Tikki J

Touchdown : 8.30am

Alhamdulillah. Arrived at N Airport safe and sound.

So many months of anticipation, looking forward to this trip - since April 2011 to be exact. I couldn't really believe that I am really coming to J for 55 days for this forum, and I didn't feel like it's true even when I got on the plane. But now, after a day of it, I really feel that it's really real! (does that sentence even make sense? :P)

We had the normal tentative program, you know, facility tour, orientation, ice breaking activities, stuff like that. But somehow, it's a totally different experience. Meeting different people from different backgrounds, different religions, different races.

I was reminded, in so many ways.

And T topped the list. T taught me a lesson in his 4 picture game. Out of the 18 of us in total, about half of us had the same goal/dream - that is to travel the world. All of us wants to travel the world, don't we?

But when it was T's turn, he said,

"Everybody dreams to travel the world, but we always forget that every single time we travel, we have to come back to our real home, to our real lives, to our real families. That is why my dream is to have a happy family"

He had a really good point. Even though I wasn't among the 18 who drew an earth and a plane around it, a lot of times I forget that a happy sound family is one of the most important things in life, and one of the greatest blessings that Allah has bestowed upon me.

Nothing is wrong with travelling and having fun at that, but we have always to remember what awaits us when we come back. Same goes to our journey in this life. We are travelers. We travel the world. We have fun. But we always have to remember that someday, we will return back to Him.

Thank you T :)

K's too was inspiring.

I do have non-muslim friends, really, but we don't talk much about religion. It's like taboo. I've attended comparative religion classes before, and I know that there are a lot of similarities in our religion, but those similarities, when coming from her, was really God sent.

She really displayed confidence about spreading knowledge and love of our religion.

While i was preparing my 'what has shaped me' presentation, I doubted in myself whether I should put in much about my religion that has shaped me into who I am today. In the end, very little of it came in. What K said during her WHSP presentation really came from her heart, and I know that she is really sincere about it. About how she believed that everything is from God.

Thank you K for the really sincere presentation. I want to be just like that, confident and proud of my religion, and spreading the love for God.

That was on K's last slide. Am not sure if it is a biblical saying or somethine, but nvm, I'd still post it here because it's true. If we have faith, trust and tawakkul in Allah. Plus, nothing happens by coincidence. Allah knows every single thing that is best for us.

And oh, two more cool quotes that i got from a movie today (from the flight transit that is)

"I don't believe in mistakes. I just believe that they are just something makes us who we are today." And of course how we react to it.

"Don't choose the better one. Choose the one that will make you a better person"

That's all for now :) :) :)