Blabbers #5
Last Saturday, I made a surprising decision to join my parents balik kampung (returning to my parents' hometowns)... I don't know why I did it because in my current state, I don't have that enthuasiasm to talk about "So what are you doing now?" kind of conversation...

Yeah. So I asked my mum (last minute-ly), "Can I come too?" and was told to change [clothes] quickly. Then we stopped by a mini market to buy some necessities for granny and her granny-sitter. Also bought some confectioneries as extra.

Anyway. First stop was my maternal granny. A few weeks ago, she was hospitalized in Ranau. She fell outside her house and received (I think) 20 or more stiches on her head. The doctors there were quite pessimistic about her condition and asked my aunt to inform the others to "prepare". Surprisingly, she survived... and they described her a fighter upon her improving condition. "Damn those doctors!", although I know they were only doing their job. We visited her at the hospital once and she was back at her home a few days after that. I thought I was going to cry during the hospital visit. I... I don't think I like seeing people (esp those I'm close to) dying... or died. But I was wrong. My aunts had some laughs with my parents as they talked about what happened in the hospital. Positive things which I don't remember right now.

Okay. Back to the real purpose of this post. We were greeted by my 3rd aunt aka my granny-sitter. I'm kind of glad to see her because she's always full of smiles. Better her than my 8th uncle. My bedridden granny looked much better than the last time I saw her in the hospital. She could speak although she doesn't seem to remember much anymore. My mum said it was because of her poor sight. Granny mistaken my mum as my 3rd aunt; she didn't recognize me and my dad. There were moments when I was in her room and she looked at me... I could see she's trying to remember who I was from her eyes. I felt kind of awkward for 5 seconds because I looked a total stranger to her. I never imagined her to be reduced to such a state before. I think her health started deteriorating after my grandad dies & added with poor care by the uncle-in-charge... You know, once, when we visited her, I smelled gas around the house and discovered the stove wasn't turned off properly causing the cooking gas to escape. I thought someone was trying to kill granny. My mum told me I think too much when I told her. Another thing that I heard recently was my uncle didn't serve granny proper food... There was only ikan masin (salted fish) in her food cabinet left.

Not much to say anymore. Fast-forward. Some time between 4:45 pm to 5:30 pm, we took off because we were going to Kota Belud to my dad's hometown. My mum wanted to give some ole-ole (gift) from Bandung, Indonesia for my aunts and cousins there. We showed up without telling them. We stopped at my aunt's house (that's the nearest). My paternal grandma was there, watching TV.. having coffee. I was happy to see her & happy to see her happy to see me. LOL. My cousin and her husband were there too. My aunt served soto ayam and hot drinks.. oh and santan puffs. I was having a sore throat that day and was slightly feverish. Coincidentally, my grandma was feverish too. Only grandma asked me ["So what are you doing now?"] & because my cousins were there, I tried my best to make me look bad. I'm not sure why I did that. Maybe I don't want people to think highly about me anymore. I'm not nice. Even to myself. I have to think pessimistically to motivate myself. Funny, isn't it?

I enjoyed the banters between granny and my aunt. My mum asked them to choose the "simple bags" she bought in Indonesia. My aunt was trying to look at the one my granny was holding but my granny won't let it go. She was acting childishly in a cute way and my aunt had to give in to her.

What a day.

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