(Apart from the fact that today was super hectic, this post was written during my journey to work, journey from one library to the other and journey back from work. I don’t know why but I find it therapeutic to write in the bus. )
What an eventful Wednesday!
I had been looking forward to Wednesday ever since my supervisor approved of my leave. This trip was special as it has been sooooo long since our family went to Johor, together. Along with Nenek, our mini family outing was initiated by the parents to visit Nenek’s 2 other siblings and it couldn’t be any more timely as it was still hari raya break for the Malaysians!
For me, I was ready to be in my own bubble, I looked forward to relive our long family drives and to embrace each passing moment.
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We were supposed to hit the road by 11am. But the rental officer person was late. Hats off to dad who managed to stay composed while I fumed silently beside him as he received that unfortunate news. However, we were pleasantly surprised when our initial rent was upgraded to a better car, Toyota Estima without any increase in price.
My mood shifted as I took the back seat between Halimah (last sis) and Ameen (bro). We packed salted egg popiah, crackers and honey cornflakes to accompany our ride. The playlist dad downloaded on a thumbdrive blasted through the speakers and we sang along on cue like we always had..well with me messing the lyrics (what’s new). Eventually, silence followed. All of us dozed off except of course, dad. May Allah bless him for driving us.
We thought lunchtime would be an opportune time to enter Malaysia but boy were we wrong. It was 1pm and we only reached the first house at 3+pm. (MIGHT be due to this incident reported on Monday. Officers reporting late, surfing on handphones contributing to Johor checkpoint jam) I guess one has to be thankful for reaching our destination safely, above anything else. So Alhamdulillahhh.
The first house was awesome as Tok Cik is an epitome of a good hostess. At the age of 82, she went to the market early in the morning to buy fresh prawns and cooked us Nasi Goreng Siam. This dish was made complete with rendang, burasak (masakan orang Bugis something like lontong), sambal kacang (to die for) and pandan tea. I have been trying to improve in this area guys so please pray for me. Haha. Nasi Goreng Siam soon ya.
Ohhh, on this note, I have to mention how sorry I felt when communication broke down. Tok Cik was informed that our family wanted to come the day before. So she had cooked and prep everything but turns out we were only coming on Wednesday. Kesian! So glad no food was wasted as she gave it away to neighbours. May Allah bless her.
She reminded me of her current prime minister. Always on the go even at her age. Truly an inspiration for me to emulate inshaAllah. Keep moving and don’t be stagnant.
Hearing her non stop sharing left me feeling amazed. She shared how random strangers would stop by the bus stop and asked her if she needs a ride home after going to the market. This, this is how malays are there. It’s not Jaga tepi kain but jaga kebajikan of a fellow human. But I also believe it is due to her nature. If you help others, inshaAllah Allah will send help to you!
Another inspiring story is how her life is without worry as each of her 5 children divide roles to take care of her. She’s independently living with another nenek but her children would pay the bills, buy grocery and visit often. Her physical and emotional well-being was taken care of Alhamdulillah. An important reminder for self that when we have our own families inshaAllah, let us not forget our parents and divide roles between siblings, working together as a team.
Although I felt a bit emotional visiting her without the Fourteen (my cousins), I left with a bucket full of optimism. Alhamdulillah.
The second house we visited was nek ucu’s. My grandmother’s last sibling. Nothing much to say except that we prayed Maghrib there and left for Angsana at about 9pm.
Angsana was another story altogether. Nusaibah and I were looking forward to buy bubble tea. But they closed as soon as we got there. We had wanted to eat at secret recipe but they were closing too. Finally we settled for pizza hut which supposedly closes at 10pm. We got in and ordered food at exactly 10pm…..they were very very kind people! Forget about earning off customers because they went out of their way to serve us food when we were in need.
Alhamdulillah.
Anyway, we finished eating around 10.45pm and by that time, we were the only ones left in Angsana!
They had shut down the lifts and escalators. Poor Nenek because we parked at a level above. Why do they close so early??? We searched for lifts that could possibly lift us out of our misery. But to no avail. Finally, after several calls between guards, the guard in charge unlocked a lift and the doors. This reminded us on one occasion, a long time ago, where we were the only ones left in a place called XTRA trying to finish our dinner with most lights switched off :’)
To put the “cherry on top”, our last hurdle came as the car’s battery slowly drained out >< We had to off the aircon all the way home from the checkpoint. It could have been worse, but alhamdulillah, Allah decided to test us at the end of the day.
While on the way back, I used the extra data from the family’s malaysian number to reply to texts. As I was sandwiched in between 2 siblings, they kinda saw that I was replying a friend and I informed them that this is an important business. Even sought their advice. Hence this exchange:
p.s: sejak bila rajin upload gambar eh…..influenced.
Diarinsyirah 