Wired...less

Last weekend was a long weekend cum holiday for my family and I. Since hubby had some work in downtown Ipoh so we decided to drive back to our hometowns early. I took leave on Thursday while the kids skip one day of school (yeah, the father said it's okay). The boys had a wonderful time with their cousins (2 of my sister in-laws family were down as well) and of cos' meeting their grandparents.

The only thing I don't quite fancy when it comes to going back to our hometowns is the inaccessibility to the Internet. So I was un-connected for 5 days!! I used to go berserk the last time when I don't have access to the net but not anymore. I learn to keep it under control. Good thing I had my really thick novel with me (which I've been trying hard to finish) and I'm happy to say that I'm almost there.

Last nite I was busy catching up on news and visiting blogs.

Unity band

Somebody placed these bands on my office desk last Friday. It’s called the Unity Band.

A band to celebrate and confirmed Malaysia's diversity. Its multiracial ness, to appreciate and respect each other’s different ness. Although all of us belong to different race, religion, beliefs and culture but we all human. And the blood that runs thru our veins are red hence the red band, says the advert. But most importantly, we are all Malaysians.

I can never understand this. The fact that we as Malaysian have to be reminded how lucky we are to have different races as our friends, colleagues and neighbours. To be reminded to be united as one nation as we are going to celebrate our 50th Independence Day. To be make aware that although we are of different mould (look, skin, name) we are living, breathing, working together in this country we called home.

I never have this problem. I never categories my friends or colleagues or neighbours to how many of them are Malays, Chinese, Indians, Caucasians, Singh’s etc. To me they are just that…my friends, my colleagues and my neighbours.

Ever since I was a young kid, my family’s house has been visited by many of my parent’s friends (Malays and other races alike) and to me there were just these uncles and those aunties. And we always have open house to go to during Christmas, Deepavali, Chinese New Year, Aidilfitri and even Gawai. There was this neighbour of ours in Sarawak, oh how I envy them. They celebrate almost all the festivals there is. Their mother was a Chinese so they celebrate CNY, father was an Iban so they celebrate Gawai and all of them were Christians so they celebrate Christmas too; and my family got invited to their house on every occasion. Fancy that...3 celebrations in a year! I was so jealous. That was when I start wondering or imagining wouldn’t it be good if my parents were like that too. Of different background so we have more reasons to celebrate. Ah, how simple it was back then.

I had a secret admirer when I was eleven. He wrote me letters and his younger sister of eight years old passed it to me in the bus. When I revealed this to my closest friend, the first thing a friend of mine mentioned was but he’s a Chinese. Even thou’ I don’t fancy him that much but that statement from my friend made me wonder, what if I were to like him back? Will it be a problem? The same friend fell for her Indian older neighbour, whom was a brother to one of our school mate. Their feelings were mutual. One day my friend cried and told me that her father found out and he was very angry so did the boy’s father. It’s not so much of them being very young but the fact that they were both from different races. My friend was devastated. Her neighbour moved. I guess that was when the reality of multiracial hit me.

I love Indian food. To the extent that my ex-boss suspected that I was an Indian in my previous life. Maybe, from Mumbai I said. Where all the pretty Bollywood stars come from. Ha! Ha! I also enjoyed Dim Sum and noodle to the amazement of my Chinese friends. Don’t get me wrong, I love Malay food especially during Ramadhan and Aidilfitri. My mom cook them all the time when were growing up. Authentic style. But I eat them almost everyday at home now so when I’m out with colleagues during lunch I chose to have other food. When we do opt for Malay food, I see my Chinese friends beat me in their ability to eat chili hot sambal belacan and ulam. I don’t take sambal and ulam. Period. Unlike some of my non-Malay friends, they even eat uncooked tempoyak with their sambal (which suppose to be a norm Malay delicacy). So am I being un-Malay or my friends not being a typical Chinese?

In my humble opinion, the answer to that is because we are being Malaysians.

In less than a week, Malaysia will be celebrating its 50th Independence Day (Merdeka) on Aug 31. I hope in the next fifty years my children will also see their friends as just that…friends. Regardless of their races and religion. I hope they will be able to see thru the skin color and look into the soul of all their friends and treasure the friendship.

Instead of questioning our differential, let us celebrate our uniqueness, together.

Merdeka!

Still at it..that much is true

I’m still reading the same book…I brought it along during the weekend break. Read it while my kids were out there in the pool freezing themselves. But it's quite hard difficult to concentrate with one eye at the adult pool (lookout for my 9 year old) and the other eye at the kids pool (for my 5 year old). Occassionally my eyes drifted back to the book but left ear was on alert for them whilst the other ear was stucked with the earphone for the music from my W800i.

No wonder little achievement. All my senses were not entirely focused. Hmm..

Not so great after all

I bought a CD entitled Greatest Hits of Korean Drama. I was so excited bcos not only the album has 3 CDs with 56 songs, it cost only RM23.90 with another 10% discount.

But my excitement was short lived. Just before chorus of the 1st song, I realized @^#*!!!! It turned out that the songs were not sung by its original singers. I only listened to 3 songs and can’t tolerate it any longer. I refused to listen to the other songs. No wonder it was so cheap!! I did puzzle at the price at first but didn’t give it much thought. Maybe it did state at the CD cover but since I can’t read Chinese characters so I failed to notice.

What a bummer!!

Botanical Garden (getaway part 3)

I enjoyed the colorful flowers and just cant stop snapping away pictures.

Japanese garden and tea house (getaway part 2)

I love the garden and its tranquility. It's so quiet and peaceful. It even has a Japanese restaurant up there.

Weekend getaway (part 1)

The whole family went for a short weekend break. It is a start of 1 week school break and Angah’s company organized an automobile club gathering cum family gathering for its members. So we tagged along. The place is at Berjaya Hills Resort in Bukit Tinggi. It’s a French theme resort. So the buildings/hotels are made to imitate ones in France. Since the resort is up on a hill, so the weather is quite cooling.



The whole place was like a picture from a postcard. It's like a big play house.

The thing I like very much was the Japanese garden and tea house. We didn’t witness the tea ceremony but the garden was beautiful. The atmosphere was so serene and tranquil. Make me want to visit a real Japanese garden, more than ever (I'm highlighting this in a different entry).

Our hotel room was not the grandest but it was comfortable enough for the 4 of us.
We added an extra bed. The room faces the forest, so it was kinda refreshing.


After the club’s dinner and entertainment, we sent the kids back to the hotel room. Danial was fast asleep even before the function’s ended. So my husband had to carry him. Luckily the hotels are located near to each other. Danish my eldest insisted to play the PS2 he brought along. We allowed him. Both Angah and I joined his boss and his family plus another friend and his son for coffee. When the café closed at 1100pm, we resumed to another coffee house for late supper. We even had the singing quartet singing at out table at the stroke of midnight!!

My face hurt from laughing too much while my stomach hurt from eating too much. I had to constantly remind myself not indulge too much on the cakes, fried rice, fired noodles, burgers, pizza or suffer the consequences the next day (recently I noticed that I can get gastritis/similar symptoms from overeating). We stayed talking and laughing, I think till about 0100am.

We bid everyone good night when the wind becomes chillier. Some of us have to attend a club’s meeting as early as 0900hr the next day. Luckily it wasn’t me.