family things
Sep. 1st, 2014 11:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jhameiaI had dinner last night with cousins from my dad's side, who we don't often see. Growing up, they were just as far away from us as cousins from my mom's side, but we saw them less often. Which bugs me. I asked my dad once, why don't we have meals with them more often? He said, "well, it's kind of hard to eat with them, since they're Muslim." Which made no sense to me, because we live in a Muslim country, and you actually have to look for the NON-halal restaurants.
Anyway, it was a great dinner. My cousin graduated from an interior design diploma a few months ago, and then finished her piano exams, and thus now qualifies as a teacher, so that's what she's been doing. She's also twenty-one, and tiny. I mean, like, 4' 8" or something. Cute as a button.
I saw her again today; her friend got her to her job interview this morning (she got hired, obvsly), then they swung by to get me out to Shah Alam. My family doesn't go out there too often; it's an unspoken thing that Shah Alam is predominantly Malay, so it kind of makes a lot of middle-class Chinese people uncomfortable.
Anyway, my aunt, cousin, cousin's friend and I went out for a Nyonya lunch (fried siakap and inchi-kabin, nom), then we went fabric shopping. It turns out my aunt and cousin also sew! I got to try out their Very Old Sewing Machine, even. It's so old it's not even electric. Takes a bit of doing though; you gotta get it going first before you start pedaling. It's fascinating.
We went to Jakel, which is a five-storey fabric store. I mostly wanted to get some stuff for a dress for my friend's wedding in December. I got a nice mint-y green thing, with a matching darker green songket material. Merdeka sale day means bopping an RM33/m price down to RM25/m. I also got myself some lycra material, and even lycra lace! Yay! That stuff should be able to make some ten pairs of underwear XD
We meant to go to Nagoya, but they had to go home to pray first (my uncle converted to Islam when in Saudi Arabia, so his family is Muslim with varying levels of piousness), and we rested instead. I showed Ray (my cousin) pictures of our aunt-cousin in Portland, who also sews, and explained bra mechanics to her (Ray, being so small, will probably had to start making her own stuff).
So, yeah, a good day. I'm hoping to get up to Penang sometime, and take Ray along, because she's never been to the columbrium where our grandparents' ashes are held.
Anyway, it was a great dinner. My cousin graduated from an interior design diploma a few months ago, and then finished her piano exams, and thus now qualifies as a teacher, so that's what she's been doing. She's also twenty-one, and tiny. I mean, like, 4' 8" or something. Cute as a button.
I saw her again today; her friend got her to her job interview this morning (she got hired, obvsly), then they swung by to get me out to Shah Alam. My family doesn't go out there too often; it's an unspoken thing that Shah Alam is predominantly Malay, so it kind of makes a lot of middle-class Chinese people uncomfortable.
Anyway, my aunt, cousin, cousin's friend and I went out for a Nyonya lunch (fried siakap and inchi-kabin, nom), then we went fabric shopping. It turns out my aunt and cousin also sew! I got to try out their Very Old Sewing Machine, even. It's so old it's not even electric. Takes a bit of doing though; you gotta get it going first before you start pedaling. It's fascinating.
We went to Jakel, which is a five-storey fabric store. I mostly wanted to get some stuff for a dress for my friend's wedding in December. I got a nice mint-y green thing, with a matching darker green songket material. Merdeka sale day means bopping an RM33/m price down to RM25/m. I also got myself some lycra material, and even lycra lace! Yay! That stuff should be able to make some ten pairs of underwear XD
We meant to go to Nagoya, but they had to go home to pray first (my uncle converted to Islam when in Saudi Arabia, so his family is Muslim with varying levels of piousness), and we rested instead. I showed Ray (my cousin) pictures of our aunt-cousin in Portland, who also sews, and explained bra mechanics to her (Ray, being so small, will probably had to start making her own stuff).
So, yeah, a good day. I'm hoping to get up to Penang sometime, and take Ray along, because she's never been to the columbrium where our grandparents' ashes are held.