FUNNYACCENT

Unforgettable

I'm sure many of you have read about Norzuhaira Ruhanie of My Lost Year of her Round the World trip she started back in February and ended her journey in South Africa to watch  a final World Cup game. She stopped here in Boston at the end of March and we met again for the second time.

She is one of the women who dare to take a risk to reach out her heart desire. One brave woman. Anyho, a couple of weeks before Hari Raya she contacted  and asked me if I could write a short essay of my fondest Raya memory for her asignment for New Straits Time. She emailed the copy of the 
 
article published on September 10th. 2010. Thank you Nor for your generosity. And she was very kind to erase two years of my actual age :)).

First Timer

_{Like Jane said, it was my first major league baseball game . Jane patiently explained to me the baseball glossary: ace pitcher, innings, home run, curve ball, dugout, dish, first base, third base and a few more I couldn't remember. By now I'm not sure if a dugout is a canoe made by hallowing out a large log, or a foxhole? If I overheard a baseball enthusiasms talk about dish, I'd probably think they're talking about prepared food or radio frequency radiation. Whatever it is I had a blast.}

 

Interaction

Before the invasion of iPod .

I remember watching this movie when I was seven years old.

I sprayed the coffee onto the screen when I saw this." target="_self">thisthis.

 

We are so far and yet..................

On  Hari Raya morning (Friday) I woke up at 4:45 a.m, put on Takbir Raya on low mode and had a video call on skype with my sister, KakNgah in Pokok Asam, Taiping. It was 4:45 p.m in Malaysia. Our alone quiet chat lasted for about an hour when my brother Abang, three years my senior  who lives next door walked into KakNgah living room and saw KakNgah and I were on the skype. He hollerred his wife. They live next door.

A few minutes later, my second younger brother, Man and his wife Yah with their five kids returned from their Hari Raya open house trip. Man flipped his cell phone and called Tan, my first younger brother  who lives a few houses away from KakNgah with his wife Non and their six kids.

Within an hour KakNgah's living room was packed with my two brothers, two sister-in-laws and 11 nieces and nephews waiting for their turn to talk with with me. The children and their parents were standing, squatting and leaning to KakNgah, elbowing each other waiting for their turns. I sat on my couch, my emotion ran high and low, loved and missed, watching the younger ones stuffing their face with kueh raya and ketupat while the older kids teased and poked their younger cousins, brothers and sisters.

At that moment I made up my mind I want to visit them next year. No if no but. InsyaAllah.

By eight fifteen I talked with all of them even Nani who was three years old when the last time I saw her. I felt so good. I felt wonderful. I felt blessed.

Learning Experience

I just found out that Professor Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, an instructor in my class Women in Global Persfective was once an active reform member  and leading advocate of human rights and democracyof Iran parliament.  30 minutes earlier I ran into her in the elevator. We exchanged smiles. I didn't know who she was then, but her face looked familiar. Only when she introduced herself in the class, Haghighatjoo rang the bell.

Salam Hari Raya

 

 

Selamat Hari Raya. Pohon Ampun & Maaf