RESEARCH OR RENDANG
14:10:00
Research or rendang?
Why does it have to be 'either' and 'or'? Why can't it be both?
Well, when you celebrate Eid abroad, 'both' is your only option. There's no such thing as leaving your work behind for a week or two and balik kampung to celebrate Eid with your families.
Why does it have to be 'either' and 'or'? Why can't it be both?
Well, when you celebrate Eid abroad, 'both' is your only option. There's no such thing as leaving your work behind for a week or two and balik kampung to celebrate Eid with your families.
It's Eid al-Adha today, the first thing I did when I woke up was check my email, like I do every morning to see I there are any important emails especially from my supervisors. After the Eid prayer, we went for breakfast at a coffee shop nearby - a cup of coffee and a croissant in the morning of Eid? no problem! I then had a meeting with my supervisor just after our breakfast. Last night, instead of preparing rendang and kuah kacang and cutting nasi impit into small cubes, I was preparing some data to show to my supervisor. ;)
No, no. I didn't just go about my daily routine on this special day. After I finished meeting with my supervisor (in my jubah by the way), I visited a friend's place for some festive Eid meals and had some really delicious Malaysian delicacies, which is what we always do during this festive celebration. And, that wasn't even the end of it. After we've filled our stomachs with lots of good food, I went to my experiment site (a green roof site within the university compound), which is where I go to collect my data every day. I was lifting and weighing about 70 plant pots in my jubah and while at the time it felt so inappropriate and and I was having a hard time trying to keep the jubah clean from dirt and all, I kind of laugh at it now that I'm writing about it. Alternating between work and festivity, later in the afternoon, we visited our downstairs neighbour and was spoilt for choice with lots of lemang, ketupat palas, peanut sauce, rendang, nasi arab and so much more! We stayed until late in the evening before we call it a day.
When else can I be doing labour jobs in a jubah, haha.
But in all honesty, I actually enjoyed today. It's actually one of the perks of celebrating 'raya di perantauan'. You're enjoying the celebration as much, but you're also fulfilling your responsibilities all at the same time. Living abroad means you'll have to adapt to a lot of things which you don't face when you're at home, where the culture, environment and situation is totally different. It's really all about balancing your priorities.
Ok enough rambling.
Eid Mubarak / Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha everyone!
No, no. I didn't just go about my daily routine on this special day. After I finished meeting with my supervisor (in my jubah by the way), I visited a friend's place for some festive Eid meals and had some really delicious Malaysian delicacies, which is what we always do during this festive celebration. And, that wasn't even the end of it. After we've filled our stomachs with lots of good food, I went to my experiment site (a green roof site within the university compound), which is where I go to collect my data every day. I was lifting and weighing about 70 plant pots in my jubah and while at the time it felt so inappropriate and and I was having a hard time trying to keep the jubah clean from dirt and all, I kind of laugh at it now that I'm writing about it. Alternating between work and festivity, later in the afternoon, we visited our downstairs neighbour and was spoilt for choice with lots of lemang, ketupat palas, peanut sauce, rendang, nasi arab and so much more! We stayed until late in the evening before we call it a day.
But in all honesty, I actually enjoyed today. It's actually one of the perks of celebrating 'raya di perantauan'. You're enjoying the celebration as much, but you're also fulfilling your responsibilities all at the same time. Living abroad means you'll have to adapt to a lot of things which you don't face when you're at home, where the culture, environment and situation is totally different. It's really all about balancing your priorities.
Ok enough rambling.
Eid Mubarak / Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha everyone!
0 comments