Lemon tea

Hello to anyone who has still been bothering to check this page despite the unchanging post at the top, grazias, syukran, terima kasih.

It's been a whirlwind of sorts, but I'm finally back in Melbourne, and what's more, I find myself lying on my bed with nothing to do at the moment, so huzzah! Here I am.

I would love nothing else than sit down with someone who would want to listen to me as I prattle on enthusiastically about Makkah and Madinah, seeing the Kaabah for the first time, the refreshingly different Arab society, the revolting taste of Arab coffee and experiences of trundling back to the hotel with cups of dates, kucing Arab with their skinny tails, white robes, black abaayas and red and white checkered kuffiyahs. However, I'll spare you the incoherent ramblings and just describe the picture above. That's mom and I laughing our heads off(for what reason I can't recall) in a place called Al Ula, which is some four hours outside of Madinah. And you see the big rock in the background? There's tons of those everywhere in Al Ula, and it is spectacular. It is awesome, there's a scattering stretch of those rocks that go all the way to Jordan. It is astoundingly beautiful, far different from the hills you see around Makkah and Madinah themselves.

The lady whose head you can see right between mom and I is Kak Liza, who is pretty cool and has a really funny mother. Towards the right, you can see two Arab men in their white jubah and kuffiyahs(one of them is super good-looking,fuyoh), they were our tour guides. Their English left much to be desired, but they were nice people, eager to answer questions and show us around.

I'm listening to Coldplay's Viva La Vida, trying to pump up some excitement to go see them, and so far it's working. I think my favourite track is Strawberry Swing, with Lovers in Japan, Lost! and Death and All of His Friends following close behind. I have a feeling I will have good time. I wiggle my toes, I close my eyes and try and savour the songs. They're not very danceable to are they?

Aina gave me a brilliant present when I got back the other day, Kings Of Leon's Youth & Young Manhood! Thank you Aina, thankyouthankyouthankyou. The album's distinctively different from how the new one sounds, and when I listen to it, I can't help but feel like I should arch my eyebrow and walk jauntily down the street while running a hand through my hair, pretending to be on a ranch....yeah. Aware that I would look unbelievably stupid if I actually did it, I'm content to just walk normally and stare down at my shoes with a small smile.

Kelly, bless her sweet soul, gave me this huge book called The BIG Book of Baking. Think page after page of some sort of cake,pastry or tart, with accompanying recipe and picture. It's going to be book I peruse whenever the day gets overwhelming. It'll make me dream of apples pies, strawberry shortcakes and choux pastry when I sleep, bliss. Grazie, Kelly!

We'll sambung this soon. I'm thinking of going out to get some lemons. Nak buat lemon tea, whee!