Saturday, April 11, 2015

My very first Thanksgiving

Assalamualaikum and good day everyone !

Thanksgiving are celebrated at the end of November each year. I am pretty sure that thanksgiving only celebrated in America. I am not going to talk about the history of thanksgiving since you can just google it and get the answer by yourself. Now I'm going to write about my experience celebrating my very first thanksgiving.

Ada benda buruk telah berlaku semasa thanksgiving nie. Yang mana kesannya sehingga ke hari ini rasa menyesal tak sudah. How i wish can turn back the time. Akan ku cuba elakkan benda itu daripada berlaku T__T

Nak tahu apa yang berlaku ? Keep on reading.

20 November 2014

Masa nie aku baru balik dari jalan-jalan dengan one of my Japanese friends, Shiori. Kunci aku tertinggal so in order to kill the times we went out and chit chat at her room. Roommate bagi tahu dia dah balik barulah aku beransur pulang. Then dia ajak aku join celebrate thanksgiving dekat Foundation Hall. Dorang ada buat makan-makan. Then i was like, okay lets go. Then dia tanya, "pakai macam tu je ke ?". I was wearing orange t-shirts and jeans that time.


But then i look at him and Tavaris changed clothes. They wore something nice. Rupanya kan nak celebrate thanksgiving nie kita kena dress up sikit. Patutlah perli aku. Tak habaq awal-awal. Nak suruh dress up, cakap je. Iols boleh. So i aku pon tukar baju. Put a kemeja on.


Menu biasa untuk thanksgiving nie adalah ayam turkey. Mesti sedap ayam turkey dia. Malang sekali tidaklah dapat diri ini untuk membaham nya. Hanya mampu tengok je and makan salad.

21 November 2014

The next day pulak, i had thanksgiving dinner with all the international students. Held by Baptist Church near our campus. Kali nie cuma para-para pelajar antarabangsa je yang ada and a few American students. I don't have any picture of us having the dinner. What am i thinking that time, i don't know. I took pictures of the food only.



Seperti biasa, aku memang tak kenyang lah bila hadir dinner thanksgiving nie. Tengok jelah apa yang aku makan. Sangat tak kenyang. But i like the desserts. Orang sana kalau bake-bake kek and cookies memang sedap. Selalu tapau bawak balik bilik.

Masa nie aku termakan gravy. Seriously tak perasan. Itupon nasib baik kawan aku yang berasal dari India bagi tahu. Kalau tak memang selamber badak je telan. Dia nie vegetarian. Wiedhy nama dia. So apa-apa yang dia makan, aku makan. Aku banyak lah pergi event mana-mana, tengok apa yang dia makan. Cuma dia punya syarat lagi strict kot. Aku at least seafood and telur boleh makan lagi. Dia tak boleh. Hihi

24 November 2014

Kali nie, aku dijemput oleh Austin untuk pergi dinner dekat church yang dia selalu pergi. Pergi berapa kereta erk, kalau tak silap dua kereta. Masa nie meriah sikit lah sebab banyak benda aku boleh makan dan banyak pilihan. Desserts dia paling tiptop. Very delicious !!


Sedap sangat dessert tu

Sekejap je benda alah tu habis. Menyesal tak ambik banyak-banyak. Tapi sempat jugak lah tambah dua kali. Hihi

25 November 2014 - 30 November 2014 (Kelly's house)

Now, masa untuk cerita tentang thanksgiving break. Kelas aku habis dalam jam 3 petang macam tu. Then terus berangkat ke rumah kawan aku. Kelly nama dia. Mak dia datang and jemput kitorang semua dekat kampus. Her house is 40 minutes driving from our campus. She invited me and others to come to her house since Fall break lagi tau. Sebab dia tahu masa Fall break aku tak pergi mana-mana. Sorang-sorang dekat kampus tu. Seriously weyh, memang rasa macam duduk dekat satu bandar yang kosong masa Fall break.

Nanti aku cerita details benda nie dekat satu entry yang bertajuk "Untold Stories" once i finished updating my America adventure which is aku tak tahu bila nak habis. Kbai.

Le tour in Kelly's house



Berbalik kepada cerita thanksgiving tadi, so dia pon tak nak lah aku keseorangan lagi, tu pasal dia invite aku, Takafumi and Eri datang rumah dia untuk Thanksgiving Break.

25/11 - Sampai dalam jam 5 petang macam tu, tapi kat luar dah gelap gelita. Mak dia pon suruh kitorang pergi tengok wayang sementara dia prepare makanan untuk dinner. Dalam banyak-banyak aktiviti kan, kenapa mesti tengok wayang ? Aku dah lah agak berat hati sikit nak tengok wayang nie.


Sape-sape yang belum tahu lagi, nie cek nak habaq something kat ampa naa. Cek nie sepanjang 22 tahun hidup, tak pernah langsung tengok wayang. Agak kekampungan sikit. So tu pasal bila depa ajak tengok tu, cek rasa macam sayang. Rasa sayang dia tu macam nak hilangkan dara pulak. Over tau Zharif nie. Tengok wayang je kot. Ibu memang dah bagi green light dah. Tapi entah lah. Aku yang rasa tak nak tengok.

Masa kat wayang nie, puas dorang pujuk aku masuk tengok sekali movie dengan dorang, tapi aku berkeras tak nak masuk. Masa tu cerita Big Hero 6 baru keluar. Si Takafumi siap nak bayarkan tiket untuk aku lagi. Ko ghase ?

End up dorang pergi tengok bertiga. Aku pulak keluar pergi jalan-jalan ke kedai-kedai berhampiran. Masa nie hujan renyai-renyai. Sejuk dia toksah cakap. Memang sejuk.

Kat US, pembelian tiket movie adalah self-service. Kat Malaysia macam nie jugak ke ?

Setelah lebih 2 jam, baru lah dorang habis tengok cerita tu. Sampai tertidur-tidur aku kat luar tau. Sakit jugak badan nie tidur dekat bangku kayu panjang. Then kitorang pon bertolak balik rumah sebab mak Kelly dah siap masak =)


Seriously sedap sangat tau. Sushi tu memang terbaik. Timun direndam dalam aku tak tahu lah direndam dalam apa, rasa dia macam masam-masam sikit, macam cuka je. Tapi seriously sedap. Combination antara sushi, telur, timun dan nasi putih. Dan nasi putih itu adalah jenis nasi kita. Selama nie makan nasi yang jenis lain.

BTW, lemme explain a lil bit about kelly's background. She is half Asian. Her mother is from Philippine and her father is American. So she got Asian blood. That is why when it comes to food, she is more to Asians food. Her mother, Mrs. Wright is incredibly good at cooking. You just name it what dishes you want, she will cook it for you. Amaaaaaaazing !


Takafumi and I slept at her room for the break. I were surprised that she is actually an anime freak. She loves Anime so much. She is otakku. A japan phrase for anime lover. She is a big fan of Sailormoon by the way. I even copied all sailormoon episodes. Mengimbau zaman silam. Lulz

The best thing went to Kelly's house is the food. No doubt. From breakfast to lunch to dinner, the foods were all delicious. I will show you more food pictures after this. Lets go by sequence, from what i did then when it comes to eat time, i'll show you the picture of the food that we ate. Okay ?

26/11 - Mula tu kitorang pergi supermarket yang jual makanan-makanan Asia. Sebab Takafumi and Eri were planning to cook Japanese dish for upcoming International Farewall dinner. This entry will menyusul later. Tunggu naa.

Selepas tu kitorang pergi mall berdekatan dengan rumah Kelly. Can't remember the name of the mall. Kitorang cuma survey-survey je, tak berniat nak shopping apa pon. Nak tunggu black friday punya sale.



Comel kan benda-benda alah cute mute nie. They transform vegetables and fruits into animals. Very creative i would say. Lama jugak lah dekat mall tu. Saja nak hilangkan bosan. Tak buat apa pon dekat rumah. So sementara tunggu Mrs. Wright siap masak tengah hari, kami pon berjalan lah. Bestnya jadi anak orang putih nie, mak suruh berjalan time dia masak. Dah siap masak baru balik makan. Perghhhh kalau lah benda nie di apply di Malaysia. It would be great ! =)

Then sebelum nak balik tu, kitorang sempat singgah dekat satu kedai ais krim nie. Nama kedai tu adalah Menchie's. Kalau korang berpeluang datang America, try cari kedai ais krim nie. I believe they got a lot of franchises around America.

Menci tau awak buat saya jatuh cinta >__<

Apa lah yang special sangat sampai suggestkan rakyat Malaysia cari kedai ais krim nie ? Meyh nak habaq mai, ais krim dalam kedai nie sedap-sedap belaka. Well that is cliche. Sabaq. Tak habis cakap lagi. Dalam nie dia ada bagi satu cup kecil. Sangat kecil untuk kita rasa ais krim-ais krim tu. Self-service so suka hati ko lah nak rasa ais krim apa.


Itu belum best lagi tu. Part yang paling best nya adalah, ko dengan selamber badak boleh rasa sebanyak mana ais krim yang ko nak. Ko nak repeat test lapan puluh lapan kali pon depa tak kesah. How awesome is that ? Cuma nya akan lahir satu perasaan di mana alaaa malu lah nak ambik lagi. Itu memang akan berlaku. It happened to me. But somehow, it was just not work. I kept taking over and over again. Kesah pa depa nak fikir. Bukan datang lagi pon.

This flavor win !

Fly me back to America so that i can taste this ice cream again *menjerit sanubariku*

Seriously weyh, sedap sangat lah perisa pecan nie. I don't think Malaysia got pecan. Flavor yang nie lah aku asyik tambah and tambah tak sudah. Dengan berbekalkan cawan sekecil itu, mana boleh puaskan nafsu ku yang besar ini. Haruslah repeat test banyak-banyak kali.

Ingat erk semua, kalau datang America, cari kedai ais krim nie. Then rasa. Then awak semua bagi feedback kat saya. Nanti dapat discount 10 percent. Okey tipu je. Motif sangatlah dapat diskaun.

American loves to bake. This is for tomorrow dinner 

Bila mak dia kata dah siap masak, kami pon balik. Masa fall break dulu, dia ada tanya apa benda yang aku boleh makan. Sebab dia nak sediakan.


Aku agak happy bila dapat makan ikan goreng. Masa aku kat rumah Kelly nie, i felt like home. Rasa makanan dia tak ubah macam rasa makanan dekat Malaysia. Lagi satu, aku tak rasa lah kehadiran aku nie membebankan sebab memang ikan makanan ruji keluarga dia. Satu keluarga suka makan ikan. So tak ada lah dia beli ikan semata-mata untuk aku.


Dan lagi satu yang membuatkan aku rasa macam dekat Malaysia ialah bila aku dapat makan menggunakan tangan. Mak dia yang cakap sendiri, awak ada dekat rumah orang Asia. Guna tangan. Takafumi dengan Eri pon ikut makan guna tangan. I bet that was their first time.

Kalau sape yang belum tahu, dorang berdua nie couple tau. 
Program pertukaran pelajar nie telah membuatkan dua japanese nie bercinta =)

Mrs. Wright already started cooking for tomorrow big night. 

Malam besoknya, akan ada ramai tetamu yang datang. Kawan-kawan mak dia. Semuanya orang Filipina yang berhijrah ke America and kahwin dengan orang America.

27/11 - Bangun pagi, disediakan sarapan yang enak. We were not really doing anything that day. Just stayed at home and helped Kelly's mom preparing the dishes and some other things that we CAN do. At least we tried. But most of the time, we just played games. Hahahaha

I want this again !

Yang aku sangat terpegun sangat dekat America nie kan, dorang ada jual instant dough. Aku rasa Malaysia perlu import benda nie so that senang nak prepare kuih-muih macam kat atas tu. At first aku rasa macam rajinnya lah mak dia uli tepung pagi-pagi. But then bila dah tengahari tu, segalanya terbongkar bila kami buat apple dumpling nie.


Baru lah tahu, yang mak dia guna instant dough. Senang sangat weyh. Instant dough tu bagi aku merupakan satu invention terbaik abad ini. Seriously tak pernah terfikir pon benda tu boleh wujud. You may youtube to know how the instant dough look or work.


Bila dah dekat jam 5 macam tu, makanan dah siap di hidang untuk tetamu. Then kawan-kawan Mrs. Wright pon start datang sorang demi sorang. Siap ada sorang tu cakap aku nie macam orang dia. Dia ingat aku Filipinos. Iols sebagai orang Malaysia sejati terus menidakkan spekulasi itu. Lulz.


 Great food. Great people. What else you need ? 

Aku rasa seronok sangat malam tu sebab banyak makanan aku boleh makan. And aci tak kalau aku cakap, banyak makanan yang mak dia hidangkan, almost the same with Malaysian dishes ?


Aku tambah banyak kali malam tu. Tiga or dua kali tak ingat. Rasa macam dua kali sebab dalam album aku ada dua gambar makanan bawah nie. So aku rasa dua kali.


Lepas dah makan-makan tu, kami pon bermain-main lah dengan budak-budak. Tak tahu nak buat apa lagi. Meriah sangat rumah Kelly malam tu. Riuh rendah. Rasa macam tengah raya pon ada.


Isn't he cute ?

He can't sit still. He likes to move around. He is very active. We got only one good shot of him. Others were shaky. But he's cute though. Mixed babies are always cute. I wish i had one. Lulz

This happened when you give your phone to your friends. 
I just have to publish this photo. It's hilarious =D


While the elders, they played this game which i don't know what they called. Yang pasti melibatkan duit lah. Hihi. They are very funny. They were laughing and enjoying the game. Kelakar pon ada tengok dorang main benda alah nie. Tak sangka benda nie real berlaku depan mata =)


That night also, Kelly's best friends took us to Walmart to buy some marshmallows. We made a fire outside and burn the marshmallows. Quite tasty jugaklah bakar-bakar marshmallow nie. But mine was like hangus but still delicious lah. And it was soo cold that night.

28/11 - It's black friday yawww. It's time for shopping !! We asked Kelly to drive us for black friday and she did. Surprisingly, she never go to black friday shopping before. So she was like us, experiencing black friday shopping for the first time.

8 dollars je chuolsss >__< 


Aku dah memang prepare duit awal-awal dan redha. Redha tu sangat penting ye kengkawan untuk shopping. Jangan persoalkan di mana duit itu pergi. The feeling when you spent money to the things you like the most is priceless. I am totally disagree with the statement that money can't buy happiness. Sure it does.

But the problem was, i worried about my luggage. I was so stupid because i brought so many things from Malaysia to America. But then i didn't really wear or use it. And also i bought so many things in America. So i was afraid that it will exceed the limit weight and i have to add more money for the exceed weight which i dont want that to happen. So aku tak berapa nak enjoy sangat lah shopping dua bulan terakhir nie sebab aku risau pasal luggage.

I kept saying to myself, no more jeans no more jeans eventho the price was crazily cheap >__< 

I wanted to buy this for my sisters but then i asked myself 
" Are this kind of shoes suitable to wear in Malaysia ? "
Definitely nope. So bye bye. 

One thing about shopping nie kan, aku tak berapa gemar berjalan dengan orang yang tak ada nafsu sangat untuk bershopping. Orang macam nie sekejap je akan rasa penat dan malas nak teroka banyak kedai. That is why masa shopping black friday nie, aku senyap-senyap menghilangkan diri. Aku jalan sorang-sorang. So that aku boleh teroka semua benda. Tolong jangan terjemah benda nie.


Left, bought from top to bottom. Right, only the thing on my head. The sweat shirts is so beautiful and smart, the price is quite cheap, but then don't know when to wear them when i go back to my home country. So batalkan niat nak beli. Tapi still rasa menyesal sampai sekarang sebab tak beli. Kat Malaysia memang tak dapat lah cari baju-baju macam tu kan.


But somehow, i still bought so many things. Spent one hundred and fifty dollars for clothes and pants. Please don't convert to Ringgit Malaysia. You will not feel happy with that T__T Punya lah dalam kereta cakap aku mungkin tak beli banyak kot, at last aku lah beli paling banyak. Lulz.

Kata takut berat luggage lebih lah apa lah, but then berbungkus-bungkus baju kau beli zarep. Macam mana nie ?

Shopping made him exhausted =D

Since kitorang keluar pagi-pagi, sebab katanya black friday nie akan jadi sangat teruk sebab orang ramai akan berebut-rebut nak beli barang. Ada yang sampai bergaduh lah, pengsan and cedera. Tapi Alhamdulillah aku tak ada lah rasa begitu teruk. Ramai memang ramai tapi tak adalah sampai tolak-tolak. Lagipon kitorang shopping sekejap sangat. Tak puas kot. Huh

Kalau pergi dengan family sendiri nie, mahu bawak selimut tidur sekali dekat situ.


Then for dinner, we had this bihun goreng. The taste is quite the same with ours but slightly different. Kita punya menang lagi kot. Hahahaha. Nampak tak ada dua bowl ? Satu tu mak dia khas buatkan untuk aku, it's for vegetarian and yang lagi satu tu ada meat. Can't remember what it was but that is very thoughtful of her doing that for me.

29/11 - Bangun tak berapa nak pagi, then kami dihidangkan bagel. I never had bagel before. Tak pasti bagel ada kat Malaysia ke tak. Bagel nie yang macam donut tu. Dia keras. Aku tak pernah makan. Masa kat sana pon aku tak pernah rasa. Sampai lah aku balik. Lulz.


After eating, we decorated Kelly's house with Christmas accessories. This is my first time decorating house for christmas. I was excited to experience this. Walaupon kita hidup dalam satu negara yang pelbagai bangsa dan agama, tapi tak pernah pon cuba untuk merasai how they celebrate their festivals. Sangat menyedihkan.


Look how beautiful it is =)

So much happiness in one photo



Then we decorated the outside. Since Takafumi is the tallest one, so everything that require tall people to do, he is the one will do it. Poor Takafumi. He must be so exhausted.


And while we were decorating the yard, something was happened to me. I felt like to scream but i can't. I almost cry but no tears. I can't think anything besides calling my mom and tell her what happened. Then she calmed me down and accept what has happened.


Ini lah gambar terakhir itu. Selepas itu, aku rasa sedih dan tak bersemangat nak hidup. Aku pasti korang sudah cukup penasaran apa yang telah berlaku. Kan ? Teka-teki no more, lemme just tell you. My Oppo Find 7a jatuh dekat jalan tar time aku tengah berlari-lari. Dan part yang paling menyedihkan adalah, cermin yang cover camera belakang tu pecah seribu T___T

Macam mana aku tak sedih weyh. Beli dua hari sebelum pergi America, but then belum 4 bulan pakai, cermin kamera belakang pecah. Memang sedih gila lah. Aku terus tak ada mood langsung. Dah lah nak beli tu penuh dengan pancaroba. Boleh baca story tu dekat SINI. And suddenly this happened. OMG ! Hancur punah hatiku, bagai dirobek-robek.

But camera still boleh berfungsi seperti biasa. Ambik gambar semua okay. Alhamdulillah. Cuma cermin yang cover camera tu je yang pecah. So sekarang camera aku togel tak ada cermin. Ce korang tengok camera phone korang. Cermin yang melindungi lensa kamera tu yang pecah seribu.


Terus on camera and ambik gambar nie. Gambar nie tak melalui proses editan pon okay. Just put that jejakakaula je. And dia macam kabur kan ? Aku dah mula risau. Now my camera will never be the same *nangis*

Over tau. Padahal biasa je. Tak ada apa-apa rosak pon actually. Perasaan je lebih.


Malam tu pulak dihidangkan sup sayur yang maha enak. Tapi aku tak habis makan. Tak ada mood lah katakan. Well handphone baru retak confirm-confirm lah tak ada selera nak buat benda lain. Asyik terfikir je kot. Menyesal tak sudah.


During the night, we played games. Games that we played when we were at Athens. The Japenese taught us how to play the games. I still remember the steps but i just don't know with whom can i play the games with.


30/11 - This was the last day. Besoknya dah start kelas dah.


Definitely miss the foods that Mrs. Wright cooked for us. Sebab bila dah balik kampus, makanan dekat kafe dah bosan kot. Everyday eat the same thing over and over again. Jadi bila datang sini, hari-hari menu dia lain. Itu yang best tu.


And Carl joined us shortly after that (The tallest one). He's from Sweden by the way. He just came back from Washington DC. He spent thanksgiving break with his family there. So time nak balik tu je baru dia join kitorang sebab tak ada pengangkutan ke kampus. We went back to campus together that evening.

This is another photo, yang atas tu agak blur sikit.

I had so much fun during thanksgiving break. Her family is very warm and welcoming. I love the foods and the layanan. What a nice family. Definitely miss every single moment of it. Thank you Kelly for having me and gave the chance to experience thansgiving for the first time with your family. May all your kindness will be granted by God. I'm so lucky to know you and your family. I am very sure that all the exchange students are happy to have someone like you in campus. You do really make my journey in America so meaningful and memorable one. Thank you so much =)

6 comments:

  1. Orang Canada pun sambut Thanksgiving juga! hehehehhe.

    Oh boy, I love Thanksgiving. Rasa macam dekat sangat dengan family bila sambut Thanksgiving ni dengan orang yang sudi hosted kita.

    Kagum aku dengan kau Zharif. Cuba macam-macam benda walaupun kau dekat US tu sekejap je. Belakang rumah aku ni ada Menchie's juga. Tapi, tak pernah pergi pun. Pernah pergi Menchie's yang dekat dengan rumah senior aku, tapi aku duduk je tengok diaorang makan.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. owhh ye ke, ngat an america je celebrate thanksgiving nie.
      best memang best tp xleh nak makan ayam turkey tu lah spoil skit. tgok org lain syoknya makan.
      tak pe lah, redha. lagipon dh nak balik malaysia dh masa nie. hahahhaa

      thank you Farah ^__^
      yelah bila lagi dapat merasa. kau pon aku tengok ke sana ke sini tempat cantik2. jeles jugak aku tgok =)

      Delete
  2. Best gila. U ah selalu buat orang jealous. Bhahaha!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hahahahaa. dia lagi selalu buat jeles melancong sana sini =P

      Delete
  3. berapa lama do kau kat us?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. satu semester je anon. dh lama balik dah bulan disember hujung. tengok tarikh.
      aku selalu bubuh tarikh bila waktu aku pergi and lakukan aktiviti dlm blog nie. jangan tengok tarikh post. tak valid. hahahaha

      Delete

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