Another Day, Another Bother

"Aku takut akan semua dosa-dosaku" Andaiku Tahu by Ungu.

I don't usually listen to Indonesian songs, but the above song is playing on my roommate's laptop, and the song's really not bad. It actually has the onion-to-eyes effect when you're really listening to it loudly in the rain while reflecting all the bad things (sins) you've done in life and the day of reckoning. Let's hope we get there without stumbling too much along the way, yeah?

Anyway, about the title of the post, it really doesn't have much to do with the actual post. I wanted to share with you guys some interesting facts that our Language Development (LDV) lecturer, Madam Nurul Nadia gave us in class this morning.

She came into class this morning and introduced herself to us explaining that she's going to be replacing Miss Chong this semester in teaching us LDV. She briefly explained how learning under her was going to be like, what she allowed/disallowed in class, what she looks for in students, what she expects from us and stuff like that. She "opened story" (bukak cerita, as the Malays say it) about her experience overseas in the UK, as we were to go study in Australia on our 2nd and 3rd year in our B. Ed. course. Here's some interesting facts that she gave a lowdown on us about Westerners, or as we say it, omputehs.

1. When they finish bathing, they just walk out of the shower like that, baring everything for all, so we have got to prepare for that.
2. Don’t be surprised to see guys coming out of girls’ rooms in the morning, or anytime for that matter, and vice versa. It’s normal.
3. They drink when they’re happy. They drink when they’re sad. They drink when they’re thirsty, and even when they’re not. They drink to celebrate. To forget a bad day, they drink. And no, I’m not talking about drinking sparkling Ribena here. You know what I mean.
4. The guys over there can be pretty “cheeky” (understatement there). An example that Madam gave: At three in the morning, the guys went down to one of the girls’ rooms, unhinged the door, and ran off with it, leaving the inside of the room bare for all to see. Cheeky huh?
5. If we say we don’t do this-and-this (such as drinking, shagging, etc.) for religious purposes, they’re cool with it. They respect us and our religion.
6. White-chicks dig Asian men. ;P
   

So, if I'm lucky enough to get there, I've got to watch out for these things and be prepared to get shocked. I also have to be strong and resist all the temptations that will come my way. I hope I'm able to do that, and I also hope that us Malaysians will look out for each other when we get there. Remind ourselves where we come from and not drift too far from ourselves. Another thing is that we have to open our minds over there and don't condemn others for being the way they are. It's just because they were raised in a different environment, so we must understand, but not emulate. Keep our values strong and InsyaAllah, we'll come back to Malaysia as better, more understanding, more open-minded people.

Cheerio mates!