Malaysian Hospitality

While wandering around Kampung Morten, in Melaka, we were invited into the home of the Sharifas'.

It was the Hari Raya holiday, so it is normal to accept guests during this time.

It took quite a while to meet everyone, as the Sharifas' have a large and friendly family.

Actually, we never stopped meeting family. We met parents and uncles and nephews and nieces and grand-parents and other unidentified blood relatives. One family had seven children, another had eight. A couple of others were just starting.

The Sharifa men are definitely a prolific breed, but with offspring of this quality, I encourage them to keep cranking out the children. The whole family appeared to be kind, funny, smart, and attractive. Based on what we saw, the world cannot have too many Sharifas!

A Hari Raya Spread

We talked about Malaysia, and about America. We talked about the families. Some were down from Kuala Lumpur for the holiday. We ate traditional snacks. We played with the baby (well, actually I just scared him with my pale white skin). And we discussed Geckoes.

One of the nieces, an adorable piece of work, made some strange noises that sounded much like a gecko barking. Angie and I commented on this, but no one knew what a gecko was. Finally, we got the idea across, and a new nickname was born.
This is a good thing, since everyone I was introduced to said, "Hi, I'm Sharifa" (I'll never get used to people using their family name).

Gecko

Not only is the family nice, they are also photogenic. I think that perhaps they are professional models and just didn't tell me. Well, we left them to their holiday, but I certainly wish them health and wealth, and hope to see them again.
Terimah Kasih!