Friendly Manitoba

The decision to come to this small town was made one year ago. At that time, he was offered a place at all the 3 universities that he had applied for - university of manitoba (UOM), Winnipeg; Korean Institute of Technology (KIST), Seoul and University of Ryerson, Toronto. So we made some research and did some rough calculation, and i insisted on him to choose a place with the lowest living cost.. hehe. Fortunately, berpadanan dengan research interests mr z pulak :P

So here we are, in the small heart of manitoba. We have yet to secure a place (apartment) thus we still need to compromise living in this small bed & breakfast. Thanks to Elsa, the gorgeous old lady. She makes us feel very welcomed. I must say that the people in this town are all very friendly. There are always smiles and "hi", "how are you?", "do you need any help?" and "thank you"...Always.

17th August 1.30am (Malaysia = 18th August 2.30pm)
We arrived here in this bed&breakfast at around 1.30am,18th of August, knocking the door of a stranger hoping there would be some "light" emerge from the darkness and coldness of the night. There were slightest hope that there would be someone still awake at that time. The taxi driver was kind enough to allow us to use his cell phone. We rang the bell several time before an old lady dressed in white (hehe) came out and greeted us with a genuine smile.. She was Elsa, the owner of this b&b.

18th August
There isnt time for jet-lagging and beauty sleep. Aisyah was wide awake at 4.30am and "took" mr z for an early morning walk. You cant expect a girl who slept all the way from Kl to Narita to Vancouver to Winnipeg to stay in bed for another couple of hours. Later during breakfast, we met another guests, the 2 siblings from Germany, and a couple whose husband was from USA and wife was a Filipino staying nearby the b&b.

The person in charge at the international student center told us that they've arranged a malaysian family to assist us via email, whom in return have replied the email saying that they would ("do" so). But that was all and that was it. Thanks but no thanks.

19th August
House hunting began. Huhu~ it was wa~yy tougher than that Ive ever imagined. Out of 15 leasing offices that we've called/went to, only 2 were opened. And only one apartment is available. Thanks to Mr Z's helpful supervisor who drove us all around winnipeg to look for a house, bank, halal shops etc.

Back to the motel, we were extremenly hungry. I almost broke to tears thinking of the diffilculties we, especially that little girl, had to face. Masya-Allah, around 2 or 3 minutes later, we received a call from Fida, former Malaysian (now a Canada citizen) whose husband a Bangladeshi. She had called us like 4 times since we've came here, asking if we were doing ok...and FYI, we havent met before and she shouldnt have worried anything about us - total strangers to her. We were introduced to her via Mr Z's friend. And if she wanted to, she could have just ignored our SOS, pretended as if nothing had happened...just like...

She and her husband, Mr Feroz, invited us for a dinner. And it was 4 days since we saw any rice, or eat anything that you could call a meal. Alhamdulillah, and they gave us A LOT OF OTHER BASIC LIFE EXTEND SUPPLIES.. They were both nice, very warm, and together they make a cute couple :) It was through them that we regained our energy and confidence that things are gonna get better. They gave us a lot of useful tips and shared some beautiful stories. Fida also took us to buy some halal stuff, where i bought some sausage and fried chicken, which later, along with the nasi she gave us, were the only foods that satisfied the stomach of my fussy-2-year-old daughter.
Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah.

Setiap yang berlaku ada hikmahnya. Sebelum ini mungkin sebab kami jumpa yang manis-manis belaka di Jepun, Jerman dan sebagainya, maka Allah berikan sedikit masam dan perit agar tak lupa rasa manis tu. Tapi Alhamdulillah, peritnya mnula-mula sahaja. Sekarang kami dah semakin biasa dengan keadaan di Winnipeg ini. If anybody would ever asked me on how Manitoba is , I would certainly say "It's friendly Manitoba, indeed!"

(Tema tempat ini ialah Friendly Manitoba, ala2 Kedah Jelapang padi or Sabah di bawah bayu, and believe me, memang friendly betul)