More updates on 2009 CNY

1st Day of CNY

More updates but no worries as i will also wrap things up for celebrations in A-Setar ....

The boys had gotten much more familiar with the celebrations this year ....... in other words they responded & behaved much more matured with some of the rituals / customs of this festival!!
Mumy had earlier taught the boys to remember what should be the 1st thing to say in the early morning of 1st CNY upon seeing ah kung & ah ma!!
They did not disappointed mumy, both of them willingly greeted :

" Gong Xi Fa Cai "
" Shern Thee Jien Khang " / Good Health

to both their grandparents !!!

Even to the rest of the aunties & uncles they met, they automatically 'sang' in that tune of phrases!! But they still obviously don't appreciate the red packets yet. When they were too engrossed playing, they will asked those ppl who gave them angpow to give them to their mumy instead.....slaphead !!!

Our 1st day of CNY was quite boring spending it at home doing nothing basically. Until about noon, all the sisters & the bunch of nieces & nephews started to pour in !!! That's when all the hoos & hahs were heard & some fights among the boys started !!!

The usual affairs around the household would be a series of cooking & eating non-stop with people taking turns to the dining table!! Poor MIL, maid & other women in the family had to continuously replenished the food on the dining table!!

Until about 3pm, everyone finally gotten their stomachs filled up and the next thing was to move on to huby's granny's home.......again for a quick exchanged of "angpows"!! It was getting more & more hilarious to me....the entire visit from the moment we stepped into the house (which was already fully crowded with people), exchanging 'angpows' among the married women, chit-chatting for a while until we left the place, it only took less than 1/2 an hour to complete.....what a joke!! What a hurry obligation that was???

Back home, everyone started to get busy with preparation for the party at night. I think this family gathering would be an annual event at FIL's new home starting from this year. Huby mentioned that his unc.Andrew already talked about having a whole lamb roast for the next CNY, hahaha
For myself, since there's not much help that i could offer, i volunteered to made some agar-agar & get the fruits cut. The menu for the party was 'nasi kandar'.


While the adults had a good time & spacious atmosphere to catch up on life, the kids had a wonderful time indulging in fire-crackers playing !!! It was the boys' first time playing with the spark....they both got very excited yet anxious with this 1st time encounter!!


check out some happy moments of the kids below :

For me, it was worth giving a mention here when i finally had a long & fun conversation with an uncle whom i had kept some fear towards..... all these while (why???....i don't know....probably due to the teochew egoism shown on the face, blek)...... it was as if an "iceberg has finally broken up"!!! Boy.... unc.andrew was so talkative that the wife & daughter had to come over to interrupt our conversation as it was already so late and the ladies yearn to go back home. Aunty alleged that he drank a lot but uncle claimed that he was not drunk.....arghhh, i don't know who to believe, hahaha
Our 1st CNY ended very late that night !!!

Annually, the boys' "TAR KU"/eldest SIL would get new pyjamas in similar theme respectively for all the boys & girls. And this year was Ben 10.....check out their uniform below!!

" So cute.........the nephews & nieces from the eldest at 16 years old/Form 4 to the youngest at only 1 year old "

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2nd Day of CNY

Our 2nd day of CNY was also filled with more cookings & eatings. There were so many mouths to feed yet on such days, not many restaurants are operating, so needless to say it was quite impossible to avoid cooking......poor thing !!!
I think the maid got a shock too.....after the whole morning working to get the breakfast done & the cleaning over with, there she needed to start preparing cooking for the next meal i.e. lunch 'pulak'.....scarry thought though !!! Can't imagine if i have to host such a big family, i would have die of depressing man ......
Anyway, after one of the meal, i heard that the family would be paying a visit to the 6th uncle who still happened to live in an estate house!!!

WHAT??? An estate house??? What's that suppose to mean???

Not only it was a big thing for the kids to experience, it was indeed an EYE OPENER for a city person like myself !!! I kept asking SIL & huby was it in a jungle or something....lots of mosquitos ahh.....need to bring mosquitos repellant or not???? geee....gotta admit how excited i was & how much i was in anticipation.....such a "jakun" i know!!!

When i finally reached there...... ooh boy......i knocked on myself & said:
"and for all these while i was complaining that my FIL's shophouse was very 'kampung'/rural"
"now after seeing the real estate house, i finally got hold of what a 'kampung' house should looks like"


It was even more 'HORROR' to discover that the house was actually partially surrounded by a huge "GRAVEYARD" !!! Oh my god, didn't that also sent some shiver down your spine ???
I was barely left with words.....quite speechless i must say!!!
Uncle bob even said there used to be python around the house........** faint **
Until today, it is really hard to believe that such a place still exists for living and that was a relative that i'm talking about here!!! Don't you think we are so lucky in comparison???

notice the graveyard at the back


I think many people would have expected to see some sort of 'shock' expressions from me....
yeah i saw my SIL laughing at me, then aunty janice mentioned to me that uncle andrew also said surely jaclyn would be surprised with this experience!!!!
in other words, everyone was so right in expecting the shocking reactions from the 'jakun' blogger here!!! hahaha.......what an encounter that was!!!

My boys in return seemed to enjoy running about the estate playing with some puppies, chickens & birds !!! Even the goat farm (kandang kambing) that was so stinky, they didn't mind minggling around !!! When they needed to wee-wee, huby tried to coax me to bring the boys to the toilet........of course without any success, he had to settle the boys instead. My SIL even teased me to try out their toilet as she said it will be an experience to me.........
which i replied with a big NO THANK YOU lor !!!


The wife aunty Mary was such a nice lady....forever so charming & cheerful with her smiles, cooked everyone with a late lunch with the curry 'kampung' chicken being the most popular dish!! No doubt the dishes were delicious despite the fact that we have to endure eating them with flies everywhere......now...... talking about hygiene & cleanliness, hahaha




6th uncle cracking the coconuts & the juices were so sweet


Overall, this experience left me with the MOST FRUITFUL memories of the 2009 CNY, which also painted some worthy treasures in my LIFE !!!!

We left AlorSetar on the 3rd day of CNY after another sumptuous meal at home!!!

That's the end of our wonderful celebrations back in huby's hometown !!!

more photos to share here