Reunited!

The whole entourage arrived safely this afternoon - my parents, sister, aunt and cousin.  They were in high spirits and even my dad was sprightly as he pushed the loaded trolley through the exit.  Even though they didn't get much sleep during the 17 hour journey, they didn't show their weariness.  Once we got out of the airport to get to the taxi, they shivered slightly.  It was a bit cold even though there was the sun in the sky.  I guess they have to learn to get used to the colder climate.

The journey back to our apartment was nice and scenic.  They got to see the lovely views of the farms and cute houses and even one of the Ikea stores here.  We managed to get everyone into the apartment after braving the wind which always seem to get strong around this part of Malmo.  They rested a bit with some water and delish Geisha candy. 

That perked them a bit and then they unpacked all the goodies they brought with them.  The whole apartment smells of spices since they bought a lot of spices that they thought would be hard to get here.  And they were right.  Some of the wonderful stuff that I really love include Indonesian and Malaysian raw crackers, pappadum, homemade Malay snack of sambal peanuts and ikan bilis, a type of tiny dried fish, and many types of instant mixes for some favourite Asian dishes.

I also got a lot of presents, not only from them, but also from other friends.  Two of them are scrapbook albums, one big, lovely one, full of pictures of my wedding and a tiny, gorgeous handmade one, full of pictures of me and my friends.  I haven't opened any other presents.  Peter said to save them for Saturday, so now here they are in front of me, begging to be opened.  But I'm happy just being together with my family again.  I'll save the presents for later.

We had to go to the garden to water the plants and do some more work on the wind-protection screen and my sister and cousin decided to come along.  The walk, to them, was far.  That was exactly how I felt the first time I went there, but it was a nice, sunny but cool day, so it was a comfortable walk.  On our way back, I thought it would be nice to stop and pick some flowers for the apartment, so we stopped and selected a variety of lovely blooms.  We also stopped by the store nearby to get some stuff, including cough medicine for my cousin who suddenly developed dry cough when she arrived at the airport.

Once through the door, I could smell something familar and comforting - curry.  My mum was in the kitchen cooking a pot of chicken curry.  Ahhh....it really reminds me of home.  It's such a nice feeling to go home to mum's cooking. Then, it was just a period of relaxing as we ate the curry with bread and also some local chocolates as we watched Portugal beat Denmark.  They tried to watch the next match, Germany vs Holland, but during the half time, we pulled out the sofa bed and soon, everyone's asleep.

It's been a long day for them.  I wonder what we'll be doing tomorrow.  I still have things to do for Saturday's event so maybe they can help me with that.  I probably should go to bed as well.  Till tomorrow, then.