Eid in 2 days!

I'm at the office, still. When everyone else..(almost) seems to already be in Eid mood. Luckily my assistant Ina still turns up to work, happily singing along to Eid songs on the radio since early morning. Emir has started his school holidays yesterday for a week while Ezzat and Farhan still go to their kindergarten which is already 90% empty by the way. AndI rather them spend some time learning something over there rather than at the laundry shop watching Ultraman the whole day. Luckily they don't protest!

One good thing this year, I don't have to join the frenzied traffic on the highway unlike the past 13 years coz I am already in Alor Star! Though I kinda miss all the excitement of going back to my 'kampung' (Kampung = village). It's always been very bad this time of the year, when people rush to go back to their hometown and traffic jam will always be massive, and cars will stuck for hours on highway. Along the way to office these few days, I saw many cars parked along the road side, the drivers stopped to buy fresh meat from instant mushrooming small stalls. And then there are lemang sellers everywhere. Lemang is a delicacy and one will usually find it only during Eid. It's made from glutinous rice, and instead of water, it's cooked with coconut milk, barbecued in hollowed bamboo stick. Yummy to be eaten with rendang which is another delicacies. Rendang is a dish, we either use white or red meat or vegetables even, cooked with some herbs and spices, chilies and coconut milk, slowly simmered so that the meat becomes tender and the liquid is almost gone, and the flavor of all the ingredients are nicely infused together. It takes hours, but the result is worth all the waiting. I'll take some pictures if I come across any of these later.

By the way, I still have many pictures need to be uploaded. Do you guys still want to see them? It's been quite a long time and they may not be that fun anymore to see...heh..I'm such a lazy bum when it comes to uploading coz it takes such a long time sometimes.

Anyway, here are some family pictures taken on morning of Eid last year. Mom always want the color to be coordinated so you'll see some sort of uniforms in here hehe. Nabila (my little sister) is missing though since she's in Auckland and will still be there until end of this year. I went to the tailor yesterday and my Eid dress is not ready yet coz the tailor's mom-in-law just passed away last week. But she said she'll try her best to make it ready by the 30th. So let's hope it will be ready by then. It's a tradition to wear new traditional clothes on morning of Eid. The boys already have theirs since mom bought for them. And Uncle Daniel has one too actually. Not sure if it fits him though. Too bad he's can't join us this year. Next year perhaps? :=)

Ezzat 's playing 'bunga api' on eve of 2007 Eid.

A picture of Mukthi's Fam plus Yati on morning of 2007 Eid. Notice the colorful envelopes that Farhan's holding? Kids get money in packets like that instead of presents - we call it 'duit raya'. I miss those days when I was still entitled to that huhu. Really fun days with all the $$$$! Nab's missing. Adik!.....Next year boleh join balik naaaaaaa.

Just us.

Hanging out before going back to Dad's village in Jitra.

Cheeky boys, happy to get duit raya!

Aaahhhh..this is the larger version of the Mukthi's clan at my Wan's house at our village. Almost all of my uncles and aunties are here, except for one with his wife. Wan (grand dad) and Tok (grandma) already passed away so many years ago. Dad's the eldest in the family, with 3 other brothers and 2 sisters. See how the boys outnumbered the girls? I think that's explain my 3 boys? Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of mom's side of the family. Hope to get some this year.

The heroes.

The Arabic alphabet song

Nadiah's house!

A video by Daniel

Auntie Nyta is engaged!

We've been busy last Friday and Saturday, trying to finish whatever work that need to be done at the other house that we're supposed to move into. Been dropping in at the house on and off whenever time permits (having Friday as an only off day) for the past 4 months and still there are quite a few things left that need to be fixed as the contractor did a really terrible job. Anyway, we managed to attend Auntie Nyta's engagement ceremony on Saturday afternoon, though we missed the most important part, the discussion of the wedding between both families, from the future bride to be and the groom's. But here are some pictures.

One very grumpy boy who doesn't want to study for his exam which starts on Monday. The boys had a one week school holiday and it ended yesterday.

This was taken at the house we're moving into. We spent our first night there last Friday. This is the only part of the house which looks pretty descent at the moment.

Getting ready to go to Auntie Nyta's house in Sungai Petani, which is about 60km from our town.

Gifts or 'Hantaran' from both sides. The green theme gifts are from the future bridegroom, Kevin. Nyta's are in pink.

Here's Auntie Nyta, very pretty in pink.

The boys are still sleepy from their nap in the car.

Simple yummy lunch was served. And yes, we eat with our hands and only right hand is used. See the thing like a kettle with a base underneath, it's called a 'ketur' and inside the kettle thing is water for hand washing before eating and the base has holes where water from the hand wash goes into.

And this is how it is done.

I love this photo, colorful and candid, ... well almost. Seems like Kevin and Nyta are the only who look at the cam. Look, reflection of Farhan and Ezzat in the mirror!

With Uncle Kevin and Auntie Nyta. Congratulations!

Yati with Ezzat.

Now to me, this is an interesting item which we still retain in our Malay culture. The tradition of chewing betel nut (just disregard what the scientists say about its link to tooth decay and cancer etc for a moment considering there are around 10% of world population who chew it on regular basis). Nevertheless this is not an exclusive ritual/practice for the Malays as other ethnicities also have this in their culture, like the tribes in Borneo, the Indians. Even the Papua New Guinea people have this! Just ask Uncle Dan! I've always loved to see this in engagement and wedding ceremonies. I don't eat them but I find that traditional occasions are incomplete without them. For those of you who are interested to know more, read below.

This is a complete set of 'sireh' chewing accessories, the whole set is called a 'tepak sireh' or betel leave container. In general, tepak sirih contains six uniquely selected items: betel nut (areca palm nuts) that has been husked and split up in smalled pieces, limestone paste (kapur), extract from the leaves of gambier plant (gambir), betel leaves, and nutcracker (kacip). All of the items except kacip are kept in different smaller containers known as cembul (see pic). Sometimes herbs like star anise are added for some zest.

To eat it, the betel leave is placed on palm, and just take each of the ingredients in the cembul, place them on the leave, fold the leave neatly and put it inside the mouth and start to chew vigorously. The whole is chewed up to form a thick deep red paste between gums and cheeks where it stays for hours sometimes. Word of advice, do brush your teeth after that to avoid prolong stain. I only tried it once, and it was just the leave and the nut, without the other condiments and hmmm...it wasn't really a pleasant experience so I can't really explain why some people find it addictive even. I just know that it can create that 'high' feeling for a few minutes and to some degree, it appeases hunger and pain. Maybe we should ask Uncle Dan since he tried it a couple of time when he was in New Guinea.

There are precise sections of the tepak sirih that hold the ingredients. A complete set of tepak sirih reflects Malay life as a whole and the value placed by the Malay community upon traditional customs (adab) and codes of behaviors. To some, the folded leaves symbolize unity.
The tepak sirih with its elaborately carved is unique icon in Malay cultural history. The degree of elaborate designs and material used dictated the status in old Malay hierarchy.
In Malay tradition, the act of offering and receiving of tepak sirih complete with its ingredients has a substantial significance for both the giver as well as the receiver. Yet this is not all, for each of the elements that go into the making of the tepak sirih has its own symbolic value. The sirih leaf due to its characteristic behavior in its natural environment has been used as a symbol of respect for others. The lime (kapur) in its whiteness reflects the purity of the heart, a whiteness that conveys nobility and pure but which when disturbed or interfered can turn bitter like the tang of the kapur itself. The gambir symbolizes stoutness of heart while the betel nut, which comes from a tall and slender palm tree and whose flowers blossom in bunches represents noble descent or heritage as well as honesty and integrity. Ok I'm done. Next..

Ohhh here are some cute kitties! I love these, so fluffy! Unfortunately I'm allergic to cats or anything with fur. Have to stay away from these adorable creatures for most of the time :-(. But the boys were so thrilled to meet them.

With the bride-to-be, Auntie Nyta.

Look closely and you'll be able to see some scratches around Ezzat's nose. He rubbed his nose too hard the night before coz his nose was blocked. It looks worse in real life.

And Mr Emir here is having allergic reaction. So he's all itchy, especially his nose and this happened right after he played with the kittens. See the red watery eyes. Hmmm..guess someone has his mama's trait now.

At least this boy here is all happy and smiling!

Most guests have gone back. So we're just hanging around, taking some pictures before heading home as well.

On the way home on highway. This is what a padi field looks like after being harvested. Next process is to burn it before replanting. Padi is planted twice a year here.

Some parts of the padi field not yet harvested. View from side mirrow - Yati's taking pictures.

A New Park!

There are still many pictures from our previous adventures waiting to be updated in here. I will, definitely! But as for now let see what we're up to recently while I'm still in the 'updating' mood =)

So, last night we went to this new park. Dad and mom were having this hmm sort of casual dinner party there at the park with the state rowing boat team and some government officers (I guess they must have won a competition or something, hence the celebration). What dad didn't realize that some people brought their family along, and only after he got there with mom after like an hour, he quickly gave me a call and asked me to bring along the boys. It was a very last minute thing, and I already made plan to work at the other house so I expected that we're gonna be there just for awhile say like half an hour the most just to show our faces. BUT it turned out to be longer than that and it was actually pretty fun too!

I nicked this pic from my office network coz I don't have a recent day time picture of the park. At the time the picture was taken, it was not completed yet. This park which is called Taman Jubli Emas (Golden Jubilee Recreation Park) is constructed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the reign of the 27th ruler of Kedah, Sultan Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah. The Sultan now is 80 yrs old. The 20-metre high landmark constitutes of 5 'keris' (a type of Malay traditional dagger) which symbolize the Sultan's 50 years in throne. The royal 'Tengkolok' a type of Malay men's traditional headdress is placed on top of the dagger's handle and it's one of the main royal costumes. Anyway, enough of the introduction, let's go to the fun part.

This is actually a funny picture coz the boys were squirming about some smelly bugs. Farhan squashed one coz it was flying near him and his hand smelled horrible after that. So these 2 fellas started to check their clothes too.

A random pic of Ezzat.

Mom in black and white, enjoying her food. They put up a screen with a projector that showed the Olympic - badminton - Men single, final game between Malaysia and China. China won. Nevertheless, our first medal.

Some random pictures of Farhan.

Oppss, the show has started!

Some cool music started to play, a mix of traditional malay songs, classical & modern. And our Mr Emir here started to pretend his conducting the show! He even got a balloon stick as the Baton.

Emir was really having fun last night, he conducted, he danced. Check out the video. It's pretty dark in there but you can still more or less see him in action.

Mr Farhan seems to be pretty serious in here. He complained later on that he has tummy ache. Poor baby. First the smelly bug, then tummy ache.

The pictures here are not that great, my camera is partly to be blamed. But anyway, I love the lighting effect - the pics are blurry but still colorful.

These turned out to be much better. I took them with mom's camera.

Time to go back. Mr Ezzat is getting restless. Actually it has already passed his bed time. And this boy always sleeps on time!

But before that, one final picture of the Mukthi's fam (Farhan is not looking so good though). Blink! And off we go.

And here's another video, this time with a bit of lighting. I like the song. Enjoy!