Eid 2018

Ramadhan wasn't as much as a challenge because I had my bad days and good days. The bad days were the worst and the good days felt like I wasn't even fasting. By the end of Ramadhan, I was just surprised with how fast it went by. Unlike previous years, this year, I decided to not force myself to do ibadah. Therefore, every sunnah I followed, I did it wholeheartedly. I felt like that's a good way to lead Ramadhan.

I also had exams during Ramadhan which got a bit difficult sometimes especially because I had to have breakfast at 2AM and dinner at 9PM. My schedule got all messed up which meant that I had a really bad day during my first exam. The rest went okay, however, so I hope that all is well. Dad and Mum sent some kuih raya and as soon as exams were over, I started getting bored so I made kuih raya! This year, I made brownie cookies, pineapple tarts, cornflakes meringue and just yesterday, helped Hannah with her honey cornflakes. 

A few days before Eid, we had a little meeting about what we were planning on doing for Eid. We then did our Eid shopping at London Road and had a fun family day out shopping for groceries. That afternoon, I facetimed mum and had her, my grandma and my auntie walk me through how to prepare eid food. A day before Eid, Hannah, Nadhi and I were in the kitchen the whole day making food for Eid. We made lodeh, ayam masak kicap and nasi impit whilst the guys made rendang, kuah kacang and nasi tomato.  I have so much appreciation for my mum now because everytime we would celebrate Eid in Kuala Selangor, she'd wake up early to make all of that by herself. I'd pass out if I were her.

Eid Day 1 - Friday

This year, I celebrated Eid with Aisyah, Hakim and my homies. In the morning of Eid, I was forced to wake up at 6 to solat raya when I didn't even want to. I avoided it in Malaysia but I had to here. Also my baju kurung was tight! This may have been why I was cranky the whole day. So I wasn't very comfortable throughout the day. After praying, we brought all the food that we cooked to House No 2 and heated everything up. We had breakfast together and then headed off to Weston Park where we had a photoshoot. 

After the photoshoot, we headed to Azri's open house where I had really good kek batik. Mick; Azri and the mech kids; and Atiqah then came over and we caught up with each other like how you would during Eid. Zaf and Hannah then acted out and menganiaya-ed me in front of people that don't know how we usually banter. After that, we just hung out until we felt like going back home.

Eid Day 2 - Saturday

We woke up in the morning and decided to cook up the rest of the food we had prepped for Eid but didn't use up. Fried up the tofu and tempe which we nicked and had with sambal kicap. Made sambal - masak merah-ish kind of thing for the nasi tomato then headed back to House No. 2. We went to Atiqah's open house and had really good pulut! On the way back, we facetimed Abang Lan, Kak Ida and Emma because we couldn't be in London.

Once we got back, we played card games and halal poker. We spent the rest of the evening just eating and watching movies. By the time night came, I've already finished off all the Eid food and stayed in the kitchen to clean up. I obviously did this because I was told that everyone prepared the food because I wanted to celebrate Eid that way. So I felt guilty. 

We 'salam raya', something I'm not fond off because I sin a lot and would usually end up crying. This time around, I'm assuming that I didn't sin enough because I didn't cry. I sometimes just wish that there isn't such thing as ikhtilad because it would sometimes just cut the mood. That aside, we went home pretty late but wasn't done with what we had to talk about so we had a one hour long phone call with the same people.

Eid Day 3 - Sunday

Had a day out with the sibs. Went to Malin Bridge for a walk by the river but then turned around and headed to the Victoria Quays - Hakim said we've been but idk??? We headed to Ikea and then to Meadowhall before heading back home. I'm just not into shopping so I wasn't all about the Meadowhall stuff. But had a lot of fun at Ikea making random puns.

Eid Day 4 - Monday

Went to Bakewell to initially, go on the Monsal Trail that leads to the tunnel. However, due to time constraints, we instead took a right once we got to the Monsal Trail and walked passed the hassop station cafe and then back into Bakewell. There were so many cows out so it was nice meeting some of my siblings' best friends. Kak Aisyah bought some books from a second hand book shop. We then had fish and chips by the river where a duck tried to attack us (total exaggeration). Bought some fudge and slept on the bus on the way back home. Kak Aisyah then had to leave for Oxford and that was the end of Eid. 

Eid Day 5 - Tuesday

We spent the 5th day of Eid at home. Because Hannah was bored, I helped her make honey cornflakes which was really good and finished immediately. We played scrabble before heading to House No. 2 because we wanted to have a dance off. This was cut short because someone rang the door bell. We then proceeded to watch one super crappy raya telemovie that had no story to it. As I was about to clean up, I opened the door to see something appear right in front of me so I screamed. Which made Hannah scream, and Syed (who was that something) scream. We had a laugh out of that. After that, we had an 'usrah' session about preachers and then left to go home and sleep. 

And this is a summary of my raya this year, away from home.