BB8 Droid at Itaewon Mosque

And...this is how it went...

The compilation of pictures I took today when I took him out.

Ouuuch...isn't he a cutie?

...and such an adorable droid.^^.

Blue+Orange+Round!

This app-enabled Droid is a new reason I don't need to ever show my face on my instagtam^^

Foto sama BCL

Stlh nunggu...

Kesempatan kan? Pas dianya syuting film di mesjid. So...knp tdk?

Tp ya....pastinya hrs foto bareng-bareng.^^

Saat syuting film di lokasi Masjid Seoul.

Parkiran ....Pas....Hujan...

Ada pohon yang sudah gundul...

Ada yang masih menyisakan dedaunan menguning sebagai bukti adanya musim gugur...

Ada dedaunan yg rontok menghiasi mobil di bawahnya...

Kuberdiri kedinginan.

아랍어 배울까?

이태원 이슬람사원에서 운영하는 아랍어강좌가  있단다. 흠...참석할 생각이 있긴 있는데 토요일이라서  좀 무리가 있네. 기초부터 디시 배우고 싶은 마음이 생겼지만  진짜 저렇게 여유가 있을까 의심+고민 중.

근데...참 재미있어 보인다!!!

Tangga menuju Masjid Itaewon

For elderly...these steps are so steep and challenging enough.

But...for the youngs....even they find it tempting to skip and jump on.. . . . .especially when they know that they're latw for Friday Prayer.ooppps...that includes me. . .coz I'm the one taking the pics.

Jumat tgl 10 Juli 2015

Inginnya sih hanya jumatan sj..tapi gara-gara telat bayar asuransi akhirnya kuharus pergi mengurusnya di kantor asuransi di daerah Jegidong. Untung masih satu jalur saat pergi Jumatan jadi ya gpp.

Alhmdlh telah rampung dan asuransi kami sdh "hidup" lagi. 

Pas pulang kutemukan spanduk yg isinya kritik sangat pedas pd pemerintah tapi menarik juga.

Intinya bilang pada pemerintah utk tidak berperang melawan rakyat tapi peranglah dengan MERS.^^

....setelah selesai Jumatan di Itaewon, kulihat bnyk orang yg tetap bercengkerama dg rekan sobat di tengah suhu musim panas yang melejit.

Ramadan minggu ke-3. 

Masjid Itaewon en Sekitare

 Baru kali ini dtng jumatan awal buangettt jd mesjide sueepi buangeeet.

...sampe iso moto moto ra ono wonge...

yo wis...kesempatan...

...sampe parkiran pun....ra ono  wong

...ngintip sekelumit ruang belakang masjid

ternyata...jebule ..itaewon kuwi yo...apik

ya tho...agak kosong mlompong...biasane penuh..

2015.06.05

Ablution....& ...Flower

Found it in front of an ablution place.

.....simply beautiful...

#jumatan 230515

Today's Friday Diary

Today's Friday Prayer was special since I met Aris, my student at UT Korea. He had a day off from work.and that enabled him to go to Masjid.

then...off we went to an Indian restaurant. 

..where we met mas Dedi Agus from PKPU Korea.

What would going to an Indian restaurant be....without ordering biryani rice...^^

hmmm..

Yummy.

Full HOUSE!!!

I should've known...no...I should've realized that it was still holiday.

I came to the mosque at 1 pm.only to find myself in the crowds with no where to pray.

Even the rooftop was full.

Alhamdulilah...I did find a space between the parked cars....ㅋㅋ 

ㅠㅠ what  a Friday prayer in Seollal.

Today's Friday-Bazaar @ Itaewon Masjid

Today happened to be Memorial Day (현충일 -hyeonjung il) in Korea. Surely it's a holiday. I simply had it casually until I went out of my home to find out that yes...it's a special day. Early in the morning, ajeossi in our apartment raised Taegukki (Korean flag) and then as I marched my way towards subway station on my way to the Masjid, I noticed flags were raised in front of some houses and shops. 

That's not the only special occasion I (finally) noticed today. As I arrived at the Masjid, I was taken aback by my oblivion of not coming to Masjid early...."knock..knock..knock...Hello...somebody's there?" Yes..I should've gone to Masjid early..since hundreds of people flocked to pray on this holiday. 

Well, most of them did not have to work..so practically it's their best shot of 'coming' to Seoul and pray at the Central Masjid @ Itaewon.

That's one picture I took today as I was marching myself out of the crowd as soon as the prayer finished. 

Gee..it's hot outside..but the enthusiasm of those coming simply for the bazaar was astounding. 

*looking back--> I loved the relatively blue sky we had today.

and...once again..:Happy Memorial Day: for everyone commemorating this. 

*oh, I should have changed the title of this post*#where's the bazaar? ^-^

Bright Blue Sky+Cold Snap@Itaewon Masjid

Dark-Bright-Blue-Sky over Itaewon Masjid as I saw it today. 

Though my hands were trembling and shaking while trying my best to take this picture--due to the cold weather...I just wanted to capture the moment of having exposed to this beautiful day. 

Just loved the contrasting color of white and blue sky at the background. 

With some people still praying, it could give a more vivid look of what Itaewon Masjid looked like as of Dec. 27, 2013...as I finished the Friday Prayer.

Idul Adha /Eid-al Adha 1434 H

The morning shower and the chilling weather made it even more .....

I got to pray in the 1st underground floor due to the full capacity of the main floor at Masjid. Well, it's warmer inside, thank God. 

My 3rd Eid-al Adha in Korea.  

After the prayer, people started to peer out of the main praying hall and got down the stairs to meet their friends. 

I only had a chance to take a moment with Sulis and his wife--who just arrived a week earlier. 

As for me, kids went to school since it was not a national holiday in Korea. 

I was lucky to be able to perform the Eid-al Adha prayer at 10 am since my class would not have begun until 12 at that day.

So...It's a kind of different feeling..having to celebrate one of the most important dates in Islamic calender.....without any friends to hang out with. ^^ sure I did meet friends quite a lot of them...it's just that the rain scattered us around..

Revisiting Itaewon (part 1)

I already wrote about Itaewon a couple of times, so if someone asks as to why I post an entry about it again? I would gladly say that I happened to take new pics and new pics deserve a new story to tell.

The facade of this Seoul Central Masjid is the same as I first laid my eyes on this Masjid years ago. But, things are going to change. A blueprint for a massive renovation of this Masjid is ON. And the project is hoped to be started in due time... 

As soon as we stepped out of the Masjid area, we'd be greeted by shops and restaurants with halal label or sign on their signage or billboard. Other common sight we may encounter is the increasing number of women wearing veil/hijab/jilbab walking passing by the Itaewon area, especially near the Masjid. 

Well..either they are foreigners who reside in Korea or tourists, they are Muslim who re more than willingly to come to Korea on a booked group or private tour. 

See what I mean? I think this kind of sight is getting more common in Korea.

With this hope in mind, I just hope that they can associate themselves with Korean life..and on the other hand..I do hope that Koreans would be more than willing to proactively embrace the sights and the existence of veil/hijab/jilbab wearing women.

Friday's Happy-O'lic

First thing first...It's Friday. The first Friday in the series of the coming Summer vacation. 

Took the kids to school. Then..off I went to campus to return a bunch of books I borrowed this semester. Then...off I went to the computer room....only to find that the room was being renovated:( sigh*** then..off I went to the barber (wait it's not barber)...it's a miyongsil or salon....where I usually have my hair trimmed (hair??)..like I have any. ..anyway..only to find that it's still closed. I came too early. 

Couldn't wait coz I got lunch appointment with my office colleagues at Youido's Seven Spring buffet restaurant (my fave).

Still got 30 minutes or so before lunch time...so off I went to IFC Mall to find some morning eye-shopping @ Uniqlo only to find the striped shirt I was falling in love with. 

Then...got one-hour buffet lunch to fill up my senses and appetite of everything a vegetarian like me ever wanted.

the only pic I took of the so many arrays of food I chomped into my tummy.^^

Got a great lunch, though. Thank you for ms. Kim Mino who treated us for the lovely lunch.

** Then...Friday Prayer ** at 13.00 until 14.00 at Itaewon Masjid. (nothing special...apart from the fact that it was crowded as usual...plus the blistering heat of the summer. I couldn't get into the inner circle coz I came late ...

anyhow..I did my Friday prayer hassle-free.

---

Then..off I went to Jurassic Park.

Yes...It's a last minute decision to transport myself back to 65 million years ago...

where Dinosaurs ruled the earth.

Jurrasic Park on IMAX 3D.

"indeed..it was a new and refreshing way of looking back into the 1993's mind-blowing movie: it's the intricate details and suspense that kept me glued and admire the 90's legacy of movie magic".

and..now..it's 7.45 pm...at home..jotting down this entry.

What a Friday...alhamdulillah. 

별난물건박물관 for Eyra, 이태원 for Freya

While Eyra was at the Funique museum in downtown area with Yang Subin

 We took Freya out, too. But since it was Friday, I took her to the Masjid at Itaewon. She had no choice but to go with me. And we had lunch there, too. Of course, both of our daughters experienced different activities at most of their time since each of them have their own routines. 

Selamat Balik ke Tanah Air, Pak Ikhwan

Mr. Ikhwan just officially finished his 2-year term of teaching Indonesian language at HUFS College of Malay-Indonesian Interpretation and Translation. I was surprised to find out about this. I thought that he would be staying here a another year or so. But I was wrong. So, the other day after Jumatan prayer, I bumped into him and that's the time when he told me that he would be leaving for Indonesia on Saturday, Feb. 23. 

This is the picture we took in front of Itaewon Masjid on Feb. 22, 2013.

Selamat berkarya di Makassar, Indonesia, Pak Ikhwan. 

Ramadan in Korea: Itaewon Mosque

This was the third day of the Ramadan. Since I got no class that day...I rushed myself to the Mosque at Itaewon. Just wanted to feel the real Ramadan among other fellow friends from other countries. We are observing the fasting month so it would be a great time to mingle and get to know one another...

( The picture about: I took right before Magrib)

Another angle of the Mosque where I was. I stood on the left side of the 2nd floor of the Mosque to capture the evening sky in Ramadan in Korea.

Apart from admiring the beauty that Allah has put into the evening sky, for sure..I also wanted to take this picture...  just for the sake of remembering my being there.^^

Inside the Mosque. People were seen reciting Al Quran, praying, and some were asleep. ^^ Well, there are many ways to spend an afternoon right before Breaking the Fast.

(keisengan). A bit restless of what to do next after praying for a while. I took a snap of one section inside the Mosque where...some books on Islam were written in Indonesiab, Malay, Uzbekistan, Arabic, and others...

Now...it was the breaking the fast time. After having served our Magrib prayers, people started to go down stairs and made a queue to receive their portion of meals as a part of the breaking the fasting tradtion.

The moon somewhat greeted us from above. Lots of people were taking a queue lining up... 

It was the situation right before the dusk or magrib. I took a chance to take a picture when the committee were preparing for Breaking the fast tradition or iftar...The beverages, the milk banana, dates were all put on their plates and places..and people would just sit down accordingly ...mingled with anyone.

This is the fasting month schedule that I took a chance to take a picture of.

Some of the jamaah were already there sitting and preparing themselves for the break fast.

The other section of the lot. More and more people were pouring in...

The dates were the main dish or the most important meal for breaking the fast as it was the very food that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had for breaking the fast...

The last two pictures that I wanted to put in this blog are....

The Itaewon Mosque facade at Dusk.

I loved the serenely peaceful atmosphere and the calmly tranquil feeling I had when visiting this Mosque...