Selamat Hari Raya!

Assalamualaikum and Hi 😊!

We are still in Syawal, therefore, it isnt too late to wish you still, 

Happy eid mubarak!! or Selamat Hari Raya😀!

For you who may not know what eid means; it's the celebration that takes place after the month of Ramadhan ends. So, after we fasted from many things in Ramadhan, it's time for celebration. It is also known as the month of victory. Besides that, we are also encourage to ask forgiveness from other people that we have hurt intentionally or unintentionally, given that how weak we humans are. So, we just ask forgiveness to everyone on that day and ask their mercy to start all over again. If we expect people to forgive us, we must be the other end too. We must be able to forgive first. And...here, I ask for forgiveness from all of you too! #maafzahirbatin

Ok, enough ramblings.

This year, I still stuck celebrate the eid here in Hiroshima. As a Malaysian and...who loves eid (raya) so much, this is not a happy occasion. Raya in Malaysia..it's totally something else! While in other countries, raya is only a day occasion, in Malaysia, it is a month-long occasion (or more in some cases. haha). Open houses are plenty and during the weekend it usually caused a massive jam in KL. Despite of that, I still dig raya! Always told my husband that I'm fine we live here forever but I want to be in KL for raya, for the whole month to save my sanity 😣 ! and guess who cares? No one 😣 !

"What I love about raya?"

I have to say I love raya first for the get together. It's hard to gather people at one time with good reason.. But raya? You don't need to put so much effort to call up everyone to gather, it's raya! Sometimes, it's raya that can only bring people together after a year long not seeing each other and this is especially for relatives that are married and now has two families to entertain. Not just blood-relative, I'm sure we have so many friends that we call families. Of course we can't see everyone on the first day of raya can't we? That's why, in Malaysia we decided to raya for a month. It's so sad that I missed hundreds and hundreds of raya meeting since I moved here. Until my wish to raya every year in KL is fulfilled, Raya will be my my depressed moment in a year, I must say 😔. 

The second thing I like about raya is...the open houses (party organized by a host and friends and relatives are invited. It's like a birthday party except that it's not someone's birthday. It's like a social gathering to honor Syawal and it's mission)!!!Actually I don't mind open houses. I just want to pay a visit to the people I care. Just to catch up with them and see them physically. It's different when we get to see eye to eye and in the Syawal air. I don't know what makes it different, but Syawal air really does makes the reunion more alive. Is it because everyone is in their best dress?

The third thing I like about raya is...baju raya (raya dress)! With the rising of online boutique and social media, baju raya has been the cause of depression to me. Every year, the designs are getting better and better. It depresses me as for one; I can't buy them (most of them don't ship overseas), two; if the do ship overseas, to where should I wear the very-not-subtle dress to? (it's no fun dressing up to the ninth alone, don't we??), three; the Malaysian Muslimah fashion industry progresses to quickly, and that makes you keep buying and buying, and when I come back to KL there'll be mounts of unworn dresses that I don't remember that I bought them. It's been years like that, and I feel like something must be done about myself (I'm a freaking fashion hoarders 😖)! Anyway, that deserved another post 😔!

My 2017 Raya

Our raya started very early this year. Just cause we decided to perform the eid prayer at the Hiroshima masjid which is located about 45 minutes drive from our home. As a mommy of the house, of course I has to be the one to wake up first, prepare the raya dish. There is no specific rule as how for you to live the day, but I was taught to have a hearty breakfast (a special one) before heading to the mosque for salah (prayer). 

My raya dish. They are the typical ones, where we got chicken rendang, peanut sauce, kuah lodeh (mix vegetables cooked in coconut milk), nasi impit (compressed and diced rice), lemang (hollowed glutinous rice that's supposed to be cooked in bamboo). In Malaysia we usually have rows and rows of fancy cookies and cakes for the guests. But of course here, I only make nutella pod. haha. 

My small family early in the morning, at our parking area. 

#theAsyraff as I always tag our family photos in my social media account. Us with our so noticeable eyebags 😄

In front of the masjid. In here we call the masjid as Islam Cultural Center, located at the Higashi Hiroshima, the more rural part of Hiroshima.

There was a small party post-prayer. Everyone is in their best dress, but I'm sure they'll get heart attack if they raya in Malaysia 😂 Our raya dress is totally at another level #Malaysianthing

Some of 'stranded-Malaysian' in here. In front of the mosque 😃

At the first house of the day, Nabihah's and Najib's.

My baby busy eating at Nabihah's 👧

At the second house, Kak Ecah's and Wan Arif's. their house is like our own Malaysian Hall. They prepared real lemang for the whole village 😦 I ate so many of the lemang just cause I miss my family so much. Tell you the truth, i rarely eat lemang during hari raya in Malaysia. haha. 

The third house was Prof. Omar's 👴

I always love talking with another scholar. It makes my mind feels so alive and my heart so content. We talked about serious stuff and his point of view is totally at another level and that helps us to see things in different perspectives. Just what I wanted when discussions are ignited 😉

At the end of the day, we invited Dr. Farina and her husband to raya at our house. We prayed together and had dinner at our home. I'm glad my 1st Syawal this year was well spent, thus made me forget for a while that I was far away from my mom and siblings. I must teach myself that I must move one from the idea of Syawal that I have in my head now that I'm a mom of my own home and it's my responsibility to create our own version of Syawal. I know I can do this! Let's look for flight ticket to KL for next year 😉