Be Good to Thy Neighbour

Next to my house is a local family. Not only are they local nationality, the man of the house is also the brother of my landlord. So sangat-sangat VVIP.

Anyway we didnt get to a very good start. When we parked very near to his house border, he sort of told my lover off. And sometimes when we try to make eye contact, we as in my lover and the man while me with the wife of course, you don't find the arab men to talk to women neighbours like we do in Malaysia. Anyway when we try to make eye contact, they avoided us. What more, the wife upon reaching home from work, drove by the driver, will wait for the car door to be opened, the gate opened and the nain door opened, then she will walk straight into the house.

Anyway we basically ignored each other. But one day I was listening to a lecture which advised to be good to neighbours. It was the first 10 Dzulhijjah, to do something extra to gain ajr. As usual the mu'alimah suggested exchange (or maybe just one sided pun tak apa) of food or anything. So I said to myself, what the heck, why not. No harm done insya Allah.

I know they have kids - 3 young boys in their primary school age - thus I bought a dozen of personally selected Krispy Kreme Donut.

When I ding dong their house, the helper spoke to me through the intercom with the voice that sounded panic and bewildered, "Yes. What do you want?", she asked. I had to explain that I am their immediate neighbour and I have something to give her. When she opened the gate, her face still panic-looking, her master was at the main door equally looking surprised but all of their expression changed when I passed them the Krispy Kreme box, "For the boys" I said. Then the helper went cheerful and thanked me on behalf of her master.

I didnt speak to the master.

I felt... good doing it. It doesn't really matter now whether we never talked, really what do you expect with the locals here, nor do we have eye contact or anything. I am just glad I did it.

One fine day, here was a ding dong at my house. It was the maid next door, and she practically screamed at the intercom, 'I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU MADAAAAAAAM". I opened the door and laughed. In her hand was a huge wovened basket of assortments.

Wow! I told my lover. This must be expensive, judging by the the quality of the confectionaries. Hmmm could this pose some form of dillema. I mean I would love to exchange food once in a while but I really do not want to make it into a competition. Surely I can't afford expensive confectionery like this. Well we agreed that we give when we want to give and what we want to give and will Insya Allah try our best to do it for Allah. The last bit is the hardest.

After sometime, I went to buy a cake for them.

A few days ago, they gave me this fancy decorated chocolate ala ala hantaran kahwin. Seriously nak makan pun sayang tau. There is candy floss in small cases too. Macam make up pulak.

Arabs really love this fancy confectionery. And that is why chocolate shops like patchi and godiva and many other confectionery shops are thriving. All these fancy decorated sweet shops are really good business here.

I wonder if I make something homemade would it be good enough to give them? Ataupun we will stick to a safe one, cakes and sweets of the sort. Yeah maybe we'll do the latter.