Dear Reader (If you exist)
I am sorry for not keeping up with the blog and leaving you with just rants about the various education systems I have suffered under. In my defence..ok, I don't have any excuse. Forgive me, Sir/Mam, and I shall present you with an account of an amazing weekend.
Last weekend I went to Widnes to visit my aunt and her family. Widnes is a tiny place about 45 minutes from Liverpool. I hadn't met this aunt or her family before this trip so I was a bit apprehensive about the visit. I took the National Express Coach from Nottingham on Friday and boy, was that the worst mistake of my life! I had a class till 2.30 and the bus was at 5.00 pm from the Broadmarsh Bus station. That gave me 2.5 hours to get back pack and reach the station AND get the ticket. You might think it's a lot of time but trust me, it's not. So after a tiring run I reach the station and buy the ticket 5 MINUTES before the bus left. The sense of achievement... You know what I am talking about!
However, this elation wasn't there to stay. I find out that there's a changeover at Leeds. I hate changeovers. I am always scared that I'll just sleep through it. Thanks to god, even though I dozed off, I managed to get down at Leeds. There I get into the second bus which was supposed to take us to Liverpool. As soon as we get in the driver announces that he will take us only upto Manchester and from there we have to take another bus. The night wasn't turning out to be that much fun...
We reach Manchester and find out that the 3rd bus isn't there. So 16 of us stranded at the bus station, tired and sleepy, waiting for transport. Finally they arranged taxis for us till Liverpool. I informed aunt Kausar about this and she suggested that they'll pick me up midway. That worked out well for us as we saved unnecessary travel to liverpool.
That night I just crashed into bed after dinner. And had one of the best sleeps I had here!
Next day was a getting to know the family day. My aunt lives with her husband and two kids. Two adorable kids! Especially the younger one, I just fell in love with him! We had a nice time talking about our family back in India (Only good things!) as I hogged on delicious home made food (Note to reader: I do cook in my hostel but since half of the items are processed and the other half is cheese I can't exactly call it that)
After the breakfast my cousin and I went to book my return ticket for the next day. This time I wasn't gonna make the mistake of taking the coach. So I booked a rail ticket. The station was just 5 minutes from where they lived which gave us time to walk around a bit after we booked the ticket. Manaal (My cousin) took me to a small park just across the road from the station. We had a nice walk around a pond with bobbing ducks and beautiful swans. It was a sunny day and I was soaking it in as much as I could. Would I sound crazy if I say I miss the Malaysian sun? Well, I do! Anyway, back to Widnes. It was sunny but soon wind played a spoilt sport and decided to lash against our faces as we walked. If it was a little stronger it would have rearranged my features.
Back at their place my Aunt was a cooking up a wonderful lunch for me. Biriyani!! This time I really gorged in. And now I know why some people like to unbuckle their trousers after the meal....
Seriously, I felt sooo good eating all that food. Home sick too because I really missed my mom's cooking (And missed her a bit too).
Evening we went to Trafford Centre in Manchester. It was literally 'The east meets west' there. All around I saw aunties in salwar kameez (The traditional outfit for women in Northern India and Pakistan), many women in abayas, headscarves..some niqabis too! And scattered here and there were a few white people.
The best part of the Mall is the food court. And...wait for it....it's HALAL! We went to Nando's for dinner and found a line snaking it's way out restaurant and stretching way back. So we had to wait there for about half an hour. Luckily, my uncle let my aunt and me look around while my cousin and him waited in the queue.
So we strolled and entered a few shops here and there and I basked in the sound of pure, raw urdu/hindi coming at me from different directions (Usually mothers screaming at their kids) Half an hour up we went back to a humongous plates of chicken just waiting for me to take a bite off it. Nando's never disappoints me. I'll be a loyal Peri-Peri fan forever. Btw, Nandos' can be a real test of your courage and resilience. Depending on the sauce you choose. You are noble if you can take in the hot peri peri, normal if you take the medium peri-peri and downright coward if you go with Lemon 'n Herb. However, the greatest is the one who can down the Extra hot peri-peri and not die.
Enough of Nando's (for now). We retuned home fully content (and a bit gassy but I'll spare you the details)
The next day was a lazy day and I spent the morning just drooling on little Zaki. He is the cutest thing ever! I want a kid like him! I am serious. Where else would you find a 1 yr old cleaning up after himself? If he spills food on the floor he goes into the store room and comes back with the broom and tries to clean it up. (Watching a one yr old handle a broom as big as him is something you have to see)
My aunt meanwhile whipped up a scrumptious English Breakfast for me scrambled eggs, mushrooms and all.
After lunch I had to pack my bags. It was time time to leave :(
The Widnes railway station can only be described as...quaint? Doesn't it look like something out of a story book? I was surprised when my aunt told me that it also has an old station master with a snow-white moustache! ( I think this station has served as inspiration for many a writers..) Oh there is a plaque near the ticket counter which says that Paul Simons wrote his 'Homeward Bound' here. ( What's amusing is that
he said "if you'd ever seen Widnes, then you'd know why I was keen to get back to London as quickly as possible" and they still have a plaque commemorating this insult :D)
The train ride was just 2.5 hrs and from what I saw, between spells of sleep, a scenic one. Oh and Manchester railway station looks like the Chennai Central!
Once back I took a bus to Victoria Centre and from there till Beeston. But what stupid me didn't realize was that if I had walked a bit further from the station I could have just taken the bus from the Broadmarsh Bus station (And saved 1 pound)
So that was my amazing weekend. I really didn't feel like coming back to my dingy room but like they say, all good things must come to an end. It does not necessarily end here because I've got to know some amazing people here. Really, family, wherever you go, is still family.
So o student who plans to come here- grill your parents and find out if you have relatives here. And go visit them! You might just meet some awesome people like I did... :)
Cheers mes amies!
Nazreen
p.s- The Discover Islam Week is going on right now in the campus. More on that in the next post!
p.p.s- Wikepedia just told me that Widnes means Wide Nose. Funny,no?
p.p.p.s- Post scripts are fun!
I am sorry for not keeping up with the blog and leaving you with just rants about the various education systems I have suffered under. In my defence..ok, I don't have any excuse. Forgive me, Sir/Mam, and I shall present you with an account of an amazing weekend.
Last weekend I went to Widnes to visit my aunt and her family. Widnes is a tiny place about 45 minutes from Liverpool. I hadn't met this aunt or her family before this trip so I was a bit apprehensive about the visit. I took the National Express Coach from Nottingham on Friday and boy, was that the worst mistake of my life! I had a class till 2.30 and the bus was at 5.00 pm from the Broadmarsh Bus station. That gave me 2.5 hours to get back pack and reach the station AND get the ticket. You might think it's a lot of time but trust me, it's not. So after a tiring run I reach the station and buy the ticket 5 MINUTES before the bus left. The sense of achievement... You know what I am talking about!
However, this elation wasn't there to stay. I find out that there's a changeover at Leeds. I hate changeovers. I am always scared that I'll just sleep through it. Thanks to god, even though I dozed off, I managed to get down at Leeds. There I get into the second bus which was supposed to take us to Liverpool. As soon as we get in the driver announces that he will take us only upto Manchester and from there we have to take another bus. The night wasn't turning out to be that much fun...
We reach Manchester and find out that the 3rd bus isn't there. So 16 of us stranded at the bus station, tired and sleepy, waiting for transport. Finally they arranged taxis for us till Liverpool. I informed aunt Kausar about this and she suggested that they'll pick me up midway. That worked out well for us as we saved unnecessary travel to liverpool.
That night I just crashed into bed after dinner. And had one of the best sleeps I had here!
Next day was a getting to know the family day. My aunt lives with her husband and two kids. Two adorable kids! Especially the younger one, I just fell in love with him! We had a nice time talking about our family back in India (Only good things!) as I hogged on delicious home made food (Note to reader: I do cook in my hostel but since half of the items are processed and the other half is cheese I can't exactly call it that)
After the breakfast my cousin and I went to book my return ticket for the next day. This time I wasn't gonna make the mistake of taking the coach. So I booked a rail ticket. The station was just 5 minutes from where they lived which gave us time to walk around a bit after we booked the ticket. Manaal (My cousin) took me to a small park just across the road from the station. We had a nice walk around a pond with bobbing ducks and beautiful swans. It was a sunny day and I was soaking it in as much as I could. Would I sound crazy if I say I miss the Malaysian sun? Well, I do! Anyway, back to Widnes. It was sunny but soon wind played a spoilt sport and decided to lash against our faces as we walked. If it was a little stronger it would have rearranged my features.
Back at their place my Aunt was a cooking up a wonderful lunch for me. Biriyani!! This time I really gorged in. And now I know why some people like to unbuckle their trousers after the meal....
Seriously, I felt sooo good eating all that food. Home sick too because I really missed my mom's cooking (And missed her a bit too).
Evening we went to Trafford Centre in Manchester. It was literally 'The east meets west' there. All around I saw aunties in salwar kameez (The traditional outfit for women in Northern India and Pakistan), many women in abayas, headscarves..some niqabis too! And scattered here and there were a few white people.
The best part of the Mall is the food court. And...wait for it....it's HALAL! We went to Nando's for dinner and found a line snaking it's way out restaurant and stretching way back. So we had to wait there for about half an hour. Luckily, my uncle let my aunt and me look around while my cousin and him waited in the queue.
So we strolled and entered a few shops here and there and I basked in the sound of pure, raw urdu/hindi coming at me from different directions (Usually mothers screaming at their kids) Half an hour up we went back to a humongous plates of chicken just waiting for me to take a bite off it. Nando's never disappoints me. I'll be a loyal Peri-Peri fan forever. Btw, Nandos' can be a real test of your courage and resilience. Depending on the sauce you choose. You are noble if you can take in the hot peri peri, normal if you take the medium peri-peri and downright coward if you go with Lemon 'n Herb. However, the greatest is the one who can down the Extra hot peri-peri and not die.
Enough of Nando's (for now). We retuned home fully content (and a bit gassy but I'll spare you the details)
The next day was a lazy day and I spent the morning just drooling on little Zaki. He is the cutest thing ever! I want a kid like him! I am serious. Where else would you find a 1 yr old cleaning up after himself? If he spills food on the floor he goes into the store room and comes back with the broom and tries to clean it up. (Watching a one yr old handle a broom as big as him is something you have to see)
My aunt meanwhile whipped up a scrumptious English Breakfast for me scrambled eggs, mushrooms and all.
After lunch I had to pack my bags. It was time time to leave :(
The Widnes railway station can only be described as...quaint? Doesn't it look like something out of a story book? I was surprised when my aunt told me that it also has an old station master with a snow-white moustache! ( I think this station has served as inspiration for many a writers..) Oh there is a plaque near the ticket counter which says that Paul Simons wrote his 'Homeward Bound' here. ( What's amusing is that
he said "if you'd ever seen Widnes, then you'd know why I was keen to get back to London as quickly as possible" and they still have a plaque commemorating this insult :D)
The train ride was just 2.5 hrs and from what I saw, between spells of sleep, a scenic one. Oh and Manchester railway station looks like the Chennai Central!
Once back I took a bus to Victoria Centre and from there till Beeston. But what stupid me didn't realize was that if I had walked a bit further from the station I could have just taken the bus from the Broadmarsh Bus station (And saved 1 pound)
So that was my amazing weekend. I really didn't feel like coming back to my dingy room but like they say, all good things must come to an end. It does not necessarily end here because I've got to know some amazing people here. Really, family, wherever you go, is still family.
So o student who plans to come here- grill your parents and find out if you have relatives here. And go visit them! You might just meet some awesome people like I did... :)
Cheers mes amies!
Nazreen
p.s- The Discover Islam Week is going on right now in the campus. More on that in the next post!
p.p.s- Wikepedia just told me that Widnes means Wide Nose. Funny,no?
p.p.p.s- Post scripts are fun!
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