a lot of things, as usual

i've been missed! thanks for wondering, those who did :)

no alya...i wasn't spending those weeks scrubbing carpets *grins*. with regards to Project Potty i've gotten smarter and taking it sweet and slow. the diapers stay on but Ilhan gets to the loo on regular intervals and he's been doing No 1 and No 2 on demand on the toilet seat.

salma and kak al, nothing earth-shattering happened, nothing to worry.

i was just in this extreme bout of homesickness and adjustment. it's not la-di-da all the time, and after the initial flurry of settling down, it all sunk in - i'm thousands of km away from home and there's only the 3 of us here and i miss the regularity and safety of The 12th of Every Month.

and then there was this genuine worry about the well-being of the planet. eh really! we rented the An Inconvenient Truth dvd, and while it really does look like a slick sure-win come-back for Al Gore, he had a point there. and Australia's really feeling the brunt of the whole global-warming phenomena, what with the rising searing temperature and prolonged droughts and cyclones and the real possibility of Perth getting submerged with the melting of the polar caps.

it is seriously very scary. everyone should forget Atkins and go on the Carbon Diet now.

and oh, our plants shrivelled up and died.

and then last week, i was really really feeling down because we got to playgroup and i found out Sofia's leaving. Sofia's the one from Pattani, and we clicked the moment we met. we share so many points of similarity and familiarity. sofia, me and laila (from bogor, indon), we form this southeast-asian clique which is so familiar and comfortable.

anyway, due to a horrible despicable landlord and Perth's astronomically booming property market, her husband decided they should go back to thailand. a lot of issues are involved, most of it really unfair.

last friday laila and safa, and me and ilhan, paid sofia and wafa a visit [nice right, ilhan's 2 girl-friends, safa and wafa :) ]. we had a wonderful time sharing and gaining an insight into the challenges of a cross-cultural marriage. the differences can be very testing, and humourous at times. i was thinking kahwin sebangsa pun selalu salah faham, apa lagi lain bangsa eh?

these few weeks i also got to know the vibes beneath the social fabric around me. quite disturbing, really, like this superiority complex some groups have which comes down to even food (oh yes, malay/asian food is substandard, it seems - our food is like the poor man's food).

Abu Huraira, r.a, narrated: Rasulullah s.a.w, never criticized any food (he was invited to) but he used to eat if he liked the food, and leave it if he disliked it.

so anyway, i am so going to miss sofia. i love her animated ways, her sing-song Thai-toned english, and how she lapses into her loghat kelantan/pattani "Gilor lah, i tell you!" once in a while. she's going back to her teaching job at the prince songkhla university, and maybe continue her research work.

but if ever they come back, Wafa's winter clothes are in a box in our house.

i also finally found a tajwid class, with Laila's group of indonesian ladies. and in that group there's the lone Singaporean, kak noraini who's really nice. the weekly class rotates among the homes of the ladies, and kak noraini and i are so awed by the food that these ibuk-ibuk whip up every week. last week was at Kak Eda's and it's amazing how you can replicate the atmosphere of your home-country in your own home. She has a 'parabola' (that's a satellite dish for you) bringing SCTV and RCTI to her tv, and the interior of her house looks and feel very indon. and the food and keropok....oh my goodness.......i could have sworn i was in bukit tinggi sumatra. you really can't beat indonesian hospitality.

i think i've lost my train of thought and there's so much to write about. it's 2am and i think i'll sleep now. playgroup tomorrow and dropping by Sofia's place after that. she's going to help me write a letter to my thai family. i'm so going to miss her :(

Mission Oh So Impossible

watching Love Actually (for the nth time) on tv while typing this. my favouritest movie...makes you feel so warm and loving doesn't it? and oh...i realised that the version I've been watching in singapore (tv/vcd) is so censored..hahaha! amidst all those warm and fuzzy tales of love, there's actually another couple and their tale cut out altogether. probably because they are porn actor-actress. they are so un-porn-stars-like, actually - very decent and all - and it's about how ironically (and incredibly) polite, innocent and decent their feelings are for each other despite their chosen vocation.

now you know.

i accomplished something just now. i made decent...not actually rather nice-tasting Mee Siam. first time hokay. hur hur hur! kak ayu sarawak invited us over for her scrumptious Sunday makan. now, she has this thing for Mee Siam, which she thinks is a masakan Singapura and has asked me for the recipe. so i thought, i'd whip up something (ceh...macam real) for her this time. now this lady is a superb cook, who prefers making her own baked beans and spaghetti sauce (from scratch, not with the help of Heinz or Pregos like us mere mortals).

went to the asian grocery and ended up spending hours there (this deserves another entry altogether) and then realised i had only an hour to cook and so...yeah....accomplished it with a totally upside-down kitchen in the end. The Husband was my taster, as usual, he always seems to know how to add that final pinch of this and that to make it taste just right. and right it was.

now on to another mission. *groans*. i tried to get ilhan started on potty-training last week. seems like all the 2-3yos in his playgroup are toilet-trained - Sofia told me Wafa practically potty-trained herself at 18mths when she started tugging off her diapers and signalling when she wants to go to the loo; Nader, Jasmine and Safa are diaper-free too. and all they all used the same method - bring the kid to the loo every hour/2-hours until they got used to the idea. yes, there'll be whoops-es but eventually they'll get the hang of it. it took them abt 1-2 weeks.

so i thought, hmm..easy enough.
NOT. the very first time round we got to the toilet on time and we did the yay! hip-hip-hurray jubilantly. and then, hmm...2 poos and a pee whoops-es. did i tell you that the house is fully-carpeted? all i can say is, thank God it was bulat-bulat tahi kambing so it wasn't that messy...hur hur hur! (i dunno why but at this moment i'm humming that ditty we used to sing as kids, "Apa boleh buat/tahi bulat-bulat/masuk dalam botol/cap orang kuat" hur hur hur!)

maybe i'm not doing this right. i'm entering this battle unarmed. we have not bought ilhan a potty, and have never read him any potty books. i thought i could have it done in 2 weeks. haha.

for mums in my similar situation, check out this site www.tribalbaby.org it's about this new-agey mum's philosophy and experience "re-learning the knowledge
our society lost through use of nappy technology and a changing of social
norms. Our
baby was nappy-free at home from 3 months old, in regular underwear by 12 months."

it's amazing. read it and tell me what you think.

in the meantime, Mission Ilhan-Dah-Big-Boy-Tak-Pakai-Pampers-Lagi is on hold until both mak and anak are ready. hur hur hur!

Kena Tagged : Six Weird Things About Me

kena tagged by afzalmom, and since i think i'm kind of boring, i'm passing this over to Ilhan Harith instead :)

1.   I like to put my stuff in the fridge, hiding them in corners, like my Hot Wheels between the margarine and the cheese, or Jack the Red Ranger between vegetables, or coins in the egg compartment. now ibu's got smarter and knows where to look when everyday items like the comb goes missing.

2.   I call ibu 'mummy' when i'm in playgroup. nobody told me to, i just feel like it.

3.   when i'm being scolded, or when i think i'm 5 seconds away from being scolded, i'll remind ibu/baba "Jangan mayah eh, nanti Ee-Han sedih."

4.   I end all my requests with 'please' and when i dont get something the first time round i'll ask very very nicely complete with the relevant facial expression AND the 'please'. this form of emotional blackmail works about 98% of the time.

5.   I have a fascination for kata ganda. my all-time favourite is ondok-ondok (which i use when i do not know a particular word to use), followed by andak-andak, endek-endek, borak-borak, olok-olok, bedek-bedek, asik-asik, polok-polok, banyak-banyak, sikit-sikit..well, you get the idea.

6.   i love singing medleys which i make up. the library lady here called me 'the little songbird' the other day. it usually starts with "Go-go power rangers" and ends with "semuaaaaa kan adaaa Hikmahnyaaaaa". very recently, i'm got my parents stumped by singing "Mari kita ada adik" to the tune of my alif-ba-ta song over and over again.