SMA Arabiah Pasir Mas (2) - Settling Down

After a week of staying with the lovely makcik and pakcik, I moved out and stayed with Zariah or Yah, one of the staff. There were only 5 ladies. She was from Beris Kubur Besar, Bachok. I made friends for life. Another teacher was Rosnani or Nani from Kota Bahru. She travelled daily so it was only Yah and I. Our first house together was just next to the school. It was a 2 room wooden house. All the houses were made of wood then. I can't remember the rent now but it was cheap. We stayed there for a few months before the owner wanted it for his son. So, on to the next house. It was further down but still walking distance. It was a double storey brick bungalow. It was a hostel for the girls from Thailand. We had the small room downstairs as wardens. The problem was it had dirty water supply. The water supply was terrible and dirty. Imagine the water is the colour of your "teh tarik" and smell of mud! They did not have mineral water back in the 80's'. We lasted a few months there also as we soon began to look for houses with clean water. The third movement was to another wooden house further in. Here, the bathroom and toilet were in the house compound and enclosed. It used well water so, it was quite clean. The problem were peeping Toms. Being a wooden house, there were gaps among the walls. After a few months, we moved again to a house further towards town. The fourth house was slightly better because the bathroom and toilet were in the house itself. The water was also from the well. The problem were the flying frogs which became  regular uninvited guests. Not to forget the big, huge rats. I am not very friendly with the unfurry kind and worse when a snake managed to slither in. That's it! Out!!!! In two years, we moved out 4 times. :-)  Kak Faridah offered me to stay with her and her children since her husband was in the army. So, I stayed with her in Jias but it also lasted a few months as I felt like I was intruding whenever her husband came home for a visit.

During the second year stay, I met Latifah Ismail, someone I knew way back during the leadership course in Peretak, Kuala Kubu Bahru (1982). We were not very close but being in an alien place, we bonded and became friends. Lat was from Penang and teaching at the primary school near my school. We managed to find a house in Pasir Mas town. It was a brick house. It was a semi-D and walking distance. It was just near the railway tracks. Here I made another friend from another school, Noraini or Enny, from Ipoh. Zariah had moved back to her mother's house in Bachok and traveled daily. So, Lat, Enny and I stayed together in this house for almost a year. This is my fifth house. At first, it took quite getting used to the sound of the train especially at 3:00am. In the quietness and silence of the early morning, the sound of a running train could be quite deafening and shattering a deep sleep. Yet, after some time, one just got used to it and slept like a log. :-D  During the wau season, the locals played the wau till the wee hours of the morning.  I could still recall the humming of the bobbing wau in the sky. It still echoed in my head. It became a lullaby that soothingly put us to sleep. It was an experience when we watched them played it every evening. It was beautiful and captivating. We stayed here until Lat got a transfer back to Penang. Then, there were only Enny and I. We decided not to look for a third tenant and left Lat's room empty. We had gotten used to each other.

We finally moved out because we caught a peeping Tom. He was our neighbour's son. We decided to move to a house just a few houses away. It was fenced and gated. It was a single house by itself. This is my sixth house. Someone mentioned that I better be careful. Superstition denotes that moving house for seven times means bad luck and can lead to bankruptcy. Really? Yet, we moved. This house was surrounded by fruit trees like mangosteens, rambutans and mangoes. The landlady was very nice and asked us to treat it like our own trees. We stayed together. Here, I finally had a room that overlooked the compound area of fruit trees and privacy from other peering eyes and neighbours. Here I buried an old friend by burning all his letters and photos. I held his funeral one quiet evening when I was alone as Enny had gone back to Ipoh. It was a goodbye ritual. This was my fourth year here. 1987. I was 26 years old. This house witnessed a lot of tears and heartache. Finally, when Enny got married and transferred to Perak, I had to move out again.

My last house and the seventh moving out was near the school again, next to the mosque. This time I stayed with Uztazah Mariam. It was only for a few months as I was working very hard to get a transfer out of  Kelantan. Alhamdulillah, after diligently and patiently waiting to meet the officer at the Kota Bahru JPN, I finally managed to get him to release my form out of Kelantan. Perseverance and persistent paid off. I finally got a transfer to Kuala Lumpur. Abang Md. Noor (my brother in law) saw to it I got a transfer to KL. I could not go back to Melaka. I didn't want to. The transfer meant it was the seventh moving house. It was straight out of Kelantan. So, I guess I broke the seven moving house cycle. :-)

Pasir Mas would always be very close to my heart. Here, it was a sanctuary for my hurts and heartaches. It was a place for healing a broken heart. Being in a new environment, away from home, away from family and friends since I did not know anybody here, I had to push everything away to fit in. To settle down. From an urban environment to a rural situation. Kelantan malayanised me. People overall were very nice and welcoming to the extent they wanted to marry me off and be one of them. Well, that is another story.  ;-D I learn to be more Malay, if there is such a word to describe it. I learn simplicity. I learn acceptance.  I learn the easy way of life. The slow, lackadaisical attitude of the people. That you learn to just wait and not rushed, pushed or haste. Five years in Pasir Mas has matured me. I came as a fresh faced out of college at 22 years old. I left five years later as a matured 27 year old young lady.