Raya 2009

I was really looking forward to having a week off so that my family and I could go visit our relatives and friends whom we haven’t seen since last Raya (or before that). Unfortunately the first 2 days of Raya we couldn’t visit anybody who lives more than 20 kilometers away because my mom was not feeling well. She had neck and chest pains. She was especially worse in the mornings.

Since my mom was feeling much better on the third Raya day, we went to Melaka to visit my long lost roommate when I was at a university. It was so wonderful seeing her again because the last time we saw each other was before I got married and now I have been married for 17 years! I used to contact her when she was at UPM but after her retirement we lost contact. She has a beautiful English cottage which she “designed” herself (with the help of an architect of course!). She has a beautiful garden and she even has two date trees in her yard. We arrived at her house around 2.30 pm and stayed until 5pm! Time flew by so fast when we had fun reminiscing the good old days.

On the way home we stopped in Tampin to visit my aunty. A while later, my cousin’s son dropped by. Actually I have never met this guy. After we introduced each other he called his father (my cousin) and told him that I was at my aunt’s house. I felt obligated to visit my cousin whom I haven’t seen since the day I got married! We ended up getting back at my mom’s house very late at night.

My former roommate and I

On the 4^th day of Raya we went to KL to renew Harris’ and Najla’s passports. We were so lucky to have a guest from Morroco to celebrate Raya this year. On the way to KL we dropped him off at Seremban Bus terminal to catch a 10.30am bus to Kuantan. He had to go home early to find a new apartment because his apartment contract would expire at the end of September. After we were done with our business at the passport office, it was time for lunch. All of them wanted to eat at one of the fast food joints, so we visited Colonel Sanders and gained fat!

Our Moroccan guest & our kidsHannah & Najla at Col. Sanders' constructing their Sponge Bob

While the kids were eating I sent messages to 2 of my friends, Kak Ju and Marzi. We went to Kak Ju’s house in Ampang first because Marzi was out shopping at the Mid Valley mall. Marzi said we could come and visit at 4pm. It was good seeing Kak Ju again. I am not sure if we saw her last Raya or not. She is in food business making different sauces with a factory in Klang. Before we left her house, she gave us a bottle each of BBQ, chilli, mayonnaise, and pasta sauce. I would like to help promote her products (with no commission, ok) under the brand Jasma. Her products can be bought at Giant and other supermarkets / hyper markets in Malaysia. They are 100% halal products. Then we went to PJ to visit Marzi and her family.

Jasma Halal Products

Our final stop for the day was MPH at Mid Valley. The kids went wild searching for their favorite books and we spent around RM450 for all of them. By the time we got back to my mom’s house, it was close to midnight.

The next day my mom asked Steve and I to accompany her to the bank in KP and to buy groceries. On the way back from KP, we stopped by my uncle’s and my aunty’s house in Terachi. Only Najla came with us so she got extra “duit raya” compared to her other siblings. On Friday (the 6^th day), we didn’t go anywhere, just loafed around and relaxed. I bought a book titled “Travelog Haji” by Prof. Kamil when we went to MPH on Wednesday. I started reading it on Thursday night and finished it by Friday morning. It was such a refreshing read. I definitely recommend the book to any practicing Muslim.

Saturday afternoon we went to KLIA to send Yasmin’s friend off to Egypt. She’s the same age as Yasmin (should be in form 1) but her parents sent her to Egypt to study Quran. She seemed so matured for her age. Steve and I would definitely not send our kids overseas at such young age. We want to keep them under our roof for as long as we can because once they leave, they will be gone. That’s why we didn’t send Danial and Yasmin to any boarding schools although both of them got 5As for their UPSR.

Yasmin's friend & her mom

Since KLIA is close enough to Bangi, we decided to visit our friend AA and his family in BB Bangi. We arrived around 9pm and left nearly 2 hours later. We didn’t plan to stay that long but since we haven’t seen each other for quite sometime, we got a little carried away. For the third time, we got back to my mom’s house at around midnight. Alhamdulillah she was doing fine.

We wanted to go back to Kuantan on Saturday but my niece convinced us to stay until Sunday because her sister (my other niece) had an engagement at noon on that day. Her fiancé is from Perak so the guy’s family brought along pomelos, star fruits, and guavas. Finally, at 4pm we left the kampong. All in all, it was a good Raya despite the below expectation beginning.

Our Raya photo