Chapter 14 : Toughen up, girl

It gets tougher day by day. Siapa cakap tinggal kat luar negara ni senang?

Kena tawar-menawar dengan pemandu teksi. Kena kejar pergi kelas. Kena berebut tempat dalam lecture hall. Kena dengar betul betul apa lecturer cakap kalau tak, memang membazir je pergi kelas. Kena jalan kaki dalam hujan, kereta laju tak tau nak kejar apa, teksi yang malas nak hantar pergi Sesostrees sebab jam. Penyeluk saku yang datang tak kira masa dan tempat. Cuaca yang sejuk. Badan yang tak sihat. Kempunan makan itu ini. Keadaan yang macam ni pula.

Tapi ni semua cabaran. Cabaran yang harusku hadapi. Cabaran sebagai pelajar perubatan kat negara Mesir ni.

Betullah apa yang diorang cakap, campaklah sesiapa yang belajar di Mesir ke mana-mana negara sekalipun, mereka pasti boleh hidup.

Hidup kat sini menguji kesabaran, menguji diri daripada segi fizikal dan mental. But it's ok. I'm doing fine here. I need to toughen myself up. Ni baru belajar. Belum lagi bekerja.

Ma'assalamah, asdiqa!

Chapter 13 : Oh Common!

Can a guy and a girl be just friends? Can they?

Why not?

You see, there was this friend of mine who insisted that us, girls to change our appearance. No tudung bawal, no this, no that and the list goes on. I got a bit upset and depressed listening to this every single time she joins any of our conversations. But I kept that to myself. I didn't show them how I feel and yes, I sure can act. No one can even see the tears I wiped after prayer. 

I was getting better that day until yesterday. It was her turn to give a tazkirah. Yes, we have a tazkirah everyday after Isya'. She started to talk about aurah and then after a few minutes, an interesting topic came up. It was about boys and girls. 

Sounds interesting, don't you think? Now here it goes. She began telling us that we should dress up properly and not too over the top. But seriously, this people here doesn't even wear any nice, cute blouses. They wear jubahs, long hijabs, longs shirts and wearing a niqab has been a trend here. I once saw two seniors wore a shawl with a niqab. 

Oh here's an interesting part. She told us not to wear pink or red or any striking colours if possible. Why? Because it might attract men. Ha ha ha. Everyone then began to whisper and some were confused. Funny don't you think. Us, girls being blamed for wearing such colours. 

She then insisted that we should avoid talking to guys and if possible, cut all connection with guys. No calls, no chats or even look at the guy. Hah. I went flabbergasted. 

I joked about pretending to be a guy when calling the musyrifs and everybody laughed. Sorry to say but I personally think this is crap. Can't talk to guys? Can't even look at them? Oh God.

One day, sooner or later, we are going to be a doctor, InsyaAllah. It's funny when people has this kind of thinking. How are we going to communicate with each other. For an example, a doctor. You can't choose your patients. You can't decline any male patients or avoid any contact with them. You can't run away from your colleagues who I doubt are all of the same gender as you. You can't just lower your gaze and voice during presentations or explaining a diagnosis to the professors. Face it, you can't run away from the other gender. What's wrong with mixing around? What's wrong with talking to guys? All you need is to set your niat right. That's all. 

SIGH. 

I can't tolerate with this kind of attitude. Sorry.