Iftar in Ramadan 2012

During Ramadan 2011 I joined a group of 3 friends to cook and dine together for Iftar throughout the month. We had great time enjoying the camaraderie and friendship in preparing our meals.

This year 2012, two of them had left UAE for good including the chef. Only my friend and I left in the old group and we decided to continue with the group Iftar. I took the task as a chef. We keep receiving guests every day which makes Iftar this year memorable similar to last year.

Please excuse my white short..haha

Last weekend, members of my motorcycle club came to my house and showed their skills as chef. The result was very impressive, these guys really can cook. My cooking skills also get improved this year when I start to cook for the group Iftar.

I hope this Ramadan will be the last when I spend it without my family. By next year I hope to enjoy Ramadan with my family. It has been 4 years of spending Ramadan far away from my family and it is not a good feeling at all. Nevertheless I thank God for this life, my family and good friends around me.

Ramadan Kareem !

“The similitude of the heart in its travel to Allah is like a bird. Love is its head and khawf (fear) and rajaa’ (hope) are its wings. When the head and both wings are sound, the bird is capable and skilled in flying. However, when the head is cut off, the bird will die. When the bird loses a wing, it then becomes a target for every hunter and predator. The scholars favoured, however, the wing of khawf over the wing of rajaa’ especially when the person is young and healthy. They favoured the wing of rajaa’ over the wing of khawf when the person is about to leave this world.” 

(Sheikh Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah)

1292-1350CE

Islamic Jurist

Farewell 2012

It is almost 4 years for me now of living and working in UAE. When I first accepted the offer to work here I told myself that at least I must do this for 5 years. That period is running so fast that I still dont think that I will be ready to think about going back to Malaysia by next year.

In fact I am arranging to bring my family to live with me in Dubai starting 2013. Naturally this plan would mean I that I need to stay longer in Dubai. Seriously once my family is with me I will not have any issue whatsoever to live and work in UAE until retirement age. I like Dubai and I made many friends here and some of them are considered brothers to me.

However I have many good and close friends who decided to go back to Malaysia for one reason or another.. Some of them have to make the decision because they had no other choice.

This week will be the last week for a good friend of mine. I have a close group of friends with whom I hangaout with almost everyday, mostly during lunch and dinner time. We call our group as Dewan Sendat since the most popular topic we like to talk about are foods and nice restaurants in our cities. Two friends in Dewan Sendat had left early of this year. Now another one is going.

It is a bit of sad news to see friends leaving me in this city although we are heavily connected through blackberry messenger and facebook.

I wish my friend a better career and life in Malaysia. Hopefully he will have his rezeki again in Dubai.