It's Chinese New Year and I'm pretty sure everyone out there is having fun stuffing their tummies with yummy food and cookies, oranges, busy collecting ang pows, gambling and visiting relatives. But the highlight of every CNY will always be the reunion dinner on CNY eve (well at least for my family). However, this year is different. We didn't get to go up to Alor Star for our usual reunion dinner with my maternal side of the family. Instead, we spent most of the evening in KLIA holding back tears and trying to put on a brave face. My brother, Daniel was scheduled to leave for New Zealand that night at 9.30.The scholarship agents and sponsorship couldn't get any other departure dates hence explaining his departure on CNY eve.
KLIA was jam packed with people that day. Even finding a place to sit to have a meal was a hassle. We finally settled for KFC because it was considered less packed compared to the other food outlets around. So yeah, Dan's last meal in Malaysia was KFC =/
That guy in coat with his back towards the camera is Bubin, another TNB scholarship recipient who's leaving to Canterbury with Dan. Only the 2 of them are going so it is kinda scary and lonely for the both of them, till they settled and make new friends of course.
Dan's luggage was more than 5kg overwheight. He had 3 other really heavy hand carries (it'd knock the breath out of me if any of them fell on me) including his HP monitor. Thank goodness the lady at the counter was really helpful and she allowed Dan to check in the monitor along with the luggage without any extra charges. In case you don't know, an extra kg costs RM130.
I was fine holding back tears in front of him, only tearing up now and then when he wasn't looking. But when he bought me that huge lollipop, I just broke down in front of him. I felt so bad letting him see me cry.
He's all smiles and tough in the pictures but he was feeling really heavy to leave Malaysia. He told me when we were having our meal that he wasn't prepared to leave. I know he's just putting on a brave face so that my parents wouldn't feel sad.
After Dan left to board, mum and I cried a bucket. We rushed down to Bukit Tinggi to meet up with a few of my dad's relatives in a restaurant even though we didn't feel like it. Dad says he hasn't met his younger brother for years and in the end we think that it'd be a good distraction to keep our minds off Dan a while.
So I sort of had my reunion dinner in the end, having to smile and be ok in front of them. It wasn't as bad as I had thought it to be. Dan reached NZ safely btw. It broke our hearts the first night he was there because he was extremely lonely and lots of unhappy incidents happened in just that few hours of his arrival. It wasn't a smooth start but yesterday (his 2nd day there), he finally got to call us and he sounded a lil happier. He's made new friends and is trying to adapt to the new environment there.
(Edited) :
I miss him so much that on the first night he was gone, dad said I screamed in my sleep. I got to skyped with him for a while this evening before he went to bed. I was in Queensbay and when mum called telling me they're talking to him, CCB quickly drove me home just so I could talk to Dan. I miss him so badly and I know he's feeling way worst than all of us. He told us that he missed dinner last night cos in NZ, dinner was called tea and he mistakenly thought it was tea time. Thank God for good seniors who cooked for him though he had to walk a good 15minutes to the other side of the uni. He admitted he feels too far away from home. We could see he's feeling a lil down but we all know it'll be better soon. He's going to town with the international students orientation batch for a quick tour tomorrow. It'll take time to finally be able to get use to the new life, so please do keep him in prayer.
Love,
Grace
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