Note to self.. EXAMS! EXAMS!

Dear Faithful Readers,

I will be studying for my exams in June. So I wont be posting as much until the exams are over ok? I will be back soooooooooon!

Bee-Outch.

Spore Spore.. I miss youuuuuu...

Helleeeeew..

Oh what a hot day today! Went out at 3pm to pay my credits bills and to avoid the possibility of people waiting behind you while you struggle to press the confusing buttons on the Cash Deposit Machine to pay your card. Alhamdullilah its all done but my goodness, the heat! I could feel it on my face and hands!

How is everyone doing these days? Apologies for the late postings. I have been having tests & the June Exams which is coming up meaning I have to use my available time to revise and also spending time with the family. Its crazy life but still, I have no regrets :o)

Last 2 weeks I was in Spore! Acompanying the hubby while I get my much needed distraction from home. Fikir kan tinggal kan credit card tapi nyasal kang kalau inda beli what I see there nanti... And boooooy, was I right!

I've managed to get some pics of the trip (with my handy mobile phone and yes, Canon 450D is not here yet but soon..soon enough..) until then, bear with the queality of the pictures ya?

Here we are at the Royal Sky Lounge, for Business Class customers. hehehe.. Its my first time here, yatah sakai so I had to take some pics. hehehehe

as you can see, its still pretty quiet up here...

but still I like their ambience. Oh, see that construction thing goin on at the back? Word is that they'll be opening more restaurants. Looking forward to that. It's high time for some upgrades in the airport.

One of the captains (I have forgotten his name) gorging out on the buffet and yes, we pretty much helped our selves to the simple, not many but still delicious buffet they've prepared. Why cant they do that with the food on board?!!? That would make a huge difference!

I was only in singapore for 2 days. Short it was but much needed. I went back to work all freshed up. As you can see, reasons to shopping were mostly for the kids. With brands like GAP & ESPIRIT and toys like LITTLE TIKES especially at a reasonable price after discounts - no could say no to that!

Finally, I bought CROCS for the boys. Decided to try out with these ones for a start.

For adek Arman.

Red Crocs for Abang and bubble gun for Abang too - Turned out it wasnt as impressive as I imagined.. booooooooo!

Baby Gap... Hubby adores the yellow shirt.

Books for me and the hubby (only the camera handbook)...

and thats about it on my documentation trip to Singapore. heheh told you it wasnt much..

As mentioned earlier, I came back to Brunei and then had about 2.5 days to study for my test. The below pictures will show you that every minutes counts in my life (unless I decided to give my brain a rest with Tv, Gym etc etc etc).

This is when I left the office on the actual day of my test. I thought I would pick mum up from her office odw since I was able to make it to Jerudong by 4.30pm.

the must haves in the car - Bottle of water and two slices of Bengawan Solo Pandan Cakes

(which I've managed to tapau from Singapore )

Calculation and revising formulas..

That's life for me. Hope I scored that test!

Bee-outch!

So funny lah.. IDIOT.

Life can be funny. People can be funny. I like funny. I can accept funny.

But there is a fine line between funny and being a complete idiot. I had conversation with a particular individual bah about Mother’s Day.

Me – Heard that you brought your wife out in town last night.

Idiot – Yes, getting her a Mother’s Day Gift.

Me- Cool. What did you get your own mum?

Idiot – umm.. Alum lagi. ~STRIKE ONE~

Me – I see. Me either. I just wished her the best. I thought of bring her out for breakfast though one of these Saturdays.

Idiot – Yea. Me too. I thought of buat makan2 at mum’s.

Me- *silence. Thinking to self- this idiot doesn’t know his own mother kah? She wants to go out!*Continues with conversation - ummmm..Ok. but be sure that if you want to make this makan2 at mum’s, We are to do all the work and clean up. She doesn’t do anything. She’s supposed to relax.

Idiot – Yup. You’re right. ( so ok Idiot. You’re going to so at your mum’s place. You NEVER help up in cooking and cleaning up. Your own siblings even calls you useless ) ~STRIKE 2~

Me- ohhhkaaaaaay.. Btw, mum asked me to join her Mengaji-group.But I decline. I cant do it now. I have so many things to balance out

Idiot-Kenapa? Ok jua tu. She wants you to study. ( Great . Now the idiot tells me he knows him mum well but not well enough what she likes and dumping his kids there for under her care.)

Me- Ummm.. It not that I don’t want to learn how to mengaji. I cant do it now. I have to finish one by one dulu. I need to balance so many things. What’s the point of doing things which will distract you from your duties as a wife and a daughter? Dosa jua. No point bah. Ugama teaches you to also balance your priorities in work, school and family. And btw, if your kids are going to mengaji everdy day, meaning you put your children for the whole entire week? Your mum to care for them the whole week? no family time kah? do they have time to do their homework? Owh, did you did this when you were kids too?

Idiot – Yeaa. You’re right . Lurus tu. Speaking of work, I need to go back to work. Byeee. ~STRIKE 3~

Me- Bye IDIOT.


Bee-Outch..

Sha bu Sha bu.. I like you

Puh -lease.. HotMama dont do drugs and will never do...

Its Sha Bu Sha bu - Steamboat that I fancy going to nowadays! I love their tomyam soup with vegetables stuffed with seafood paste. Yum Yum.. Delicious! By the way, in case you're still wondering then - Click here for a wikipedia definition of Sha bu Sha Bu

Menu wise -They could have offered alot more. I was slightly dissapointed with the menu. Inda banyak vegetables or variaties to order from. And the place could be designed a whole lot better too . It took quite a while to absorb the details of the restaurant and noticed that they had a small kitchen. And they could seriously do something about their uniform as well. Appearance does matter. *Please tie hair properly. Ejap ku masuk sup*

When you do go there, you will know what I mean.

My order is here! I had cuttle balls, fish balls and prawns. The ones with seafood paste were all out. Bummer! Those were my fav! My choice of soup was Tomyam. Hubby 's was curry.

Hubby's set order.

Beef slices. Sliced finely so that it would cook to perfection when you dipped it your boiling soup.

eyuuuuuuuum....

If you're looking for something different and less carbo intake, this is a place to go. But this is something you could prepare at home for your love ones. Hei, this is an idea! Perhaps I could do this for Mother's day! I love soups. Soup-Maniac. Soup Crazy.. Soup Soup Soup.

If I was to travel with my hubby, he would know how excatly to feed me. Plus, I'm "cheap" to eat what?... Thats because I'm clever, I need the extra cash for shopping. wehehehhe..

Oh, which reminds me of my trip this coming 17th & 18th. Cant wait to eat that vegetable curry again! Starbucks. CharKueh tiaw. Etc etc etc... wuuuu cana kan lose weight nieeeee... hehehe

Thanks for the treat sayang. I love being pampered by you .

*kisses*

Bee-Outch

Balik Kampong but not to tanam jagung

Its more of cleaning up your families graves at the um... somewhere in Lamunin..Ukong somewhere ..heheh sorry.. I didnt really pay attention to the road signs. I know.. Lame!

And so we, the Luin Sisters and others proceed on our journey back to a place we have long not gone back to visit ( well, me lah. My sis goes there like once a month basis ehehehe)

Family Members headcount and Items Checklist :

1. Husband - Checked

2. Kids and strapped securely in car -Checked

3. Amah - Checked

4. Lots of snacks and milk for babies in car - Checked

5. Spare of clean clothes - Checked

6. Dvds for kids entertainment - Checked.

Right.

And so we reach my kampong at Bukit Udal where the very people I call family awaits for me. Kampong cooked food - Chicken Curry + Belacan Long Beans + Lemiding + Nasi Kebun waiting for me to enjoy for lunch.

Wasting no time as the usual tradition is to visit the family graves best in the morning, I think its because its cooler and fresher to clean up graves at this time. I think lah. Mana jua ku tau adat2 dusun ani.. I think any villager would tell you that it would be crazy to work in the mid afternoons anyway! ;p

Btw. The kids were looked after by my female cousins and the spouses. The ladies had to cook. But not me and my sis. We're the only ones my late father had. So no excuses for us!

The cuzzy and the hubby. On the front seats as we start our journey to the graveyard.

Family car. As usual, we drove our galant.

We are here. Cars has been here wee in the morning.. (assuming lah)

Sis, cuzzy & hubby. There are also a few cuzzies at the back. Malas ku kan ambil gambar diorang. Did you know my Mama Kampong (my nanny) told her sons this out loud?
" Kalau orang tanya mana bini kamu - bagitahu di rumah memasak"

Well... not really.. some couldnt make it due to work commitments. Knowing the "very-persistant-orang-tua-cannot-accept-excuses" she taught her sons well the power of shutting these people up.

*Am not rude. This is true*

My family's grave is located up the hill.


and we're here! On hubby's left is my late grandad's and next to it its my late father's!

Other family members ( cousin i think 10-20x - cakap melayu bah ;p)


See that chinese tombstone? Its new. The last time we were here last year, it wasnt there. Oh btw, incase you're wondering both my late father and grandad were Free Thinkers.
I think what you have here is a traditional Dusun Tombstone. Hut and all.

And why is it next to a chinese tombstone ( after seeing designated graves for each different religion in other places ) ?

I too have no idea...

I guess some things are better left not asked.



Late Grandad's - You must be wondering what is all that stuff?

As far as I can understand, when someone passes away, its a custom to have their belongings be it their fav bag, clothes, shoes etc be put on top of their grave. I cant share with you on any other reasons bcause I really dont know any other reasons and it would be rude to just share false information or any other reasons.

Nevertheless, I'l be digging more on my dusun culture to why things are done in that way.


Ahem..ahem.. I did my part too..


usai..usai balik... kana suruh kali ah

See that shelltox? Masih dapat pakai. Even use to spray around a couple of times.

My late father's tombstone.

Its been 13 years since his passing and I still miss him dearly.

Clean and tidied up! *proud!*

This part is abit annoying. I cant stand the rubbish! Forgotten to put garbage bags in the list too! Oh we also forgotten to bring parang as well... *geram!*

but we did a good cleaning up anyway. I love my hubby and my sis for their support. Especially my hubby. He never questions anything about my culture. All I get from him is his endless love and support.

*Love you sayang!*

Question - At what age did my grandad died at?

Clean eh? I'm so proud of ourselves. Great Teamwork!

Pics of the other families cleaning up graves. And the cool part is, each of everyone buried here are all related. Related as in brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, 1st cousin etc related!

Everything was done at 11.00 and we went back to my cousin's house. Had a good cold shower, fabulous lunch, mingle with the family. I was so happy and proud that we did what we needed to do. I didnt really took anymore pics after this as we were all too tired.

Abang was..

Oh btw, if anyone reading this knows a bit more on the dusun culture, do share with me ya? Drop me a line anytime. I would appreciate it.

Another adventure..another time..

Bee-Outch.