Orangila's Photos of TeamMalaysia CNY Party - Part 1 of 2 - TeamMalaysiaBabes Potluck @ PatLu's home - 25th Feb 2018

I had an amazing Chinese New Year with family and friends in Penang but came back to Kuala Lumpur earlier for two reasons:
1) To stay away from too much good food in Penang - Read my post here for the amazing food I had. Also, I had tons of photos to catch up with. I will share some later this week or next week.
2) Both TeamMalaysia & TeamMalaysiaBabes CNY Party~!!!!

Initially, I was planning to have a blog for both events but decided to split into two.

To start off, I would like to thank the host @patlu and @joshlu134 for opening their doors and welcome us to their cozy home.
Secondly, I would like to thank TeamMalaysiaBabes to not only take initiative to host this pot luck but also welcome everyone not in the TeamMalaysiaBabes WhatsApp group chat. Other than @patlu & @angiechin28, I believe a few others were key in organising this wonderful event. So thank you very much.

I planned to arrive early (before 4:30pm) because I wanted to make the most out of both CNY parties. But my sister had her friends over for CNY Open House and was busy being the host. I was in a rush and since I live in Kajang, I drove to a nearby restaurant to bought some Kajang Satay and drove straight to Pat's home in TTDI.

Arrived in TTDI at 5pm and once I turned into the street where Pat lives, I remember her telling me that if we do not mind double parking, the road is wide enough to do so and she is right. If there are no cars on the street, one can have 5 cars driving abreast~! First to greet me were Pat's friendly dogs, then I heard the amazing @noriaakip announced to everyone "Orangila is here~!". I love it when people greet me by orangila:) Before I removed my shoes, the lovely @jassicania was at the gate, so I helped her with the bags she was carrying so she could park her car.

Below were photos taken in chronological order:

@lianmok & @patlu setting up and busy preparing for the feast.

I was busy greeting everyone and didn't get to take any other photos until this moment. I was surprised that we started our dinner at 5:15pm. Our first group photo with all the food on the table, it was a good idea from the ladies because I was thinking of group photo at the end of the event or after everyone arrived:) @khimgoh arrived soon after I took this photo.

People always ask me why I choose to stay in Malaysia as opposed to Canada. Above are 2 of the 5 reasons why - mouth watering food and lovely friends~!

The 2 photos above made me LOL seeing how we were standing around the table. This is a typical scene in Malaysia and is amazing how food can really bring everyone together.

Salted Egg Fish Skin (from @noriaakip)  is definitely most popular dish. It was the dish that was refilled multiple times. It was my first time trying this snack but I only had a few pieces as I had so much fun taking photos and socialising with everyone. Another one of everyone's favourite was @angiechin28's salad, I would kill for the secret recipe~!!!

Looks like @lianmok, @angiechin28 & @francesaw were discussing something exciting.

Olivia & @ranjitavelan

@lianmok, @patlu & @catherinelim

@khimgoh, @jassicania & @noriaakip were in deep conversation as there were together for quite a while.
@khimgoh and I are part of the committee for Myjuniors, we promoted the upcoming MyJuniors event. She came alone but I was delighted when she would bring her husband and two little ones to the next event.
@jassicania is an English teacher, I felt so much at home chatting with her because she reminds me of my wonderful friends from Canada or my cousins who were raised overseas. Would love to chat with her again.
@noriaakip - She is super friendly and mingled with everyone. How blessed are we to have her in this party:)

It was so great to catch up with @voltranrex and @coloringiship (I spent some time convincing her to get a Wacom tablet as she does amazing drawing. You can view them all on her posts) again.

@lianmok, @perennial & @sireh

@joshlu134 & Kitra

@crypto3d & @natalielo - Saw them in Big Hug Burger last month but didn't have a chance to chat with them. Lovely couple. I also learned that both of them & @khimgoh were also going to the other TeamMalaysia CNY event. 

@sireh with the 2 best dressed ladies.... I know @sireh really wanted to take a photo with them, so I hope he loves this photo.. hahaha...

First surprise of the day - caricature from @sireh: above were photos where an announcement was made that @sireh would draw a caricature of one of us. I was so drawn into the moment to get the perfect angle that I didn't catch any of the conversations. It was finally decided that @angiechin28 would the lucky one. It was a great moment where everyone was around the living room to share the moment together.

@sireh - I have heard about Sireh since I joined TeamMalaysia and finally got to meet and chat with him (and well as @rambai). His skills on sketching and caricature are legendary. What is more amazing is his team's contribution to Steem-Cartoon and the effort he puts into his trade (be it the university he works in or the community in Malaysia). I was lucky to be able to catch up with him/Rambai and be there to take photos of the entire sketching he did of @angiechin28. Please take note that he will be managing the next MyJuniors program, please follow his blog or @myach for details.

Anyway, I met @angiechin28 for the first time. We have been exchanging replies on Steemit and told me (and others) to join them for future events. Of course I said yes and I truly mean it. Just hope that we would all stay longer to catch up and chat.

Ta-daaaa.... the actual sketching was done in less than 5 minutes but the entire process took a lot longer because of the laughter, cheering, references to the Titanic moment and teasing took up most of the time.

Second surprise of the day - Birthday cake for Feb babies

Birthday cake shared by @angiechin27, @perennial & @coloringiship

Third surprise of the day - a musical performance from @perennial. @perennial is another individual who has been very active in Steemit & TeamMalaysia, we have been exchanging comments and replies and was happy to finally meet him in person. It was such an honour to be present for his performance, my photos will do no justice to his masterpiece. I am sure you can view his performance from one of the many other attendees of the event.

That was the last shot I took before I left for the next event. Because food from next event is catered, I made sure to leave on a full stomach with all the delicacies (especially the home cooked food). It was such a shame that I had to leave early, after spending 2 hours warming up with my fellow Steemians, only thing I wanted to do is to stay until late night.