farewell parties

i am unable to sleep ..dah past midnight but mata belum ngantuk ...so ambik kesempatan berbloggig dulu ....was browsing through my dropbox and saw these pics ...taken during my farewell parties sebelum gi fieldwork dulu ...berkurun lama nya hahaha ...anyway ..the point is I have 3 farewell parties sebelum balik aritu ...ngades ke over tu???? lol

 the last people to leave and hence, helping to kemas kemas hahahaha

The first party tu buat kat rumah Ped ..dia insist nak hostkan ..so kiter layan ajer lah ....it was a combo party for Anna, Pete and Lyn finishing their masters and my farewell ...as fitting the kiwi lifestyles, we had a potluck plus bbq ....ingat kan sikit jer org ..tapi penuh rumah dia malam tu ...more like 25 plus peope were there ...

scene from the balcony where we had the party

 me and my chocolate cake :-)  bangga ok coz cake tu licin! and ever since, I dah tak guna recipe lain dah ..this is my most trusted cholocate cake recipe ..i called it Liam's chocolate cake sebab dapat recipe from a dear friend, Liam

 and Berna buat her fabulous German Plum cake 

masa nie baru sampai ...org tak ramai lagi ....maka sempat posing ..pastu jangan harap ...takde gambar dah!

then I had another farewell bash at my own flat ...sebab masa yang first tu, ada gak yang tak datang ...sebab clash dates and various reason ..so this time i invited all my closest friends  kat welly (macam ramai sangat!) over for potluck dinner ....i was surprised when everyone showed up ...so rumah ku yang kecik was padat lol ...over 20 people showed up - i am so surprised I have that many close friends!

mula2 lepak dapur ..then as more and more people showed up living room pun penuh ....this is the first time all my friends i "put in one place' ..my friends from school, the girls, my friends from other schools and my flatmates ....makanan penuh meja ...one dining table full of lauk pauk .....i made nasi goreng with pinapples, cheezy vege pasta, chocolate cake and kuih bakar ...while Berna, my flatmate buat German breads ...and sapa tah bawak pumpkin soups ...that goes with the bread ...also have nachos, black bean salsa combo, salad ....and macam macam lagi lah ...yang aku ingat ada garlic bread, hummus ...and then satu meja lagi full of cakes ...melampu tak??? we had apple cake with ice cream, orange cake, chocolate cake, kuih bakar, caramel slices, macaroons, ginger cake and carrot cake ...

a successful night indeed ...nasib baik dorag nie jenis boleh harap tau ...they only left bila dorang dah selesai tolong aku kemas kan segala nya ....they helped to clean the dishes, kemas dapur, kemas living room, buang sampah ...lol senang kan kalau buat party camni! all i had to do the next day was to vaccum the flat ....

then the night before I actually leave for tanahair tercinta, my flatmates threw a private dinner ...just the three of us ...Berna cooked stuffed pepper with cheese and bolognaise, served with rice ...and plenty of cakes ...a more private and quiet affairs compared to the first two parties ...sedih gak le ..coz at that time we were not sure if Berna and I will see each other again -sebab dia akan abis study in June ...but i was going back mid july ....

all in all, i know i have made great friends here in Welly ...and in a year gitu at that time ...I guess, since this phd is such a lonely journey, havig friends around do help a lot ...just to chill and hang out sesama gitu ...kitorang always make a point of meeting up at least once a month to catch up ..and not let the friendship lenyap gitu ajer ...but now, a few of them have left *sob sob sob ...and malas nya aku nak buat new friends ....

but now as I am typing this, I am missing my besties - liz, ita and fendu ....lama sangat dah tak jumpa dorang ...last jumpa fendu and Ita was July 2013  - and last jumpa liz and duan was before I came here i.e. January 2013 ...2014 memang langsung tak bersua muka ngan dorang ...and whatsapp pun dah kurang as semua sibuk dengan kerja masing2 ...cannot wait to go home and see them!