Last weekend on 30th April 2011 til 2nd May 2011, I was away on a trip to Johore Bahru, Sungei Telur (with the family (maternal side)) for a family gathering & for a prayer for our late grandfather & uncle. Our last visit for the was exactly 2 years ago. For more than 8yrs, ever since our grandfather & uncle were alive, so far, we have not gone through any hardships at the kampung. the only thing that we had to endure was the heat. the hot sun. the perspiring. We were prepared. But this time, for the first time in our lives, for us, the 2nd gens, we experienced something what our grandmother experiences in the many years she stayed in that house. Patience, endurance, our mentalities were tested.....

30/4/2011 - Off to wet market in JB. we 2nd gens went off our own to get the veggies, while the mothers off to get the main stuffs. Reached Sungei Telur in late afternoon. 2nd gens, cleaned the chickens, fishes, veggies, etc to prepare for the kenduri & bbq. ard 1600hrs+, water supply slowly became lesser & lesser. Although we water backups alrd prepared, we don't knw how long it'll go on. Everyone of us are hot, perspiring, sticky & smells. Fortunately, abt an hr later, water supply came back but overlapping that, electricity WENT OUT! no lights. no fans. That was the biggest crisis. the whole stretch of the kampung has no electricity. Our uncles explained to us that it's normal & grandma has gone through it for many many times. She says sometimes it'll come back at 2200hrs. All of us 2nd gens were lost in reality & a diff dimension. We start blabbering nonsense, saying evil harsh stuffs that got my mother, grandma & aunts all shake heads. Another uncle & his family & more of our cousins were still on our way & heard of our plight & even considered to shower at Carrefour before reaching kampung. lol! alrd 1900hrs, getting darker. Lightnings & thunders appearings. The lightnings especially, was like flashing for 2 hours during the darkenings. our neighbour even start a bonfire behind their house. I swore, I was a little scared. i even came up with every possibilities if the blackout is ever to go on til deep night or next day. my sis & my cous are desperately trying to start fire for our 1st night bbq. Until 2000hrs, it's totally dark. Lighted lanterns ard the house. We're talking to each other, but we no see each other's face. Try not to use the torch lights so much. I especially became a delicacy to the mosquitoes who are slowly coming out. at 2100hrs, we gave up on bbq & decided to jz cook them in the kitchen. As we're abt to start, electricity came on! & we got so excited that we ran out to start bbqing again! But it didn't last long as it starts to rain. My other uncle & cousins came with the stuffs we needed. We roasted sweet potatoes, potatoes, grilled chickens, sting rays, squids, etc. Almost to midnight, it rained again. Almost to 20 hours of not bathing, one by one we head into the bathroom & took cooling baths & fell asleep straight away after that.

1/5/2011 - Everybody woke up at 0800hrs. The mothers & fathers woke up at 0600hrs. Preparing for the kenduri. Didn't cook much. Took our time to bath, prepare the kuih & stuffs. borrowed tops for the kenduri which me & sis didn't bring. Mom sure got super whiny at us for not bringing any. /heh/. anyway, sis was sick, so she was asleep the whole morning til late afternoon. While the kenduri was going on, I stayed in the kitchen to fry the samosas but WTH the first batch which my uncle had shown me when to take it out when it's done, was okay, but the 2nd batch! when i was scooping them out, idk hw mne but it jz exploded! i felt the hot oil splattered onto my hands, neck & face. Gave a loud scream & I quickly abandoned the samosas & went to the sink to get the cold water on me. My aunt came in & took over. My grandma & one of my uncle came running to the kitchen & gave me instructions what to do. I was trying to calm myself dwn but haha their panic was kinda making me feel panic too. My uncle then told me to calm down & told me to get some ice. then grandma pulled me to her room & start putting meds all over my neck. It was super super red & damn it was hurting! my hands were even shaking. I couldn't help in the kitchen after that. boo! I looked healthy but my hands were injured. like WTH! Now i have scars on my left wrist, scars on my neck & thank god my face was free from being scarred! phew!

When the kenduri ends, the guests went back, the 1st gens had their talks, we 2nd gens played some games. late afternoon, my uncle & his family who came later the nigh before had to went back early as he had to return the rented car. While they go off, me, 2 of my cousins & an uncle went to Kota Plaza. A shopping mall. Here's the thing, we were wearing baggy track pants, baggy t-shirts, perspiring & looking weary like as if we've not showered for day. Only one of my cous was wearing her jeans & looking nice. We walked ard Kota Plaza, bought some undergarments, then we saw the new opened MacDonald. The MacDonald is the same layout as everywhere, so going in wearing what we were wearing, we were really looking out of place! My uncle said, he noticed people were actually looking at us up & down. LOL! i mean, we won't even be wearing that here in SG but we jz don't care when we were there. sigh. we could even joke ard & took photos. My cous, haha, she felt so stupid when she asked for curry sauce when there aren't any there in Msia's MacD.

That night, continued bbqing. This time, NO mosquitoes. took out all the chickens, seafoods, sweet potatoes, potatoes, veggies & start our rounds! 2 bbq pits, but still not enough. thanks to other cousin, YES! i have lots of cousins. 3 guys only & the rest are all girls, de 1st guy cous took charge of the bbq pit. the other one was burning dried leaves. sis told me, then i told her, to roast the sweet potatoes & potatoes in de fire. hahaha!!! that's where the experiments starts! we wanted to finish up all the foods & cook them all fast. my sis even wrapped chickens with de alum foils & threw them in the fire. when it's done, it became a food show after that. i took charge of the cutting & slicing the meats. woohoo!!!! we got ourselves good food that night. my sis who was totally feeling sick & drowsy managed to even enjoy the whole nights. and truth be told, it was my first time eating roasted sweet potatoes. that dried leaves burning session totally became the 3rd bbq pit for us. huhuhu!!!

the day when we reached, all of us took off our watches, so everytime each of us asks each other, "what time now?", we'll be clueless. ltr, one of my cous & my sis start wearing their watches. my other cous had her iPhone with her, & since we were mostly outside the house, they helped with the timings. That night, we ended after midnight too. I was the first one to showered as I couldn't take it anymore & needed the toilet badlly. So, bath at the same time too la! lied down with my littlest cousin and took my sleeping place at the livng room.

later joined by my sister & my 2 aunts. the other cousins slept in the room. the fathers & guy cousins in the 1st livings rooms. but i do not know why, i couldn't sleep at all. the first night, i slept onli for 2 hrs, and for that night, i slept for 3 hours too. me & me two aunts chatted til almost 0300hrs, one aunt condemned & fell asleep. leaving me and my youngest aunt. we chatted til i think abt 0500hrs.

2/5/2011 - Woke up at 0800hrs too. Since we had to leave at 1000hrs. Got up. Bathed. Drank coffee. ate a little bit. Packed up. Left the house, went for breakfast & visited Mini Kelantan. Ended up buying some clothing materials for this year's baju kurung. I wanted red at first, then green then while looking ard, my sis asked if we're really gg green since last yr, she was alrd green. She found a brown one which she like, so i went for the same color but with diff flower patterns. Done with our buys, walked around bit more and finally OFF BACK HOME TO SINGAPORE!

reached Singapore, uncle brought us to Waterfront City. me and sis was only thinking of going home but we took a walk for awhile and FINALLY! HOME SWEET HOME!

Photos will up later. The people in-charge of photos are Shiddough & Yaaaaaam. Everybody's taking their time. Plus, I haven't been updating my blog for 1123456789098765434567890987654323456789 years. So here's one loooooong blog to cover up the missing updates. woohoo!!!!