Saturday was a day of sisterly love as a small group of my dear friends came over to see Rachel. It was a mini reunion for us as well, as some of us had not seen each other for years (although we keep in touch over the internet and phone).
This is about half of our "gang" - three of us live in Singapore, one flew in from Hong Kong and one came in from Johor, Malaysia just for this meetup. We call ourselves "budakkampung" - meaning "village kids". Most of the other half of the "gang" is based in Malaysia, with a couple of others in Riyadh and Jakarta. I'll be meeting up with the Malaysia-based ones later in the month.
Everytime we snapped a photo, you'd find us all tuned to our smartphones to send the photos to the rest of the gang and see their messages in reply. It's pretty amazing how our friendship has lasted through so many decades and despite being scattered over so many countries. I hope my children will have something like that for themselves when they grow up.
We sat around the dining table and chatted the afternoon away from about 1 pm till about 5 pm. And we ate - boy, did we eat! We ate curry chicken with rice and bread, chicken rice, two types of noodles, three flavours of ice-cream, a ton of fruit, followed by a big slice of cake. Yup, we took the opportunity to have an early and mini full month celebration for baby Rachel.
One thing I noticed was that, not once, did anyone refuse food or ask for a smaller portion or say that they had enough. Not that the food was amazing and not that everyone finished everything on their plates - it's just the Malaysian way. When I moved to Singapore (oh so many years ago) and started entertaining guests at home, I was surprised to hear my guests tell me, "I ate already before I came", or "Can I have the smallest piece", or "Enough, enough, that's too much". I guess it's a matter of custom/culture, but it definitely took some getting used to.
Here's Rachel enjoying lots of love from her aunties!
"Aunty" Lilian
"Aunty" Josie
"Aunty" Sheri
Oh, this one is not an "auntie" - this is one of my friend's daughters, Ashley!
Each guest left with a box of cupcakes from Sweetest Moments.
As they left, Ee Fann popped by to give us goodies to celebrate his daughter's full month - Zi Ern was born on 7 June. Thanks Ee Fann and Shann!
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