how v came to MY (2)

Asslamualaikum!
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So!!!...
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The second week since our arrival has jus passed today is Monday,? 25th October
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The day after we arrived Thursday 14th October 2004 mama and sofia went to the montessori branch of Beaconhouse newly opened here in Malaysia
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in Subang Jaya to be specific
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In Pak , when mama had gone to the Regional Office (F-7 forgive the unnecessary details these are jus so that I dont forget ).. to give in her resignation to the Director he tol mama he wanted her transferred to the new branch J so that settled her job here
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Actually, even if he hadnt said so mama wud probably hav worked here anyway coz the head here used to be the Director before and mama knew her pretty well we had contacted her n she was quite enthusiastic that mama cud come over she needed somebody she cud trust in the administration coz she was simultaneously opening another Montessori( I dunno where that one is though) she had infact said that I shud also work with her to prepare the new Montessori but unfortunately, a foreigner requires a work permit to work here I dunno abhi to kuch bhi nahi hua maybe later
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Otherwise kids here can work as soon as they have done their O levels
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Niway mama went to the school met the head then set out looking for a house she didnt make a single contact that day
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wat she hadnt taken account of that day was the time it took to travel? here
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It is such a small country so ppl dont find it such a big deal to travel from one corner to the other a lot of ppl spend at least three hours daily to and from work or school
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Mama had to go on the bus which takes even longer than goin on a car about 3 hrs jus to reach the school on? a car, it takes about 1 and a half hour J even then, the distance is longer than that to my village in Pak .
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Khair suffice it to say .. .kay us din the only productive thing mama and sofia were able to do was to meet the head.
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Wat bout akmal and me?...
Well honestly .. I dont remember bout akmal bein the house at all mus hav been asleep not surprising?
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Niway I spent almost four hours reorganizing all our luggage in Pak mama and sofia had placed everything helter skelter
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So I had to take out everything figure out how to categorise the stuff separating the immediately required things and the ones that cud wait wat a day that was carrying around 30 kilo weights is no big joke even if its jus from room to room
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After the repacking I washed clothes ?first day in Malaysia and Im washing clothes!... thats life
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Mama had tol me to sweep the house as well but after all that work I honestly didnt have the energy anymore
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U mus be thinking y I had to do all this work well here there are no such things as servants everybody does their own work even if they are visiting ( which I frankly feel shud be the way things shud be done ) oh! By the way when I say everybody I MEAN everybody here even men wash , cook and cleanof course domestic work is primarily the responsibility of the wife but at least the husbands DO? know where the broom is
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Hmmm.
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The next day the first day of Ramadan at least for us here in Malaysia we got up around 4:30 , which was a tad too early coz we were done by 5 and there was still? half an hour before the azan
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But mama still stubbornly sticks to the same time and when the woman living behind our house starts her cooking at 5 lol mama keeps shaking her head at how late she is
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Of course NOW? she has realized it but it still doesnt make any diff not that I care really it doesnt make any diff except I dont like to wait? for the azan
L but usually I dont hav to coz somehow I end up doin the dishes every? morning
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So on the second day
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We all went to the immigration office
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which was a rigmarole
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?apparently the immigration offices are being transferred from their original location to a new one , section by section ( sorry , cant remember the name of the place now, hmmm Ill hav to check it up wid mama ) not only did it take us a lot of time looking for the place when we reached there we realized or rather were tol that? it was the wrong? one
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Thank God mamas aunt (my grandfathers youngest sis shes so sweet n short! ) voluntarily came to mamas help she works wid the finance ministry apparently has lots of connections n was more than happy to help out (she still is helping that is as a matter of fact )
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Niway akmal and I already had 3 months visa we got ours extended by 2 months so officially we can stay here till June 2005
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The problem was wid sofias visa Pakis apparently are amongst the NWCs which stands for the not willing category I gather its the immigration dep. thats not willing n not the PakisJ
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Khair sofia had only a months visa to start wid n they issued her only another month ??there was no time to do anything that day but a frd of mamas aunt mama calls her Cik Mah n we apparently shud call her Nenek Mon ( nenek is the Malay translation of nani ) niway she said that mama shud try to apply for the Malaysian citizenship for all three of us
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So mama got the formsn we returned bein a Friday the offices closed early that day
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That night we ( including my khaala, Mak Cum went to the village in Batu Pahat, Senggarang) it was a 4 hr drive n we listened to urdu songs all the way
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J b4 comin sofia had been afraid she wont get urdu cassettes here so she got all her fav songs recordedapparently not only are urdu cassettes and films available but so are malay? (obviously!) , English , Chinese and Tamil ones
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this country truly represents a mixed culture we dont really feel too out of place hereone hear all kinda languages all around ppl wearing all kinda clothes even shalwar kameez is pretty common here. n u dont see much of the discrimination and rigidness in ideas and principles that are obvious in uni-cultural countries like Pak not that they are non-existent. They are there but they dont exist as hostiliy .its? more of a preservation of identity rather than animosity e.g.? there are hardly any inter-racial marriages ( although the major reason for that is probably the religious diff.s)
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we spent a day in the village met mamas younger bro (Pak Mut) n his family and of course , my grandparents
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lol akmal , sofia and I spent the day washing windows mama and Mak Cum did the cleaning ( apparently, Mak Cum regularly goes back to clean up the houseud be wondering y Pak Muts wife doesnt do it well she does obviously but it is a pretty big house at least big for them coz they are only 4 adults n two kids where as the house used to house 13 ppl mamas siblings and her parents )
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that day my uncle commented a lot on Akmals lack of decision making capabilities I hadnt realized it b4 but akmals medication had reduced him to such a state that he shows the dependence of a 9 year ol towards mama
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on Sunday early morn we returned to Banting , where Mak Cum lives
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the rest of the week we spent looking around for second hand cars and the application for citizenship by Friday only the application had been accepted Saturday akmal and mama went to Cik Mahs house to discuss the visa prob with her n also met mamas elder bro Pak Udato discuss with him the car and accommodation prob
they slept at mamas younger sis houseMak Cik BalI dunno the details of wat they did but when mama returned on Sunday she was very happy wid the result of the trip apparently she had found a house for usbut it wont be available till after eid Pak Uda was gonna help u out wid buying a car n she had been able to straighten out some of the prob wid sofias visa? ( although it will not truly be settled for years )
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this week I guess is the last for us wid Mak Cum next week well be living wid Pak Udas kids ( he had 9 kids n I hav met only 5 of em n that too was 10 yrs ago !) coz Pak Uda n his wife will be goin? for umra n they hav asked mama to look after their kids I jus hope we dont end up doin it I honestly dont think I can take care of themI mean how do u look after somebody whom u cant even communicate wid properly ?...not only that I dont even know how to cook!!!... Malaysian food that is n mama wud be at work so she cant either but lessee its jus for two weeks but thats more than long enough for me
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hmmmm I think thats all for nownext time Ill tel u? bout some of the foods here J n wat sofia and I were upto on this weekend
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Allah hafiz
saara

how v came to MY

Salam everybody. Im sending this version to everybody well to everybody that matters J

Hey Asima! I tol mama about ur idea of writing a book pehlay to mama hans parin baad main laikan everybody thought it was a pretty good idea mama khud kah rahi thin kay muj say notes lay layna

n ummm guys ?... reading this ull probably think kay saara is an insensitive brat coz shes taking everything so easy n calm n treating everything like its a big joke
well ummmm. (embarrassed) ud probably be right at the moment
ha!
Who m I jokin ?... since the day we decided to leave pak actually Ive been havin a bit of an emotional lag. (shrug) once the realization of wat weve done finally catches up wid me , I guess its gonna be pretty bad.khair enough of me heres the story

Sometime between the beginning and the mid of Sep , mama talked to sofia and me . For reasons which are too personal to be mentioned she said she had decided to leave pak sofia was overjoyed I on the other hand wasnt so sure anymore

I say anymore coz we had always wanted to lev but unfortunately, in the past two years, I had formed too many close relationships there in pak and didnt really wanted to leave but at the same time I? did want to leave coz there I felt SOummmm suffocatedahhhh!! Im rambling again.

Khair hamari family main jab bhi is tarah kay drastic decisions liya jatay hain to do teen haftay baad khatam ho jata hai sara josh

For the first week nobody did anything I got very frustrated I confronted mama and asked her whether we ARE or ARENT goin. Fatima? Ull probably understand wat im talking bout jo kuch bhi decide hota hai scrap ho jata hai n momi u were right , hamain initially yahan sirf? vacations kailiya ana tha laikan who program bhi kafi arsay pehlay hi drop ho gia tah L

Lots of ppl really helped us some of the teachers in mamas school were literally gifts from God.

Aur sofia ki aik dost well actually just an acquaintance she was a new comer sofia had tol her everything coz she didnt know who else to tell she didnt tell any of her frd till the last day coz who kahin kisi tarah musibat main na phans jain khair this girl actually gave sofia Rs 5000 from her own money.

Then , another teacher gave us Rs 10,000 jus so we could buy supplies this might not be such a large amount but considering the fact kay shes worse off than us .. it is

N there were others who helped in other ways
oye ! Fatima! Even Jerrys father helped I dunno maybe shes already tol u. muje aksar lagta tha kay us ko pata hai

every time something good like that happened we felt kay God was wid us. honestly! We cud have faced so many probs much of it went pretty smoothly.

n Asima tum jo bhi kah lo I cant help it Ill always wonder kay muje ana chahiya tha kay nahi I feel sometimes kay Iv betrayed some ppl very close to me

Niway hum nay tayyarian ki aur 12th ki flight thi wait
It was a Tuesday, the 12th of October year 2004hmmm. I wonder if Ill remember
Khair the flight was to Bangkok.. lol for those of u who dont know Bangkok is in Thailand main is liya bata rahi hoon coz of course muj jahil ko nahi pata tah wahan pohonchi to pata laga .

Oye!... darmian main bhi bohot kuch hua!.. lemme see subah subah hum as usual school kailiya tayyar huay akmal beaconhouse informatics jata hai sorry THAaur subah ko mama hi us ko drop karti hain do forgimme.. THEEN isliay who bhi hamaray sath hi tha by the way , akmal ko kuch pata nahi tah us ko mama nay gari main bataya lol n he jus said haan thik hai matlab hamain itni tension thi .. kay pata nahi kia hoga n he was so cool n composed kuch sochay baghair hi haan kar dia ( hmmm does that reflect on how badly we all wanted to do away with the lives we were leading in Pakistan ??? Sometimes , I think we were just too good at hiding our own unhappiness.)

Haan to hum tayyar huay ghar say niklay aur mama kay dost kay ghar gaye jin kay paas hum nay saman rakhwaya hua tha basically clothes and books sofia aur main nai kapray badlay akmal was already in colored clothes

Meray kapray itnay tight thay !!!... aik din pahlay hi darzi say liya thay. sharif admi !!!

Hmmm mama ki dost itni achi hain unhon nay hamaray liya van bhi tayyar ki hui thi shukar hai waisay saman itna tha!!!!... books ki wajah say there were 8 huge bags!!! Muje to pata hi nahi tha coz mama aur sofia hi school say bunk karkay saman akatha kartay rahay thay . lol sorry , hasi arahi hai

Niway , kuch choti moti chizin thin pack karnay ko who sofia aur main nai van main hi kardin kuch chizin rah bhi gain thin jin main lol aik apple , wallet, perfume, aur camera wid the film inside hasi isliya arahi hai (again!) kiunkay? baad main mama ki frd (yaar kia mama ki frd bar bar kahi ja rahi hoon , Ill call her maam) nay mail bhaiji kay ap log van main yah chizin chor gaye hain in ka kia karna haihmmm I dont think I was able to convey the humor very well khair I cudnt be bothered

Hum airport koi 7;30 tak pohonchay jabkay flight 11;45 ki thi apni gari pay mama aur akmal aye thay woh airport main hi chor dia

boring ho raha hai

Niway , hum nay processing ki baggage ki ghanta hi lag gia literallyat one point mama kafi pareshan ho gain passports dikhanay thay boarding pass kailiya ham sab kay naye thay khair sofia aur mama ka to koi khas masla nahi tha laikan officer ko meray aur akmal kay American passports ka yaqin nahi araha tah woh bar bar purana passport mang rahi thi ab hamain kia pata tha kay puranay bhi chahiya hon gay , woh to saray hum ghar chor aye thay

Us main actually entry stamp tha kay hum Pakistan kab aye is baat ko 9 saal h o gaye hain hamain kia pata kay is ka bhi proof daina hoga khair American nationality ka proof dainay kailiya hamain apnay birth certificated ki photocopy daini pari us kay baad say koi khas masla nahi hua

Plane main board huay chay ghantay ki flight thi .. kafi arsay baad plane main baithi thi last time was in 95 I thinknothing interesting happened in my opinion aik minit main sofia ki version yahan copy paste karti hoon :::

i wanted the aisle, but oh well, there wz a cute guy in the seat in front of megora chitta pathan I guesscute.? I discovered tht I wz air sick, I knw I wz sea sick but im air sick tooL , I tell u IT IS NOT a pleasant feeling takes the fun out of the flightcudnt take the take offs n landingsmotion sickness I guess. I hate esp cause it lingers for days..the poor brain..cant keep up wiv the present..got confusedthere were 1-2 days when I cudnt walk properly, walked like a drunk:P.The food wz good on the planethey put on a silly drama but later there wz tht movi..love actually watched neither cause for some reason using the headfones made me feel sick too didnt miss much though :P the movie , I had seen the ending b4 but it had a good song. There channels wiv songs but none familiar eng or urdu, there dhani once only and another 1,2 urdu songs eng were good though

Bangkok pohonchay koi raat kay 12 bajay oh ! by the way darmian main hong kong bhi rukay I think do teen ghantoon kailiya laikan hum sara waqt plane main hi baithay rahay bangkok main hi utray

Bangkok main transit thi visa tha nahi isliya airport say bahir janahi saktay thay laikan zarorat hi nahi thi the airport was such a cool place I mean it was HUMUNGOUS? compared to the paki airport for the first two hours sofia and I just wandered around the place shukar hai hamaray pass paisay nahi thay warna I swear.. jitney hotay saray zaya kar daitay uffff!!! Itni fit fit chizin theen wahan the watched, wallets.. even the cosmetic not to mention the clothes, decoration pieceshum jis shop main jatay oooh ! ahhhh! Karna shuru ho jatay I bet the shopkeepers thought wed lost it

Do bajay phir mama found us she tol us to go n sleep ab airport main rest rooms hotay hain for rent on hourly basis
Unfortunately, they were all packed poor us had to sleep on chairs in the waiting lounge chairs ki arrangement aisi hui hui thi kay two chairs were facing each other main aik pair pay jakay lait gayi aur upar chadar lai liya now THAT was a horrible experience ! u try to sleep like that for two and a half hours and u know meri to do ghantoon main neend hi ur gayi!...

Shukar hai do ghantay baad mama nay phir say pata kia to kamray khali thay hum nay liyay aur subah 4 say 9 bajay tak soye rahay

Uthay to bording pass liya aur phir waiting lounge .
Board huay .
Teen ghantoon main Malaysia pohonch gaye
Yahan bhi sofia ka copy kar daiti hoon

so we got fresh at the day roomsand had a gr8 brkfast then got the passes and roamed arnd a bit againbought keychainsthen we checked in..quick flightbetter food better proggrammes, mr beans and something like candid camera it wz so funnylaughed my headMalaysia finallyI felt relievedso relieved

again Malaysian airport was beautiful umcomparable to the one in isb. it was the first place where I found luggage trolleys with brakes hmmm u guys probably already know about that one
niway , luggage ka intazar kia teen trolleys ki zarorat pari so much baggage!...
after that mama tried to call one of her siblings by the way , nobody here knew about our arrival , we hadnt informed anyone

so mama got bz calling. sofia went to the loo n akmal and I stood around feeling at a loss well akmal was I felt stupid in transit at Bangkok I had taken a bath and chaged clothes ab hamray pass hand luggage tha .. aur us main sirf akmal kay kapray thay I had to wear akmals jeans ( which was fine) and his half-sleeve shirt (which wasnt). Sath main nai aik chadar li hui thi ab Malaysia main achi khasi garmi thi aur main begum chadar oarth kay khari thi. log bhi daikh rahay thay

us kay baad hum LRT station dhondnay niklay sath main of course trolleys theen ab lift main jana tha saman divide karkay do trolleys kar deen
laikan phir bhi sofia aur muje alag lift aur baqi donon ko alag lift main jana paraandar ghusay aur ain darwazay kay sahth chipkay rahay kiunkay aik aur banda bhi lift main trolley lay aya

basement tak pohonchay ab main aur sofia lift kay khulnay ka intazar kar rahay thay darwazay ki taraf daikhtay rahay ab hamain KIA pata tha kay lift ka pichla darwaza bhi hai !!!.. hum usi ko tak rahay hain aur pichay say log ja rahay hain hamain pata chala to hans hans kay pagal hi ho gaye aik banda daikh raha tha kay aik to faux pas commit kar di hai upar say dant nikal rhahi hain but really ! it WAS very funny .

Uff! Aur dusri chiz maybe u guyz already know but I certainly had no idea when we reached the KL station of the bullet train oh ! n that reminds me we traveled backward all the way in the train it was pretty cool except that sofia of course felt sick again ( actually the train has seats facing both ways . we didnt know which way the train wud be moving . hum to baith gaye . when the train started moving , pata laga kay hum ultay baithay huay hian J)

Comin back to the dusri chiz I went to the toilet in the KL sentral (the station) .
I dont like the toilets here. kiun ?... kia hua ?...
Mama looked at me with a perplexed expression coz shed jus come out of the loo and she hadnt seen anything to complain about .
yaar ajeeb hai . is main who spray wali chiz nahi hai its ummm. Aik tuti hai .. n its ummm target-oriented
Sofia aur main panch minit kailiya hanstay rahay mama bhi hansi laikan it was probably coz we were laughing so uproariously coz she tol me later that she had no idea wat I meant by targe-oriented. lol

Oh haan!!!!!!!!muje bhol hi gaya bullet train say niklay to hamain apni tickets zaya karni theenu put the ticket in the slot then pass through a gatewhich doesnt open unless a ticket has been put in the proper slot
Ab zahir hai harkat to kisi na kisi nay karni hi thi mama ka ticket ghum gia main aur sofia phir shuru ho gaye honestly! We laughed so much that day !

Khair we had to buy a new ticket for mama mama had to pay double but the person who was selling the ticket said kay if mama finds the ole ticket she can use it again

Is kay baad? mama nay khaala ko phone kia khaala nay mamoon ko bhaija .. jin to pohonchnay main char ghantay lag gaye
Us kay baad hum khana khanay chalay gaye aur phir khaala kay ghar

Bas abhi kailiya itna hi kafi hai baqi kisi aur din thak gai hun type kar kar kay.

Saara.

PS: please reply . Takay muje pata lagay main nai fazool ki khwari nahi ki