Cherry blossoms at Retiro Park

The recent first two weeks in April in Madrid has been quite cloudy and drenched with rain much much more than last year's April for sure.

I remember that around last year's April, the weather had been steadily increasing and quite stable but more humid though. It seems that this year's April is cooler and pretty bearable. 

We decided to stroll around Retiro Park on the weekend with the weather forecast of slight drizzles in the morning. What amazed me is that I hardly see people with umbrellas when it drizzles in Madrid or UK unlike in Korea. ^^ 

Well, since we decided to do power walking, I opted for thinner attire. Not knowing that the wind would blow wildly later. Chilly!

Off we went.

When we arrived at the Cercanias station near our house, we saw a Forensic Police car. My husband said that there might be someone died around this area. 

Guess what?

There was..... 

A body lying on the rail track. When we arrived at the platform, the corpse was still lying there with two forensic officers checking for its condition. 

Death. The time will come for everyone. That's what my husband said. As Muslims when there is news of death, we will say: 

Picture: AbdulMunib

The trains' operation was stopped for about twenty minutes and later the track's platform was changed to continue with the services. 

I wonder what made a person to have suicidal thoughts. The person must feel that there might be no other solution except taking his/her own life.  

There has been a lot of pressure with the Spanish economic condition since 2008 and so many people are jobless and affected by this. Many people lost their houses and become homeless. I saw an elderly couple at Fuencarral have to live on the street with all their stuff after they could not afford to pay the room's rent of 350 euros per month. So pitiful.

We are affected too but we have to ride it no matter what. Be grateful no matter what our condition is. May Allah ease us from our predicament and keep us in the straight path. Amin. 

Well, let's return to Retiro Park shall we? 

We were pleasantly surprised that there are still some cherry blossoms trees which are not fully bloomed yet. Subhanallah. I was quite pleased because I rarely saw cherry blossoms with different shades of pink in Korea but this time I could see it in Madrid! Alhamdulillah. 

Other than that..

A Moroccan friend which was sick a month ago has returned to Madrid healthily, Masha Allah; and he gave us some herbs from Tangier. They are:

Tomillo (thyme) top-left, oregano top-right, poleo menta (penny royal) bottom-right and hierba luisa (lemon beebrush / verbena) bottom-left.

We normally use thyme and oregano for cooking right? However, my husband would drink them (and the rest of the above too) as tea sometimes. Hmmm...It's a Moroccan thing I guess...OR..it is just him. Hehehe...Nevertheless, I love trying new stuff and it is pretty amazing to know something which is so different compared to my Malaysian culture. 

And...I learned how to make Moroccan pancake called Beghrir (Baghrir) - Moroccan Semolina Pancakes. 

The first time, I failed miserably. The second time, I half failed and the third was a slight success. I am not going to disclose my failures but here is the decent attempt of mine. ^_^

We eat Beghrir with olive oil or honey or both. I thought it is something like Apam or Idli but with semolina as the difference.

Recently, I have this feeling that I need to learn a lot more about Moroccan food and how to cook them. This is because, there was an instance during breakfast, I told my husband that there were no bread today (barra pan) and we shall eat pancake (the standard pancake recipe). 

After having the breakfast, my husband said, "Echo de menos comer pan" which means 'I miss eating bread'.

What?!.....O-O*tepuk dahi-kind of my reaction that time* 

This is because having been raised with rice as the main staple I could not understand the feeling of one who lives eating bread his whole life. I have to learn to empathize.

Other than my duty as a housewife, blogging and learning Spanish..

I am on track to finish Madinah Arabic-Book 2 by the end of April. Right now, I just completed Lesson 24. Alhamdulillah. 

The memorization of Surah Sajdah is still not finished. I just completed two pages of it. Need to be more istiqamah on this area.

I just started learning to use Canva.com as a tool to create an E-book. What a delightful page! I am truly a blind person in designing stuff be it in whatever area but Canva.com just rocks. They have free tutorial as a guide and I can't stop exploring the possibilities. So cool!

Well then...another half of April to go and hopefully I can stick to complete all my scheduled goals. Bi iznillah.