i know it’s been a while since i last posted here. i’ve been meaning to write, but raya happened and i got caught up with all the festivities and spending time with family. everything felt a little busy, a little chaotic, but in a comforting way. so here i am now, finally sitting down and writing about it.
the night before raya was honestly pretty calm. i didn’t do much, but somehow i still ended up sleeping at 2am. i cleaned my room, finally organized the clothes i brought back from kl into my closet and arranged them by colors (which made me way happier than it should). i helped my mom clean the house and sort all the kuih raya into jars. i also did my nails because it’s mandatory for me. and then suddenly it was already late.
first day of raya, i woke up at 8am. showered, put on my baju raya, and did a full face of makeup. i even wore tudung for the first time in a long time. it took me almost two hours to get ready, but somehow i still ended up being the first one done. we did the usual salam-salam and took raya pictures before heading out. the first stop was my dad’s parents’ house, which is now where my aunty and uncle live since my grandparents passed. i ate pulut kuning, daging rendang, daging dendeng, and ayam masak merah. everything was so good. after that i chilled in my aunty’s room for a bit before we headed to my mom’s kampung, about 30 minutes away. when we got there, i had ketupat pulut with ayam masak merah, which was honestly so good i kept thinking about it after. i met my aunties and cousins that i rarely see, but somehow we still clicked like nothing changed. after that, we visited more relatives, house to house. the drive home took an hour because of the traffic, so i watched the bts live comeback show on netflix on my ipad. i was fangirling so hard internally but on the outside i was just sitting there quietly like nothing was happening. we ended the night back at my dad’s family house, where i had a bowl of bihun sup daging with my cousin. we talked, took pictures, and just stayed up until late before finally going home.
second day was a little slower. i took my time getting ready since we only went out around noon to wait for my aunty, uncle, and cousin from lahad datu. we went to two weddings, then back to my dad’s family house to rest for a bit before heading out again for more beraya visits until around 10:30pm. after that, my cousins and i went out to town for a late night snack run for our sleepover. we went everywhere, but everything was closed. tawau is actually so lame for that. we ended up going home disappointed and just ate bihun sup daging again as our “late night snack”. we played monopoly internet banking and talked until 4am.
third day was another busy one. we went to my mom’s kampung again for a wedding, met even more distant relatives and cousins, and of course, ate a lot. after that, we were supposed to continue visiting houses on my dad’s side, but my cousins and i escaped and went to town instead to redeem ourselves from the night before. we went to watsons to restock our skincare and buy new makeup. then at night, we tried again to find snacks. we only managed to get chagee, which honestly saved the night. we wanted to get street burgers, but again… everything was closed. so we bought maggi from a convenience store instead. we went home, showered, cooked our maggi, and had another late night talk until 4am.
fourth day, i woke up early, got ready, and had mee goreng with telur mata that my uncle cooked. we visited my dad’s side grandparents’ grave, then went beraya to another relative’s house. after that, we finally went home and rested. honestly, i was exhausted after three days of barely sleeping.
fifth day was quiet. my mom cooked nasi ayam because our closest relatives and my sister’s best friend came over. nothing much happened, just a calm day.
sixth day was the one i was most excited about because we went to lahad datu. i packed my clothes for a 2 days 1 night trip and slept through most of the 2.5 hour drive. when we arrived, we had nasi putih with lauk for lunch. after that, my cousins and i went around bandar lahad datu. we went to watsons again (of course), and i bought a christy ng dupe bag that looked so identical but was so cheap i couldn’t not buy it. i also bought maaez powder because my cousin convinced me. we went back to my aunty’s house to rest before heading out again at night for beraya, got duit raya, and then went for a seafood dinner. i ate so much seafood and even deer. it’s been so long since i had deer, it felt like a rare experience. after that, we went to a cafe to take pictures and get matcha strawberry, which my cousin swore was the best matcha ever. i tried it and… she was right. we got home around 11pm, showered, and put on a horror movie. we ended up talking more than watching, and only fell asleep around 5:30am.
seventh day, we woke up and went for breakfast. after that, we packed up and prepared to go home. saying goodbye to my cousin was honestly the hardest part. even though we don’t see each other often because of distance, i consider her one of my best friends. we share secrets, inside jokes, and that kind of connection that doesn’t fade even when time passes. the drive back to tawau took longer because of traffic, and by the time we got home, i was completely exhausted and crashed.
so that pretty much sums up my week of raya.
this might be a hot take, but i don’t really see raya as a whole month kind of thing. for me, it feels like it lasts about a week, and after that, everything slowly goes back to normal. and as an introvert, it can get pretty exhausting having to get ready for two hours just to meet people who barely even know me.
anyways, now that raya is over, i should probably start looking for a temporary job here in tawau before i go back to kl.
i’ll write again soon.
xoxo, a.