Reunions

We've been having quite a few reunions...yang dengan family and extended families tu tak yah citer laaa...never ending story that one...

Am thinking about the one we had with Kak Sham and Nana the other day. Mumsie and gang basically self invited ourselves to Kak Sham's house for dinner on Xmas eve and Mumsie called Nana to ask her to join us. She readily agreed and together with Baby Zack (not so baby anymore...) voila! We has a reunion dinner! hehehe...

Let me also tell you about the food...lauk-lauk kampung yang sedap hingga menjilat jari and mangkuk sup!! There was sup tulang (courtesy of daging qurban), masak lemak ikan talapia yang apparently di bela oleh sanak saudara Kak Sham kat kampung...masak tempoyak ikan patin..rebusan segala daun i.e. pucuk ubi and the likes..there was also jantung pisang and fresh petai and of course....sambal belacan!! yumyum..is all I can say...

Then semalam...we met Kak Yah!!! Yeay! the moment when Soraya saw her and when she saw Soraya was indeed Kodak moments tanpa camera! hehe..in the excitement of yelling her name and extracting Giotto from her, mumsie lupa nak keluarkan camera yang purposely brought to take pictures of this particular reunion to be pasted in this blog! Haiyyaa...

Sadly, since we are not considered KakYah's sedara terdekat, we could not bring her home with us! hehe..tak per...there was promise of future meetings at some cineplex before she goes off to Singapore!

Hmm...suddenly there's this song in my head..."Reunited..and it feel so goooooddddd...."

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY FARAH NABIHAH!!

Another overdue posting...sigghhh...am seriously getting old...

Anyways...Farah a.k.a Kak Ngah turned 9 on 12 December hari tu (I know..i know...am a terrible mummy!). Kak Ngah feigned an upset face when I told her of the lack of posting to celebrate her birthday but she knows...mummy dia memang first class procrastinator! Sorryla darling...

Farah is my funny baby. She get my (and her Maksu's as well!) jokes and sarcasm and i get hers. She does great impersonation and we know her current ambition is to be a superstar...not simply a singer or an actress...but a superstar! Good luck to her...hehehe...but note, mummy would rather you be a lawyer or a doctor, dear...

Jokes aside, my sweet Kak Ngah is a beautiful and sensitive girl and as with all mummies around the world, I wish her the best things in life, simply because she deserves the best! Happy Belated Birthday, my darling Farah...do grow up to be manusia berguna...

p.s. wish you could be more patient and nicer to Sarah...:-)

What have we been up to?

Quite a bit, actually.

First there was Hari Raya Haji - it was allllll about food! I spent it makan, tido, makan, tido..literally! In that order!!! I used it to really "catch up" with my favourite raya dishes...ketupat with sambal udang and satay goreng...and best of all...lemang!! Authentic ones from Alor Gajah (and today we had some from Negeri 9 - courtesy of Kak Sham)...damn syok!

Then there was the Raya movies...i must tell about the particular one shown by TV3 on the eve of Raya - called Janji Seorang Anak...about this mom who loved her firstborn too much but the son lied to her all the time. It started with 6 people in the family - the mom(Fauziah Nawi - who else!), the dad (excellent acting by Abu Bakar Juah as a cacat kinda guy, maybe because of a stroke), the Grandma, the 2 sons and a daughter. By the time the movie ended, everybody had died, except for the daughter! Let me tell you about the ending...the first son stole from the mom and kicked her on his way out. She was shocked to death, then he fell ill and eventually died. But when he died...there was the scene where ulat came out from his mouth and every pores of his body!! Then his keranda (or rather, his body) was soooo heavy that it punctured the tyres of the van that was carrying it to the grave. They had to get a tractor to pull it! Then, when the body was in the grave, they had to put a lot of earth coz the grave just won't cover up!

Moral of the story, of course, was jangan jadi anak derhaka...The ending was quite extreme, I thought...very Mastika-like...but it succeded in getting to me. Am promising myself to be nicer to my mom....Hope my girls would be nicer to me too!!!

Today...me and the girls plus their MakSu went to the movies kat Midvalley Megamall. Wanted to watch Alvin and the Chipmunk but it was sold out. So we ended up watching the latest Ben Stiller - The Heartbreak Kid. Ni first time I watch movie since we've been back but its the 4th time for the girls!! They've been to see Enchanted, The Golden Compass and Nana Tanjung 2! Ye laaa...while the aunts and uncles still rajin nak melayan....

Oh yes...yesterday was fun too. We went to Kak Tam's house. There was a celebration for December babies, i.e Kak Ngah, Soraya, and their cousins - Shafrina and Shaliza. Although I think it was supposedly mainly to celebrate our cousins' - Kak Long and Abg Long's wedding anniversary...There was the usual crowd of cousins but no aunts and uncles this time. We are also planning a big family day this coming Chinese New Year holidays. Complete with telematch and Karaoke competition!! Can't wait!

After the party we dropped by MakCik Dalia's house. She is Abah's aunt twice or three times removed...she and her daughter, Ani used to care for Fatin and Farah when they were babies. The girls call them Mak and Umi respectively. We try as much as possible to be in touch with them coz I feel that we banyak terhutang budi with them. They took care of Kak Long and Kak Ngah like their own. So, the visit yesterday was spent reminiscing on those good old days...will later post a picture of them...Kak Long is now taller than her Umi!

OK folks...suffice to say...Mumsie is slowly settling down..Geneva seems so far away.....

Overdue Thank Yous

The procrastinator that I am...this is a long overdue posting...i need to thank people for all their support and friendship whilst we were in Geneva...especially in the oh-so-disorganized-and-kelam-kabut-mumsie-style last days...so, on behalf of Sofian, me and our girls....

Datin Fahimah..thank you for your girls...they are a GODsend to Sofian and I...life would have been very complicated without their help, especially in those last days! Thank you also for your friendship and all those conversations on life...

Kak Asmah and Atok...thank you for always being there for us...providing us with the security that we have sedara in Geneva! BTW, hope Amir is well on the road to recovery!

Ita...my special thanks to you...am ever grateful for your help with my house! The best going away present ever! But lepas discover about your unwellness...i rasa guilty la pulak! Thank you also for Khaireen Noor! Soraya is still asking for her! My thanks also to Azwa...yang sporting selalu!

Aishah and Abang Y..thank you for the good times and thank you for sharing your girls with us! Please extend my thanks to Debbie, Evelyne and Valerie for the dream goodbye gift and for their company all those times!

Amy and Amin...I will never forget that you took care of my family whilst I was not around...and believe me, Sofian wouldn't either!

Johan...you know we're always thankful for you! Personally..i thank you for keeping your uncle tu company, especially during those football games!! Hope you're enjoying your house and cepat-cepatlaaaaa kawin!

Pada semua who came to see us at the hotel and airport...thank you, thank you, thank you! Yati...i still belum jumpa kerabu mangga setaraf dengan yours! Lia, am sorry I do not get to enjoy more of your cookings - the popiah murtabak thingy was ya-ha-mmy!

Kak Yah and Ina...there are no words for you! We are simply eternally grateful....

To all, do take care of yourselves and please, please do keep in touch! I will always be here...

Raya Haji

Just wanna wish everybody Selamat Hari Raya Haji...

Mumsie and gang are particularly excited coz although only Raya Haji, its the first time we raya in Malaysia again...So plan-nya - esok after work we're off to Melaka to celebrate...this time Mumsie exempted from preparing anything..yeay! In fact, was made to understand Abah's family is making extra special food for us...double yeayyy!!!

Still...Mumsie can't help but miss the kecoh-kecoh nak beraya kat Geneva....

p.s. check out the pixes newly posted in the last "The Weekend that Was"

Dedicated to InatheGREAT

Ada laaaa jugak orang rindu kat Mumsie ekk...

Bukan tak nak update tapi tak der peralatan laaa...kat office tu Mumsie belum get my own PC but at least we get internet connections at the house as of last night...yeayyyyy...tapi kena laaa berebut ngan iyya-kanak-budu who are getting bored by the day staying at home...the novelty of them is wearing thin...hehe...

But we've registered them for school...silly me thought its a matter of going to the school of our choice (basically the nearest to the house!) but turns out we have to make formal application at the Jabatan Pelajaran situated in Parcel E - where parking is next to IMPOSSIBLE - application is by way of filling up 3 copies of borang permohonan (wonder who each will get a copy?) and accompanied by 3 million certificates proving that we all are legitimate! hehe...anyway, Mumsie, in all her efficiencies managed to compile everything in record time - actually was panicking takut the girls cannot start school in time - nightmare for all if they have to stay home 24/7 longer than necessary!!! Abah submitted the forms today and was told informally that they will get into Sekolah Kebangsaan Presint 16(2). yeay!! Its right in front of Taman Warisan, for those familiar with Putrajaya - its a brand new school, 5 minutes away from home, if all the traffic lights turn green when we pass them! Yeayy again!!

As for Soraya...we're contemplating sending her to a place that provides for mengaji lessons after the school proper. Mumsie is abandoning inital plans to send her to Smart Reader kinda kindergartens coz was thinking...she needs to know more than just doa makan...We've found such a place..its a matter of registering her...but the procrastinator that I am.....

Anyways...for those who miss her...

Please ignore the guy behind her...

InatheGREAT...Mumsie miss you guys like crazy...bila umrah nanti doakan that we'll meet again real soon OK...

The weekend that was

Wow...what a weekend we had! Pejam celik pejam celik dah lebih seminggu kami bali ke bumi bertuah Malaysia ni...cam tak caya jer!

Anyways...back to our weekend...actually tak der lah gempaq sangat..its just that yesterday (sunday, waktu tempatan) my in-laws came to town - Pak Lang's family and Cik Yah's family and they brought all 5 of Mak Ngah's kids. Then plus Mok Teh's and Mok De's family (they already live here), petang semalam there were 18 kids under 15 running riot around the house!!! Mujur laaa belum ada apa2 furniture!

But food was good! Early in the morning, me, Abah, Mok Teh, Pak Lang and Mak Lang went to Pasar Borong in Serdang. Mumsie was sooo excited coz macam-macam ada kat situ! Then we left Mok Teh and Mak Lang to do the cooking at Mok Teh's place. Menu was elaborate and lavish...there were masak lemak udang...sweet sour ikan bawal...sambal tumis ikan bilis with petai...kerang rebus...ikan masin...udang goreng (served ala lauk pengantin..the shrimps stuck to a pineapple...picture of it later..)...sambal belacan.

But I must say...the best was dessert...fresh durian and this thing called serabai - it looks like that Indian puttu - makan dengan kuah durian. The kuah durian was mega authentic, i tell you! Made with fresh durian...gula melaka and purely squeezed coconut milk. It was simply...heaven!!

Ok..once i get my own computer, i'll post pictures! Hope to make your mouths water then!

Ok...here's the promised pixes....enjoy...

Malaysians...

Its been raining here for the past 2 days..non-stop almost! So air is cooler although not necessarily cleaner...

Last night Abah and I went to Carrefour Alamanda...at 9 pm!! One good thing about Malaysia, I suppose - can shopping sampai ke tengah malam. Anyway, the point I want to make is that whilst there I noticed many families with small kids were there at that hour. Malaysian lifestyle, biasalah. But I also noticed parents are still laxed about the safety of their children. Most are allowed to run around whilst the parents are busy shopping. In fact 1 girl got separated from her parents. What I cannot accept is that Carrefour people had to make 2 announcements and I saw them taking the poor girl around the shop, I suppose as an attempt to locate the parents rather than the other way round!! So much for the newly launched Talian Nur....

Me...i've become paranoid and a scare-dy cat! Driving alone from Bukit Bintang to Putrajaya the other day, i thought i'd try the smart tunnel. It was just before 7 a.m and I found i was the only one who used the tunnel! I got scared until i saw another car coming behind me. Then a thought crossed my mind...what if whoever is/are in that car is/are highway robbers that we've beenr eading about?? I got scared all over again and slowed down the car so much that they were forced to overtake me! Paranoia? Mengada?

OK..gotta go...hari ni friday..we get 2.5 hours of lunch break! Yay! Gonna take the girls to Alamanda...again! BTW, semalam they had their first taste of McD's double cheeseburgers! hehehe...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FATIHAH SORAYA

Soraya a.k.a Baby Ya a.k.a Princess a.k.a Adik is 4 today...and the cutest 4-year old anyone can wish for!! hehehe..biasala..mak-mak mesti bias nye!

Gambar will have to be posted another time...but let me tell you, Soraya has always been the "easiest"...in terms of the taking care of and in terms of personality..no mengamuk-mengamuk business and not demanding at all (except when she needs her MILO!!) dari lahir until today! Born pun in a government hospital, as opposed to private hospitals like her elder sisters!

Alhamdulillah for her..and Mumsie's hope and doa that she will always be this cute and baik hati...Everyone who has met her has fallen in love with her and i can't blame them. I cannot say too much coz nanti you say i perasan too much but you'll understand if you know her...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my sweet baby..don't grow too fast!

Greetings From Malaysia!!

Hey there dudes and dudettes!!

For pembaca-pembaca yang setia...mumsie and gang are safe and sound...penat giler, but safe and sound...so, where do i start? As you can imagine..life has been topsy turvy since the day we arrived...the girls are having a good time, i believe. Thus far, this has been like one big holiday for them...loads of attention received from aunts, uncles and cousins...but Soraya has asked to balik rumah in Geneva coz she's tired...Sarah asked when is school starting coz she want to balik Geneva then! Mumsie simply misses Geneva...aawwww...

Anyway...semalam we finally moved to our new home...we got a spanking new house - government quarter laaa - kat presint 14. All are welcome!! Its a nice big house...siap ngan wet kitchen lagi! Mumsie so excited! First thing we did was pasang aircond in all the bedrooms upstairs (there's 3 upstairs and 2 below!) so we immediately spent the night there amongst the suitcases! So..now life can begin again...

Am at work..physically, at least...currently I have no mental capacity..am soooooooo tired!! thank GOD can access this blog site! I was only allowed 3 days leave, believe it or not! I still don't know what am supposed to do coz boss not in her office today! So..am literally bumming around and saying hello to all those who still recognizes me. Met that Melati girl this morning..she's so small!! For those yang tak tau...she's that girl yang famous coz she won some international debating competition couple of years back. Her father has been made the new Chief Justice, so I congratulated her for that coz i couldn't think of anything else to say!

Keadaan kat office is sooo different from when i left it 2.5 years back...there's so many more people now...the corridors are filled with cubicles filled with junior officers! I have to share a room with 2 other officers...i don't mind the sharing but i do mind the fact the room has no windows!!! arrrrrgggghhhhh...no more view of the mountains!!! actually..no more view, full stop! hhwwwaaaaaa..........

OKlah..am getting depressed too early in the day...will write again soon, I promise.

hey..long time no post!

hey there folks..its been a while...but as you can imagine...mumsie's been buzzy, buzzy, buzzy!! I've taken time off work from yesterday until the day we leave. Supposedly. Tapi got news besok ada meeting. Darn!

Loads been happening...last weekend we did go to Monaco/Nice/Cannes and had a great time coz weather there was just perfect! Pictures another time coz tak de masa nak download (or is it upload?). Then, there was a couple of farewells and beginnings of our packing. The girls have soooooo many (much?) clothes!!! I've never ironed sooooo much!

Today was the girls' last day @ school...they have unilaterally decided so..with Abah's endorsement. We brought some finger food and they had parties in their respective classes. Then Mumsie, Abah and Soraya spent good part of the day Shopping. Yay!! Alas..its shopping for people back home..Ole-ole...hope they will like whatever we get them! Tak suka too bad laa....

Oklah...ni jer yang sempat. See yah!

p.s. Paris has been postponed indefinitely...those idiots are not done with their picketing!! Mumsie's soooooo annoyed!

No Paris!

Abah don't want to go coz there is a strike going on in Paris right now!!! Of course, its probably a good decision but i've soooo set my mind on Paris! Tu lah! manusia hanya merancang, kan??

But no angkasawan either!!

We're off to Monaco/Cannes/Nice instead! For a quick drive (if that is possible lar) and take pictures activity...it'll be a janji-da-pegi-situ kind of trip! hehe...okey la gak coz we've never been there.

Now the question - shall we leave the girls behind??

p.s. thanks to those who voted for Paris (sorryla iks..)..am in absolute agreement with y'all!!

Decisions..decisions!

we've been invited to meet with our 2 angkasawan in Berne this weekend!!!!
Am thinking...bila lagi nak face to face ngan Sheikh Muszaphar and Dr faiz kan??

But..we've already decided to go to Paris for the weekend...last outing before balik Malaysia...

So, how? Paris? Angkasawan? Angkasawan...Paris??

You tell me!

Of Friends and Families...

Perfectness now greet us in the morning...

siggghhhhh.........

Sarah's class blog!

http://1008869.blogspot.com/

Check it out! Sarah's class teacher actually set up this blog setting out each of the children's works. Not much yet but enough to make Mumsie damn proud!

Last week I was at Sarah's parent-teacher conference. Saw Sarah having lunch with her classmates. Ms jenny Downing - the teacher - of course puji Sarah...saying Sarah is very bright and learns fast! Yay...macam tu lah anak Mummy!!!

The Weekend That Was

We had a gooooddd weekend! Filled with food, songs and laughter, I may say! hehe..let me start from the beginning....

Friday night -

The weekend started with farewell no.2 - bowling beramai-ramai - almost everybody turned up!! Even the kids were given a lane to toss (literally) the bowling balls around!

For the ladies, there were presents at the end..for winners and losers! I got my share...but don't be fooled... i wasn't the winner...:-)

It was this -

saturday -

We set off for a weekend at the mountains! We started by heading towards Luzern - a beautiful town about 2 and a half hours from Geneva. Sempat singgah kedai jam, bought me the most beautiful (you guys see a pattern here??) Longines and a whole bunch of Swiss Army knives for the men in Abah's family. Then jalan2 a bit - for about half an hour jer coz the girls were screaming to have some time in the snowy mountains!

The route to Interlaken was beautiful (key word of this posting, obviously!!)...it snowed which also meant that it was foggy so cannot see all that far ahead..which means the scenic backdrop of the mountain and lake was lost! But i tried anyway ... and Abah was sporting enough to get out of the car and pose in the snow!

So, much to the girls' disappointment, we headed straight to the hotel in Interlaken - Sonnenhof Backpackers Villa - a clean (very, very! like all things Swiss!!) hostel. It was early still but it rained in Interlaken then so we only stayed indoor - cooked dinner (yes, they have a kitchen we can use..a clean one, needless to say!) and girls spent rest of the time watching Corbin Bleu (star of High School Musical) in his new movie Jump In on the portable DVD. Mummy, as usual, went straight to bed. Abah, as usual, frowned at Mummy then got very upset he got stuck babysitting the girls!!! Sorry la Baaahhhhhhh....

Sunday

Early that morning we had breakfast - cereal and bread, courtesy of the hotel then checked out before heading to a nearby town called Grindelwald. It was soooo beautiful!! I wanted to kick myself for not coming here previous winters!!

Anyways, the girls found a spot to sledge - a pathetic little spot, really but it served their purpose...Sarah giler punya happy dapat golek golek dalam snow (as usual)!! Soraya wasn't as excited..kept complaining that its too cold and her toes hurt so after about 10 minutes I gave up and took her back to the car, whereby she cheered up almost immediately!! But..look here..she looks damn cute in those wintery garbs kan...

After the kakak-kakak and Abah had enough, everybody bundled back into the car, complaining of cold and hunger! GOD bless those who created soup-in-a-mug!! So, mummy was quite the saviour!

We drove around after that, simply enjoying the view (that is..Abah and Mummy enjoyed the view whilst the girls whined of boredom and asked to go back home since the DVD player did not work so well in the car!!). We decided against taking any trains or cable cars to higher level of the mountains coz it looks foggy up there, so no point to spend money to see fog, really.

So, about 2 pm we decided to come down to earth and came back to geneva..but we did not go straight home! We went to Encik Amran's open house (is it still Syawal??) then to Dato' Muhd Noor's (a.ka. the boss) residence for another farewell!!

Its farewell no.3 and t'was organized by people from the office! Ahhhhh...such good food...such good company! As the so-called orang yang di raikan, I didn't have to bring anything! yay! but there was nasi kerabu...sambal udang...sup daging...gulai lemak labu...masak assam ikan...sambal sotong...kerabu apple...sayur campur...and KARI KEPALA IKAN!!! Those who read this blog claimed that the food mengalahkan Rebung's menu!! Maybe they are right...maybe because last night's food was cooked with luuuurrrrvveeee....no??

Sorrylah Yati...tak sempat nak ambik gambar your tiramisu.....

Am definitely going to miss everybody (and this time I mean everybody!) at the office as well as their families...The evening lasted longer than expected coz tuanrumah also organized a karaoke session and Abah lepas geram and would not let go of the mike!!! He sang and danced and everybody cheered and clapped (to be polite?? he is, after all, the guest of honour!!). hahaha...well..to be fair..he was't the only one...everybody had a turn...I can't say everybody can sing (least of all me!) but hey..who's complaining!!?? I believe everybody had a jolly good time!! I took pictures of everyone singing but for the purpose of this entry i thought i'd just post these pictures of my 2 bosses -

Finally...majlis bersurai at about 11 pm...after everyone tapau their share of left over food...I leave this posting now with this not-so-complete-and-not-so-clear picture of our WTO family...

So..that was the weekend that was...how was yours??

Autumn in Geneva

Last autumn for us ... and somehow its even more colourful than I ever remember it! Every tree seems to be on fire..they are so orange!! Not been able to get really good pictures as mostly we were on highways that we would notice the beautiful views...but will try this weekend and post them next week, OK!

Sekarang ni 5pm da gelap...best! And its getting to be oh-so-cold! Just the way i like it! (Kesian nya melayu tak sedar diri ni..tak lama lagi daaaah kena balik mesia yang panas and banyak nyamuk tu...sob..sob!)

Oklah..Bon weekend, folks! We're off to Interlaken tomorrow so pray for good weather! Forecast looks grim though! The good news...we will most definitely get to see snow before we leave..at least at the nearest mountains! The range seen near our apartment and office are white on top already today! Yay...ALLAH swt is indeed GREAT!

Istana Kehakiman

Formerly known as Palace of Justice. Grandly situated in Putrajaya. Had to go there and meet my former boss. My first visit despite the fact that I'm part of the establishment! I must say...i was gob-smacked!!!! Such grandieur...

Last picture is of Muzi and our nephew twice or three times over...am not quite sure how its calculated but off duty, he calls me "Mak teh" . Mo**zani is now..ehem..the special officer to the acting C*J! So the terrer one....hehehe!

Oklah...nanti i balik, i'll get pictures of the outside of the Istana pulak...

Farewells...

today is (hopefully) the beginning of farewells for me...sedih but quite nice to makan-makan whilst saying goodbyes to the friends i've made here...

Today, Jorge from the Mexican Mission belanja. It was a farewell to another colleague too - Gabriela from the Israeli Mission. Now, now - before you guys gasp in disgust for my lack of protocol in international relations - Gaby - Shidi and Wadrina now refers to her as my Yahudi friend! - is a very nice Argentinian lady who happens to work for the Israeli...we became quite close after she conceived her baby (Gaelle is almost 1 now - easily one of the most beautiful baby I've ever met - considering her mom is Argetinian and her dad a Spaniard!). So you knowlah...our conversation will not be anything about counry policies or national security and half the time its not even about what we're doing in the WTO! It'll be about babies and about coping as working mothers! Anyway..Gaby is leaving the Israeli Mission..she's joining the private sector, hence this farewell for her too.

Jorge (pronounced Hor - hey) is simply this young diplomat in the Mexican Mission. He used to cover the dispute settlement issues so we used to attend meetings together. Now he's onto something else which i shall not bother to elaborate coz very insignificant to my blog! ;-) Very smart man - currently writing his thesis for a doctorate on WTO dispute settlement from Mexico's perspective (or something like that lah!) so, all together now...ooooooooohhhh.....no?

Was hungry so lupa nak ambik gambar food!

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO FATIN MUNEERAH!!

My baby turned 10 on 28th October hari tu and I wasn't here to celebrate it with her!! sob..sob...huwwwaaaaaaaaa........

My eldest reached a milestone in her life that October 28th...she's almost a teenager now...she's getting prettier by the day...now that her hair is longer, its sooo nice...not like lion anymore! Those who know her must surely agree with me that she is one warm and caring girl...a real Kak Long to her sisters and to many babies kat Geneva ni!!

So my sweetheart...ingat selalu that Mummy loves you very much and Mummy doakan Kak long cepat-cepatlaa kahwin (preferably with our angkasawan tu!!) and have loads of your own babies!!