Salam Perantauan 2012

Bismillah,

Three times in a row celebrating eid in Tucson, not bad. As early as 7:30 am in the morning, we drove to Reid Park, to where the eid prayer be held that morning. Kurang sikit sebaknya because takbir raya here don't make you feel like crying and that is how takbir suppose to be; joyful, happy, we are celebrating our victory against our nafs, our desire, our bad attitude and learn to control them. The reason why takbir in Malaysia sound sorrowful probably because anak-anak tak balik pagi raya, so everyone kinda gloomy, tapi, the parts which you go visiting your relatives, tak sedih-sedih pun kan? semua orang cheerful sebab dapat duit raya!!

Salam perantaun tahun ni, tak masuk paper pun, as usual, pemalas nak hantar kat paper, kami kan segan nak tayang muka, plus baru balik field camp, masih jelas kerentungan di wajah kami! Right after that, memang beraya habislah, we went to Dhila's house in Uni Garden, she cooked nasi lemak and her sambal memang tip top! Next is my house @ Uni Fremont -  since I have to cook alone (rumet masih bergumbira di tanah air pada ketika itu!), so dapat hidangkan rendang daging, lemang, agar-agar pandan dan air sirap bandung je... The second last house was @ kak liza's and Yasmin's. They are my new neighbour, just moved in few days before raya and mereka serve cake! Rupanya si Ridzuwan the senior pun masak rendang, tapi rendang ayam dan menerima pujian yang lebih2, oh tidak, saya dah ada rival!!! Serious tak nak masak rendang lagi nanti orang compare rendang kami (walau tak sama pun daging/ayam). Kunjungan terakhir was to our new super junior (Chong, Faiz and Awang). Bila lah nak dapat junior perempuan...Rumah ni serve ice cream yang sangat banyak, oleh sebab saya yang hantar mereka buat groceries, maka saya diberi peluang untuk memilih satu flavor kegemaran, apa lagi, pantas sungguh tangan ni ambik "mint choc chips!" tapi choc chips besar sangat and I don't eat those T_T. syukur alhamdulillah, rezeki hari itu sangat murah. syukur ya Allah ;)

got this from my best friend -  all the way from Malaysia, thanks nedd!

rendang daging (experiment dulu) and kangkung goreng belacan for the last iftar

jejaka-jejaka Tucson

pagi-pagi terjumpa kawan lama - gossip sekejap haha

gadis-gadis tucson diapit oleh mak-mak tucson

Cuba teka chong yang mana? (junior baru)

Juadah dari rumah saya - silalah makan

percaya tak ni hasil kerja tangan lelaki???

percaya tak ni hasil kerja tangan wanita??

percaya tak ni hasil kerja tangan makcik2 kuih di malaysia???

percaya tak ni dibeli di safeway? bukan freeway ye adik2..

Strawbeyy.....!

Sekian liputan aidilfitri dari Tucson, Az. Saya Karam Dalam Laut menjalankan tugas untuk buletin tv99.

Survivors Episode 5: Balik ke kampung jalanan

Bismillah,

My last destination for this field camp was Big Sur, California. There was no mapping project here, however, I had my final examination here ; individual mapping. What was so funny here, I met with surf dudes and real hippies here! Not funny enough? We were having a regional geology tour one day when a pick up truck stop by our vehicles. Turunlah sorang mamat ni, tak expect pun dia seorang hippy. He then interfered my professor's enthusiastic explanation about the regional geology of the area:

"hey yo, wassup! where you guys from?"

Ya rabbi, not just that, he also said "So we agreed that we should protect this area right? no rock hitting etc?. Yeah or Neah?" Professor yang sangat bengang toleh kat dia sambil buat apa entah - senyum kambing kot. He then pergi dari situ. Okay, during the individual mapping pulak, I was stopped by a surf dude "Hey, what's this point on your map?" sambil pointing at one of the mapping boundary in my map. "Sibuk je dia ni, dah la my map tengah chaos warna berterabur sana sini". When we get back to our base camp, lagi banyak cerita i heard from other people "Don't you have rocks in Arizona?". Ewah,ewah, we meant no harm, we came here to study, not to destroy the environment ok, just because you found this place best for your surfing hobby, doesn't mean that you can make the place exclusively yours. The other pakcik who stopped me and my other friend on our way up to the vehicle said tak boleh upload gambar kat internet etc, the area pun takde dalam mapping area, secret katanya (aigo pakcik, kalau rahsia, takkan lah saya ada topo map ni ohh!) tak kisah, nak upload gak! hehe

eh, forgot to cerita yang ni! view taken from the top of Mt. Morrison @ 10k feet above sea level

It took me five hours to climb up (bukan hike up! steep sangat!) then I spent good 1 hour nap here and called emak and ayah to wake them up for sahur hehe. SubhanaAllah, cantik sangat this view, the place where I was sitting on, tonjol kepala tengok bawah dah nampak valley (sangat steep oo, siapa tak sayang nyawa try terjun)

Ni area big surl - foggy!

Khyusuk taking notes while professor explaining on the regional geology

oh, yang ni sangat menarik! obvious uplifting event here with the beach deposits deposited on one of the formation (dah lupa nama dia)

We don't get to see this is Tucson -  appreciate this moment

During the individual mapping - i touched the pacific ocean, sending my love through it, hoping that it will reach the South China Sea, to Malaysia then to the one I love back then in Malaysia - jimat lah gini tak yah call mak hari-hari haha but, it will take 1000 years for any germs in my hand to reach there (distributed evenly everywhere in the world)

Finally - leaving Big Surl for berbelas2 jam driving back to Tucson! Depart @ 6.00 am (kononnya) ruapanya janji mat saleh kalau lambat memang lambat habis hehe  tapi still foggy - rasa macam kat london la pulak ye

Begitulah hikayatnya seorang pengembara menjejak kesan-kesan sejarah pergerakan Bumi selama hampir sebulan dan akhirnya beliau sudah benar-benar jatuh cinta pada Geology, pada ciptaan sang Pencipta.

Balik ke kampung jalanan pada August 13th 2012

UA Field Camp '12

Survivors Episode 4: Dear Mr Brunton

Bismillah

Dear Mr. Brunton,

Thank you so much
For being a good company
For being a loyal friend of mine

I've once lost you in the middle of nowhere,
I've tried to hold unto you,
Yet I was so careless
I've forgotten what was it like to be far away from you

I am terribly sorry
I cannot afford to lose you anymore
and indeed
thank you so much for still functioning,
for still pointing North precisely
even after intense-heavy-duty work
We made it there, Mr. Brunton!

>28 Days with Mr. Brunton<

The case with UofA name carved on it

Mirror on the left side - very useful especially for girls, we don't have to bring our big mirror, this is good enough! The compass needle on the right side for showing North direction. 

Survivors Episode 3: Day(s) Off

Bismillah,

For 22 years, this year Ramadhan was the special one for me. I never thought that I will be doing this in my life; fasting, travelling and hiking for almost a month. A good friend of mine once said,"baguslah, orang time puasa ni petang-petang tido, kau kena g hiking". That's my duty, that's my tasks to be fulfilled, apa nak buat? T_T. Serious, ramadhan itu juga sangat-sangat manis rasanya, rasa kelainan, umpama kalau masak ikan masak tiga rasa, ada rasa yang keempat! hoho

So, what we (The Malaysians) did during our days off?

1. Fasting!

2. Laundry

3. Shower! (beware of the dark water rising from the 10 days or more of no shower!)

4. Iftar together

Once we got at Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research (SNARL), I was amazed that we finally had a real kitchen! Which means, boleh lah masak-masak, no need to eat Mexican-American food everyday. After submitting our latest assignment late in the evening that day, we discussed among ourselves "what should we be getting for iftar tomorrow, since the cook will not be cooking during the days off". Then everyone agreed to have(not to cook!) shrimp curry. I listed down the ingredients "verbally" to one of my friend so that she could get the stuffs when she went to the city (We don't like to be in the same vehicle haha!). Good, she had all stuffs that I wanted, except for the curry powder looks extremely "healthy" and "weird" - organic curry powder????!!!

Here's what we've got:

Cooked shrimp - couldn't get any fresher than this

The celery is for Yasmin's fish soup-her cook was superb!!

So basic ingredients such as onions, garlic etc kena ada, plus bunga lawang (i don't know the English name for it). Since she couldn't find thai chilli, she got me harbaneros instead, trust me, she bought 4 of it but it tasted like a bowl of cili padi! then, tumiskan everything, including the harbaneros and potatoes. Agak-agak dah wangi, masukkan curry powder. To my surprise, the American version of curry powder lagi banyak proportion of tumeric than the curry itself. I had my friend who couldn't fast that day to try it and no way! rasa kunyit T___T. So I altered it, last-last jadi masak lemak udang, aduhai....failed! Maaf ye kawan-kawan, bukan salahku....! Bila kawan-kawan and cikgu mat saleh tanya, susah nak explain ape sebenarnya masakan ni, nak kata kari, kari tak jadi, nak kata masak lemak, ada rasa kari sikit. confuse. Anyway, as long as dapat makan something Malaysia that day! And thanks to anyone yang beli barang, I still didn't know who was paying these stuffs, i thought must be the guys sebab mereka tak masak and left the task to girls kan? kan? thanks korang belanja beli barang yeh!

That night itself, sempat beli my favorite Haagen Dasz Strawberry Sorbet for $3.99. Actually, when I was in Malaysia, tak makan ice cream sangat pun. When I got here, Arizona was really hot and I became best friend with Baskin Robin and Haagen Dazs (the only ice cream I can afford to buy here + halal)

My days off tak habis dekat makan-makan dan masak-masak je. I also did something beneficial (except for hiking - sebab the professors also went out hiking during their days off - apekah tak penat????????). Please enjoy the photos from my days off there:

not exactly day off tapi jalan-jalan juga lah

enjoy sight seeing - flowers and butterfly

sedang memikirkan masa depan @Yosemite National Park

Melihat manusia-manusia bertempiaran melarikan diri dari disimbah ombak (dengan gaya yang mengada-ngada)

@San Simeon beach - not exactly day off - jadi day off sebab professor drive terlampau "slow" menyebabkan kami 3 suburban tertinggal kat belakang tak tahu nak pergi mana - so chill out je lah

Biru ke hijau ni? Color blind sudah

First day off @Bishop city

Lihatlah, mereka semua dah jadi model - kurus ramping setelah 10 hari tak mandi dan tak makan daging!

Refreshing

Just a replica

Sierra Nevada giant batholith

 UA Field Camp 2012

Survivors Episode 2: The Sizzling Hot Volcano

Bismillah,

Ni ialah hot creek. Eh, "volcanoe"? Tengok gambar yang besar sikit kat bawah ni:

SubhanaAllah, cantik kan the blue lake? Acidic though. Tak boleh swim dalam tu.

When the volcano got erupted, it left behind big craters and eventually filled with water and sediments.

My second assignment was to map volcanic rocks in Big Pine area. This was a lot harder than the first one, in terms of the hiking difficulties and weather. It was harder to map too, because when volcano erupted, they could behave like a flow or tercampak sana sini in a chaotic way. Therefore, you gotta trace all of the different ages and they might be sitting next to each other macam adik beradik pula (so identical). The worse thing here was that I had to hike up one of the cinder cones. It wasn't that steep, just around 300m up high, BUT the rocks are unconsolidated; you hike up one step up, it will drag you down by 2 steps. Macam forever baru sampai atas T_T.  Unfortunately, I did not have any pictures taken during this assignment (Focus lah konon2nya). For the first time in this field camp, I was enthusiastically eager to start mapping as early as 7 am, because by 10 am, the area will be so hot like a sizzling pot! You are not only getting heat from the sun, but also from the heated rocks. By 12pm, dah rasa macam daging salai and it was ramadhan. Allahuakbar, banyaknya cobaan!

The mapping lasted for 3 days and I did survive this too! ;) Alhamdulillah!

Whenever I complained this to emak, she reminded me "look at the bright side, jangan mengeluh, kena rasa bersyukur dapat peluang tengok macam-macam ciptaan Allah". Betul tu, thanks emak! ;)