Purple Girl

I met one interesting lady these past 2 days.  I was on a course, that was where I met this lady.  She was our facilitator/trainer and she was obsessed with the colour purple. I first noticed it on the first day when she wore purple shirt, with 3 purple bags (with purple accessories), and purple laptop.  I noticed it because our girl also loves purple.  She said she loved the colour to the level of being obssessed, hahaha.  When she told me her car was also purple, I then believed her!  Apart from that, she is very good trainer.  We all enjoyed being in her class.  She is articulate, she is fun, she is precise and can make everyone laughs.  So it was a good 2 days course. 

More info on her, she said she loves to eat, which was not surprising looking at her size.  Because of that passion for food, she provided sweets and dried food in a tin for every table which was so considerate for her.  And there was this competition she insisted we participated in, that is, during her session we were encouraged to participate or talk or contribute ideas and will earn points.  Towards the end of the two session, the group with the most tokens will win a prize.  My group came second with 46 points, and we won a small portable calendar with notes.  Good eh.

And I had fun.  I never had so much fun as this one.  I sure will remember her in the future to come, especially on her obsession for purple colour.  When I googled purple and what it meant to a person, this is what I found:

"Purple is the color of good judgment. It is the color of people seeking spiritual fulfillment. It is said if you surround yourself with purple you will have peace of mind. Purple is a good color to use in meditation.

 Purple has been used to symbolize magic and mystery, as well as royalty. Being the combination of red and blue, the warmest and coolest colors, purple is believed to be the ideal color. Most children love the color purple. Purple is the color most favored by artists. Thursday's color is purple. "

On this day..

I am so thankful, Syukur Alhamdulilah.  I am so happy, its amazing and I just want to mark this date for this wonderful ocassion.  Thank you Allah.

Dress Codes

Thats our dress code in the office, effective immediately.  Too many people wearing inappropriate clothing in the office.  Too many short dresses or skirts.  T-shirts.  Leggings.  You name it.  Our company is not as strict as most places.  There is no differentiation between an officer and normal staff.  Even the department head doesnt wear ties like in the government sectors.  Our environments are more relaxed.   Too relax that people starts to wear revealing cloths most of the time.  And these are local ladies!  What is more surprising, the experts dont do this.  They always dress appropriately.  How come they can adhere to the local cultures than the local themselves? No idea.  And they local should be ashamed of themselves.  And what is more peculiar is that most offices are so cold, about 20'C or less most days.  How could they walk around in mini dresses?  Arent they cold? hahaha.

Now the rules are in place.  Strictly I hope.  Before the company were too lenient.  There were rules about dress codes but it was not really emphasised.  Now its going to be implemented.  About time too.

Road Tax - Part 1

Mission accomplished today for our little Toyota Echo. Hubby was there waiting at the inspection area 6.30am.  We need to be early and get a spot, there were others already waiting and the later we come the further we were on the queue.  I followed suit after sending Ayang to school.  We waited for an hour for the inspection to get started and done with it at around 9am.  Off we went to the main building.  Next job was to renew the insurance.  We found out last night we actually lost copy of our current insurance (I couldnt find it anywhere) so we just tried our luck and see if we could renew it without the current one.  Luckily we can!  Phew...  Well.. it shouldnt be a problem, should it?  Afterall we are living in computer ages these days, its all there recorded on line.  It would be so stupid anyway if the guy insisted on our copy!  Glad that we got that out of the way.  And it was good too that the insurance company was there at JPD, it saved us from travelling out of JPD and renew the insurance outside.  Then we went to get a number for the road tax and saw our number was 2051 whilst the current number to be served was 2012 meaning there were about 40 odd people before us.  Grr.. very busy this place, it always packed with people and its only 9am. 

We gathered that must be a long waiting.  So off we went to have breakfast first at the nearby restaurant and went back to JPD at around 9.45am.  And true and behold the number was exactly as hubby predicted, it was 2031!  Right on the dot, how did he do it? hehehe.  Glad we didnt miss our number.

We waited for about 15 minutes and did the deed.  I didnt know that we dont need to fill up the pink form anymore to renew the road tax.  Thats awesome, no more form filling!  Less paper to worry about. Its about time too, since all are now computerised.  So bravo, JPD!  I wonder if those JPD reps in the post offices had the same procedure now?  No more form?  I hope so.  We'll find out soon enough since our next mission is to renew our Honda Odyssey insurance and road tax.

And all was done at around 10am.  Glad it was over and done with although we knew it would take about 3hrs to do everything.  Especially for older cars like our Echo we need to do the inspection to check the worthiness of the car.  But our Echo passed with flying colours.

Honda Odyssey road tax expired this month too.  We would have to renew the insurance and road tax within the next few days before end of the month. The good thing is that we dont have to go to JPD to renew it since its still brand new car, we only need to renew it at the nearest post office.  And the nearest post office in our case in in our office in BSP HQ which is so very convenient hehehe.   Our Honda is almost one year old and I know the insurance will dig deep into our pocket more than the Echo did!

I guess thats the downside of having too many cars, when it time to renew the insurance and road tax ,lol.  We have to renew the Rexton road tax next month, the BMW in December.  Hubby renewed the Suzuki Swift last month and the Rover was in Feb. Its just so many things to remember and to keep an eye on.  Anyway...  Thats part and parcel of our lives..

Open House

Its approaching the 3rd of Shawal. How many Open Houses did you go to? Must be plenty!

I don’t know when this tradition started. I have no idea. All I know is people start sending out invitations a few days before Raya to family and friends. Then when the time comes, we will go visit, having lots to eat and leave. There we were amongst other guests in the house. A little chit chat with the next person who happen to know you or keep quiet for the whole duration! We made it a habbit not to spend too much time lingering around the houses though. Then we leave, some other guests arrive, do the same and leave.

Should I say I have a love-hate feeling towards it?

Why?

Firstly, awkwardness. Especially when the host house is rather small then when there are too many people arrive at the same time, then there is not enough seat to sit on. Or caught between a long queue like in restaurants. During eating, another awkwardness when people start to arrive (again), and don’t know what to do? should we just quickly finish eating and leave and give the next available seat to the next guest? Or should we just take our sweet time and eat as if no care in the world? Whats the right ethic? And this usually happens when everyone starts arriving during lunch or dinner time! Haha.. for obvious reason that people do not have to worry about lunch and dinner anymore.

Its all done in a rush. When we come to visit an open house, we knock on the door, say Salam then the host will greet you at the door, invite you to come in and say “Bah.. silakan... or Taruskan tah...” without us even hold our next breath or take our seat! Its like go straight to the dining room, eat whatever you can, chit chat for a bit then off we go. There is no that sense of warmth or good friendly nature to the visits anymore, well, maybe some while we are busy munching our food!

But the best thing for me to go to Open Houses is that I enjoy seeing other people houses. I tell you some have really nice and big houses. We were at awe the moment we stepped in. There was this house hubby took me to that took my breath away. It was really a beautiful home. I just love to see that but I sometimes wonder, what is the purpose of people doing open house and invite so many people, every year? Is it just to show the house off? Wa Allah Wa’alam.

Lets just hope we wont miss the whole idea of Silatul Rahim between all the muslim, after all thats what it is all about isn’t it? Lets us just do that.  Well.. to sum up, we’ll go to one open house later and our daughter will also go to another one (her teacher). And another big one next week, organised by the office. See what I mean? I hope that’s the last one for this year.

Favourite Niece since she is the only one (for now!)

This is my cute little niece, my bro's eldest daughter.  Her name is Nor Anish Affini (Ming.. lurus kah ejaan nya hehehe).  She is such a bubbly and happy little girl and the apple of everyone's eyes.  Apart from my daughter, Anish is the only other granddaughter of my parents.  We have another 7 nephews in the family, and one on the way.  Our family is growing!

 

My one and only niece - Anish

Anish with my daughter - Ayang

Feeling Down Post

Feeling like crap today. 

Raya is over, well.. Almost and its exam time.

Today is the last day of the week before the normal routine starts again. Well.. Raya is not exactly over, we still have a few open houses/offices to go to throughout Shawal but children will go back to school next week after the school/Raya holiday!  And I am SO not looking forward to that, not because I don’t want children to go back to school but more to the conditions on the road. It was such a blissful journey everyday when it was school holidays, traffic jams were at a very minimum, the roads were clear and we can reach the office in about 1 hour. Come school time, we must add at least 15 minutes to the journey. Headache!

And its exam time for most children too, including our daughter. She will have her O level exam in less than a month. The exam will take about one month and she will be done with it sometimes in November. It is rather a long exam but I am hoping she will be able to cope. The good thing is that she doesn’t have to deal with the exam every single day. Which I think is ok to give her ample time to do some revision in between.

Thats a big deal. I am so worried but I try to portray a brave face infront of her. I don’t want her to get worried if I worry. Isnt it weird that when the kids have exam, its the parents who are worried sick? Hahaha.. She is my only hope and I want her to be successful in all her life endeavours. Very important. I know she wants it as well. She even dreams of studying overseas and get good result. Thats every mothers dream also. To see the children successful in their lives. My colleague is now in the UK sending her (not one) but two girls for further study. She is one of the fortunate mothers, her kids are so brilliant, always obtain very good results in every exam. Even managed to grap 2 government scholarships, impressive!

I am hoping the same for my daughter. And she is working very hard especially when she was advised by the teachers not to celebrate Hari Raya too much and never forget to study. And I can see that she is doing exactly that. Afterall, this is a very important exam, an exam which will open up a career path for her. Everyone knows the first try is very important and she must nail it right there and then. And I am hoping and praying she will get through this exam with flying colours.  Amin.

Happy Birthday Dad!

My dad & Mom

Its my dad's 69th birthday today.  So Happy Birthday to you.  May Allah bless you always.  Semoga Panjang Umur, Murah Rezeki and Sihat Walafiat.  Love from your only daughter and her little family!

Visit to the cemetery on the first day of Raya

One of the traditions of Ramadhan and Hari Raya in Brunei is the visit to the cemetary, to pay respect and recite the Doa for our departed loved ones.  Apart from doing the doa, we also clean the cemetery and pour the perfumed water on to the graves.  Just want to remind ourselves that one day we would end up here too.  Its a good reminder for us the mortal and to show that we also remember and never forget our loved one who had passed on.

We went to the Kuala Belait cemetery to visit my MIL grave who passed away a few years ago, we also went to visit other relatives of hubby, recited Al-Fatihah and cleaned their resting place a little bit.  The cemetery was a busy place on the first day of Raya, it seemed it was a tradition in KB that people went here on the first day. I dont know how it was in Bandar, but in KB the cemetery was packed with people.

Me and Ayang on our way to MIL grave.  Those small stool were provided at the cemetery for the visitors to sit while praying and reciting the Koran.  You just have to go and take them yourselves at the entrance.

Hubby poured the perfumed water on his mom's grave.  She passed away 5 years ago.

Me doing exactly the same on my MIL grave.

This is how the Kuala Belait cemetery looked like every Hari Raya, lots of people came over here to visit families or relatives graves.

My 3 SIL at the gate.

Hubby beside his late sister who died in 1963 when she was just a baby.

Ayang praying and reciting the Doa / AL Fatihah.

My FIL on the right hand side beside his late wife grave.

Reciting Surah Yaasin.

4 Days of actvities filled and Tiring Hari Raya

I think we are all done with all the celebrations for this year after 4 days.  It was a fun filled day of visiting with families and relatives for the past few days.  We didnt even stay home except for a few hours each day, but its all good, to meet and greet all the relatives which otherwise we wont be able to meet, all because of all the committment and daily life activities.

Tomorrow its time to be back to work, although not really looking forward to it.  But I guess its ok, I didnt apply for leaves anyway.

Below some of the pictures we managed to capture for this year Hari Raya, some will come soon.

First Day of Raya

Just about to call it a day for the first day of Raya.  And I am so beat.  We had a full day of event today.  First at my parents house with the whole family, then off to KB to be with the in laws.  Then we went to the cemetary to visit my late MIL.  I am tired but had a good day.  As usual lots of laughter especially with hubby who always joked around even at the cemetary which made everyone laugh. 

Reached home at around 6 in the evening then had a few visitors.  Will post some picture later, now I am going to hit the sack!

Hope everyone had a lovely day too.  Just make sure you all dont eat too much, lol.

Selamat Hari Raya (Eid Mubarak)

Selamat Hari Raya!

Tomorrow 10th Sept or the day after tomorrow 11th Sept will be Eid ur Fitr or Hari Raya for all muslim.  Its the mark of the end of Ramadhan and its a celebration for all muslim after successfully abstaining oneselves from eating, drinking, etc during the fasting month.  Its on the 1st day of Shawal, which is the 10th month of Islamic calendar, following the month of Ramadhan.  Following a Lunar calendar, Muslims mark the beginning of the month with the sighting of the new crescent.

It is a special day.  Its time to celebrate, to meet family and friends.  Ask for forgiveness from everyone and making amends.  Our normal routine every year will be spending half of the day with my side of the family after the Raya prayers.  My mom will do the cooking and all the siblings and families will be there.  Then we will go and visit hubby side of the family on the other side of the country.  It is also part of the tradition to visit my mother in law grave during this time. She passed away about 5 years ago.

The next few days we will visit relatives.  But we dont usually have lots of visitors at home.  So I dont really make lots of preparation.  Just bought a few things for family to come by and thats it.

The best part is also we gonna have a 4 days holiday.  A nice long weekend break. After the short working hours during Ramadhan this is just getting better. We have such a celebratory mood in the office.  We even have decorations and lights installed.  We are already in the mood the moment we enter our office, haha.  And most greetings are now conveyed through emails so we dont really get any greeting cards like in the old days except from a few people such as the Manager and the Department Head.

I am just gonna chill and enjoy the down time.  I am sure there will be lots of good shows on tv and I am looking forward to that too.

So Happy Hari Raya everyone!  Enjoy your celebrations and festivities.

Robbie needs a partner!

Our cute Robbie relaxing at home

We had quite a scare on sunday.  Our pet rabbit refused to eat anything for 2 days.  Although she looked ok, wee were worried and hubby suggested we brought her to the vet.  So off we went to the vet with Robbie in her cage and waited for the vet to come infront of his clinic.   It was quite a long wait, the vet was late and when he came he apologised and said he was overslept after his sahur, duh...

He examined Robbie but couldnt find anything wrong with her.  No fever, no upset tummy, or toothache, nothing.  Those are the most common ailments of rabbits when they refused to eat anything but Robbie was all right.  No problem whatsoever.  We were relieved but still it was a bit odd for her not to take anything.  She is quite an eater, she eats all day long, which is normal for rabbits anyway.

Then the vet asked us if Robbie has a 'husband' and we said no.  Then the vet told us maybe she was lonely.  Maybe we should think about getting Robbie a husband, hahaha.  Its about time for her to breed and have her own little family.  We were stunned.  Was that the reason why Robbie didnt want to eat?  That she was lonely? Really?? Wow... I guess its possible but we dont know for sure of course.  Or maybe Robbie was bored, and wanted something new to eat?  Probably.

So we are in a dilemma.  Where to find a husband for a rabbit?  Dont think its that easy hehehe.  The vet told us the partner has to be of the same size and age, otherwise it wont be compatible.

This is really weird.  Kind of nerve wrecking too, especially when the vet told us if Robbie is 'married' then we could end up having way too many rabbits at home since they usually breed after 21 days.  I need more time and energy to think that through since we are not planning to have a rabbit farm here!

So what to do?  Should we start looking for a partner for Robbie?  Anybody has any rabbit they could sell to us?  Maybe I should run an advert somewhere for an eligible male for our beautiful Robbie tehehe.

And oh... the vet told us Robbie was the cleanness rabbit he has ever seen.  Thanks to Ayang for that for taking good care of her ;)

And I am glad to report Robbie is now back to her old self after the trip to the vet.  I guess its true she was just lonely and bored and the car ride did the trick! hahaha.

Sungkai at Red Canopy Restaurant

Another family gathering for sungkai.  This time at the Red Canopy Restaurant at Batu Bersurat.  The restaurant has a nice ambience, very cozy and we were ok with it.  Food wise, not so many choices but good enough.  Its was B$9.00 per person which was ok, except they considered a nine year old to be an adult!

Some of the food on display - Chicken Soup

This is quite nice - Pineapple fried rice.

Chicken

Beef in soy sauce.

The starters.

The ambience of the restaurant.

My brother with his family.

Mengaut time!

Another batch of family immensed in the food.

We were sitted at a "small room" with curtain, fit for a party of 5.

Our "small room"

Another brother with his family.

Jualan Antarabangsa Sepanjang Ramadan

Hubby and I went for a small Hari Raya shopping at the Indoor Stadium.  We arrived around 12 noon and it was not so crowded.  I liked it, its nice to browse all the stalls without having to bump into people.  Maybe its because it was saturday and most people were still at work.  Nothing special about the bazaar, mostly similar things were on display.  But there were some good snacks and cakes from the neighbouring Sarawak like the Cake Lapis, Keropok Tangang, some were from West Malaysia such as Batang Buruk, Keropok Lekor, amongst things like Tudong, accessories, carpets, dresses and so on.

I was busy doing my shoppings.

The Batang Burok Stall.

Browsing through all the fancy Tudongs

Some of the accessories on sale.

Batang Burok.

Hubby made his purchase of  Keropok Tangang.

The sign at the entrance.

Another Birthday Celebrant!

This post is two days overdue.  We celebrated our brother's birthday at Pemodo Restaurant in Telanai.  Everyone was in attendance, the food was nice and we get to have the whole of upstairs part of the restuarant for ourselves, which I think was brilliant!  We didnt have to queue with the rest of the patrons when its time for food.

So Happy Birthday again Big Brother!  May happiness be with you always, enjoy your days ahead.

Some of the food served.

This is the birthday celebrant for the day!  Thanks for the good food.