Ba' Kelalan. My Home. My Heart.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ba-Kelalan-Home-Sweet-Home/296207851502

I'm living my life.

This photo was taken by my cousin, Edwin. This is my father's house (well, our home) in Ba' Kelalan. I grew up in Lawas by the way and only visit "kampung" (village) once in a year. My father said it is important to have a big house since we have a very large family. I agree. 

My father obviously worked very hard to build this for us. I'm very proud of him. People keep saying that our house is too big. It is big but I don't think it is big enough for 7 kids plus grandchildren to stay in for school holidays. -___-" We only have 5 bedrooms anyway.

People who knows my father would say " you're lucky. You come from a wealthy family". Most of the time I would just smile as an answer. Why? They don't know. They only see things. They saw our houses. The knew about our properties and all. Trust me. Lawas is too small. So words go around very fast. But still, they don't know. When I was 7, I stayed in hostel just because Kid no 5 and 6 were there to take care of me while my parents went away to work. I never really stayed with my parents during my teenage years. When I went to high school, they sent me to stay in the hostel til I was 17 too. Why? We don't have a car. Bus or van's fee was expensive. Kid no 5 and 6 went to different school. So they need more money. I didn't complain though. At that age, I was happy cos I can spend more time with my friends.

Have I told you that my parents never celebrate my birthday? Well. That's the truth. I didn't care until the day I saw my friend's album. A picture of her (since she was a year old) up to that day, she always have her birthday photos. Memories. That's what I don't have. Then I realized. I'm living a different kind of life. Wealthy family? That's not how I see it. How can a wealthy family can't afford to celebrate birthdays? We're not poor either. We're just living our life. Just living it. 

I felt sad once a while thinking of all the memories I should have. The photos that I never took.

My parents work hard anyway. Birthdays aren't important. I told myself. I may not have the memories but I'm living a good, blessed, simple life, well, that's good enough. Therefore, when people praises our family, I only answer them with a smile. I have nothing to brag about. I have nothing to tell them. 

Today, I've made a promise. For my future children, I'm gonna make sure they'll have a plenty of memories of their childhood and I'm gonna be next to them all the way. Not that my childhood was bad. My parents have their ways, and I'm gonna have my own.

My Sarawak.

If you're wondering where on earth Sarawak is, HERE. I'm gonna provide you with a map that I have found on google ^^

What I love about Sarawak is definitely the multi-ethnic/racial society. In Sarawak, we have the Dayaks, Malays, Chinese, Indians,Orang Ulu, Melanau and a lot more. I am a Lun Bawang myself which is from the Orang Ulu group.You see Sarawak is a very colorful state :) 

During one of our Faculty Annual Dinner back in 2010, the theme for the evening was 1Malaysia in which me and my friends decided to wear our own traditional costumes. Check out some of the photos which I really love to see because it is so colorful!

Me in white and i'm wearing a Lun Bawang traditional costume :) And all of us are representing different ethnics. I'm loving this picture. <3

These people are actually my seniors. They are all wearing different costumes too. Weehoo!!

So that's me in white. Roza (next to me) is wearing her Iban traditional costume, Angie in her Kayan costume, Shelley in a Chinese cheongsam and both of my Malay friends are wearing Malays traditional costume which are the kebaya and baju kurung.

And this one, my friend Jill (skinny one) is wearing a Dusun traditional costume (or Kadazan? Please correct me if I'm wrong). Well, she's from Sabah. :) Her friend is wearing a Bidayuh (Dayak) traditional costume. Colorful right?

I have more pictures but the internet connection is pretty slow tonight :/

Sarawak is a cool place to visit i must say. Other than their wonderful costumes and multi racial society, we have different kind of food too. Some are exotic foods that you can never find in any other state or even country.To experience Sarawak, you must come to visit and see for yourself! :)

WE, Sarawakian welcomes you anytime!

Crazy? I bet I am!

:D Sorry for cracking your PC's screen. HAHAHAHAHAHA

Blogging in English?

Correct me if i'm wrong, blogging is for everyone right? Not that I heard negative things about how you need to be gifted to write your own blog but a lot of people tend to think that way. Isn't it? Like you need to have a perfection in some ways to write good entries. If you wanna write in English for instance, you need to be able to write PERFECTLY like making no mistakes in grammar and all. I mean, I'm not majoring in English when I studied in university, we don't converse in English at home and English is not the first language in my country too. BUT I am willing to try to say something for everyone to read, understood and can relate to. I don't see language as a barrier in blogging UNLESS you're writing in your own language .Like everyone are perfect at it. :) But not anyone can understand so it's shutting down the communication tunnel. And that's bad :/

If you notice, I'm only using simple English, I've made grammar mistakes here and there. You see MY entries are not perfect :) But I bet you understood what I'm saying right? *or you can't relate t all?* :/ Hmm not your fault. Maybe I need to practice more.

I'm blogging not because I want everyone to read, I'm doing this to express myself and to improve anything that I am lack of. Not everything you feel comfortable telling someone you know, sometimes, right? So here I am complaining, nagging, dreaming!! 

HAHA

So now peeps, don't hold back. Especially for people from countries where English is only used as second or third language. We can always try to express ourselves. People may criticized us with our imperfections just don't stop. We're improving us, ourselves, not them.

Keep blogging. Keep sharing. 

I Love My Girls.

Here's a photo of me and my 3 best friends :) This photo was taken 2 years ago during the BASiS Annual Dinner. Gosh. I miss them! This was one of the most fun night. Us, dressed up in our traditional costumes. What can i say, i am proud to be a Lun Bawang :)