Irfan, his dad and mom

Irfan Cuts His Cake and Eats It Too

“I want to eat the Happy Birthday Cake!” Irfan begged for hours after seeing the number three-shaped vanilla cake with the Tigger-esque toon on it. He wasn’t getting it until everyone arrived of course. There were, yet to arrive, his Mak Long and Ayah Long, and his Cik Eda and her roommates. So all day long, he staked out the […]

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Irfan with two new grandmothers

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY IRFAN!

The two new grandmothers, September 2002. Three years ago, Irfan Shafiq was born at Kuala Lumpur General Hospital. Within that three years, he’s given not just his mother and I a lot of joy, but a lot of other people in our extended family as well. We’ll be cutting cake in the next few hours, so we’ll have pictures of […]

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Irfan Goes To The Zoo

Last Sunday, Irfan (along with a bunch of family members) went to the zoo! Here’s a series of photos that came out of our little zoo trip. [[image:zoo01.jpg:Immediately after insertion into zoo:center:0]]The crew lead by Irfan walks by the elephant paddock, away from it because he was spooked by the big pachyderms. [[image:zoo02.jpg:Stork lake:center:0]]Irfan and his Aunt Emma with some […]

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Mak & Abah at Dungun, Terengganu

Here we are over 100 posts in this blog and not once did even say that I worked for seven years at the East Coast of the Peninsular Malaysia. I hate talking about the place. No, I don’t mean Terengganu is an awful place. Far from it. It has some of the most beautiful beaches in the country. The people […]

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More playing

What Happened on Independence Day 2005?

What happened was that a bunch of my old classmates and I (with some of our family) met at 1 Utama mall in Bandar Utama. We then proceeded to the open air Rainforest location of the new wing of 1 Utama, cobbled together 4 of the little round tables (and 1 square table) Burger King had scattered in their area […]

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Henna

Malay weddings aren’t complete without henna. Malay culture isn’t the only one to include henna in its rites and rituals. Henna is an ancient tradition practised by many ancient cultures, and is an integral part of weddings and childbirth for Hindu as well as Muslim cultures. I had hoped that one of the benefits of marrying out of my own […]

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Irfan’s Aunt Emma’s Graduation

As was reported in an earlier post, we were all at Universiti Malaya for Emma’s graduation ceremory. Irfan’s grandparents along with assorted uncles and aunts were there for the occasion. They spent the night at Rumah Universiti, booked many weeks earlier to avoid being sold out. I was worried of the day being ruined by thick, smothering haze that’d been […]

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Baseball Anyone?

What could be more American than baseball and apple pie? Why would a Malaysian girl even give a hoot? Because baseball is Vin’s obsession. (He likes apple pie too, and blasphemously, I don’t, but that’s a different story altogether). During the spring and summer months Vin eats, drinks, lives, and breathes baseball. During the off-season, he keeps track of the […]

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Excursion to KLCC

Today we went to KLCC for a picnic. Irfan, as usual, went straight for the extensive playground they have there, running up and sliding down the play structures. Later, I got to do what I haven’t done in a long time: spend an hour at Kinokuniya browsing and reading the first few chapters of several books, including Neal Stephenson’s Snow […]

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Honeymoon in Redang

As Hisham has faithfully chronicled in here, Vin & I got married in Malaysia recently. A few days after the big kenduri (feast) in Sitiawan, Hisham’s and my hometown, Vin & I flew to Kuala Terengganu, on the east coast of Peninsula Malaysia where we were picked up by a bus and driven to the Marang Jetty. There, we got […]

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KLIA June 2005

Their time in Malaysia had come and gone. Vin and Sila left the country, back to their own lives in the United States last night. It had been a fantastic month, and we were all saddened by their having to leave. Irfan, on the other hand, took it well. Even after the evening claiming his Ayah Cik’s luggage as his […]

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Sisters-in-laws

A Stay At The Hilton: Another Photojournal

For the last year or so, after sending Irfan to day care, we drive to work together. After the construction of Hilton KL Sentral, we drive past it every morning. Sometimes we wonder if we would ever get a chance to spend a night at the newest and state-of-the-art hotel in Kuala Lumpur. Then suddenly last week, newly-weds Sila and […]

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Irfan watches Atok watching the camera

KLIA May 2005

11.15 pm was Sila and Vin’s arrival time at KLIA from Cincinnati, by way of LA and Incheon. We went with two cars, because Sila’s message was quite explicit: “Need empty car boots, we got lots of bags”… or something to that effect. Here are the pictures of the KLIA excursion, which was a fun excursion. Heading back home, all […]

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Irfan and Ummi

Ain’s Graduation Aug 2003

In August 2003, a thousand families flocked to Universiti Malaya to see a family member graduate. Ours were there to see Ain graduate (with a 11-month old Irfan in tow), finally getting her bachelor’s degree in Economics. What I didn’t know was graduation events can have some pretty exciting moments too. Like the time the university guards blocked the road […]

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Irfan takes a breather

Irfan the Water Baby

At two and a half years old, Irfan has absolutely no fear of water. Unbidden, he will kick off his shoes, run to the edge of the pool, do a little sing and dance routine (seriously) and jump right into the deep end with a big splash. Recently he started using a child’s life preserver, a full body jacket now, […]

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