Hari Raya Haji

So for Hari Raya Haji  I had Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off from school. Wednesday I went to the spa and slept. Thursday night I went to the Air Supply concert and Friday I went to a co-workers bersanding and kenduri after her wedding. It was out in her Kampung. The school driver, his niece, another teacher, and myself all went in the owner's car. The school's house keeper, secretary, and owner's house keeper at home followed us in another car. It was only supposed to take 40 minutes to get there but we got a little lost and had to do a couple U turns and back track and take another road. I didn't mind since I wasn't driving. Even though they were speaking in Malay I could tell by their tones and gestures that they were getting kind of frustrated, and I just laughed. When we go there the bride (my co-worker came out from the house), and we ate food. I had rendang beef with rice and mung bean porridge. It was good. I only had one serving though because it is very filling. We ate out side in the share of the building under canopies. It was hot. I was wearing a long skirt and camisole and batik top, and I was sweating. I felt sorry for the bride because her outfit was really hot and sweat was dripping down her face. Then her new husband came over, and I got to meet him.  Even though they all speak English they all conversed in Malay so I had no idea what they were talking about. Oh well. I need to get better about trying to learn Malay as I felt left out but I am in a foreign country, and they don't have to speak English just because I do. After that we went up into the house and took pictures. We did one with the bride and groom and all of us except the driver and his niece. I think they were still eating. It has a really elaborate backdrop and this fancy bench that is called the throne. They are King and Queen for the day. Then they took pictures of just me on the bench holding the bouquet of flowers. The school house keeper said that the bride should do like Americans and throw the bouquet for me to catch. After that we took a picture with the bride and all the ladies in the group. Then I got one with just the bride and groom. After that they handed us these goody bags. While we were waiting for the driver and his niece to finish eating these two little boys were standing under this tiny shelter thing and they were speaking to me in English. I don't think they knew much but they were excited when I would speak back to them. They kept giggling and conversing in Malay before they said the next thing. They asked me like are you going to eat, what are you doing, etc. I asked them in the watch the tv that was sitting under the shelter and they said yes and then asked me if I watch tv. I told them no I don't have a tv. They couldn't believe it. After that we left. While it was interesting to go there I thought it was a lot of driving for most people and not much time is spent there. I didn't have anything else going on, so I didn't mind. It did not take as long to get back and it seemed like we went a slightly different direction. On the way back I played with the driver's niece. She was sitting in front,  and I was sitting in back. First, it started with playing peek a boo kind of because she would look at me from one side of the chair and then I would catch her so she would peek out from the other side. Then she had this sachet with beads that she started tossing at me. I would take it and trick her as to what hand I had it in. Then it became a couple of receipts that she found on the floor or something. She was giggling and having lots of fun and was not bugging the driver. She tried to talk to me in Malay but I told her I only know English. The driver and other teacher just laughed they didn't try to translate at all. At one point she threw the receipt at the other teacher, and I was like uh oh, I don't think she is playing. The other teacher threw it back and then she resumed playing with me. There was a few times when she rolled down the window and the driver didn't want her to do that since the air con was on. She tried to open my window when she was turned around once but couldn't quite reach it, and I covered it with my hand.  Another time she rolled down the window and threw a wrapper out of the car. I don't approve of littering but it was too hard to not laugh since she was so cute about it. The driver did not approve of my laughing, and he scolded me (not too harshly though because I think he also found it funny even if he didn't approve either).