My first ever

Yellow!

See that little girl in the pic? Her name is Atiyyah. Her parents named their first child 'Atiyyah' as it meant 'a gift'. Oh she was a gift alright. Every child is.

You see her smile? It looks so genuine, so innocent, and so pure. Not one to please someone, to feel involved, or to impress a crowd.

And in that pic, do you notice a certain blue car in the porch? Yes, that was her daddy's first car. And that car was parked right outside her home in Serdang, UPM.

Haha. Enough with the intro.

This pic was taken when I was about three years old, before I went to the UK. I was called 'Conchis On' by my parents. Don't ask me what it means, coz I have no idea. Then, when A'isyah and Aliyyah came along, I was called Atiyyah (weird). Afterwards, my daddy insisted on calling me 'Along'. And that nickname has stuck with me ever since. Even my younger siblings (Irfan, Anisah and Imran) think my name is 'Along'. So they call me 'Kakak Along'. LOL.

Anyhoo, today while I was on the 55 on my way to lectures at Barts Hospital, I suddenly remembered the first day I received my report card in Malaysia after spending 4 years in the UK prior to that. I was accepted into the 'kelas paling corot' coz I enrolled quite late into the academic year. In fact, it was so late, I had only 3 weeks before my end of year exam.

Hence, my result for Peperiksaan Akhir Tahun Darjah 2 Yakin were:

BM: 55 (C)

BI: 96 (A)

Maths: 86 (A)

Agama: 28 (D)

I still remember what my malay language teacher said to me:

'Saya rasa awak ini pemalaslah. Tengok markah awak ni. Bahasa Melayu pon boleh dapat C. Buat malu je. Awak kena usaha lebih ni'.

Problem is, I was still quite dazed during when I came back to Malaysia. It was such a shock. Just looking at my islamic studies marks can reflect how shocked I was lol. The weather, the people, the school uniform (urgh), the assemblies, they were all new to me. But what my malay language teacher told me really stuck in my mind until now. I went back home and told Ibu about it, and she was furious HAHA. Ibu told me to prove to those people that I was able to do it sooner or later.

So the next year, I was still in the 'kelas paling corot' a.k.a. 3 Yakin thanks to the above results..

I remember one time, our class had to 'pecah kelas' coz one of our teachers did not come in or something like that. So my friends and I took our bags and chairs in search of other year 3 classes that had teachers in them. And I chose to go into 3 Maju, which was the 'Kelas nombor 1' or 'Kelas budak pandai'. Haha. I was sooo intimidated by the people in there, including Wani (who now is one of my closest friends) coz they appeared smart and cool. And I had it going in my head that it must be so hard to get into the first class. Oh how innocent.

I made sure I did what my Ibu told me to, and walla! I emerged as 1st in my class. And when I got on to Darjah 4, I was the only one from 3 Yakin who managed to get into 4 Maju. I was ecstatic :) but also sad that I had to leave my friends behind :(

So yeah, I think that was a real stepping stone for me. From the kid who can't even read the muqaddam that fluently, I was able to khatam Al-Quran during the end of Darjah 4. I worked hard to be able to go back to the UK and study there, and Alhamdulillah, with much of Allah's blessings, I am here. I may not be the brightest, but I have come this far and I am happy for myself.

Its been a long journey for me, but I managed to tick off each stop one by one along my way. But my path is getting more difficult, twisting here and there and I need to put in extra effort to reach my final destination. Please Allah guide me and help me become a better person, insyaAllah,

Happy New Year everyone :)

Hope yours will be a better one than the year before.

Wallahu'alam.

p/s: Daddy drove me in the blue car when I was small. InsyaAllah later, I'm going to buy daddy a new car and let him drive me in it as well. :)

p/p/s: Thanks to Ana for uploading this pic on my facebook especially for my birthday. I love you!