Raya oh Raya!

Hari Raya has been hectic as hell. For the first couple weeks of raya, I spent it slaving in the kitchen helping mum cook and standing in front of the sink washing dishes and pots and pans and then wiping the stoves clean and keeping the tonnes and tonnes of plates and everything else in their rightful places in the cupboard only to take them out an hour later when somebody else comes to beraya. Being the hosting family is pretty tough that’s why (I’m shameful to admit) there is a little piece of me that loathes raya. But just this part I guess. 

There was one night when the last bunch of guests for the night had gone home, Abah sat us all down and said, “Raya memang penat. Memang banyak kerja bila orang datang semua tapi tujuan kita buat macam ni adalah untuk merapatkan silaturrahim especially antara sedara-mara you because if one day, Mama dan Abah dah takda, these are the people you will have to find. Because these are your own flesh and blood, diaorg lah yang akan tolong you bila you susah nanti.” 

What Abah said hit a nerve. He was right really. I felt ashamed of myself for all the times I grunted and groaned when we got a call from someone who wanted to come beraya. It doesn’t make it less tiring, no, but at least I get it now, and it makes everything a little less bearable. 

Thanks Abah. 

Last Wednesday I held a BBQ/ Open House for my friends. I hosted it myself with help from Ede and Nana. It was the first time I had ever hosted anything in my life but it was a geat experience for me. It was also so much more fun when I had my friends to help out. Of course I couldn't have done it without them AT ALL.

It was tough planning things from scratch. From how many guests I was planning to have (which kept changing and increasing due to my sisters wanting to invite their friends too) to what I planned to serve and and whether there would be vegetarians, whether if there would there be enough plates/ cups/ cutlery, what time I should start cooking what, how hell I was going to start the barbeque going, to how much the whole thing was ginna cost cz I was using my own money but Mum chipped in half so that was okay. The biggest conflict though was of course what I was going to wear. Haha.. But I was going to be moving about a lot so I couldn't wear anything nice you see.

I guess the best thing about it was that I got to learn how to cook. Abah had sent a text all the way from the hospital on how to cook Lontong with specific instructions for each ingredient and even though we forgot to add in the potatoes and the gelangal root, it turned out awesome! 

Only around half of my classmates turned up but the rest were busy or were too far away so it was okay. We'll just have to have another gathering some other time :) There were plenty of people anyways. It looked like my sisters had invited half their class too anyway. LOL.

I would just like to thank, again, those who helped out, especially Ede and Nana. They were awesome and well, friends like these, you just can't let go off. And thanks those who made it too, especially my friends; again Ede and Nana, Yuva who took the train just to come, Siva, Alya, her baby *winkwink*, and the adorable Putri, Ika and her friends, the dudes: Asip, Madil, Don complete with his name tag, Shatish, Jack, Syafiq and Wan.

I love you guys ♥

thank you Alya for the photo

thank you Asip for the photo

and even though we’ve all changed throughout the years and now we’re all finding our own place in the world, we all know that when the tears fall or the smile spreads across our face, we’ll come to each other because no matter where this crazy world takes us, nothing will ever change so much to the point where we’re not all still friends.