Halal Food

There's a quite interesting issue related to halal food here since we can't easily find it everywhere. As I know, there is only 1 official halal restaurant near my home, which is Nandos. Fortunately, the Indian Restaurant next to it claims all the meat are halal also. But Miss India, the Indian Restaurant, hasn't been listed in halal restaurant in Brisbane, neither has the Thai Restaurant next to Miss India. Some weeks ago it claimed its meats are halal, except the pork definitely. Haha. To sum up, there are 3 restaurants serving halal food even though the last one may also serve pork in it. But can you imagine? If we order, for example, chicken fried rice but before that the pan was used to cook something which has pork in it. Would you eat that?

Besides the restaurant: Butcher! I just know 1 butcher, located in the-valley. What makes me funny is, it's very easy to go there, just catch a bus going to the city and you can connect it with another bus or with a train and the butcher is just approximately 200 meters away. BUT, I always have a problem while going back. Buahaha. For example, Nisa (my roommate) and I, have bravely chosen randomly bus to city and intentionally connected it with another bus. That was a very clear idea, but actually we get off in the wrong bus stop. Haha. It then continued to a quite well prepared journey some days ago when I went there alone. I've already asked a man who quite experiences going there and he suggested to take a 470 bus. And yes, after being patient for a 15-minute wait finally I knew that I wait in the wrong bus stop, AGAIN. Haha. So I decided to take a train. Woohoo. Emm, actually there was another embarrassing story in the train station but maybe not this time, mates.

Going to snack! This is the hardest one I think. I am being forced not to directly grab and eat wanted snack before seeing all the ingredient in it. Because not only the words contain pork which are prohibited but also the derivative or something related to it. But, unfortunately, I unintentionally eat desert containing alcohol in it. Uugg.

I think just that I wanna share now. Bye!


Regards,
Zahra.

I currently live in St Lucia

I haven't ever thought about being shifted as the way I felt, really. How I could be as weak as I was. Yeaa, that was the so-called: the most precious experience in my life. Unique. Just for me. I don't want -somebody exist- to feel the way I felt. Now, it's time to move forward.

I owe stories to my friend lots. Ouu, so sorry. I hope y'all can understand.

I currently live in St Lucia, Brisbane, a suburb where the university I study at takes place. It's not quite easy to find people in the street above 7pm and you are very lucky if you find a street light being turned on. Quite calm, probably. Or, quite dark, actually if you are pedestrians. That's my first impression.

The weather is very unpredictable. I felt rain lasted for about seconds but I also witnessed a 2-day non-stop rain. Sigh. If Monday morning's very cold and the following day you wear a jumper, don't be surprised if you feel like in the central east. And if you open the umbrella due to rain, don't be surprised if the rain is over once you open it.

Stores commonly open at 9am and close at 6pm except Friday, most of them will open until 9pm. And for some suburbs, the day is not in Friday, but in Thursday. You know what I mean? Unlike in Jakarta, there is not so many mall or such. It's just like one near my home and another one is some kilos away. There are many parks in my suburbs and to some level, those are quite nice places. Really, the parks are different with those in Jakarta. I sometimes take a picture there because there are some new stuff for me.

Up to now, I haven't seen any cats but in the TV. Can you believe that? I don't know why. Or because cats don't wanna live here. Haha. I ain't a cat. But, you will find lizards quite often and perhaps small foxes, if you are lucky.

What else? Maybe I will copy some of my writing here and just that for now.

Regards,

Zahra.

Hey kalian semua, hidup gw terlalu cemerlang untuk kalian hancurkan!

Mungkin sepertinya gw uda lupa dengan adanya kehadiran blog ini. Tapi itu semua bukan tanpa sengaja. Dan, gw rasa tulisan berikut ini belum seberapa, bukan apa-apa kalo dibanding dengan apa yang gw rasain, gw alamin. Entah perasaan apa yang nyelimutin gw sehingga gw berani buat nulis ini, yang pasti rasa itu kental, kuat, hitam, tak terukur. Sesuatu rasa di antara pengkhianatan, kekecewaan, kesetiaan, kemunafikan bukan hanya antar 3 orang manusia, tapi juga dengan orang-orang yang gw anggap teman, orangtua, saudara, semuanya, di sana.

Kiranya ga perlu gw ceritain tentang itu karena gw lebih fokus akan kehiudpan gw di sini sekarang setelah menyia-nyiakan waktu hanya untuk hal itu lagi dan itu lagi.

*****

Haaah. Terlalu serius kali ya tulisan di atas, tapi I meant it, I really meant it. Gw sadar di sini gw punya kesempatan yang luar biasa buat ngembangin potensi gw dan seterusnya bakal gw jelasin ga terlalu panjang, cuma headlinenya aja. Yaa sekedar update what I do here.

Yang paling pertama banget dari major yang gw ambil di sini: Human-Computer Interaction. Major yang cuma gw dari anak 2006 lain yang ambil. Major yang katanya masih kurang In di Indonesia sana. Yaa kalo di liat dari namanya emang bisa diterjemahin jadi interaksi komputer dan manusia, tapi ga sebatas kata-kata yang nampak doank, ternyata ilmunya luaas banget. Yang paling penting, major ini berhasil mengalihkan ketertarikan gw di bidang matematika yang kebanyakan nilai mata kuliahnya ga ditrasnfer dari UI kecuali Matematika Diskret 1. Haa! Gw niat banget mau jadi ekspert di bidang ini, jadi nanti kalo gw balik ke sana ada sesuatu yang bisa gw kasih, paling ga untuk Fakultas gw di Depok.

Gw juga di sini memutuskan untuk nerusin darah daging gw, apalagi kalo bukan karate. Beberapa minggu lalu, alhamdulillah, gw mendapatkan 2 piala dari 2 nomor yang gw ikutin. Yang satu emas, yang satu lagi perak. Walaupun itu pertandingan kecil, tapi itu cukup berharga karena itu pertandingan pertama setelah pemulihan lutut kiri gw. Gw juga berharap bisa ikut state selection yang buat gw jadi tim Queensland di kejuaraan nasionalnya. Dan kalo bisa, gw yang wakilin Australia di kejuaraan dunia. Hmm, mulai ngarep langsung dapet permanent residence di sini.

Passion ke-Pengmas-an gw rupanya masih sangat ada. Haha. Mungkin itu yang buat gw sangat willing jadi bendahara kegiatan Buku untuk Anak Bangsa. Satu kegiatan yang diinisiasi oleh kakak gw dua tahun lalu, yang di mana, selama dua tahun tersebut gw sedikit banyak bebantu tentang masalah pengiriman dari Jakarta. Dan sekarang, gw punya kesempatan buat mengerjakan itu di Australi. Haa, sepertinya seru! Ditambah, gw memutuskan untuk jadi anggota sekaligus volunteer untuk Australian Red Cross. Di mana gw bisa lebih menyalurkan passion gw di sana dengan lingkup yang sangat besar. Gw bisa tau apa masalah kemanusiaan fundamental yang lagi melanda dengan hadir di konferensi-konferensi, dan, sebagai volunteer gw juga bisa turun ke lapangan dan melihat langsung apa yang sebenarnya terjadi. Sepertinya ini ekstensi yang cukup bagus setelah cukup lama aktif di bidang Pengmas Fakultas.

Untuk mengisi hari minggu yang libur, ya iya lah yaa, gw selalu menyediakan waktu buat ikut di latihan tari Saman. Seru banget loh. Karena selain bisa kenal temen-temen dari lain fakultas, gw juga bisa melestarikan budaya bangsa. Haha, lebay. Ga berasa tuh tangan merah-merah tiap habis latihan, kepala pusing karena geleng-geleng terus, pinggang sakit karena harus 'genjot' terus di tiap gerakan, atau kaki kaku karena kelamaan duduk, karena yang gw dapet jauh lebih dari itu. Really.

PPIA. Persatuan Pelajar Indonesia - Australia. Gw ngikut apa ya di sini? Haha. Entah di departemen apa tapi gw emang mutusin ga mau terlalu fokus di organisasi ini. Gw cuma pengen ikut kepanitiaan biasa aja dulu untuk 1 semester atau 1 tahun ke depan. Tapi gw dan beberapa temen gw punya proyek untuk membuat booklet yang bakal jadi pegangan untuk anak-anak baru. Mulai dari apa yang wajib dilakukan pas sampe sini, gimana caranya dapet tiket transportasi, ngasih tau agen-agen properti di sini, nunjukkin tempat-tempat penting di sini, dan masih banyak lagi deh. Jadi gw dipaksa buat kenal Brisbane dengan amat sangat cepat sekail. Haha. Seru banget! Jadi gw selain menyelami bidang sosial kemasyarakatan, akhirnya gw kecemplung juga sedikit di bidang media, haha. Jadi teringat teman dekat.

Yah sepertinya kira-kira itu gambaran sedikit dari apa yang bakal gw lakuin di sini. Iya, sedikit. Karena hal yang paling menarik belum gw ceritain. Dan gw bener-bener sadar kalo masih banyak yang bisa gw lakuin buat orang tua gw di sana.

Dan kalian semua tahu? Hidup gw terlalu cemerlang untuk kalian hancurkan!