THE 30TH DAY OF EID 1443H

The post for the last day of Eid is special as this is the first time I am translating a text from someone's post, an ex-student of SMK Taman Universiti, on his Facebook status.

Came to visit Cikgu Zainal on the last day of Eid this year.

When time permits, I went to visit Cikgu Zainal every time I go back to Johor Bahru, the teacher of SMK Taman Universiti, the school I once went to.

Cikgu Zainal is also the teacher of my late wife when we studied at the same school. Hence, he knew both of us for quite some time.

However, this time I went alone. My teacher asked me to see him.

As I arrived at the front door, he hugged me and I broke into tears.

After chatting, as Maghrib prayer time was approaching, I had to make a leave.

God Will, I will always come to Johor Bahru even though she is no longer with me. How could one forget the place where he had fallen in love.

That's all of my short rambling of my returning home to JB for Eid this year.

~ Hazran Zuberi ~

All I could say is: Thanks for coming and I do hope to see you again, not just for Eid but also any time when you are back in Johor Bahru.

That should be the very end of the report of my Eid celebration this year. May we see each other again next year.

THE 29TH DAY OF EID 1443H

 

Today should supposedly be the last day of Eid and I had my very last visitor. Mr. Syahim was a [young] friend from the "surau" [the smaller version of a mosque]. He wanted to pay the Eid visit earlier but only managed to get it done on the last day. He dropped by right after Isya' prayer and mission was accomplished.

That should wrap up the activities throughout the month of Eid this year. I am glad I got to meet and see more people this time after the two years restriction because of the pandemic.

Thanks to each and everyone who came to my house and to those who invited me to theirs. May we keep this tradition alive for many more years to come.

THE FIRST MEETING FOR THE JOHOR BAHRU CHESS TEAM FOR 2022

The very first meeting for the Johor Bahru Chess Team teachers were held this evening at the same regular spot at KFC Taman Perling. The last time we met was in 2020, right before the Movement Control Order was carried out. We even managed to get the team to compete at state level that year, and the competition was done online last year.

This year, we are going to get the chess competition done the traditional style where we could get to meet real people physically.

This meeting was significant as people attending were given Eid money packets containing real money by the Chairperson. I must make sure I will attend all the group's meetings in the future after this.

THE 27TH DAY OF EID 1443H

There were still people who came to visit for Eid celebration  on the third last day of the month. The husband and wife couple, Mr. Mohd. Ariff Mohd. Noor and Pn. Siti Nur Ain, who both went to SMK Taman Universiti, arrived today with their three boys.

This should be his wife's first visit to my house after all these years. Well, there is always a first time, and that they will still come to visit for more Eid in the future.

Later in the evening, more ex-students [of SMK Taman Universiti] dropped by. There were three pairs of husband and wife, plus 4 children. Puan Fatihah is one of the regulars who comes to visit every year even though she is now residing in Kuala Lumpur. Then there were her two other classmates, Puan Insyirah Johan and Mr. Suhaizi Jasmani.

And I got my second money packet [filled with money] for this year. And this should be my second money packet given by an ex-student for Eid in my life.

I actually managed to attend two open houses [and a wedding reception] in the afternoon.

The first open house was of Puan Rafidah Ismail, the school staff of SMK Dato' Jaafar, held at her place in Taman Pulai Utama. There were also other colleagues when I arrived there which made it merrier.

The second open house was of Puan Faridah Hanim Mohd. Dom, my ex-classmate in SMK Sultan Ismail [SSI] and she is the only ex-classmate of SSI that I am still having direct contact.

Eating too much in one day is definitely something not good. The whole month of Eid is not the best month to keep watch of your diet and BMI.

THE 26TH DAY OF EID 1443H

The weekend was here again and we had a few more days before the end of Eid. It was time to attend the open house hosted by Dr. Azzad Hamzah, an ex-student of SMK Taman Universiti at his house in Bandar Kangkar Pulai.

Then, there was Dr. Azzat's sister who also attended SMK Taman Universiti, Dr. Azaty Hamzah.

And I met Mr. Farid, another ex-student, who is the colleague of Dr. Azzad's wife.

Later in the evening, I received two guests, Mr. Syafiq Jaini and Mr. Fahmi Foad. These ex-students finally made their appearance after postponing the plan earlier.

Three more days to go...

THE 25TH DAY OF EID 1443H

The original plan was just to call the host to ask whether I could pay her a visit for Eid either tomorrow or the day after. However, she insisted that I came to her house today as she was expecting other guests and had prepared special food. Like it or not, I drove straight to Taman Pulai Perdana right after school and was lucky to be the very first visitor to try all the food served on the dining table before everybody else arrived.

Thanks to my ex-colleague, Puan Aliah Hussein [of SMK Taman Universiti], and the ex-student, Miss Rabiah, for the hospitality. Too bad, the other people started to arrive 30 minutes later and we could not continue our gossiping session. And I am still waiting for the selfie pic from the host.

Then, in the evening, my ex-schoolmate of SMS Muar, Mr. Razib Nordin, came to visit. He planned to come earlier but due to some unforeseen circumstances, it had to be put on hold. As he would be going to Singapore to reunite with his family there, today would be the best time to do the Eid visit as the celebration was already getting to its end.

Four more days to go....

Four more days to get fatter 😀

THE EID GREETING CARDS STILL ARRIVED

A few more Eid greeting cards still arrived on the 3rd and 4th week of the celebration month. Guess it is better late than never.

Thanks to my friends of UPM TESL class of 1993 and my ex-classmates of Budiman class of SMS Muar for their kind gestures. Actually I did not know the sender of the postcard in the last pic but he/she must belong to either one of the groups.

May we still keep this tradition alive next year and many more years to come.

EID CELEBRATION IN SCHOOL, AFTER 2 YEARS

16th MAY 2022 ~ After all the restrictions due to the pandemic, Eid was celebrated again in school. After the Teacher's Day celebration in the morning, teachers, students and the non-academic staff of SMK Dato' Jaafar had the day to enjoy the food and the festive mood, but most importantly to keeping the tradition of visiting alive, regardless of the race and religion.

Individual classes held open houses where students and teachers brought food and drinks from home. Some took the extra effort to decorate the class. Then they went visiting their friends in other classes and ate some more.

My two other colleagues and I went to visit 15 classes [out of 29]. When I reached the 15th class, I was afraid I would explode and it would be impossible to visit some more.

This was like a party that was held once a year and the students had surely enjoyed themselves.

Thanks to all the students, teachers as well as all the parents who had contributed to make today's event a success.

THE 21ST DAY OF EID 1443H

The group that came visiting in the afternoon was Puan Rokiah Junoh, an ex-colleague of SMK Taman Universiti, and her husband, Mr. Abdul Rahman. This time, they were accompanied by their son, Mr. Ahmad Amirul Adha, who is also my ex-student of SMK Taman Universiti and two new members of the family: Mr. Amirul's wife and infant daughter.

They are actually the Eid regular visitors and I was at their home in Taman Nusantara for a similar visit last week.

The other visitor who came to visit at about 8:00 p.m. was Mr. Ariff Mohd. Nizam, another ex-student of SMK Taman Universiti. He was at my place after work as it would be nearer and more convenient rather than going home first.

With 8 more days to go, time is running short. I feel that this time Eid celebration is faster as we are already in the last week of the month of Syawal.