What's Left of Yesterday

I'm sure, for everyone, there must be a place or two that is/are dear to our heart, a place that we value eventhough it's already vanished.

The place can be our childhood hometown, our school or wherever we ever passed our time.

It is a place where you did those and those with people whom you love or come to treasure.

Let me take my childhood hometown as an example.

I grew up in a bay surrounded by rolling hills.

Nothing could be so perfect.

The glowing sunset.

The mornings to school.

The wet market. (along with the coloured chicks)

The beach with the sea and stary night.

That feel of a seaside settlement.

It's small and it provided me with a great childhood.

It's a place where I lived my life at the most minimal yet never I felt that things aren't enough.

In fact everything was abundant, the sea, the sand, the cousins, the fishing line, the frequent trips to secluded bay with families.

The bay that we used to go to ~ Teluk Duyung aka Monkey Beach

It's a place where I discovered my passion for books and nature.

A place where I met that an-ear-studded Stevey.

The place where my brother would roll his tongue and hands with the mildly smashing waves (only he and he knows how to do those)

I love my elementary life.

But I've lost a great deal of what happened during my elementary.

In fact, I recognise only a few fellow students from my elementary class.

I remember participating in every quiz that I could get my pencil and paper on.

I remember sacrificing my recess time to chase my friends in acilut or ice-water.

Oh and that circle that we formed to just step on each other white shoes in pepsi-cola

and the stupidiest of them all, chasing after grasshoppers under the scorching sun.

That's the life in elementary.

As a kid, most of the time outside school, I was out and about with my cousins.

By the river fishing out ikan pelukang - once, my Mak Lang came chasing after us. Anwar was badly rattaned after that

In ayaq-acaq area, removing banana trunk to harvest a canful of fat worms for fishing.

In the bushes digging out a large tapioca for eternity just to forget it in the very bush.

Or on my Pak Lang boat, fishing for a salt water fish when we grow tired of the river - this however is danger area due to our uncle who regularly patrons that jetty.

This is the jetty

Life was full of colors.

and it was great, no doubt.

So, it's normal for me to have that sense of longing after my family moved to Bayan Lepas.

I kept coming back during my high school years.

I reconnected with the place, but unfortunately, not with the people.

Friends from elementary are still there but there's no way for me to contact them, and the reasons are not strong enough. (however, thanks to Facebook, we reconnected, yippie!)

My cousins follows in their elder siblings path.

I have two other cousins the same age as me, both never attend high school.

When the place aged.

When the friends get married, some even already have child!

When the school changed almost 80%.

When the barrack beside our old home is occupied by 100% new faces.

I realise the place that is dear to me already slipped by.

But I'm glad the memories live on. =)

First photo from flickr.

Second photo from flickr too.

In Memory Of

my dad's disabled friend who passed away few months ago.

As a kid, my life outside our bay would cover swimming pools where my dad worked part time, my aunt's, my uncle's, my greatuncles'/greataunt's, home for the disabled and a house owned by Chinese mother and son.

The latter two where I would pass my time contemplating things as a kid whilst my dad played dam haji with his disabled friend.

My dad friend is a chinese man, slightly older than my dad and is confined to his wheelchair.

He alternated between home for the disabled and his mother's.

He maked sounds rather than speaking but I know my father did understand him after years of playing dam aji with him.

Now as a young lady, I realise how significant was our handshake and his gestures.

How he managed to greet me, a kid who usually adult don't greet, with his limited mobility.

He always smile, showing his kinda ugly teeth ^.^

When he won, he would 'laugh' with delight and when abah won, I heard grumblings.

He would put the piece in a way that u can hear it thuds loudly.

Thanks to him, at a young age, I was exposed to how some people are born physically deficit than others but still manage to keep living and making the most out of their inability.

When we were at the home, I would gaze at the pool, thinking how they put the disables in it.

That home was occupied by Chinese and Indians but weird how I didn't feel left out.

Occupants painted, some with their foot

Played piano

Assembled beads into bracelet or necklaces

Everyone did something, it's hard to find someone in a sombre mood at the common hall (well, maybe the ones that's feeling down was in the dormitory)

And everything went on at a slower pace than normal

Has I been older, maybe I would contemplate even more things but I wonder if I would agree to follow me dad if I has been older. hehehe.

It wasn't sugary sweet all the time.

There were times when dad's friend is in bad shape, but he amazingly turned gay when abah come.

And there were times when I became really annoyed because I didn't know how long I need to wait somemore (the games lasted for eternity)

But thanks Allah, as I could remember, the most I managed is making faces.

Mak told me about the passing of this friend of my dad.

They were friends since abah was a kid himself.

When abah got married to mak, the mother of this friend greet me mom in the shop, asked her whether me mom has been keeping me dad busy that me dad has not been to play with his son.

My perplexed mother went home and as a kid, I never hear or see me mom complaining about me dad passing times witht his friend.

Instead, we siblings were asked to follow abah.

It's a rare oppourtunity to find such a friendship nowadays.

It's being interracial, normal-disable, and importantly, being nearly a lifelong ones

I fell so fortunate to witness it.

p/s : Image from google image

What We Think

July was warm back in Czech.

When I was sitting for my biochemistry final, I kept fanning myself instead of jotting down what I want to present to Prof Stoklasova.

There was no fan, let alone air conditioner, it feels like u r in sauna.

Covering up in summer is a challenge I must admit.

Thought the loose clothing somewhat provides enough room for cosy movement, there's no angin sepoi-sepoi bahasa as natural ventilation.

U don't sweat profusely because the weather is dry instead of humid.

Men can be spotted barechested.

I've been thinking of what people around is thinking of me, who's clad in cloth top to toe.

No word ever approaches me but I got stares (not a rude ones, thanks Allah)

But my friend got people asking her of the matter 3 times in a row in a particular day.

I must admit, it's not easy to be clad in the warm weather.

But it's my obligation.

Whether I want it or not, I must do it.

Full stop.

I would love to know the hikmah behind this.

There must be something else apart from protecting women from being discriminated, apart from caring for women modesty.

In woods, covering up can save you from ticks and hence from boreliosis.

The answer will come with times

Well, maybe I can treat this as reminder of how hot the hell is.

Now I'm free from the dry heat and back to humid air.

Let's see what happens next.

Oh, and have a great summer everyone and great Ramadhan too!

p/s: I was freezing during my transit and in flight back home. and it's summer. Looks like I lost my immunity against aircond.

pps : whatever season it is, takes something that can warm you up during a long journey.

ppps : Image courtesy of Cik Dalila

Mabrook

I'm genuinely happy.

Happy for my friends!!!

Anyways, done with my 2nd year, well, at least there's another week of practical in the hospital and that's it, I'm gonna make my way into 3rd year.

For most of my friends, 3rd year = final year, but for moi 3rd year=halfway through med school.

But I'm fine with that, in fact I think I have all the time in the world to be spent in uni life.

Well, sagittarian never grow up anyway.

2nd year was very exciting academically and albeit it's coated with roller coaster of emotion, I've ticked almost 80% of my goals.

Some of my arrows missed the moon though but who knows maybe they'll land on the stars instead.

There's so much to do and with a free week at my disposal, there are still loads to do.

I don't know where all my semangat balik kampung fled to.

It kept bugging me when I was cramming for exam and now it's gone. Come back you!!!

Anyway, I finally can come to term with having people around my age transitioning from courting into engagement and eventually tying the knot.

21 aint only the year where everyone aroung the world become legal.

It means attending to your circle of friends' walimahs instead of your mom's friend's daughter's.

Gone were the days where mom will nag you about not attending other's walimah - "nobody gonna come when it's yours" yadda, yadda, yadda =p

These times around, you would be delighted and try your best to attend walimahs because hey, it's the big day for someone major in your life.

I must admit, it feels so good to browse the wedding album of each of the person that you know.

It feels like you can feel the happiness of the couple.

More importantly, it's not a courtship anymore, it's a blessed and legal relationship.

And if you omit the cosiness, almost all things about wedding are eyecandies - hantarans, dais, and the couple themselves.

I'm rooting for sireh junjung, tepak sireh and bunga pahar (I love tradition)

Don't really mind if the branded hantarans aren't included.

I'm sorry to dissappoint you that as much as yours truly feels happy about these tying knotting crochetting thingy, she has not envision herself to do those.

For now, she feels glad to be in the picture, no, not as the main character.

So enough ramblings about those, we will move to the summer vacation.

I hope the fruits (read : RAMBUTAN, manggis and langsat are still available when I'm home)

can't wait to be back in the land of excellent and cheap food, sea and tropic.

*hypnotizing*

rambutan

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