Swede Sensation

Saturday dawn, just after Subuh. KLIA, again.

No, I'm not flying anywhere, this time I was asked (with no option ... er, forced?) to bring the whole of my in-laws to KLIA to send out my BIL who's pursuing his doctorate in Uppsala University (founded in 1477), Sweden. There were also my in-laws' in-law. Dah macam hantar orang pergi Mekah pulok.

The truth is, I don't know why Sweden. I heard rumours saying that it got something to do with the not-so-good-result of his IELTS. Anyway, congratulation. Hope that my BIL would come back with a PhD in EE Engineering. It's the tax payer money, you know.

He brought his wife and little boy. The wife, a medical doctor has to take long leave (mengikut suami) for this. I wonder, would a guy sacrifice his job (promotions etc.) and follow the wife instead?

I remember Uppsala. A mere 40 minutes by train from Stockholm the capital city. Nice little city with more bicycles than Volvos or Saabs. During summer in Uppsala, the sun's always there in the sky. The prayer times do not actually following the sun's location (pakai mazhab apa, I'm not sure). They have to use some other calculation methods. It is in the reverse, during winter, when the sun's shying away, and darkness's (not the Dark Lord you-know-who) everywhere. The Artic Circle is about 300 km north.

Once, me and friends dropped by in one big mosque in Malmo (south of Sweden). It's zohor time and the azan has been called. 

Then suddenly there's a screeching sound outside the mosque. There's a sports car driven by a beautiful blonde with designer sun shades. Cool. She had the Maria Sharapova look-a-like (I honestly don't care whether it's Venus or Saturn who won the Wimbledon, Maria is the best).

Then a Tom Cruise (nay, maybe Goran Ivanisevic, he's taller) look-a-like, complete with designer stubs, wearing tight tees and track-bottom (is that what you call that thing?) came out from the car and went straight through the mosque main door.

He then put on a robe and head gear and walla, he transformed from Goran to Syeikhul-Azhar look-a-like.

Anyway, that nice Tuan Imam from Bosnia was really glad to meet us, his brothers from Malaysia.