On Monday, we headed back to my hometown in Melaka. Reached Melaka around 6 pm and had dinner at one of the stalls near Pantai Puteri. Whilst waiting for the food, we went to the beach and took some (a lot of) photos. The typical sunsets and silhouettes kind of photos. Ma and Zharif had asam pedas, which was not so bad. My nasi goreng ayam was not how imagined it would be, it was plain but I finished it anyway. Syazana's tomyam tasted funny and she couldn't finish it.
That night we had our second dinner at Nenek's. Wasn't planning on that but.. You just can't say no to grandma's homecooked food, right? I only ate a little though. Then I went and watched some horror documentaries and Malay dramas. The celebrity who was telling her experience on encountering a spirit was quite eerie. That one night during her uni days, she went to her friend's room to study. A lot of rooms were empty as it was during semester break. They studied till late night and decided to chill for a bit and dance to the music. They swayed and sang until.. They heard another voice singing along. They turned off the radio and decided to hit the sack. She went to the toilet and came out seeing her friend on the lower bed of a double-decker bed. Her friend asked her to sleep on the upper bed but she wanted to sleep beside her friend and the friend agreed.
The next day, Ma and I had breakfast at the famous stall next to Nenek's house (can't remember the name). It only opens till noon as it only serves breakfast food. Ma ordered their soto ayam while I tried their lontong. The soto was a bit salty. However, the lontong was so good! Then we went to Aeon Bandaraya Melaka. It's actually my second time there. The first time was when it was recently opened and I don't remember anything that interesting except for the pie/tart I tried. It was good, but it's no longer there. There are so many shops, but I'm only here to rave about the shops that sell kebaya, mini kurung and so many other type of bajus. The variety and price are crazy great! But I didn't buy anything that day. I wish I did.
We wanted to watch a movie but we hadn't decided yet then. Zharif mengimul wanted to watch Alita and Syazana was with him whilst Ma and I wanted to watch The Knight Shadows, not only because there's Jackie Chan, but the trailer seemed exciting. We finally decided to watch Alita because Zharif told us that the reviews are good. And yes, it really was a good movie. Not gonna spoil it here, so go watch it yourself. In conjunction with CNY, the lion dance crew wandered the whole building and give candies. Two were red and another two were pink. One of the pinks came and teased me lol. We then had lunch at Hailam Village. Ordered laksa nyonya. It was just meh but I finished it anyway.
Then we head back, passing through Klebang. As usual, the traffic was horrible there. However, we had a really great laugh because of Ma. Then we applied it to everything that happened afterwards, so funny my tummy hurt. We finally came home to Nenek's like-no-other karipaps. Packed our stuff for Muar. Left around 6-ish. Dad bought some the usual yong tau foo near Pantai Puteri for dinner in Muar. I still feel like I didn't get to spend enough time with Nenek. We left too soon. Definitely gonna return next week or so.
Reached Muar around 9. Had dinner and sobremesa (the conversation after a meal). Had a really good, long one, surprisingly. Usually, conversations with the elders would be very awkward. Somehow, I think I managed to survive for almost two hours. Wow, guess I'm getting old now haha. We mainly talked about the current situation in my studies. My aunt is a high school teacher with a Masters. She's been teaching English for years now. It's so cool when I get to talk about my passion for linguistics with her because she gets it. Told her what I'm planning to research on for my FYP and mentioned the title. She was like, "okay la tu, tajuk je pun dah gempak." Went on and on about my course and mentioned about Imran who got the scholarship to go for an exchange program for a year. And my aunt went, "So Imran ni la boyfriend baru?" "Haa kitorang just rapat je."
The next day, as I was sitting with Atuk Mariah, my converted chinese grandma, I asked her all the questions that I have been dying to ask her. All I knew was that she's from Singapore, she was a nurse and that she met my granddad at work. So apparently, she was adopted by her uncle and her real name was Lee Sam Kui if I'm not mistaken. She told me that her name was Sam Kui because it means "third child". She didn't have much memories with her family because she was sent to boarding school. The Methodist Girls School. From a Buddhist, she was now a Christian and went to church every Sunday. After high school, she applied to become a nurse in JB. She got the job and that's when she met Atuk Mahfar. Long story short, they got married after knowing each other for a year or so. She said she liked granddad because he was sincere and responsible. He had nothing to offer when he proposed her, but she accepted him anyway. "I only got cincin belah rotan. No diamonds whatsoever. But it's okay la. The kenduri was very simple, just makan makan inside the house, no fancy food or decoration." But little did she know that years later, she'd be travelling with granddad and be able to perform Hajj together. It's true when they say if we make our wedding modest, we'd get more of God's blessings. At least for this marriage.
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