Ada Apa Dengan Negara Matahari Terbit?

Sedang aku berjalan ke kelas pagi tadi,(well,sebenarnya pagi hari ni takde kelas,ni kelas ganti cuti jerebu) aku terlihat seorang wanita jauh di hadapanku. Wanita yang bertudung biru. Ber-long skirt putih. Aku cuba meneka dan meneka namanya. Lalu,aku menghampirinya,

Lari dan lari. Aku kearahnya. Dan perbualan kami bermula:

Me: Konichiwa! 

*abaikan grammar kalau salah sebab aku tidak mahir berbahasa Jepun*

Dia: Ohayou! (good morning) Awww... You take Japanese? 

Dia cuba meneka.

Me: No. I'm taking Arabic. The twins(roommates aku) take Japanese.

Dia: I see. That's the texbook? 

Dia memandang buku di tanganku.

Me: Yes. I'm going to the class. Go first,Madam.(yang ingin dimaksudkan aku adalah I go first. LoL)

Itu dia. Dr.Hiroko Shiozaki. Wanita berbangsa Jepun yang beragama Islam yang pernah mengajarku sewaktu semester pertamaku di peringkat ijazah. Sungguh,aku rindu belajar dengannya. Di dalam kelasnya,dia selalu senyum dan tidak pernah marah walaupun sekali. TAPI,kalau datang lambat ke kelas,tak dapatlah korang sign attendance yer..

Masih lagi aku teringat di awal semester ku dulu. Dia menceritakan bagaimana pintu hatinya diketuk hidayah milik Allah.

Sewaktu itu,dia sedang membuat research di sebuah negeri di Malaysia.(Kedah kalau tak silap) 

Dan dia membuat research di pondok! (tempat belajar agama) Dek kerana selalu melihat orang Islam di situ beribadah dan menunjukkan akhlak yang baik, Alhamdulillah hatinya terbuka untuk memeluk Islam. Dan Alhamdulillah,dia bertemu dengan jodohnya,juga orang Jepun yang beragama Islam.

Kini,dia menetap di Malaysia dan mengajar di universiti ku ini. Katanya,dia suka duduk di Malaysia. Dan antara sebabnya,kerana dia ingin anaknya berada di persekitaran yang ada syiar Islam. Islamic environment. Menurutnya lagi,peratusan orang Jepun beragama Islam,sangatlah kecil.

Alhamdulillah. Terima kasih,ya Allah kerana menemukan aku dengannya. Dr.Hiroko Shiozaki. Lecturer subjek Intro to Communication ku di suatu ketika dahulu.

Sensei,arigatou gozaimashita!

P/S: Ni gambar bersamanya pada hari terakhir belajar dengannya.

Manners Maketh Man

When I was little,I had anxiety. 

Nervous anxiety. I almost fainted on stage twice. 

Yeah,I was talkative back then too but,the stage was my biggest fear. 

To stand in front of the public. 

To speak in front of the strangers.

As I grew older,I managed to overcome that fear step by step. 

I didn't faint this time. But,sometimes I stutter.
Not literally. Stutter as in my idea was blocked by something. 

I couldn't utter what was in my head. 

That's why I took this class. 

In this class,we learn from 'zero to hero'. 

In this class,everything is possible.
In this class,we learned about Manner, Matter and Method.

In this class,we were told that a great speaker was not only born by nature. 

A great speaker can also be trained with uncountable efforts. This class taught me how to have great presentation skills like using appropriate visual aids,how to gain audiences' attention and ethics that we,as a speaker need to concern with.

P/S: One day when I'm on my own stage,I'll remember this class. I'll remember the lecturer that taught us. Jazakillahu khoiron kasiron,Sis Alaa'! Your Presentation Skills & Critical Thinking class (CCDS 2351) will be remembered. Always! 😊

Hearts

Sometimes,you wonder. 

Asking yourself why they did that. 

Why she did what she did? 

Why is he acting that way? 

And the most frequent asked question is why you?

Those questions followed by
Why people treat you this way?
You did nothing wrong.
After what you've done so far,
how could they did this to you.

Welcome to the reality!
Where sometimes you get things that you don't deserve. 

And where you lost things
that you deserve.
Respect,Trust & Care.

But,I must tell you this too. 

There are also good and nice people out there 

that will treat us nicely. 

We just have to find them. 

And before we find them,

we have to be as nice as them.

Keep on being nice!
Keep on being kind!

Even though you won't be treated the same,

because what you were meant to be,you will be..

We Are All Human

When I was 10 years old, I was introduced to the sign language alphabet. It was new to me and it was an odd thing to do since I never saw anyone did that before. I was told that those who are deaf and mute use sign language. Years after that, I stopped using sign language. Because not so many people know how to use that.

Then, back in my secondary school, I started to learn it again. This time, it was not just only the alphabet, but I started to know that we could say things by signing them. Using sign language of course. I watched a tv drama series about how deaf community deals with people like us. It's called, 'Switched At Birth'. My favourite show!

This picture was taken in one of my class, English for Workplace. We have to present something and I decided to present on ''How to communicate with deaf people.'' 

Why?

It's not because I'm deaf. It's because I'm not. Knowing that the deaf community and those who are mute are unable to communicate well with us,(the majority), I think that it is an obligation for us to learn it. We shouldn't expect them to improve themselves or to bear with it. In this case,it's not about the majority wins. It's about appreciating the minority. I used to live with my aunt and my uncle during my semester break. And I had met with some poor family who are deaf that live there. They were friendly and kind and I bet they still are. I communicated with them by using sign language and it was really fun to have the opportunity to practice what you learn in the real situation. But,it was a little bit confusing since I live in Malaysia,but I only learn the American Sign Language(ASL) instead of the Malaysian Sign Language/(MLS) From what I have observed,there are lot of similarities of words. But,there are lot of differences too!

If you know anyone who are mute,deaf or hard at hearing, do not isolate them. Approach them with kindness and learn sign language so that you can understand them more. Trust me. It's fun! :)

P/S: Thanks Nab & Elly for accepting my idea to use this topic as our presentation! You both did great and were awesome to learn the sign language alphabet in a short time. It was a fun experience to teach the whole class how to sign.(including our lovely lecturer,Madam Zuridah) :D

I miss her class. :')