Nostalgia (1)

Nostalgic...the only word to describe my feelings when I looked at my old photos. I was spring cleaning for a new settee we had ordered for Raya and found many old albums. This particular photo was back in 1998 when I was doing my masters in the University of Birmingham, UK. It was early spring and I think Say Lee was the one who snapped this one. I remember flying business class to London with a group and then taking a bus to Birmingham. We rented a house in Selly Oak..let me see if I can still remember my housemates..Dayang (now Dr Dayang), Suhaila (Petronas student), Intan..Jamuna (who taught me how to make pakora). She's probably a very successful lawyer now. Oh I still remember their names :) after all these years. Sometimes we would frequent the Balti Indian restaurants nearby to try pilau rice, tandoori and the likes. Once in a while we would take the bus to Sainsbury but I usually felt contented with the Indian stores nearby. How I miss the old times...

Shakespeare Institute reminds me of Dr Susan Hunston (dissertation supervisor), Dr Kennedy, Dr Richard, Dr Michael Toolan, Corony Edwards, Prof Malcom Coulthard (THE authority then in Discourse Analysis)...good friends, Say Lee, Rahimah, Mubarak. We made it guys! We made good of the scholarship given to us. Incidentally, I met Mubarak (JPN Kedah) last year twice..so good to see him and oh..Rahimah in JELTA conference last July! Was it pure coincidence or God's will that her daughter (who was two years old in Birmingham) was sitting right next to me in the ballroom!

Thank you God for everything you have charted thus far in my life. I feel blessed :)

Shakespeare Institute, Univ of Birmingham

The Thinking Teacher