Those were some of the reactions that I received when I told people when I got a job at Jobstreet.com. Surprisingly, I did not expect to get the post as I'm just a literally 22 year old, fresh graduate with zero working experience. But, when it comes to rezeki and God, everything is possible to happen :)

The interview session was tough, actually, it was very tough. After enduring 15 days to wait for the confirmation, finally I got a phone call from the HR Department of Jobstreet.com office asking me to sign my contract and settle other stuff. And yes, I got a job to write/create advertisements at Jobstreet.com :)


Day 1: It was daunting. There were 8 of us for the September intake and all 7 of them are those who used to work at many different places except for me, a fresh graduate. And I was the only Malay inside the Orientation Room...see how awkward it was?


We were given briefing and a lot of information about the history, vision and mission of Jobtsreet.com. It was actually really funny as I didn't expect to work at Jobstreet :p But this company is internationally recognized so I feel honoured to be a part of this team.

Like seriously I never thought that I survived UIA.

Not only the crazy and unsystematic systems, some lecturers which were so difficult to please, shitty used to be friends and I SURVIVED  ALL OF THEM #hamdolellah

Allah has been very nice to me, family been supportive as ever, and some friends who remain with me till the end are the ones to help me to survive this path.

Anyway, after we received our result back in June, I guess..we received our invitation card for the uni's 30th convocation ceremony in 12th of October.

Just a day before my convocation day, me and my friends had our so-called convocation photoshoot at Lake Garden, KL. It feels so good to hang out with old, and awesome friends after few months of being apart.

Hallo everyone, my lovely readers,

I've finally decided to continue on writing my blog. This is because:

a) This blog gives me some sentimental value in it-which I do cherish
b) and I realized that my writing skills have gone bad (which includes my grammar skills and etc) :p
c) AND I MISS MY BLOG :P

So, unlike the previous posts which mostly focusing on my rants and complaints as a student of my university (which I've started to forget just after I finished my final exam paper) (and I do realized how grumpy and negative I was in the past-omg), the blog posts after this will be focusing on my life as a career woman hehehehehe as I just graduated and got myself a job with a company that I do not expect to be working with :)

Anyway, enjoy wasting your time to read about my boring life... just like back in 2009 (omg that was like centuries ago!!) and happy reading!!

Yours sincerely,
Arnis :)

After been enduring all sort of pains for the past 5 years, yay, finally, I managed to get out of UIA with my degree hehehe!!

Before I officially graduated from my university this June, I'm telling myself to enjoy every moment of my final semester holidays. Yes, I kind of missing my friends (but not UIA definitely) but having 3 weeks off WITHOUT studying and doing something is something that I'll miss in the future.

So how do I spent my holidays?

I started the day early by sending Mak to school, sometimes I went to Taman Rekreasi Tampin for jogging and tai-chi, having my breakfast and a cup of coffee at home, read novels or books, cook lunch, cleaning the house, doing laundry, fetching Annur and Mak, watching tv, read novels and sleep.

That's kind of my routine everytime I'm having my semester breaks.(refer to the pictures below)

Oh also, highlight of this week is that I managed to buy "calong" icecreams (childhood nostalgia sets in)..I purposely went to TBS primary school as if I'm fetching up my "children" but actually just went there to buy cheap but delicious ice creams with Annur.

Also, I received belated Christmas gifts from my Christian Australian parents which makes me feel happy throughout the week.

Plus, Eunice, a good friend of mine gave me a book by Lang Leav entitled "Love a Misadventure". Haven't read the book yet but everyone keep on saying that the book is too good until it's been sold out throughout the world. So blessed to own one at least!

Oh, and on this holidays, I managed to cook nasi lemak all by myself without referring to any cook books or online recipes. Pretty proud of myself yay!
Oh I also baked one chocolate cake..just because I was feeling bored. Turns out the cake looks pretty hehe.
Maybe I should practice more baking so that I wont have to buy any cakes at the shop for birthdays.

It's our last day in this holy city and every jemaah are entitled to perform the last tawaf known as tawaf wida' signifies as the last goodbye towards the house of Allah.The farewell tawaf or known as tawaf wida' is indeed wajib/ compulsory to all visitors of this holy land.


Among the new rules that we've known during this trip is that nobody is allowed to take photo in the holy land after finishes his/her Tawaf Wida' and nobody is allowed to give sadaqah to anyone in this Holy place after finishes his/ her Tawaf Wida'. Some of our group members did those acts and they have to repeat all over again if not, they will have to pay dam before they leave this Holy place.


Thankfully, 4 of us managed to do Tawaf Wida' easily without encounter any difficulties and problems. Our flight departs from Jeddah at 9 p.m but we leaved the city of Makkah around 2 p.m.

The journey from Makkah to Jeddah took us about 1 hour and a half.


Jeddah is named after the word "Jaddah" means grandmother. This is because in Jeddah, it is believed that Hawa, the wife of Prophet Adam was first sent down from Heaven to the Earth in Jeddah area. Because of Hawa is the first woman ever created by God and the grandmother of all human being- this place is being called Jeddah until today.

After several days staying in Makkah, what I can sum up this whole Umrah journey is that:

"Millions of Muslims from different walks of life visit Makkah every year. In order to perform the Umrah, men are required to clad themselves in two white cloths and women are required to wear garment that covers their hair, arms and legs. This is to unite different people from different backgrounds in the eyes of Allah. In essence, a millionaire could be walking next to a beggar and you would never recognise the differences because everyone looks similar to each other"

The organiser, Andalusia group had organised extended tours to some historic places in Islam. Among of them is:

1) Thur Mountain

After I've completely assured that myself is free from my menstruation..I went to my first-ever trip to Masjidil Haram for this trip for Subuh prayer.



We placed our shoes outside, at the entrance of King Abdul Aziz. Subhanallah, it is always on the books or in the TV that I see Masjidil Haram but now, the beautiful, awesome and magnificent sacred building was here right in front of me.

As I walked in, I remembered that in 2004, I almost fell down the steps the moment I saw Kaabah for the first time. And, Subhanallah, this year, I couldn't believe myself when I saw the Baitullah again as I was approaching it. All these while, I will only see it on my prayer mat, but at last, it stood there, beautifully standing in the middle of the Dataran. Subhanallah, thank you Allah for accepting me as your pilgrim on this Tanah Haram despite my sins towards you.



The Masjidil Haram was only available for a very limited place as the crew were busy with the constructions expanding the whole Masjid area. It's dusty and noisy at the same time and I cant wait to visit this Masjid again after all the constructions are finally completed.

Actually you are not allowed to bring any cameras or electrical devices inside the Masjid. Once in 2004, the guards were checking everyone's bags whether do the visitors bring any devices with them but now nobody cares about it..so I just took many photos using my ipod-capturing this beautiful place. And as the saying says "Rules are meant to be broken".


We had our Subuh prayer and the Imam recited the surahs beautifully. I almost cried when I hear his voice-its too deep and touching. It sounds like as if the Imam is telling incredible stories and thanks to UIA, I can understand a little bit of the ayats inside the surah.


After the Subuh prayer, I spent 30 minutes sitting infront of the Kaabah..still in awe with the greatness of this place. Then, I had my first Tawaf to complete my Umrah..the tawaf was done smoothly and I thanked Allah for eased up my Umrah journey.

After that, I headed for Saie. I performed our Saie at Level 1 and finished at 10 am and took the opportunity to make doa at Multazam. There are so many lessons that I have learned from the umrah. The Saie for example, shows the determination and commitment of Siti Hajar when looking for water to feed her baby, Nabi Ismail. The distance is great but we just could not feel the hardship of it since the area is totally different from what Siti Hajar has experienced before.





After successfully completed my Umrah, all of us sat in front of the Kaabah..did as many solat taubat and hajat and also recited the Quran. We also just sit down all together discussing about the construction occurring in this place while sipping the fresh water of Zam Zam drink.


After Zohor prayer, I left the mosque in disbelief. Just couldn't believe that I have performed my umrah -  the routines that I can only imagine during my kursus haji, now I have performed them on my own. I was exhausted and had my lunch at the hotel and went to the Masjid again for Asar prayer and stayed there until Isya' prayer.

Thus, my everyday routines for 8 days just followed that flow: Masjid-Hotel-Masjid and sightseeing.

tbc.

First day in Makkah..since I haven't completed my Ihram,I was wandering around the hotel's area. Honestly, I was a bit of frustrated with my own self, I mean it's quite rugi for not being able to do my Ibadah in this great holy place but Ustaz B had given me some zikir and doa to fill my time. Oh and during my free time here, I went exploring the city of Makkah..again alone while Mak, Abah and Annur went to the Masjid.
So, here are some of the photos of the locals that I encounter in this place:

After an approximately 4 days in Madinah, it is time for us to go to Makkah to perform our Umrah. Since all of us are entering the Haram-land of Makkah (why it's been called Haram-land is because Muslims are not allowed to do unlawful acts in that particular area) and it is compulsory for everyone to be in the state of ihram symbolized as a sign of respect to the Haram-land of Makkah. 

Ihram means a sacred state which a Muslim must enter in order to perform the major pilgrimage or the minor pilgrimage. A pilgrim must enter into this state before crossing the pilgrimage boundary, known as Miqat, by performing the cleansing rituals and wearing the prescribed attire.


We left the hotel at approximately at 2.45 pm and reached Bir Ali shortly after travelling for a distance of 7 kilometres.


As we proceed from Bir Ali to Makkah, all of us are encouraged to read Talbiyah. It was such a touching moment when the Talbiyah was read by the mutawwif. As I was looking out through the windows, I started thinking in disbelief as I could not imagine how difficult it was for the Prophet pbuh to perform the Haj, having to travel from Medina to Mecca, in such condition. The weather is extremely hot and dry, and there is nothing along the road except for the bare hills and dust. And just imagine the time required as the main transportation means was only Camel. Even being in an air-conditioned bus which takes only a couple of hours, we could not stand the challenge, what more riding on camels under the direct heat? I really thank the Prophet pbuh for all his determination in expanding the syiar in Islam. During our bus ride, I saw a policeman on his road block duty praying by the roadside, on the dusty surface of the Earth. Mashaallah, you can never find such a sight and a committed person back home, in Malaysia.

We stopped over for our Maghrib and Isya' prayers at a place similar to those back home, called "R&R". It is obviously a desert area. Although it looks creepy but I think it is a good adventure. We had our Nasi Arab provided by Andalusia and the place is packed with people from different walks of lives.