I think this is what I want to do in the long-term... be involved in developmental work which aims to improve the livelihood and opportunity of the low-income group. Do something meaningful... something that makes a difference. In a way, my work or rather my place of work would provide me with such opportunity. I've had a similar conversation with MZ some time back... he suggested to aim for organisations like the World Bank, UNCHR, UNICEF if I intend to go beyond Malaysian shores. Hmm... Farisa has been telling me to explore opportunities in the land where she now calls home. Perhaps this could be the start...
Anyway... lepas balik from the meeting on Thursday, NSY and I decided to head towards Pentagon City again. She wanted to get some stuff for her son while I wanted to see if there are any good bargains for a laptop/document bag.
Headed for Macy's... since they're on sale and ada that special 20% discount. Terus pergi 3rd floor where the bags are. Sekali nampak Samsonite on sale... 50%!! With the 20% discount on top, they're a bargain. So we both decided to get a luggage each... me, a carry-on bag. When we went to pay, the Filipino guy manning the counter tanya "Are you a tourist? Why don't you get the special voucher that entitles you for an 11% discount?" We told him that we thought tak boleh, but he said can. So apa lagi, headed towards the customer service and waited patiently to get the voucher sambil this gay couple beli gift coupons. Lama lah pulak they all tu...
Armed with our vouchers... pergi balik kat counter. So we got 50% sale + 20% storewide discount + 11% tourist discount = great deal!! Since there's so much discount, I decided to get a big luggage as well. Cheap I tell you... the price I paid for the 29 inch luggage is less than harga a carry-on kat Malaysia. Such a good buy.. sangat happpy :) So here we were, two ladies membawa 2 large suitcases balik naik Metro...
Next day meeting half day je. Since we now have three large suitcases between us, we decided to take a taxi instead of the Metro to Farisa's house. Sampai her house, Farisa was in the midst of feeding Sophie. She had to leave to go fetch Seth... so we were left at home. Our mission: repacking our bags. Quite good also that she had to leave... we had quite a big mess, but all cleared by the time she got home, hehe...
Eager to satisfy our retail theraphy desires, Farisa then ferried us to Potomac Mills. She even armed me with discount coupons :) I just wanted to find some other stuff for my mom but end up buying some decorative items for the bathroom, kitchen utensils and a pair of Timberland sandals for my brother which was on clearance sale... only $13!! I was a good girl ;)
Salman picked us up on his way home and we were greeted by asam laksa, which Farisa had laboured on since the day before. Bless this amazing woman! After dinner, us three ladies continued to chat and watched a video of an Oprah show about hoarders. Is that a hint? hehe...
I slept in the next day... only woke up when NSY kata "Time to get up, before Seth comes home from his swimming class". Opps... after my absence of good-role-model behaviour at Linda's, am not about to be the *naughty* auntie at Farisa's pulak. By the time I habis shower, NSY dah siap masak meehoon goreng. The night before we had offered to make breakfast, but looks like I cheated my way out of it, hehe...
After breakfast, we sat down chatting while Seth watched his cartoons and Sophie took her nap. Sambil tu sempat bermanja and cuddled with Seth... he's such an adorable boy. He even did a drawing for us! Also played around with him a bit... with his Bumblebee, masuk his tent. This auntie likes to feel how it's like to be a kid ;)
Soon it was time to leave for the airport. After some struggle to put 3 large suitcases, 1 normal sized suitcase and 1 hand carry bag into the car, we left for Reagan National. It was the beginning of the loooong journey home... I sat at the back with the kids. At one point cheeky Seth began to tickle me. We also did videos... me interviewing Seth. That was fun :) Then the dreaded time arrived... saying goodbye. We hugged and kissed (I even left a lipstick mark on Sophie)... and bid farewell to Farisa, Seth and Sophie.
It was still quite early, the check-in counter was empty. Bila timbang bag, mine was super heavy at 75lbs. Limit was 50lbs. Alamak! Nasib baik lah NSY was flying first class which meant that she could check in 3 bags as opposed to 2. So I took out my old suitcase from the new suitcase and spread the barang into the two bags. Since we had extra space, all the items from the hand-carry pun masuk dlm the big bags. Thanks to NSY... otherwise I kena fork out $$$ to pay for excess baggage.
The flight to Newark was uneventful. Before take off lagi I dah terlelap, hehe. But during flight I mentelaah the Sky Mall magazine... macam2 benda ada jual. Also managed to capture some beautiful scenery of the sun setting.
Earlier NSY had contacted people at our NY office, requesting assistance to take us to a mall nearby for some last minute shopping and to kill time while waiting for the flight. It was VERY cold in Newark... below zero plus ada wind chill. Boy am I glad that we're heading home where it's nice and warm. And off we went to the Garden Mall, just 5 minutes away from Newark airport. Managed to find some additional barang for Mama as well as some baju for Papa.
At 7.30pm we left for the airport again to check-in for our flight. Since they don't have a lounge for us to lepak, MAS gave us vouchers for free makan. So we had dinner kat Chilli's. This is much better than going to the lounge ;)
The flight was full and we couldn't get a seat together. Flight to Stockholm was about 7 1/2 hours, followed by a longer journey back to KL. I stayed awake throughout the flight to Stockholm. Watched Hairspray which was really fun. Masa sampai kat Stockholm, as we were about to get off the plane, I saw Elin... an old school friend. Laa... tak perasan pun that she was on the same flight. On the Stockholm - KL leg, I slept for most of the journey... but not before watching Pan's Labyrinth.
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