21st December 2007, Saturday. 4.30 pm.
The familiar roads from Tanjung Malim to Kampar reminds me of the journey back to my maternal grandparents' house since I was young. Singing, eating, laughing, sleeping, stops for peeing, drinking, talking... And, finally, I'm making my way back to my maternal grandparents house now with my aunt, her *clears throat* soul mate/boyfriend and my sis after quite some time not seeing my beloved grandparents.
As we stopped at the familiar house, the memories that I had since I was little kept playing in my head. The welcoming smell of the house makes you feel warm and at home as soon as you step inside my maternal grandparents' house. Like the old days, the screams and laughters of the kids that arrived earlier greets you. Well, unless you're the first to arrive there. My grandma, as usual, is in the kitchen preparing some of our favorite dishes for tomorrow's lunch. My grandpa, well, sometimes you'll spot him resting, reading the papers or perhaps in the kitchen, helping to tidy the kitchen area to lighten my grandma's burden. A smile spread across grandma's face as she spotted my arrival in the kitchen. Without hesitation, I greeted her immediately, then my grandpa, and the rest who's there earlier that day.
Ah... Then came my 12-year-old cousin, who's eagerly waiting for the arrival of my sis and I, to start a game of Cluedo. Instantly, I told him to give me a minute and I wandered off and started to take a look of the house as I haven't been back to the house since Chinese New Year 2007. I went to the kitchen first, to have a look at the chicken coop, which is just at the back of the kitchen. And, there's 13 new chickens! But sadly, no ducks. ='( Grandma told me that ducks are dirtier than chickens, so she didn't wanna rare ducks for the mean time. Then, I went upstairs to unpack my stuff. There are four rooms upstairs. So, my sis, my aunt, her boyfriend and I took the smallest room, which is the usual room I used to sleep in since I was young. The room is empty, except for 2 wall fans. No cupboard, no bedpost, no table. Just 2 wall fans. And, it reamins the same 'til today. Abseloutely no changes. And, I remind myself that I need to head downstairs as I promised my cousin that I'll join him and my sis for a game of Cluedo before we prepare ourselves for dinner later.
The game started as soon as I arrived at the table where the board game was layed, but was interrupted when my aunt's boyfriend bought back ABC (earlier in the car, he was whining, literally, that he wanted to eat Cendol, but I heard that the Cendol store was closed so he bought ABC back) for us. My sis and I shared one; my 12-year-old cousin and his brother shared one while their mum had one herself; and my aunt's boyfriend had one himself.
The game goes on 'til it's about 6.00 pm, we gotta pack up and head to the shower. Since no one wants to be the first to shower, we "lat" to make it fair. Normally, the ought one (which is the first to get out) baths first. BUT... This time's different. The first to get out will be the last to bath. So, we "lat"-ed. My 9-year-old cousin was the first to get out, then his brother, then me, and finally my sis. So... My sis is the first to head to the shower, then me, then my 12 year old cousin, then his annoying brother. After my sis came out of the shower, my 12-year-old cousin rushed to the bathroom and slammed the door. I was like, what the hell?! I tapped on the bathroom door to ask him to get out, but he told me back in Cantonese;
"Wait laaa! I bath faster than you la. Let me bath first. Some more I took off my clothes already. Very ma fan to wear back laa! Byebye!!! *laughs evily*"
Oh well, since I'm older than him for 2 years, I gotta give in. -.- And, as soon as I made my way to the living room, my aunt, her boyfriend, my sis and my grandparents were laughing their heads off. I guess they overheard the screams and yells back at the bathroom. And, when my sis was in the shower, my third aunt along with her daughter and son (7 years old and 5 years old respectively) arrived at the house from my third aunt's parents' house nearby.
So, about 7.00 pm, 13 of us squeezed in 2 cars. Me, sis, aunt, her boyfriend, grandma and 12-year-old cousin squeezed in my aunt's boyfriend's Suzuki Swift. Grandpa, 9-year-old cousin, his parents, third aunt and her 2 kids squeezed in my 12 year old cousin's dad's Waja. It's a miracle that 13 of us can squeeze in 2 not-so-huge cars. We reached at a restaurant not too far from my garndparents' house. My grandma mentioned earlier that the food there is finger lickin' good. We waited for our food for quite some time. At the meantime, my aunt's boyfriend went to the sundry shop beside the restaurant to get sweets for us kids. My sis and I got a Sugus stick. Same goes to my 12-year-old cousin and his brother. My 7-year-old cousin and her 5-year-old brother had Ribenna pastilles. Food arrived after a looooooong time waiting patiently. Sis didn't manage to take pictures of the delicious food (for her blog) 'cause everyone was soooooooo hungry that as soon as the food arrived, everyone tucked in!
Sambal petai, "glass" lettuce, fish cooked with super-spicy sauce, tofu in thick gravy, pork cooked with thick black soya sauce and fried pork with tomato sauce served with rice. The food sounds delicious, but wait 'til you eat it. It's even marvellous! And, it's considered cheap. 13 people eating, 6 dishes, 12 plates of rice costs about RM 70+. Cheap and good food! After paying the bill, we left and head back to my grandparents' house with a satisfying tummy.
On the way back, my aunt whispered in my ear, telling me that grandma rushed out to the market at the crack of dawn just to get the ingredients to prepare some of her dishes for us for lunch tomorrow as soon as she heard that me and my sis is coming back. And she's been very busy the whole day cleaning the house and preparing the ingredients for tomorrow's lunch. After hearing that, I realized that she really missed me very dearly and I felt guilty for not going back to visit her often as she's getting older...
We arrived back at my grandparents' place about nearly 9.00 pm. Some settled down and switched on the tv while some is preparing for bed (grandparents, third aunt and her 2 kids sleep a few minutes after we arrived back as it's a routine for my grandparents to sleep at that time and the kids didn't take their nap, so off to bed at that time too). I followed my aunt up as I wanna drop off a few stuff at the room. She was upstairs clearing her stuff. So, since I have nothing to do, I joined her.
As she pulled a drawer out from a dusty table located at the corridor of the floor, her personal possesions came pouring. She was a prefect her whole high school life and did have a post (Ketua Disiplin & Hal Ehwal or something to do with diciplinary). She was a Sin Chew reporter in high school, too (for some of you who doesn't know what Sin Chew is, it's a commonly-read Chinese newspaper)! She has lots of friends who are reporters, too. Some are from South Korea. Stamps, telephone cards, letters... People last time used to use telephone cards to make calls, and the cards are really unique. Most are Disney characters, seasonal and cartoon telephone cards. Some are normal telephone cards. And, those telephone cards, especially the special cards (i.e Disney characters) are hard to find today as they are not commonly used anymore. She did recieve letters from her pals in South Korea, so she has quite a number of South Korean stamps. My sis and our 12-year-old cousin joined my aunt and I after quite some time. We went downstairs after quite some time staying upstairs.
As soon as we reached downstairs, my aunt's boyfriend switched on his laptop to show grandma the pictures that he took during his trip to Jiu Zai Guo, China. The scenery there is AWESOME! The water is crystal clear that you can even see the fishes in the water in the photo! The waterfalls there is so beautiful. But, of course, seeing it with your own eyes is even beautiful. After viewing the pictures, grandma head off to bed and I showed aunt the pictures that mum and dad took during their trip to Europe (luckily I brought back sis' pendrive). After that, aunt browse through sis' music file in her pendrive and copy-and-paste some songs that she wants into the laptop. To my suprise, she picked "Say Ok" and "Hate That I Love You" with a few other songs (did I even mention she prefers oldies to new-aged songs?) 0.o Oh well, it's her choice... Then, as usual, the 3 of us (me, sis, 12-year-old cousin) played Cluedo, again.
Soon, my 12-year-old cousin and his brother were forced to go to bed by their dad. So, no more Cluedo. But, their dad still remain downstairs with me, sis, aunt and her boyfreind. Aunt started to clear her stuff at the cupboards downstairs. And, while she's reading her old letters, I spotted a glass jar tied with a blue ribbon neatly. The jar is filled with lots of RM1 notes folded into heart-shapes. I asked my aunt whos send it to her, and instantly her boyfriend told me that a guy that used to like her back in high school sent it to her after graduating from high school for Valentine's Day. He was a sweet and nice guy. I was like, wow! A guy saved up his money just to give it to a girl that he fancies. Well, he's good! And he waited patiently for her, but sadly, he's not the one for her. I guess my aunt's current boyfriend is "The Chosen One". We tried to guess the amount of money in the jar. Me and my aunt's boyfriend guess there's RM38 (I guess most of you know what does 38 means...), sis guessed there's RM99 in it and my aunt guessed there's RM50 in it. I got my aunt's permission before opening it. She allowed me to open it, so I poured the cash out and started counting...
My sis was nearly right. Just need to subtract 19 from the amount that she guessed. There are RM80 in the jar. Those days, RM80 worth a lot. Then comes the hardest part... Tying the ribbon back the way it is before we opened it. I didn't have a look at how it was tied. So, the 4 of us cracked our heads to figure the way to tie it. Finally, while watching "How I Met Your Mother" on NTV 7, my aunt finally figured the way to tie it back! As soon as she's done, we started to clear the stuff and wash up to get to bed. And, aunt woke my uncle (my 12-year-old cousin's dad) who slept while watching tv. Went upstairs, lights off.
22nd December 2007, Saturday.
I was awake at the crack of dawn by the sound of the vehicles' engines that passed by the house (my grandparents house is facing the main road). I get changed, washed up and joined grandpa, 9-year-old cousin, 7-year-old cousin and sis for toast and Milo at a nearby coffee shop. We walked there, of course. The smell of the fresh toast and Milo awaken my senses as it was served on the table. After we're done with our breakfast, we headed back to grandpa's house.
As soon as we arrived back home, I helped grandma to pray. Around 9.00 am, I joined my aunt's boyfriend top wash the cars. After we're done, I helped my grandma to wrap wonton and "fu chuk" at the kitchen. When we're done wrapping them, I placed them beside the stove and started frying them. As soon as my 12-year-old cousin's dad stepped in the kitchen, I left as there's quite a number of people in the kitchen. So, I made my way to the front porch to check what's my aunt's boyfriend up to. I joined him to wash grandma's motorcycle. After doing some sweaty chores, I took a shower before taking lunch with the others. Lunch was nice. The last one's remaining on the table were grandma, me, sis, my 12-year-old cousin, my aunt and her boyfreind. We laughed, ate and talked. I nearly choked too. Me, my sis and my 12-year-old cosuin did the dishes.
After resting for half an hour or so, we started playing Twister with our other cousins. Played a few rounds until it's time for me to head back home. Me, sis, aunt along with her boyfriend head up stairs to pack our stuff. As we load our stuff in the car, I went around saying goodbye to the rest. As the car's driving off slowly from the familiar house, I waved goodbye to my grandparents who's standing outside to send us off...
We stopped at Kampar for ABC (I didn't eat that, my aunt's boyfriend did) and laksa (I didn't eat that, either; sis, aunt and her boyfriend did). After that, our road trip back to KL begun. I didn't realize that I slept in the car. Guess who did I dream of? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _! I'll leave it to you to guess...
Reached home about 7.00 pm+. End of road trip.
Sorry for the very long post. I just have too much to post about. Well, it's Christmas Eve! Merry Christmas and remember to countdown today!
.:.:.:.:$[u]E t[E]nG:.:.:.:.
"Back Home Is Where I Belong"