Zaf's open house

taken from Rachel's blog

(my home looks good in this pic.Thks Rachel! )

Zaf made a special request that this Raya we organise a raya open house just for her friends seramai 25 orang.You know don't you that malam raya tu I masak macam2 cos' the new maid could not cook? : from rendang to peanut sauce to nasi impit to macam2 lah.That's why I looked so tired in my raya pics. :)

Nasib baik my good fren Shahril tak cuti raya so I oda saja nasi bryani gam for 30 people.Then masak lagi nasi impit and kuahnya.Then Z kata buat lagilah laksa Sarawak cos' I did it the day before depa semua kata sedap.Sigh...kalau anak I sepuluh..memang aku malas nak layan yang seorang ini! Lagipun I fikir next raya entah ke manalah dia.If still in Msia, memasak lagi lah saya...

Lepas tu I pi cari lemang kat Gombak.Jumpa satu spot.Dia baru bakar kayu api.Masa tu I dah bawak balik 2 IIUM students.Kita tanya pak guard mana nak cari lemang kat kawasan Gombak.Dia kata pi arah Ong Tay Khim ke hapa.I tak biasa kawasan ni.I just know how to go to work and come back.Nasib Ismail and Siraj ada.They showed me the way.Suruh depa turun tanya mana jual lemang (I kata kat Ismail just say where to buy lemang)..dia pi tanya kat orang India.India tu tak tau apa2! Lepas tu pi tanya Cina jual pisang..Cina tu tunjuk goreng pisang.Sigh.But akhirnya we found one spot.Siap jual rendang minang.Raya mana complete without lemang. I was willing to swim lautan api for lemang! :)

Meanwhile Nik pi service kereta.I mintak dia pi collect the nasi bryani.He went pakai kereta burok Cina repair kereta tu.Brek tak berapa nak makan. Hahaha! The things we do for Zaf.I harap bila kita tua, she will not be mean to us.

But Zaf's open house went well.Ramai kawan2 bukan Melayu dia datang berbaju melayu.Hensem pulak jadinya: Wai Meng pun ada (yang selalu baca column artis dan hafal semua lagu2 pop melayu.He and aruah Yasmin Ahmad sering bersms-sms sebab Yasmin suka sikap 1Malaysia Wai Meng ini). Lepas tu mentor budak2 debater ni Andrew Loh (from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania) pun datang siap bersampin dan berbaju Melayu.

Andrew ni bagus budaknya.Selalu bagi semangat kat his juniors still at school (Sek. Men Damansara Jaya) sebab dia jaguh debat.Kalau dia balik cuti dia datang tolong coach budak2 junior ni. He picks up Arabic and spoke fluently with my two guest students from Nigeria (pelajar Islamic Studies/Civilisation).Lepas tu depa semua nyanyi, tunjuk bakat.Ismail and Siraj nyanyi nasyid in Yoruba.Sedap juga bahasa Yoruba ni.Then Keefe and Nunu main gitar nyanyi lagu Rihanna lah..dan saya tak tau sapa lagi (gen. gap dah terlalu besar for all this).Andrew pun nyanyi.Dia ni semua boleh.Terkenanglah pulak raya kita di perantauan.Shef came to collect Alya.Dia pun teringat raya in NZ and how malam raya some of them tertidur bawah meja sebab penat sangat memotong bawang nak buat satay dan kuah kacang.

Nik and I left to beraya kat rumah Makcik Ma in Subang Jaya.I bawak lah Ismail and Siraj (they are Master's students, dah dekat setahun kat sini) but inilah kali pertama mereka encounter budaya Raya mcm ni.Surprisingly, depa ni taklah tertutup sgt pemikiran mereka (they admitted IIUM had trained them a lot in this).Mereka boleh duduk2, cerita2 dgn tetamu2 yang ada.Kita selalu ingat org2 pengajian Islam ni kerjanya nak haramkan itu ini, kan?Ismail and Siraj boleh enjoy lagu Rihanna lagi by Keefe. Hahaha.Siap dapat duit raya lagi.Makcik Ma gave them a lot!).

Gambar-gambar sekitar Raya 2009

Boys in Kuala Medang boat ride

Boys in the river

Zafirah enjoying her boat ride

Hassan at Mak De's kampong house

Kak De's pet, Benny

I love this pic sebab nyata nampak kurus! Hahaha

Well, I still look slimmer than last eid

Zaf and her aunty Lina

Zaf and her little cousins

8 boys I took home this Raya

Solat Raya.Macam kat Makkah.So packed so jumaah had to bercampur gaul! (men sebelah perempuan)

The boys solat jemaah after iftar, malam raya

Budak2 Afghan masak nasi Kabuli and salad depa

ada yang cat tangga rumah I

First batch ke Kedah

I got up very early to go to work cos' the bus to Pendang was said to leave at 7.30 am.When I arrived, not even its shadow was seen.The kids were all set to go with their backpacks on their backs.So exciting! I felt like hopping on the bus myself when the bus finally came at 8 am (the drivers said they were given 8 am as the departure time)

Some boys just came unregistered, hoping there would be cancellations of some registered participants.Gals who promised to turn up, did not so instead of 12 gals,only 9 turned up (3 wanted to withdraw but got the tongue-lash from me last nite so they turned up this morning). Boys who came with such hopeful looks got to go making the number rise from 8 to 17.How can one turn them away? Kesian.I rang Puan Hatiah and En Azmi (the organisers in Pendang) and updated them the dev.They seemed not to mind.Dah rezeki budak2yang tak registered tu.Kita nak buat macamana.

I also worry over their road safety but one of the kids baca doa selamat perjalanan and he's put in charge to do this on the way back too.Let's pray that they have a good Raya and help strengthen ukhwah with local people.Pendang will be so cosmopolitan! En Azmi is a special branch police officer (anak saudara my co-partner in Pendang) so I guess the kids will be OK.The government usually sends PTD trainees here for homestay.Shireen kata seronok giler.It was her connection la ni.Thanks Shireen!

Second trip will be this afternoon (I have to deliver one anak angkat who will leave for Melaka besok pagi).Deliver kat rumah I je (Gayah lives near my place)

Besok ada 3 stops, 3 families (out of 34 families.Last year we had 5 families only.I guess good words got around.Some families do their own pick-ups).Memang terasa macam agency anak angkat pulak.My partner Norasita dah bercuti today.Semalam so kalut.We were still making adjustments and changes to the last minute.Budak2 pulled out, kena cari ganti...so stressful! Last year's was better organised (but then the demand was not as great as this year's and also, we started early)

Hoboy,it is a huge responsibility.

Al Fatehah

Plans to shop on my day off today have to be called off (my wali passed away and we have to travel back to Raub to attend the funeral)

Wa Salleh was related to my dad and like family members on my dad's side, dia tak cakap banyak.Very pleasant man.His children are all doing very well (in bidang agama and dunia).Halim is the eldest and most impressive of all the siblings.He's the one who took care of the dad esp when he went paralysed after a stroke.Sampai his dad could move and pray on his own again.Over a period of 4 years, you know.The parents live with him.At the funeral,Halim took care of everything: from mandi jenazah to solat jenazah to I guess the burial (we didn't go cos' had to pick up Z from school at 2 pm).

If there's a living proof of anak yang soleh, Halim is one.His other siblings pun semua macam tu.

Wa Salleh died dalam keadaan berpuasa and dalam keadaan berwuduk (it was just minutes before berbuka) He made it a habit to be in wuduk at least an hour before masuk waktu sembahyang.Can you imagine berbuka dengan bidadari? (we pray this is so).I only got close to him and his family(like a visit once a year every Raya) after he became my wali for my marriage.We are closer to my mom's side.

At the funeral I saw more relatives I had not known existed.Quite exciting to see some connections to my dad.I miss my dad and his relatives pun pleasant like him.He died when I was 18 (lepas SPM results keluar.Tapi bukanlah mati mengejut cos' of my SPM results.He knew I did well so at least that's a comfort).

Balik from Raub, I terpaksa memasak.The new maid tak tau masak.Sigh.
The remaining days of this week will be very busy.I have to deliver anak2 angkat to my friends and relatives.Lepas tu the boys coming over eid eve (8 orang) I bought some paint to keep them busy.Some will cook for iftar (well, they gotta do something or else be bored, kan?I pun sibuk nak buat peanut sauce and nasi impit.The Afghan boys plan to cook nasi mutton for iftar.12 org semuanya plus me and my family)

I expect malam raya tu they will follow Nik to do the takbir Raya.Breakfast and lunch will be at my mom's in law.Then shoot back to Raub.I haven't figured out how to keep them occupied (am taking 4 back with me.Nak bawak all 8 tak muat kereta).

International university students for Raya

If you want an extraordinary Raya this year, we have international students for you to take home (mostly male students). You may host them between 1-3 days over the raya period. I participated last year and it was not just me and my family who enjoyed the cross-cultural ties but my whole kampong and hometown. The students also learnt Msian ways and I think they understand us better out of the homestay experience.

Please contact me if you are interested in hosting.
It'll be a different Raya, I tell you.

Last few days of Ramadan

So finally I get to host a group of students malam ni.Ali, Swabry and 2 of their friends will break fast with us kejap lagi.

I pun mula meng-goggle african dishes.Yang last year punya recipe tak tau letak mana.Got one pilau rice recipe and another lamb stew.So pi beli lamb kat pasar Taman Tun (sebab I was2 daging kat hypermarkets tu semua.Kadang2 tengok sijil halal dia dah expired/photocopied yang entah hapa2 je).Mamak India tu kata NZ lamb tapi I tengok lain macam je.Rupa2nya NZ lamb yang diternak di Selangor.Duh!

Alat tak cukup and I cooked based on memory.Nasib baik sedap! (er..yes, orang pompuan dibolehkan merasa makanan!) But the pilau rice.Disastrous! I dah lupa ratio rice to water.So mantah! I tambah air..lagi lembik.In the end my new maid (Nik found her last week.The old maid balik tadi so Asiyah, the new maid, sempat dibimbing oleh Bik Masroh selama 1 week) kukus.Then I tambah gajus and dried red cherries (tak jumpa raisins)..wah..very da sedap! Syukur! Rasa macam nasi Iran which Ibrahim cooked (he used wild berries in his rice) during our Ramadan in Stirling in the early 90s (good food I don't forget!)

Kejap lagi I prepare salad and the rest beli je lah.My spine nak patah berdiri lama2.Desserts will be from the can. Hoboy, I love doing this but these days, badan tak larat nak berenyah.

This Raya I dah nekad nak buat kek raya sendiri (from the box).I will use my skills in cake decorating to make my raya cake look nice. Ummi (my niece) kata ini semua projek menipu rakyat jelata.Hahaha.

Iftar with SHELL

We had a garden iftar with Shell last night.Pretty cool.It's nice to dine in open space with a nice view of the garden (depan office kita je!).I'll try upload some pics in a bit.

Raja has gone to head an office in the Gulf.En. Khairuddin is a fun speaker and Dr Khairil mcm biasa akan membawa team dia to inspire our kids.Maybe next year we'll hold the gathering at Kull of Engineering. Dr Wan dah setuju to slot them in their must attend lecture series.

I went for my therapy after that.Pretty late but it's better than spending 2 hours besoknya.

Raya shopping

Selangor has a long weekend this week so I thought we'd do our Raya shopping early.
I was also inspired by a group of people who were seen entertaining young orphans, buying them Raya clothes.They were from an NGO from Kampong Baru (who came all the way to PJ to shop..appparently the orphanage was from Sg Pencala) The kids were excited cos' they were allowed to choose their own clothes.

We picked up Najwa (Nik's niece) to join us.This year we changed our mall: Subang Parade.Mak oii...baju raya were ranged between RM400 and RM1000/= sepasang! Are we in a recession or NOT? And some families beli macam tak apa-apa! (for me RM400 pun dah kena fikir 2-3 kali) Where do these people come from? Entah2 from Spore or Brunei!

I tawaf satu Subang Parade looking for a nice bargain.Not only were they not nice, but costly (my mall yang I selalu beli lagi cantik...for the price offered at Subang Parade).Anyway, in the end, I found one outlet which had nice kurungs (chiffon lagi) at a price I thought was very reasonable.Bought one for Najwa and another for me. Z and her dad went separate ways (handling Z would be difficult so I told Nik, baik dia je pi with Z.Kang I end up quarrelling with her.She would always disagree with my choice.Bapak dia sabar sikit..)

Everyone was happy.My spine macam nak patah (too much walking around) and we ended up breaking fast at Nik's mom's.Malas nak masak..just buy at Kelana Jaya's pasar Ramadan.

Thk God besok cuti.But promised Mama to introduce her to Dr Lau, the acupuncturist.We want to needle2 ourselves to lose weight (I'm OK.She, now so inspired by my weight loss).Lepas tu bdk2 Iran ajak I berbuka puasa with them.I'll drop by kejap and balik after Maghrib.

Ramadan flies.