Monday, November 16, 2009

The Reunion (Albeit a Little Way Past Eid Day)


The day before Eid Day my family and I, all six of us, packed our bags into the car boot and went on a five hour drive to Kuala Lumpur, where we were supposed to celebrate this year’s Eid Day with my father’s side of the family. How do I describe my father’s side of the family? Hmm. If you know me well, I would tell you to picture me on my highest sugar-level state. Then picture a whole house filled with people exactly like me in my highest sugar level state. If you don’t know me, I would then tell you to picture 20 Chris Rock in the same room.

My grandfather just came back from a trip to Europe with my Aunt. My Grandad is in his late 70s (or early 80s), smokes about probably 10 cigarettes a day and tends to repeat the same stories for about 20 times. My cousins told me about an interesting incident that occurred when they were in Spain. In an effort to make sure that my Grandad will be fine in case they lose him while travelling the city, my cousins taught him some basic words in Spanish – one of them being the word ‘Thank you (Gracias, in Spanish)’.
Attempt 1
Cousin: Atok (Grandfather), how do you say thank you in Spanish?
Atok: Err…. Wasiat!
(Wrong. Indeed, ‘wasiat’ is a Malay word which means ‘death will’.)
Attempt 2
Cousin: Atok, how do you say thank you in Spanish?
Atok: Err… Graciat!
(Wrong again. ‘Graciat’ is neither a valid Malay word nor a Spanish word)
Attempt 3
Cousin: Atok, how do you say thank you in Spanish?
Atok: Err…. Gracias!
(Everyone sighs in relief)
Anyway, what our family would do when we get together on Eid Day is have a giant brunch, consisting of all the heavy spicy Malaysian cuisine. After we’re stuffed we would get into our cars and make a road trip convoy to visit all our relatives, some which we only see this once a year, all around Kuala Lumpur, and the state of Selangor and Negeri Sembilan.
Total cars in convoy: 5
Total days of road trip: 3
Number of participants: 7 parents
11 young adults (>20 years old)
4 teenagers
1 child
Number of houses visited: more than 12
Number of cute guys seen: 1
All in all, this could probably be one of the best Eid Days I have ever celebrated in my life! Life does not get any better than good food, good family and friends and good jokes.

3 comments:

Azani said...

jangan lupa check out The Stone Roses

Anonymous said...

hi amal..ini apez yg kacak.haha

Nadia Ghazali said...

hi apez! the stone roses.check.