Join me in learning new things :)
Indeed, I am one of the fortunate few who have the privilege to learn new things during our posting days. My praise to Allah SWT who granted me the opportunity ... Amin.
Among others, while with the DCM spouses during my stay in Kuwait, I was exposed to meeting and socializing with friends from the host country and colleagues from other parts of the world. Naturally, we learnt from each other about the different cultures and unique traditions, including the traditional apparels, foods, flowers, and ways on how to entertain our guests.
One of the things which I vividly remember learning was to decorate our home with a simple yet a very attractive flower arrangement through Ikebana method from a Japanese colleague. Indeed, it was an art and according to her, this art is also known as kado (the way of flowers). And the meaning of Ikebana means among others is giving life to flowers.
Well, I haven't had the opportunity to visit Japan unlike my spouse who had :(
Yet, through a coffee morning which I had attended with my other colleagues, it was as if we were transported to Japan. The environment and ambience of the home was purely in Japanese style. The foods which we were intricately served were miso soup, sushi, shashimi, tepanyaki salmon and prawn tempura. Also the green tea to quench our thirst and the delicious desserts including ice cream with wasabi and pistachio. Yummy!
We even had the opportunity to dress in the beautifully designed and silky Japanese kimono - a traditional garment for the Japanese women! In actual fact, on that beautiful morning I was admiring the kimono which I wore during the demonstration at my colleague's house which was generally liken to a T-Shaped garment. But the robe was straight-lined and when I wore it, the helms fell to the ankle with attached collars and long wide sleeves. It was indeed very fine, beautiful and luxurious, which immediately reminded me of the movie Geisha and the popular play Madam Butterfly.
From that day, I always dream to own one. But, it never crossed my mind that one day RY would present to me this beautiful apparel when he came back from a two week visit to Tokyo. Certainly with Allah SWT grace and will, my dream comes true. Alhamdulilah. But, more importantly to me is that I have learnt new things in life which to this day, I still treasure - the meaning of friendship and to understand and accept other people's culture.
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