salam raya!

first day of eid celebrations here in the valley. we went shopping at masjid jamek last nite for baju melayu for okm. no prize for guessing what color the outfit is ... i didn't see anything i liked unfortunately. everything was just too colorful for my taste.

this morning we SLEPT IN. mmm... and this was followed by an ultra leisurely breakfast at pjstate - seafood congee cooked in a claypot, toasted egg sandwiches, popiah, wantan mee and ice milo. yummy. after brekkie, we went to see baby niece and dropped by the gasing house to collect some more stuff. this house resembles a storehouse more than ever now. :P

we've moved!

i am writing this post to commemorate moving into 'new' digs! via maxis broadband connection! (okm is using the digi one) still don't believe how difficult it was getting something as simple as an internet connection. in the end it worked out, but not without sweat and tears which is another blog post in itself. :P

friday was our first night here - decided at the last minute since we had gone to see the macc stand-up comedy show at pjla, around the corner from here. it was only the previous evening that i'd gone on a buying spree at the panashop and got a whole bunch of kitchen appliances. and last night, i had a bunch of gal friends over for a movie and game (satc!). it was a wild - we had cosmo mocktails, chocolate, popcorn and the most delectable carrot cake cupcakes. ;)

this place has been ready for us to move into since we got back from the US but i guess we took our time ... and we finally set the weekend after my inlaw's perth trip for the BIG move but the early arrival of baby niece illyssa precipitated a series of events which led to us leaving the nest earlier. (i have a niece now!)

the house currently is a mess from all the unpacked boxes. (it's hard to believe the amount of stuff people accumulate over the years - even non-shoppers like us!) i think it will be a while before all our stuff find 'homes' in our home. nonetheless, it wonderfully liberating to finally be able to organize - and also do mundane chores like laundry - which i adore. :)

karipap-date: 15 aug 2010

hi there. it's been such a long time. been back almost FOUR months now! what can i say? life in the valley is HECTIC. we've not even caught up with all our old friends yet.

what have i been up to? well ... there's work - yes, i started working. and other stuff that's been keeping us occupied. and one short weekend trip away to an orang asli settlement by tasik bera, the largest natural lake in the peninsula ... actually more of a peat swamp forest than a lake. 

this weekend, we were supposed to go climb mt KK but it was not to be. anyways. .....................

it's been a pretty relaxing weekend. i've enjoyed it. leisurely. very very nice. got to see parents who are visiting from sydney. and we finally unpacked our stuff from the US! registered for digi broadband internet. i bought a washer last week. slowly ticking stuff off the list of things to do before we move. (another locale, but still in the valley)

week 2 happenings

trip to teluk intan was nice. and short. sadly grandma didn't recognize me. boo. her excuse is that she's 95. oh well. she really enjoyed playing mahjong with okm and didn't bring up great grandkids. phew. she's got more than she can count or remember anyways. :P

got our iphones finally. okm took about 1/2 hour to settle his. (at mid-valley digi). took a whole lot longer to get mine - because turned out i had an outstanding bill with celcom. for $8.75. such a puny amount ... u'd think they'd hv written it off after 6 years. but no, so i had to go to the celcom office (pkns building) and suffer their 'wonderful' customer service (argh!) to pay up to get my good name removed from the blacklist. ... then with the release letter in hand, we headed over to the digi outlet in SS2 (should've gone back to mid valley) - and waited in line for about an hour before i was able to buy my new phone. ...

had dinner with cousins and then drinks at wine bar after on friday nite. somehow it seems wrong to pay upwards of USD40/bottle for a non-occasion when i'm used to paying USD16/bottle for celebrations, and under USD10/bottle for regular dinner wine. so cheapie me enjoyed the barossa valley cabernet sauvignon at vintry but would rather have teh-O-ais limau any day. :P

the following day, saturday, we had banana leaf rice/dhosai at kana - with some of okm's secondary school friends (s'pore). later, we had tea with neil at coffee bean. no starbucks for us if we can help it, nosiree! - it's gonna be local coffee shops or locally owned chains or franchises, and as a last resort, the coffee bean ... we were also there thursday nite at the bsc with carolyn. saturday evening, we had an early mother's day dinner at formosa since san was going back to shanghai on sunday. update on food event mentioned in previous post: our pizzas were a hit ... my nephew isaac is 6 years old and a foodie in the making had 4 slices and wanted more (but they stopped him b'cos we're trying to control his weight)

have met some really nice runners in the neighborhood. oldies but goldies. some of them are also running in the 15K this sunday. will be nice to see some familiar faces. collected our race packets on saturday - i'm in the junior veteran category. (age 35 and above) haha. which means that i have an extra 5 minutes more to complete the race than those competing in the women's open. :D

ended the week on a 'high' with a hike to gunung angsi with our fellow mount KK climbers. pic below is of us at the summit - just before it started to pour ... we made it back to the car completely soaked through - even my shoes (ugh) and then being malaysians, instead of heading straight home to clean up, went to have 'famous' kuala pilah loh shi fun. ... :P

week 1

been back for a WHOLE week minus 12 hours now ...! a little breather before we head to grandma's later - a day trip to teluk intan - be back tonite. and will have to get some pizza dough going. we're making pizza for the family tomorrow ... went grocery shopping last night - happy to discover that we can get a whole range of organic food and vegetarian staples quite easily. i wonder if i remember how to cook. seems like it's been forever since i cooked anything. haha. life here couldn't be more different from life back in durham. at least we've managed to keep up with our running. and thank goodness for that. been waking up early enough to run in the mornings. short 5 - 6K runs. it's cool(er) in the mornings but still very humid. i'm completely soaked through by the end of the run. okm's weight differential before and after run is 5lbs.

i feel as though i've been on fast forward mode this past week. it's been somewhat of a sensory overload. not in a bad way. but still quite overwhelming. the humidity, the traffic, the crowds, the fOOd, family, reconnecting with old friends, meeting new ones ... not sure when things will slow down. miss my peaceful life in durham. okm of course has taken like a fish back in water. i'm still treading. trying to hold out a little ... will be awhile before i find my legs. ...

shall be staying with okm's parents for the time being. they have wireless internet now which is great - and we will be getting our iphones tomorrow! we got wheels too. i think the transition back to kl has been pretty smooth so far ... stay tuned folks! :)