Not So Little Boy Anymore

Hello everyone and Happy New Year. I believe it’s still not too late for me to wish you all a Happy New Year.

Nizzar is turning 6 this year. My God! How time flies! I keep on telling him to stop growing and stay 5 forever.

When he asked me why, I said, “So I can still manja-manja with you and you will always want Mummy..” He gave me a long sigh..

That boy is becoming more talkative these days now that he knows how to form full sentences. Every day when I come home from work, he would wait for me at the door and enthusiastically persuaded me to play “Teacher, Teacher” with him.

“Teacher, Teacher” is a role playing game where we take turn to become teacher and student in our imaginary classroom. Most of the time, he would emulate his teachers or friends, and this is one way for me to find out what actually happen in his class.

I like it best when he plays the teacher. He would imitate his teachers’ stern warnings, instructions and activities to the tee and I would always end up laughing at his antics. We would sometime play this game when his Atok and Opah (my parents) come visiting (Atok & Opah become new students) and they would be so impressed with his acting skills that they would almost always buy him a toy the day after.

He can speak English quite fluently now, thanks to the school. When I first sent him there last year, he spoke mostly in Malay but now I’m quite happy to hear him speaking in English quite confidently. Every now and then, I would hear him say a new word like “DEFEAT”.. “SHARING” (quite big words there, I think), and will talk non-stop until he falls asleep at night.

Just this morning, when I woke him up for school, he looked at me with his eyes half closed and said, “I’m sure your friends will like what you’re wearing today”. I said, “Are you sure? Do you like my baju?” He nodded and said, “Very nice, Mummy...”

Hee.. hee… how not to melt like that? Even my husband doesn’t pay me such compliment anymore these days. Nasib baik ada budak kecik tu. My morale booster! Hee.. Hee..

And our parting words?

“See you later, alligator…”

“In a while, crocodile..”

Remind me of his daddy when we were courting.. :)

Langkawi

I just got back from a trip to Langkawi. It was a long journey… but quite nice in some ways.

This is the first time I took the ferry after a long time. If I remember correctly, the last time I went on the ferry was in 1988. That was right after my orientation prior to leaving for the UK.

The orientation was held at this school in Jitra, Kedah. Lover boy was there too. So, right after the orientation, we both went to Langkawi for a quick getaway.

I still remember strolling down the beach at Pantai Cenang that night. The stars were shining bright. We sat on the beach, talked, laughed until late at night...

Can’t believe I did all that. I was only 19. Now when I think about it, what could have happened… scary man! But of course nothing happened. We were young and innocent… 19 then is nothing like 19 today!

Anyway, it didn’t work out with that guy but memories of that night at Pantai Cenang still linger....

This time around, the trip was made sweeter by thoughts of Ombak Rindu. That’s a very nice Malay movie I’ve watched in a long time. I was informed that the movie was shot mostly in Langkawi. So wherever we went, I couldn’t help feeling nostalgic about Izzah, Hariz and the location of their love story.

I thought I saw the house of Datin S (Azizah Mahzan), the one with the swimming pool in the middle of the sawah padi. We passed by the house several times and it was indeed very beautiful.

At the jetty, we saw the fishermen’s boat houses and thought, “This could be Izzah’s house!” or “Mael’s fishing boat!”. Hee.. Hee...

And we saw the yacht that Izzah and Hariz sailed on in the last scene (yang macam Titanic tu). Aaahhh…. It was so nice! Terbayang2 bab romantic tu! It didn’t help that I was reading the novel throughout the journey. So melancholic! The same feeling I had after watching “Winter Sonata”… Sigh….

Ok, ok.. now get real. I think Langkawi did something to me this time which I cannot explain. Was it Pantai Cenang or Mahsuri that has cast her magic spell on me?

I wonder.

Maid Update

I am pleased to inform that the maid has gone home for good. We sent her off last week at the airport. She didn’t call or SMS us after that. Either she’s very glad to be out of our house or she never reached her home town.

But do I care? I don’t exactly.. but I do hope she has reached her house safely.

We discovered some of our jewelry were missing a few days before she left. My precious gold necklace with a diamond pendant that my husband gave me for my 40th birthday, and my daughter’s rings that were given to her by her late mum. We did not accuse her outright although nobody else could be held responsible for it as she was in the house the whole time, but we did ask her if she had seen them. Obviously the answer was no. We searched her bags, body, clothes and room before she left but found nothing.

So we concluded she probably had sold them or pawn them because during the last outing, she bought a lot of things… almost RM500. Where did she get the money from as I only gave her RM50 at that time? Tak kan lah boyfriend dia generous sangat nak belanja sampai RM500.. mostly on baju and handbags (I knew this coz I found old receipts when I cleaned up her room to make way for the new maid). We kept her salary, we only gave her money as and when she asked for it. So, where did the money come from?

Anyway, it’s all in the past now. She had gone home and I do not want to talk about her anymore. If indeed she took the jewelry, I let it be because I'm sure God will punish her one way or another.

Fortunately, we've got a new maid. She is expected to come in next week. This one comes highly recommended by the agent. Slightly older.. 40+, but is an excellent housemaid, according to the agent. Me and my husband are keeping our fingers crossed...

In the meantime, Nadim is taking care of Nizzar at home. So far so good. No phone calls from home, means all is well at the home front.

We had a short break last weekend after sending the maid. We went to Genting for my husband’s company’s Family Day and to JB after that as husband had work to attend to.

Yes, we visited the Johor Premium Outlets. I wouldn’t say it was fantastic-fantastic, but there were several shops selling good bargains. Most handbags were off-season items, so they were not really screaming buys. Perhaps give it a few more months… I’m sure there will be more shops and items for sale.

But it is a nice place to stroll while cuci mata. Tapi kalau tak beli apa2, buat penat saja! Ha! Ha!

Cheers!

Kantoi Lagi

I’ve almost had enough with people trying to fool me to get their way. And I find it totally strange that somehow, I will always find out the truth.

When that happens, I always get anxious, wondering why God wants to show me the true colors of that person. What is he trying to tell me? Why reveal?

My maid was caught lying last weekend. This maid, whom I’ve had for the past 2 years and whose contract is expiring end of this month, had requested for cuti last Saturday. And she wanted to stay overnight at her cousin’s place.

My first thought, biarlah dia pegi… dah nak balik pun. But my husband suspected something else.

When we questioned her about her plans, she gave us a long list of things that she wanted to do with her “cousin” ni. Nak pegi salon lah, urut kaki lah, tengok movies lah.. but most importantly, she wanted to check out the pasar malam at Jln Masjid India.

“Kak.. saya nak sangat beli baju India untuk anak saya.. dan baju melayu yang macam Nizzar pakai tu..”, she pleaded with me. Kesian pulak I dengar. I pun memang ada intention nak beli baju macam tu untuk si Nizzar.

So I said, ok.. nak pegi boleh, but nak stay overnight, tak boleh. Anyway, pasar malam is not a good place for foreign workers because ada banyak polis under cover. Instead we asked her to bring her cousin to stay overnight at our house and the next day, we would send them both to Jln Masjid India to shop (punya lah baik majikan ni, kan?)

But she said, no.. the cousin wouldn’t want to stay at our house. (Cousin lives in Bandar Utama, sharing a house with other cleaners, and we live in Ampang). She said the cousin insisted that she stayed over at her place, which sounded a bit weird to me as Bandar Utama is further away from KL or Masjid India.

The plan was, the cousin would pick her up Ampang Point after she finished her work at 7.30pm, and the next day, she would send her back by car.

By car? How could an Indonesian worker afford a car??

My maid quickly corrected her statement saying that her cousin’s BOSS would send her home in his car. Amboi… baiknya boss cousin dia tu kan.. sanggup nak hantar my maid ni balik ke Ampang from 1-Utama!

That got me suspicious. I thought this girl was up to no good.

So, we said no. And my maid buat drama… menangis depan I sebab dia nak sangat2 jumpa cousin dia tu. Macam tak boleh tidak lah! Mesti jugak pegi by hook or by crook!

In the end, we said macam ni lah… why don’t you tell your cousin to meet you tomorrow since it is now almost 7pm. Kalau dia nak datang ke Ampang Point dari Bdr Utama, it’ll take at least 1 hour and there’s nothing much you can do at Ampang Point by then. We can still send you to Ampang Point tonight if you want to do your hair or urut kaki or whatever, but later we pick you up, suggested my husband (See? We are THAT kind)

She agreed. So at 7.30pm last Saturday, we all drove her to Ampang Point so she could get her hair done.

I don’t know whether we were being stupid or kind, but that’s what we did. I was cursing myself for giving in too much to her request but we wanted her to be happy as we wanted her to stay a little longer until we get her replacement.

So, we dropped her off and went to have our dinner…

As I had expected (somehow we have this hunch, don’t we?), at 9.30pm, she texted me, “Kak, I’m meeting with saya punya saudara. Tomorrow I balik. I minta maaf tapi I nak pergi sangat dengan dia for 1 night. Please forgive me.”

With that, I straight away knew that she had been lying. The cousin was actually a cover up for, whoelse but, a guy. She had planned this all along and was supposed to meet up with him that Saturday night. Itu yang beriya2 menangis tu sebab nak jumpa jugak!

I felt so disappointed with her, I really was. We treated her good, layan her like my own daughter, bawa dia jumpa doctor sana sini pasal jerawat muka dia tu etc, etc.. and she could do this to us?

I didn’t reply her SMS. My husband asked me to call her, but what for? I was adamant that I would not have her in my house anymore! I couldn’t believe she could ditch us for this guy whom she barely knew.

So anyway, the night passed with us strategizing our plans on how to manage the household without a maid...

The next day, Sunday, we all went to KLCC because budak kecik tu nak beli Ultraman. He was pestering us to take him to KLCC since morning to buy his toy, so in the end we went there at 3pm.

We had just arrived and had just finished buying some sweets from the new Candylicious outlet when, lo and behold… I saw MY MAID!!! She had just come out of a shop with many shopping bags in her hands, berkasut tumit tinggi, baju baru (beli baru agaknya sebab semalam dia keluar sehelai sepinggang saja), make up sikit punya tebal...

And you guess it lah… she wasn’t alone. There was a guy walking besides her. Macam bagus2… tersengeh2 berdua….

She didn’t see me because if she had, she would have run away. So I continued walking towards her and as our path crossed, I confronted her, “Ohh.. inilah saudara kamu ni, ya? Siapa ni? Who is this?” She looked stunned. Muka pucat! Not a word from her mouth! The guy just stood there, dumbfounded as well.

Then my husband’s turn, “SIAPA NI?? SIAPA NI??” Also no answer. Senyap sunyi macam tikus dua-dua orang tu.

But since we were very kind people and didn’t want to embarrass her in front of other people that afternoon, we let her go off. There was nothing more to say anyway. The truth had been revealed and she knew she had been caught red-handed.

God is great, kan? Kita dah nasihat dia elok2, dia nak kelentong kita jugak… last2 Tuhan tunjukkan pada kita perkara yang sebenar. Haa.. padan muka! Who would have thought I would bump into her at KLCC that afternoon, right? Pasar malam, my ass!!

I didn’t think she would come home on Sunday, but she came back anyway. We were not at home at that time. Boyfriend dia nilah yang hantar balik pakai kereta agaknya (they guy looked local, not Indon). We asked her to wait outside the house for nearly 2 hours. Padan muka! You bijak sangat nak tipu kita, tunggulah kat situ!

Since that day, I have not spoken to her. I only speak when necessary. I didn’t ask her to explain why either because there’s nothing more to explain. Ikutkan hati, memang I nak suruh dia keluar saja dari rumah tu because I cannot trust her anymore. But my husband ni insisted that we keep her until we get a new maid.

Keep lah… but I am no more Mr Nice Guy. No more gelak2 macam dulu, no more eating together at the dining table, no more leeway for you. We want to treat you like family, but it seems like you want us to treat you like any other maids. So, there you have it!

Lesson learnt: Don’t be too nice to the maid, nanti dia pijak kepala kita. People used to tell me this before, but I didn’t believe them for I feel you have to be nice to them so they stay. After this incident, I would definitely be more careful…

Because The Night

I’m hooked on Patti Smith’s “Because The Night”. I can’t remember how I came across this talented singer/artist, but I guess it must be during one of those nights when I was youtube-ing, as they call it.

She’s cool, that’s how I see it. Even when she’s almost as old as my mother now, she still has it when she takes to the stage. Awesome.

Her music is known as “punk rock”. A fusion of rock and poetry; that’s what makes it so hypnotizing. They call her the “Godmother of Punk”. She must be a big name, then.

Then I found out she’s written a book, “Just Kids”, which documents her relationship with Robert Mapplethorne, the love of her life. I went to get a copy at Kinokuniya. A very intriguing story and quite disturbing at times, but she told it in a very delicate way that I didn’t find it repulsive at all. More curious at the end of it, yes.

This is my favorite video clip. Patti Smith performing alongside U2 and Bruce Springsteen during the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2009. Because The Night was written by Bruce Springsteen but Patti made it hit the charts in 1978.

As U2 puts it, “This is the song we wish we’d written..” Oh yes!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSUgWCHpmHM&list=FLl-0d0itCm801RntRdpLBZA&index=19

Dr Ban Re-visited

I paid another visit to Dr Ban in Raub last Saturday. My sinus has relapsed and I was getting irritated with my runny nose which gave me problems sleeping at night.

I believe the reason for the relapse is because I tak jaga pantang. He specifically told me not to eat two things: eggs and peanuts. I followed his advise diligently in the first month but as I got better, I curi-curi makan telur coz I just love eggs.

On the last day of Ramadhan, I purposely told my maid to make omelet as I was craving for it. “I’m gonna eat this omelet and I don’t care!” Memanglah sah-sah, during hari raya, I couldn’t sleep at night because I kept on going to the bathroom to blow my nose. That was a real torture.

It continued well after raya and last week, I just had enough of seeing tissues strewn all over my bedroom as I struggled to stop the sneezing. “That’s it! Let’s go and see Dr Ban!”, I told my husband. My daughter has also started sneezing again in the morning and I guess it was high time we paid another visit to Dr Ban.

The old man is still the same old Dr Ban whom I first met in April. He remembered me and my daughter and told me that many people had come to visit him after what I wrote in my blog. I don’t know if he has read what I wrote, but I believe he must have had. He did the same thing again and gave us our medication.

This time around, I also brought along my maid who has this very bad acne on her face. The skin specialist at Gleneagles diagnosed it as “chronic acne”. I didn’t know how she got it but I think it could be from the facial treatments that she had at this salon.

Yes, my maid loves to try out beauty regimes whenever she goes out for her monthly outing. Pegi buat rambut lah, facial lah… mengalah kan tuan dia! But it’s her day off and she uses her own money anyway, so I let her indulge herself.

But now, muka dah naik jerawat macam tu, dah lama tak nak keluar rumah sebab malu! Hee.. hee… kesian pun ada! We’ve tried so many things before (jumpa doctor, beli ubat jerawat, control makanan) but her face just got worse. That’s why I brought her along to see Dr Ban if he could help.

Why wasn’t I surprised when he told me that he has treated people with worse acne conditions than my maid? And the results can be seen within one month only! This, I really must see, because acne usually takes a long time to heal.

He gave my maid some antibiotics and skin cleansers and asked her to pantang 3 things: Coffee, chocolate and milk.

It has only been 5 days but my maid says there is no more itchiness. Although the acne on her face is still quite evident, it is less glaring.

We’ll see how it goes... If it worked, then I would really think Dr Ban is a miracle doctor!

A Happy Day

We had a wonderful family gathering yesterday.

On Friday night, my husband told me that Y (his youngest brother who got married 2 years ago) wanted to bring his mother and father in law to our house for beraya on Sunday.

Y’s MIL and my husband used to be classmates; in the same school that my MIL used to teach. Ever since Y got married, he never got the chance to bring his in laws visiting to our house although we have been to their house once.

Anyway, I said ok. Let them come.. but what are we going to cook? We settled for laksa coz it was just a small do.

But as we were on our way to the pasar on late Sunday morning, we were informed that my MIL and FIL would be coming as well. I know my MIL doesn’t eat laksa, so we decided to cook another dish ie. mee goreng mamak, which my husband would do. Set!

With my MIL coming, we would also have to invite my other BIL, N, who just lived nearby. There were 7 of them in that family, which brought the total number of guests to 13 from the initial 4.

Since my parents were also in town, so I told my husband, “Wouldn’t it be nice if my mother could come as well?” I’ve asked her before but she said she wasn’t sure if she could come.

My husband said, “Sanggup tak kita ni? Ramai ni... Would there be enough food coz we didn't expect that many people in the first place?"

I resolved there would be enough for everyone. The most important thing was not the food; it was getting everyone together. Bukan senang nak get everyone together like this.

So my husband said, "Call again lah...”, which I did , and my mother said she would try.

So, I kept my fingers crossed hoping that they could come over. If they came, then we would have everybody that mattered to us under one roof!

First, Y arrived. Then my MIL arrived. Next was N and his family. Everyone from my husband’s family had arrived but there was still no sign of my family. In my heart, I was saying, “Maybe they couldn’t make it.. Never mind lah..”

But to my surprise, they did turn up in the end!

I was so happy to see both my brothers and parents! They haven’t been to our house in a long time and haven’t met my in laws for quite a while already. The last time was during Y’s wedding 2 years ago.

So, seeing everyone gathered yesterday at our house made me feel very proud. My MIL met all her besan and I must say, that was quite remarkable!

Since my mum and my MIL hardly ever met, I could sense that they were quite uncomfortable with each other at first. Sorang duduk kat luar, sorang duduk kat dalam. Bila yang kat luar masuk ke dalam, yang kat dalam pegi keluar. My FIL and my dad are ok.. they got on talking macam biasa saja.

You see, my mum and my MIL are similar in character in many ways. Both are strong headed, ex-teachers and very sensitive. I suppose, both wanted the other to make that first move. It was quite awkward at first, but after a while, they were ok. Siap gaduh lagi!

MIL: Dia orang ni, kalau raya, ada jugak tidur rumah Hajah 2 malam. Kat rumah saya ni, sekerat hari saja… pagi saja… lepas tu dah balik Ipoh! Dahlah tak pernah datang rumah.. nak jumpa sebulan sekali pun susah!


MUM: Hajah sebulan sekali… Saya ni, nak jumpa SETAHUN sekali pun susah! Kalau saya tak menangis, dia orang takkan tidur kat rumah!


MIL: Iyalah… Hajah selalu datang sini… selalu jugak jumpa si Yati. Ini dah lah dekat, nak datang rumah langsung tidak! (Mode: exaggerating)

ME: Suami saya tak ada, mak… (mencelah)


MUM: Iya, suami dia tak ada. Dia tak boleh keluar (my mother menyokong I, hee.. hee..).


MUM: Saya sekarang dah tak kisah dah Hajah… Nak balik, balik. Tak nak pun dah apa…


MIL: Itu lah budak2 ni… kita dulu suka tidur ramai2 kat rumah mak… sampai ke dapur kadang2…. Bla, bla, bla..

By this time, I’ve lost interest and my mother said she nak balik.


Anyway, despite the sindiran tajam tu, I’m happy that they both had a chance to meet and “talk”. Nasib baik duduk jauh-jauh, kalau dekat, I rasa.. sure selalu gaduh! Sorang kata macam ni, sorang kata macam tu! Hee.. Hee...

My husband was happy as well. He said it was a historical event as for the first time, both sides of our family got together at our house. Although it was only for a short while, we’re glad it happened and I hope we could do this again next year (although to be honest... I doubt so we can.)

All in the family!

My in laws with their "besan"
(L to R: My mum, my MIL, Y's MIL, my FIL, Y's FIL, my dad)


The two strong women in my life..