Musim Panas Di Negara Orang, Panas Lagi Di Negara Sendiri

Dang, I wanted to name my blog Appetite For Distraction since (to provide explanation for an actually meaningless name) Guns N Roses’ debut album was a flawless work of art and I love to (as in, have a high tendency to) get distracted. But it’s already taken.

Justeru, apa khabar rakan taulan sekalian? How’s life in New Zealand? Liking the weather in Australia? Enjoying the places surrounding UK? Or just simply loving to be in tanah air tercinta? Not just my IPBA friends but also those lovely people from the past too.

So I’m in Malaysia now, Rembau, Negeri Sembilan, to be exact. It’s been a month since I arrived from New Zealand. And terlupa plak, I stopped by Australia for less than a week and spent some quality time there with the Brisbane people. Maybe I’ll talk about my Australian holiday sometime later.

Mengikut niat asal, kepulangan ke Malaysia memang lah tak nak dijadikan cuti musim panas yang dimurnikan dengan aktiviti-aktiviti berunsur kemalasan. Tapi nak jadik berguna pun agak malas juga. Dilema dibuatnya. But I’m fortunate enough that I didn’t have to go through these bollocks for a long time. Takdir dah sediakan satu-satunya jalan yang kena lalu tanpa banyak soal – malas atau tidak. Tuisyen Bahasa Inggeris.

So please excuse that fairly grandiose introduction to this topic, since I’m only gonna write one sentence about it. It’s been keeping me occupied for a month until school starts early next year dan walaupun kadang-kadang rasa ikhlas tu tercicir, mungkin dihempap dibalik bantal yang selesa, pengalaman ini memang amat berguna. That’s it and that sentence can actually be broken down into tinier parts (as I’ve said to some of the students during their writing exercises).

But anyway, things are going okay. The first few days were quite hard, asyik terbayang arwah akak kat tempat2 favourite beliau, doing her favourite things, with her favourite facial expressions. Though her absence brings a heartfelt sense of emptiness somewhere inside, as people always say, yang hidup tu teruskan hidup. Hopefully I could change and live in a way that could honour her. Supaya pemergian beliau tak sia-sia. I’m surely gonna tell anecdotes about her to my children (when I eventually have some, that is). Arwah akak berhenti sekolah lepas UPSR untuk jaga aku dari aku kecik sampai aku besar – that alone is enough to prove to the world that she was a big part of my life. Still is, though. Oleh itu, marilah kita sedekahkan Al-Fatihah kepada arwah Riza Marina bt Abdul Razak. Insan istimewa yang semua orang sayang.

Apart from those early days of my return, things are going okay. Rembau has its own charms, apart from the internet connection bollocks. 3G doesn’t reach here. Pelik gak sebab bukan pedalaman sangat pun. Dimanakah khidmat wakil rakyat bila diperlukan? Takpelah mungkin beliau sibuk and takda pula orang complain. Laa rupanya saudara Hisyam ni dok whine about it tapi tak buat aduan atau apa2 pun rupanya ya. By the way it’s quite nice to reunite with my favourite things that can only be obtained in Malaysia. Masakan parents yang genuinely tasty, karipap Rembau, majalah ROTTW dan lain-lain yang berkaitan. Walaupun nampaknya pemandu-pemandu kat kawasan ni makin terbiasa dengan amalan tidak memberi signal bila nak tukar lane dan bawak kereta tanpa ingat orang tersayang (di mana ‘orang tersayang’ itu secara ironinya selalunya ada bersama mereka di dalam kereta nasional mereka itu), no place feels like home. Tapi risau gak kat Dzeti beliau dok sorang2 kat Auckland sana. Her mom and brothers had just left New Zealand today. So I wish that she’s alright every time I breathe. And hopefully all my friends are having a good three-month break. So that there'll be plenty to be shared bila semester bermula kelak.

So, that’s all folks. Till our paths cross again.