Eating Nasi Lemak with Wooden Clogs on

My what a busy time I’ve been having.

Today I just returned from my short break– I visited my mom who is in Porto, Portugal for the next three weeks. I took leave on Thursday last week, of which the night before I had just returned from a business trip in London, and upon arrival in Porto I quickly went on my laptop to send "a quick email".

I had every intention to sneak in a few emails, just so I won’t be entirely snowed under when I return to work t’row… but D gave me a quiet look, which read as "it’s our holiday. take it easy. spend time with your parents".

So yes, I took some time off. I read a book. I slept fully, ate heartily, chatted constantly. It was WONDERFUL.

Sometimes I wonder, why I place so much importance on such small itsy bitsy things around my job, my being here and what it means. I need to learn to appreciate life as life should be. I have so many amazing wonderful things going on in my life, yet I think about the call I didn’t return, or the meeting I had to reschedule and whether I had time to work on one tiny thing just so I got it off my list.

So over my short break, I just sat and reflected. And I felt so happy. I am happy to have recently bought a house (yay!), to have able parents to visit Europe (yay!), to have so many friends who love me and care about me, who knows how much I care for them too (yippeee!), to have D as the best companion, who asides from caring for lil ole me, he makes me laugh like crazy, for my giler sisters whom I skyped with daily when I was in Porto and indulged in a little J-lo act with the webcam (think "If you had my love"), to get reunited with an ex-cousin-in-law who I learned was pregnant after trying for so long, to hear from my close friends who just gave birth (Suhainah, congrats) and those who got pregnant again (Jaja, congrats) and those who found a special someone recently (you-know-who-you-are).

It makes me happy. That this helps me to realize, I sometimes place too much importance on things that don’t really make a difference in a long run. I’m lucky to get this chance to remember and remind myself of the great things my life has provided me so far, and for all the great things I will yet to come across, with all of you out there.

I had a teacher once who told me: Noreen, sometimes, when you’re down, wake up in the morning always with this thought– think of 5 things that you truly appreciate in your life. You’ll find often, you have more than 5 things to be thankful for.

Too many things to be happy about. Alhamdullillah.

After such an adventurous year of intense work, travelling and, oh yes, getting married, D and I decided to spend Xmas break in our cozy little apartment.

Did you know that taking a break and not going anywhere is actually pretty luxurious? To wake up in your own bed and not have to get ready to go to work, or sight-seeing or wondering if we can still make it to breakfast? Very nice for a lazy cat like me.

We’ve taken a lot of leave this year, but mainly for the wedding(s) celebrations, which actually can be quite stressful. So really, we haven’t had a proper break this year– and I was soooo looking forward to this break. Originally I was going to take two weeks off and come back to work on 7th Jan, but my boss said, and I quote: "Noreen, I’m SHOCKED that you would even consider not being around for the Jan 1 Go-Live date. This reads to me as NOT BEING ACCOUNTABLE, and ENTIRELY IRRESPONSIBLE! WHAT IS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND?!" .

Ok, so I do have a go-live at 1/1, so it was a bit irresponsible for thinking of missing it. :-p But still… it wasn’t nice how she said it, but basically I’m back in the office on Jan 2nd.

Anyways, D will have the second week off so maybe I’ll come home from work and have him cook for a change (silver lining!).

Xmas was pretty nice… got loads of chocolates from my in-laws (new year resolution: try to lose weight… again), and hubby gave me a toiletry bag (he got the hint), and a lovely catalogue featuring Nespresso machines (not the actual machine, and not a single picture of George Clooney– see Clip). This was a big step for D, he hates coffee but loves the sleek design of the Nespresso machines, so he said, let’s go buy one! Yippie! And we did get one today…. happy.is.Me!

So– going back to the ultimate lazy holiday talk… it wasn’t so lazy as sure enough we got a bit "itchy" and we did some spring cleaning! Well, ok, I’ll tell the truth… D got "itchy" and told me to lift my pile of clothes that were covering our finance papers and also clean the kitchen…. or else! (Oooh… I do so love a bossy man…!)

As you know, I’m no domestic goddes, but I was a bit ashamed that my hubby had asked me to uncover our "important papers" that was hiding underneath my sweaters, jeans, socks, belts, undies, bras and multiple pashminas. So in a huff, I got up on Wednesday and cleared my clothes in a jiffy and pointed out to D…. ta daaa!! Clean!

D said, ok now sort out your papers.

hmph.

I sat on the bed and went through all the crap I tried to turn a blind eye to. I mean, everything is online nowadays, I do internet banking, I have standing orders and direct debits on EVERYTHING, I also have my salary slips on our handy HR system at work.

Honestly, it was like parting the red sea… I had bank statements and insurance on one side, all my salary and pension papers on another side, and in front of me, my energy, water, cable papers… yikes. If I made any sudden movements, I’d have a tsunami of papers on me.

But again, the talented and couldn’t-care-less woman that I am did it in a jiffy and said, ta-daa! D was again very impressed. (he doesn’t know yet that I didn’t organise the papers by date and relevancy as he carefully instructed, but I’ll save that energy for a later date… like when he finds out. hee hee. good thing he doesn’t read this too often).

Then he said, ok what about the kitchen?

huff and puff, I went to the kitchen and reorganised the plates and cups shelves, the pots and pans, tinned food cupboards and our knife drawer. And to be honest… it felt very good to sort out kitchen… there is something very therapeutic when you arrange all the tinned food in one direction, or when all your plates are organised nicely next to your bowls, or when cups and glasses are set according to height. Funny, eh?

ok so clothes pile, done.

papers sorting, done.

Kitchen cleaning, done.

Yay…very proud and feeling very happy with myself. Now can induldge in ultimate laziness and watch season 2 of House on DVD.

Life is good. Hubby happy (and not itchy), I’m happy and relaxed to start a new year, what with a clean and orderly house and a super coffee machine in my kitchen.

Oh, and to look forward to in a couple of days, 6 month wedding anniversary, and the family fireworks. D is planning to buy HUMONGOUS fireworks and set it off from our balcony. Me, being shit-scared from all those scary-ass-shit ads in KL of kids losing eyes and arms and legs and what-nots from fireworks, am very scared, so agreed with over-excited hubby that we can buy it, but only if we do it out on a field and holding an umbrelly in front of us right before the rocket fireworks shoots off.

Watch this space…

See? I can rhyme too.

Today, I decided not to go to work. Mainly because today is a bank holiday in the UK, so most of my team mates are not around, and secondly, I don’t have meetings, and thirdly, I was supposed to review all of my training materials for my upcoming business-trip to back home (I know, I’m a lucky-ducky!), so going to the office was not deemed necessary.

So, after D left for work this morning, hajatnya nak mandi and to start up my laptop and get going with my training materials. But first I thought, hmmm, why not call Len (a colleague) at work and let her know I’ll be working from home today. Then found out that she had the exact same idea, and instead of getting off the phone and working,  we spent the first hour of our day to chit-chat, gossip and kutuk all the other colleagues.

Then, I turned on my home pc, saw Jaja online and we chatted and chatted, she managed to get Aishah on the phone and we tormented her in a manage a trois phone/chat interview of her activities over the weekend….

Then I had to buang air, so I said Ta! to Jaja.

Then, I thought, why not catch some shut-eye for another 30 minutes, then start work. Shortly after pejam mata, I got another call from Len, announcing that she just sent a rather controversial email and can I please read it and assure her that she does not sound like a bitch? So, there goes my nap, I turned on my work laptop, read her email, assured her a gazillion times (as us girls do) that she sounded professional and strict, not bitchy.

Then, I thought, hmmm dah bangun nih buat kerja sikit la. So I answered a few emails and got hungry.

Made nasi lemak. Then watched 3 episodes of friends and fell asleep on the couch.

Then got up, turned off the TV and went to my bed and slept till 2.30 pm. Then got up, checked emails again, then started looking on friendster (on my home pc, of course).

So now I’m typing here, still haven’t achieved hajat pertama, which was to mandi. I’m sitting here with my wiry hair, orange t-shirt and my kain batik. And updating you guys on it…. muahahahahah!!

of course, I will mandi before D get’s home la, but meanwhile I’ll just say hi to the world and enjoy my kemalasan…

(A shout-out to Aishah, sorry la Jaja and I kacau you tengah hari tadi, but we couldn’t resist. hee hee).

We’re baaaaack!!!!

Lovely and memorable as everything was, I must tell you…. I’m glad that it’s finished, over and done with, done and dusted. This old soul is glad to be back in "normal" life again, though one wonders what "normal" is for us being that we’ve only recently married and have no idea what else is in store for us. Since we can’t sit still, I guess we’re moving on to the next project.

And NO, it’s not Project Baby yet (don’t worry, I’ll tell you once we’re ready… in fact, if you know me well, you know I’ll tell you more than what you really need to know. heh heh.).

Actually, now it’s time to think hard about Project House Hunting, as my tiny apartment is beginning to cause me grief.

But before I bore you with details of the neighbourhoods, house vs apartment and mortgage discussions…. perhaps I can share some highlights of our multi-faceted union.

So you probably know about my nikah…. highlight of that was my "excellent" food poisoning experience, followed by D moving in with me.

The wedding in Herkenbosch, or as we term it, the Dutch Wedding, took place in a lovely old castle called Kasteel Daelenbroeck. We were lucky to have had a small window of good weather to get married that day, which I took as a good omen. As per Dutch tradition, D picked me up at my hotel (should be my parent’s house, but as that is in Bangi we amended the tradition a bit). He brought the bridal bouquet (also Dutch tradition) and we then we set off.

The legal ceremony was performed by D’s childhood friend’s father, Joop, who works as a marriage officer in D’s kampung. The entire wedding was in Dutch, and judging by the tears in the crowd, what Joop said in his speech must have been very touching. Both D and I were concerned that I couldn’t follow what was said at my own wedding, so you can imagine how touched I was when D vowed to me in both Dutch and English. Basically all he said was Ja AND Yes, but that one word had so many meanings in so many levels. So, that was a main highlight from the Dutch wedding.

Other highlights were the things our friends said to us on our wedding day, the surprises they had for us prior to that like the bachelorette and bachelor do. Mine was tame, but D’s was a bit…. terroristic. I’ll share that story one day when I’m feeling evil. Hee Hee.

Moving on to the reception in KL, which we termed as the Malaysian Wedding.

The sheer beauty of what my family had set up was astounding, and so touching. The floral set up, the simple yet elegant backdrop was breathtaking– and everything that went on that night was such a lovely surprise for us. I especially loved the group that played the drums that night, I had never heard anything like it before.

One of the best things that happened that night was the photo montages of me and D. One of us growing up, and another of our Dutch wedding. It was extremely well made, maybe I’ll put in on youtube or something like that kalau nak tgk. My sisters gave an excellent speech, in both Malay and English, and we were all impressed.

We also gave a speech. D opened the speech with the following…

"Assalammualaikum warah matullah hi wa barakatuh, and salam sejahtera to the dif-dif terhormat, tuan-tuan dan puan-puan, ladies and gentleman"

Needless to say he got a tremendous applause.
(he had practiced for several hours beforehand. The toughest part was reminding him that it’s ’seJahtera’ and not ’seYahtera’. Tsk tsk tsk…. the dutch!)

It was a night to remember, and it was so touching to see friends from all over flying in for the wedding. Like my old boss, Cari, who’s my second momma, folks from the UK, Australia, India and of course, the Dutch Delegation. And also, the infinity gang was there, which was AWESOME!

Anywaysssss…. now that it’s all finished, I’ve got to stop being a Bride and start being a Wife. I am looking forward to a weekend of quiet bliss doing mundane things like doing laundry, shop for groceries, and oh, buy a new bike. When I got home (in NL), I discovered that my bike got stollen. Yes, I did swear and cursed the sun and the moon, and I also squeezed out a couple of tears, but hey, this is Holland, it was bound to have happened. In fact, I was lucky to have had it for 2 years.

So…. that was my Wedding Story. T’row new bike, and soon, the start of Project House Hunting.

Watch this space!

With all your honour and integrity, what would you do?

This test only has one question, but it’s a very important one. Please don’t answer it without giving it some serious thought. By giving an honest answer you will be able to test where you stand morally. The test features an unlikely, completely fictional situation, where you will have to make a decision, one way or the other. Remember that your answer needsto be honest, yet spontaneous.

Please scroll down slowly and consider each line - this isimportant for the test to work accurately.   

You’re in Florida…In Miami, to be exact…
There is great chaos going on around you, caused by a hurricane and severe floods.

There are huge masses of water all over you.
You are a CNN photographer and you are in the middle of this great disaster.

The situation is nearly hopeless. You’re trying to shoot very impressive photos.

There are houses and people floating around you, disappearing into the water.

Nature is showing all its destructive power and is ripping everything away with it.

Suddenly you see a man in the water, he is fighting for his life, trying not to be taken away by the masses of water and mud. You move closer. Somehow the man looks familiar. Suddenly you know who it is - it’s George W. Bush!

At the same time you notice that the raging waters are about to take him away, forever.

You have two options. You can save him or you can take the best photo of your life.  So you can save the life of George W. Bush, or you can shoot a Pulitzer prize winning photo, a unique photo displaying the death of one of theworld’s most powerful men.

And here’s the question (please give an honest answer):   

Would you select color film, or rather go with the simplicity of classic black and white?

Enjoy the weekend!!

Don’t get me wrong. I’m totally excited about the upcoming Dutch wedding ceremony. But the more people ask me questions, the more I get nervous. And the more nervous I get, the more I eat. And the more I eat….. well, the higher the likelihood of me not fitting into my dress!!! Argh!!!

Can experienced brides help me out here? Am I the only one totally clueless about everything?

And is avoidance the best way out? hahahha…. classic example happened today:

**********************************

(Email from friend, Katrin):

hi! we would like to contribute to your honeymoon! How can we do this?

thanks!

K

(from me to D):

???????????????????????????????? 
what’s the protocol here? 
Noreen

(D back to me):

Everything is possible from very creative to very easy …

For example … a plant with 5 euro notes folded into birds attached to the leaves …. an envelop with money…. and everything in between

D

(Me back to D):

today i had 5 people asking me about the wedding…. can i say i’m tired of it?  hahaha… and we’ll have it again tonight when Saskia and Harko come over… can you think of other things to talk about tonight so we can talk to them about something else? please!? hahahaha

(D back to me):

Museums, art, expansion management of Bouwmaat etc…

D

(Me back to D):

gorillas escaping zoos, orangutans escaping zoos, politics, food, house projects….

(D back to me):

Who cooks en who cleans…. Who does finances and who spends it all ….

**********************************

Please someone tell me it normal to feel this ridiculously nervous. For my nikah, which in total involved 11.5 people (Aidan you’re the 0.5… hee hee), I vomitted and cirit like crazy.

Imagine what it’ll be like for the Dutch ceremony!The Dutch one we’ll have around 100 folks. And for the Malaysian reception, we’ll have around 500.

Will I be able to survive this???

(on the bright side, I might lose weight from being sick….)

(but no, don’t want to be sick on wedding days)

(but am so very nervous)

help.

On Sunday, D and I went to the Pasar Malam Besar near my house, which apparently is the largest Indonesian pasar malam in the whole of Europe. Mind you, it doesn’t work by the pasar malam concept (you know, where it opens one night per week), but is a tent like structure on a field that opens for a month.

I was sent an email by the Malaysian Association in NL that the Malaysian Wanita group was hosting a fashion show, stall, and a bersanding ceremony. And I thought to myself, ah, this is something the suami has to see, especially since he will have to go through it himself in July!

So D had to forgo his golf game to spend the day with me doing research on the sanding ceremony. At first it was boring, fashion show and dance lah, all that normal stuff we allow ourselves to do when we’re overseas, but then D’s eyebrows shot up when he heard the kompang for the first time. He looks to his right, and saw the bunga manggar and the delegation, and whips his head at me and whispered, "No way…. really?". At first, his reactions were one of horror (he really hates too much attention on him) then it turned to fascination, and he eventually said that it looked interesting and it’s going to be fun. So, phew!

Since we were there, I thought I’d get a bite to eat. Lots of indo warungs and we had ourselves some Soto Ajam Lontong:

We ate it in a very laid back warung.

After that, we walked around the pasar malam. Then I saw something that has been totally Dutch-ified…… a Sate Bar!

Even worse, look at the menu (click on image)….

             Yum. Sate Babi. :-l

I thought, gosh does everything have to change? Why can’t we get anything authentic or real…. first the pasar malam is on day and night, then we get a Sate Bar, with it’s main feature, Sati Babi…. where oh where are the good stuff?

Then, suddenly it appeared before my very eyes. It was green. It was spikey. It was smelly. It was the King of Fruits….

Yay! Durian!!!! Was so happy. Can finally eat Durian again! Wanted to bring one home, but D was quite adamant that we don’t bring one back to our apartment. So I settled on having a few pieces at the pasar malam itself. I saw that next to the pile of Durians, they were selling individual pieces. Was very happy till I saw….

Bloody RM 9.1387! For 1 piece!

What did I do? Ate it anyways…. hehe. Bila lagi nak dapat makan durian kat sini!!!

D had some, and vowed never, ever to eat it again. He, who ate tempoyak and liked it…

Anyway, it was good to just smell familiar smells, eat familiar food again. Very nice atmosphere, but still can’t wait to get home to Malaysia for the real pasar malam and have myself some keropok lekor!

Hee hee. Terkejut tak?

It’s been a while since I jotted down anything (except for random thoughts at night), and some folks were asking me …wassup?

Well a lot has happened (and is happening). Since my last update, I’ve been on holiday, went through a reorganisation at work, performed my ondertrouw (twice), planned out the details of my wedding part II, finished 3 books (and renewed my American Book Centre discount card), help organize a party and worked till I dropped.

During Easter break, D and I went driving down south (south south south) to Toulouse, France, to visit our friend Jean-Paul who works there for Airbus. Whilst we were there, we managed to see the shopfloor of the Airbus 380 (monster in making!!), and also saw a  rare sighting of the Airbus 380 making test flights (touch and go) and the elusive Airbus Beluga (cargo flight for the 380). It was amazing!

From there on, we went to Carcasonne, which is the magical castle town that inspired the book Labyrinth. Beautiful history of the region, truly is. If you go there, stop by Carcasonne. Then went around the Napoleon route and stopped by the Gorges du Verdoun , where at Point Sublime, I managed to bump into another Malaysian  family. Of course, being Malaysian, we took pictures together, whislt they tested D’s knowledge of malay food (why do we do this to our foreign friends, btw?).

Then, off to Nice, Antibes, Cannes and Monaco. Wanted to try gambling at Monaco, but chickened out. We promised to only gamble EUR 100, and was about to put that in the roullette table when we saw what the high rollers were dumping in…. dude, it was like, thousands of euros. Which we didn’t have, of course, so spent the evening with our mouths open as we watched the Monacoians (What is the right term?) lose more and more as they drink and drink.

Anyways, that was the trip. Work is amazingly fun… since we reorganised my role at work is finally exciting and stretching me in the way I liked to be challenged. But it’s also long hours, and I have started the bad habit of working till late. Not v. good when trying to start new life with suami, but hey, he loves me and understands my drive and passion. So I’m having a good time.

Ondertrouw: Loosely translated, means that we go through pre-marriage with the Dutch city hall. We had a nerve-racking time getting our papers together. It’s not enough that I can prove I’m alive, but I had to prove I was born, that we registered it, that I’ve never married, that I moved to the Netherlands, and that I’m not marrying D for his money or his nationality status. Cost my parents RM1000 and their sanity to pull this stuff together for me, for which I’m eternally grateful.

Anyways, upon all that pain for getting the shit documents together, we sent it to the city hall, who liaised with the IND (immigration) and the foreign police, and proceeded to lose one of my forms. I was breathless with panic for a second, but then they told us we had a positive advise, so yay! We then had to register it again in the location where we’re marrying, which is for the castle wedding in Herkenbosch. 

Which moves me to my next point. Wedding wedding wedding. Had make up and hair trial, D bought his suit, we bought our wedding bands, secured a photographer, discussed our ceremony programme with our officiant, chose flowers, got a car, and finally, settled on our invites. Quite a number of things to do! Getting very nervous now, worried it will turn out wrong somehow. But hey, I’m bloody getting married in a castle, so no matter what happens I’m sure it’ll turn out beautiful. (cross fingers). (I’m breaking out in cold sweat thinking about it. )(It’s coming up in 6.5 weeks.) (Very, very, very, very soon.)(gasp gasp.)

And to add on top of that, we have the Malaysian reception. Luckily for me, my entire family and extended family are all jumping in to help. Which is such a relief. Thank you thank you thank you.

So, that was life for me the past few weeks. Will be like this till August, when finally have honeymoon. Can’t wait! Will write more when have time.

Btw, please send me your home address. :-p

Things that go through my head before I fall asleep:

• I think Vonda Sheppard’ s job on Ally McBeal is the best job in the world
• I really do love eating cheese spread with sambal
• I wonder why I tear up everytime I hear Elvis’ version of "Can’t help falling in love" and Awie’s "Sejati"
• I wonder if I had to re-live my life again, would I have worn the pink plastic glasses I wore in the late 80s?
• I don’t understand why Hard Rock Cafe is so hot. And why do I spot people wearing HRC t-shirts from cities that do not have Hard Rock Cafe?
• I wonder why my best come-back retorts come to me mid-sleep
• I replay my favorite scene from my illegal copy of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. It was a English translation of a malay translation of hindi. So it was a true case of lost in translation: Sharukh Khan was looking up at the sky, saying something in hindi about the falling star. And the English translation said, did you see that animal shit? Took me a while to realize that it was a typo from the malay translation (nampak tak tahi bintang tu?– typo on the word bintang)
• Will I ever get to sing "I will always love you"  by Whitney w/out cracking my voice?
• I think you can pass for speaking Manglish (Malay English) by adding -lah at the end of any english sentence
• I can, literally, eat nasi lemak in any shape or form. Cold, hot, 50 cent or 5 ringgit, semua I sapu
• Would my life have been different if I had a smaller chest and perfect eyesight?
• I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of my double-chin
• I don’t think I’ll ever get a certain relative to stop calling me "sihat" (as in, eh badan awak semakin sihat). What’s that supposed to mean?
• There are simply some people I can never learn to forgive, no matter what the scenario (I know, it’s awful, but I relish in my hatred… hahaha)

Ok, enough random thoughts. Good night!

Next Friday D and I will attend one of our favorite events of the year, the gala that my company will host for those "young at heart". Basically, it’s an event to wear lovely formal wear while rocking it out with your best mates at work, and then after that join the after party at some night club. We’ve attended this event for the past 3 years, though this year will be the first time I’ll attend it w/out Maz (I miss you, crazy woman!!).

Anyways, I’ve been looking for a dress, and last night I found a lovely strapless red dress, within my budget and made me feel…. I don’t know, I felt like a woman (don’t get me wrong, I’d be proud to wear it in front of my mom). It was one of those experiences, you know what I’m talking about, ladies? You don’t even zip it up yet and you already know, it’s going to fit and that you’ll look great in it!!

I didn’t buy it yet, because I needed a second opinion. Besides, I need to come again with the right undergarments to make sure that what needs to sit right will sit right, you know what I mean?

So I quickly finished my errands for the day, rushed home and started digging around for my strapless bra (guys you may want to quit reading here, it’s all about bras now) and I found, like, 2 strapless bras that I don’t fit anymore and the one I loved, the one I magically found in some crappy old store in the middle of Bangkok two years ago was…. missing.

Erk!! Do you know how long it took for me to find that perfect strapless bra??? The kind that won’t slide down to your tummy, that will sit snugly on the small of your back with utter confidence? The kind with the multi-optional strap combis? You know, standard or cross or one across. Argh!!!

I tried on the other two… and one was too small, and the other… well, let’s just say it should stay at home only. Then I recalled something I read in a magazine a few months ago, how 85% of the women out there are wearing the wrong bra size and we should get measured again once in a while. I remembered that the lady who wrote that thought that she was a 40 C, when in actualilty she was a 36 F! A rare size indeed!!

So I went googling, and I found this awesome website where you can calculate your actual bra size in US, UK, EU, and Asian sizes. I was a bit surprised with my results, but I have faith I will find the perfect bra again one day. Ladies, grab your measuring tapes (or pieces of string if you don’t have any and a ruler) and click away!!

Calculate your bra size now!

(btw, wish me luck in finding the perfect strapless bra….)