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Ready Maid

August 28, 2004 by Enida

I have mentioned Bibik in quite a few entries so far. But really, she is not just a Bibik. She’s a family. We’re neither related by any marriage or divorce, nor are we via blood relation, donation, transfusion or confusion. But we are sisters in all sense of sisterhood. She believes in God. So that makes us sisters. Simply put.

We were having our supposedly holiday in Malaysia April this year, when Bibik joined us there from Indramayu. It’s a long story of frustration and a series of heartaches before fate decided to cross our paths. Bibik actually spent about four months with my best friend Cik Nan before she was sent home from Sharjah. She, notty notty…went kabur (escaped) from her previous employer – the one prior to Cik Nan. Well, if I were her, not only would I have cabut lari…I would have also cabut the nyawa of the employer already what! Dare he even try to touch me!

I remember picking her up at the JB Airport that day. It was April 28th and it was one helluva rainy afternoon. To cut the long story short, after all the silly threats from some JB custom officers, Bibik was allowed to come with me, Be and Kitty. Well, it is never a cerpen if you are a Malaysian who does not reside in Malaysia, hauls an uomo bianco and a mochalatte baby around, and bears an Omani, Canadian, Italian and Australian residency visas all at once. Now, if that’s not a novel, it must be an excyclopaedia lah gamaknya.


The Bibik and The BabyK

Kitty bonded with Bibik instantly. They were purely and genuinely serasi right at their first sight of each other. And as a mom, I just knew it. I mean, moms just know. You don’t second guess your baby’s liking towards another woman, ya know. If you are a mom yourself, you would nod to this in agreement. What more can you tell of your maid if within two hours of knowing your child, your child muntah belilah all over her, and she didn’t even cringe?

Today, Bibik has been with us for four months right on the dot. Like I said earlier, she is not just a Bibik as in bibik (aunt) to Kitreena. She has been my closest friend these past few months especially when all I could turn to were the walls, the ceiling and this quiet house. She’s been there when I felt like cookin’ a storm, and when all the dishes stormed the sinks. Through thick, thin, stuffed and crusty.

Last Tuesday, I came home from work to find a stroller-basket full of kangkong. (Bibik takes Kitreena for a walk everyday if we are not at the pool to let the anak itik berenang-renang ke tepian.) So that one fine hari-ini-dalam-sejarah kinda Tuesday, Bibik could not help herself from petiking the kangkong growing so wild and free by our neighbor’s yard. Our grass-widower neighbor has been away for almost a month now, so Bibik petiked the kangkong without his permission! Amboi syerrr Bibik!

I plan to put a note on my neighbor’s door once he returns. But if you ever wonder about the kangkong…uh, all I dare say is that some belacan already kidnapped them loh! Amboi syerrr Enida! “Siakap senohong gelama ikan duri, bercakap bohong lama-lama mencuri.”

I am so gone…repenting.

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Clueless Kelu

August 26, 2004 by Enida

My sekelumit of hope officially turned into a sekelumat one this morning. We’re definitely staying home this weekend. Sharjah will have to wait another month. IKEA will have to wait ’til another time. And my bergebang session with my best friend sambil bertempik-tempik in excitement, too, will have to wait until next time. Disappointment is an understatement, but hey…Be is feeling much better than he has been the last four days or so. What could be more important than your beloved’s well-being eh?

On another note…
I used the word sekelumit yesterday and today I got thinking of the word gerumit pulak for some reason. Have you ever heard of it? It goes way way back when I was in elementary school. Well, really…a gerumit is a pencil sharpener. I used to use the word sharpener, but when everybody else was using gerumit, I guess I had to blend in. And I used it so blindly that I never thought of the origin of the lexis. Of course! A word was a word, and if it did you good, for goodness’ sake, you’d use it…right?

It took me decades before I finally realized that the word gerumit might have come from “groom it”. Yeah, not overly accurate grammatically or lexically, I know. Like, you don’t groom a pencil. You sharpen it. But hey, the logic is there. The interesting point is that, gerumit was used as a noun. Not a verb. (I have to say WAS used here, because I have no clue if gerumit is still widely used today or not.)

Example:
Could I borrow your gerumit please?
Pinjam gerumit hang kejap, boleh?

You’d never hear this:
I’d like to gerumit my pencil now.
Kami nak gerumit pensil kami lah kejap.

Funnier thing now though, is…being away from my homeland, I often think of those words those kids and I used back then. And then my mind would go jalan-jalan wondering where all those kids have gone and what they have become. I am sure some have traveled the world like I have. Some have probably written books on grammar – the nouns, the verbs, the tenses and the whole Itinerario on how to find yourself speaking a foreign language in your own country sort. And some of those kids I knew back then, I know now…are lost.

I, too, have found myself lost in words lately.

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To Love Some Bunny

August 25, 2004 by Enida

My Bunny Is Over The Ocean

I know I should just believe my eyes and believe that time flies. As much as I hate to admit it, Kitreena has grown like a weed. Look at her. This picture was taken on Haloween 2003. She was a Bunny Wabbit last year. I am still scratching my groin head here, thinkin’ of what to dress her up in…this year. We’re in Oman. Should she be a camel this year? Well, yeah right. Like I could just go to Al Fair or Sultan Center and find a camel costume. Right? Ekkkk! Hope floats, and so does that thing the doctors call faeces. Duh! I’ll potong the leher of the unta buat korban if I EVER could find camel costume, I tell ya.

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It’s Your Call

August 25, 2004 by Enida

I was looking forward se’sangat to visiting my sahabat qoribun in Sharjah this weekend. It had been a plan of all time ever since she came back from Malaysia. But as fate would have it, Be got knocked down…real hard, with fever. The chills, the temperature, the cramps and the whole works. I wish I could be more sympathetic, but the kekechiwaan is just too deep, too much. To the point that I just wanted to just bungkus him in a gooney, buckle him up in our Jazz and pechoot to Sharjah. I swear!

I still have a sekelumit of hope, honestly speaking. Hoping that Be would get better sooner than soon. That hopefully tomorrow morning I could bungkus his baju, Kitreena’s and mine in a bondong and berhangkut to Sharjah. (Bibik will have to bungkus hers in her own separate bondong tapi). But you know, when everything else sinks…hope floats. Hmmm to the mention of float, teringat pulak A&W Root Beer Float. But that’s another blog on itself.

I have been berangan to go shopping at IKEA Dubai. Gotta get the IKEA bathroom mats before Mom & Eric arrive. And would like to get Kitreena a magnetic board where she could stick her magnetic alphabets on. I would also like to get a bread-maker. (I thought for sure I saw some here in Muscat early this year. But last month when Be and I had a 72-hour almost non-stop hunt for a bread-maker, tak jumpa pulak. Or did I actually see them being plentiful in Malaysia ek?)

That 72 hours really tested my sheltered territory known as patience. I know and I believe that stupidity has no race, but this one particular type of people definitely fits into my Mom’s peribahasa: “Bodoh tak leh di ajor, pandai tak leh di ikut.” Hah, ni lah dia bangsa nya. We asked them if they had any bread-makers, or bread-making machines. Six out of seven stores, the salesmen nyer showed us either their sandwich-makers or toasters! Hoi, who interviewed you guys keje kedai barang letrik nih? Bread-makers are bread-makers, toasters are toasters. You dumb toilet brushes! (Read as: You dumb door knobs!)

It’s like asking for french baguette and you are given cream crakers (aka biskut mayat). Gilo po ko buto po ko tuli? Our last attempt that week was the National Panasonic Technic store down in Qurum because we knew Panasonic did produce some good models 4-5 years back. But why do you think we still have to gulp down those yeasty scorch-crumbed roti potong from Al Fair to this day? Sebab the Panasonic store in Qurum imports everything else BUT bread-makers. You better believe it ladies and gents. Because I have to live with the fact that this is happening to me.

My class.

Oh my class!

The 4 nights in the 1st week was a smooth sailing. The 1st night 2nd week went not too bad. But Sunday and Monday nights were hell. I could see that my students were getting really riled up with their own confusion over the Present/Past Simple and Continuous Tenses. That was just the first 4 tenses, dah tensed up! Kang aku masuk participle kang, semuanya berpaticiputskis! What would you say if they asked you why past tense of come is came and not comed. And mind ya, they don’t take any “because-that’s-the-way-English-is” kinda answer either. Hah, what would your answer be?

Now that’s your call.

Hello! Anybody home?

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Meant Not To Be

August 17, 2004 by Enida

My excitement quickly turned into disappointment when I came home from Ramis Center where my European Tailor (nama cik main lagi!) is located. Out of three sofa covers, only ONE fitted! Yes ladies, gents and all the tailors sekelian! One! I left them a sample and well, not an instruction…but just a friendly reminder that everything has got to be exactly like the sample. Otherwise they wouldn’t fit.



And of course the tailor gave me a silly smirk with the “as if” look on his face. Fine, I thought. Baby crab shouldn’t go teach papa crab how not to walk sideways. Hai meh? Zapppp! Wrong! Well, tomorrow somebody is going to see who the papa crab is and who the big mama crab is! If I don’t tear-tear his face, don’t call me crabby.



Let me let you in a secret here. Encik tailor himself yang mintak 5 Rials for each sofa cover because he said…oh, difficult piece to make madam. Zipper alone is 1.25 Rials. I tried to bargain but before long backed down in understanding that yeah, they are quite complicated. But hey, those ropol-ropol bajus are even more difficult to make what?



When I saw Encik tailor again today, he gave me another smirk saying…oh it took him 3 hours just to figure out how to cut the fabric into correct pieces and to sew them together blah blah blah. But me, with big smile and everything thanked him profusely nevertheless for his willingness to simply get them made. Khalasss!



He asked for 5 Rials each, okay. I threw my hands in the air with the agreement that the 15 Rials was to compensate for all the trouble he had to go through and all. You don’t get something for nothing, right? And look what 15 Rials got me? Eh okay, since I am nice…let’s go down to 10 Rials lah now for the one piece that he did manage to follow the sample. Lagi mau smirk-smirk and make noises.



Well, guess who’s going to get the silly smirk and the “as if” look tomorrow?

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Made To Be

August 16, 2004 by Enida

Kitty’s Sofa Miredo

I am pretty excited about Kitty’s new sofa covers. Haii, ni lah dia. When a woman with one child has too much time in her hands, what else would she be excited about? Good thing I do get distracted by my job now. Teaching is 30% presentation, 70% preparation for me these days. Maklumler dah sekian lama idle.


Anyway, I am just a few minutes from stepping out the door here, to pick up Kitreena’s sofa covers. I got her this kiddy’s sofa from Carrefour a few months back at the price of 7.9 Rials (Omani Rials lah, takkan Kelantanese Rials plak kan? As in riyaa.) But I could not find ready-made extra covers anywhere. So I decided to get some tailor-made. Three altogether actually…one of them has Xmas pattern on. Chewah!



Fabric je dah 13.5 Rials…4.5 Rials for one set, upah tailor guess how much? 5 Rials EACH! Cekik darah kepala hotak dia lah. Nasib baik aku tak de sewing machine. All the machines I have are washing machine, dishwashing machine and coffee-making machine jeh. So, 15 Rials for the soon-to-be-if-not-already-a-millionaire tailor! One sofa cover totals up to 9.5 Rials. Opocot! More expensive than the sofa itself. Bibik did some mental calculation the other day and said to me, “Makanya itu sponge di dalam sofa itu gratis ya buk?”

I neither could say no, nor nggak.

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Five More To Go

August 15, 2004 by Enida

My little sister sent me a blog add of this Datin whom she thought was me in disguise at first. I went ahead, took a peek, and got hooked. Her life is just so similar to mine that it scared me. My lil sis was right. She is kinda living my life, or perhaps it’s me who’s living her life. The only difference is my hubby is nowhere near of getting a datukship, hence I am nowhere near a datinship or nenekship for whichever matters. I have no supir, I steer my own wheels. I do have Bibik to help me taming my wild duckling, Kitreena.

Anyway, I am not going to ramble about Datin and her hmmm-it-makes-you-wonder-doesn’t-it blog. She writes well, and she should keep on writing despite what other narrow-minded people think of her. My story morning glory sebenornyer is this : I was in Malaysia between April and June this year during which I got to meet my brother’s sawang-buyah-hatikoo. Everybody was saying she looked soooo lah very much like me. I discovered it myself that she didn’t only look like me but think like me too. As if that wasn’t enough, she eats like yours truly as well. The hand-movement, the leaning a bit forward whenever we suap the nasik. Oiii scary!

So I found two other ME’s now. My mom with her Chinese “uh-dimanakah-kelojikan-nye-tuh” belief used to tell me that there are seven people in this world that look like you. And only seven can live at one given time. If they met with one another, all seven at the same time…one will have to die. Or rather, WILL die, in any way. That’s the curse. But uh, di manakah kelojikan nye tuh for all seven to look exactly the same and meet up. Mom, mom, mom! Tak sesudah!

So, five more to go. I think I will live forever.

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In The Fallen Fall I Fell

August 14, 2004 by Enida

“Sinning is the best part of repentance.”

~ Arabic Proverb.


Isy! Isn’t that the truest proverb of all time! Like, “The best part of love is the falling in.” I was surfing the net looking for proverbs, specifically Arabic, Arab or Arabian ones so that my students could relate to them. Uh, umm…I lied. First of all I was hoping that my students would have heard of some of those proverbs I found. And the rest is…uhum, I would like to impress them. Nah kau! Nak sangat.

But instead, I ended up BEING impressed with those proverbs. The Arabian ones, of course. All this while I thought the Chinese were the most productive when it comes to coming up with the “lamp of speech”. The most thoughtful, so to speak. I suppose they remained the most productive, but there were other nations as thoughtful. Nampak sangat I was ignorant. Amboi syerr!

Well, with that thought…I repent loh.

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A Time to Dance

August 10, 2004 by Enida

I updated my CV. Yes I did. Well, that was because Hawthorn-Muscat was advertising…looking for an IELTS/ General English Trainer. Took me two days to finally fax the CV to them. I could have sent it in by hand actually. They’re only 45 seconds drive away from my place. Yeah 45 seconds, not minutes! Oh yee with little faith.

I timed myself when I drove there yesterday. For an interview. Yeah! What do you know eh? I was called for an interview. Phew! Had to remind myself that it was just the anticipation of the interview that was nerve-wracking. Nothing else. Uh okay, perhaps the years under my belt too. The years of being idle. Bluntly speaking, I wasn’t sure if I could be sharp.

I was seven minutes early. And the interviewer – the Director of Studies, herself – was about ten minutes late. That didn’t matter because I gladly took that 17 minutes to look around, reading the updated brochures, skimming the message board, squeezing my tongue so as to produce enough air liur to wet my paper-dry throat. Man! Don’t I love interviews!

She finally came down and showed me around (already? Yeah!) And then we sat down to figure out what there was to barter-trade with one another. It didn’t take her too long before she asked me if I would like to start in five days! Yes, ladies and gentlemen…you’re not alone. I’m still trying to digest that myself here.

It has been a while. So it will be a while too, before I am fully switched into gear and up with the pace. But I guess teaching is like singing, or riding a bicycle. You just don’t forget. Once you know you CAN do it, you just never lose the ability to do it again, no matter how long you stop in between. Unlike a language…if you don’t use it, you lose it. Ngerti?

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Breakability

August 7, 2004 by Enida

I just realized that a song is just any other song if you have no one to share it with. Listening to this one mp3 “Make You Mine” by The Corrs I must have saved over a year ago, I missed the band’s older songs actually. I, back then, had them shared with my soulmate, Lindt. We were wild and free, coming home from cyber café at 2 or 3 in the morning 4-5 mornings a week, mabuk todi (translated: laughing corybantically uncontrollable about things that are not overly funny, come to think of it now).

Songs like, “What Can I Do To Make You Love Me”, “Shaking Like A Leaf”, “Runaway”, “Queen of Hollywood”, and the sort. Oh how we enjoyed every opportunity to break free. Looking at ourselves those crazy, but successful years, I had wished that our lecturers and tutors before us would have been a happy and crazy lot. Like we were. And I saw it with my own eyes how we infected the students with our excessive happiness syndrom. Hmmm those were the days.

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