15 posts tagged “traveling”
cebu - manila - kl
ch*n*ai? next month??
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sangat berat hati okk
Am blogging from the hotel room, the same place i went last March '09. the advantage being in the same place is, i know what to expect. so this time round, i brought sufficient food supply (instant noodles, that is) including a loaf of bread, canned foods and kuah rojak. yes, kuah rojak. read that twice if you want.
‘We’re taking a survey,’ she says, half-joking. ‘Do you think I should have a baby?’
‘It will change your life,’ I say, carefully keeping my tone neutral.
‘I know,’ she says, ‘no more sleeping in on weekends, no more spontaneous vacations….’
But that is not what I meant at all.
I look at my daughter, trying to decide what to tell her. I want her to know what she will never learn in childbirth classes. I want to tell her that the physical wounds of child bearing will heal, but that becoming a mother will leave her with an emotional wound so raw that she will forever be vulnerable.
I consider warning her that she will never again read a newspaper without asking ‘What if that had been MY child?’
That every plane crash, every house fire will haunt her. That when she sees pictures of starving children, she will wonder if anything could be worse than watching your child die.
I look at her carefully manicured nails and stylish suit and think that no matter how sophisticated she is, becoming a mother will reduce her to primitive level of a bear protecting her cub.
That an urgent call of ‘Mom!’ will cause her to drop a soufflé or her best crystal without a moment’s hesitation. I feel I should warn her that no matter how many years she has invested in her career, she will be professionally derailed by motherhood.
She might arrange for child care but one day she will be going into an important business meeting and she will think of her baby’s sweet smell. She will have to use every ounce of her discipline to keep her from running home, just to make sure her baby is all right.
I want my daughter to know that everyday decisions will no longer be routine. That a five year old boy’s desire to go to the men’s room rather than the women’s at McDonald’s will become a major dilemma.
That right there, in the midst of clattering trays and screaming children, issues of independence and gender identity will be weighed against the prospect that a child molester may be lurking in that rest-room.
However she may be at the office, she will second-guess herself constantly as a mother. Looking at my attractive daughter, I want to assure her that eventually she will shed the pounds of pregnancy, but she will never feel the same about herself.
That her life, now so important, will be of less value to her once she has a child.
That she would give it up in a moment to save her offspring, but will also begin to hope for more years - not to accomplish her own dreams, but to watch her child accomplish theirs.
I want her to know that a Cesarean scar or shiny stretch marks will become badges of honor. My daughter’s relationship with her husband will change, but not in the way she thinks..
I wish she could understand how much more you can love a man who is careful to powder the baby or who never hesitates to play with his child.
I think she should know that she will fall in love with him again for reasons she would now find very unromantic.
I wish my daughter could sense the bond she will feel with women throughout history who have tried to stop war, prejudice and drunk driving. I hope she will understand why I can think rationally about most issues, but become temporarily insane when I discuss the threat of nuclear war to my children’s future.
I want to describe to my daughter the exhilaration of seeing your child learn to ride a bike.
I want to capture for her the belly laugh of a baby who is touching the soft fur of a dog or a cat for the first time.
I want her to taste the joy that is so real, it actually hurts.
My daughter’s quizzical look makes me realize that tears have formed in my eyes.
‘You’ll never regret it,’ I finally say.
Then I reach across the table, squeeze my daughter’s hand and offer a silent prayer for her, and for me, and for all of the mere mortal women who stumble their way into this most wonderful of callings.
This blessed gift from Allah!
Being a Mother.
Alhamdulillah, we safely arrived KL last night at exactly 1200 am after a 4-hour drive. dats pretty short as compared to the usual 5 hours. maybe it was because of the lesser traffic and minus the stopping hour for dinner. mom made us a hearty meal before we took off..so our tummy was quite full for the night.
OH definitely added one more skill to his list - mengayam ketupat satay. he made 5 ketupats in less than 2 hours. being a newbie, i suppose that is something to be proud of. while me actually a pure johorian, cud never make one *sigh* i've tried tapi semuanya tak menjadi LOL. takpe, i leave that to MOH for passing the skills to our children...teheheh.
stuck in an island, away from city centre, apart from the family, an off-duty direct breastfeeding mom, missing pump parts and no place to get the part replacement is the worse combination of cases happening to me now. sh*t.
i must have been too tired last night that got me carelessly dumped the white membrane into the sink while washing the bottle. *slaps forehead* this left me with no choice but to do manual expressing. to get 3 oz on manual per session, when you have to sneak out during meeting is not easy i'm telling ya. shessshh.. i am both angry (to self) and a lil bit sad for not standing the decision to bring them together here =( the fact that shangri-la resort is always a perfect place for a family get-away plus its baby-friendly environment, it makes me even sadder.
i'm going to post some pictures soon to show you what i mean.
well, its too late to be sorry isn't it? it is hard but i have to do it.
I love Hawaii. Beautiful beaches, friendly & courteous people, lotsa place to shop (haiii.. org perempuann :P), and mostly importantly, its clean! Hmm..if only they have more place for us Muslims to eat, i would have love it even more. I noticed a lot Japanese went there. i'm thinking..its the sentimental value of the historical kamikaze attack on pearl harbor that brought them there. well, the hotel even served misou sup & rice porridge everyday for breakfast. that shows how many of them even the hotel served japanese dish daily. and nope, no babywearer at all.
The meeting is over within just 1 and 1/2 days. Well, it wasn't easy to make a system documentation when authors are scattered all over the globe & you need to be in sync in terms of understanding, writing style and the amount of information needed to be put in the book. I would say its a good progress overall considering those facts. *yey!*
Job is done and we've got another 1 1/2 day to spend before flying home. visit to NY perhaps? hmmm..already put that up in my list so far. but with the freezing temperature outside & the so-little-fat me who could hardly stays long enough outdoor, am having a 2nd tot about it.
Anyway, its snowing (light) outside and are planning to go to Lahore Kebab restaurant in Boonton, NJ. Its a Pakistani restaurant around 11 miles from the hotel that makes an excellent briyani, which is nothing similar than i had tasted so far in my life! took some pictures over there but am unable to upload it coz the forgetful me left the cable back home :P so u guys just need to wait till next week *i hope!* even gambar Hawaii pun x upload2 lagi LOL! i knowww.. i knowww... bear with me ya!
*sigh*
I am due for an almost 3/4 journey around the globe for a simple destination, in less than 24 hour. Sounds like I'm exaggerating, isn't it? Its funny how your route could end up given the limited flights available for your intended trip. An approximate of 19 hours flying with MH is not that bad, I guess, as compared to the 30-hour-on-plane journey altogether (with transit & different airlines) I had last time *fuhhh*
My parents were in town yesterday, purposely to spend a day off with us & the only grandchild. It was only the three of them - dad, mom and sis. They usually came down for some work-related stuff, but not this time. Its been a while since we had a family outing, so we decided to take them for some KL detour, jalan-jalan cari makan & shop for some school stuffs for my so-called spoilt lil sis :P
Hit the road around 1045 am. Lucky us, with less traffic heading downtown, no roadblock at the Dataran Merdeka & lotsa parking space, we reached Sogo in less than 45 mins. Made a quick round for the school girl and it was already noon in no time.
We headed for lunch at the Krung Thep Thai Restaurant on Level 6. Vwah vwah!! The meal was splendid!! With spring rolls as the appetizer, followed by black pepper prawn, green curry chicken, siakap 3 rasa, mixed tomyam, mixed fried vege & white rice as main course, plus, water chesnut desert, i had a noticable 'bulge' at my belly by the end of the meal.. tehehehehe. nasib baik it was only temporary, it went away before nightime :P *tak tipu punye...*
Anyways, i have to agree with MOH that the meal was far more enjoyable (in terms of taste, price & quantity) than what we had at Sri Ayutthaya, MV last time. Extra credits to the meal presentation as well for KTT. The tomyam sampai dlm periuk berapi lagi. look at the snap shot if you dont believe me!
On top of that, baby IZ macam biasa behaving like a lil angel. Hmm..made the whole thing even sweeter la kan. Of course she didnt get a bite of what we were having, instead she had the pureed shell pasta+celery+carrot+meat i made earlier that day.
Following that, mom and I wanted to cuci-cuci mata along the shop area, opposite Sogo. The guys had no other choice but to follow heheh. Nasib baik the weather was kind to us - not so sunny, a bit windy & somewhat mendung. Went to Harisons for a sneak-peak of its new look. Being recently renovated, it has a clean & modern look for its interior, and easy to pusing2 around for fabric selection. Made few purchases here previously, and will be doing so again in future :) The purchase of 220 meter of fabric mom made earned me a free membership (>RM350, dpt membership free hehe *promote, promote!*)
So there goes the guys' baju melayu for next hari raya - theme has been fixed. Mom has never failed to sew our clothes every year =) except, i think next year i wanna have kebaya for meeself (hopefully tummy still flat iykiwm hehehe). Will be heading south next year, so its going to be a big gathering for everyone, yuhhuu!
