Kotobian Do Tadau Kamaatan 2008

Tadau Kaamatan (Harvest Festival) is coming again. This beautiful traditional festival is one of the most important celebrations in the year for the Kadazandusun ethnic communities of Sabah. Held towards the end of May (30th - 31st) each year, the event celebrates the end of the tough work and looks forward to enjoying the bounty of the harvest. During this festival, Sabah natives wear their traditional costumes and enjoy a carnival atmosphere which stretches from daybreak till dawn. ‘Tapai’ or home-made rice wine is served as the speciality for the day. Sabahans are greeted with a special greeting for the harvest festival known as ‘Kopivosian Tadau Ka’amatan’ or ‘Happy Harvest Festival’. I am sure families and friends back home are enjoying themselves during this season. I wish I can be there (Sabah) with my family to see the cultural performances, music, traditional dances and food and drink in great quantities and of course the Highlights of the festival include the Magavau, a traditional thanksgiving ceremony by the Bobohizan or High Priestess, the Unduk Ngadau or traditional Harvest Festival Queen, cultural dances and much merry making. Oh how I miss this Event so much. I miss Sumazau, I miss wearing the costume, I miss the tapai and lihing ( I am not a good drinker tho LOL), I miss everything about Kamaatan...Entah bila lah our next trip to see Tadau Kamaatan ni. Bah kawan kawan and saudara mara in Sabah and all Kadazan friends around the globe..

KOTOBIAN TADAU TAKAZO DO KAAMATAN 2008 KUMA DIOZU NGAAVI SONGOVIAN PAGANAKAN OM SAUDALA NGAAVI.. MOGINUM NOO OM DAA HIVAI PUSAS OM ADA ODOP MIAMPAI TAJAU KIO...

KADA HIVAII ARAMAI TII. Kehoiii!. (Mesti mau pangkis juga hehe). ZIKOI MANTAD JOROMON

19th May - Our Special Day

It is quite an amazing thing to wake up one day, look at your spouse, and realize that both of you have been married for 7 years. Is that long kah? Well, for me 7 years is quite a long time hehe. Committing to each other for life on 19th May 2001 not knowing much about the journey we would undertake together, no idea what the future held in store. The road is sometime flawless and full of obstacles, we have our share of fights, difficulties, disappointments, joys, and triumphs. Everyday we learn what marriage really means. And after all these years, it’s still amazing that we still possess those little qualities that spice up our daily lives, and living with someone special in our live for a very long time is a very special life ever after. Sharing, carrying through a better or worse moment together really an unforgetable moment. Now, having matured and grown together, having two happy, healthy children (They have really been a blessing in our lives, in so many ways) I cannot ask for more, we thank Him for this wonderful gift of life. We look forward to many more years to come!

Our 7th Anniversary toast!

What we are now... We dined at our favorite Greek Restaurant.

Here we go... 7 years ago (still young and crispy LOL)

Lord,

I thank You that You have given us another year of life together.

Thank You for the love which grows more precious and the bonds which grow more close each day.

I thank You for the happiness we have known together, for all the experience of sunshine and of shadow through which we have come to today.

I ask You forgiveness for any disloyalty on my part, for any times when I was difficult to live with, for any selfishness and inconsiderateness, for any lack of sympathy and of understanding, for anything which spoiled even for a moment, the perfect relationship which marriage should be.

Spare us to each other to go on walking the way of life together, and grant that for us it may be true that the best is yet to be.

Amen.

Mother´s Day Weekend

I received two presents from my two little boys...and a nice assortment of chocolate from my BIG boy (tambahlah besar kalau macam ni LOL). Well, me and the boys have finished munching those chocolates to our hearts´s content hehehe.

Tears are not always a bad thing on Mother´s Day especially. When my eldest gave me his Mother´s day crafts with touching poem (he did it with group in the kindergarden), kisses and a big hug on Mother´s day...I got very emotional. Its really nice to see great ideas that kids can make to show mom how much she is loved on this day and everyday.

This is the poem (Sorry its in German) on the card :- Ich bin Dein Kleiner Sonnenschein und lacher Dir in´s Hezn hinein Am Muttertag komm ich zu Dir, and sage Dank und gratulier Dir Liebe Gott, der soll Dir geben Viel Freude and Glück ein langes Leben Ich schenk Dir was zum Feste heut, dazu ein Küsschen, Dir zur Freud

Kyle still doesn´t understand about Mother´s day yet but he made me Mother´s Day Flower Pot with his Leader in his Group Therapy (he attends Group Therapy every Thursday). Me and other mothers were there watching and helping our kids a bit. It´s so cute to see those younger kids with smaller hands doing the flower pots. I really appreciate those little handmades treasures more than anything else.

We were in Munich for Mother´s Day weekend. Our family friend Susanne, Wolfgang and Julia (yg baru sambut 1st communion tuari) invited us to stay overnight at their place. The thing that I like when we are away, I don´t have to think what to cook for my family hehe...What we did was just relaxing, eating, talking and pampered outselves. 1st day when we reached Munich in the afternoon, we had cake and coffee, after that we drove somewhere to a huge beer garden, its really nice there, children enjoyed playing in the playround nearby and we parents enjoyed sitting and sipping our Black German beer and some snacks while talking and listening to live folk band...in the evening, pulang rumah they prepared dinner with Schweinebraten (vogok baked in the oven) with knödel (potato dumpling) very heavy food for dinner oh. (the germans can really eat you know). Second day, after breakast and just relaxing. Our lunch was another heavy food, many white sausages with rolls bread with beer of course. We went for a long walk in a garden of one old Castle outside Munich after lunch, after that dropped by at a beer garden again, had coffee, cakes and ice cream before we drove back to Schwandorf. Now we are on diet keke..yeah right! Our Mother´s Day Strawberry cake made by Susanne. Big salt Bretzel and 1 Litter black beer for mama on Mother´s day? Nor lar..kami sharing baitu LOL.My anak dahaga beer LOL..joking only My boys. He picked wild flowers while walkingYou can see this almost every where in the country side.

Folk Festival in Schwandorf

It´s a Volksfest (Folk Festival) time again in Schwandorf and well, it would be rude not to go (joking only hehe). The Schwandorfer Volkfest is like a mini Octoberfest (Munich), except there´s only one tent. A Volksfest (Folk Festival) is a large event in Germany. Admission to a Volksfest is free (so everyone is welcome!) however you have to pay for each ride separately. Each ride in a Volksfest is independently run so tickets for several rides are uncommon. (Kalau di tempat kita macam Fun Fair labah tu kan). There is at least one Volksfest in many of the larger towns in Germany every year. Volkfest in Schwandorf started last Saturday with a grand opening with Parade started from the town centre until the Volkfest area. Normally, a Volksfest takes place nearly at the same date every year. The festival goes for one week and its open everyday except on Tuesday (Rest day). Wednesday is Children´s day and on Saturday is Family day so during these particulars day each ride cost half price!. So since it was Children´s day yesterday I brought my boys to the Volkfest. Kenneth and Kyle enjoyed some rides (for small children punyalah macam carousel gitu), drinking and eating bratwurst (Sausages) and listened to Folk music. Since it was a cheap day, the place was almost too crowded, difficult not to worry to lose one of your child (if you come with more than 1 kids). Ndak cukup Volkfest, on the way home we dropped by again at the town park and played in the playground until 7.00pm (but it´s still very bright here until 9pm), very tiring oh, and I guess I have enough with the Volkfest now, we have been there twice since the opening and oh man so much money flying away just for the rides (LOL). But it is a fantastic way to spend lovely warm weather. There will be firework display during the closing of the Volkfest on Sunday but we can also see the fire work on the sky from our house.

Parade (Bavarian men wearing Lederhosen (Ledder Pants).

Some Bavarian women with dirndls (Traditional Costumes)A beautiful array of horses pulling a ceremonial barrel wagon.

Enjoyed riding during the opening, not so many people yetKenneth and Papa enjoying Bumping Car!

Wanna ride? No thank you, takut sia.Main River in Schwandorf .

Happy Mother´s Day

As we are reminded on Mother´s Day, the most powerful gift that any mother can give is this sense that we are loved unconditionally. This is what each of us needs. What we have seen in part in a mother's love, we see fully in the love of God.

Loving God, we thank you for the love of the mothers you have given us, whose love is so precious that it can never be measured, whose patience seems to have no end. May we see your loving hand behind them and guiding them. We pray for those mothers who fear they will run out of love or time, or patience. We ask you to bless them with your own special love. We ask this in the name of Jesus, our brother. Amen. My dear mama Happy Mothers Day To You! and to all moms out there, Happy Mothers Day To You all... Have A Good Time!

Qigong - Healing Exercise

Boss ber-Qigong The word Qigong (Chi Kung) is made up of two Chinese words. Qigong is a Chinese exercise for health. From what we have read, the exercise increases energy, reduce stress, restore vitality and regain flexibility. It is a healing arts. I didn´t know about Qigong before, but its all started in October last year when Joachim (Mr hubby) attended a 3 days Self Development Seminar somewhere in Germany. The Seminar instructor introduced them this health exercise. Joachim shared with me, a few times during the Seminar they´re taught to do a few simple (for beginners) Qigong movements. He said in the beginning its difficult to follow the movement but somehow he started to enjoy it, he said the exercise really make him feel good after that. After the seminar, he has been doing Qigong at home without fail, sometimes he is doing it twice a day, pagi and malam. Sometimes I am amazed with his spirit and courage to get up early morning to do Qigong. Kalau macam sia yg pemalas ni tidur lagi bagus kekeke...Before he was doing the movements by watching DVDs, by listening to CDs and also by readings Qigong books. Two months ago he enrolled himself to Qigong Class in town. The Health Insurance contributing 80% of the payment which is great and encouraging. He said doing Qigong is an amazing experience...entahlah I haven´t tried it yet. He is actually suffering from back pain which always goes up to his neck and head due to the stress at work, so whenever he had pain he always take pain killers like aspirin or paracetemol to reduce the pain. Since he has been doing Qigong daily, touch wood! he seldom has the pain!. Kalau ada pun not as bad as before dia bilang. So why take drugs when you can exercise your way to health, right? His progress has been helped by this health exercise. We know that pain affects every part of our lives, work, socializing, relationships...hubby said he faced both exciting and stressful life changes. Do you know one more thing? Recently he confessed, he can smell better than before...dulu walau macamana wangi masakan sia pun dia tida boleh cium (ceh! puji diri sikit haha..well wangi tida bererti sedap haha). But, amazing juga kan? Macam sia pun susah mau picaya. So got to try it lah. He shared that he gets up in the morning with more energy since doing Qigong (how I wish I can feel it too). He has been trying to urge me to try this wonderful healing art...join the class too and do Qigong at home regularly, well I would like to consider it, tapi sia ni ada penyakit malas bah, but maybe it will change my life too, who knows hehe. But to be honest I am not very patient in doing such slow movements, nanti tertidur pula masa buat Qigong keke. I rather use my stationary bicycle at home or join fitness centre if I really want to do my exercise, but after what hubby has shared to me about his Qigong experience, I might considering this...but I´ve never started ceh!. I keep on postponing kekeke...bisuk, bisuk lusa..entah bila laini. Oh yah, all the time they´re doing Qigong indoors, but soon when the weather gets warmer they´ll do it outdoor, in the park, that would be nice to see..they said Qigong it much better be done under trees...good chi flow mangkali. Is it? eh macam Feng Shui pula haha...No wonder I saw some Chinese people doing Tai Chi di botanical garden dulu...rupanya!. “If you want to be healthy and live to 100, do QiGong.” So why not try Qigong?

Get Your Grill On

We had a long weekend last week. Thursday was a labor day, Christ Himmelfart (Christ Ascension day), my mama´s 63 birthday and also Father´s day in Germany. Hubby and Kenneth took off on Friday. Fathers day was rather quiet, hubby baked a cake and we just had cake and coffee at home. Kenneth gave his dad a Notice Block which he made in the kindergarden for Fathers day. Very simple but its the thoughts that count right (Masa kami kecil2 dulu nobody taught us about fathers day, let alone doing crafting for father...). Saturday we supposed to go to the zoo in Nurnberg (abt 1 hour driving) but hubby overslept! He was soooo tired after changing summer tyres for both cars on Friday (ndak biasa fizikal exercise nah) but we drove to a nearest town (Amberg) after late breakfast and did some shopping therapies. Sunday was beautiful and sunny almost the whole day but a little bit windy. The shops in Schwandorf were opened (Shops are normally closed on Sunday here because of Sabbath day), we went for a walk in town centre for a short while cuci mata only ..Now that the weather slowly warming up, BBQ season has officially begun. We decided to enjoy spring weather next to sizzling BBQ and fresh salad. Oh yeah, we did our first grill on Sunday in our little backyard (tapi makan di dalam lah since it was quite windy) hubby went to our favourite butcher on Saturday to fetch some sausages, pork ribs and perut vogok. Everyone did grilling at once in the neighbourhood that day...jiran kiri kanan were also grilling..macam party grilling pula....Its fun indeed, the sun, the birds singing, the children playing, the smoking grill!, what a nice spring feeling. Since lama tida grilling so I was eating like nobody business haha....DIET was not in mind for a while hehe...

Camping time kaini?

This weekend supposed to be the same kind of weather...maybe we´ll repeat the BBQ session again, there’s chicken waiting in the wings hehe...

Communion Party

Last weekend was rather busy and tiring for us. Saturday was Spring Festival in the kindergarden and on Sunday we attended another function. It was a communion party. Julia (10 yrs) had her 1st Holy Communion last Sunday. Julia´s mom´s (Susanne) not only hubby´s long good friend (more than 20 years now) but also my eldest son´s (Kenneth) god mom. We had to get up at 6.30 last Sunday because we had to drive about 1 ½ hours to attend Julia´s communion ceremony in one of the Catholic Church in the outskirt of Munich. The Mass was at 10.00 a.m. Poor my boys...I had to drag them out from their beds. Actually Sundays suppose to be our lazy days and normally we sleep longer on Sunday but last Sunday had to be an exception. We were glad we reached the church just after 9.30 am after hubby drove like Schumacher on the motorway. We were lucky the road was almost clear...not many cars on the road...(orang lain masih tidur haha).

Julia When we reached there, the church was almost full but luckily we managed to sit in the second last row..bagus juga di belakang cause if my boys make noise easier for us to sneak out..but I was glad they behaved quite well during the long service..They started complaining hungry and thirsty only almost at the end of the mass..phuuuh! After the Mass, like usual photo sessions..dari dalam sampai luar church berposing adooiii..the boys and me were already feeling HUNGRY like wolfs!. We had small party with Julia´s family after the communion Mass. We went eating at one of the nice local Bavarian restaurant in the outskirt of Munich. The Food was decent. No dancing nor games..Just eating and talking. We were really lucky with the weather last Sunday. It was like 20 degrees with lots of sunshine. Perfect!. The restaurant is very children friendly..I said so because they have drawing and colouring corner for children so they could make themselves busy there while parents enjoy the meal and just outside the restaurant was a small playground..that really save my boys life! Otherwise they would run amok inside the restaurant haha...keboringan!. Thank to the nice weather and the playground outside, it was enough to get the “monsters” ouf off the kids. Although it was another tiring day but we were glad to be among their guests who were mostly their closed family members, it was a meaningful and special event. We were happy for Julia for accomplishing this important step in her life. It´s a blessing!.

The Family

Julia and Mom, Susanne

My boysSpring beauty..the tree blooming The playground!

Ki-Ga Spring Festival

Last Saturday we attended Spring Festival in Kenneth´s Kindergarden. The weather was not really the best, kejap sunshine, kejap cloudy and in between drizzling. Despite the uncertain weather the festival went on so smoothly. The Festival started at 2pm. They held the festival in the garden. We arrived at 1.30 pm so that we could catch good place to sit. Parents prepared Cakes, Dessert and Drink, Sandwiches, BBQ Sandwiches. The money will be donated to the Kindergarden. Some parents volunteered to serve, tidying after the occasion or helping selling the food and drinks. We decided to donate cakes. We baked two different kind of cakes. We made Marmor Kuchen (Marble cake) and Obs Käse Kuchen (Fruit Cheese Cake). Hubby did most of the job hehe...to be honest, he bake better than me. I don´t really have a good hand for baking. Sia tau makan ja. The festival started with grace or spiritual blessing followed by a brief speech from the priest (sia pun tida tau siapa nama tu Priest hehe). And then it was time for presentation. Most kindergarden children from all groups participated in the presentation. The title of the presentation was “Snowhite”. Kenneth took part in the presentation, he was acting as one of the rabbits haha. Parents were so entertained. The ki-ga kids did a wonderful and adorable job performing. We were proud our kids and their very dedicated teachers have put so much effort into planning these excellent occasion for the parents. After the presentation we enjoyed ourselved with the food and drinks and children started playing in the garden and inside the kindergarden areas. Parents had good times mingle around freely and talking and getting to know other parents. Unfortunately I didn´t manage to sit down with parents that I know or to get know other parents as I was busy watching and running after my younger son (Kyle) who was busy running, jumping and climbing with other children. Parents were not only allowed to bring family also friends or relatives so it was so much fun because load of people attending. The event was an overall success as I overheard some families commented on how they appreciated and enjoyed the festival. I think the teachers were also glad for parent´s support and participation. As for me it was fun but also a tiring day. Actually I am glad it was over hehe..

Mirror..Mirror on the wall...

Silke, Kenneth´s Ki-ga teacher is leaving the kindergarden.

Kenneth as one of the rabbits