tentang Celebrating Raya

when we were kids, raya is so much fun. before raya, while parents go to perform tarawikh, we kids would run around playing tag or any kind of modified tag game we could make up. or some days, when raya is closer, we'd buy fireworks and light them up in any daring and creative way we could. and when raya came we'd visit every house we can to get more duit raya (money) we can. i'd get around RM50 each year.. but some of my friends get like RM200, maybe even more!

then we grew up.. which means less people will give us duit raya (but those who do, give a larger amount then we used to get when we were kids). raya seems to be less fun.

becoming young adults, between starting work and having to be independent and to pay for your own needs; some of us kind of dread duit raya because this is when we usually stop receiving and start giving duit raya to the kids. it costs a lot especially when we have a large family and visit a lot of houses during raya. but it is fun.. to give duit raya. just that financially, it kind of hurts our wallets.

now, i'm married. and the meaning of raya suddenly changes in a lot of ways.together we plan what to buy, how the house would look like. we plan where to go, who to meet and which kampung to go back to (though my wife and i still have not the chance to celebrate raya in malaysia yet). we learn the differences of how our families celebrate raya. raya warps from this boring time we had to spend with families into this time we cant wait to go back to our families.

cant wait to go back home, resume my life with a proper job. and i cant wait to celebrate raya next year because we'd be back in malaysia and we'll be able to celebrate raya with people dearest to us :)

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next post will be My Raya 2010 Report (with photos). don't forget to visit this blog next wednesday XD