We are going to German! :))

Well, we are not actually going to German any time soon. Nothing is confirmed until I give birth to our baby. So everything depends...

Nevertheless, I am very happy indeed. The abstract which I send to a conference in Germany is accepted. I sent the abstract in February early this year and the conference committee informed me that they will let me know whether the abstract is accepted or not by early May. First week of May passed without any e-mail. So I give up any hope. May be another time. I am also busy writing a paper for a journal publication at that time. I promise my supervisors that I will submit the draft by end of April. However, I haven't finished writing until end of May. There are a lot of reading and thinking going through that writing process. Not to mention, drawing plenty of figures to suit my explanation. I guess I am fortunate enough to have understanding supervisors. I apologize to my main supervisor for being 1 month late in submitting the draft and she said, "I totally understand. A lot is going on while you write [thinking, clarifying your results and discussion]."

Then by almost middle of May, I received the conference approval e-mail requesting my confirmation for oral presentation. Alhamdulillah. Yeay!!! I immediately forward the acceptance e-mail to my supervisor. She is happy too :)

Then a reality hit! My baby is due on 23th of August. The conference is from 25th to 29th of September. Hari Raya Aidilfitri (Eid celebration) is probably going to be on 30th August. So basically, we have less than a month to go Malaysian Student Department in London and apply for a passport for our baby. Mind you, it takes about 5 hourse drive from Newcastle to London. Plus I am still within my confinement period during that time.

Hemm.. make that 2 WEEKS! I bet the staff at the Malaysian Student Department will be on Hari Raya leave for at least a few days. Then we probably have to apply for a visa too. I need to ask UK Border Agency about this because if its possible, I don't want to apply for our baby's visa until November. Reason is, we are going to renew our visa then. So if I apply for our baby's visa now, the life period of that visa is not worth the money I am paying for it. When I renew my visa this coming November, I need to renew our baby's visa as well. URRRGHHHH!!!

Again, I am so grateful to Allah for having a kind supervisor. I discuss with her yesterday about my plan on presenting my work in German, bringing my husband and baby along, and my worries if I can't make it. So the plan for now is to book a ticket which you can change the name on the ticket if anything happens. I don't even know what do they call that kind of ticket (nampak sangat tak selalu naik kapal terbang, huhuhu...)

I think for now I just do what I can. If it is meant to be, it's meant to be...