My sister... Ethaq, and her passion for dancing...

I had a chance to watch the KL Hornbill Festival recently. It was organised by the Persatuan Warisan Sarawak KL, and the festival was the association's first project/attempt to showcase the culture of the many tribes of Sarawak. It was interesting I must say... And they did a good job in organising it despite the lack of resources in terms of manpower and funding.

But what I really want to write here is something else. I want to write about my sister... My second youngest sister - Ethaq.

I went to the event because my sister was involved in it. Ethaq has always loved dancing. She has been dancing since she was very small - in primary school. I've watched her danced many times and in various places, but it was different that day - during the festival. I intially thought it, "oh well, it's just another show that she's involved in". But what happened was the opposite. Those two nights were amazing, to me.

When I saw her coming out from the backstage with the rest of the dancers, my heart jumped! I thought, "Is that Ethaq?"... She looked very different. I mean, really different. No wonder I didn't notice her when she was on stage during the mock 'miring' session. She was seated right there at the front and I didn't noticed it! Even Ras didn't!

She danced the Iban dance, Bisaya dance, and the Melanau dance. She was very graceful. Demure. At one point, I even had tears in my eyes... I had tears not because I was sad... I had tears because I was overwhelmed with the feeling of pride of her. Watching her on stage was... I don't really know how to describe it explicitly, really. I was proud watching her doing something that I know she was so passionate about. I was proud that she was on stage performing the dances. On top of all, I was proud that one of those lovely young ladies on stage was my sister!

I went to both nights of the festival. I waited with anticipation for her to come out and dance. Never had I felt that way before. Never. Everytime she came on stage, my heart skipped a beat. She was lovely! (But she looked a little thinner than she used too. Must be because of the many nights of practice and rehearsals). I called my parents on the first nite hoping to tell them how proud I was with my sister. I wanted to tell my father to propose for a workshop on Bisaya traditional dance and music. To find ways to educate and train the youngsters on the Bisaya culture. Unfortunately, I didn't get to do it because my father won't talk to me... *Sigh* That's another story for another day...

Anyway, back to my sister. Since that night I have noticed that Ethaq has grown. She has grown to a beautiful young lady. I remember how she was when she was a little girl. She was funny. There were some funny incidents which all of us (my siblings and I) used to tease her about. Aahhh... Ethaq... No matter how quiet she can be, she can be really funny at times...

I guess we tend to take things for granted until that one fine moment hit us in the head and we realise that we have missed enjoying some of those parts in life that have passed us by. We won't know it until it happens. I didn't know it until it hit me last weekend.

I love my sister. She wasn't perfect. But I still love her. Quietly, and deep down in my heart, I am thankful to God that I have her as sister... I won't change it. Not in another lifetime...

Precious...

Life is... Precious... At the moment, I have my thoughts on the lives of the people around me. I was in Ipoh yesterday for my husband's family member's funeral. He had just passed away in the morning due to health complications. Two days ago, I heard a news that a family member of a friend died due to someone's evilish act (she was murdered mercilessly). Barely a month ago and even until today, I have a close relative still being held as hostage by some idiotics in Africa. All these had made me thinking... "What is happening to the world today?..."

When I was at the graveyard in Ipoh yesterday, I saw a small tomb, probably of a baby or a child. I had a sudden gush of weird feeling in me - I missed my sons. You know that feeling? A feeling when somehow one day, out of the blue, you just remembered something or someone and it felt so strong that it makes you cry or angry or something? I had that 'moment' yesterday...

I suddenly missed them and it was so strong that I almost cried. I told Ras and he asked why, I said I don't know. Since that moment, I prayed hard that they would be protected from harm, and that we would have a safe journey back home, and I could then kiss them good night. Thank God... I did. They were not asleep yet when we arrived, so I got to play with them for a while before putting them to bed. Asyraff... Aimar... The apples of my eyes... The jewels of my heart...

Moving house, Merdeka, Ramadhan... Pheww..!

It has been quite a busy week for me last week. First, we moved to our new house. Thank God, finally... It was a long wait, really. The house was ready with CF some time late last year, but we had been postponing the move due to... You know... Many things need to be prepared. Money is of course, on top of the many reasons. But heyyy... Now I've moved in, and it was lovely! =) We officially moved in on Saturday, 30 August. Right on time for the Merdeka Day. Sunday morning, we had a chance to take a stroll at the playground with the boys. Lovely, lovely sight! They too seem to be really happy with the new house. It is bigger than the apartment, and they can freely move around at the car porch. We allocated one room as their playroom (one which I've always wanted for a longggggg time). We had the kitchen cabinet done in WHITE!! I loved it! And I also have an oven now. I finally can practice my baking skills! Well, not that I am THAT good, but I guess enough to satisfy my own appetite.

So, all in all, I am satisfied. Finally, a nice house (to me), big area for the boys to play, and my own kitchen... I couldn't ask for more... That was one part of the many events that I had last week.

Next, the Merdeka Day. As I have mentioned in my previous posts, I didn't actually feel the 'merdeka' mood around me this year. NOT AT ALL. Na'a. None. ZERO. I mean, I know that most of the people knew that it was coming but because many of us were too engrossed with something else that many of us forgotten about it. All I hear everyday was election, ACA nabbed somebody or some people, people shot dead, gangsters shot dead, robbery here, robbery there, and the most irritating news ever - the politics in Malaysia! I know, I have to thank the news people for keeping us updated on the current 'happenings' around town, but the kind of news that I read everyday just made me sick most of the times!

So, back to the Merdeka Day... I didn't get to watch the parade this year because we didn't have the antenna / ASTRO installed yet (can you believe how much we rely on ASTRO nowadays?? tsk tsk tsk..). We had one old antenna from our old TV, and that was what we used. As you can guess, the reception was really bad. I could barely see the face of the people on TV let alone hear the sound. So we turned it off. Peace...

We went to my in-laws' house in the evening for 'kenduri doa selamat'. We left their house just a a few minutes after midnight, and as we moved away from the house, I looked out the car's window hoping to see some fireworks. None. Totally quiet... Hmm... Something new, I thought to myself. I sort of knew that there won't be any fireworks - someone told me - but I was just thinking that may be they would change their mind and prepare one. None. What a quiet merdeka it had been... A sombre one.

Then, came Ramadhan... We had sahur at our new home. Very different feeling. Different but of course, nice. Aimar woke up very early and 'joined' us for sahur. Funny... He was babbling throughout sahur as if asking us what were we doing up and eat so early. Asyraff? He was still fast asleep.

I am happy, and thankful that I didn't encounter much problem although we had been busy working around the house unpacking our stuff. I didn't feel hungry, not towards the end of the day, that is... I must say, I had a very good start. Alhamdullilah...

Today, is the 3rd day of puasa. I am already running out of idea what to cook for sahur. I mean, it's hard to simply eat that early, but we have to. So, one way to help the process of swallowing food at that early hour is the right menu that can entice the appetite. *sigh*... So far, I have not heard any complaints. Hehehe... So, think hard on the menu when the complaints start coming in... Wish me luck!