an expat's wife (in khartoum no more...): Malam Ramah Mesra Blok A : Part 1

Monday, 27 April 2009

Malam Ramah Mesra Blok A : Part 1

As you've noticed I've written about so many farewell. Naturally, if people are going home, there is also an influx of new comers. Mostly bringing their families to Khartoum.

Living in the same Block doesn't guarantee that you know each other. So, the community decided to have a Majlis Ramah Mesra for our block. It was something like a welcoming party plus a little bit of a bonding session for our community...hehehe. Anyway a 'hamba Allah' was generous enough to sponsor 500 Euro. We then collected some more from everyone. Who's the 'ceti'?!! Of course it was the both of us! Who else? hehehe...

At first the men decided to have something that wouldn't burden the ladies... yeah, right!!! In the first meeting, they said they would do everything. In the second meeting they involved some of us ladies (including me) and they asked us to cook...sigh...

We decided on something simple, nasi kawah concept. During the meeting someone mentioned that the OGP fellers could make karipap and doughnut which I insisted they prepared...hehehe. The final menu was beef soup with bread, nasi putih, gulai kawah, ayam goreng, ulam and ikan kering. Karipap and doughnut by the OGP fellers and some of the ladies made desserts.

Kak Rehana, Kak Jas and me (plus Amir) did the marketing. Once we arrived, the other ladies came down to help with preparing the meat and other condiments for the event. Luckily Kak Maznah prepared meehoon goreng for us... Thank you Kak Maz because we're very, very hungry...hehehe

One thing I liked about our men was that they're very cooperative. On the eve of our event, I was amazed how many of them came down to cut the chickens... The atmosphere was very kampung-like. Exactly felt like 'merewang' in Malaysia...hehehe. But, there was also a downside to this, they liked to be 'fed' as well. There must also be drinks prepared. On that night, they also made khoruf soup with bread...sigh... They even volunteered to make fried onions for the soup! But the most important thing, they enjoyed themselves, being able to 'bond' outside office hours with friends.

The OGP fellers were busy upstairs making the karipap filling. I asked Mazman to check on their progress...hehehe. That night, the ladies rested, we only came down for tea...hehehe. Oh yes I remembered one funny thing. Being 'men', they came down with a variety of knives and started to talk 'shop'...hehehe, looking at them, I laughed out loud because some used pocket knife, some used the regular knife while some even used the chopper/ cleaver (this was to slice the onions!)...hehehe. We just let them be 'boys'...hehehe... Enjoy the pictures.