Last Thursday

Mudan [moo-dan]  

Something to (secretly, guilt-riddenly) look forward to when working in the field; when water droplets fall from the sky. It means "rain" in Kelabit; Tok likes to say nangeh ("cry" in Kelabit) alternatively cause he's a hippie old man.

It was my third and last Thursday with the folks of Bario.

I decided to walk alone earlier (usually I walked with my Arur Dalan homies, Shu Anne Liging & Rui Ci Ganit) to Tepuq's house that morning to make up for leaving work earlier the day before. I'm really glad I did, because I got to enjoy a nice breakfast with their daughter-in-law and her baby girl, Nora!

 Here's a picture of Parthiban with little Nora! 
She's really cute when she isn't crying the roof off and making me look bad.

We dried paddy for the day, which wasn't much of a job for me since Tepuq did most of the work - technical skills I couldn't pick up instantaneously. Thus, she gave me the most important job in the world- "Kejarkan ayam" (chase the chickens away) she said, as she handed me a stick. This is so the chickens won't eat the paddy laid out for drying!

Let's be real, I was using the long stick as a microphone to sing We Are The Champions + as a light saber/any other weapon + messing with the cobwebs under the longhouse (until I see a spider and get scared), 80% of the time, heh. I hope Tepuq was amused!?

While singing, one must not forget our purpose in Bario! I tried English teaching with a song by teaching her how to sing the Barney I Love You song (I love youuuu, you love meeee, we are happy familyyyy) and you know what? It was pretty okay. She knows "I love you" and "family"! :D

Suddenly, as we were jamming our hearts out, a wild (and colour coordinated) Tok appeared.

"Tok! Nak ambil gambar Tok boleh?" He nods. He poses. #OOTD?

I could see how my Tepuq and Tok match each other - with Tepuq's love for singing and Tok with dancing, it's no wonder!

Later on it rained slightly, and after three weeks of doing this, I took the liberty of warning: "Mudan, Tepuq!" before Tok started his usual nangeh chant haha. I really didn't like moving the tikars (mats) in and out due to the fluctuating weather, but at least I got to take a short nap - a rarity and luxury during harvesting season! - at one point with Tepuq. Though my slumber was cut short when Rui Ci dropped by to invite us for tea over at Sina Mayda's place.

It was a very chill day; the only weekday that I didn't spend in a paddy field; a different kind of nice.


# Xueh Wei Cathrine #