12 October 2007

Alhamdulillah I made it safe and sound to Tanah Merah despite the awful driving condition (sleepy + traffic jam) . We spent the first two days of my holiday here because tomorrow we’ll be celebrating Hari Raya in Pasir Mas. As usual I did pretty much nothing here in Tanah Merah since I’m practically useless in the kitchen. So I did the next best thing i.e sleep and sleep some more he he!

My in laws were clearly delighted to have Adam back in town. He’s like the centre of their universe. Everything revolves around him today. Yesterday Linda and I went to the Pantai Timur supermarket nearby for some last minute shopping. The road leading to that place was congested with people but lucky for me we went with a bike so we could just cilok through traffic and get there in no time at all. Yesterday’s buka puasa menu was home made ayam percik and salak (sarak) lada, two of my favourite dishes in the whole wide world during Ramadan. This time I made myself a bit useful and helped to lit up the charcoal grill.

At night I let Adam play some sparklers in front of the house. He really enjoyed himself playing with those sparkers. So much that he cried when we ran out of them. Linda’s sister arrives around 4:30 pm today and we left for Pasir Mas shortly after that. At least they can turn their attention towards baby Hani then. I tried to pay my zakat fitrah at the Tanah Merah mosque but the queue was quite long I gave up after 5 minutes and left. I was expecting a major traffic jam on the road leading into Pasir Mas but traffic was surprisingly clear today largely thanks to those traffic cops who were directing traffic and making sure nobody parks along the road causing unnecessary congestions. Thankfully there was hardly any crowd queuing to pay their zakat at the Pasir Mas mosque so I’m done with my responsibility in like less than a minute. It’s RM14.40 for 3 persons this year.

All my siblings, Lina, Faiz and Izni were already there we arrive at Lot 173 Lorong Che Nor Pesaka today. Faiz and Izni arrive on the two days ago with mother while Zaidi dropped of his wife and kid and disappears into thin air. Seriously, I don’t know what’s wrong with that guy. Even if you don’t like our grandma much, at least he should have had the courtesy to come into the house and meet my family for a while. Were where his manners?

Enough about that, tonight we played some more sparklers on the porch. Adam was having the time of his life burning more than a dozen sparklers tonight. Lina’s kid was to small to be playing with them so he could only watch from afar but still enjoyed himself tremendously all the same. If you were a foreigner who just got here tonight, you’d be forgiven for thinking that you’d arrive in some kind of war zone, hearing all those loud explosions coming from numerous firecrackers from around the neighbourhood. Like I said before, it’s not so hard to get your hands on illegal firecrackers here. They were sold literally everywhere and the stalls grew like mushrooms on a rainy day during the last week of Ramadan.

Okay it’s almost 2:00 am now and I really should be sleeping if I’m planning to stay awake at the mosque tomorrow. And yes I did manage to connect through dial up networking tonight but with Faiz’s notebook instead. Go easy on your loan money bro cause they won’t last forever you know.

p/s: Zaidi had just arrived a few seconds ago. Looks like he doesn’t drive back to JB after all.