Some Malaysians are Nice..

What do ppl who has lived outside of Malaysia complain about the people here?

U know for some reason I can't remember much of my complaining, but one of them could be the driving and the lack of manners, and sometimes the heat.. But it's part of who I am now.

I think an earlier blog was about how I found Malaysians to be rude, but putting that aside, some Malaysians are pretty decent people! Here are some examples that somehow makes me proud as a Malaysian.. LOL!

So I lost my IC when I went to the weekly wet market with my parents. I knew I lost it there, and I didn't make a fuss out of it. I didn't want to hear the nagging, the "responsibility talk" yada yada yada.. But that's not the point! Some random guy found my IC, and was so sweet and responsible enough that he actually sent it to my house by hand! Meanwhile I was contemplating on how to break the news to my parents. There, no need to tell them, they already know!!

And I'm not the only one apparently who has been in similar situation. A friend of mine lost his IC and someone actually returned it to him at his house (and his house is like dalam ceruk mana entah!)

A different event was me trying to help by just being there for a friend whose tire went pancit. I have limited knowledge on how u go on about changing a flat motorcycle tire. So here we were contemplating what to do. And this young man asked if we needed help. My friend, being a bit skeptical said nothing, so I said, "yeah.. We have a problem. That tire there is flat!" He offered to take the wheel off, and bring it to a tire shop to get it fixed! I'm like.. Is there actually such nice ppl in Malaysia? But I think I'm lacking the doubting/pessimism of ppl of a typical Malaysian.

But he came back with the tire (if anyone was wondering)!!

See, there are nice ppl in Malaysia!!

U speak English or not? Ur Malay sounds funny!

So here I was sitting at home with conjunctivitis, and wanted to share my experience with another airline: Etihad.. But it got me thinking, why am I so critical on airlines? I reread my blog entries, and most are on airlines, and I just realize how I wrote back then and now are kind of different..

That's when I came to the conclusion: My English is getting worse!

Oh well.. Must be from lack of practice and use. Huhuhu.. The other day also, I was chatting up with a new found friend of mine, and we spoke in Malay. I keep on tersasul cakap Melayu Sarawak. So I changed my medium to English.. This is so against my principal tapi what to do kan? I mean I speak Malay at home and it's my mother tongue, so why can't I carry a conversation in Malay? If I speak in English, it'll b mostly English, and no ketersasulan.

So as a personal observation I think I can only speak Malay to family members and maybe old friends who I'm comfortable with. Speaking Malay is so hard especially with people u just met, what with how to address urself and other people. Whether to use I/U, aku/kau, saya/awak, or the 3rd person calling thingy.. Arghh, so confusing! At least with Sarawak Malay I can stay safe with kamek/kitak.

My cousins from Johor says that there's a distinction between the Semenanjung Malay speakers and Sarawakians. We (Sarawakians) speak Malay softer. Do I? Maybe I speak softer from lack of confidence? I know for one that my sister don't speak Sarawak Malay, but she does speak in a more softer well-mannered way, so good for us then?

Oh, and I was also chatting up with a friend back in USA. "I got red eye," now how Malaysian is that, as supposed to "I have the red eye"? LOL! Oh no, my English is getting more Malaysianized by the day!! And my Malay is getting Sarawakinized too!!

I guess I'm embracing my culture and language by the day then.. I just hope my English and Malay won't be too bad in a few months and years to come!

I work...

So here I was, at work and trying to read up on "stuff I should know" as a mechanical engineer graduate.. And I go, hey I know this, or perhaps I've seen this before.. And yes, I've learned about them, took exams on them, wrote papers on them.. But what do they all mean?

I rack my brains and can't remember what role they played in the whole equation.. Sad isn't it? But there u go.. A waste of a 4-yr degree study. And I believe I'm not alone on this one.. How many of u read the paper, magazines, or even watch tv and go on saying "Hey, I learned about this before!" but when asked about it, u don't know a single thing!

Raya Mode still going strong!

I can't believe my last post was on July 7th! But here I am again..

I want to tell u how awesome an Eid I had! I can't believe I wanted to stay in the States to work and miss all the Hari Raya fun back in Malaysia. Actually, I can't believe how much I missed out on Raya! The preparations, the jalan raya with friends (convoy perhaps), the visiting relatives, the gossipping (or more politely known as catching up), etc..

So much fun!

But the sad thing was that in 4 years I've missed out on this "family gatherings" people tend to forget faces they don't see often. I've been called my sister's name, my cousin's name and asked numerous times who I was. And it doesn't help that I don't live in Semenanjung (where the rest of my mum's family and sisters live). So I don't socialize with these few ppl much. Oh well, u lose some, u gain some..

So tomorrow's my family's Raya Open House. I hope to see ppl I haven't seen in ages! And hopefully, I'll get back and share some silly story here and there..