Day Two ;; Saturday 15th August 2009That morning, my family and I woke up at 8.00 a.m. after my youngest uncle knocked on our bedroom's door. Annoyed, we were forced to wake up despite our tired bodies and minds. My mom ironed our clothes for the morning's occasion while my younger sister and I packed our things. My dad went missing again, probably went out to have some friendly morning chat with the caretaker. After my parents argued about what time should we left the guesthouse, we finally left the guesthouse at 9.15 a.m. My youngest uncle left earlier than us, couldn't wait for us at all.
We gathered at the bride-to-be's house, had breakfast, with my parents avoided talking to each other. It was hard being in the middle. We then followed everyone to the mosque, along with the bride-to-be for the "nikah" ceremony (is the contract between a bride and bridegroom and part of an Islamic marriage, a strong covenant (mithaqun Ghalithun) as expressed in Qur'an 4:21., where the bride signed a marriage certificate which approved that the bride and the groom will get married). We waited outside the mosque during this time, waited for the whole one hour until it ended. It was hard, as it started to rain. I was tired, wet and most of all, annoyed. But, since it was a happy day, a day to celebrate two people united in a marriage, I faked a smile. So what? Nobody know it was a fake smile anyway.
After the "nikah" ceremony ended, we headed back to the bride's house and had lunch. Guests had come and it was awfully packed with unknown peoples outside her house. We barely had place for ourselves to have our lunch. The food was okay, but the surrounding was too suffocating, considering the area where the wedding was carried out was small. The bride went to change of clothes and since the theme color for the wedding (Malay's wedding often had its own theme color such as green, yellow, white, etc.) was orange, I was imagining the bride in orange outfit.
After our lunch, since we were the bride's mom's family, we were pushed away and waited outside a locked house while the other incoming guests had their lunch. It was hot, considering that I was wearing a baju kurung, completed with head scarf! (Malay will be used again ;; aku dahlah tak pakai tudung, tiba-tiba kena pakai tudung, dahlah cuaca panas nak mati, habis cair make-up aku).
While the rest of the families waited outside that locked house, I spotted my eldest aunt's family resting comfortably inside their cars. It was such an irritating view, because when Malay people attended a wedding ceremony, they were supposed to stay under the provided canopies and greeted everyone, not staying inside their car for comfort. My aunt's children, my cousins to be precise were so stupid, they probably didn't learn about our tradition despite being old, as old as near to 40 years-old!
The groom (after the "nikah", the groom and bride are separated to change their clothes before their "bersanding" ceremony) arrived several hours later, completed in his orange clothes. The guests greeted the couple when they were sitting on their "pelamin" (as reference, see the photo attached with this post) and they looked lovely. I heard from some older ladies than the groom was younger than the bride, so it was another 누나-동생 relationship ended happily. We were supposed to stay longer until the "bersanding" ceremony ended, but because of the hot weather, my dad decided to leave, as we headed towards our hotel, since our guesthouse was just rented for one night.
We stayed at a hotel called Mersing Inn, and I couldn't say I liked that place. It was inside a small town, with stores around so it was convenient. I checked the internet connection as still, I was dissapointed again. No wireless connection, damn it sucks! As soon as we finished unpacking, my dad got a high fever and everyone in my family knew that when my dad was sick, he could be very irritating and demanding. Worried about his fever (well, it is H1N1 season right now), my mom called my youngest uncle to drive him to the nearest hospital since I can't drive. So my mom, my youngest uncle and my dad went to the hospital, leaving my youngest uncle's wife to stay with us inside our hotel's room. Nothing much happened because she felt asleep with her son, leaving my younger sister and I dumbfounded.
Two hours later, they came back and thankfully the doctor told my mom that the fever my dad caught wasn't serious and he was going to be okay. Well, my youngest uncle and his wife and son left, and my dad felt asleep. We couldn't go back to the bride's house for dinner and my mom went to one of the stores nearby and bought some junk food for us to fill our empty stomachs.
We watched Gladiator together until it was close to midnight when someone knocked on our hotel's room's door. My mom opened it and it was my youngest uncle sending over some food taken from the bride's house, specially packed for my family. That was generous of them though. He left and we enjoyed the dinner before we went to sleep.
My dad was still ignoring us up to this point, because he was sick.
End of another horrifying day in Mersing.
The next, and the final part will be post later.
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