T.H.E CARNIVAL IS BACK!

Some snapshots before he got dunked. The guy in the picture, believe it not, is the Youth Pastor, he's quite a happening guy!

What carnival? T.H.E = Terrific, Happening, Exciting Carnival organised by my church, Damansara Utama Methodist Church is carried out annually. Its more of blessing the community around our church and most importantly is for all of us(irregardless whether you are OLD or YOUNG) to have FUN, to fill up our tummies with varieties of food and MORE food. But this year, it is more meaningful as this will be the last year for me to go to T.H.E carnival back here in Tmn Sea (our present church premise is formerly the old Ruby Cinema). *Gasp*...Why? No....No, I'm not going anywhere but my church will be moving to a new place in Section 13, PJ. For those who know PJ very well, my church will be relocated to the vacant SINGER premises in Section 13, probably middle of next year. Am oh boy, I'm so excited about it. So, this year carnival is also in a way to bid goodbye to the community here after so many years. Sayonara Folks, gonna miss u lots! I'm for sure, I'm definately gonna miss my "teh si peng"-tea with evaporated milk opposite my church. Its my favourite and the best I had tasted so far. The aroma and the taste is incomparable from any other "teh si peng" in Klang Valley and that makes me come back again and again....

Ok..Ok, enough of my "teh si peng", back to T.H.E carnival. This year theme is "Malaysiaku, Warisanku" - or in plain English, "Malaysia Our Heritage". So all the stalls which were set up earlier have their own theme in accordance to the states in Malaysia. Here, you can play lotsa "kampung-styled" games like guli-guli, gasing, wau and much more. I was not brought up in the era of these popular traditional games(which means I'm still young??...hehehe) but hey, it was fun! What a day to spend my Saturday with games, food and food. (Did I just mention Food TWICE??). Here are some of the photos I took today:

Ever-smiley kiddy clown.......her face was painted by me! Hehe...not bad huh for an amateur like me! Its fun painting other people faces.

The "children face destructors" with their models!

I was helping out in the Face-Painting Booth or should I say, Hand-Painting!

Looks like so much fun sliding from up there. Too bad its only for kids.

WET MARKET, ANYONE?

This morning, I had a bonding session with my dad. And of all places, we bonded at the MARKET! Not just any market, it was the WET MARKET. Went out breakfast with him(My pork noodle was horrible, it was tasteless) and then off we were to the market. He had a list of things to buy. Mom gave the long list to him. Mom was not able to tag along coz my mom had to babysit my two nieces back at home. It was a surprise to me as Dad knew his way very well in the market, where to go, where to get the cheapest price for anything that he wanted to buy. I was impressed. I mean naturally, guys usually take what they want and just pay. Price negotiation was not their priority list, they just need to accomplish the mission assigned to them - get the things they/we wanted, pay and just GO.

Experiencing for the first time in the wet market, I can't bear the smell and the people crowding the place! It was like a war out there. Everyone shouting, bargaining and some stall owners even did promotion for their food/products they are selling. And then, a thought came to me. Will I be ready for all these? Being a housewife and etc...NO..OOO! Not now, I'm still not ready for these. Its unbearable!

Well, I do some grocery shopping but it has to be in air-cond places. I mean, its more convenient to do so, I walk and look at the products at my leisure pace and oh yes, I knew I can't bargain the prices, but look at me, do I look like I'm ready for a long negotiation/bargaining for let say half a chicken or a bundle of "siew bak choy"? Seriously NOT! And I don't usually buy groceries alone and it has to be in the mall so my hubby can tag along as well, usually we do it in the weekends when he's free. Why? So he ends up paying for it. I'm not manipulating him but just giving him the privilege to bless me..Haha! The beauty of being a wife. So extra money for me to go shopping!Woo...hoo....

TO NAG OR NOT TO NAG?

Being a wife has turned me into a big nagger. Living with someone else means I have to tolerate with him a lot. But sometimes, I just can't close one eye and pretend everything is OK. So, here is when nagging starts. I just can't help it. Probably, we women need men who listen to what we are saying and don't just pretend to listen. Strangely, I know when Jon is not listening eg: he did not do what I had communicated to him earlier even after he had nodded his head(giving me assurance that he heard me) and sometimes ingnoring me completely, turning into deaf hears and there is where I'll start to nag and I'm pretty sure he doesn't like it. But who likes to nag? Oh well, thats parts and parcel of my marriage life to you. But take the nagging away, living with someone else also means that we are learning and knowing more about each other - it can be sometimes unpredictable on what he does eg: how he likes his clothes to be folded, how he squezzes his toothpaste(it can be irritating sometimes knowing that I prefer to squeze it from the bottom and he prefers to start from the top), where he put his "stinky" socks after he comes back from work, he releases stress by playing the PS2 while ignoring me....Urgghhh.....those little little things makes me nag like an old woman and drives me crazy and I feel irritated too.

But then again, there was one time where he thought of a good defence statement about my constant nagging. He defended himself on why do I need to nag about him every little things that he does. He did point out areas which I did in his opinion irked him as well but being a gentleman as he put it nicely, he doesn't think it is neccessary to point it out and letting me know my weaknesses. Just gotta live with it and TOLERATE! You can't change a person overnight. Its a learning and adapting process.

I was silence for a while when he expressed his thoughts about me being naggy and I can't help but to ponder.What he said, was quite true. Why do I need to nag? Maybe its because I care about him? Or maybe I'm trying to change him into somebody else? So, yeah he's right. Two of us have been brought up in two different ways, two different person altogether. Marriage is not about trying to change the other person but more to learning how to be understanding, adapting and tolerate with each other. It will not be easy but both parties have to try. I still remember a sermon by Pr.Daniel the other day, marriage can only works when 2 people have the same Master, Mission and only we can be a perfect Mate for each other. So, to nag or not to nag? I guess I know the answer, but oh well.... maybe I'll start to nag less then!

YOUNG AGAIN!

I went out with 2 teenagers yesterday for dinner together with Jon. We brought them out for dinner to appreciate them coz they gave a beautiful presentation of their ballet performance at our wedding.It was fun going out with them coz they made us felt young again. I mean seriously! I can't help but reflecting back my younger days back in college time where I had such a great time. My friends and I did some crazy stuff during our college days but then again who can blame us. We were young and active. I still remembered there was one time when all of us were in the house, revising for our upcoming exam papers and suddenly, no electricity in the house. (We were staying off-campus that time). And one of my housemate suggested to go to KLIA and spent time there since there was nothing much to do in the house apart from bitten from mosquitoes. One thing led to another, we end up dressing up to go to KLIA to take some great photos there. We were posing everywhere and t think about it now, it was quite embarassing. A bunch of girls(7 of us) in a Kancil, dressing up, posing in KLIA, seriously, it was crazy. Girls out there, if you happen to read this, you know who you are! But then again, it was fun being with you guys.

Comparing now and back then, growing up from a teenager to being someone's wife, its different. I may not been doing all those crazy stuff again but its different kind of enjoyment. Now, I prefer a simple holiday getaway with Jon and once in a while we hang out with friends playing futsal, going out for "makans" with friends, childrens' church and sometimes going out with girl friends catching up with them. But it was not that easy anymore coz everyone has his/her own life now and with a busy schedule, its very hard to get everyone to agree on a date so everyone can just come out and meet up. Well, I guess, we all are going through different path of lives and knowing that some of us still keep in touch, its great.

Celebrating one of my housemate's birthday and we were posing in my room (shared with 2 other housemates)

And as usual, we were posing AGAIN! We were quite vain when we were younger!

Posing in the middle of the road in Putrajaya. Call us crazy for risking our lives. But that time, Putrajaya was not officially opened yet so practically no cars on the road. But then again, we should not take the chances! Oh well....

TO HAVE AND TO HOLD?

Few weeks after my wedding, I attended my cousin's wedding for the first time as a wedded couple. Somehow, I was really excited to witness my cousin's blessed union. I guess once you are married, the wedding vows seem more meaningful coz' I knew I was there saying my vows to Jonathan as well and vice versa. Her wedding was beautiful with her hubby rendering a self-composed song to her and I could see her in tears. The part which I really enjoyed the most was the parents apprecation. I still remembered the time I appreciated my parents and I was practically in tears. It was embarassing to cry in front of over 200 people who attended my wedding but I guess if they are good parents, no matter how old am I, I will still be touched by their great parenting all this time. Love you ma & pa! Here are some of the pictures I took at my cousin's wedding.

My radiant looking cousin. My mom was so happy for her too!

Even my little nephew want to get to know the bride and congratulate her.

Lovely cuddly bears on the bridal car.

Can't resist to carry my adorable nephew but oh boy, he is heavy.

FINALLY...

After much procrastination from my part, I finally managed to upload our honeymoon pictures and sharing some of our experiences here...

Our honeymoon was filled with lots of drama, stress and little that we know, we are both camera fanatics. We were off to NZ for our much anticipated honeymoon on 29 July 2006. Our first drama was when we were in KLIA. We reached there the earliest but somehow we were the last one to check in. Somehow, Jonathan had a terrible stomachache at the very last minute and he just had to GO. And after the quick hassling and tugging along our bags, we did manage to get onto the plane. Phew...what a relief! We stopped in Singapore for at least 2 hours waiting to transit. So, we decided to save some money by not having our dinner in Spore airport coz' we knew Air New Zealand will provide us dinner on the plane. Trying very hard not to get hungry, but at the end our tummies just gave in. We went to have a light meal in Subway and we shared a sandwich. But our tummies just didn't agree with the light meal and we end up in Burger King for another meal. So, by the time we were on the plane and dinner was served, we were quite full and we did not finished our meals. It was quite a waste coz the food was quite alrite and we did enjoy it. Oh well...what a waste. I was sitting in between of Jon and another "ang mo". Too bad he was old but then again, Jon would not had approved of me sitting beside a hunk in the first plae. Hah!! The old man was quite nice and he hardly touched his food. In my mind, I was like, "Aren't u goin' to eat that??" Oh well, I guess he was sick of plane food or just being picky. After a long tiring flight, we landed on NZ. We thought our tiredness will be gone once we stepped out of the plane. But we were WRONG! The next stressing drama unfold.

We were interrogated by the NZ custom officers and we were treated just like criminals. I was seperated from my Jonathan and we were both asked a couple of personal questions, like "Are we married? Wheres the marriage certificate?". I was like huh?? Marriage cert on our honeymoon trip?? Come on...Give us a break. Both of our session lasted about nearly 2 hours and that what I called a waste of time. Out bags were opened and all our personal stuff were taken out for public viewing. That was embarassing coz all our "honeymoon" personal stuff were publicly ransacked and taken out from the bag. Our bags were then taken for drug test and to be sniffed by a dog...What an experience...!

At then end, we found out that 5 people from our tour group were deported back to Malaysia coz they did not have any return tickets. Well, after our constant queries to our tour guide, only we found out that those people travelled all the way to NZ to work and did not plan to go back with us at the end of the trip. We were mad initially coz we were among the "suspect lists" as we were on the same tour as them and then that explained the long interrogation we had earlier.

This was my first overseas trip with Jon and this happened. I guess when people do ask me next time whether I remember my honeymoon trip, I bet I would! Woa....I mean seriously, this is what I called an experience of a lifetime, altho' a bitter one during interrogation but overall, I enjoyed the trip very much and I had so much fun with Jon. We ended up with so many pictures and we were clicking the camera all the way. I guess that is the beauty of having digital camera, we can take as many pictures as we want and delete those that we do not want later. So do take a peek of our honeymoon pictures ya'.