 8.55am now and official hours during Ramadhan is 9am-2pm. What exactly can get done in 5 hours??