Jewelle Tan Personally

This is the ninth year that I missed celebrating Kaamatan, the harvest festival for the Kadazandusuns of Sabah.

Sadly, I don’t really missed this much because for as long as I can remember - even from the times when my paternal grandparents still run a paddy field, Kaamatan has always been just a festival of merry-making - involving a lot of partying and drinking.

I have never witnessed any ceremony and the only bobolian (high priestess cum medicine woman) I knew only administered me when as a baby or little girl, I was spooked by something. Perhaps the villages of both my parents did not observe the rituals of this festival as some other villages do - or perhaps we, being town kids, were spared of these ceremonies by our parents as they would definitely bored us out of our young minds then.

Worse, as Eu told me indignantly today “How can you be a Kadazan yet you cannot speak Kadazan!”

But it is true - we have escaped from learning the language from the very convenient excuse of  having parents from different races - although, my mother to her credit, understood the language well, manipulated this ability to get discounts when she shopped (one of the few occasions when she’d speak Dusun) and no one in my father’s village speak to her in anything but Dusun.

It is a pity that as I kept increasing my knowledge of the Chinese culture (not the language though) and many other cultures, I realised that I do not know much about my own.

So in the spirit of the Kaamatan which had just passed, I made sure I get some doses of Sabahan cultures daily.

I was thrilled to catch this Kadazandusun telenovela (with excellent cinematography) titled Bambazon on TV last Friday, perfectly coincided with the Kaamatan weekend. And although I had to read the subtitles during the Kadazandusun dialogs, it made me homesick to hear them speak.

Then I started to find all those Kadazandusuns song which I grew up listening to - from the mouth of my father (who’d hummed them every so often) to family members who would belt various Kadazandusun songs during parties (and you would be surprised to know that our local music industry is thriving one).

I thought this “Proton Saga Kelabu” is one of the most famous Kadazandusun song - even though there are a lot of Malay lines. And you are not a proper Sabahan if you have never heard the never-recorded but much sang “Proton Saga Colour Grey”, the English version of this song.

Of course, most of us Sabahans are very easy going with a big sense of humour. And this is a video (Sabahan Malay) of what typical Sabahans  find hilarious. You might think that it’s incomprehensible or even silly. But a Sabahan like me could laugh like mad listening to lines such as this “...Kanapa? Kanapa kunun?…“.

I might be far from home but thanks to technology, my culture is never something I need to be at home to experience.

Popularity: 19% [?]

When we first read about the damage done to the Merlion due to lightning on the 28th February, we were sad because it is our kids favorite spot whenever we visited Singapore.

And we were glad to read news that the Merlion was re-opened 2 days before we were due to arrive in Singapore for our short holiday last month.

So on the morning after we reached Singapore, we walked over from our hotel to the Merlion.

We took the route which passed by interesting buildings such as the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce, CityHall, Cricket Club field, Victoria Theatre and Anderson Bridge before we reached the Merlion.

Despite being tired from the rather long walk - about nearly 2 km - Eu and Qi were happy to see their fondest symbol of Singapore.

During one of our last trip here, Qi was stopped by a few Eastern European ladies who requested to have a picture with her.

This time, despite the usual crowd, her tik-tik-chai-ness (small size) managed to captured and charmed the attention of an old Indian man who was there with his family and he too asked to take a photo with her.

On that day, there was an old Chinese artist who was also there, drawing an excellent picture of the Merlion using only a black pen.

Fortunately it was a cloudy day so we let the kids indulge in the sight of the Merlion while we people-watch the other visitors.

As for the lightning struck which split geomancy and feng shui experts who either read it as an omen to even worse recessions and those who interpreted it as the end of bad times, I personally go with the positive.

That the Merlion, being the ultimate symbol of Singapore, had absorbed the bad energy and that Singapore is now on its way to economic recovery.

Superstitions aside, this had been another memorable visit for the kids.

Popularity: 39% [?]

One of the most aggravating memory I had when I gave birth to Eu 5 years ago was the conversation I had with the Paediatrician at the clinic where I delivered her.

“Is there anyone who can help you check if the baby turns yellow?“

Perhaps I looked blank - as anyone would I think when ask such a dumb question - that he repeated his question with an annoyed tone. The first of his many ways that say only one thing - poor people skill.

Needless to say, I was glad when the clinic engaged another Paediatrician who is not only kind and patient that the kids absolutely liked her.

But the point is of this post is - jaundice.

Recently I came to know of a few friends whose babies came down with jaundice after birth. And I thought for the benefit of other expecting mothers who might not know of this method, I would like to share my mother’s tip to prevent jaundice.

I have never asked her where she learn this technique from but thanks to her, none of my children had jaundice.

And her tip is the leaves of the noni tree or mengkudu.

When I was expecting Eu, she had some mengkudu bush growing in her garden as that was also the time when everyone was raving about the health benefits of this fruit.

All she did was boil the leaves and used the cooled water to bath my girls - specifically to prevent jaundice.

I cannot promise that this is a guaranteed way but it worked for my girls so perhaps it is worth a try. By the way, she also bought a lot of herbs to bath the girls with - and one of the most interesting one was what the Chinese physician claimed will ensure that the girls never get any pimples!

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For the 9 years that I have lived in Brunei, the national day which fell on the 23rd February meant only one thing. Public holiday!

But this year, my husband and a few of his “patriotic” friends were able to get some passes to attend the parade at the National Stadium. I said patriotic because I could not imagine anyone who would voluntarily wear a formal suit (the required dress code) to sit in an outdoor stadium and worse, under the sun. For several hours!

My mother in law was once told by the wife of a dignitary who happened to reside in the Belait district and was participating in the parade, that they had to leave for Bandar Seri Begawan as early as 4 am!

Although my husband was not participating, he too had to leave before 5 am to ensure good parking spot and seating area. And their relatively early start was worth it as they managed to secure excellent seating locations and was able to capture some great shots.

The most anticipated moment was the arrival His Majesty the Sultan and his wives - as that meant that the parade can now start.

I believe the whole parade was accompanied by live choir singing and of course live music by the Royal Brunei Police Band.

My husband shot some of the instruments used by the band. How many can you name?

Over the past several days, there was radio quiz going on asking among others, the size of a giant Brunei national flag which is 24 by 12 feet.

One of the highlight of the parade was having the future queen, HRH Princess Sarah, the

Popularity: 62% [?]

First news came that Nissan, Suzuki, Porsche, Rolls Royce and Land Rover will skip the 2009 Detroit Motor Show.

Then we read that Ford, GM and Chrysler, the 3 major US automotive companies also dubbed the Detroit 3 decided pull out of the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show.

Finally, I learnt from the closest source that the Kuala Lumpur International Motor Show 2009 is cancelled.

Looks like it’s not a good year for motor show fans all over the world.

But at least in Sabah, small scale motor fairs were still held like the recent Motor Bonanza Fair at the Likas Sports Complex earlier this month.

This fair featured new cars, reconditioned and used cars, motor bikes, racing parts, car accessories and car audio systems.

he two ardent car fans in my family visited this fair of course and brought back some pictures.

I didn’t get much stories from them and I’m not sure of these are all the cars that were featured at the fair - but I do know that these are the cars that caught their fancy.

And here’s more.

I’m sure these were the most popular cars at the fair.

And everyone must have drooled over the interior of this car.

I wonder if it is difficult for the drivers of these cars to do their reverse move with their back view all blocked…

Thats it for this fair!

Popularity: 92% [?]