A Zoo, A Barbecue and A Bread Factory

Last week I was nursing some old basi sakit hati. The forecast for this week, then, was - GLOOMY. I was upset (since a few weeks back) that due to work commitments, I could not, as planned, go for a two day leave to attend a simposium which was important to me. Although I understand the criticality of quarterly results (timing wasn't good) and such; my absence from the company for 2 days does not directly translate to a company turnaround, does it? No, it does not. But bosses will be bosses, and work is work, so here I am.

Thank God for last weekend and my trip to the zoo. Yawn..yawn.. Again? Yes, my friends, we live just next door, it's like visiting neighbours. For those of you who do not know, we always ALWAYS go to the zoo to pay homage to the abang-abang buaya tembaga, elephants, rhinos, zebras, snakes dan yang paling favourite aunty-uncle keluarga monyet. Although we always go to the zoo, I still find a walk through the zoo refreshing and calming. Minus of course, the occasional whiffs of animal dung!

This time around, the boys spent more time playing with the birds which were brought out on benches for the public to touch and feel. Mommy just stood by click-clicking with the camera macam tourist tak pernah pergi zoo and licking on her yum-yum ice-cream cone. When we got tired of walking around, we'd go for a few rounds on the zoo tram until we got dizzy. As usual, when we got off the tram, my Nasar would scream "THANK YOU MR. UNCLE!" to which the tram driver would always laugh. Always.

the boys and their Kakak Dede playing with birdie

Fun. The zoo was fun.

On Monday our management treated us to a little barbecue by the lake. They discovered, recently, to their horror that we are beginning to look like zombies walking in the corridors. What do you expect when we come in before sunrise and leave well after sunset? We're probably breeding a colony of zombies in our cozy little outfit!


grilled bbq chicken. yummmy!

So, on Monday we were given a little time-off, from 5.30pm to 9.30pm. A simple barbecue was on fire, simple silly games were set-up and a karaoke set on standby for those who wanted some lung exercise. I thought I'd give a shot at singing but the cover of the karaoke booklet said "Lagu-lagu zaman 60-an dan 70-an", errr..gulp..not for me lah. So I just stood by watching the veterans. It was fun..we ate, joked, sat back and relaxed.

Objective achieved, for Monday at least. The zombies were back to work on Tuesday!

Wednesday, today, was a bundleful of fun too. I followed my son's tadika's field trip to the High5 Bread Town in Shah Alam. It was insightful watching how little small things make children happy. Everything amazes them at that age. They were a merry bunch, laughing and saying things like "Hey! Look! The sun is shining!' or "Hey! Look at the sky!" followed by giggles and oohs and aahs at everything and chattered on and on through out the journey.

I thought to myself...On normal days, I hardly ever notice the sun. And the sky...is just the sky! Yes? No? Being with the children and feeling their happiness with life made me make a mental note to myself, to soon, stop to smell the flowers, stop once in a while to really breathe in the world, bask in the sun and gaze at the sky. Someday. Soon.

The bread factory was interesting too. I was more amazed with the Bread Museum where the quality of displays were far better than those at the National Museum. Of course, a tour of the factory and bread-making process was thrown in. The smell of the factory was, heavenly! It kept reminding me of Ailin's Swirling Cheese Bread. Or is it Cheese Swirl Bread? Whatever. All I know is that it makes me drool!

Nasar and pals at lunch today

We ended today's trip in high spirits. Mother and son both happy campers. It's back to work tomorrow and Friday.

Can't wait for Saturday. That's when I plan to go smell me some flowers!