"Malaysianising" my kids

You see, my kids were born in a foreign country..let that country be anonymous for the time being..for them, Malaysia is a place where we go for a holiday. So when we had to come back to Malaysia for good, it puzzled them why we had to leave their birth place and stay in a "foreign" country. We had to explain to them that we are Malaysians and that is our home. My eldest son had a harder time than his little sister because he had made a lot of friends in his school and around the neighbourhood that he felt it was not fair for us to leave the place. Plus the fact that he doesn't speak Malay, sacred him even more. This is from the previous visits to Malaysia where his cousins would refused to play with him because he can't speak Malay and they were not very good (and shy) conversing in English. We told him that it will be okay and he'll fit in eventually.

The first few months were tough, they missed their nanny and mommy wasn't exactly the happiest person on earth as she had to do all the housework (yep, mommy missed the nanny too!!). Life is not as luxurious here as it was overseas. We had to adjust ourselves to a few things and it was not easy. After a while, things started to settle down and my kids gradually "embrace" Malaysia. They were excited to see on TV the national day parade and kept saying merdeka and flying the flag for the whole week..it was a teary-eyed moment for me. And when it was raya time, they couldn't wait to salam everyone coz they know they are going to get money. My son was aiming to buy a BMW with his raya money..yep, very ambitious. Not that we didn't celebrate raya when we were overseas but the atmosphere is different when you are home, much more happening..

My son's favourite meal now is nasi lemak, he can eat that anytime of the day..and that is easy, mommy can just buy at the stall. My daughter loves the taufufa..really look forward to go to pasar malam! They are slowly learning Malay, now they understand more or less what we say but they still are not confident in replying in Malay..at least they are trying.

I told my kids that we might have to go and stay in another foreign country again for a few years. My son said he wish we can just stay in Malaysia as it is the best place in the world! How about that...my kids have been "Malaysianised"..