Fun times with Amachi
MY grandmother’s birthday is on Aug 31, which is National Day. Isn’t that special?
Aleyamma Mathai or “Amachi” as we call her, is a housewife, mother of four and grandmother of six. She is a good cook and we love her special dishes such as “pal apam” (coconut pancake), chicken biryani, tomato rice and Indian snacks.
She always remembers all of us, especially her grandchildren, in her prayers. She enjoys visiting senior citizens who are sick or lonely to encourage them. I love my grandmother so much.
Recently, our family went to Kuching to celebrate her 75th birthday. We stayed at a beach resort in Santubong for four days and three nights.
We arrived in Kuching on her birthday. That night after dinner, we had a family prayer and sang a few of my grandmother’s favourite Christian songs.
My brother, cousins and I recited Psalm 91 (the Psalm of Protection) – one of her favourite psalms from the bible – in front of the whole family.
My cousin made a beautiful birthday card for her too.
On the second day, we went to the Bako National Park and did a one-hour trek on the Paku trail. At the park, our tour guide Abang Jo, showed us a green pit viper, a big bearded pig and monkeys. Along the trail, we saw a few proboscis monkeys in the trees from a distance. There was also a Venus flytrap, stingless bees, spiders, one-clawed crabs and mud skippers.
Many interesting types of plants such as “paku-pakis”, black mushrooms, rotan, wild pandan, and the sago plant could be seen along the way.
My grandmother found the trail difficult because it was steep and we had to climb many stairs. But she was happy she completed the trail and reached our destination safely. The next day, we went to the heart of Kuching – the popular Waterfront. We went across the river on a boat to a cake shop for the famous kek lapis (layered cake).
There were many cake samples for us to try before making our choice. After making our purchase, we headed back by boat.
At that time, we didn’t know there were crocodiles in the Kuching River. I’m glad we didn’t end up as lunch for the crocodiles that day.
On the last day, we went swimming in a pool and had a great time. We were sad to leave but glad that we had a very nice trip with my grandmother. I hope we can have an amazing trip like this again with my Amachi in the future. – Abraham Adrian Jacob, 11.
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