a RoAd cAllEd LiFe...

really in need of it.

i`ll be away from writing for quite sometime.
maybe a week, maybe a month, could be a few months.

till everything settle down.
this coming 4 months will be the most crucial,
and maybe the hardest time of my life.
praying that I`ll get over it.
2009 is coming.
hoping for a better year ahead,
for me, for everyone.
my family, friends and anyone who knows me,
forgive me for everything I did wrong.
wish me luck.

-1st floor`s operation base-


-2nd floor`s operation base-

That day, again, we opened our stall a bit late, as the curry was only ready at 1030am.After some of the guys went to take the curry pots to the stall, I immediately continued with the 3rd pot.Heard from them that there were already big crowd of people at th festival.I estimated that the 3rd pot would be ready at around 130pm, in time we finished the 1st and 2nd pot.After putting the ingredients all in, I left it to Akmal to look after the pot and I went for bath and prepare myself to get to the stall.


-getting the stall ready-


-our poster-


At 11am, while having Akmal looking after the curry, I went to the stall to help there.When I arrived, there were already a few customers buying our Nan+Curry.At that time, the sales was still not that promising, but that didn`t worried us.



At almost 12pm, about time for lunch, as expected, the sales started increasingly rapidly.After about 15 minutes, a line was formed in front of our stall.At first we were very happy, with our eyes blinking of the `dollars symbol`.Hehe..But when the after about sometime, the line didn`t seem to stop and we started to kelam kabut as we had to entertain with lots of orders, especially when each of them ordered more than one plate of nan.We were very very kelam kabut till we burnt some nans while trying to grill in a big amount of them at a time.And there was a time when I we accidently delivered a customer with still-frozen Nan.Luckily we weren`t scolded by that nice lady.She seemed to understand our situation that time.


-Line in front of the stall.That guy with the box ordered 6 plates of Nan, even we were shocked ourselves that I asked him the amount again.-


Then, finally, an hour after that, the line finally stops, but of course there were still people buying.Lega sikit rasanya sebab penat giler time line yang tak putus-putus tu.Time tu la dapat rasa kepuasan orang berniaga, walaupun penat, tapi gembira and puas hati sebab customer terima apa yang kami jual.




And that`s an evidence that our Nan+Curry were very delicious!Right?Right??Hehehh..

At around 130pm, we successfully sold out all our Nans.But during that time, we still have about 1/2 pot of curry left.We could have just finished our sale and closed our stall but we just couldn`t bear listening to the customers who still demanded for some more.After some discussion, we decided to change the menu into Rice+Chicken curry.We asked for help from makcik-makcik dining hall to cook one big pot of rice for us, and they agreed.Know what?It was ready just 15 minutes after we approached them!Arigatou obasantachi!

I thought that when we changed into rice, the sales wouldn`t be as good as Nan`s.But even the rice were sold out!We managed to sell about 70 plates of them.With that, we closed our stall at exactly 220pm, way ahead of other stalls, and 2 hours before the stalls official closing time.Another success today!


-licin-


-sold out.see you again next year, with the new boss.-



-..\/. Victory!-


The stall is closed, then its time for us to fill our own stomach with the failed-burnt nans and little left curry.


-Ni je yang kami makan.Sedih kan?-


Despite the `sold out` sign already hanged, still quite a number of people asking for some more .Most of them are local people who also to the festival.Some even said they are willing to have the burnt nans and curry yang dah tinggal kerak je kat dalam periuk tu.Kesian gak tengok, tapi camne nak buat, kami dah takde bahan nak buat lagi.



-Sensei ni pun kesian.Both the days he came, we were already closed.Then he asked for the burnt nans, and we gave him with some curry.He insisted to pay for it, but we just gave him for free.-


Again, today we had a lot of time to get around and buy some food from the other stalls, and also watch performances at the stage.And of course, take pictures!



-4A`s stall-


-show by the college`s band-



-guys, don`t get excited too soon.those on stage are all boys too ok.-


-kami di depan poster kami-


You know, the best time to buy food at the festival is during the final 30 minutes of the sale time.During that period, every stalls would reduce their prices in attempt to have all their things sold.You will find that a cup of fried potato which was sold at 150yen a cup at 3pm, would be 100yen per cup at 4pm and a suprising 50yen at 420pm.Sounds like pasar borong huh?heheh..



-dah abis berjual, berkemas pulak-


-5E, who shared the tent next to us-


After the sale time ended, everyone start cleaning their stalls and then returning all the props used during the 2 days of festival.We had such a great festival this year.Participating in the bazar sale was really an exciting experience for us.Gaining some profit through the sales is one thing but the most important thing to me is that we get to mix and cooperate not only among us, the foreign students, but also with the Japanese students and community.We also get the chance to promote our countries` culture, clothes and food to the Japanese people which I think is a rare chance to them.We will be looking forward for next year`s college festival and we hope that it will be as successful as this year`s.I would to thank everyone for their cooperation and help.Without them, it wouldn`t have been a smooth an enjoyful festival.Thanks everyone!


-dah kemas, pastikan sampah dibuang di tempat yang betul-


-this thing would be useful again next year...-

2nd November 08



While my friends were doing their works at the stall, i head back to the hostel, to prepare the most important thing for the stall, the DISH!No dish, no sale la right?I was preparing the dish alone, but it`s not that hard, since that all the ingredients were already cut and prepared in the kitchen.So, without wasting time, let`s get cooking!!

Firstly, heat some oil and then put the onions, the spices and salt secukup rasa.Then, mm..panjang la pulak nak cerita.Takpe, kita pendekkan.
Selepas masuk kan suma bahan2, tinggal nak tunggu benda tu masak secukupnya sahaja.hehe..
Since it`s my first time cooking something in a big quantity like this one, i can`t really expect the time needed for the dish to be fully cooked.I bet even my mum had never cooked anything as much as this.I estimated that it would be ready by 2pm, about an hour later.If my estimation is right, than it would be in time for the stalls opening time, which was at 330pm.
So, while waiting, I went for my bath.Tak mandi lagi.heheh..



-periuk pinjam-


Lepas siap mandi, kemas-kemas semua, I went to check the dish, and know what??It was far from ready!The kuah was still cair, not yet the kepekatan that I was expecting.The reason: Japanese stoves punya api are not that strong like we have in Malaysia, hence the slow cooking time.I waited till 2pm crossing my finger, that it will be ready by that time.But still, it wasn`t ready.In term of "kebolehmakanan", dah boleh makan dah, dah sedap dah pun, just the thickness was still not suitable for the dish we`d be serving.At 3pm, it was still not ready, and I started to get worried.The stalls would be opening in half an hour.Then my junior, Rosdi came.We discussed on what to do about it, and Rosdi came with a 'brilliant' idea..


-very 'brilliant', but to no avail..-


Lastly we thought of dividing it into 2 pots, and continued heating them.This time, it worked!But by the time we finished cooking, it was already 430pm, an hour late.Kami dengan segera angkut bawak pegi gerai.Our senior, Adil complained a bit about the late arrival, because there were already some customers asking about when were we going to open our stall.


-while I was at the kitchen, they prepared the stall:setting up the chairs, tables, start the fire, etc..-



-the view when I got there delivering the periuk-


As soon as the dish arrived, we opened our stall and start our next work, promoting and attracting customers.At first, the sales were quite slow, only a few plates were sold.But starting from 530 pm, people started coming another after another, even kami kelam kabut nak prepare.At 6pm was the most peak time, thanks to the fact that it`s exactly dinner time.




Oh ya, this was our dish.Nan + Chicken curry!Sedap tau!
p/s : sorry calvin, you got it wrong! :P




While we were entertaining the our customers at the stall, there were some performances happening at the main stage.Dari jauh bunyi macam best, rasa nak pergi tengok je, tapi kat gerai tak cukup tangan.



-there were more than 30 stalls-


-my class`s stall.sorry guys tak dapt tolong kat kedai aritu.we ourselves were busy too.-


By the time it started to get dark, which was about 630pm, we were already sold-out!We aimed to sell about 50 plates that day, and we managed to sell about 70 plates of nan.And our periuk kari licin abis!Kami sendiri dapat makan sikit je.Betul2 sikit.Rosdi kempunan tak sempat makan.Kawaiso~.haha..That was an achievement for us, despite starting an hour late from the others.




-sold-out-


It was good thing that we finished early, we got the time to wonder around, looking at other stalls,and watching the performances.Dah abis pusing-pusing, ada masa lagi before the fireworks display, so it`s camwhoring time!


-Kurume Kosen`s Foreign Students : 3 Malaysians, 1 Morroco, Laos, Mongolian and Viatnamese-


-love this pic, dunno why.sebab ada mamat ensem tu kot?haha..rasa ensem..-


-the performance-


-orang jepun suka buat benda-benda macam ni.mesti ada laki pakai baju pompuan.pergi la kat mana-mana college festival pun.mesti ada.-


Then, at 730pm, we moved to the school ground for the fireworks display.It was splendid!




The fireworks show lasted for 15 minutes, and with the end of the show, that`s the end for Zenyasai that day.Everyone than started packing their stalls, looking forward for Bunkasai the next day.We hoped that the sales would be as good as today.


-we had actually packed our things before 730pm-


-that`s why our tent was the first to be down.hehe..-


Dah habis kemas, perut pun dah kenyang, badan pun penat, kami pun balik hostel berehat..

Wishing all Muslims Selamat Hari Raya Aidiladha

Maaf Zahir Batin

Early this month, from 1st-6th november, our college had the annual College Festival.This years theme is Cultural Bakasawagi.
The festival is held for 6 days, and consists of a few event:
Zenyasai(Pre-night Festival, 2nd Nov)
Bunkasai(Cultural Festival, 3rd Nov)
Taiikusai(Sports Festival, 5th Nov)

This year, the foreign students decided to open a stall during the Zenyasai and Bunkasai day.Last year we didn`t get to have the stall as our senior at that time said no about it though we really wanted to.For sure, we as the junior couldn`t do anything and just dengan berat hati nodded our head to what he said.But this year, we discussed among ourselves and agreed that it is a MUST to open the stall during the festival.
So, after going through all the paperworks, meetings and so on, we finally got the permission from the festival`s committe.
After the class ended on that Friday(31st Oct), we started preparing for the festival.

31st October 08

-doing the decorations and signboard for our stall-

-ape diorang buat ntah-


On the night before Zenyasai, we started preparing all the ingredients needed for the dish that we were going to sell.I am very happy and glad that everyone were very cooperative, and they were willing to listen to everything they were asked to do, without complaining.

After finishing the ingredient-cutting-sambil mengumpat session, we continued with our country introduction-poster.The poster is to be exhibited during the Bunkasai day to promote our countries and nak ajar sikit org2 Jepun ni yang tak tau pasal negara2 luar.

The festival would start at 12pm with the students gathered, wear a kind of costume and carry a thing(I forgot the name), paraded around the town and get back to the college after 2pm.They would be splashed with water by the people along the way.The college`s festival is very well known to local people in Kurume and the college receives a lot of support from them.I noticed this when I saw the programme book for the festival, where there were list of sponsor companies written there.Now I know how the college could afford to have fireworks during the festival.

The stalls would only start selling from 3pm, so we took the time in the morning to cut some more onions and potatoes for our dish.

At 930am, while the others continued with the cutting session, me and 3 others went to set up our stall`s tent.

By 11pm, everybody had finished setting up their stall.There would be around 30 stalls selling all kinds of food, drinks and even doing some games.Since that our stall were already up, I left it up to my friends to take care of things like decorations etc, while I head back to the hostel to prepare the dish!

To be continued...