Raya 2009

"Screaming and shouting are not the same."

Wouldn't you agree?

I have just finished a 7-day full-throttle Raya campaign. But if you include the 2-day cleaning-the-house-before-Raya done on the last 2 days of Ramadhan, then 9 days. And I'm pooped. Here's the timeline:

Syawal the
1st- Relatives at Alor Star
Went to Mama's, Auntie's and a few other relative's homes there, but not after performing our Raya prayers at the Gurun Mosque. Came back home from Alor Star at about 1 in the morning, so yeah, really didn't do us any favours there. Especially since the next day, well, read on.

2nd- Open House at Own House
Starting from Yutt (pronounced Yoot) who came as early as 11-o'clock, wave after wave of people came and we didn't get any rest until 9pm. So to say lots of people came would be an understatement. I spent most of my time doing the dishes and running to the store to get stuff from the store in Bedong, besides chatting to the occasional guest-I'm-familiar-with. After 9, Bapak, Boy and me went to Sultan Abdul Hamid College to attend College's annual Raya Reunion Celebration. I got the chance to meet up with a few of my school friends, and that was really great. There was Abu, Fariq Salim, Pakcik Gee, Met Roti, Bulat (TESL student too at Johor), Amri, Akmal, Udi, Bismil, Badang, Terap, Tibet, Min Taib, Abrar, and maybe some others that I can't remember right now. But I think that's all of 'em. It was a blast catching up with them. If the school wasn't so testosterone-concentrated, I think I would have even shed a tear.

3rd- FELDA Teloi and off to Kuala Krai
We went to Bapak's student's house first to meet up with Bapak's choice of a daughter-in-law for himself, and the victim would be Boy. I dare say that it was the first time I ever consciously set foot in FELDA territory. Had our mee goreng and headed back to Kuala Krai. The journey was smooth sailing, right up until we got to Jeli (I think). Then, cars galore as we got stuck in one of those inevitable balik kampung jams. We were stuck in that for 2 hours, although I felt it was a lot longer than that. We arrrived at the house at about 10.++pm.

4th- Kuala Krai
Well whadaya know? I guess we did get a day-long rest.

5th- Kota Bharu
Hour-and-a-half-long traffic jams to and from. I have never looked upon Kota Bharu as lowly as I did after returning from Kota Bharu this time. And all thanks to bad road-planning. *sigh* Oh yeah, might as well mention, we went to Mak's friend's open house there. Saw a few awesome looking houses too to sooth my aching head. To Aisyah and Dalila, if you're reading this, a thousand apologies for not being able to make it.

6th- Back to Harvard
But we also went Raya-ing at Jeli before going back. We went to Mak's friend's house and also our Tok Ngah's house. Pedal to the metal back to get to Nina's house in Sungai Petani. Had a nice dinner consisting of Mee Rebus and cakes and the sort before getting back home.

7th- Penang and back.
Went for a kenduri kahwin at Sungai Dua, Pulau Pinang at about 3.30pm. Turned back to Boy's teacher's house in Laguna Merbok, Sungai Petani. We also stopped over at boy's friend's house nearby before getting a haircut. After that, we ate another serving of Mee Rebus over at Uncle Utt's house that's facing our's.

And here we are.

Kind of glad that I'll be going back to the Institute tomorrow. But then, going back would put the pressure of the ever-nearing exams on me, so I'm not in the position of being all that jovial about going back either. Especially since I haven't touched any of my study papers that I brought back home since day 1. *another sigh*

Hope you guys had an enjoyable Raya! I know I had!

Cheers!