'kita kan oyang Iswam'

i'm feeling sad. went to Hepburn Mosque just now, there's this weekly mini-bazaar - as in very mini, 6-tables-only-mini - set up by the makcik-makcik melaka/singapura. well Masjid Hepburn is basically a masjid melayu set up by the singaporean/christmas island/melaka group who's been here for ages.

dan sebab itulah aku sedih sangat. because all the makcik-makcik remind me of nenek (yang sememangnya dari melaka). all with their floral baju kurung and tudung bawal, and cakap macam nenek aku cakap. and their cheap satay (only $1 secucuk, not overpriced 4-$10 in restaurants) and red kuah kacang (not the pucat ones at restaurant indo).

and the dodol. aiseyman...tengok dodol teringat arwah moyang kat melaka.

"Pakcik, wajik takde ke?"

"Alamak...wajik pakcik belum pass lah...insya Allah tahun depan pakcik pass buat wajik sirat."

aku pun belilah dodol tu.

Ramadhan has been a simple affair. last week we had friends over for buka, and yours truly managed to come up with Lamb Briyani and Roti Kirai plus Kari Ayam. best. tapi penat memasak dia sampai berapa hari.

i really really miss home. paling best sekali, members kat sini semua balik raya.

on a separate note, we have our own halal officer at home. we bought this mega pack of snacks, one of which was a small pack Twisties Chicken flavour. Ilhan was about to open it but I stopped him.

"Eh, yang ni tak boleh makan, tak halal."

"Kenapa ibu beyi yang hayam? Kan kita bukan oyang putih. Kita kan oyang Iswam. Tak ingat ke?"

ye lah tu. this coming from my turning-Three-in-2-weeks-time-and-recently-switched-to-undies son.

yep, you read that right. he's finally off diapers :)

get well soon sister. alhamdullillah everything's ok.

happy birthday brother. i baked a mixed berry cheesecake today. kita makankan ok :)

selamat menghayati Nuzul Al-Quran semua.

 

Ramadhan sejauh ini

Ramdhan started off with a bang for us here. literally.

the day before Ramadhan i was with ilhan at home when The Hasbern called just after 9am and said "B, i accident B."

gulp.

alhamdullillah it wasn't anything serious. no one was injured, but the front of his Nimbus was smashed and since he figured the cost of repairs would be more than the cost of the car itself (which we got for only AUD$1000), hantar scrap sudah.

later in the night was the dilemma of 'dah start puasa ke belum eh?'. haii....apparently this is the case every year here. satu puak kata nanti-kita-tengok-anak-bulan. lagi satu puak pula ikut kalendar. tak pernah sama-sama. malam tu sibuk terima sms sini-sana kata orang kat sydney kat belum nampak bulan. tapi kebanyakan masjid melayu dan komuniti melayu/indonesia pula memang dah sedia nak mula puasa Khamis 13 September.

jadi bertawakal dan puasa lah kita. true enough, keesokan harinya kita jumpa budak-budak lain dari UWA dan mostly the arab community yang belum mula puasa lagi - Jumaat kata mereka.

wallahu'alam bissawab.

hari pertama aku puasa aku asik pikir pasal roti boyan aje. hahahah...terbayang-bayang si roti boyan kat bazar ramadhan bukit panjang. astaghfirullah hal'azim. malam tu kita dijemput berbuka di rumah fazidah dan keluarga. oh, i forgot to mention, it was also The Hasbern's birthday, and since we aren't into all the fuss and hoo-haa and it was just a simple Hazelnut and Chocolate Torte surrounded by us and Fazidah's family. ilhan yang ghairah tiup lilin.

hari kedua kita dua kerja, sampai rumah jam 5 (maghrib jam 6) dan dah tak larat nak masak. jadi kita makan maggi kari dan belen kek semalam. lepas maghrib ingat nak belanja The Hasbern kat Djimbaran Bali. jadi kita pergilah tempat ni, 35km jauhnya. tapi sayang, restoran ni indah khabar dari rupa, indah rupa dari rasa.

moral of the story, buka dengan juadah yang simpe-simple pun kenyang dan memadai.

hari ketiga, kita jemput Ahmad sekeluarga buka bersama. Ahmad ni coursemate The Hasbern, dari Maldives. aku terbayang-bayang roti kirai dan kari ayam sebelum tu, jadi telefon nenek untuk confirm recipe. jadi jugak. roti kirai's very labour-intensive to make, but oh-so-rewarding.

hari keempat, kita tiga beranak je. menu: lamb chops, sour cream and chives mashed potatoes, salad, roti telur (yg ayah selalu buat), tom yum.

Ramadhan is a simple low-key affair here i guess. i guess for the first few days memanglah terbayang-bayang macam-macam. semua nak. but then, the brain tells the mind not to wish for what it can't get and instead focus on what's more important....hahha.

and seriously, the fact that there are no food bazaars anywhere, and the simple lack of cheap good halal food help. not much distraction - if i'm not working, i'll whip up something, on days i work, we eat out (eat out kat sini setakat mee goreng, pizza, fish chips simple2 je). hujung minggu kita menjemput atau dijemput untuk berbuka dengan teman-teman. semalam ke masjid di hepburn (ni kirakan masjid melayu ni), rasa semangat betul bila sama-sama menyeru "Aaaaaaamiiiiiinnnnnnn" selepas bacaan imam. it feels like home with all the makcik-makcik in telekung putih. terasa luas bumi Allah ni.

gitulah ceritanya. tak ada bazaar Ramadhan, tak ada geylang. rasa tenang sikit.

kalau mengidam itu ini pandai-pandailah masak sendiri.

uhm...ada sesiapa tahu macam mana nak buat roti boyan?

Ilhan's Australian Idol Audition Part 2

well the first audition didn't work out, so he's back again in Part 2. pun tak pass jugak sebab dia macam bulu sehelai.

Ilhan's Australian Idol Audition Part 1

this was taken in january 2007, and it features his repertoire of songs back then (sekarang dah lain dah). di Carta Hits Ilhan waktu tu - Hikmah, Pak Abu, Pak Mamat dan Pop Yeh Yeh.

like my mum would say, ilhan ni macam bulu sehelai (tak boleh duduk diam). masa ni dia tengah multi-tasking tengok kartun.

bahasa melambangkan bangsa?

sabtu lalu kami sekeluarga menghadiri sebuah majlis ulang tahun ke-5 anak teman. di majlis tu jumpa beberapa keluarga Melayu Singapura. aku tengok ada seorang wanita cina ni duduk seorang diri dengan bayinya, jadi aku pergilah berbual dengannya.

rupanya dia kerja kat Emma's Yong Tau Fu yang kat Northbridge tu. anak dia yang 6 tahun memang kawan baik dengan si birthday girl. aku pun memang selalu beli asian groceries kat kedai dia. berbual lah kami tentang budak-budak dan kehidupan di sini . dia berasal dari hougang, dan cara perbualannya memang sangat Hougang-heartlander. dia baru berada di sini selama 3 tahun dan baru dapat PR bulan lalu.

aku perhatikan anak dia gunakan Aussie English dengan selesa bila berbual dengan teman sebaya di majlis tu, tapi bila dipanggil maknya, dengan mudah dia bertukar ke bahasa mandarin. aku pun kata (dalam linggonya) "Wah, very good ah your daughter, can speak english and chinese so well."

jawabnya "oh, my husband and i very strict. in school and outside the house she learn english and speak english but at home must speak chinese. sometimes she forget she speak to me in english but i say 'soli hor, mummy no understand' so force her to speak chinese. i don't care one. i think very important hor, cannot forget own language. if not she think she ang-moh."

aku tanya lagi, "wah like that very good ah. then you teach her the writing also?"

jawabnya, "i try to teach a bit, and also every sunday i send her to chinese school to learn chinese. there she meet other children her age good lor all speak practice chinese."

sambungnya lagi, "eh, i think got malay school also you know. got write in the book (aku rasa ini booklet yang immigration beri to new migrants kot). later i find i give you hor."

aku terfikir tentang ironi di sekelilling kami, bahasa yang menjadi pilihan anak-anak melayu yang sedang sibuk bermain kejar-kejar/buka presents/makan kek. kadang-kadang aku sengaja berbual dengan mereka dalam bahasa melayu. terkebil-kebil dorang tengok aku.

ada seorang ibu ni kata "Eh cutenya your son cakap Melayu. i dengan my husband tried dengan our son, but we always forget and susahlah."

aku takde comment. to each his own.

jangan salah anggap...aku ni bukan Pegawai Pencegah Maksiat Bahasa atau language-police. aku pun bukan bilingual warrior. aku tak megah yang ilhan ni dapat menggunakan kedua-dua bahasa pada masa yang sama. pada aku itu cuma sesuatu yang natural. kita orang melayu, bahasa kita melayu, jadi kita tahu cakap melayu.

aku cuma kagum dengan sikap bangsa lain melestarikan bahasa ibunda sebagai wadah penyaluran nilai dan identiti sedangkan bangsa kita rasa ia tak perlu.