Day 6: Jemur Season!

See the white fuzzy dot near the middle of the screen? That's Tepu' Ribet! 


Today marked the sixth day I spent with my Tepu'. It's really cool & touching hearing how she says she'll miss me when I leave on the 24th. She won't be seeing me on my walk home from the shed.

(Funny story: She says 'Bye Vio' to me when I walk on the mountain road leading to the main village, but I can never hear her until the very last day, after she told me this.)

Aw, 6 days can really make you connect with someone if you open your heart. I really hope my orang putih stories (of how Westerners eat with forks, wear shoes at home, and not every one of them speak English) can make my Tepu' feel more connected to them although they are "foreigners". My Chinese tales (of how life is at home for me) and also my random analogies (well, we both dislike the cray cray KL traffic jams :)), I really hope she finds them helpful & memorable to her one day.

Daniel & Tepu'
The swag that comes with a batik shirt, at a paddy field.

So, today, one of the Project Coordinators, Daniel, came to join my daily sawah padi adventures. We left for Tepu's house around 8.30ish AM & was greeted with Tepu' as usual, by the kitchen table. Usually, her stocky son (who works as a local security guard at SMK Bario) would blast jazz tunes in the morning. That was how I could recognise her house at first. 

We couldn't hear any music coming from her house today. So, no AM jazz to serenade our daily sawah padi adventures today. 

Surprisingly, Tepu' cooked early today. We would usually cook in the kitchen, before heading out to the paddy field. So, skipping cooking meant skipping revising the vocab associated with the cooking: soy sauce, salt, seasoning, wok, pot, etc. 

But, we did manage to rehearse what would become my Tepu's favourite line:-

I: What are you doing, Tepu?

Tepu: Tepu' put the vegetable in the container~~ 

As a teacher to my Tepu, it makes me soooo happy when she can answer me. Constant drilling, and also dedication (mostly from her part), that's the key to success :)

Soon after, we got changed into our paddy field work gear, and then lepaked a bit, before leaving for the paddy field. 

Where are we going? 

*Clap, clap, clap*

Paddy field~

Where are we going? 

*Clap, clap, clap*

Paddy field~

(An actual song I taught my Tepu, inspired by Dora the Explorer!)

The walk up the mountain was no easy feat. For the unfrequent gym visitor, every step felt like a cardio workout on the treadmill. haha Sometimes, if it rained on the night before, your shoes can get stuck in the mud. So, one mis-step, you can kiss even your Kampung Adidas goodbye, as it returns to mother nature. 

We walked to the paddy field with "Careful, Daniel, walk slow slow. Soft road" 

Yup, you've guessed it, it rained the night before. (Actually, it rained everyday we were in Bario) So, walked slowly indeed. 

Today, Tepu' took advantage of the warm sun, to dry her rice, by the shed. It didn't look like it was about to rain until later in the evening. Guess what? ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED :) New words of the day: Dry rice, spread rice. 

It's Mr Sun, sun, Mr Golden Sun~

Haha, we teach and learn as we go along. I taught my Tepu' new vocab, and she in turn taught me that she's one hell of a superwoman! One gunny sack of rice is 50Kgs and without us, she would manually climb up her shed (via a ladder), and empty out the contents of the gunny sack, all by herself. Even Daniel said it was a tough job, so it must be something in the Bario rice that makes my Tepu' so strong. 

After that, we went on with the usual cutting grass, and had lunch. Went home around 1.30ish. 

All in a day's work of slaying grass, and lepaking with by the paddy field with Bario rice & midin.

xoxo Mariam aka. Vio