iBlos3om

First Day • Second Day • Third Day • Fourth Day • Fifth Day • Sixth Day • Seventh Day • Eight Day • Ninth Day • Tenth Day • Eleventh Day • Twelfth Day

On the First Day of Christmas…my true love gave to me,
A PAIR OF EXCITED TRAVELERS
Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009

For more than a month, our bags were packed and we were so ready to go…That’s THREE luggages, one camera bag, one backpack, one carry-on and a big handbag to put my bolster. The better part of the three luggages were filled only with presents or things for people at home. That left only enough room for the bare essentials, ie. underwear and sunglasses.

We were boarding the first flight out of JFK to HKG bright and early in the am. The night before was a mad rush to finish all the chores and final packing before leaving for KL. After a quick dinner and washing up, we packed all of Jessie’s essentials and dropped her off at her sitter’s. She didn’t realize what she was in for. She has known for a while now that something was going to happen. It was the what, when and how that she didn’t understand. I tried to tell her every night, but instead of listening, she either dozes off from my rubbing or spreads eagle for more belly rubs. I’m overjoyed to be home, but am dejected for leaving my baby behind.

Jessie thought, as she saw us packing her things into the car, that we were all going for a vacation together. She happily snoozed next to me in the car on the way to the sitter’s. When we arrived, she awoke happily and ran down to her new “destination.” Even when the sitter took her leash from me, Jessie still had no clue. Until she was behind a door, and I on the other side of it, then she panicked. But hubs quickly tore me away, to “lessen” her pain. I think she thinks that I’m abandoning her.

Our car arrived as expected on the day of. We, however, overslept and were awoken by an urgent call from our driver. In a mad rush, we brushed our teeth, got dressed and turned off all unnecessary utilities. Thank goodness we got everything done the night before. Timer set. Electronics unplugged. Plants watered. Windows sealed. Neighbor and friends informed. Hong Kong here we come! There is excitement and trepidation in the chilly cold December air. We’re psyched to be going away, but we are also dreading the very long and arduous journey home.

We easily wove through Manhattan in the early morning without the crazy rush hour traffic. Met up with TnT, our fellow travelers, at JFK. After checking-in, we hung around the airport until it was time to board the plane.

TnT were seated next to a pill-popper. Unfortunately for us, we had the worse end of the stick. Hubs had a stinker next to him. Not just ANY stinker, it was some serious BO going on. Come on! This early in the morning and THAT cold. How long have you not showered you bloody kwai loh!?! For the next 16 hours, hubs was ready to die, but patiently sat through it.

We didn’t sleep a wink.

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On the Second Day of Christmas…my true love gave to me,
TWO WEARY DRIFTERS
Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009

We landed in Chek Lap Kok Airport at 2:00 pm. TnT proceeded to catch the connecting flight to KL, while the two of us stopped in HK. After we claimed our luggages and went through HK customs & immigration, we took the Airport Express from Hong Kong International Airport to Kowloon. From there we took a shuttle to Stanford Hillview Hotel in Tsimshatsui. A word from the wise, when a hotel is called HILL-VIEW think twice about checking yourself in it. It was definitely ON a hill. The hill was at a 45º angle, but felt more like 90º. Hauling our luggage up that hill felt like we were pulling bricks. Oh, and the view? I saw into an adjacent apartment building, who really didn’t mind sharing their business with the entire world. I quickly drew the curtains. No more view for me.

After settling in, and calling on our friend, we still had some time before dinner.

We went to the ticketing counter for the ferry into Macau and got our fares for the next day, but not before going to a foreign currency exchange to get some local dough. Turns out, the ticketing office is right below our previous hotel – the Royal Pacific, and about a good 25-minute brisk walk from our Hill-View. The only consolation, was us stop at Hui Lau Shan for a drink of bird’s nest.

We rushed back to our Hill-View, thinking that we were late for dinner – no thanks to my skills in reading time, only to realize we still had an hour more to go. As tired as we were, instead of taking a nap, we showered, so that we can immediately hit the bed when we got back from dinner. My dear old friend from St. Cloud (JnK) finally pulled up to the hotel with his newly acquired black Beamer and ushered us to dinner at his old stomping grounds in Hang Hau. We had an array of seafood dishes – all of which, was mighty fresh and tasted really good. There were herb boiled soup, black peppered long shelled clams, steamed scallops with vermicelli topped with dried prawns, steamed baby abalones with ginger and lobster in cheese.

After dinner, we adjourned to JnK’s new apartment where we spent the next 5 hours. After catching up and exchanging Christmas gifts, we were driven to TVB headquarters, for a night view of where all the Chinese series are made. We finally got back to the hotel in the wee hours of the morning. Even as tired as we were, I only managed about two hours of sleep. Hubs slept like a baby.

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On the Third Day of Christmas…my true love gave to me,
THREE DIFFERENT CULTURES
Friday, Dec. 18, 2009

We were jolted from our slumber by the beeping of our alarm clock at 6 am. We hurriedly got dressed and took all the necessary items (travel documents, cameras, water) for our trip to Macau. After our long hike to the China Ferry Terminal, which is at the Royal Pacific Hotel, we almost missed our boat. Sweating it out under layers of clothing and jacket in the cool waters is a recipe for disaster. Lucky for us, we are made of sterner stuff.

First Ferry Ticketing Office,
China Ferry Terminal

Shop 8B & 3, 1/F, China Ferry Terminal,
33 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong

• Shop 8B’s Hours: 6:30am – 10:30pm Daily
• Shop 3’s Hours: 610:00am – 6:00pm Daily

Macau was once a port city for trading silk to Rome. It’s earliest known inhabitants were fishermen from Fujian and farmers from Guangdong. In the early 1550s the Portuguese merchant-explorers reached Ou Mun, which the locals also called A Ma Gao, “place of A Ma”, in honour of the Goddess of Seafarers, whose temple stood at the entrance to the sheltered Inner Harbour. The Portuguese adopted the name, which gradually changes into the name Macau. With the permission of Guangdong’s mandarins, Macau was established as a city that became a major entrepot for trade between China, Japan, India and Europe. The Roman Catholic church also sent some of its greatest missionaries to continue the work of St Francis Xavier, (who died nearby after making many converts in Japan). Other churches were built, as well as fortresses, which gave the city an historical European appearance that distinguishes it to this day. Macau has been a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China since 20 December 1999, and, like Hong Kong, benefits from the principle of “one country, two systems.”

Macau is a tourist island-country, which means most services should be catered to tourist. Looking for the Lotus Square was quite a challenge, as no one seems to understand what or where we were looking for. It was only after we asked a security guard at the Fishermen’s Wharf that we were directed correctly to the Square.

• The Lotus Square, where the Lotus Flower in Full Bloom stands, marks the return of sovereignty of Macau by the Chinese. The sculpture is made of gilded bronze and weighs 6.5 tons, with a height of 6 meters and a diameter of 3.6 meters. This gift represents the everlasting prosperity of Macau, and its red granite base signifies the Macau Peninsula, Taipa Island and Coloane Island.

• Then we headed to the Historic Centre of Macau, which was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2005 by UNESCO. The site has over 400 years of history and spans eight squares and 22 historic buildings, of which we only managed 2 squares (Senado Square & St. Dominic’s Square) and 12 buildings (A-Ma Temple, Mandarin’s House, Dom Pedro V Theatre, Sir Robert Ho Tung Library, ‘Leal Senado’ Building, Lou Kau mansion, St. Dominic’s Church, the Ruins of St. Paul’s, Na Tcha Temple, Casa Garden, the Protestant Cemetery, and Guia Fortress (including Guia Chapel and Lighthouse).

Once again, trying to maneuver our way to Senado Square was like looking for a needle in a haystack.  No one knew where or what we were looking for.  We even stopped at the police station, which directed us to a nearby bus stop to get across the city.  We tried catching the bus, but were rudely told by the driver that that wasn’t his route, and was promptly told to leave the bus. A “kind” resident told us to go around the bend to catch another bus. Another hoax. By this time, we were so frustrated that we hailed a cab instead.

Here’s the amazing part. I spoke to the cab driver in English. But on discovering the initial fare of the taxi, was so shocked, I had to tell hubs the price in Japanese. In turn, the driver started spewing out at least 5 different languages and dialects, of which I only caught four including Malay, Cantonese, Mandarin and Japanese.

Weaving through the bustling street of Macau, our driver quickly got us to Senado Square. By this time, aside from the seasickness, my stomach was crying out in hunger. I wanted to gag so badly.

• Macau is filled with squares, which are paved in wavy patterns inspired by the tones and materials of Portugal. Senado Square is one of the better-known ones, usually showing up as background for movies. The infamous fountain sitting in the middle of the square has been renovated a few times and a celestial globe currently sits in the heart of the fountain. The Square also is host to many architectural gems, namely St, Dominic’s Church, the Holy Holy House of Mercy, Leal Senado Building and Sam Kai Vui Kun Temple.

I am still stupefied by the fact that breakfast was a rare commodity. Almost dying of an overflow of acid in my stomach, we crawled into St. Dominic’s Church.

• St. Dominic’s Church, which once had a dramatic past, is this year’s location for the annual Christmas concert on Dec. 23. Too bad we will be missing the Macau Orchestra performing the works of Mozart and Bach for Christmas.

There were many shops unopened that early in the morning, but what caught my eye was a Japanese store called Daiso, which promised to have food in it. We hurried into it, hubs more so, as he didn’t want to face my wrath. The shop was filled with knick-knacks, from house wares down to pet supplies. Winding through 4 floors of nonsense, we finally found food.  It wasn’t solid food, but to appease me, junk food will suffice. We got a bag of rice crackers, honeydew soda and coffee to keep the energy going.

As we left the shop, sipping on our drinks but unwilling to open the bag of crackers, we spotted opened restaurants. Hallelujah!  If I could sing I would have.  The choice was a Chinese store just heating up their charcoals or a Japanese store serving taiyaki.  The place is called Rookies’ Golden Taiyaki at Shop IC, G/F, Rua do Monte Centro a few steps from the Ruins of St. Paul. Hubs ordered fried pork with omelet tonpeiyaki and I ordered a cabbage omelet issenyaki. I haven’t never been this famished and ecstatic at the prospects of eating.

After being fed, we went on our happy way towards the Ruins of St. Paul, also known as 大三巴。

• The Ruins of St. Paul was once a magnificent church, until a fire razed it and a sister college in 1835. Built in 1602, together with the Jesuit College, served missionaries studying Chinese before heading off to the Ming Court as astronomers and mathematicians. The fire left behind a dramatic facade, complete with stone carvings and statues. Today, many musical performances are enacted at its steps.  We also went into the Museum of Sacred Art and Crypt where admission was free.

By the Ruins, we saw many different food, namely fish balls in soup ranging from mild to fiery hot, bubble tea, crepe like pastries, pork jerkies, and the infamous Portugese import “Pastéis de Nata”, little egg tarts. It didn’t matter that we just ate.  The more the merrier. We started with piping hot fish balls, which were chewy and very tasty. Since I got thirsty from all the MSG from the fish ball soup, I proceeded to get a cup of green tea bubble tea. After this, we waited in line for the egg tarts and ordered more to bring back to Hong Kong for our friends. (MOP$5 each. Buy it from the store AFTER the Ruins. The stores at the Ruins sell it for MOP$6 each)

Since we were quite well-fed, we decided to stroll around in the area of the Ruins and found a little park. We were relieved to find benches, as our legs – mine especially, were screaming for relief. It was still early in the day, and the only people in the park were old-timers (us included) “walking” their birds.

While I took a breather, hubs discovered a set of stairways leading to an overlook. I took one look at the uneven cobbled steps and the height, and told him to go ahead without me. Instead, I hung around watching people passing by. Purple must be an in thing, I discovered, watching a few women (mainly from the Mainland) covered from top to bottom in purple adornments. And there were MANY Mainlanders.

• Hubs discovered the Mount Fortress. The Mount built in 1617-26, occupies a hilltop to the east of the ruins of St. Paul′ s. It was constructed by the Jesuits as part of a complex which also included the college and church of St. Paul′ s. The canons were used only once, when the Dutch invaded Macau in 1622. This was also the first residence of the governors of Macau. Over the following decades trees grew from the platform of the fort, which was transformed into a public park where residents and visitors came to enjoy the views.

• Na Tcha Temple is right next to the Ruins of St. Paul, too seemingly different believes, but when it is found in Macau, it’s more like an integration and acceptance of culture and religion. This is a rather small temple but has more than 400 years of history in it. This temple was so small that we almost missed it, thinking it to be just someone’s abode.

The “Section of the Old City Wall” was first constructed in 1569, broken down by the Chinese who opposed the walls, and then rebuild by Portuguese until 1632. The remaining wall, located near Na Tcha Temple and the Ruins of St. Paul, measures only 18.5 m long, 5.6 m high and 1 m wide.

• The Mandarin’s House on Travessa de António da Silva was once the residence of prominent Chinese literary figure Zheng Guan Ying. It is a traditional 4,000 square meter Chinese-style compound made up of several courtyard houses. Its architecture dates back to the Qing Dynasty. Unfortunately for us, it was undergoing renovations. Lilau Square, St. Lawrence’s Church, the Moorish Barracks and A-Ma Temple can be found nearby, illustrating Macau’s multicultural background in a mix of striking architectural features.

• A-Ma Temple is said to be the first landing place for the Portuguese. The goddess A-Ma has long been revered as the protector of the fishermen of Macau. Chinese legend has it that touching the top of the moon gate up the hill will bring luck in love. By this time, having walked the entire Senado Square southwards to A-Ma Temple, the stairs were really ominous. If I had more gumption, I would have touched that moon gate, and maybe my holding out for a certain somebody will finally come true. Since I didn’t touch that gate, but was only in the vicinity of it, I don’t think my love luck has changed much.

After the temple, what we thought was a short walk to Casino Lisboa became a journey of the southern tip of Macau. We walked, climbed and scaled across the rocky surfaces of Macau’s uneven roadways. It soon became a challenge to our knees, ankles and our flabby thighs. Even our coats began to weigh like dumbbells on our shoulders. We kept consoling ourselves that the prize was at the end. But our bodies knew better. Every step we took reminded us that we were no spring chickens anymore. The earlier meal that was consumed was not only burnt, but reserves were being called upon.

• Our final stop for the day was at least one casino. We were told to head to MGM for their buffet, but after learning that it was quite a distance, we opted for the closer Lisboa. We went in, took two looks and boarded the shuttle to the ferry terminal. That was all our bodies could take.

We walked, looked, photographed and ate till we dropped. We called it quits soon after one visit to Lisboa. We took the 3:30 pm ferry back to Hong Kong. Unfortunately for us, not only was our hotel a hike away, it was also up that very very steep hill. We bought lunch/dinner back to the hotel and finally ate at 6:30 pm. I had Hong Kong’s infamous shrimp dumplings with noodles and hubs had some kind of a fried noodle. It really didn’t matter what we ate at that point. I was so sore, I had to pop Celebrex to ease some of the inflammation. Sleeping was not a problem after that. When JnK called for drinks at 10 pm, even though we were sleeping in our “going-out clothes,” we just surrendered and finally slept through the night.

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On the Fourth Day of Christmas…my true love gave to me,
FOUR HOURS TO HOME
Saturday, Dec. 19, 2009

We woke up bright and early the next day having slept our fill.  However, our bodies were aching. Everything was throbbing.

Since our stomachs were rumbling, we headed out for an early breakfast at 7 in the morning. We stopped by a coffee shop on Kimberly Road and since we couldn’t read the menu, pointed to the dishes on the next table. Hubs got their store’s best-seller beef brisket noodle soup and I had oily fried noodles.

After breakfast, we walked around, looking for stores that might be opened (since hubs forgot to pack underwear), and chanced upon an outdoor dim sum store. We promised to buy from them on our way back to the hotel.  After roaming the streets of Nathan Road for more than an hour, we figured it was time to return to the hotel, pack and wait for JnK for brunch. Of course being as greedy as we were, we stopped at the earlier dim sum store, and took away two chicken steamed buns.

We returned to the hotel, packed up and ate our buns while waiting for JnK to call us. They finally did and we were told to meet them at the Kowloon station – ie. Elements shopping mall. They met us there close to 11 am.

After checking in our baggage at Kowloon Station, we proceeded into Elements for lunch at Full Moon restaurant. (We didn’t let them know what pigs we were earlier and the result was over-stuffing) We had a vast selection of Hong Kong’s best dim sum, most notably shrimp dumplings, pork rice noodles, fried shrimp pancakes, and an almond jelly with Osmanthus flower 桂花.

After eating, we strolled around the mall to kill some time before boarding the Airport Express train at 1:45 pm to get to the airport. The mall is definitely huge, covering over a million square feet of shopping, dining and entertainment all under one roof. It is divided into 5 elemental zones metal, wood, water, fire and earth. I think we were at the Water Zone.

We caught the 3 pm flight into KUL. The plane touched down as expected and we finally reached home around 9:30pm. Embarrassingly, I misdirected the cab driver to a few wrong turns into different housing areas before finally redirecting him to my home of 18 years. I know, I should be shot. When we got home, there was more food waiting for us. Daddy had ordered a special take out for us of pancaked-fried beehoon and seafood fried flat noodles. Mommy boiled ginko bilbo soup. Stuffed. Definitely stuffed.

All the girls are finally home – but TnT had left earlier in the day for their hotel before we arrived.

After we had our late dinner, hubs and I met our long-time college friend for more eating/drinking at PapaRich, a franchise coffee shop that is popping up faster than the spread of H1N1.  White flag.

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On the Fifth Day of Christmas…my true love gave to me,
FIVE GOLDEN RINGS
Sunday, Dec. 20, 2009

The long awaited TnT’s wedding dinner in KL, and the entire Chong and Phoa clan met (minus a few).

The day began with the older sisters running off to preen, stopping first at the salon for a quick mani and pedi, which took longer than expected and delayed our planned lunch with the family at home.

Lunch with the entire family (minus hubs who left earlier to be with his family) was the whole nine-yards. Even TnT returned home for lunch. We had pig stomach soup with abalone, oo-ee-pann – a traditional Hakka dish of diced mushrooms and dried prawns fried with yam that took a few days to prepare, fried chicken wings, french beans with shrimp and shanghai lettuce fried with fish. We were stuffed to the brim again. As daddy dropped TnT off back at their hotel in KL, Cheh and I showered early so that when daddy returned, we could go to the salon to get our hair done.

Dinner was at Oversea Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur. We were actually running late, not because Cheh and I ran off to the salon. In fact, we were very prompt. We had to turn back around, after leaving the house, as daddy forgot to bring an extra bottle of wine. Just as well, since Cheh needed to get more things – clothes tape (to avoid a mishap ala Janet Jackson during the Superbowl), camera, water and gum.

The restaurant wasn’t the best place to have a wedding, but according to many of the guests, the food was definitely good. We had a variety of appetizer, shark’s fin soup with lobster and scallops, a roasted baby suckling pig, steamed fish, sweet glutinous rice, prawns, mixed vegetables with mushrooms and dessert of sweet dragon eye soup and rice crackers.

The dinner reception was held on the second floor of the restaurant. However, many customers of the restaurant strolled in and out of the second floor constantly to use the bathroom – located ONLY on the second floor. So every Tom, Dick, Harry, Mary, Jane and Sally ambled casually into the wedding “hall” and stood and stared at the only white boy in the entire restaurant.  I guess that was the intention?

Cheh and I were also assigned last minute duties – manning the reception counter, guarding the money and gifts, greeting, directing and ushering the guests, 11th hour emcee and finally money counter. Even hubs got the unofficial duty of photographer for the night.

Of course, Cheh’s get-up had a few close calls, even with the additional clothes tape.  She flashed my aunt, who was sitting next to us, a few times. My aunt consoled her saying that it was, “OK, very fashionable.”  “很流行.”

After all the eating, “yum seng,” and meeting and greeting, the event finally came to a wrap close to midnight. After we paid off the restaurant, we returned home, while TnT prepared for their early morning flight out to Bali for the next 12 days.

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On the Sixth Day of Christmas…my true love gave to me,
SIX CHORES TO-DO
Monday, Dec. 21, 2009

The day began very early, in fact before the sun even rose.

• Hubs had a scheduled appointment with the US Embassy bright and early in the morning. Daddy drove us there, and after dropping hubs off, we took a walk around the area of Jalan Ampang. After what seemed like an eternity, hubs came out from the embassy looking forlorn. He had to return to the embassy again, but only WHEN they called. The question was would he make it in time for his return on the 28th and before the upcoming Christmas break? Low in spirits, we returned home only to complete the chores already set out for the day like zombies.

• Cheh, hubs and I then headed to Mid-Valley mall to purchase my parents’ Christmas gift – a flat screen TV. After browsing around in two shops (Harvey Norman and Best Denki), we decided that the later had a better and cheaper selection of TV.  We settled on a Panasonic 42″ plasma (even though we were going to purchase a LCD) when the salesperson convinced us that since HD is not yet available in Malaysia, the plasma will not enhance the pixelation or graininess of analog TV. We were supposed to be in Petaling Jaya (PJ) for a dental appointment at 2. But since the TV transaction took longer than expected, we decided to have a quick bite in the mall at Sushi King, a kaiten sushi (carousel-style sushi). This took longer than expected, and we even had to cancel our order, which thoroughly frightened our poor waitress who promptly dropped the dishes she was about to serve us.

• We finally got into PJ for our dental appointment a little before 2 pm. Cheh still had to park, but dropped hubs and I off first. In the cool and calm office, which had sounds of birds and insects chirping, hubs and I fell asleep waiting for the doctor who had another patient before us. And that’s how Cheh found us, both snoozing comfortably on the dentist’s coach. Instead of the three of us waiting around for one dentist, Cheh and I then ran off to get chips for our phones. I officially had a working KL phone after that, and not to mention clean and shiny teeth.

Still hungry after that, (since we didn’t quite have lunch) we opted for guava with sour plum powder. We saw a goreng pisang store (fried bananas) but decided against it, as the bananas didn’t “look” too sweet. Beggars sometimes can be choosers.

• After our short stint in PJ, Cheh then drove us and dropped us off at the Swiss Garden Inn, where we were supposed to spend the night. Daddy had won a one night stay at the hotel during a drawing for mother’s day and then passed on the winning to us instead. Unfortunately for us, the hotel was, to put it mildly, a piece of crap.

The hotel room was dingy and smelled horrible. The room door and the bathroom door didn’t lock. The bathroom was something I didn’t even want to hover over, much like do anything major in. It was so bad, we wanted to go back home to my hard pillows, but decided not to throw my father’s good-will towards us away. We decided to stick it out, and instead, spent the day AWAY from the room.

• We went shopping, or in our case, window shopping, after that. We dropped off my and cheh’s wedding skirts for alteration at a tailor nearby, and flagged a taxi down to Lot 10 for $5 from Chinatown. We went into Isetan and browsed around for a while before we decided it was too expensive for us.  Then we crossed the bridge over to Sungei Wang and found more nonsense there that caught our eyes. We bought a bag of nibbles, face masks, a cup of mango bubble tea and almost got some mangas, but hubs couldn’t decide how many he wanted. We also strolled into music stores, hair accessories stores, anime stores and odds and ends stores. We even ended up in Low-Yat looking for a camera battery replacement.

• The day finally ended at the Equatorial Hotel for our anniversary dinner. This made me reminisce. I had to meet our planners, Balam and Mary, so I asked concierge to page them for me. Balam came first and after a brief confusion, remembered hubs and I, and led us to the Chalet for our meal. He then found Mary, who was working on a prom night at the same ballroom that we had our wedding reception at. She immediately recognized me, and gave us a warm embrace. It’s nice to be remembered not just as a “client” but as a fellow human. I was very surprised with the concept of a “prom night” in Malaysia, as this has never been a trend when we were in school. The teenagers were all decked out in the finest tuxedos, dresses, with perfectly coiffed hair and well-don makeup – all according to Mary were done by hired professionals. It’s the fa-mo bank, according to cheh (father-mother bank). What happened to the simple life of going to school, getting an education and trying to get into college/university?

Dinner at the Chalet was just special. The atmosphere was inviting but quiet, and the wait staff were all attentive but not overly so. Food was quite exquisite. We started off with an array of appetizers – wrapped sliced beef, ham and lox, mixed cold vegetables, seafood and fruit salads, cheeses, garlic knots and multi-grain raisin buns. Then hubs had steak while I had salmon. It would have tasted better if I were not so tired, constipated and worried about going back to the hotel that looked like it just might be infested with something. I had half a mind to check into the Equatorial, but thought better of it. Instead, during our last course, I used their bathroom for something I would not do at the Swiss Inn.  We left Equatorial Hotel sate, happy, contented but tired.

After a tiring day of walking, browsing and eating, we returned, begrudgingly, to the Swiss Inn. Even though I had pranced around the dusty and filthy city the entire day, I could not bring myself to step into their bathroom to clean myself. Instead, I just put on fresh pjs and crawled under the covers, careful not to touch anything that wasn’t white in color. In fact, I had planned, before seeing the Swiss Inn, to return to the hotel to get dressed for our night out at the Equatorial. But after seeing the Swiss Inn, my plan was drastically altered.

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On the Seventh Day of Christmas…my true love gave to me,
SEVEN LAYERS OF GRIME
Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2009

We woke up very early and headed down to the café for our complimentary breakfast. Before that, hubs decided to shower, only to find out that their hot water wasn’t working. That is what you call a wake up call. After our unappetizing breakfast (which could have been better if I had just walked out to the hawker store), we walked the stretch of Petaling Street and collected my altered skirts from the tailor.

Daddy came to pick us up from the hotel a little after 11 am and because Cheh forgot something from home, we managed to drop off our stuff and I even had a change of clothes (but no time for a shower!)

We then headed off to Mid Valley (again! – it’s like the new hangout) for Cheh to meet with her friends for lunch, while daddy, hubs and I had lunch at Dragon-i. We ordered their 小龙包 Xiao Loong Pau (pork dumplings with soup flowing in the wrapping), fried eel, a couple of hand-made noodle dishes and a claypot chicken rice. The dumplings were juicy and mouth-watering, with the right amount of spices. The hand-made noodles were chewy – just the way I like them.  Even the fried eel was appetizing. After lunch, we walked around the mall a little before meeting up with Cheh again. Ten minutes before our meet up, daddy and hubs decided to have 糖水 tong sui/dessert. Hubs had durian cendol while daddy had a huge bowl of tau fu fa/congealed soy with yau cha kuay/fried buns, and even I were cajoled into having ice kacang, which I never finished.

After meeting with Cheh, daddy was dropped off at home, and the three of us dash off to KL again, this time for our hair cut at Toni and Guy. Cheh dropped us off first, as we were running late for our 2 pm appointment, and hubs and I who looked lost was helped by a guy in the lift of the building. Turns out, he is our hairstylist, Gary. My hair, together with  Cheh’s, was lopped off more than 10″ for  Locks of Love and then expertly and painstakingly styled. Hubs wanted to get his hair cut too, but we were running out of time for our next meeting, as it drew close to 5:30 pm and rush hour traffic. As we maneuvered through KL traffic, we tried to find our way back to PJ the fastest way possible, but ended up outside of our Garden instead. We took a bathroom break at home and sprinted out again, much to the surprise of our parents.

Hubs had to return to his brother’s that night, I had to meet up with another set of college friends, while cheh had to meet with her friends too. In the end, hub’s brother and my friend were instructed to meet us in Bangsar – one in Bangsar Village and the other at Bangsar Shopping Centre. Hub’s brother, not knowing the area too well, ended up waiting at Bangsar Shopping Centre instead, and after the confusion was cleared, 30 minutes later, picked hubs up from the Village.

My friends and I were like the three stooges back in the day, except I were the one laughing at the antics of the other two. Now both of my friends are married, one with a son of almost two years and the other whose bun just came out of the oven. And I have one of my own, four legs with a tail that buzzes like a bee when she sees us coming home. The first friend with a son, used to live in LA, London and then moved back to KL about 2.5 years ago. My other friend, with a newborn baby girl now lives in Indonesia. We talked for hours, catching up and I was sent home close to midnight – after a few misdirection again.  It’s worse than the blind leading the blind.

People! Stop asking me for directions!!

I finally took my shower at 12:30 am. Ah – two days of dust and grime easily came off.

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On the Eight Day of Christmas…my true love gave to me,
EIGHT WAYS OF RELAXATION
Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009

Today was the day that we were supposed to head to Malacca, where the only thing on the agenda was eating. But that was changed when mommy couldn’t recover from her fever that persisted a week before we were even home. The doctors thought it may have been dengue fever, but her blood test report wasn’t available until the 28th morning. Just as well, since hubs still had to wait for the embassy to call. When he finally got a hold of the officer who was assisting him two days ago, the officer apologized for the delay but insist that it was beyond his control as there was technical difficulties from the US side. Hearing that, even though it wasn’t much, made me a little relief, yet worried at the same time. I’ve never prayed harder in my life for a miracle, and a miracle was truly what was needed.

To cheer me up, Cheh brought me to Mid Valley to do a little “shopping” but we didn’t get anything, except for a RM5 bracelet. That just didn’t quite cut it. We left for home soon after.

I just happen to stroll downstairs after lunch to check with Cheh when the TV was going to be delivered, when I heard a huge truck pulling into our street. I looked out the window and saw a white truck stopped three houses away, and thought excitedly that this was our TV truck. I quickly got the keys to open the door, while Cheh ran upstairs to get my father who was sweeping the floors.  One minute the old TV was sitting atop of the divider, and the next, the brand new flat screen plasma was placed on top of it.  Daddy, however excited, was disappointed that it wasn’t a LCD but a plasma instead. But we explained to him that it was because Malaysia has yet to receive HD and the LCD doesn’t view analog too well. Mommy, on the other hand, was angry at us for spending the “unnecessary” money.

After all the excitement died down with the TV, Cheh once again took me out, this time to a salon for a facial. That 2-3 hours really worked its magic. I was rubbed, massaged, pressed, and molded until I almost fell asleep.

Then for dinner, we decided to go for pasar malam/night market food. Unfortunately for us, it starting pouring cats and dogs. So, daddy and his two girls headed to a coffee shop instead and had kaya toast, dried curry noodles, java mee and fried spring rolls. We also had old town coffee and wheat grass honey drinks. Ah…good old Malaysian food.  So comforting. So much like home.

Just as we left, it stopped pouring and daddy suggested we took a stroll in the pasar malam to see if we wanted something else. Tempting.

So we walked in the wet grounds of the pasar malam, found everything to our taste, but was too full to even attempt another bite.  We do have a little self-restrain after all.

However, I saw throngs of badly scarred, marred and disfigured beggars all littered on the floors of the night market. Daddy said that there was a write-up on these beggars, calling them “professional beggars” who begged in these night markets and at the end of the night, rode taxis back to their “owners.” These beggars could very well be long-time stories of children who were once kidnapped from their parents, dismembered or disfigured and then forced to beg on the streets from young. I, once again, felt that I am very lucky to not only have all my limbs, but that I grew up with parents who not only love me, but strove very hard to send us for a higher education overseas.

Walking in the night market made us feel very dirty, and we decided to shower before heading out to meet our friends in Bangsar. I met my long time friend from Assunta, a mother of two and a success in her own way. She has always been the shy one, but seeing her this time, I realized that she finally came out of her shell and is able to truly speak her mind. We stopped at PapaRich.

We got home and I took another shower to rid myself off the damp and humid air of KL. Hubs too came home that night. Somehow, I felt like things were going to be ok then.

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On the Ninth Day of Christmas…my true love gave to me,
NINE KINDS OF MIRACLE
Thursday, Dec. 24, 2009

This was the last day that hubs can get in to meet with the embassy officials. So early in the morning, he finally got someone on the phone to verify that his information arrived at the embassy. The lady called back to ask that hubs get to the embassy immediately as the information just arrived. That was at 10:30 am. We got to the embassy at 10:45 and hubs came out almost immediately. They were trying to get his passport ready, but they weren’t sure if they can meet the day’s dateline, as they were closing early for the holidays. They however told hubs to go to a different building to collect his passport between the hours of 3-4pm that day.

Thinking we had a lot more time, we decided to head to PJ for lunch and a few errands at the bank and medicine/herbal shop. Just as we finished ordering our food, hubs got a call from his brother at 12:30 pm telling him that his passport was ready and had to be picked up immediately at the embassy before it closed. In a panic, and with me holding my newly ordered food, we split in different directions, all trying to cancel or pack our lunch to go. Instead, daddy said that he alone will go with hubs to KL, while mommy (who was feeling much better that day and came along with us) and I finished our lunch and ran our errands.

As we sat there quietly eating our lunch, I prayed again that hubs and daddy would make it there in time to get his passport. After lunch, we headed to the bank and the medicine shop. Hubs called in saying that he got his passport, and right away, the mood changed between my mom and I. The tension was gone. We bought up a storm of tong kuai, dehydrated dragon eyes, sweet plums, seedless red dates and luo han guo (Siraitia grosvenori). Daddy and hubs finally picked us up in PJ, after a bad traffic snare in KL, at 2 pm. Daddy had to purchase fried bananas, which we passed up a few days back, just to hold his stomach until he got home for lunch.

Relieved beyond words, we both took our nap waiting for dinner with his family at 6:30. His sister didn’t show up until an hour later. With the jam, we finally had dinner at 9pm, but not before hub’s brother told us that it was short of a miracle that the embassy actually got a hold of him today. He usually doesn’t carry his cell phone while making his inspection rounds in the factory. On top of that, hubs didn’t list his brother’s cell phone number as a point of contact with the embassy.

We had driven to Kayu Ara in Damansara Jaya for the infamous La La Chong seafood. We had crabs served with steamed buns, sharks fin soup, spicy clams, sweet and sour fried whole chicken, steamed fish, and kangkung/water spinach fried with chili belacan.

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On the Tenth Day of Christmas…my true love gave to me,
TEN DOLLAR HAWKER FOOD
Friday, Dec. 25, 2009

Cheh and I made our way to church early that morning. We were pretty early, but there were people even more kiasu 驚輸 than us. I gave my thanks and counted my blessings in every way possible. Ironically, the speaker for the day is an import from America.

Then we went home for leftover lunch – food from TnT’s wedding that lasted forever. We later prepared for our outing at night.

Our Christmas celebration was going to start with a movie and then a nice quiet Chinese family dinner in the mall. At least that was the plan.

We were going for the 4 pm movie in Mid Valley of Treasure Hunter starring Jay Chou, but ended up buying tickets for Storm Warriors at 7 pm as the tickets were sold out. Who knew that there would be that many people watching movies on Christmas?! Lucky for us we didn’t get tickets for Treasure Hunter, as we got the movie later in a night market and realized how totally horrible it was.

Instead of our dinner after movie, we had to eat before our movie. Mommy, who was still under the weather, craved for porridge, so we went to Canton-i for dinner. We would have been better off at Dragon-i. Food not only didn’t taste good, it was ultra expensive. Hawker food under a roof with AC.  That’s what I call a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

The movie Storm Warriors had much going for it. The costumes were intricately designed. Visuals on point. 3-D graphics were out of this world. The fighting choreography was kick-ass. Colors were that of 300.  The only thing was maybe the story was lacking a little. Yet, it was an entertaining and spell-binding movie. Not a bad way to spend Christmas. Our first Christmas together as a family after more than 14 years apart. Dinner and a movie in a mall.  Just can’t beat that.

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On the Eleventh Day of Christmas…my true love gave to me,
ELEVEN KINS TO BID ADIEU
Saturday, Dec. 26, 2009

The day began with news of an idiot trying to blow up a flight into Detroit.  It’s people like this who should be shot.

Our day, like the pass few days, began with eating and ended with more eating.

Today was no exception. We had breakfast with our mutual friends at a local dim sum store and later adjourned to, you know it, PapaRich. I’m going to buy a franchise and stick it in Joisey. We had fish balls, siew mai, chicken glutinous rice, fried pot stickers, chicken’s feet, pork ribs, honey milk tea, and cendol. It really didn’t matter where we were, and what we ate.

After meeting them, hubs and I split up. He was sent home, while I went to Bangsar Village to meet another friend. The unfortunate basket just returned from Singapore, but his car was broken into, and on the way to meet me, met with a little road rage and had to stop at a nearby police station. He finally made it to Bangsar, and I realized how much he has aged. (Although he may think otherwise) I congratulated him on his impending wedding in January, and he reminisces on how I never permitted him to go after my younger sister.

Then I left for home with Cheh and prepared for our dinner in Klang with the Phoas. It was pouring quite heavily, therefore getting out to Klang took a little longer than expected. Instead of stopping at my second uncle’s house (Kuleh Jee), we went straight to the restaurant. By the time we reached the restaurant, my bladder was about to explode. Together with my mom, we were directed to the outhouse – literally. We walked out, into the rain, to a little shed. Gross!  If I didn’t have to go, I would have held it in for the next hour or so.

The food was much better than the facilities. We had spicy fried shrimps with eggs still intact in their heads, dried fried spicy crabs, fish cake molded into the shape of a whole fish, garlic fried Chinese vege, fried oysters in omelet, paper-wrapped chicken in herbs, and finally fish beehun soup in sour plum soup. YUM-O! The spread was even tastier with family around us and us playing with the hammer trying to get the crabs to cooperate with us.

After dinner, we left for Kuleh Jee’s house and had dessert of an assortment of local fruits. We had papaya, white dragon fruit and oranges. We even got tupperwares of pineapple tarts and a huge bag of freshly dried Chrysanthemum tea. Ah – how spoiled are we?!

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On the Twelfth Day of Christmas…my true love gave to me,
TWELVE KINDS OF MALAYSIAN CUISINE
Sunday, Dec. 27, 2009

Before heading out for to Sunway Resort, we picked up our almond cookies from mommy’s personal baker in Subang Parade.  Special isn’t she?

My stomach wasn’t feeling too good – probably from the extra spicy seafood in Klang. Cheh too was having a little upset stomach before heading out. Even hubs called to say that we was in and out of the toilet TWICE that morning.

After much convincing, cheh come along for high tea at Sunway Resort’s Sun and Surf Café. They had briyani, beef rendang, chicken satay, chicken porridge, fried kuey teow with cockles, fruit rojak, vegetable acah, and gado-gado, sweetened honey chicken, prawns fried in belacan, lok-lok, ice kacang, mango mousse and much more. After eating all of this, Cheh’s stomach started grumbling. She broke the camel’s back when she decided to have raw oysters too.  She went straight to the toilet after that.  She came out and continued stuffing her face. That’s the spirit!

Since I brought a big bag, I was assigned the role as resident food swiper, and was entrusted with the task of taking home jambu air / bell fruits. I managed to stuff five in my bag.

After brunch, we took a stroll in the adjoining mall. There, I finally got a chance to buy hubs his Christmas present. (I got mine on Christmas eve, but hubs later bought my “material” gift from Chow Tai Fook at the airport in Hong Kong) We finally got home, and I hunkered down to finish our packing without hubs around. One bag, which initially arrived with gifts for other people, was now packed with the over hundred Ringgit worth of Chinese herbs. The rest were filled with our clothes, and various gifts from other people. Truthfully though, we didn’t buy anything at all for ourselves this time around. The time was spent on family, friends and a lot of eating.

Even after gorging ourselves at the Sunway Resort, when hubs finally came home, we decided to have the last run at another night market, since our last attempt was foiled by rain. We managed to bring home bubble tea, two DVDS, four tank tops, rubber bands and cucuk udang.

Our final night in KL was spent quietly watching Treasure Hunter with my parents.

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It promised to be a busy weekend, what with us leaving for home in a few more days.

My Saturday began with the realization that I did not pack a few important things. So much for sleeping in. I “temporarily” placed the items in “assigned” locations in our luggages, and finished the wrapping of the final presents. After walking and feeding Jessie, I proceeded to do spring cleaning on my computer and spent the rest of the morning and the better part of the afternoon with my hard drive. We were going to head out for lunch, but thought otherwise. Not only was the weather uninviting, but since we were going to go into the city for hub’s birthday dinner, we ate in instead. As the king of the day, he did utterly nothing, until it was time to leave. All he did was play XBox the entire day.

The plan was to leave the house at 5 pm, avoid the Saturday evening jam, head towards Jackson Heights, Queens to drop off cheh’s luggage and then meet TnT for dinner at an Argentinian restaurant in the neighborhood. Oh yes, and before that, we had to pick up a birthday cake too. The intention was good, but it was definitely lacking in the execution department.

We left the house at 6 pm. Cutting across town was a nightmare. Not only were there crazy shoppers we had to jostle around, but there were an insane number of weekend road warriors maneuvering the asphalt. When we finally reached 59th street Bridge, it was 15 minutes pass 7. Did I mention that Lincoln Tunnel is only 5 minutes away from my house?

Finding parking in my younger sister’s place is next to impossible. When you want to park, there is never any in sight. When you don’t want to park, the empty spots miraculously appear. So instead of parking, hubs dropped cheh and I, the luggage and presents off at the apartment. The moment we stepped out of the car, there is no mistaking the unique scent of the Indians. Little India, here we come!

Dragging the luggage, and three hands full of presents, we shimmied our way to my younger sister’s apartment, only to find out she wasn’t in!  …Alarmed, we started banging at her door and ringing her door bell. When I finally reached her on the phone, she told me that she just stepped out with her hubs to get a cake at the bakery.

“We’re coming back.  Don’t move.”

Don’t worry.  We’re not going anywhere, anytime soon.  Not with the baggage. Or the presents.

Tnt finally showed up. Right away, my only brother-in-law told me that the airline lost his luggages.  He’s wearing what he wore the day before and his only pair of holey, but comfortable “airplane” shoes. Vagabond #1.

The airlines managed to misplace his luggage for a straight flight from Toronto to NY. His tuxedo for the wedding, jewelry and other important effects were all suddenly stripped away from him.

Instead of hanging out in the apartment waiting for hubs to come up after parking, we decided to meet him at the restaurant. As we walked out of the apartment, my now favorite brother-in-law said, “Er, I don’t know if you want to know this. But I think you have a run on your stockings that run up to your ass.”

In shock I quickly twirled around, more horrified that maybe my ass was hanging out, with my skirt stuck in my underwear – ala my younger sister, who once walked out of her office and into the streets of Manhattan during summer, with her skirt stuck up her thong, flashing not only the locals but a bus-load of tourist. Much to my relief, it was only a “little” but long run at the back. But my dearest brother-in-law had to add salt to a non-existent wound.

“She looks like a hobo with a run in her tights.”

And that is how I became vagabond #2.

As we were walking towards the restaurant, hubs caught up with us, but not before letting us know that he saw parking right in front of the apartment, after parking 3 blocks away. My younger sister and I then proceeded to another bakery after dropping the rest off at the restaurant. At a Mexican/Spanish/Italian bakery, we bought fruit tarts and cannolis for dessert.

It was an Argentinian restaurant, which was mighty noisy. My brother-in-law suggested we speak up so that he can hear us. Has he met us? Or in this case, heard us? We don’t have a “louder” volume. It’s just one volume. It’s called the Waking-the-dead-amplification. And that is our EVERYDAY speaking voice.

Anyway, we were offered sweetbread by our waiter, after my beloved brother-in-law dared us to order it. He questioned me if I even know what sweetbread was.

“Yes. It’s the innards of an animal,” I replied.

“Which part?” he asked.

“I don’t know.”

Mr. Smart-Alec proceeded to let us know that it was the lung of the  animal, but was corrected by the waiter, saying that it is the thymus (a gland at the throat) of the animal. He though I was going to say testicles. But I corrected him, arguing that testicles are NOT innards.

“Depending on how cold it is,” he quipped.

Our bread plates were cleared 15 minutes before our entrée was served. So we sat around, looking longingly at the remainder of the crusty and chewy bread (and fried sweetbread). When our meals were served, we were astounded by the serving portions. My younger sister’s chicken Milanese was flatted out to the size of an entire dinner plate with the sides spilling over. Cheh’s grilled chicken, even though could feed two people, was the smallest portion of us all. Hubs had two huge slabs of pork chops, each about an inch and a half thick. My brother-in-law’s medium rare steak was just as big and thick as hubs’ two pork chops put together. Finally, my order of seafood pasta in cream sauce was just overflowing with  squid, muscles and prawns. This was also hubs’ order, since he was king, which he gladly ate from and cleaned. In the end, the chicken milanese, steak, grilled chicken and pork chop was doggie-bagged. Oh, not wanting to waste, we packed up the bread that we had to stare at for so long, and the butter that came along with it. We decided to leave the sugar packets alone.

With our bought dessert and packed up extra day of food, we left the restaurant. Some how, my brother-in-law was left holding all the bags.

“You just got a promotion from hobo to a coolie,” I told him sweetly.

“Very nice. At least I’m no longer a hobo,” he replied. “So I’m the coolie, and he’s the mamat,” he continued while nodding at hubs. A mamat is a Malay term for a driver.

“Yes,” I giggled. “You guys are very handy.”

And just as I said that, out of no where, we heard, “Shit!”

We turned around to look, and saw cheh with her left leg flailing in the air, and the sole of her Tommy Hilfiger boot flapping.  We all started cracking up at her predicament. It started as a chuckle. But as she waddled and flipped her way back to my younger sister’s apartment with my younger sister aiding her like an old lady, it soon turned into a full hearty laugh.  With the uproar and commotion we created, we ensured that no muggers would attack us that night. Cheh made us howl in laughter when she tried to explain to us that she (Ms. Fashionista) was going to replace the pair of shoes, she just never had the incentive. She was utterly embarrassed. We were just doubled over in stitches, and if the ground wasn’t as grimy, we would have been rolling on it clutching our stomachs in pain while trying very hard to gasp for air.

That is how she became vagabond #3.

Cheh got glue from my younger sister to put her ultra shiny boot back together again for the walk back to the car. Before we left for the night, Christmas presents were given to TnT, so that we didn’t have to lug it all the way back to Malaysia. We also had our dessert and watched a little of “The Score” before calling it a night at 11:30 pm. By then, my brother-in-law got a call from the airline that his luggage was found and was on its way to him.

Thanksgiving. Time for family. Time for food comatose-s. Time for shopping!

DAY 1 & 2 : Thursday & Friday Nov. 26 & 27, 2009

We picked my Canadian aunt aka Ta Mai up from Newark in the morning. We hung out a little bit at home, before leaving for my other aunt’s place in Wayne for lunch/dinner at 2 pm. The spread was mouth-watering. We had the traditional turkey, stuffing, a salad made of celery, tomato, almonds in a sundried tomato pesto, seafood and kilbasa paella, and french beans with mushroom and carrots casserole. After two helpings, we adjourned from the dining room to the dessert room and proceeded with our next course. This year’s turkey was extra moist and extra yum-o-licious. Dessert was peach jello, pumpkin and blueberry pie with vanilla ice cream, spicy and tangy cashews with lime, sweet potato chips and liquored chocolates. Phew!

The Thanksgiving spread

Before we left the house for lunch/dinner, I made sure I wore my tightest jeans – so that I would stop when my gut started pressing against the waistline of the jeans. That brilliant idea didn’t work. We were all sitting on our sides by the end of the day, trying to distribute the extra weight evenly. Hubs left about 7 pm to go home to Jessie. While he was away, we convinced my Wayne aunt, to join us on our shopping excursion. With the blessing of my uncle, she too came along. Hubs finally returned from walking and feeding Jessie at about 9:30 pm.

We went straight to Woodbury Common hoping to miss out on last year’s traffic fiasco by taking a different more scenic route there. The plan worked brilliantly. When we got there at 10:15 pm, the parking lot was 80% filled. The first shop opened only at 9 pm. Upon checking the consensus, we found out that some were there since 7:30 pm, way before the first store was opened its doors. And so began the amazing race!

A/X

We walked through Off Fifth and slammed right into a bustling crowd, and headed towards A/X, quickly splitting from both our aunts. Hubs and I walked into Kenneth Cole on our way there, and Cheh branched off into BCBG, making her first of many purchases of the night. After a disappointment in KC, we walked towards A/X and happen upon a long and winding line that wrapped around the building of Gucci. There were at least 200 people on that line, and the store wasn’t even opened yet. Psychos! So we finally got to A/X and waited on a much tamer line, in the cold, to get in. When we neared the entrance, I texted Cheh for her to come quickly so that she too can join me without waiting in line. She came just in time to be ushered in together with me. While we were waiting on the A/X line, I saw a formidable line in front of us and wondered what store that line led to.

In A/X, I bought a few Christmas presents for friends we will be visiting in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur this December. We were in and out in less than 30 minutes after waiting in line for about 20 minutes.

COACH

I strolled up to the end of the formidable line from before and asked the last person which line this is for. “Coach.” Nice.  That would be my cue. Ten minutes into the wait, I told hubs I’ll check out the baby store (for two of my friends who will be first time mothers from home). Ralph Lauren baby store sucks. Why bother opening up shop when you’re not going to give discounts – I take that back – SHITTY discounts. The deal was to force you to spend $150 just to get 20% off.  I’m not THAT sucker. So I walked out of the store and went back to a waiting hubby. After standing there for 5 minutes, I told him I had to pee.

“Didn’t you JUST go before you left the house?!”

Yes, but…

So off to the toilet I went. There was a line, but it was a moving line. I returned to the Coach line, exactly where I last left hubs. Then it was his turn to go to the toilet. I guess HE had a longer line. After he returned, there were no more excuses to escape the waiting. As we hunkered down for the long haul “home” hubs told me I would have to treat him coffee for standing out in the cold with me for Coach. Fine. Next target – the coffee hut 10 feet up ahead. When we finally inched up there, we saw this sign, “Hot cocoa! ONLY $3.25.” He changed his mind. Night-time robbery at the Coach line.

As we moved up towards the snaking line, hubs told me to run up ahead to check out the other deals at other stores. I got to DKNY – 50% off entire store and strolled in after 5 minutes of waiting. Not too bad. Weaved in and out of the in-store crowd and almost got a brolly until I saw the paying line. I dropped it like a hot potato and went back to report to hubs about the jeans that were on sale for him. It was his turn to gallavant while I text both my sister and my aunts to join me on the Coach line. He came back empty handed, but my sister already had a good three bags going for her. My aunt from Wayne too was only too happy to show her ware – a Michael Kors brown leather bag. Ta Mai said that we were mad, and walked off. Cheh then waltzed off to Calvin Klein and I split from the line after Wayne aunt convinced me to visit the MK store. I stood in line again, (surprise!) but only for about 10 minutes, before I left the cold for the warmth of the store. I left the store after one round of perusing.

As I ran back to the Coach line, disillusioned by how quickly the line would move, the links to my Un Apres Midi de Chien sling bag unhooked, hurling my bag two feet away from me, into the Coach line. Embarrassed, I hurriedly picked up my strewn bag and went looking for the “team.” Thank goodness for hubby’s height (standing out among the Asians surrounding him) AND the saving-grace-red-jacket he wore. Back to the waiting. As I pulled on my hoodie and hubs wiped off his leaky nose, Cheh scurried back in line only to run off to Cole Haan and back again to lament that they did not have her boots that she was looking for.

Two hours later, in the increasing morning cold, victory was almost ours. At 2 am just before we reached the finishing line, Canadian aunt stopped by to check on our status and we cajoled her into joining us – without the pain of waiting. She declined and went in search for Samsonite. We were ushered into a madhouse. Women and men alike had armload of bags hanging off their wrists. It was a crazy rush to find the best bag at the best price. At the last sighting of Wayne aunt before we left the store, she too had that similar image with bags upon bags draped on her arm/wrist. Hubs, after standing in line for so long, was determined to purchase something. He finally found an ivory leathered bag for his sister. I found nothing. He told me to look harder, ensuring that our 2-hour wait was not in vain. I found nothing to my liking until we walked up to the cashier and I saw another lady carrying an off-white medium sized leather bag with buckles on the side. I asked her where she got it from, and she directed me to the clearance section, but mentioned that it was the only one there. Not wanting to believe that that was the only model, I dashed back there, searching frantically for a sign of that bag in the same area that I passed earlier. As I became the mad shopper, I saw a tiny little white leather pouch sitting by itself. Not what I wanted but, I held on to it – just in case. Hubs too followed my lead and started flipping bags to find my elusive satchel. I even flagged down a salesperson to ask if they have an extra one hiding somewhere behind the store. After repeatedly describing the bag to a few salespersons, I received my bad news. THAT was the only one. Dejected, I told hubs we were leaving. As I stood in line, again, to pay, I checked the bags we were getting and found tiny cuts on hub’s bag for his sister. We went back to look for a replacement. While there, I picked up a similar bag to mine since I realized how cheap it actually was. First if was 30% off the Original MSRP. Then there was an additional 50% off of the reduced price. For standing in the cold for 2 hours, we got an additional “early bird” 20% off.  Not really satisfied, but not wanting to linger in the store anymore, we paid for our spoils of war.

CHLOÉ / FURLA

Disappointed, we went to Chloé at 2:30 am.  And stood in line again. For a tiny store, with barely three people in at one time, there was actually a long line. So near yet so far. We must have stood out there for another 45 more minutes before a hurly-burly bouncer let us in. My legs and back were screaming by then. The sweater, scarf, long coat that weighed nothing at the start of our spree started to feel like stones. This store was SO NOT WORTH the effort and time. After we left, we made a quick stop at Furla, and by then I had no more patience for shopping anymore. Cheh still had the energizer bunny on her side. I called it quits and met the rest.

We finally left Woodbury Common a little after 4 am, with nothing to show for, except three Coach bags and some shirts from A/X for me. Wayne aunt and Cheh did better. A Michael Kors and six Coach bags for Wayne aunt. A jacket from BCBG, wares from Coach, CK, A/X and Furla  for Cheh. Ta Mai, on the other hand, came home empty handed. After dropping Wayne aunt off, we reached home after 5 am.  Upon reaching home, when Ta Mai realized the actual price we paid for our Coaches, she regretted not going into the store with us. Her lost, my gain. Almost.

Unable to function at that hour anymore, we all dropped like flies. I finally woke up at 11 am, still tired, but not wanting to waste the day anymore. When everyone was up, we had lunch and went shopping – again – just to walk off lunch. We went to Target to try to get Ta Mai’s $88 Nikon Coolpix 10 megapixel camera, but it was sold out. Then we stopped at DKNY in the Secaucus outlet and, once again, Cheh found something to buy.

We did so much shopping those two days, that the days melded together so seamlessly.

DAY 3: Saturday Nov. 28. 2009

Off to more shopping. The day began at 7:30 am. First stop Loehmanns – first 400 customers receive $25 off a $50 purchase.  Good enough for me to hike all the way to East Hanover. However, it turned out to be another sub par shopping morning for me. All I got were baby clothes for friends. I can’t say the same for Cheh, who came out with two pairs of boots, two bags and more clothes.

The next stop was Jersey Gardens, the final outlet. It was slim pickings until we saw the Cole Haan store at the end of the day. Hubs was at AT&T trying to change his sim card. Ta Mai wanted to go to Kenneth Cole because Cheh showed her the luggage that she got. My duty was to take Ta Mai to that store, while Cheh waited with all our wares. But I saw Cole Haan. So the three of us waltzed into the store that screamed “75% off everything in store!” Ta Mai went looking for KC herself, as I dashed out of the store looking for her, only to see hubs walking towards me. When my aunt came back into Cole Haan, we each had a pair of shoe to purchase, not to mention a few bags we were deciding on.

At last call, hubs and I each got a pair of shoe and two bags. Cheh having bought two pair of boots earlier decided against another pair, but got a mustard-colored leather bag instead. Even Ta Mai got a bag too.

When hubs pulled the car around to pick us up, stuffing the wares into the booth was a challenge. There was the luggage. There were boxes for two pairs of boots and two pairs of shoes. There was a mountain of paperbags filled with wares.

The damage

Got home and had to put gas into the poor car, which started out with a full tank on Wednesday night. Reached home, checked out our goodies, and after walking and feeding Jessie, we left for dinner at a Korean Restaurant. Tired and full at the end of the day, I crept into bed finally at 10 pm – but not before packing and wrapping some of the gifts for our trip home, only to realize some of the baby clothes still had the theft-sensors on them. Great! Will have to return to Loehmanns to get the tags removed sometime next week. I think I’ve had enough of shopping for a while.  And I am going to give my bank a little rest.

Tomorrow’s Thanksgiving and I have plenty to be thankful for.

1. Family.

My parents. Even though my parents are miles away, I know they are just a phone call/email/im away. They never express their feelings but their actions speak louder than words. When we were younger, my mom would wake up at 4 every morning to prepare our breakfast and lunch for the day. The moment she reaches home from work, she’s making dinner for us. Even as adults now, my mom still worries about our nutrition. My father took the night shift, and stayed up with us as we did our homeworks. As a child, I had trouble sleeping from time to time. I would creep into my father’s room and wake him up. He would take me back into my room, sit next to me until I fell asleep before he left. He’s still sharing in my worries and happiness today. He’s my counsel and my ready ear. I am thankful for parents who doled out corporal punishment, but meted out an equal amount of tlc after. I am thankful for parents who didn’t give gifts for birthdays, but gave me the presence of friends and family for my birthdays. I am thankful for parents who don’t say I love you, but showed me they love me instead. I am thankful for parents who didn’t read me to sleep, but gave me books so that I can read myself to sleep. I am thankful for parents who gave me culture, but sacrificed everything so that we are who we are today.

My sisters. Even though we grew up fighting each other tooth and nail, and are still bickering, we have always had each other. They are my shoulder to cry on, my friend, my reason for happiness, my equal. I adore them not for their smarts or their grace, but for their quirks and irritating habits. I am thankful for their wit, because no one else would laugh at my jokes. I am thankful for their fighting spirit, because without them, I would never have been a soldier. I am thankful for sisters who cry with me, laugh with me and share all my pain and joys. I am thankful for sisters who scaled gates with me, learn to ride the bike with me and played imaginary roles with me. I am thankful for sisters who keep me in line – who until today, humble me. I am thankful for one sister for letting me be a spoiled brat when I feel like it, and the other for letting me be a mother when I choose to.

My better half. When I am unable to move, he doesn’t just carry me. He’s standing next to me, helping me. He chauffeurs me to work everyday, while I sleep, and drops me off right at the door before he parks the car. He tucks me in at night, every night. I am thankful for his one-track mind, which leaves multi-tasking a chore. I am thankful for his short-term memory, which makes what I said a week ago null and void. I am thankful for his height and my lack of it, which makes asking him do chores that much more logical. I am thankful for his humor, which amuses me to no end. I am thankful for his reticence, which makes me his mouth piece. I am thankful for the useless things that he sometimes thinks I need – wii, pda, iTouch, new cell phone, flowers, love – which I begrudgingly and secretly enjoy.

My four-legged baby. I am incredibly thankful for her. I am thankful for her adoring eyes, although it was scared when we first picked her up from the shelter 7 years ago. I am thankful for her unfailing gift of greeting me at the door everyday after work, although it was a gift of poop and pee at the start. I am thankful for her health, although she gave me quite a scare today, having to rush her to the emergency late tonight. I am thankful for her energy, although she did tear up my piano bench a long time ago. I am thankful for her devotion, although it was difficult having to leave her at home at first without making her think we were abandoning her. I am thankful that I have an excuse to leave a party/dinner/gathering because I have to return home to walk/feed her.

My jee mai. Without her, I wouldn’t have a scar on my nose to remind me that tantrums will never win. Without her, I wouldn’t have known what strength is. Without her, I wouldn’t have someone to turn to for wisdom and unbiased truth. Without her, I wouldn’t have two gorgeous, intelligent and dear cousins. Without her, the family up in Canada won’t be whole.

My ta mai, who will be visiting from Canada this Thanksgiving. Without her, I wouldn’t know that I abhorred gooey food – chicken skin, fish skin, fat, cartilage, which she forced down my throat and I promptly threw out. Without her, I wouldn’t have seen Edmonton during my time in Minnesota. Without her, I wouldn’t know what waking the dead means. Without her, I wouldn’t have gloves, zip-locs, trash bags, pain meds and jello. (trust me – they are ALL related)

My unc. tak. Without him, I wouldn’t know the difference between a positive and a negative integer. Without him, I wouldn’t know how to tell a joke with crudeness and innuendos. Without him and my ta mai, the first batch of cousins would never have spent countless school holidays together – picnicking, going to the museum and Lake Gardens, frolicking in the chilly waterfalls, spending precious time together.  Without him, I wouldn’t have two young cousin brothers, who we watch grow up before our eyes.

My er peh. Without him, shopping in Singapore wouldn’t be a delight. Without him, my daddy would never have had the opportunities he had in life, and I wouldn’t be where I am. Without him, I wouldn’t have a cherished elder cousin sister to look up to and a dear aunt to be fond of.

My aunt and uncle in Wayne. Without them, I would have been on the streets when we first moved out here from Minnesota. Without them, I have no place to go for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Without them, I wouldn’t have known my extended family.

My maternal and paternal family. Without them, I wouldn’t know the joy of talking at the top of one’s lungs just to be heard. Without them, there will be less hugs and kisses. Without them, I wouldn’t know what a family truly means.

2.  A roof over my head.

I am thankful for my blind luck of getting and liking the first place that I see. I am thankful for the diy work on my kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room. I am thankful for a home to call my own and return to everyday.

3. A job.

I am thankful for a job that I still enjoy. I am thankful that I am still abusable, and am thankful for that leverage.

4. My health.

I am thankful for learning to deal with tough things in life. I am thankful for my weekly injections. I am thankful for my lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, raynaud’s and eczema, because I can sometimes use it as an excuse to get out of housework. I am thankful for my lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, raynaud’s and eczema, because I have learned to live.

5. Food.

I am thankful for (good) food. Amen!

6. (Last but not least) Friends.

My school/childhood friends. Thank you for your loyalty. Thank you for your trust. Thank you for your reliability. Thank you for taking me the way I am.

My college friends. Thank you for the years of small talk and big talk. Thank you for cramming with me during finals. Thank you for showing me life is more than just hitting the books.

My colleagues, who have gone from mere acquaintances to life long friends. Thank you for witnessing our growth. Thank you for your patience and time. Thank you for painting my house. Thank you for filling my house with laughter. Thank you for house-sitting miles away.

O hisashi buri dana! It has been a while…

My sisters are finally together again this weekend to celebrate my birthday.  Since young, we have always spent all our birthdays together.  It starts with a cake cutting and photo session at home, and ends with us having thoroughly stuffed our faces with a 10-course meal at a Chinese restaurant. No presents were exchanged, but there were plenty of laughter with friends and family.

Well, my birthday isn’t officially until a few days later. But we all work.  So the weekend will have to do.

Cheh tp-ed Malaysian food from Chinatown (conveniently located near her work place). It was an ordeal just having the four of us decide what we want. If it was not too soupy, it was something that WE can make ourselves, or something we JUST ate. An hour later of back and forth banter, we finally decided on spicy fried vermicelli and flat noodles, beef rendang and flat noodles in seafood sauce.

Friday night and we still managed to leave work late. Overworked and under-appreciated -  I’m sure there are many out there who are in my shoes too. Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful for a job. Not the abuse, though. They call it unpaid overtime, I just call it child labor.

When hubs and I finally reached home a little before 8 pm, my younger sister greeted us at the door with Jessie. Jessie had eeyore in her mouth. My sister had an apple in hers. “Quick go shower!” she orders, “I’m starving!!”

There’s a Malay saying, “Mandi kerbau.” It literally means to bathe like a water buffalo – quick and without much ado. That’s my style.  It’s the pooping that takes a while.

Like rabid and ravenous dogs, we attacked our food.  Everything tasted extra scrumptious, or was it because we were starving marvins? Hubs put on “Land of the Lost” to watch, starring Will Ferrell. At first we protested, but after giggling along the first few minutes, we let the man have his remote. Eating while watching TV is just heaven. While eating, I bit into a pickled jalapeño, which is supposed to enhance the taste of the noodles. This one, however, was extra spicy – the kind that CAN cost explosive diarrheas kind of spicy.  I warned my sisters about it, since hubs doesn’t really like mixing chilli with his food – wimp! I had a stomachache after that. Cheh thought that it was all made up. She piled on the green chillies. And just like that, she too got a taste of that little habanero.  Then my younger sister too didn’t believe me AND my elder sister. She too took the chilli and she too felt the burn. Once bitten, thrice shy.

It was all good, until we all had a sore throat, and not to mention a stomachache after that – from the chilli and from Will Ferrell being sucked dry by a pre-historic mosquito while trying to play a banjo.

Tomorrow we’re heading to Mitsuwa in Edgewater for the Tuna cutting show.  Fun!

Saturday, November 14, 2009

I woke up bright and early – but not as early as hubs, who spent the night into the wee hours of the morning playing xbox and then walked Jessie. Went downstairs in time to prep her breakfast and waited another 3 more hours for my sisters to wake up to head to the tuna show in Edgewater. The plan was to leave the house at 10, get there around 10:30 before the show at 11.

The princesses didn’t pull themselves out of bed until 9:30. In fact, my younger sister wanted me to wake her up 15 minutes before we were supposed to leave. We left the house at 10:20.  Reached Mitsuwa a little before 11. By the time we found parking, and got in the store it was 11 and there was a HUGE crowd gathered in the middle of the store.  Everyone was taller than us, naturally.  It was impossible to get a good view, much less good photo op.

First glimpse of the Bluefin Tuna

I was about to scale hubs, as he backed away from me, when my younger sister called us to let us know that she found a sweeter spot – with the view of the decapitated 500 lbs bluefin tuna. With the head intact, the fish was about 700 lbs.

Frontal and better view of the fish

Seeing this “water buffalo” up close was astounding and breathtaking.  Here is a 15-year-old Northern bluefin tuna or giant bluefin tuna, from Spain, which made its way all the way to America, into a Japanese store. This tuna, when caught, was immediately drained off all its blood through its fin.  The host/mc/guide, who is also a fisherman, told us and demonstrated how aerodynamic the fish’s fin is – how its body has a little pocket to “tuck” the fin back into place to decrease the amount of drag in the water, which in turn allows for maximum velocity. Their streamlined body reduces resistance thus allowing them to conserve energy for transmigration in the Atlantic Ocean. Retractable fins also allow a freer flow of water when navigational changes do not require their use.

This fish, of superb sashimi grade quality, was meant for the finer establishments in New York City like Nobu, but Mitsuwa managed to wrangle a few in for their once a year show.  The bluefin tunas are prized for their high fat content, which makes the meat melt in your mouth. Best of all, this isn’t't bad fat.  This is the kind of fat that nutritionist like to call Omega-3 fatty acid, one that is very good for the function of the body. These fish average at 8 feet in lenght and as much as 770 lbs in weight. The largest bluefin tuna ever caught weighed in at 1500 lbs. It is noted that this species can reach up to 14 ft in length.

Tuna sliced opened

Slicing and dicing. The Otoro is sitting below the cart.

One of the most sought after sushi in the world is the belly loin of the fatty tuna fish, also known as toro. There are two different types of toro – chutoro and otoro. The otoro is the most sought after part of the tuna, and is the most expensive part of the fish. The host had mentioned that the otoro of the tuna for the two-day show have all been sold far in advance. The otoro of this particular fish was cut and quickly stashed away (picture above). After the fish was cut up, it was slowly divvied up into smaller steak sizes and sold. We managed to push our way through to get two steak maguro sold ad $39.99/lb and one chutoro for almost $60/lb.

After it quieted down, we got some sushi from the supermarket to add to the three slabs of raw meat we were about to partake for lunch. Then everyone decided to buy my birthday cake there too. Some how or rather, I ended up paying for my own birthday cake.  As consolation, cheh treated the younger siblings to green tea ice cream – dessert before the meal.

I do not eat sashimi, but let me tell you, this tuna was something.  It literally melted in my mouth. Ah! Good food.

Then we watched more tv, played games and entertained each other before prepping for our next big chow-down – dinner!  I wanted to try a Chinese restaurant that a lot of the kwai lohs have been raving about. Lesson learned.  Never trust those blardy 老外!

The menu was limited. So we asked the wait staff to recommend something from the “hidden Chinese menu.” (Any GOOD and reputable Chinese restaurant will always have a special Chinese menu stashed away) We were informed that there were no separate Chinese menu.  Sign #1.

So we asked him to recommend us a fish, chicken, vege and noodles dish – which is kind of silly, because you KNOW that that’s how they get you.  He recommended a spicy chicken, fried whole Chilean Sea Bass, “refreshing” bok choy fried with garlic and lomein noodles. He had no clue what he was recommending. Sign #2.

Then before the food was served, he told us ahead of time that he will take pictures for us – for the “presentation” of the food. Sign #3. (Good food doesn’t need to be exhibited)

We should have ran out by this time. But the idiots that we were, we just sat around and commented that the entire restaurant was filled with rich white guys. Sign #4.

Then he repeatedly came up to our table and mistook me for another regular. Sign #5. Chinese who can’t differentiate Chinese ought to be shot.

The food finally came. The only dish that looked “pretty” was the fish – but we didn’t know how much that fish cost.

The chicken dish was cut up in huge slices and then “deflowered.” It wasn’t too bad.  The fish looked tasty and was actually the most decent dish. The flesh was thick, the crispiness kept throughout the meal and the sauce was even spicier than the “spicy chicken.” The vege looked like it tasted – bland. It was practically just blanched in hot water and arranged prettily with no hint of garlic, or even a pinch of salt. The noodles was a disaster.

Our "nice-to-see-not-nice-to-eat" food

Since the fish was the only edible dish, we cleaned house.  When I say clean, I mean clean. Even the head was gone (as seen in the above picture)

The bill finally came. We paid $15 for less than a 0.5 lb of bok choy, which cost about $2/lb. Worse, the veges were sliced in half. My younger sister figured that there were about fifteeen 1/2 stalks of bok choy on that plate. You do the math. The sea bass was $50 – just as expensive as the tuna that we had earlier.  Our chunks of chicken was $22 and the bad noodles was $13.  Daylight robbery at night.

Well, the night was still young, and we headed over to my aunt’s place in Wayne to celebrate her birthday too, with the cake I bought. My aunt shares the same birthdate as me.  My Mango Mousse cake was good! Light and not too sweet with a hint of tang. We chatted through the night, while sipping tea/coffee and nibbling on cake.  In the end, it was a good night.

My self-bought cake

Sunday, November 15, 2009

We spent the morning im-ing with my parents.  It’s not often that my parents get the three girls all at the same time. We rolled eyes at each other while my mom made silly comments.

“Girls, other than almond cookies what else do you want?” my mom asked in preparation for our home-coming this December.

“Thousand layer cake,” replied my younger sister.

“Ooh! Peanut karipap!” I said.

“Those are only Chinese New Year cakes and cookies. Plus, only your kimnian jee (my second aunt) makes it.  And I won’t trouble her like that.”

After a long lecture about not “making use of people” and not troubling people, my mom ask, “So girls, other than the almond cookies, what else do you want?”

We ALL groaned and rolled our eyes at each other.

My younger sister said, “Thousand layer cake.”

I added, “Peanut karipap!”

That got my mom going again.  So we said, “If you know you’re not getting it, then don’t ask.  Cos that’s what we want.”

Then she went at it again, “So almond cookies only?”

We were rolling in our seats by then. So cheh said, “Almond cookies.”

“Almond Cookies.”

“Almond Cookies.”

Satisfied with the answer, she said goodnight to us.

We had leftovers for lunch while watching “Proposal” starring Sandra Bullock.  Pretty funny, but for some reason, Cheh thought it was hilarious. So hilarious that she was crying.  Senility is setting in early.

After the show, my younger sister left for home in NYC. Cheh went shopping with a friend from Singapore. I crawled into the sofa for an afternoon nap, or so I thought. Until my deaf dog decided to bark at no one.

That night, with just the three of us once again at home, we watched more cartoons while I finished up some Christmas wrapping. Yes, I said wrapping and not shopping. By the time 9 pm rolled around, I was knocked out cold by watching anime. Like a granny, I slept very early that night…only to be awaken by hub’s cell phone BLARING in the room.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Woke up feeling tired.

Jessie took her sweet time finding the perfect spot to pottie.  Lucky for me it wasn’t that cold out.

Did groceries during lunch because I spent the entire weekend having fun and taking naps instead of doing chores. Managed to squeeze in 15 minutes of power napping too.  This is what you call multi-tasking.

More child labor. And I ended up with a headache. Amnesty International, anyone?

Didn’t have dinner until 8:30. We were all famished and drained. Jessie was just ecstatic that we were finally home. I’m just glad that I have someone to come home to, who loves me that much to show such pure excitement, day in day out, upon our return.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

I officially work for a sweatshop.

Got a headache again – but this time from hacking my lungs out.

However, I’ll be free from the labor camp for the next three days – starting NOW!

Just checked out the shop openings and sales in Woodbury Commons for Black Friday.  Cheh is reading it out loud and she has her credit cards revving to go.  She already has her eyes set on the Chloé and Gucci stores. Must prepare my Ta Mai, who will be visiting that weekend, for the crazy hours that we will be up shopping.  The plan is to stuff our faces on Thursday afternoon/evening at my aunts in Wayne. Then go straight to Woodbury for the first store opening at 9 pm. Shop ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT or until one of us call it quits.

Cheh and I got bored watching So You Think You Can Dance, and turned on Rookies to watch instead.  That freaking cougar needs two pails to stop her leaky mouth whenever she catches sight of Ichihara Hayato aka Aniya Keiichi.  *shake head*

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

The day flies whenever you’re doing absolutely nothing and everything.

Jess woke me up, pacing the room, at 5 am.  I let her out of the room and crawled back into bed. She ran downstairs and promptly came up again, and pushed the room’s door open.  All I heard was the clickety-cla

ck of her nails against the hardwood floors. I refused to be up so early, especially on a day that I don’t have to. I threw my bolster over my head to drown out the noise.

The phone rang a little before 8.  It was my parents!  Every year, since the day I left home 14 years ago, they would be the first to wish me Happy Birthday. My day began after speaking to them for 2 seconds. Every time they call, or we call, it feels like there’s a plane to catch.  Can’t talk. You’re OK. Great. We’re OK. Have to run. Got a plane to catch…almost.

I went downstairs, and sitting in front of my iMac was a prettily wrapped box, expertly tied with an orange ribbon. For most of the morning, that box was set aside since I had to schedule hub’s appointment at the US Embassy in KL. That took the better part of the morning to complete. I finally opened the box and pulled out a brand new Sony Ericsson phone. Only problem – it wasn’t red and it wasn’t skinny enough. Hubs, dejected, was going to return it and get me a slimmer, more expensive one instead. But I stopped him. In the end, I spent the other half of the morning and the afternoon playing with my brand new 8.1 megapixels phone, forgetting about my breakfast (and almost lunch too) in the process. By 1:30 hubs dragged me out of the house, with my stomach rumbling.

We drove all the way to Fort Lee, through mid-afternoon rush and road works and by the time we got to the Italian restaurant, it was tea time. Hubs had shrimp linguine in marinara sauce while I chose to have baked penne in tomato sauce and mozzarella topped with eggplant. It was an little mom and pops Italian joint run by Mexicans. Mine was YUM-O! Hubs was just a little too acrid. My unfinished lunch was tp-ed for dinner.

Across the restaurant was the Fairway grocery store, so we hopped in to take a look inside. We have a habit of eating and then shopping for food after. Hubs found a banana cream pie, my favorite.

After that, we went home. The entire trip back, I was in a food comatose. Once home, I continued where I left off with my phone in the early afternoon. Hubs took a nap – until 7pm. Someone’s not sleeping tonight.

So we had leftovers for dinner and the pie for dessert, which started out great, but by my last bite, I wanted to gag. I had to take a sour plum to wash it down after.

Now that I am in bed, hubs walks in and plays Wang Lee Hom’s (WLH) Wei Yi for me, on my new phone that I messed around with the entire day. For someone who doesn’t like WLH at all, he’s playing all of WLH’s songs on my phone, while accompanying me as I wind down for the night.

I did absolutely nothing but then again, everything. Just like that, I have a little me to carry around.

Planning for Halloween is harrowing.

For the pass few years now, we have been volunteering for UNICEF’s Trick or Treat for UNICEF campaign to raise money for children of the world. The first year that I did it, the economy was still good.  People were in a giving mood.  All I had to do, was lay out a bowl of candies, and people were just happy stuffing $20 bills in my box. That year, I didn’t have to fork out my own cash to reach my goal (even though I do donate on a regular basis – in case you think I’m a schmuck who asks for donation but doesn’t give a penny).

The second year, the economy tanked. People were stingy with their cash. At work, I even dressed up as a Harajuku girl to “beg” for money. I even threw a Halloween party, lavished with good food and fun games. Only a handful of truly good friends showed up. At the end of the day, even though we had an awesome time, I dug into the piggy bank to make up for the difference.

This year, with the economy barely on the upturn, I don’t know what the reception will be. How do you ask people to donate when they don’t even have a job?

First of, hubs, Cheh and I are going to be characters from an anime (surprise surprise!). Our props have been ordered and hopefully we can walk around town with it. Secondly, we have to actually scout for donors. Thirdly, making up the event and finding the location.

Last year, a friend had a birthday party at a club and wanted us to join in the celebration. I didn’t think it was appropriate. This year, I’m too lazy to throw an in-house party and I really hope by joining the crowd, we can get more donation for the children.

At the end of the day, it’s not how much you give, even though the money does come in handy.

“You give little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself, that you truly give.” – Khalil Gibran

I choose to volunteer my time with UNICEF because the children of the world are the hope for the next generation. They are not only vulnerable, but precious and will play an integral role in changing the vicious cycle of status quo in the world. There are few issues in the world that are as important and as solvable as saving children. And, because of that UNICEF’s work transcends those things that tend to divide us and our world. Their work ranges from small projects in remote villages to sweeping changes in health care interventions. UNICEF has played a leading role in reducing polio transmission by 99% over the past two decades. They’ve got political capital, allowing them to negotiate cease-fires in war-ravaged countries to immunize children.  Over the years, some 100 million children have been immunized against the most common vaccine preventable illnesses, saving 2.5 million children each year and reaching 40% of the world’s children.

UNICEF knows a little education goes along way. An educated woman is 3 – 5 times more likely to raise healthy, educated children, which means her children are much more likely to raise healthy, educated children. UNICEF is able to break the cycle that dooms so many children to malnutrition, lack of healthcare, and illiteracy- all of which contribute to children’s survival.

Whether it’s medicine, health care, education, or emergency relief, UNICEF is able to deliver it faster, and on a greater scale.  UNICEF’s goal is simple: we will do whatever it takes to save children’s lives. Only UNICEF has the global experience, resources, and reach to give children the best hope for survival. By working together, we have the power to change the world. When you support the Trick or Treat for UNICEF campaign, you help save a child’s life in a developing country by providing access to better nutrition, clean water, medicine and immunizations, education, and emergency relief.

Trick or Treat for UNICEF

http://inside.unicefusa.org/goto/achong

After our, I mean my, big clean out, I just veg-ed out today. I started the day im-ing with daddy while painting my nails green.  I even did a frenchie on it! Then I spent the rest of the morning blogging.

Hubs was out in the city, trying to renew his passport at the embassy.  No such luck.  Wasted the morning because he didn’t have a certified copy of his IC. He came back in time for lunch, in time for me to pick him up and stop at McDs. I am not the biggest fan of the fast food chain, but I really wanted to do everything bad today – including eating artery clogging food and washing it down with battery water.

While I chomped down on my burger and oily fries, hubs was scarfing his down – as he has another errand to run: fixing the alignment on the Acura. He replaced all four tires when we were in Toronto for my sister’s wedding.  The car has a mind of its own now in steering us to the right side of the road. Back to the shop it goes. Anyway, I sat at home, ate my heart-attack-waiting-to-happen-food and watched the return of InuYasha. Sit boy!

Since I couldn’t sit still, I started “cleaning” up things in the house. I put away the mail, paid the bills, shredded a few spams and I even tried to rearrange the study.  No such luck.  I need more time than I had. Instead, I went into hubs’ other closet and started ransacking it. Next week – I’ve got my project all planned out for me.

By the time dinner rolled around, I felt very much like sleeping, although the hunger pangs and rumbling clearly would have kept me up. Caught up with House and more anime.

I’ve never cleaned this much and thrown away so little in one day.

That’s four loads of laundry – darks, grays, whites and bed sheets, pillow cases and an ultra thick duvet cover – washed, dried, folded and stored in record time.

There was the switch over too, from summer to winter clothes.  Don’t mind me, I always do things ahead of time.  Although a few days back, I could have sworn that it was already winter, what with the morning temperature hovering in the low 40ºs. Today, however, is a different story. While pulling out woolen turtle necks and long johns, the temperature decides to rise to the mid-70s.

This changing of the guards shaved 5 hours off my day. Every time I do this, I swear my closet gets smaller and smaller. The sweaters that use to fit in one closet now has to be forced in. It starts out neat and orderly.  By the time I’m done, it looks like the clothes were just haphazardly shoved in in different directions. I never realized I have that many gloves, scarves, socks, wraps, and sweaters!

The Closet making its debut

The summer dresses, tops and skirts didn’t even get enough days for a complete rotation. With a different outfit every day, not all of my summer clothes got the spotlight it deserved.  Skirts were missed. Dresses still had tags on them. As I put summer clothes away, I left an entirely “new” pile for me to pack during my trip back to KL this December. That’s barely two weeks that I would have to cram the omitted wardrobe of this season.  It’s not fair that summer is so short.  Worse yet, this year’s summer was particularly cold.

In with the new out with the old?  That’s not my philosophy.  Mine is, “The more the merrier!” Of the load, I pulled out 2 dresses that was going to the Salvation Army. The rest, I’ll wait for the next switch-over. You never know, fashion always makes its way back.

I finally had a bite to eat at 4:30, but not before I finished cooking fried noodles for the week. I even started a pot of stew. Before I even warmed the seat, I got up to clean the store room.  This time – it’s the shoes!

…more like the entire storeroom. There were stuff in there leftover from the previous owner that were rusted out. Garbage.

Hubs has his entire car cleaning, liquid refilling store set up in there.  They were all dated back to the ’90s. Gar-bage.

There were empty weed whacker bottles lying around, mixed in with half used and brand new bottles.  Gar-bage.

The paints, brushes, rollers and pans were neatly repacked and relocated to the back end of never, never land. The floor tiling equipment: cement, grout, tile clippers, trowels, spades, spacers, sponges and goggles were stowed and stuffed compactly in a small box, moved to the I-don’t-see-it-which-means-it’s-not-there-space.  Of course, there were things that were just not worth saving. A pack-rat like me still knows when an object has no life left. It’s called GAR-BARGÉ!

I finally attacked the shoes. Stow away the summer flip-flops, sandals and kitten heels and bring out the fluffy, woolen boots!  Those nonsense that hubs keeps (from above) made way for my boots to be nicely arranged and very accessible. No more squeezing through tight spots and crossing pails of car wash/wax and sponges/brushes and chopped up wood to get to my shoes. After introducing two new pairs into the mix (bought from the day before), I decided to be a little charitable. I pulled out a pair of short leather boots and clogs to be donated.  My good deed for the day – two dresses with two shoes.

The Shoes (& paint) - that's half of it

I ended the day on my knees in the bathtub. Scrubbing grime out of a white tub is no joke. Not only did my knees get scuffed, I had a nice workout on my arms.

When I finally sat down for dinner at 8:30 pm, my joints were screaming. The remainder of the night, I hobbled around the house, but the sense of achievement was immeasurable. No pain, no gain.

We had an involuntary furlough day from work today. It was supposed to be doing things that we LIKE.

We were at the doctor’s for most of the day. My arms, yes plural, were stabbed four times before they were able to squeeze two vials out. One side has turn black and blue as we speak. The other side is just holey. Since they were short-handed, we have to return tomorrow to get our EKG done.

Had batten ramen for lunch at 2:45. By the time we got home, it was time to meet my sisters for dinner in the city.

We took the bus before 5. Finally reached Chinatown before 6. We went straight to buying groceries first. First stop – we bought fuji apples the size of two baseballs melded together.  Then we stopped at the tofu shop. I tried to get the auntie’s attention to sell me a pound of bean sprouts.

“Auntie, mm koi, yat pong ngaa choy.”

I must have said that five times and yet, nothing. The “auntie” helped everyone around me except me. Must be my invisible cloak that I have on today.

Then cheh stepped in.  Nothing.  Hubs had to ask too. Nothing. Finally, I gave it one more try, before I got my pound of sprouts for $1. By that time, we added a tumbler of tau fu fa too.

Just as we walked towards Nyonya, a Malaysian restaurant, we saw a bakery that was selling mooncake and mooncake biscuits, which we call, chuu chai – little pigs. I got one big chuu chai (for hubs and I) and two smaller ones (one for each sister), in the shape of a fish and buddha. I tried to pay, but once again, it seems like I am invisible. I tried all the “excuse mes” in Chinese.  Nothing.

Then, rather haughtily, I said, “Excuse me,” in English. That got their attention.

Cheh will be off to Vancouver tomorrow morning so we had our family dinner for Mooncake Festival (aka Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节) tonight instead.

We ordered oyster omelet, kangkung sambal belacan, stingray in lotus leaf topped with sambal belacan (again) and tofu casserole. YUM!

After dinner, we went hunting for more chuu chais because my younger sister wanted to buy some herself. We stopped at the same bakery. While the three of us fussed over what we were getting, hubs waited outside the store. When he finally came in, my younger sister got herself a bun and chuu chai, cheh got about 6 buns, and I got a mango bubble tea. Hubs found a $20 bill.

A few days earlier, while walking Jessie in the morning, I found a dollar.  I thought it was my lucky day.  Hubs wins.

To celebrate our “good fortune” for the week, we purchased $2 worth of lottery, drawing for $105 million tonight.  A little luck or an invisible cloak goes a long way.

As of this morning, the lottery pot has gone up to $122 million.