Goodbye KY

I officially graduated from KYUEM today!

Graduations and goodbyes are usually filled with bittersweet sentiments, and today was no exception. I think today was the one and only day that I did not rush to get out of college and go home, because as Batu had aptly put it 'Those doors are the end of all this, and we're looking straight at it"

A lot of people graduate KY claiming that the best years of their lives had been spent in that remote campus. I feel that way too. KYUEM was a place that made me feel like I could belong, and I think everyone goes about life looking for a place like that. Upon entering KY, I was a girl who had gone through very different experiences. I went to a fairly liberal and westernised primary school, a very conservative traditional high school, and have been in situations of both extremes. As a result, I always felt like my experiences were always so in conflict with each other. I was always either too conservative or too liberal and hardly anywhere in between, and every time one world crossed with the other, people got shocked and confused. But in KY, theres a place for everybody, all types and concoctions. And if you're in between, no-one will leave you out or not welcome you for it. Sure there are cliques, but my time in KY has made me experience one thing I never had before; no huge obvious divide. You could go to the dining hall alone and know that you would be welcome at any table, and I feel like if we needed an example of a diverse community peacefully coexisting, you just need to come and see our campus. We have comparative religion talks, and religious groups often welcome people of other faith to join in their activities (MUSCOM has surau open days for everybody and welcomes even non-muslims to join their feast, and the christians offered to make prayers for anybody when it came to exam season). We celebrate all holidays with the same amount of gusto, we smile to each other at the walkway (seriously, everyone is so nice to each other, sometimes I get tired from smiling). When I decided to take off my hijab, nobody treated me any differently. The people in the surau welcomed me just the same, people who were curious openly asked me and respected my decision. I didn't feel any hate. Its seen me heart broken, I met a group of girl friends who literally gave me a home when I was at my absolute weakest. And even then, when I ran for president, everyone gave me an equal chance and didn't use my personal battles against me. I've met friends who have welcomed me in, even though I hardly talked to them. You know, everyone gives you chances there. Its great

KY has to be the one place I grew up the most (not physically, if anything I got smaller heh). I am so so glad for everything that this institution had to offer me. Not to mention the amazing teachers who honestly care so much about you. World class, my teachers. Through the good and the bad, I'm so grateful for my time here. 

I'll end this post with a spam of graduation photos, or at least the ones I have with me, so enjoy!

My everyday gang. We take all the same subjects and are forced to spend so much time together.

AJ, Hanna and Mire came to support Fie, Datin and I on our big day :)

Farr and Kas, and Aisyah below are my apartment mates just btw 

The Yayasan Khazanah family, the whole reason I'm here to begin with. Thank you YK!

FAB

This is Ben. Smart, single, sexy. PM for enquiries.

Love,

Mirr

My Aidilfitri open house! 2015

It was the 3rd day of Syawal today and my family hosted a small open house. In malay cultures, Aidilfitri is a month long celebration and some people host open houses for people to come and indulge in good company and good food. 

This year we didn't fully cater so I was extra busy. Still had a lot of friends over and it was so great to see them, some of them are flying off for university soon so I made it a point to invite them since it may be their last raya in Malaysia for a while.  Nothing much to say except Im proud of my flower arrangements (I do the flowers for all family functions cause I like to pretend Im a florist and its cheaper). I'll just let the pictures tell you how the day went 

With my best friend of 9 years, Saida 

A little SKBD reunion, missing is Arman and Saida because they had to leave earlier

The World Schools Debating Championships 2013 reps from Malaysia, we went to Istanbul together. They all coincidentally matches and totally left me out 

5 years going strong 

Dina and I post open house, tired but satisfied.

Every night, after the open house, my moms side comes over and we eat the leftovers, order pizza (and its tradition in our family that the kids will pay for this) and play fireworks. Waiting for everyone to come back so we can get started on that, and can't waittttt to wash my hair haha.

Also, I forced everyone into recording a short video dubsmash, which I felt was so cute! Thanks everybody for layaning me hehe. You can check it out on my instagram by clicking one of the pictures on the instagram feed at top of my blog.

Overall, greatttt day. 

Love,

Miraa

Forgiveness and the first day of Aidilfitri

*me totally feeling the raya*

I dont know about you but First day of Raya afternoons are always naptime for me, sometimes Im not even tired but opps, naptime, ciao people.

(K no la Im not that rude I wait for the first wave of guest to go back and all) 

This year, I cut my nap short to blog a little. I've been getting the raya feels a lot this year, and Im not sure why but it feels good. Perhaps its because I've been working and I come home tired but I have to help out and cook and prepare for the open house because 1. We're pretty much maidless , 2. No caterers this year, just ordering in some food and 3. If not I get teased that I sibuk nak kahwin but 'how to kahwin if you don't cook clean all, if you get malay husband die one, if kena balik kampung dia lagi la, don't you want to have good relations with your mother in law etc etc' 

So a lot has been put into this year, maybe I just wanna see that it all sums up to a good celebration with family. I think its also that its my second last raya before I (insyaAllah) fly off. And also since its very concentrated on family, no boys messing with my life this year lol (makes a huge difference!) 

I went to Solat Raya with Dina, my little sister, and it was pretty emotional. I slipped in that we have one more year to do this together and insyaAllah we both wont be on our periods next year so we can pray together and stuff. Spent the whole khutbah hugging each other. When we got home, we got to the usual photo taking sessions at my Wans house. This is technically my kampung but its in Wangsa Maju, which is bam smack in Kuala Lumpur, so its not very kampung-ish but hey, Ill take what I can get, Alhamdullilah, that means 4 grandparents who are still around. After photo sessions were done, we started the whole salam salam asking for forgiveness routine.

Ok, so heres one thing I dont get. I understand that its good to have an annual day of apologising, a day to set all the scales back to 0-0 but, I dont know, it seems a little insincere to me? Like, why are you saying sorry, because its a public holiday? Because thats what we do? If so, do you really mean it? I mean, what does it even mean to be sorry about something? Or are you just using this as an oppurtunity to get clean and feel better about yourself? And what about if you are on the other side, what if whatever it is isn't forgiven? What if its not really 0-0? Does it make you a downright bitch to not forgive someone on this day even if you really don't feel like it. I mean, bandaids don't fix bullet holes and all that Taylor Swift Bad Blood stuff. I mean Im not talking about the passing 'maaf zahir dam batin', Im talking about like, if you really do have somethong to apologise for you know?

Still haven't answered all my questions about this, Im convinced I will with time, but as for now, Im not thinking too much about it. 

Nevertheless I totally cried during my salam raya. I have the tendency to want to admit the things that I did to my parents because I feel like that is sincerity? But this year it got a bit too emotional for me, haih, Im turning into an old emotional lady already lah. 

Still got some nice pictures !

*displayed here is a very gigih SPM student*

*so you giving us the money or nah*

Alhamdullilah because I feel incredibly loved this year, spending time with family and having so many friends to be thankful for. If you are celebrating, I hope you are feeling just as special, and if you are not, I hope you are having an equally good day. 

Okay , kitchen duty calls. Go load up on all that rendang and cookies !!!

Love,

Mirr