Hari Deepavali

Deepavali resembles our festive season for the Indian people here in Malaysia and like last year, we went over to Ramayee’s to celebrate the holiday…and like the last time, Andrew had “other” things to do so he didn’t have to go! But at least this year, Marte went along with me, so that when they made all this special food….specifically for us….I didn’t have to try to eat it all by myself! I’m not sure how they actually celebrate the holiday, but while we were there it seemed like lots of people just came by for a short visit and then left. I’m not sure if they were coming by so she could introduce the boys to everyone or if it’s just a customary thing to do! In either case, not much conversation is had with us because everything is in Tamil for the most part with some limited English. It’s amazing we could spend 2 hours there with the language barriers! They were very nice and the food was…interesting….some pretty tasty and some not-so-tasty! I tried to be polite and try as much as possible, but when it came to some curry lamb dish, I just couldn’t! I’m not a lamb person, so I had to respectfully decline.

This year Evan was old enough to play with her 2 grandchildren. She has a grandson that is going to be 7 and a granddaughter who is 5. He had the best time running around with them! Cooper even tried to keep up with all of them! As last year, we took a couple of gifts for the kids and let them open them while we were there. We bought the boy (I wish I could remember how to say or even spell his name) a racetrack. It was funny because both his father and Ramayee’s older son just sat and looked at the box and instructions for the longest time and spoke something in Tamil to each other and then set it aside. I wasn’t sure if they just didn’t want to put it together or weren’t sure how….so Marte and I took a stab at it and finally got it put together (maybe they were a bit intimidated by the instructions…they were a tad difficult to follow!). In any case, we got it working and all the kids had a great time playing with the cars on the track. I’m glad it provided such entertainment for the boys! The neighbours also bought by a puppy for the boys to look at while we were there! Cooper absolutely loved it and had the biggest smile on his face the entire time…he didn’t want it to go back home. Luckily, the puppy looked fairly clean and well-kept, so I didn’t mind (as much) that the boys were trying to play with it.

It was a nice afternoon and of course, Ramayee had to pack a take home meal for Andrew and send us home with a bushel of bananas (no joking) and 50 ringgit for each of the boys! She is just the sweetest…she may not have much, but she always gives Evan and now both Evan and Cooper money every time we go visit her! I’m so glad that we had the opportunity to meet such a wonderful person during our time here in Malaysia!