I know it’s been more than a month since I’ve blogged and I hope it’s not too late to wish everyone Selamat Hari Raya!

This was my first raya as a married person, so everything about this Raya was completely different than all the Rayas that I’ve had for the past 27 years. Deciding where to spend Raya FIRST was pretty awkward, moreover the decision on how we’d spend the rest of the holiday at different places was even more excruciating. I have to admit, it is not the most pleasant conversation you are going to have with your other half , especially when both sides of your families celebrate at different hometowns (in my case there are 6 hometowns!) But thankfully, we made our own version of ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ aka MoU. So, after much deliberation, arguments, debates and pujuk-ing sessions, I celebrated Eid with my husband’s family first.

So we made our way to Kuantan, then Terengganu and then Johor. I’ve never traveled to so many places in the span of 3 days and it was something very new to me. At first I hated myself for feeling confused and mengada, but I decided not to be so harsh on myself because it’s a new change and everyone has different ways in adapting to it. Lucky for me, Joe’s family is really easy going. Although, I couldn’t stop thinking about my family most of the time, especially my mama.

I had tons of fun celebrating Raya with Joe’s family. So here are the new things that I did:

Cook! (Okay, I’m lying, more like watching my mother in law cook in awe). We had nasi minyak and ayam kerutuk, very delicious.

Met my new relatives. I have so many new cousins!

Rode on a Harley, felt so cool and jakun. This time, we wore helmets

BBQ and picnic at night. Fresh prawns, fresh crabs, fresh coconuts. It was heaven.

And my favourite – farm animals. Sent a bunch of photos of me petting and playing with goats and chickens at Joe’s family farm to my friends and one of them even asked ‘pergi petting zoo ke?’ I think I pissed a few of KL relatives off because my aunt texted me and said ‘HOW DO YOU HAVE TIME TO PLAY WITH THE KAMBING, THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE IN THE HOUSE! I just laughed when I read this. I couldn’t imagine how my family was coping with the hundreds of guests that day and there I was, bonding with goats! It was so much fun though, I made Joe chase and catch the farm animals for me because well, I can’t run in heels and I’m a whimp.

Last but not least – first raya with this guy! I didn’t have any expectations on how it would be like spending raya away from my family for the first time but Joe made sure I was okay. He asked me one night if I missed them, and I started to tear up so he hugged me and then offered to buy me ice cream. My husband knows me well! I felt totally fine after consuming a magnum. Okay maybe it was 2 magnums.

 

 

There wasn’t much left to do in KL when I came home, so Joe and I threw a mini open house and invited our close friends and family. My Aunty Farah made her delicious Nasi Ayam, Joe did his manly thing and worked on the BBQ pit, I mashed some potatoes and hoped that no one would get food poisoning (don’t worry no one got sick).

By the end of it, I was so thankful that everything was okay and everyone was healthy and happy. It made me realise that I should have worried less and be grateful that everyone had a good time. It is not always going to be easy making decisions as a couple, and trust me you can’t always please everyone, but we’re all learning right?

First night back in KL, went for KFC. Yup, you can take the girl out of the city, but you can’t take the city out from the girl 🙂

May everyone had a wonderful Eid celebration with their loved ones  and from the bottom of my heart, I would like to seek for forgiveness on behalf of myself and my family if there are any wrongdoings.