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