My little open house weekend adventure

The weekend's come and gone, and my forecasted binge didn't quite materialise. I did attend all 3 open houses I was invited to, but spent half the time chasing after Nuaim that I was hardly ever full.

First one up was AND's on Saturday, in Ara Damansara. His invite said 3-6 pm, but I only arrived at 5 as I had promised to take Nuaim along after his afternoon nap. Actually, I was ready to leave without him when he woke up and saw me putting on my headscarf. After a quick wash, he put on his purple Baju Melayu and matching kain sampin (this boy definitely knows how to dress to impress, I tell you) and off we went.

I'd been to Ara Damansara before, to some other friends' homes, but this was in a different part of the residential area. The map provided was quite easy to read, so I managed the trip with no one else but Nuaim for company. What I wasn't prepared for was the playground in front of the house. The other kids had their daddies to accompany them, and Nuaim was quite keen to follow, but the dark clouds and impending rain put him off. I was lucky to reach the car and leave just before the torrential downpour began. Didn't even have time to rescue the bit of chicken satay that flew out of my hand and into the corner of the living room (if you're reading, AND, it's just behind the curtains of the sliding door. Sorry about that).

Today there were two houses to go to, in the general area of Shah Alam. One was a yearly affair by FR, an old school friend (who actually has her do at her parents' house in upscale Glenmarie Court), and the other was my Deputy Project Manager's in equally impressive Bukit Jelutong. I decided this time to go at noon, intending to arrive in Bukit Jelutong by 1 pm and leave for FR's an hour later.

I got lost twice in Bukit Jelutong. The map showed two ways of getting there, and the route I took was longer than it looked on paper. The first wrong junction took me to a highly exclusive enclave of BJ, where each bungalow had a unique design, and some were still under construction. I realised I was lost when all the roads read Jalan Menara when I was supposed to be on Jalan Birai. The next wrong junction led me to Jalan Bidai. At first I was convinced I got it right, that maybe it was a typo error on the map. There was even a home made signboard saying 'OPEN HOUSE'. But after going round in circles and ending up in dead ends, I headed back to the main road. By then Nuaim was already fast asleep in his car seat.

Heading towards the new Guthrie expressway, I finally found the right street and located the house (the cars leading up to a solitary canopy tent in the middle of the road was a big clue). I had to carry Nuaim, as he was still half asleep, but I managed to feed him some chicken satay and rice. He behaved well enough, except when I 'ter'fed him something spicy (bad, bad Mommy!).

At two, we left for FR's. The route from Bukit Jelutong to Glenmarie was not too familiar to me, and I almost got lost again. Halfway there I remembered that the house had a pond of koi fish, which should keep Nuaim occupied while I helped myself to the food. Oh, goody!!

What I did not reckon on was the decorative stone fish spouting water into the pond. At first Nuaim seemed happy to just look at the koi swimming lazily about, and walking up and down the ramp leading to the back gate. Then, just as I was warming up to the company, Nuaim decided to perform his idea of wudhu' using the spouting fish. He later proceeded to give his toy truck a wash, getting himself half-wet in the process. I had to make a quick exit before he decided to get himself truly drenched by jumping into the pond (apparently some other kid has done that before), but only after FR took a photo with us, wet toy truck and all. When I get that picture, I'll put it up here for posterity.

Another picture I'd like to put up is of one of the houses in Glenmarie Court. The first time I saw it was last year, when I attended FR's open house with Hubby. We decided to take a tour around the gated residential area (it's not everyday we get to gawk at rich people's homes, Hubby said) and saw this huge, white, classical style building that reminded me more of a European museum than a Malaysian house. Even had its own TNB mini-substation!! Must remember to to ask FR who it belongs to. I snapped a picture with my new (and free!) Motorola L6, and would've taken a few more, but I didn't want the car behind me to think I was a stalker. Some day, when I get the phone's data cable and phone tools (not free!) sorted out, I'll get the photo up here so we can all gawk together, okay?

I'm planning to start my Puasa 6 tomorrow. Target completion: Tuesday 14th Nov. Or Wednesday. As long as it's complete before the department's Makan-makan on Thursday.

P/S 8 Nov 2006 - Received Nuaim's photo from Freida yesterday. The dastardly fish is on the right, next to the labu sayung. He's wearing the new baju lawa I bought him to appease for the plain one I bought earlier.