Balik Kampong

As I was growing up...no..no.. this is not going to be a GUIT-thingy thing, visits to my kampong were made at least once or twice a year for either Raya celebrations or weddings of kith and kins. Going back to my grandma's kampong house in Bota Kiri, Perak and seeing my relatives were something I really looked forward to. I couldn't wait to meet my cousins who'd take me and my brother into the depths of the rubber estate just behind my grandma's house on my uncle's old Raleigh to check out the squirrels and perhaps a wild boar if we're lucky?? Or visit a place I vaguely recall calling tali ayor (the Perak way of pronouncing it) where my grandma's little orchard was located and durians lay scattered on the ground for us to collect and bring home. For a girl who's lived in concrete jungles all her life, these simple pleasures were indeed a real treat.

A journey made recently to my kampong, this time with the whole clan was indeed an experience to remember. The wonderful sights along the way brought back memories of yesteryears. Days when there were no highways and it'd take us 2 days to reach our destination. How my kids marvelled at the idea of us surviving all that travelling in my dad's old Fiat without any AC!

The limestone hills and marble quarry (or what's left of them) just outside Ipoh

Yes kids.. the rice that you eat actually comes from these paddy fields

and not from the supermarket shelves

Grandma's house

Aunty Teh's house...just lovingggggg it

Aunty D...Hannan is pausing to reflect at the stairs

Did Atok really swim here ( Sg Perak) masa kecik-kecik dulu?

I'm glad we made the balik kampong journey as a family. In the 3 hour car ride, with many Geography and History lessons thrown in by both me and hubby, the kids got to see and learn much about a place that was an integral part of my life in the past. There's so much the kids need to know about their roots and the hometown where their late grandfather grew up. Nothing better than seeing and learning about it first hand.

I've been tagged

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night. My kids with their usual endearing antics

2. What were you doing at 0800? Struggling with housework and kids

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Just finished watching DVD with hubby - Premonition by Sandra Bullock...not bad

4. What happened to you in 2006? Fat and frumpy looking...I was pregnant with no 5 then

5. What was the last thing you said out loud? Cepat kemassss...kita nak gi rumah Wan!!!! (a standing order that I dish out to my kids moments before leaving the house for my MILs)

6. How many beverages did you have today? I treated myself to Sprite...or was it Ice-cream soda?? Cant remember

7. What color is your hairbrush? It changes daily, coz the kids keep using and losing it

8. What was the last thing you paid for? The stuff needed to prepare Hari Raya Haji's feast...well actually I pay, but mom masak.

9. Where were you last night? Same place as this very moment .. on the bed

10. What color is your front door? Boring brown

11. Where do you keep your change? Anywhere possible; pockets, bags, drawers. bookshelves etc

12. What’s the weather like today?Not bad..managed to get my laundry done

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor? Used to be chocolate, then strawberry later choc chip

14. What excites you? Many things... I'm very excitable

15. Do you want to cut your hair? Desperate for one right now

16. Are you over the age of 25? I'm what my kaypoklub frens would describe as half past thirty

17. Do you talk a lot? A bit on the quiet side

18. Do you watch the O.C.? No

19. Do you know anyone named Steven? no

20. Do you make up your own words? Err I dont think so

21. Are you a jealous person? I think not... have no problems talking about hubby's ex girlfriends...or making fun of them. Hahaaa

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’. Alina

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’. Khadijah

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list? Mom

25. What does the last text message you received say? A long sms from an ex student wishing me Selamat Hari Raya Haji

26. Do you chew on your straw? Sometimes..unintentionally though

27. Do you have curly hair? no

28. Where’s the next place you’re going to? Tomorrow going beraya

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life? Every person that has a license but still cant drive properly on the road

30. What was the last thing you ate? These to die for doughnuts... hubby got them from the Curve. He had to queue for 30 mins to get them... called Big Apple something something

31. Will you get married in the future? Already married

32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks? Guilty of not seeing any movie at all. I pass out after isyak... too tired/sleepy for anything

33. Is there anyone you like right now? Many

34. When was the last time you did the dishes? 2 hours ago

35. Are you currently depressed? Only when I have to fold my laundry...menggunung tinggi!!

36. Did you cry today? Well I did have tears in my eyes...but of a different sort...I was "crying" when I heard my two older kids fight. Their reasons for fighting was sooooo hilarious, absurd and totally ridiculous

37. Why did you answer and post this? I had time to kill

38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey:

elara

madam blossom

minah celoteh

the guarding light

manjady from sharing is caring

When hubby came home a couple of weeks ago and declared that he was going to the Federer VS Sampras match at Malawati Stadium.... I was esctatic. Ecstatic because I would get this once in a lifetime chance to see my main man Mr FedEx himself in action. Yeayyyy! Being a tennis fanatic ( a passion which only came about the past 5 years), I couldn't believe my luck or husband's luck that he should land himself with tickets to which I'm sure thousands of Malaysians are dying to get their hands on.






Then came the SHOCKER. No.. I was not going with him coz he was going with his friend Mr Beh instead. Apparently it was Mr Beh who had landed the tickets and he wanted to bring hubby along for company.



LOOONNGGGG silence on my part.



Days went by with me imagining what an experience it would be for hubby to be at the stadium watching his hero Sampras get thrashed by my hero Federer. It was all I could talk about for days on end.


Anyway to cut the story short, hubby came home from work a few days before the match and announced that I would be going after all. Somehow rather he had managed to convince dear Mr Beh to depart with his ticket so that he(hubby) could take me instead.


Reaction: EXPLOSION OF FIREWORKS!!!! HOOORAYYYY!


So there we were at Malawati stadium on Nov 22, amongst the 12 000 strong crowd cheering for his Sampras and my Federer. Honestly from way up where I was seated the two of them could have been 2 little matchsticks playing tennis. Nevertheless, it was wonderful. I know that a chance to go to any of the Grand Slams is pretty remote, so you can just imagine how fantastic it was for me to be there. Anyway at 10 plus when we left the stadium, I realised that my hero was not the guy with the bandana holding the racket, it was the guy who sat next to me throughout the match. The one who had to arm-wrestle the tickets from his good friend Mr Beh or pay him 4x the price...whichever!

Wanna remove a mole? Cheap..Cheap!

I just had to share this with everyone. Came across this during one of my many JJ outings. I wonder if anyone had enquired about the service from the girl behind the counter. I know I wouldn't.

Keeping Them Occupied

I've always loved watching Neil Buchanan and his Art Attack shows on TV. The sheer simplicity of the art works, the colour and creativity are enough to make me want to pick up my paint brushes and get all artsy!

My kids too love his shows. Infact Hannan the slightly art inclined has a couple of Art Attack books in her posession. She's been pestering me for a loooonnng time to get her the art stuff so that this holiday... she and her brothers could have a go at one of the easy projects.

Dining table sacrificed for future art prodigies

don't we just love slapping lots of PVA glue

birthday cake for Ateh - blueberry and strawberry pandan cheesecake

A tale of the Korean Silk

Hubby came home from Korea the other day after spending the weekend there. He was invited to attend a conference and since everything was paid for...lucky man..he decided to go. The trip was meant to be his last overseas trip for the year.

Anyway, my kids made a point to be at home at the time of his arrival. They were excited when ayah finally arrived and immediately made a beeline for his...what else BAGS! Like many of hubby's previous trips, he would try and get something special for each child and not forgetting mama of course.

The kids were thrilled to bits when they received their little pressies which as you might have guessed...consisted of apa lagi..toys! And to my surprise hubby even managed to find time to get me some nice Korean silk ( aahh..so he was paying attention to my many not-so-subtle hints about getting silk in Korea).

Well as I held the materials in my hands..I had a funny feeling that they were rather short in length. So I had to ask. Were the materials already cut when he bought them. To this he replied.."Oh No! I had them cut specially for you...3 meters each piece".

Aiyaa! I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Did he say 3 meters????? Since when did I use only 3 meters for my baju kurung? Well perhaps a zillion years ago when I was a wee child of 12!

Anyway it was apparent that hubby had somehow rather forgotten that I required 4 meters for my baju kurung. When told about this, suffice to say he was very annoyed with himself for making such a silly mistake. On my part..though I was disappointed that my baju kurung would now turn into a baju kedah...I was also in a way pleased that in a moment of madness my dear hubby thot that after 10 years of marriage and 5 kids to boot.. I was le petite in size! And for that, I forgive him.

HOLIDAYS

Okay, hubby has been constantly reminding me to update my blog for the past couple of weeks. I've been promising him to do so but as usual procrastination is my middle name...

It's kinda hard these days since I come home from work later than usual and am usually dead tired by then, to even reach for my laptop...let alone compose something for my blog.

But since hubby is away in Korea this weekend and I'm usually home-based every time he is away..I have a bit of time to spare. So what do I write about...

Now, since my nephews and nieces have been stationed at my mom-in-law's house (their parents are currently away performing the Haj)..my older kids have been begging me to let them go to their Wan's house as well for sleepovers. I was just happy to oblige since I wasn't able to entertain them as I had to work during their school hols. So that's one less headache.

Atuk and Wan who relish the idea of having 11 grandchildren running around in their house for the entire school hols have taken the initiative of having the house equipped with games to keep their grandchildren entertained. Ranging from a basketball hoop to carrom board to pool table to ping-pong table to an X-box to a PS2game etc etc . As hubby would say it... the house has turned into a real Kid's Club!! and how he wished he had the time to have a go at all of the games.

But more interestingly though is that they have taken it upon themselves to teach the kids mengaji Al Quran everyday and among other things how to perform sembahyang jenazah. And like sponges these kids absorb everything that is taught to them. Atuk was happy to observe that all of his schoolgoing grandchildren were progressing well and would be able to recite the doa for sembahyang jenazah soon...

Atuk goes high-tech during the mengaji session after maghrib prayers

On the weekends when I'm free, I'd try and take the kids out for an outing to the nearby mall. Usually it'd be one day for girls and another day for the boys. This was the only arrangement possible as it would be humanly impossible to squeeze 9 schoolgoing kids into my Estima without being stopped by the police! I'd try to be fair and make sure that the outings are as similar as possible for both groups... a spree at the bookstore followed by makan-makan at Pizza Hut or KFC...just in case they compared notes!

my bodyguards

choc chip ice-cream anyone??

the girls at Baskin Robbins