Friends and Festivals

Hi-eeee! Hmm, on Friday I slept at 4am! As if I was re-celebrating Raya. Normally on Raya eve, you’ll sleep late either cooking or cleaning the house. So I cooked and baked. I started at midnight , that explains why I had to sleep at 4am. My ‘gulai’ and cheese cake turned out well. So I wasn’t complaining. I promised myself that after Hannah recovered from her fever that I’ll do a little ‘kenduri’ and I thought Syawal is the perfect month to do it. I catered for extra food besides making the ‘gulai’, spaghetti and cheese cakes. My friends come and some relatives. It was tiring but it was a happy occasion. I invited students too but not from my program. If I were to invite them then I need to invite the whole 300 plus of them but instead I invited a group of students I used to teach. They are not from my program, they are from other programs. They are the first and the last students so far who had gotten invites to my house. I’ll keep it that way for now. Next year when I move to the new place then I will consider inviting more. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. My current apartment is pretty small and I just can’t afford to invite everyone. Next year, maybe because our place will be slightly bigger than this one.

Anyway the last batch came at 8pm. My best friends from school. They are like sisters and I cooked spaghetti for Annie because she loves it. I cooked the curry and ordered ‘roti sorai’ for Lisa because she loves that. Irene eats everything and she loves my cheese cakes. Anyway, one thing I noticed about having good friends over. They don’t need to be served. They make themselves at home. But I am beginning to take Ned as my good friend. We don’t normally say nice things to each other but I had visited his parents place in Ipoh and he came to my house that day. He made himself at home. His first destination when he entered my house was to go and see the kitchen. He ate and after a while he opened my fridge and scanned the stuff in there. He laid his eyes on a box of Turkish delights and took them out and started eating them. It was a annoying and refreshing at the same time. That’s the feeling he normally gives me with his actions. H bought ice cream for the kids. After feeding the kids, H kept the box of ice cream in the fridge. Ned, with his already thick face, asked me where did H keep the ice cream because he wanted some. Again – annoying and refreshing. He ate and talked to Alex and the rest of the gang. Okay back to my girlfriends from school. They, I have known for more that 20 years, so they made themselves at home.They ate and I joined them. We talked and they told me that I looked tired. I guess my face was showing by then but I wasn’t sleepy or anything. We talked and exchange gifts. That’s our rituals every time we see each other. This year especially because we were so busy with work that we had to postponed our outings a couple of times. The last celebration was supposed to be for Annie’s birthday which was in June. We couldn’t meet then, so this is the first time that we got together since her birthday. Lisa, Irene and I gave Annie her long overdue gifts. Irene gave Hannah her gifts. Irene will never forget, she has a soft spot for Hannah. Hannah will always warms up to Irene first and no matter how long they didn’t see each other. It’s heart warming to see that kind of bond. Okay talking about good friends too, they will tell me sincerely if something is not right. Annie told me that the bihun is spoiled. I looked at it and smelled it and agreed with her. Irene volunteered to taste it because she said it doesn’t smell spoil yet. She did that and she said it was about to but still can be eaten. I told her that we better not. There are many other dishes that they can eat. Everybody agreed to that and we continued eating and talking.Quickly forgetting about the spoiled bihun. Imagine this happening with my collegues. I don’t think I’ll ever get over the embarrassment but then again with my ‘life’s too short ‘ policy, I think I’ll get over the embarrassment. Ultimately , I don’t think they’ll tell me, I will get the hint when I see them throwing the bihun away. That’s the difference between good friends and acquaintances. Another thing, Irene and Lisa(They celebrate Chinese New Year and not Raya) will expect me to pack for them the Raya cookies every year without fail and Annie(she celebrates Raya) will understand if I don’t give her any. It’s this history and understanding that are so hard to find or establish if you are new in the relationship/friendship. I love them and they know that even though we only see each other about 7-8 times a year. The finale will be our photo sessions as all my friends are ‘photo whores’ including me. I said that with love of course. It won’t be complete without a photo session. By the time they left it was nearing 11 pm. I packed all the things that they wanted. They went home happy. We exchanged raya ang pows and deepavali angpows. Normally it’ll be Irene and Me doing the exchanging, Lisa and Annie will just give to Hannah because they don’t have kids yet. Here’s a toast to good friends!! Hear!Hear!