Feel Free Like The Breeze

Sunday, February 3, 2019

Reunited.....

We used to work together. She was much senior but we got along very well. She is a very hard working person and is always serious in her work. I can tell you that, she is and will always be my idol. A person whom I will share my stories, a person whom I can rely on should any circumstances happened... she is the one. Kak Min was trained in Maktab Perguruan Perempuan Melayu Melaka many-many years ago. Up until today, she is still actively involved in the alumni. She always keeps herself updated in many ways she can. And her memories....wow! She got good memories of names and places and time!!! OMG!

This is where I first met Kak Min. She was my boss,
A sister, mentor, best friend and a great travelling companion.

I moved to the north, in Penang in 1993 because my husband was sent there to work. Just imagine, we were from the south in Johor Bahru for 9 years and had to begin anew in the north. The environment is so different and so is everything. It is warmer. and the traffic frightened me especially the motorists! It took me a few months to get used to everything. No joke!

Some of the plants in Kak Min's garden.

After a year as colleagues, Kak Min had to go off to enjoy her retirement. We became even closer. We went places together. We even drove together up to Bukit Kayu Hitam ... just the two of us. We will always find or create reasons to go out! Hahaha ahh.

One day, our canteen operator, Munirah who was very close to us invited us to join her to the UK to visit her daughter Mawar Murni in Derby. Her husband, Allahyarham Muhammad bin Arshad joined too. Kak Min wanted to visit her daughter Yati and her family in Scotland too. I have never been to that part of the world! So I tagged along. That was my first visit to the UK and a taste of Europe! It was full of fun, laughter, excitement and adventures. We travelled like youngsters. We brought just enough money for this trip. No shopping. We brought with us a small bag each.

We got lost a few times before we mastered.
hahahahhaaha.

We shared everything to cut cost including our food and that reminds me of an incident in Switzerland! The tour bus stopped for lunch break. What was served are food that is forbidden? All we could eat is the choices of salad. So we took only 2 bowls but there were 6 of us. We shared the salad equally amongst us. We were so naive that we did not know the way they charge for the food. When we asked for the bill, our jaws dropped. They charged according to the number of people. We did not have enough Swiss Franc and the bus is about to leave! How to pay?

We took the boat ride in Interlaken, Switzerland.

Out of six, there were 5 Malaysians and another was a teacher from the UK. She travelled alone and since we were the most talkative and friendly lots, she got hooked to us. So, she paid for lunch and we became friends. She even told us that she had a little corner in her school sharing the stories of our country....Malaysia. Thank you, Erin Augustina. She even visited us in Malaysia and she had the same problem too here!... Hahhahahh. She spent her summer holidays with us and then when she had to leave home, we sent her to the airport but the flight already left yesterday! hahahahha. Can you imagine! We laughed out loud even though we were panicked earlier. We each chip in some money and paid for her ticket and off she went home. . We really had a good laugh at ourselves.

Kak Min's daughter took us to the countrysides in Scotland.
Picturesque!

We visited many cities and countries. We travelled by plane, train, ferry, coach and car. Whenever we remember our trip we will end up with laughter because of the experiences that we shared. Kak Min is a very good travelling companion. She trusted me full heartedly even though we were total strangers in a land far away from home. That boosted my confidence in taking charge. She never complained but she would always be there to listen and solved our little problems. She would give good and logical bits of advice whenever she can and that was very much appreciated. That's what friends are for.

Kak Min.
My mentor, my idol, my best friend, my sister...
she is everything!

Last week my neighbour lost her mum. The funeral was held in Pulau Pinang. My husband and I with another two friends tagged along with the convoy. It took us 5 hours to drive to Sungai Ara but everything went as planned. We spent a night on the island. It has been quite some time that I have not visited this island. If the Waze refused to work on that day, I will surely get lost.

We slept well that night. very tired. The apartment which we rented was on the 29th floor out of 30! The next morning, We drove to the place where I stayed before! It gave me mixed feelings to go down to memory lane. I love this place so much. I have many friends here and they are very nice people. I was teaching for two years here. I drove around the area and every corners and nook brought back memories.

That was when I thought about Kak Min. I have to look for her. I have to apologise for not visiting her. But I cannot remember which house is hers. I told the others to look for a house with a beautiful garden because Kak Min loves plants very much. I drove slowly and suddenly I saw this tiny lady sweeping dried leaves in her garden. I almost jumped out of the car! It was a real excitement seeing an 81 yr old friend of mine still as healthy as she was before. It is like she never grows old! Did time just stop here? MasyaAllah. We hugged and we cried. We missed each other so much! Alhamdulillah Allah gave us the time and health to see each other again! I was so sad when Min told me that her husband passed away 4 years ago in the month of Ramadhan. That was how long I did not visit her! Maybe longer...... What was I thinking?

A side elevation of the house where I used to stay.
We had good memories here. It was a good place to raise our
children because of the environment.

An hour or two is not enough to catch up with an old friend. Kak Min called another friend of ours, Kak Rajibah. She was also teaching at the same school. And now you see, three retired teachers sharing their pasts and they told me of our friends who had passed away and some just moved on to other places and are unable to contact. The funniest part was, both Kak Min and Kak Rajibah had a hearing problem.....hahhahahahhah. Just imagine when they travelled together! Some things will surely be left unheard! hahahhaha.

This was where I did my weekly marketing.

My family's favourite place for breakfast. We even meet our frienfds and neighbours here.
Lots of choices in food and beverages.

We continued from breakfast until lunch. So sad that I had to leave but I will come back and who knows we might travel again together...for old time sake!

I am so glad to be able to see them again and we promised not to stay away for so long anymore. InsyaAllah. Subhanallah.... Allah made me drive to this place. Alhamdulillah...I am so very thankful to Him. Thank you, Allah.

Friends are like treasure. To have a good life, we first must have a good spouse and we must have good friends. I have good sets of friends of a different time, place and era and I am so very proud of my friends and I love them very much.....Alhamdulillah.

Three retired teachers got back together after many years.

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Your mother or you?

Every year, every single year of our lives, we celebrate the date we were born. Friends and families will send in beautiful notes, wishes, dua and quotes to us. this is something that we look forward to every year.

When I was younger, I have never celebrated my birthday. No birthday cakes, no balloons, no finger foods, no friends celebrating but my Allahyarham Mak had a way to remind her of the day. She would cook a kind of porridge called the Bubur Merah Bubur Putih. What is it made of? She took a cup of rice grains or glutinous rice grains and washed it nicely. Then she would add in maybe 3 or 4 cups of water and cooked until it boiled. Let it simmer.

Gula Melaka, Coconut milk and Pandan leaves.

Then my Mak will take out a quarter part of the porridge and put it in another pot. For the big portion, Mak will add in a piece of Gula Melaka/Palm Sugar and a pinch of salt. When the sugar has diluted and you will see that the porridge turned into brownish colour. To add a bit of a flavour, Mak added in Pandan leaves which she would make it look like ribbons. Wow, the smell......!! Then Mak will put the fire off and set the porridge aside. For the quarter portion, Mak added in coconut milk and a pinch of salt. Let it simmer and then just put the fire off. Put it aside.

When all of the family members were ready, Arwah Abah will recite a dua and then Mak would take a small bowl and scooped the brown sweet porridge and then topped it with a spoonful of the white porridge. It looked so inviting and the taste is so so good.

I do not understand the importance of preparing this porridge for this occasion until a dear friend of mine whose husband just love having this porridge on birthdays and any other important days for his family. ...Birthdays,, weddings family gatherings and also taken as deserts at any days. She told me that, her husband's ancestors said that the significance is that the brown coloured porridge resembles the red blood cell and the white porridge resembles the white blood cell. By having balanced the two coloured cells, one will be very healthy. So the porridge means Long Live! Come to think of it, it made sense you know!

Bubur Merah Bubur Putih

But we totally have forgotten that our birthday is our mother’s labour day. For those who have given birth naturally will know the pain, we went through! I once told my friends long ago....... it is okay for me to get pregnant many times if only I can pass the labour pain to others!! Hahahahahahha!

But please do not forget about your parents especially your mother on your birthdays. Without them we are nothing. Mothers had to go through hardship throughout her pregnancy. She vomited, suffered nausea, leg cramps, backache, constipation, spent sleepless nights and on the day we were born, she had to go through the worst pain just to push us out from her belly! Bones will be cracking, blood rushed out and she will have to do it with all the balance energy she has. She had to pull up her strength to push us out! Can you imagine the pain, the struggle she went through. So, how can we ever forget her on our birthdays? Can you? Why in the world should we get all the gifts and attention after all that she went through? We should be getting them gifts instead or at least spent the day with her. Take her somewhere and tell her how much we owed her. Tell her how much you love her.

Unfortunately, I only discovered this when my mother was long gone. She died in 2003 and the worst part of it was, I was away at that time. All I can remember of Mak was her beautiful voice whenever she read old poems in Bahasa Melayu. We called it Syair. The poems were usually about the stories of the past, about hopes and expectations, about how to look at people, how to behave and many more. She did it so beautifully with the rhythm that I will never forget. It was a serenade that you hope it will not end. So now, since both my Mak and Abah are gone, every year on my birthday, I will visit make time to visit their graves in Muar, Johor and made dua for them. This is my way of thanking them for bringing me into this world and made me who I am now.

A poem about giving advises to her children.

A poem about how to look at people and how to manage your life.

For those whose parents are still alive, give the best to them. The least you can do is to give them comfort. Speak softly to them and avoid hurting their feelings. They don’t expect much from us, a little attention, love and tender care is all that they want from us. We can never repay them but as Muslims, we were taught that whatever good deeds we did, they will get the benefits too.

So, whom do you think deserved the celebration? Your mother or you? May Allah grant my parents Jannah. InSyaAllah.