Some people get married at such young age and others opt not to marry at all. But my dearest friend who happens to be my loyal housemate when I was a student at IU found her soul mate a bit later compared to many of my friends. But boy isn't she the luckiest of all because not only she got a husband but she got 8 instant children! Wow! On top of that her husband is going to open a spa for her to manage! Husband, children, business, 3-in-1, not a bad deal at all. So it was worth the waiting. I was shocked and very happy when she called and told me the news a few months before the wedding. Of course I would not have missed the ceremony for the world. My whole family (except for Danial) went to KB to attend the wedding. We stayed at a very nice and cozy inn called Barokah Inn. I got the place through a friend's recommendation. I think for RM 70 a night, the room was really worth it. After all, we only need it to sleep for a few hours. They provided 1 queen-sized and 1 single-sized beds. The worker told me that they have 9 rooms in total. It it located on Jalan Kebun Sultan and the telephone number is 013-988 7929 (in case if the inquiring minds want to know).
Tuesday night Yasmin arrived, from her trip with Uncle Husni and family to KL, at about 1.30am. Before arriving Husni called and Steve got up and waited for them in the living room. I must have slept like a log because I didn't hear the sound of the phone or the bell ringing. All I know Yasmin was in the toilet taking a bath yesterday morning. So now our family is back to normal, with 4 kids at home and us. Harris was really hopeful to go to KL on Saturday with them but unfortunately Husni's car was really full. There were 3 big bags for Khadijah to take back to Egypt, Omar's bags to take to his school in Johor, Husni's family's bags with enough clothes for 4 days, and a box full of goodies from us to be sent to Danial in Johor. As soon as Husni's car left, Harris went to his room and shut the door. Usually that's what he does when he's upset about something. Luckily we had a wedding to go to that afternoon so Harris was happier. Najla and Hannah were fine because they would not dream of parting from us (yet). Harris said "Yasmin always gets to go. When she's in a boarding school, I will go places with uncle Husni". Poor Harris:(
Salam and hi. What? I haven't written any entries since August 2nd? Unbelievable! I should be marking term papers for my students but I need to get away from it just for a few minutes. There's so much to tell and let's see what to mention first. I went to KL yesterday to attend a departmental meeting. I promised myself not to spend so much but the moment I entered Kinokunia, I went berserk! Luckily I managed to control myself and just bought 2 books. One is for my class reference and the other is Love, Eat, Pray! It's a wonderful novel which has been made into a motion picture recently. I wonder if I could still catch it on the big screen or I just have to get a CD. Anyway, I stopped by Auntie Annie's place and bought 12 huge pretzels. My kids just love them! I think if I really sit down and follow the recipe, I could actually make them or even sell them! Maybe I will try that after we move into our new home. Speaking of that, our new house is almost a 100 percent ready. We are just waiting for the electricity to be installed. After that we have to wash the floor and have a small feast or housewarming gathering. I can't wait. Early this month my niece got married and the wedding was held in the kampung. It was a wonderful ceremony where I had a chance to meet many of my relatives and friends. I guess we have to wait for a long time to have another big gathering like that because my nephew (the Malaysian side that is) said he needs between 8 and 10 years to establish his career. My kids are also still too young. Najla had another tooth pulled last night while I was in KL. Steve said she refused to have her 2 teeth filled. I asked her why this morning and she said, "I want to do it with Mak". Isn't that sweet? Speaking of Najla, she is no longer enrolled in a kinder garden because she said she knows everything that is being taught there already. In the beginning we sent her to the nursery just to play with the younger kids but at the beginning of this month she requested to go to Mak Bedah's hous. Kak Bedah is our good friend cum baby sitter for the rest of the kids before. I guess she's happy there helping Mak Bedah and watching TV whenever she pleases.
On Tuesday Steve brought home a lot of novels which we have ordered from the Scholastic Book Club. I think more than half of them are Yasmin's. She's really "wild" reading them now. Harris, Hannah and Najla also got a few books each. I wonder where we are going to put all the young adult novels we have. Since Danial is staying in the hostel, he didn't get to order any. I hope he'll find something he likes from Yasmin's selection.
Wow! Besarnya kuih bahulu. Mesti sedap! Tak sabar nak kongsi dengan anak-anak balik nanti.
Kalau dah rezeki pasti tak kemana. Itulah ungkapan yang terfikir dikepala sewaktu kawan saya datang ke pejabat tengahari tadi membawa buah tangan dari majlis perkahwinan adiknya pada hari Sabtu lepas. Saya sekeluarga telah dijemput untuk sama-sama hadir ke majlis perkahwinan yang berlangsung di Temerloh tu. Memang pada asalnya kami teruja sangat nak pergi sebab ini dah kali kedua dijemput untuk ke Temerloh. Kali pertama semasa perkahwinan beliau sendiri tapi masa tu kami sekeluarga di USA kalau tak silap, tak ada rezeki untuk hadir. Jadi bila dapat undangan yang kedua ni memang bersemangat nak pergi. Malangnya manusia hanya boleh merancang tapi Allah jua yang menentukan.
Kebetulan minggu lepas (10 Oktober) jiran paling hampir saya melangsungkan perkahwinan anak bongsu beliau dan emak saya pun kenal dengan jiran ni. Jadi saya pelawa emak untuk datang ke rumah supaya boleh sama-sama meraikan kenduri kawin yang terakhir, sebab lepas ni dah tak ada anak beliau yang nak kawin dah. Emak pun setuju dan terus beli tiket bas untuk ke Kuantan. Tambahan pula jiran saya tu (yang lelakinya) sedang mengidap barah paru-paru di peringkat yang agak kritikal. Jadi tujuan emak datang selain dari dari nak tengok anaknya kahwin ialah nak ziarah dia sekali. Manalah tahu kalau-kalau kesempatan ini merupakan perjumpaan mereka yang terakhir. Tetapi malangnya, sehari sebelum emak datang, dia mendapat sakit sendi kaki dan lutut. Tetapi dikuatkannya juga azam dan akhirnya sampai juga ke Kuantan.
Selepas menghadiri kenduri tersebut, sakit sendi-sendi emak semakin teruk. Kami bercadang untuk memasukkannya ke wad tapi emak agak keberatan sebab takut kalau doktor tak benarkan dia keluar pada hujung minggunya. Dia nekad untuk balik kampung pada hari Sabtu 17 Oktober lalu. Maka rancangan kami untuk ke Temerloh terpaksa dibatalkan. Insya Allah jika ada lagi jemputan lain kali, mungkin kami dapat juga pergi.
Last Friday (31 July) and all the way through weekend were pig-out days!On Friday morning I attended a birthday gathering for my boss at the office.We had plenty of food such as “mee kari, soto, mee hoon, rojak buah, lai chee kang”, chocolate cake, cheese cake, and puddings.It was hard to resist those wonderful dishes so I didn’t even try.I just controlled the portions and skipped lunch.In the evening I attended another gathering at my neighbor’s house.It was their house warming party as well as hair cutting ceremony for their new granddaughter. Both Danial (who just got back from a guitar lesson) and Harris stayed home playing computer games and Steve went to town sending the girls to their art class, so I went alone.To lessen my guilt for pigging out, I jogged to the house, ate some “roti jala”, jogged around the block and all the way home.
The hostess (in purple dress)
They even gave us these souvenirs to take home
When I came home I saw tonnes of “keropok kering” (dried fish crackers) and “keropok lekor” in my kitchen.Steve informed me those were given by Juan’s dad (Roberto).He brought them to Steve’s office all the way from Terengganu.I fried some for Danial and Harris as an addition to their French fries dinner.I promised myself not to eat that night but as the saying goes, promises are meant to be broken!When Steve and the girls came home with a bag of sate, I ate some more!There goes my waistline.The next day, after Hannah and I attended our piano lesson, Steve, Najla, and I went to my friend Aida’s sister’s wedding at “Wisma Belia” Indera Mahkota.Yup!More eating to do. Wow! It was a huge wedding with the Sultan and Sultanah Pahang as the VIP guests. I met my “Harfiah” class’ teacher and an MCC alumna Amira, whom I haven’t met in ages.In fact, the bride is Amira’s relative.After the wedding my whole family left for my mom’s kampong in NS.We still have a bit of fruits left, such as mangosteen, “duku, langsat, and rambutan”.On Sunday Steve, Najla, and I attended another wedding!More food!Aaaaahhh,we can’t run away from them.They are everywhere!How lucky we are in this country.While many in the world are dying of hunger, we are dying of eating too much!The bigger kids didn’t want to go.They had more important things to do such as watching the idiot box!What a bunch of party poopers.
I got back from “Sukan MARA” (I will write more in my other blog) in Johore last Friday and decided to go back to the “kampong” to visit my mom. So after attending my piano class and two friends' weddings we left Kuantan to go back to Ulu Bendul. We haven’t been home for quite sometime because either the kids or Steve and I had activities going on for the past few weeks. It’s always relaxing being in the kampong and of course our favorite pastime there is sleeping. I hope in a few weeks time, the rambutans and durians will be riped. I can’t wait to go back again.
Trinkets we received at Baini's wedding Kak Ani's son's weddingMy good friend Sam Choy with his wife and 2 cute girls whom I met at Kak Ani's son's wedding
Usually I jog with Faridah but this Saturday I went with Elly.Then I went to the store to get ingredients to make “rendang”. Since I won’t be home for the whole week next week, I would like to leave some food for the kids so I won’t feel so guilty leaving them.Then I went to PKNP for a friendly ping pong match.When the match was over, I drove to my friend’s salon on the way to Bukit Goh to pick up some skin care products.The older we get the more pampering we need.When I got home, Hannah and Najla were still not ready to go to the wedding of our neighbor’s son.They were still in the bathroom, playing rather than bathing.I was starving and they really tested my patience (whatever little that I have).Steve used to joke that I should be a pediatrician, because I have little patience (patients), got it?hahaha… Anyway, when we arrived at the wedding, there were so many pseudo Harley Davidson riders.As far as I am concerned they are high class “Mat Rempit”ooppss, “samseng jalanan”.Ooo, I might get red flags on this.
After we finished eating, we send the kids home because Harris needed to use the bathroom.Only Steve and I went to the other neighbor’s house for another gathering, celebrating the arrival of their grand child (the baby is actually 34 days old).After we ate the host asked if we would like to have some cake.He told us it was their 40th wedding anniversary cake.Wow!They have been married for 4 decades.I wonder if we get to celebrate our 40th anniversary considering our ancient age.
In the evening I went to Parkson to do some last minute shopping for my trip to MARA games in Johore.By 10 pm, I was pooped out.
Last Friday (29 May) Harris had to stay overnight at his school preparing for his trip to Kedah for the School Youth Cadet’s camp.Steve picked him up on Saturday and he brought Harris’ friend Omar home too.Omar’s parents went back to Johore so Omar had to stay at our house. On Saturday morning Hannah and I attended our piano lesson as usual.After the class was over, I dropped her home and I drove to the College to join Azah and Aniz playing ping pong.Actually both Azah and I are trying to train Aniz to play so she could join us at MARA games in Johore next week.We are really desperate for another woman player.When I came home at noon, I cooked a big pot of tom yam.I think Omar was lucky because I was hit by my cooking mood.Otherwise, he had to settle for a burger from the nearby stall. While I was busy cooking, Steve sent Yasmin and Hannah to the DaVinci Artfor their make-up art lesson.They were supposed to have it on Sunday but we change the schedule because we wanted to go to our friend’s wedding on Sunday.Anyway,after I finished cooking my wonderful tom yam I went to pick Yasmin and Hannah.While there, I took several pictures of them drawing. They are quite talented I would say.
Yasmin and Hannah Drawing and Painting
After we left the DaVinci place, we went to shop for pants for me to take to MARA games next week.Then we had to rush home because I had to attend the closing ceremony for the new student orientation program at the College.The students performed some sketch and songs.I didn’t stay until the end because I needed to get home and sew some kind of logo onto Harris’ beret.On Sunday I got up much earlier than usual to make fried noodle (bee hoon) for breakfast, which was a very rare occasion.Usually we bought “roti canai” or “nasi minyak” from the nearby stall.Then I jogged for a few kilometers and stopped by my office to get the list of the new student names to be given to the ID photographer.In the afternoon, Steve, Danial, Hannah, Najla and I went to my friends’ wedding.For those who didn’t get a chance to attend, here are some photos taken at the wedding:
Around 9.30pm everybody sent Harris to his school to catch the bus for the Youth Cadet’s camp trip.The bus left Kuantan at exactly 10.15pm.
Harris and His Friends before Leaving Kuantan Last Night
I hope Harris will have a safe and fun trip to Kedah (and back).He’ll be there until this coming Friday.Danial and Yasmin will go to their Youth Cadet’s camp in Perak this Wednesday.Then next Monday, I will go to Johore for MARA games.Only Steve, Hannah and Najla will stay put in Kuantan.
I like to attend weddings.On 3 May a few friends and my family attended a wedding in Lenggeng, Negeri Sembilan.It was the wedding for KPTM lecturers.We went in 4 separate cars – Nizam’s, Hisham’s, Nik’s, and ours.All of themdrove straight from Kuantan but we met them half way, in Ulu Bendul, at my mom’s house.It seemed that majority of the guests were from our College!Here are some pictures taken during the wedding:
Yesterday (Saturday 4 April 09) my whole family attended 2 weddings.The first was in Permatang Badak, behind the PermatangBadakSchool.It was the wedding of Linda, Shahrul’s (KPTM admin exec) niece.Her mom used to take care of Najla for 4 months.
This is Linda, the bride
Then we went to Azlan’s wedding in Sg Isap.Azlan’s mother, Kak Bedah, used to take care of all my children.She’s more like a family than just a friend.We got so many hard boiled eggs from the weddings, enough to feed us for one whole week!
Finally, now that I have caught up with time, I don’t have to write by the month anymore. I can enter my entry based on current event(s).
Sunday 1 March. Danial, Yasmin and Harris were still at Jaynina’s house. They only came back after Isya’ at night. So, only the four of us went to attend Zetty’s wedding. Before that we also attended another wedding at Taman Guru. One of my neighbor’s son (or perhaps daughter, I forgot) got married. If I am not mistaken, after Steve sent us home he went to his office to work on accreditation report for his school. The poor guy has been working like a dog lately because his school is going to have its accreditation visit in late April. Until then he will probably has to continue this crazy work pattern like he has no life besides work. Well, a man has to do what he has to do for his family right?
How come when I was a kid people didn't think of having flower girls at their weddings? I bet I would 've been picked to be one because I was kind of cute as a child if I may say so. If you guys don't believe me, go ask the blind man because he saw me! Anyway, Hannah and Najla were so excited when their cousin Maisarah asked them to be the flower girls. They got to wear specially made gowns and that head thingy as shown in the picture. They were so sweet when they walked in front of the bride and groom. They told me they were nervous and I could see it on their faces that day. I guess I would be too if thousand eyes were looking at me.
Some people get married at such young age and others opt not to marry at all. But my dearest friend who happens to be my loyal housemate when I was a student at IU found her soul mate a bit later compared to many of my friends. But boy isn't she the luckiest of all because not only she got a husband but she got 8 instant children! Wow! On top of that her husband is going to open a spa for her to manage! Husband, children, business, 3-in-1, not a bad deal at all. So it was worth the waiting. I was shocked and very happy when she called and told me the news a few months before the wedding. Of course I would not have missed the ceremony for the world. My whole family (except for Danial) went to KB to attend the wedding. We stayed at a very nice and cozy inn called Barokah Inn. I got the place through a friend's recommendation. I think for RM 70 a night, the room was really worth it. After all, we only need it to sleep for a few hours. They provided 1 queen-sized and 1 single-sized beds. The worker told me that they have 9 rooms in total. It it located on Jalan Kebun Sultan and the telephone number is 013-988 7929 (in case if the inquiring minds want to know).
