Ramadhan Away

It was quite a challenge when one has to fast for longer than the usual plus minus 12 hours. That was how some of us felt during our first Ramadhan away from home. It was summer time - the days were longer thus making us fast longer too. I recall imsak was at 4.00am and iftar didn't come until the sun finally set at about 8.30pm.

Visit the flamingos at the zoo

We still puasa, of course. Went for our classes still, lepak and fed the ducks at the lake still , visit the zoo and there were also some crazy days when we woke up in the morning, collectively agreed to skip some of the boring Comp Sci or Statistics classes and went ronda-ronda at the mall till it was almost time for iftar.

Visit Six Flags Great America

It was the time yang when we couldn't fast tu was paling best. Selamba je queue for that milky yummy pistachio mint ice cream. Errr...bukan ada orang nak tangkap pun kan. Plus the closest Melayu could be like many, many blocks away from where we were.

Itu zaman dolu-dolu lah. Now rasa nya taubat tak buat dah kot!

Iftar dishes were simple - most of the time, we'd cook once we were done with classes for the day. Antara favourite dishes (coz itu je yang tau nak masak) were ayam masak merah, beef curry and mixed vege. When we had more time in our hands soto ayam and laksa would make their appearances on the table. Sahur pulak....ummpppp most of the time tak bangun or when we did it was just be toast, cereals and milk.

Our all so faithful - the push button phone

It was also during the Ramadhan when the heart yearns so badly to be with family back home. Malam-malam mula lah masing-masing pull the phone into the room and call home. After the call, there'd be a long silence.....then you'd hear the bathroom door close. Aihhhh....masing-masing dah banjir lah tu...he he :)

One of our ways of memujuk hati yang sayu was to make ourselves feel close to kampung. Berbuka in baju kurung lah....and paling tak boleh lupa was breaking fast with songs from our collection of recorded hits. Maka berkumandanglah Alleycats, M.Nasir, Roy & Fran just to mention the few. Out of the many, yang paling tak boleh lupa is this number.......

Ideal Sisters - Hanya Sekali

Melancholy on the Net

Uncle Google can surely do wonders to one who's melancholia and has been smoldering inside, dreaming of falling leaves, snow, and coffee sipping by the fireplace, and everything whatchamacallit associated to winter. It's the gloom and gray weather, I put the blame on. That lingering warmth from the tropical sun was no where endured; shying away, the sun hid behind the thick dark clouds.

Gray and gloomy KL sky

And today was no different. It was a little bright and sunny during first half of the morning. Later when the dark clouds rolled in by mid afternoon, Klang Valley saw sporadic rain all across town. The office is so cold that many seek comfort draping trendy Pashminas as wraps. Some one asked me if winter felt this cold. My reply was, "No...It’s colder." The poor thing must be thinking how one could survive in the wild winter of the West. Shaking her head in quandary, she slipped on her jacket, with hope that it would keep her warm for the remaining time at work.

So what does Uncle Google have to do with the rain, wet roads and cold office condition?? A whole lot to me actually. The looks of the skies outside remind me so much of my college days in this cold mid west city - Madison Wisconsin. It is as if I am transported back to the roaring 80s; that glorious era of Michael Jackson’s moon walk and glittering gloves (ahhh...mental note to myself: to go watch MJ’s This is IT movie before it disappears from cinema viewing)

My first apartment...Birge House on University Avenue
pic from Madison Campus & Downtown Living

How the living room looks now, very different compared to my tenancy days in 1982

Bucky is the official mascot of the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Browsing the Net, if not careful, one could easily get carried away. One site leads to another. From my old apartment building, I preceded with inquiries on Badger’s football results. Apparently, last week during their game with Michigan, Badgers had a victorious win – Badgers 45 and Michigan 24!! Yeah…Go Red...Go Bucky!!! This weekend will be an away game with Northwestern Wildcats. I wonder if college football is shown on ESPN, must go check…..

Next 5 days weather check - chilly and wet

Next were the campus pictures.

Aerial picture of UW campus

Bascom Hall is framed by a view of tree shadows and foliage changing colors on Bascom Hill during autumn.

Camp Randall arch walkway

Statue of Abraham Lincoln, picture perfect contrast in the gold autumn setting

Fallen leaves gather among bicycles parked at a bike rack.
All campus pictures from UW-Madison University Communications website

The Regent – place where we once called home.

But the most noteworthy search was this…

the Maroon colored 76 Oldsmobile Starfire – the car I shared with Jupe during my senior year in UW. Bought it for $600 from a graduate student who was leaving for home.

He's Gone....

He’s gone…MJ, the King of Pop is gone.
Received the news via FB this morning. First it was Farrah Fawcett and hours later it was the shocking news of MJ’s passing.

photo courtesy Associated Press

Michael Jackson is so synonym with the 80s and my days in UW – Madison. I remember queuing at a record store the moment his Thriller album was released. There were just a few left and I managed to get one of them. Both Abe and I have a few songs of his that hit us right in the heart. “Wanna be startin’ sumthing…wanna be startin’ sumthin” and the rest is HISTORY.

RIP Michael Jackson.

SERF Show

Lugging my backpack, I walked into the female locker room located next to the 63 meter swimming pool. ABE (then my boyfriend..heh..heh ) had gone to the male room while I hurried to get myself a locker space to store my stuff. It was during one of those boring winter weekends, tired of slogging in the library, we though that it’d be good to head to the pool at the Sports and Recreational centre (SERF) and do some laps.


Unlike the weekends before that, when the pool was quiet, with only a handful of students splashing up and down the swim lanes, this time around, the place was packed with students from a nearby high school. I got to know later that the kids were there for an invitation swim meet organized by the University.

This new sports facility at the SERF was considered the best on campus. During winter, the pool would be heated, leaving swimmers with overwhelming therapeutic felling after the good workout.

On my way into the locker room, I grabbed a towel from the towel counter, changed into my swimsuit and headed straight towards the pool. From where I was standing I could see ABE swimming in the outer lane, giving himself a head start before me. Did some stretching routines and I was in the pool not long after that. Ahh..the water felt good as it warmed the body all over.


Having gone through strict swim regime when I was young, the pool is always a serious place to be. “No hanky panky stuffs, do your laps and, only to rest, if you need to catch your breath,” those were the stern words from my swim sir, Mr. Tan, a stout guy who wouldn’t compromise anything the moment you got into the water.

It was a good swim for us both, the half hour of aqua workout, had been enough to recharge us albeit, the earlier mental exhaustion. It was cold once I was out of the pool. In a jiffy, I grabbed my towel and went straight to the shower. There were loud voices coming from the shower area, followed by sporadic bursts of laughter. It sounded like there was a ball in there, but what I was about to encounter, was never in my wildest dream. It was a sight to behold!! The girls who earlier were working out in the pool, were taking their shower in the open area. And…ooo…la…la tropica, mamamia, papa don’t preach, viola…they were stark naked!!! Kalau beli lottery mau hit jackpot, for sure!!

The innocent and guileless me, just didn’t know where to look. To stare would have been rude, but dalam hati curious jugak nak tengok the anatomy of minah salleh ni. Stealing quick gazes and glimpses in between, I was somewhat amused with the sight of “flesh” running around me. Fidgety they were not, in fact they moved around with so much freedom, doing their usual business in the shower.

Of varied shapes and sizes, different tones and colour spectrum, some tundra like, whilst some shrubbery trimmed, and not forgoing those of the thick Amazon like forestation (LOL), they were ever happy flaunting their assets. Undeniably, that was an “exquisite” intro to my shower room exposure. Free show babe!!!

Thanksgiving Dinner

It snowed that morning. Most of the students on campus had gone back to their home towns to celebrate Thanksgiving. There were just a few more weeks of classes before study week and after that it would be our finals. The spirit of holidays has set in even as we struggle to keep up with our assignments.

Liza & I - one Spring break in New York

I was at the foreign students office one day when I came across the invitation to celebrate Thanksgiving with a teaching staff’s family. The invitation was for foreign students who were on campus during the holidays. I must have been with my roommate, Liza, I think at that time. Eager to experience a truly American Thanksgiving celebration, very happily we signed up for the dinner.

Not long after we put our names on the notice board, the foreign student’s office called, saying that we would be having Thanksgiving dinner with the family of a History professor. Okay…that we thought was going to be an experience worth going for. A few days before Thanksgiving, the wife of the professor called, introducing herself and told us of the pick up arrangement. And that even got us more excited.

Moi & Liza

Both Liza and I thought of what we were going to wear, should we be dressed in our normal slacks and sweater or should we go looking more cultured - donning a traditional Malaysian costume. It was between baju kurung or the kebaya. In the end, we chose the kebaya. I was going to wear my kerawang kebaya and Liza was to put on one of hers.

I remember this kebaya that I had. It was beige in colour and the sarong was the long batik lepas kain. Just before I left to study in the US, my late father had taken me shopping in Singapore!! It was indeed a treat for me. I remember shopping for materials to make baju kurung and of course the kebaya piece. I got the kebaya piece from one of the shops in Arab Street together with two pieces of batik sarong and telekung. Abah being Abah, would never compromise quality for anything else. He wouldn't mind paying for the premium as good stuffs would last a life time. True enough, those bajus and kain batik that I got more than 20 years ago still look the same, even after so many wears.

It was a very cold day, that Thanksgiving day. The dreary winter weather had started to test our tolerance on the wind chill and the sub zero temperatures. It was going to be a challenge for both of us, going out in our thin kebaya when the temperature was somewhere around 40 degrees Fahrenheit. But we were so gung-ho to promote our Malaysian traditional attire, cold or no cold.

The professor picked us up at our apartment around 4pm, if I recall well. It was almost dark by then and cold too!!! The temperature had dipped even further. Imagine both of us, in a kebaya and sarong and heels. Thank god for our winter coats for keeping us warm during the ride. One thing with these Mat Sallehs, they have gotten so used to the cold, at times some of them didn’t bother having the car heater on during the early days of winter. Bila dah berkepul-kepul mulut with asap, baru lah they all on kan the car heater tu.

A typical Thanksgiving dinner spread

Our host was very friendly and homely. They had two girls who were pretty young still, and with the two of us, it was dinner for six that night. The professor told us the story of Thanksgiving and what significance it had to the American families. They served us with the traditional Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, potatoes, corn, cranberries and pumpkin pie. When offered red wine to go with the turkey, we politely turned it down and settled for milk instead. Dah jadik macam kanak-kanak sihat lah pulak. Servings after servings and I could feel there wasn’t much space left in that kebaya for me. I was filled to my lungs, nasib baik the buttons of the kebaya didn’t pop. My kain sarong was so tight that I had to go to the bathroom to loosen the tali pinggang.

We had a good dinner that night but we both definitely had to work extra hard at keeping warm. Clad in just the kebaya and kain batik lepas, didn’t quite help and somewhere during desert I could see Liza shivering and so was I. Dalam hati we were saying like, tak de heater ker kat rumah prof ni. Even in our small apartment, our heater was put to max very time the temperature dipped.

Finally after the pumkin pie desert, we were ready to leave and the professor sent us back to our apartment. In the car, we could hardly speak as we were so afraid that we would stammer with our words. Burrrr…it was so cold and nasib baiklah dear prof had the heater on in the car. If not we’d surely kejung till we reach our place.

My daughter Farah wears this kebaya now. Batik lepas sarong is substituted with beaded batik skirt, putting a little modern touch to go.

We thanked our host for their hospitality and stood for a while at the front door to wave him goodbye. As soon as we saw him driving away, we quickly ran into our apartment building and stood near the hallway heater. Ahhh…it felt so good!! Baru lah dapat rasa our toes and fingers yang were almost frozen earlier.

That was some experience we had, the Thanksgiving dinner was one and the cold was the other. After that dinner, the kebaya went straight into the closet and didn’t make its appearance till the ice melted and summer warmed the land.

University of Wisconsin - Madison

I spent some time digging out old photo albums over the weekend. Nissa, Bibik and I were in chuckles when we flicked page after page the somewhat faded prints on Kodak paper. Nissa said I looked cute whilst Bibik who didn't want to offend her majikan said, "Ibuk kok masa itu kecil ya." (read: then kurus, now fat lorr). Later this evening, when Farah came back (from her visit to my Mom's), she helped to scan them. Did some photo editing using Photoscape (free tool downloadable on the Internet).

The administrative buiding on the Madison capitol hill

The main library, the main study area had lines of vending machines. Coffee, Snickers, M&M, take your pick. Favourite study place of Melayus doing their PhDs

The clock tower opposite the Social Science Building. A must photo stop site for new Melayus on campus, print fast and then send pics to proud parents back home.

The University Book Store..a place we'd always lepak, bukan sebab nak gi masuk bookstore tu..but sebab nak beli sweet & fresh nectarines from those fruit sellers

Red Gym, built in 1892 was a combination of gymnasium and armory. Also a place for students' registration at the start of the semester.


On the State Capitol area, Farmers' Market took place on Saturdays. Fresh fruits, bakery, honey and pickles...yummss!! And kids simply loved going on the horse carriage rides.

Where I stayed, a small studio unit on the second floor. This place was a real heaven, really quiet. I even slept through a tornado warning, the same tornado that swept the entire town of Barneville.

Collage football games on Saturday...Go Badgers!!

The marching band...roaring the "On, Wisconsin" fight song

The pretty, pretty cheer leaders...

1st down ...did we beat the visiting team?? Can't remember lah..One season Bagders played really well and qualified for the Independence Bowl. All time favourite quarter back was Randy Right.

Check out the pose people...maut!! It was no wonder the guys were calling us till the wee hours.

Ahhhh....the beauties and of course the BRAINS...wasn't easy doing a program in Computer Science in a Big Ten University.

These pictures were taken way back in 1982 - 1983, during my freshman semester at UW - Madison. Hence, that explains the rustic look of some of them. Nonetheless, enjoy them...as I stroll down memory lane.