The Way We Are

Project Superimpose

2009-02-18T17:59:00.000-08:00

This is what my husband, Azri and Anwar did when they were not playing computer games.

Anwar as Pyro

Azri as Wolverine

Azwan as the Black Spider-Man

Ron as the Venom

Ron as Doctor Octopus

Anwar's New Year Outing

2009-01-14T00:37:00.001-08:00

I know it has been late for a new year story. But I havent blog about our activity on 1st January.

My sister Adibah came to spend the break at our place. We were going to take Anwar for an outing. My husband came up with an idea to visit the National Museum. He wanted to take some photos, he said.

So the three of us went to Klang to pick Anwar at his school. When we arrived, the kids were doing the gotong-royong. There were no other visitors in the schoolyard except for us. This means that the pupils were not allowed to be taken out for outing. But since we had already travelled all the way to Klang, my husband decided to talk to the warden in charge. So he went in, leaving me and Adibah in the car.

Ron : Assalamualaikum Ustaz!

Ustaz: Wa'alaikumussalam

Ron : Nama saya Nasron. Saya datang nak mintak izin bawak adik saya keluar.

Ustaz: Ye ke? Tunggu sini sekejap ye.

Ron : Eh..Ustaz nak gi mana tu?

Ustaz: Nak pergi panggil adik kamu laa.

Ron: Adik saya siapa? Saya belum bagitahu nama dia pun lagi.

Ustaz : Kan tadi tu kamu dah sebut...

Ron : Huh? Itu nama saya lah!

Ustaz : Oh..itu nama kamu. Maaf lah ye.Tersalah dengar tadi. Apa nama adik kamu?

Ron : Anwar Mohd. Saya nak bawak dia keluar.

Ustaz : Mereka sedang bergotong-royong ni encik...

Ron : Ye, saya tahu. Tapi saya nak bawak adik saya keluar.

Ustaz : Kalau ikut peraturan, sekarang tak boleh bawak keluar. Lepas Zuhur baru boleh.

Ron : Saya bukan suruh Ustaz ikut peraturan. Saya mintak Ustaz guna budi bicara Ustaz untuk izinkan adik saya keluar.

Ustaz : Oh..ye ke?

Ron : Ye la. Petang nanti kami hantar laa dia balik.

Ustaz : Tapi kalau budak² lain tengok, mesti diorang akan telefon ibu bapa diorang mintak dibawak keluar jugak. Susah saya nanti.

Ron : Tu tak jadi masalah bagi Ustaz. Kan lepas Zuhur boleh keluar. Mesti ibu bapa akan datang jugak nanti.

Ustaz : Ye tak ye jugak. Baik lah. Tapi jangan kecoh². Nanti budak lain nampak.

Ron : Terima kasih Ustaz.

The whole conversation was told by my husband immediately when he got back into the car. We laughed at the part when the Ustaz mistakenly thought Nasron was the brother's name. And I personally think this statement is smooth, "Saya bukan suruh Ustaz ikut peraturan. Saya mintak Ustaz guna budi bicara Ustaz..." .

So we managed to take Anwar out. We went straight to the National Museum.

We had lunch at home later that afternoon. Around 4 pm, it was time to send Anwar back. At this point, Anwar became very upset. He started to 'buat hal' and didn't want to go back to school. This kind of drama had happened before. Previously when we took him out for the first time, a few minutes before sending him back, he became ill. And we had to buy him Panadols.

I think it's normal for a young kid like him, being away from family, to react that way. It's normal to feel homesick.

My husband became emotional seeing Anwar like that. He didnt even try to convince Anwar to stay. He didnt give any mental support. He didnt say anything good. Instead, he impliedly critisized Abah's decision to send Anwar away to a boarding school. He said Anwar is not ready. He said Anwar, being the youngest in the family, should stay home. He said Azri has changed a lot since entering that school, and didn't wish Anwar to turn into a quiet loner like Azri.

He claimed that he can always relate to any young kids who feel homesick because he has been away from his family to attend a boarding school at the early age of 13 ( I went to boarding school at 16). As a young boy, he was so emotionally attached to his family, and he struggled so hard to get rid of the homesickness that he felt. And as a result of trying so hard to be mentally tough, temporarily at one point, he no longer became a family-oriented person. This is what he claimed. And he does not want that to happen to Anwar. He vehemently opposed the idea of sending Anwar away. But then again, the decision is in Abah's hand. There's nothing much we can do on that. Whatever it is, we do hope that Anwar can survive this stage. He should be ok.

*The words "he was so emotionally attached to his family" stated above originally came from Ayah.

Abah’s Shopping Spree

2009-01-12T18:31:00.000-08:00

Abah and Mak came to KL that day to visit Azri and Anwar. Abah told my husband that he wanted to shop for new clothes. So we brought him to Butik B.O.S in Tesco Shah Alam. This is a special outlet that sells big-sized clothes, as big as XXXXXXXXL. That’s 8XL.

People at my place called Abah “Mat Giant”. Towering at 6’ 2”, this former national rugby player really needs big clothes to wear. His size is usually from 4XL to 6XL.And he is, in my husband’s words, the type who does not give a shit to others. The pictures below shall explain why.

Responses:

“Selambanya pakcik tu” -Salesperson I
“Rilek je pakcik tu tukar baju kat sini, memang sempoy!” – Salesperson II
“Too good to be fitted into the fitting room, maybe.” – My husband

Rantau Panjang Trip

2009-01-12T18:09:00.000-08:00

Now I understand how difficult it is to maintain a blog if you don’t have time. This is the first entry of this year. And this is already the second week of January. How fast time flies, and how I didn’t have the time to update this blog.

During the last week of 2008, we had a long break starting from Christmas. We decided to go back to Terengganu to spend the long weekend with my in-laws. We also made a visit to our batik sutera supplier, and managed to get some new stocks for Silkyhana.

On Monday, 29 December 2008, which was the Awal Muharam, we made a day trip with Ayah and Mama to Rantau Panjang in Kelantan together with 30+ others who came from 10 different families. These families are the ones who reside in the same neighbourhood as my in-laws. It is some kind of “persatuan penduduk”, and Ayah happens to be the Vice-President. The President couldn’t make it to Rantau Panjang, so Ayah was the official ketua rombongan. A bus was chartered, fully sponsored by the President himself. We got on the bus at 8 am. It was a rainy morning, and it was extremely cold.
If it was not because of the bad weather, I could have spent more money.

Got back to Terengganu around 11 pm.

T-Shirts

2008-12-22T01:52:00.001-08:00

The photos show 2 t-shirts. The top one is his and the bottom is mine. Both have the same color element and almost the similar pattern. He bought me mine because it matches the color of his. Mine is quite ‘acceptable’, I might say. But his, well, it has skulls printed all over it. The first time we put them on, we were on our way back to Terengganu a couple of weeks before Raya Haji.

As we expected, his parents “tegur” him for wearing that baju tengkorak. It’s not nice, they said. But then again my husband always gets away. He’s the type who is “pandai menjawab”. He said “The skulls represent death. By wearing this skull-T, it reminds me of death. We don’t know when Allah is going to take us. Death is unexpected. So we better make the best out of this life. Hence, this T reminds me to take everyday like it is my last.”

Not so long time ago when we went back to Terengganu, my husband went out of the house barefoot to close the gate. Mama saw him. She scolded him for not putting on any footwear because this would eventually cause the floor and the carpet inside the house to get dirty when he steps in. He answered “Without any footwear, there’s nothing between me and the ground I’m stepping on. I feel closer to bumi Allah.”

A surprise visit

2008-12-16T19:41:00.000-08:00

I was working in the office this morning, when suddenly Abah appeared right in front of me. It was a pleasant surprise.

Earlier, I happened to know that he was in Putrajaya for a business trip. I called him up and he told me that he was at the Kementerian Pendidikan. I have no idea what a business man like him was doing in Kementerian Pendidikan. Eventually I invited him for lunch. Unfortunately he informed me he couldnt make it because he was in a hurry.

A few minutes later, there he was, standing right in front of me with a visitor's pass clipped to his shirt. What a surprise!

He told me that he still could not make it for lunch but he didnt want to let me down. So he came to my office, and told the PA not to inform me about his visit. then out of sudden he was right in front of me, flashing his smile (that resembles Harrison Ford's, according to my husband).

He sat next to me, talking to me like we've never met for many years. I miss this kind of moment. Ever since I started working, we havent got the chance to spend time together like we used to do back then. Once upon a time ago, I was his personal assistant (now his PA is my sister, Atak) and his driver (now my sister, Mira). We spent a lot of time together on the road, and at his logging place. I miss all that. I miss him.

Thanks for everything Abah.

I love you.

Aidiladha 2008

2008-12-14T21:11:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year we made a pact, which is to celebrate Aidilfitri in Kelantan and to celebrate Aidiladha in Johor. People said that the celebration of Aidiladha is more ‘meriah’ in the East Coast, especially in Kelantan. I had an extremely wonderful Aidilfitri celebration in Kelantan this year. So for this reason, at one point I was thinking of ‘breaching the contract’ that we had because I wanted to celebrate Aidiladha in Kelantan. Surely it’s going to be relatively great compared to the one in Johor. But this was opposed by my husband. He said it is not fair. He said that he should be given a chance to spend time with my extended family. So, okay, I said. We went back to Johor.

We made our way on Saturday morning. We stopped by at my auntie’s place in Bangi so that we all could go together in two cars. After breakfast, we were on the road. The weather was good, The North-South highway was packed with vehicles. It was a long weekend and everybody was going back to their respective hometown. Kindly be informed that I was behind the wheel at that time because my husband was tired after a long, hectic day the day before.

The playful Aqil, fooling around shortly before leaving Bangi.

We reached my grandparents’ house about an hour and a half later. Pak Alang and family were already there. So did Pak Uda and Pak Andak. Pak Itam and family arrived later. I spent the rest of the day at the kitchen, where everybody ‘lepaks’. The kitchen is now huge after being renovated by Abah. Huge enough to accommodate a dining table, a TV set and a queen-sized bed for Achik and her newly-born son to rest. The next evening, we were going to have a kenduri kesyukuran for this newly-born baby.

Amir Faiq

The next morning, we had a gotong-royong for the majlis kesyukuran. My husband woke up as early as 6 am. Immediately after subuh prayer, he followed Pak Alang to buy 10 chickens from a nearby supplier. They also brought back some beefs and fishes. I helped my one and only bachelor uncle, Cik Dan, to prepare breakfast. It’s worth mentioning that Cik Dan is a good cook.

Assisted by Syamil, Pak Itam’s son, my husband took the task of “menyiang” the 10 chickens and the fishes. Pak Alang was working on the beef. And me, I did various jobs together with my grandma, Cik Dan, and my aunties Mak Uteh, Mak Andak, Makni and Mak Itam.

Penyiang ayam - My husband and his sidekick, Syamil.

My grandma and Mak Uteh

Pak Alang marinating the chicken. At the back, Penyiang Ayam are now Penyiang Ikan.

Later on, somebody brought 3 ayam kampungs (living ones). One of them got away into the nearby bushes. So we were left with 2. Pak Uteh, the “established slaughterer” in my family performed his job on those 2 chickens. Eventually, Pak Anjang took the task of ‘processing’ the ayam kampung. Makni prepared her special rending recipe and Pak Alang later took over the cooking of the rending ayam kampung. We also made kuih koci and ketupat.

Pak Anjang working on the ayam kampung

Teknik menyebatikan ayam dan rempah.

Pak Alang struggling with the rendang.

Banana leaves for wrapping teh kuih koci.

Cik Dan - the specialist.

The gotong-royong continued after lunch. The 10 chickens and the fishes were to be barbequed.

The making of Kuih Koci

Pak Alang getting the ketupat done

Ketupat

Additional fishes to be BBQed

Later after Asar, my mom arrived with my sisters Dibah and Atak together with my trio brothers Azwan, Azri and Anwar. Everybody was quite tired by this time. The only thing which needed to be done was the barbeque.

The barbequing started after Maghrib prayer. This time the gotong-royong crew increased. My younger cousins were very helpful when it comes to membakar ayam. Some of them even placed their bookings on the chicken - which drumstick belongs to who, who wants the thigh, who ‘chop’ the wings, who gets the breast, etc. Some of them even holding empty plates while waiting.

Chicken BBQ

Fish BBQ

Getting hot

The BBQ crowd

Anwar just cant wait

Dibah and Pak Uteh

Pak Uteh working on the BBQ

My twin cousins BBQing

The guests arrived after Isyak prayer.

Abah and my sister Mira, who happens to be his unofficial driver, arrived shortly after midnight. Abah was having some business matter that day, hence he arrived late.

The house was packed with family members that night. And those who didn’t get to sleep in the bedroom slept everywhere in the house, even in the kitchen.

The next day was Hari Raya Aidiladha. It rained heavily. Only Atok Abah, Abah, Pak Uda and Pak Anjang managed to make their way to the mosque in one car. At around 10 am, my husband followed Pak Uda and Cik Dan to Tok Uda’s house, which is situated about 1 km away. Tok Uda is my grandaunt. That was where they performed the ‘qurban’, lead by Pak Uteh. Pak Ngah and Mak Ngah arrived later that evening.

Pak Uteh - Chief Executive Slaughterer

Tok Uda and me

The rain stopped sometime before Asar. Later that evening, we went back to Tok Uda’s place for kenduri. Immediately after the kenduri, we, together with Abah, Mak, Pak Uteh, Mak Uteh, Cik Dan and Mira (Abah’s driver) went to visit my sister who stayed at her father-in-law’s place. At first, my husband refused to go because he wanted to lepak with Pak Alang to watch a football match on TV. I think it was Malaysia vs Vietnam, or was it Thailand? I don’t know, and I don’t care. But I insisted him to come along because he rarely met Kak Long and her husband, Zahir.

We went back to KL the next day. It was a wonderful Hari Raya Haji for us.

Weekend in Terengganu

2008-12-04T19:06:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we made a trip back to Terengganu. We left KL around 8 pm. As we reached Tol Gombak, it started to rain. There were thunderstorms as we entered Karak Highway. I was not driving, and I didn’t wish to do so under an extremely bad weather like that. Usually the journey would take somewhere between 4 and a half to 5 hours. But that night, due to the bad weather, we took 6 hours to reach Kuala Terengganu. It was a tiring journey, for the driver.

DAY 1- Saturday
Mama gave us a wake up call around 11 am. About an hour later, my husband and I together with his parents were on our way to meet our batik sutera supplier and to collect our stocks. This is the number one reason why we went back to Terengganu. It was cloudy in the afternoon. The skies were grey, just like the ones we saw in the movie 300. Yes, everything seemed to be grey. By 3 pm, it rained heavily. The monsoon has arrived.

DAY 2 - Sunday
The weather was better, although the day’s theme color remained grey. We went out again, for the sake of jalan-jalan in Terengganu. I managed to snap some photos when we were out in town. By 5 pm, it rained again.

KT Town – It was declared as a City not so long ago, but I refuse to acknowledge that.

KT Chinatown

Keropok Losong Warehouse

Keropok Lekor (Rebus)

Keropok Lekor (Goreng)

DAY 3 - Monday
Both of us took leave, so that we could spend more time in Terengganu. We left on Monday, under a bad weather. As we reached the East Coast Highway, the weather was ok. No more grey theme for the day.

Silkyhana

2008-11-25T23:07:00.000-08:00

New suteras are now on sale at my other blog, Silkyhana.

For more info, please visit http://silkyhana.blogspot.com/

ron-hana.blogspot.com

2008-11-24T23:58:00.000-08:00

When I started this blog, I didn’t tell my husband about it. I wanted to surprise him with a hope that he would eventually contribute something to it. Because this blog is about us. Hence, ron-hana.blogspot.com. And I really think he can write well. He’s a poet.

So yesterday, when we were sitting on the couch watching America’s Got Talent after dinner, I told him about this blog.

His reaction was not as I expected. He just smirked and coldly said “You? Nak blog? Yeah right! I hope you do have something interesting to write. And if you really wanna blog, try not to blog about me.”

Oh well, sayang, I can't help it. You are the greatest thing that ever happened to me and you are too precious to be left out.

My husband is a very private person. FYI.

The Way We Are

2008-11-23T21:56:00.000-08:00

I finally decided to blog. For reasons I am not sure of. Somehow I think the story of my life should be written somewhere. Just like some events should be captured in photos and videos. Bad memories are usually forgotten, but sweet ones are ought to be shared.

We are now in the 6th month of our marriage. Things are going fine so far. They said the first 6 months is the most crucial part of the early stage of marriage life. Everything is put to test. Well, we both have had our fair share. We have faced conflicts, we fought, we argued, etc. There is still a lot for us to learn. And we shall learn from each other.

When living together 24/7, one really shows his/her true color. The more we spend our time together, the more we get to know each other. Be it good or bad, we have to learn to accept it. Patience is one of the most important elements to begin with. I am so thankful to be blessed with a husband like him, who could bear with all of my nonsense and ridicule ness. I don’t think others could stand me, let alone handle me in the way he does. That is why he is my one and only.

We came from different backgrounds. Hence, there are differences. To tolerate with the differences is very challenging and sometimes can be exciting too. My husband is the type who cannot stand seeing our sink full of dishes. Since he was a young kid, he was taught by his Momma to promptly wash his own dish after finishing a meal. But I usually just leave the dishes there and wash them later. However, since my husband could not stomach a dishes-filled sink, sometimes he would wash my dishes. That’s nice of him. But, sometimes only lah! I do wash my own dishes ok? One day, he came up with a rule. Whoever cooks that day does not need to clean up and wash dishes. I agreed to abide by. No problem at all, since he cooks during the weekend only.

Talking about cooking, I think there’s a need for improvement in every aspect. However, my husband is the type of person who doesn’t mind eating simple meals. For example, nasi putih + telur dadar + ikan bilis goreng + kicap would do. One type of lauk is enogh for him. Nasi putih + ayam goreng for instance. This makes cooking a lot easier to me. But still I’m willing to improve my cooking skills and take it to the next level. He himself is not bad when it comes to cooking. I remember the first meal that he prepared for dinner was ikan masak kicap. He claimed that he already knew how to cook it, and he ‘modified’ the original recipe to make it taste better. But later I found out that he previously texted Momma asking for the recipe. Other dishes he had cooked include ayam masak kicap, daging goreng, daging singgang, sup sayur, telur bungkus and telur bujang (He claimed that he invented this. It is actually scrambled eggs mixed with all sorts of stuffs from minced beef to sliced sausages). And I love the pancakes he made for breakfast during the weekend. And he loves my nasi goreng, for sure! I, for the record, had cooked kurma ayam, ikan masak kicap, ayam masak kicap, sup ayam, sup sayur, curry, and lots more. I think there’s a sense of competition between the two of us when it comes to cooking. We always want to be the best cook. And my husband is always eager to invent new recipe. So far, our best combined effort is the Nasi Ayam. Yes, we’ve received compliments from those who have tried it.

My husband is a big music lover. He has a huge music collection from the Beatles to Linkin Park, from Bobby Vinton to Jay-Z. As for me, I listen to whatever songs which are nice to my ears. Nothing much in particular I might say. I don’t mind listening to his music whenever we’re riding in his car. But there are certain parts of his music interest that I can never, ever get along with. Slipknot for example, the 9-piece heavy metal band that caused him to bang his head while driving every time he played their songs. That’s not music, that’s noise. They don’t sing, they scream. And also, Eminem. I don’t like the lyrics. There’s nothing much for me to talk about when it comes to music that I love. He is always the one who controls the music player in his car, as well as mine. All the CDs in my car are his. And he hates Hindustan songs to death. He almost threw a Hindustan CD out of the window when he found it in my car.

He hates everything Hindustan, especially the movies. According to Ayah (my father-in-law), he is the only one in the family who does not watch Hindustan at all. I don’t mind watching Hindustan, but of course, not with him. I remember one time when we were dating, I dragged him to watch a Bollywood movie “Salam Namaste”, starring Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinta. He was extremely unhappy and constantly criticizing every single thing about the movie. Nowadays, channel 108 on Astro (Zee TV, the Hindi entertainment channel) is a big no-no for him.

So that’s a bit about us for this very first entry of this blog. Life has been exciting for us. The past is a memory, and the future remains as mystery. Hope we’ll get it through alright.