Tepuq Daging!

Week 2. It was a fine morning, and my assigned lady, Tepuq Ulo, was cooking wild boar in her kitchen. She lives right next door to our homestay, so I always went over and greeted her after waking up. I decided to try conversing to her in simple English that she was taught earlier.

Me: ‘Good Morning Tepuq! How are you?’

Tepuq Ulo: ‘Good.’

Me: ‘What is your name, Tepuq?’

Tepuq Ulo: ‘Daging (Meat).’

Both of us burst out laughing, although I silently worried if my efforts had gone to waste. It turned out she was just messing with me. Phew. The name Tepuq Daging stuck through out our stay though. 

I have to admit, the first week of working with Tepuq Ulo wasn’t easy. Don’t get me wrong, she’s an amazing lady! She just had a lot of difficulty remembering the words I taught her and every time I asked her a word in English I received a short ‘tidak tahu (don't know)’ as an answer. Although we were told by our coordinators to work according to our own tepuqs’ pace, I couldn’t help but feel the pressure when Tepuq Ulo wasn’t making much progress.  I constantly reminded myself to find the balance between building a relationship and reaching our goals.

But things took a turn on the seventh day. Tepuq Ulo finally asked me ‘How are you?’ when I said good morning. I FELT LIKE A PROUD MOM GRANDDAUGHTER. That simple greeting from Tepuq Ulo gave me a boost and reminded me of my purpose in Bario―to teach her English so that she can work as a community guide.  

Tepuq Ulo is the coolest grandmother I could ever ask for! Tepuq Sinah Rang calls her ‘Tepuq Pelik’ because she can be so weird at times, in a good way of course. She’s the one who is always cracking inappropriate jokes and ends up laughing at herself. Oh man, that laugh is so contagious, we all end up laughing like madmen. Especially when she teams up with her friend, Tepuq Ribed, the jokes and teasing never end. That’s just one of the reasons why I absolutely adore her.  

After work. She's so adorableeeeeeee <3

Tepuq Ribed (left) can never stop laughing at Tepuq Ulo's jokes

Like all the Bario ladies, she’s very tough. Working next to her, I’m ashamed to say I feel like the older person of the duo. She could lift one bag of rice weighing 50kg all by herself! One time I saw a small snake and I was so fascinated I stood there staring at it. Tepuq Ulo immediately said ‘Bunuh dia (kill it)’ and chopped it into four pieces with a parang. I just stood there open mouthed and in awe while the pieces of the poor snake continued moving. 

Her diligence will never cease to amaze me. She built a fence from scratch to stop chickens from going into her garden. It was a lot of work! She’s also never lazy to take preventive measures. Once, when I went to her cornfield, she built a shade out of canvas cloth and wooden sticks before we started working. It wasn’t an easy job. To be honest, I thought it was pointless because there were plenty of trees to protect us from the hot sunlight! In the afternoon when it started raining, that was when I learnt how wrong I was. That extra time and effort she took to build the shade kept both of us warm and dry.

Tepuq Ulo feeding her hen and chicks.

Backbreaking paddy field work or weeding was always made less painful by Tepuq Ulo. She would tell me funny stories or we would laugh at each other for the stupid things we did while working. But it was very heart-warming when she made me a hot cup of Milo and boiled me hot water to shower after we had to run back from the paddy field in the rain, tied my shoelaces around my pants to prevent leeches from attacking my legs, and searched the whole homestay for something for me to eat before I departed to SK to teach. Even an act as simple as lending me her umbrella. She treated me like family.

Nearing the end of my stay, when she asked me what I would like to bring back to KL, I would always say I wished to pack her in my luggage bag and bring her back home. Missing you, Tepuq Daging!

'What makes you laugh?' 
'Tepuq Ulo.'

The card I drew for Tepuq Ulo featuring her paddy field.
Excuse my drawing skills, I only had Sharpies to work with :P

-Pei Chi-