A New Unexpected Friend

As my nearly-daily routine, I would go to my gym in the city at night to get some exercise. But, last night, I was pretty occupied with some unfinished business, I went to the gym quite late, at 11 pm. For your information, my gym opens 24 hours daily, 7 days a week (except Christmas of course). So, there I went on my own in the night to my beloved gym.

A glimpse of what my gym looks like

After about an hour and a half at the gym, and full of sweat on my back, I finally decided to head for home. I walked to the changing room and turned the door knob to open the door. To my surprise, the door would not open because normally, the staff would just left the door unlocked the whole day. I entered my PIN number few times and hope that the door would open for me. But, it seems that my effort came to no avail. At that time, I hope that there was a staff still available for me to seek help, but there were none because their working hours is only till 5 pm.

Suddenly, a man tapped my shoulder. I turned around and there's this guy who said to me that the door is actually locked everyday at 12 am and will be opened at 9 am in the morning. I was speechless and stunned by this fact. I could not even call for help because my phone is in the locker inside the changing room. How could a gym that opens 24 hours everyday, have their changing room locked at 12 am? So, basically, the gym is 24 hours but the changing room is not!!

I sat down on a chair in front of the gym, worrying and thinking of what should I do next. If I were to run back home and come here again the next morning at 9 am, it would be extremely tiring and I need to withstand the intense cold temperature outside. Bear in mind, that I was only wearing a t-shirt and my trainer at that time. My second option is that I would just stay in the gym and do some extra work out that night to kill of the time till morning. But, I can't be here at 9 am the next morning because I have promised with 3 of my beloved friends to play badminton with them on the next day at 9 am as well. So, they are my first priority the next morning.

When I was thinking of what my next step is, a person approached me. It was the same guy who informed me about the changing room. He asked me if I was having any trouble. Well, of course I said 'yes' because I don't have any idea how to get home that night. To my surprise, he told me that he would help me to get home by bus that night. I was relieved. How could, a stranger who I don't know anything about him, suddenly came to me and offered me help? I guess, there's still some kind-hearted guy out there.

So, I followed him from our gym to Piccadilly Gardens and took the Finglands bus to home. On our way back home, we talked to each other and get to know about each other a little bit more. His name is Ali and he's actually from Iraq. He's a final year high school student and wants to be a pilot in the future. He actually lives quite near to my home in Rusholme. Even though his english is not so good, I could still understand him perfectly well and he is really chatty. The journey to home was brief, but I could tell that he is a really nice guy. He smiles a lot too and that has made him a lot friendlier. One thing that we agreed that night is that the gym should have posted a big notice about the changing room so that this incident won't happen to others. A lot of Ali's friend have faced the same fate as I had that night before this. But, if this didn't happened, I wouldn't have known Ali, would I?

After we got off the bus in front of Moonlight, I said a million thanks to him for helping me and hopes that we will meet again in the gym some other time. This would be a start of a good friendship. I guess I won't be alone next time when I'm at the gym. ;-)

It's Finally Over

Hi there!!

I guess most of you guys are probably aware that the reason I have not been updating my blog for the past 2 weeks is due to the exams. Now, I have just finished my semester 3 exams on yesterday's afternoon. It was a difficult period of time that I have to go through as a student. Full of sheer stress and endless efforts of revision. But, what lies in the past, stays in the past and we do not have any power to change it. Let's just pray that everything will turn out alright and hope for the best when the results will be announced on February.

The recent semester test that I just had is considered as a tough one by all medical student for generations. The questions are regarding neurology, which is the main topic for my semester. Neurology is a branch of medicine with full of hypotheses, theoretical facts, and assumptions by some of the most prominent neurologists. How our brain actually works is still a mystery that is yet to unveil itself. There are still thousands of research that is still being done to uncover the real truth about the ability of brain.

Ok, enough of all the gibberish medical talk. I just want to highlight that due to many research that has been done about the brain, the implications are that there are many theories about how the brain works. And as a medical student, we are expected to know about all of these 'theories and assumption' to be tested in the exams. Thus, my mind is overloaded by facts from neurology textbooks written by Bear, Titus, Crossman and Martini. Alhamdulillah it's now over and I can feel like the heavy burden inside of me has been lifted.

What makes the exam for this semester more difficult is that there was also an OSCE. OSCE stands for Objective Structured Clinical Examination. The name itself is self-explainatory - this is a practical hands-on exam, not a written exams. I was tested on clinical examinations regarding neurology as well such as the use of opthalmoscope, otoscope, cranial nerves testing, tendon reflexes and electromyography (EMG).

For the OSCE, I have been practicing a lot at Qoma's house with my competent comrades. We practiced day and night, focusing more on the skills that we expected would come out. A day before the OSCE, we practiced from 4 pm in the afternoon till 12 midnight. I felt extremely exhausted but it was really beneficial because with more practice, confidence will build up gradually. With this, I offer my profound thanks to all second year medics for their help and support.

Apart from the MCQ exams and OSCE, there was also the anatomy spot test. I had to cover anatomy for the head, neck and also the lower limb. I'm quite ok with the lower limb, but the head and neck is really a mind-blowing one. Before this, I never knew that the neck contains so much stuff. It is a really complex organ of the body as many nerves, blood vessels, muscles and organs are located there. I hope I did well for the head and neck station in anatomy.

In all, the important thing is that we, the second year medics have finished the exams in one piece. I believe we have prepared enough before the exams, and we have performed very well during the exams. I prayed that all of us will get good results and may we become a succesful doctors in the future.

Roti Paratha Maniacs

Over the past few days, my house a.k.a. Manar accidentally caught an addiction that is so tempting, yet so tasty, that you can't even have the will to resist it - the addiction to Roti Paratha!!

It all started when one of my housemates bought one packet of Roti Paratha from Worldwide, a halal groceries store in Rusholme. His intention was purely innocent. He never thought that all of us would be 'trapped' in this kind of addiction.

I regret the first ever moment we cooked Roti Paratha in this house. The aroma released from its cooking is simply alluring. Even Muslim, who rarely get out from his room, ran down the stairs and traced the irresistable scent which leads to our kitchen and check on what we were up to.

When we have finished cooking the first batch of Roti Paratha, thoughts were boggling in mind about what it would taste like. Its appearance is very similar to the Roti Canai that we have in Malaysia - round in shape and yellowish-brown in colour with 'freckles' on it.

With my thumb and index finger, I gently took a small part of it, dipped it in sugar, and put it in my mouth. I spontaneously reacted as if I'm one of the food judges in the Manga series 'Yakitate Japan' - completely amazed and speechless by its delicious taste. It is crispy on the outside, soft in the inside and have that same exquisite and scrumptious taste as our traditional Roti Canai back at home. I took one bite after another, and before we knew it, the first batch of Roti Paratha was finished. I know the addiction is building up in me, and before it gets worst, I managed to refrained myself from eating more Roti Paratha.

The next day, some of my housemates bought another packet of Roti Paratha. They had succumbed themselves to defeat and loss the fight to the urge and craving for Roti Paratha.

It is utterly irresistable and it seems to me that some of them has even lost control of their normal eating timetable. Once, Apip and Nageb secretly cooked Roti Paratha at 3 am in the morning for themselves just to cure their addiction to Roti Paratha. It looks like when you are really addicted to a particular thing, you won't care whatever the time it is to do it. Let it be in the early morning of the day, or even late hours of the night, my housemates will cook Roti Paratha whenever they want to even though they are not really hungry.

Then, there was a time when my housemates bought 40 pieces of Roti Paratha from Worldwide! It seems like a huge amount to you but no food is too much for my housemates. They managed to finish it in just one day and one night! Now, that's a really big appetite for Roti Paratha and those were only few examples that I could write of. Trust me, there are other occurrence that you won't even imagine happened!! Once thought to be a snack for all of us, now it has turned to be a 'meal of disaster' for this house.

There are two factors that I think is particularly important which contributed to this addiction - the cheap price of Roti Paratha (20 pieces for only 2.79 pounds) and the location of Worldwide which is very near to our house. Hence, each time when of my housemates get back home, they would eventually bring back a packet of Roti Paratha from Worldwide with them.

The food that made my housemates go crazy

I am not suggesting for my housemates to stop eating Roti Paratha, but merely advicing them to control their food consumption intake. I know that a bit of Roti Paratha won't hurt you, but a lot of it would seriously bring a negative impact to your health. You guys know that I love you all and that's why I'm writing this entry. Cheerio.

Revision vs Nasi Lemak

There's nothing sexier than a man who is cooking delicious cuisine in a clean and organized kitchen. And that was what I just did last night. After a long day of revision, I finally decided to take a break by paying a visit to Al-Faruq house which is located not far away from my home. This decision was made abruptly by Icam and I that night. So, we set aside our mounting revision notes and headed towards Al-Faruq with our agenda in mind.

Al-Faruq's members consists of 4 'not-available' bachelors - Aizat (World), Kamal Arif, Khairul Anam and Shahridhwan Ping. All of them were present except for Ping who were on a business trip in Dublin. They greeted Icam and I very nicely and offered us the best hospitality that they could offer. After a few minutes of chit-chat, we told them our plan which they responded positively with arms wide open and hearts in agreement. Plus, Al-Faruq haven't had their dinner yet because there's no one on duty to cook that night.

Without wasting a second, Icam and I get to work - pronto! Our plan that night was to cook, but we don't mean to cook just anything. We wanted to cook the most difficult and tedious dishes of all in Malay's history - Nasi Lemak Lauk Ayam Goreng. Grateful that I had Icam by my side, I don't have to worry that our cooking would be a disaster.

Icam was responsible in making the 'sambal' and 'nasi lemak'. It was amazing to see how easy he made it look like. As if with just a swift of a hand, all of the main cooking were nearly done. I, on the other hand, was in charge in making 'telur dadar' and frying 'ikan bilis', ground nuts and the chicken. I know some of you guys might laugh when I stated about my part, but believe me, making a 'telur dadar' is not easy as it looks. You need extra care, patience, the exact precision and knows the right-timing to turn over the egg. It's a skillful work ,otherwise, your 'telur dadar' might fallen into pieces, loses it rounded shape and looks like scrambled eggs.

Icam - the cook with style (note the hat)

Me - showing off my skill to cook two dishes simultaneously

After about one and a half hour of cooking, our Nasi Lemak Lauk Ayam Goreng was finally completed. As soon as the recitation of 'doa makan' and saying thank you to Allah for his wonderful blessings is done, we ate together with a big appetite in our stomach.

Our version of Nasi Lemak Ayam Goreng

A visit to Al-Faruq would not have been complete without playing FIFA 2010. For your information, their house is equipped with two large televisions and a Playstation 2 console. I know some of you guys would agree with me that their game console is kind of not up-to-date, but it still served it purpose very well. We competed against each other and tried to demonstrate our best skills in playing virtual football. To my surprise, Icam was not only good at cooking, but he was good in playing FIFA 2010 as well. I mean, he was extremely good because he trashed all of us that night!

After the feast - FIFA 2010

I know that if I stayed there any longer that night, the addiction to FIFA 2010 would not stop and we would spend the whole night playing continuously without flinch a bit. So, after bidding farewell and a thousand thanks to Al-Faruq's residence, I forced myself at 1 am to head back to my beloved home.

Snowy, Snowy Manchester

Today is the second day of 2010 and it is snowing again in Manchester. Snow down-poured heavily which made 'Malaysian Banff Road' blanketed with white snow this morning. I don't know whether other parts of UK is snowing heavily as well or not, but Yahoo UK weather forecast said that UK will be hit by icy cold and snowy weather again for the next few weeks in January.

I know some of you guys are excited when you hear the word 'snow'. One of my housemates, Apip (bukan nama sebenar), was jumping excitedly with enthusiasm and exhilaration this morning and begging endlessly for us to join him play in the snow. Even though he has played a lot of snow-sliding, snow-ball battle, skiing and ice-skating in December, he still could not get enough of it. Well, this does not imply on him alone. I know for a fact that there are many Malaysians out there who will react similarly to Apip when ever there is a blizzard out there. But, bear in mind, that not all of the things that we see is good and beautiful as we perceived it to be.

Snow has seriously made a great impact in terms of transportation. Flights have to be delayed, train travels have to be cancelled and roads are becoming more slippery which made the condition more prone for accidents to happened. One of my friends got stranded in Dubai when she was on her way back home to Malaysia because her flight from Manchester to Dubai had to be delayed as it was unsafe to fly. So, she missed her transit flight and had to wait for the next one which took 14 long hours. That would be kind of bothersome, wouldn't it?

Even walking would be tricky when it snows out there. Pavements become slippery along the shoulder of the road due to the ice that melts on it. My friends and I had to be extra cautious and be aware each foot-steps that we made just to make sure that we don't slip and hit our heads on anything. I had my own fair-share of experience when I slipped for a couple of times in front of my house and trust me, it is not something that you want to do over and over again.

In all, the purpose I'm writing this entry does not mean that I would like to express my hatred towards snow. I don't hate it, in fact I love it the same way of you guys do. And I'm certainly not blaming Allah The Almighty for it's beautiful creation. I think, I am extremely fortunate to have the chance to experience this snowy weather. I'm just sharing my experiences and at the same time revealing the other 'dark-side' of white snow.

Malaysian Banff Road

City of Manchester

I guess, for you guys out there who haven't really encounter this kind of weather, you guys could have a rough idea of how it is like after reading this entry. As they say, you won't believe until you actually feel it and experience it yourself.

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010

There is still few hours remaining for the year 2009, and after that the world will say 'Goodbye' to 2009 and 'Hello' to 2010. A lot of things has happened in the past one whole year. Some are good, and you might as well say some are 'not-so-good'.

During the early months of 2009, I lived in a university students' hall - Whitworth Park. It was a nice place, and is really close to the medical school. I could even popped out of bed 10 minutes before my class starts and still managed to attend it on time. Plus, it is also located near to John Rylands Library and Mcdougall Mosque which made my life as a student a whole lot easier.

Then, it was summer. The 3 months of holiday - no hassle and I was completely free from any burden of medical studies. I've done so much travelling during that time with my friends who is studying as well in Manchester. We went to all sort of places, mainly in Malaysia, where we have friends to visit and show us around. For instance, we went to Penang where Afif and Klone, who were the hosts became our 'tourist guide' and brought us to the fascinating places in "The Island Of Pearl". The yummy taste of 'kuey teow longkang' and the stunning, picturesque scenery of Batu Feringghi is still vivid in my memory.

After a long holiday, it's back to the books again and I started my second year as medical student in September 2009. Currently, I live in a house that is located quite near to Rusholme and my medical school. There are six of us in this house and we came from different backgrounds. Believe me, it is not easy to live in a rented house together because there are so much that needs to be done. But our long-lasting friendship that were built when we were in first years has unite us together to live under the same roof. Lots of things has happened in this house - from the endless teasing and joking around between Nageb and Apip, Muslim's loud and vibrant singing in his room, Icam's wonderful cooking and to Klone's never-ending business. All of these has lit a spark of light in 'Manar' and colours to my life.

In all, I hope that the memories of 2009 will stay on forever in my mind and may there be a wonderful future ahead for me in 2010.

Malaysian Students & Curry Mile

My house was really crowded with people for the past few days. There was like more than 40 people came here. It is a holiday for students studying in Europe. Some came here to visit friends, to visit the 2 major stadiums in Manchester and shopping as well.

But, the main reason for this crowdedness of Malaysian Students in Manchester is due to the presence of PMS participants who decided to take a pit-stop before they proceed their journey back home from PMS. For those of you who don't know what PMS is, PMS stands for Perhimpunan Musim Sejuk a.k.a Perhimpunan Main Ski (according to Apip).

These people could not stand the attractions in Manchester - Jazeera's half chicken with rice, Moonlight's falooda and sundaes, Krunchy's lamb ribs and lots more. And also it's not often for them to go up north of England just to taste the tantalizing delicacies that the Curry Mile in Rusholme has to offer.

These guys came from different parts of UK - London, Southampton, Portsmouth, Keele, Lancaster, Surrey and Plymouth. There's even a group of people who flew from Ireland, Germany and France just to feel the 'food atmosphere' in Rusholme. Frankly speaking, they were really amazed by the fact that in Manchester, there is a whole mile of fast-food stores which serves halal foods. There's this one guy, who I managed to be acquainted with, said to me:

"You are so lucky to have a whole bunch of halal food stores just in front of your door steps. At my place, you can barely find one."

I had a mixed feelings at first when he said that to me. I don't know whether I should be proud or felt sympathy for his unfortunate situation. But, I guess I do feel a little bit proud because I'm studying here and Curry Mile has attracted a lot of Malaysian students for generations. I know for a fact that the existence of the Curry Mile has nothing to do with me, but somehow deep down inside I felt a sense of belonging to this place. I have been for for almost a year and a half now, and this place and the halal foods has never failed to amazed me. =)