EL CASA GRANDE

If you, my dear readers, think that I’m hatching a grand plan, for example moving this blog to a greener pasture, you’re only partly right. Truth is, the secret mission that both of us, the ibu-ibu Nuha are planning is actually one of the same kind, although pinkyj’s move is virtual,while mine was, yeah, pretty obviously, literal.

Finally it happened. I knew it was coming, I just never thought it would be this soon.

We were ‘summoned’ by my grandmother to move to my kampung, to live in the great old kampung house which formerly was the home of my closest aunt, Mak Baik.

So last week was the beginning of our great escape to the countryside.


This shall be our home from now on.

Hardly the English manor I've been dreaming of, but it's close enough.

Located in an idyllic, secluded kampung, somewhere between Pokok Sena and Kepala Batas, the house was originally owned by my paternal grandmother whom we affectionately call Tok Gemuk –loosely translated as Fat Grandma (I know, it sounds crass – but to us it’s endearing). While my maternal grandmother is called Tok Kecik (because she’s so thin and small), Tok Gemuk got the nickname from her obvious physical appearance too. However, to the rather large kampung community, she goes by the name Ummi, Mami or Tok Mami (that answers some FAQ I usually get, whether I’m a Penang’s anak mami, or whether I have mamak blood in me.) More on Tok later, but now we talk about the house.

This is the only kampung I call home. One look it doesnt's look that old. Abah built it for Tok few years after I was born on a piece of land bought my late Tok Abah, which Tok paid for with her own blood & sweat.

It's only 15 minutes away from my parent's place, so as long as I can remember, weekends and school holidays are always spent here, it's practically our 2nd home. We went back to Mama's hometown in Kota Bharu, Kelantan only once a year, which is half-a-day's journey away.

Abah has two younger half-sisters, Mak Baik (because she's soooo baik) and Mak Yuh. I am super close to them as we are only a few years apart. They spent their childhood there, and when Mak Baik got married to Pak Baik (yeah, the name sticks) they stayed in that house for a coupla years until recently Mak Baik and the brood (of four very bright kids) have to move to somewhere closer to the kids' school.

The house has seen as many renovations as MJ had done to his face, so it looks a lot different now from what I remember it was as a child. We used to run around the second floor which was a spacious hall and two small bedrooms until someone downstairs would yell to us to cut it out. At night, we arranged mattresses (or lembeks we call' em) on the wooden floors of the hallway to sleep, and in the morning before Mak Baik or Mak Yuh kept them away, my brothers and I would organize a mini gymnastics contest and the upper floor would be shaking with crashboombang sounds.

The backyard i remember used to be full of rambutan and banana trees, and we enjoyed playing masak-masak there although we dare not venture deeper beyond the gated area. There was even a funny incident where my second brother, Boy was found crying inside a septic tank behind the house. Yeah, it was funny now. The backyard now accomodates piles and piles of steel (which is very high in value now) waiting to rot, remainders of some from Abah's consruction jobs, so there's a big NO ENTRY sign over there.

One thing that I'm glad is still there is this old rickety swing, all tarnished with age. We used to do acrobatic stunts and gymnastics here too :)



Never a kampung girl at heart, I'm beginning to lose the initial apprehension of moving to the village. At first I thought Nunu wouldnt be able to fit in or make such a fuss after moving to a different environment, but she doesn't seem affected at all. In fact, she seemed pretty comfortable here.

But I'm loving it here. For the facts that:

1. Unlike our previous house, where there's hardly any room to swing a cat, this house and the lawn is HEYUUUGE, lotsa space and lotsa greens, so it's a better place for Nunu to grow up in.

2. Tok lives right across the our front door (our houses are opposites to each other) It's even closer than our previous house which was two doors down from MIL's house! There are 2 houses in the compound actually, together with another building structure where we store odds and ends.

3. The fresh air in the morning, and the cool water for the showers!

4. I can be closer to Tok, Mak Baik and Mak Yuh, who lives nearby. The children can get together and play in my sprawling front yard and chase chickens.

However there are several downers:

1. A HEYUUUGEE house and lawn means more house work for me :(

2. There are BUGS everywhere! Each morning I have to battle an army of creepy crawlies; red ants, black ants, centipedes, moths, roaches, etc. that'll find their way in the house from the cracks of our doors (honey, hand me some Ridsect, please).

3. The LOOOOOONG commute, which I guess is a bit uncomfortable for Nunu. Our routine is totally different now, as it'll take almost an hour to reach the nanny's house. Everyday we'll have to take this kampung route that is very notorious for its shoddy road work. People try to avoid this route as much as possible, that's why the traffic is kinda clear. But it amuses me and Nunu as I read aloud to her the funny names of kampungs we're passing - names like Padang Ibu, Padang Tong Sun, Permatang Mak Sulong and Kampung Pelet. Teeheeeheee, they crack me up.

4. The chicken droppings and the cat poos I have to deal with (errks!)

5. The potential thieves that'll be peeping over my gates for those precious corroding steel (honey, could you fetch me my guns, please)

Yup, that's what we'll be: Vanguards of the Steel Movement.

So that's my story. Hey, I'm sorry if the blogging sabbatical took longer than expected. The thing is, the move somewhat threw my life in limbo and I'm such in a frenzied state until now. Like a set of untessellated jigsaw puzzle that needs to be reassembled, my life was in a complete disarray and I'm still in the process of putting the pieces of my life and routines back together again.

However, no matter how disorganized my life is, I still try to update, only that I hesitate to hit the publish post button because I can never seem to finish a proper sentence anymore.

But it's good to be back. As for the house, it'll take me a while to settle in, a lot of work still need to be done in the house. Heck, we're still living out of black garbage bags! But we have a lovely new divan and air-conditioners, plus the fridge and sofas will be arriving soon. I'm not a big dreamer. The house is not gonna be furnished according to certain themes like english country, modern zen or exotica tropicana or sumthing :) although I like shabby chic very much (jangan mimpi lah!)

Mi casa, mi casa.

*someone correct my spanish, please?*