hani aziz: Tiring but satisfying weekend!

It was a nice weekend. Noisy, busy, tiring yet happy.

Last Thursday, 28th of June, was a holiday for me as we had Sports day on Wednesday. So, since Ikram said he could go home that weekend, I decided to go and pick him up. I told Omayah that I would pick up Aiman, her son too. That was the plan. That night I called Ikram and he said his 3 friends would like to come along.That meant 5 passengers. My car is a sedan so that means only 5 including the driver. Thus, I called Omayah and suggested that I took her car instead. Besides, the car was just sitting idle at the car park. She easily agreed. My excuse was so that Aiman would not feel so shy as this would be the first time he was on his own with me alone. Alhamdulillah, dipermudahkan.

So, on the said day, I went to Omayah's office and switched cars. Hers was an MPV - a Nissan Grand Livina. I had never done this in my whole life i.e. borrowed somebody's car. Driving an unfamiliar car although it is also auto. Thus, with my faith in Allah, and Omayah's faith in me, I drove her car to Changlun which was a 40 minutes drive. It was smooth sailing and I liked the car. While waiting for the boys who had a last minute mentor programme, 2 boys passed me by. Suddenly, one of them stopped in his tracks. A handsome, attractive young man looked at me and gave me a happy smile. I returned his smile although puzzled as to who he was. Then, he came nearer and called me teacher. Okay...he was not familiar which meant he was not from my school. He introduced himself. He said I had taught him before when he was in Form 2. I smiled broadly recalling that time when he mentioned the name of his school. That was way back in 2008! I did my practical for one month there for my ICT course. It was only for a month yet he could still remember me. How sweet! :-) He was only 14 at that time. Now he is 18 years old. He said he could still remember "Phantom of the Opera" their Form 2 literature which I taught. I am honoured and touched that I had left an impact on his young life. Alhamdulillah.When the boys came, he left me. He was also a student and in the same course with Aiman. It left me feeling good with myself. It's always nice to be remembered and appreciated even with just a "hello". :-)

I told Aiman to drive his mother's car so that he would feel like I was taking a lift from him. Surprisingly, along the way to Alor Setar, the boys and I had so much fun. We got to know each other and talked our way to Alor Setar. Even though Aiman and Ikram were not in the same course and had never talked directly to each other, all of us broke the ice and laughed over our conversation. We reached Alor Setar and I handed over Aiman and the car to Omayah in one piece. I took the boys out for tea which was bubur pulut hitam and ABC. Ikram suggested they tried bubur gandum but they refused. Haziq is Ikram's roomate in college while Wan and Zul were SDARIANs, Ikram's former school. They were a friendly lot and got along fine with me. Most of the time I left them on their own. That night, we went to a night market and bought dinner since they wanted to try Kedahan food. Noor was still in Jerantut so the boys felt at home with "aunty". They bought the usual ayam percik, laksam, nasi lemak, yong tau foo...Later at almost 10pm, Ikram asked if he could take the car and went gallivanting. My car???? Ikram on his own driving???? I guess I'll just had to have faith and let him. They went out for supper of char kuey teow. Yes, I was worried until I finally heard the car around midnight. :-D

They watched the Euro semi final match between Germany and Italy. Noor arrived around 3:00am and Ikram went to pick him up in town. He joined the boys but Ikram's friends were shy so they went to sleep. The next morning, after I went for my morning walk, I started to prepare lunch. It was no point preparing breakfast as they finally went to sleep after Subuh prayers. I prepared rice, masak lemak ayam cili api, udang goreng kunyit, ikan bawal sweet sour and vegetable. The best part was when they sat down to lunch and looked at the dishes, they smiled broadly and exclaimed - "Sedapnya!" I just smiled and watched them eat to their hearts' content. After Jumaat prayers, we went to town and I left them to their own devices while I went off and settled my errands. Dinner was mee hoon with soup tulang. Hmmm...I hope I fed them well. In between meals, they finished off the ice cream (cornetto and magnum), chocolates, cakes, packet drinks and even the apples!!!! That night Ikram took them out again and enjoyed Alor Setar.

Saturday started with me attending my tafakkur ad-din class. I had prepared fried rice or recycled rice for them and pancakes for Noor since I cooked extra masak lemak ayam cili api. When I returned after my class which was almost noon, nobody had got up yet. Oh dear! trust these boys!!!! So, the whole ritual of waking and getting them out of bed. Telling them to start taking their bath was like telling the cat to go swimming! They pushed each other, rolled deeper into the comforter and generally felt very much at home with me. :-D Well, I told them I was going for the wedding at my neighbour's house. When I told them to eat first since everybody was so reluctant to take their bath....immediately they got up!!!! Hmmm...Typical of boys!. By the time I returned from the wedding and after Zohor prayers, we finally got out from the house. It was almost 3:00pm. We dropped by Pizza Hut for hi-tea. I was glad to get the opportunity to welcome and entertain Ikram's friends. I was also glad to note that they felt very much at home and comfortable with me. I always made an effort to get to know their friends. Akmal had Poyo and Afiq who usually came during Ramadhan since they were at UiTM Arau in Perlis. Finally, we left for Matrik college at 4:30pm. Ikram drove, this time more confident, quite fast. I just kept quiet and observed him. When we reached his college - "Today was quite fast, Ma." My reply was - "At 120kph...what do you expect. Try not to do so next time okay? It was a 90km limit." He just grinned and I kissed him goodbye and a good week ahead. I hope the boys had as much fun spending the weekend with me as I had with them. Then, the slow journey home...alone with my own thoughts...at my own speed and pace. Home...until Akmal arrives. :-)