#thejirans memory lane part 2

اَلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَا تُهُ

So, let's continue the stories, shall we? Although there might be no one reading this. Haha, but let me just put it here for keepsake. We played a lot of games together. Sometimes we played badminton against each other, oh we even entered a tournament. I paired with Ib, Ras with Izs and Hajar with Fuzah. Did we get 2^nd place Ib? 

Sorry for the blurred picture. This was the time when my instagram account visible for everyone. Lol.

We also joined a team to play netball as well as volleyball. But volleyball was during our last semester and only the three of us; Ib, Fuzah and me joined the group. Netball was during Temasya Jaguh Malaya. Not forgetting, we had MAHEC Sports Day every Fall semester during Fall break. Hajar was one of the AJK of the sukaneka and I remembered she made a weird drink. She blended all sorts vegetables and mixed it with other liquids and I was one of the people who had to drink it. Lol. Playing netball, sprained legs, cramped muscles and lethargic the day after the sports day together. Lying on the bed the whole day after the events was normal. 

Look at that happy faces. :)

We got 2nd place *or was it first?* for netball. :)

The first year, all of us joined the Malaysian Cultural Night. I was one of the actresses for the play. Hajar and Ib joined the Malay Dance, while Ras, Fuzah and Izs in the Dikir group. We were having a lot of fun. And eventually we involved in the MCN for all three years even though there was a point where we said we wanted to be the one who watched the whole thing plays. For our last semester, everyone stepped up to be quite important person. I was the Play Director, Izs was one of the casts, Hajar and Ib were in the dance team while Ras was the choreographer. Fuzah was the cook of the Malaysian Dishes.

1st year: Casts for Mahsuri play for the first year.

I was Mahsuri's mother *or was it stepmother* and the others joined dikir barat. :)

2nd year: Hajar's artwork for the Malaysia's Exhibition. :)

Our first snow, Hajar, Ib and me went outside and took a lot of photos. I can’t remember with who but there was one time, I went to a cinema and suddenly the movie paused and we received message alert about the cyclones that pass through the cinema. Little did we know that actually the siren went on for quite a long time while we were in there. Our journey back was terrifying. Thunder and lightning were everywhere. There were hardly any cars around us. The wind howling and I could do nothing but pray hard.

First snow in front of Luther Drive.

Now I know. Hajar, Ib and Izs.Haha

The first trip ever outside of Ames was to Des Moines. We joined the ISSO trip and that was when we first met Adli. We were so excited, and we took the school bus to go there if I’m not mistaken. And then during black Friday we went to the outlet in Minnesota. We got separated. Me, Ras, Fuzah and Iera joined Kak Farad’s trip while Izs, Ib and Hajar followed Aleen. That’s where we bought all our winter jacket, winter shoes and not forgetting the correlle plates.
 But before that, we bought our first jacket from TJ Max, right? Mine was black and Ras’s was red. Hajar bought it from our senior if I’m not mistaken. Ib’s grey and long coat, while Fuzah *as usual* purple in color.  

The Capitol in the back.

Talking about North Grand Mall. If I’m not mistaken, there was a cinema there, right? Okay never mind that. Sometimes we went shopping there just because it’s just across of our apartment. And we would ‘berkelah’ in the mall while eating pretzel. We bought a lot of shoes from Shoe Carnival. North Grand Mall serves a lot to us. That’s where we looked for our dress for high tea for graduations, black Friday shopping, etc. And then there’s Walmart. The first two years, we usually walked to Walmart for groceries and most of the time it’s at night. We wore our pyjamas sometimes and then trying so hard to bring all the plastic bags full of groceries stuff home. We bought bottles of drinks; milk, Arizona green tea, and vegetable oil. Big bags of chocolate cereal, bread, oreo biscuits, chips ahoy, lays etc.

picnic in the mall.

eThe one event I can’t forget is the surprise birthday party at Carver’s hall. Wait, was it Carver? They even made a video with ‘Terukir di Bintang’ by Yuna as the background music. I got one rose and a sheep stuffed doll. Oh, a card and a cake and a video. :)

video birthday

my birthday celebration. 

Izs's birthday.

my last birthday celebration in the US.

Ras's birthday celebration.

Haji's birthday celebration.

Heyy, I forgot to mention the day we went sledding in the middle of the night. We borrowed the sledding board from our senior, and as usual, while waiting for the laundry, we went to the park in front of SUV. No one’s there of course because it was in the middle of the night or maybe I should say it’s in the morning. It was freezing cold. The snow was super thick but who cares. We played several times before everyone started shivering, well Ib shivered first. Then, we walked back to the car, that was when we realized that we lost our car keys.

Panic attack. No lights, freezing cold, at night, no one’s there, thick snow. But what else can we do? So, we started the searching mission, spread over from the car all the way to the end of sledding area. Luckily, *can’t remember who found it* alhamdulillah we managed to picked up our laundry before heading back to our warm home. It was a crazy experience but it’s a sweet memory.

Second year, all of us went back to Malaysia during summer semester. Our journey back to the United States, we had a layover at Istanbul for a few days. The first morning, we woke up and decided to have breakfast and walk around the area by just wearing ‘tudung sarung’ well except for Hajar. I slept on the same bed as Ras while we were there, and sorry Ras for snoring. I remembered only a few of us managed to witness the night view and the night life of Istanbul but for sure Ras and I stayed in the room that night and we fell asleep not long after we lay our head on the pillow. I can’t remember who is the organiser for the trip but guess what, we had to carry all our luggage bags (mine are two large sized luggage, one hand carry, one hand bag). Pergh, it was super tiring but fun just because there’s thejirans.

breakfast at Istanbul.

To be continue......