Tuesday, April 08, 2008

From A Stranger Vol. 1 (Malaysians Are Friendly)

Basically the summary is I hardly get a D for chemistry in every test I've took. I remember me as as a good student for this subject back then in my high school. In college everything but the language is pretty much the same but it's more complicated and comprehension seems much more harder to me.

Try flashing backward while you are aiming forward. We maybe have the answer for our problems.

In 2005, on a bus heading to Melaka from my hometown, I had to sit next to a Mat Saleh. As the result of having a narrow list of English vocabulary in his mind, a typical 16 year old Malay boy like me would try his best to avoid any conversation with any foreigner. At first I closed my eyes, pretended to sleep and ignored the tourist but the guy in front of me warmly greeted him and asked banal things like "How are you?" and "How do you do?" in Terengganu slang, which made me looked bad, or unfriendly if I continued to sleep. He might be have a perception that Malaysian were not as friendly as stated in the tourist guidebook. That moment I really was having a hard time gathering words and motivation to speak in English to the tourist. I barely cramped my jaw trying to start the conversation.

These are some part of the conversation with the Mat Saleh :

Me : Do you enjoy your trip here?
Mat Saleh : Well I do. Actually I just arrived here. The people are nice. They smile a lot. I'm not used to the climate though.
Me : Ouh. Me neither, though i was born here. It's too hot. Haha.
Mat Saleh : You speak good English. Can other people, in Malaysia, talk in English like you?
Me : ....(Babeng..Mat Saleh ni kutuk aku ke ape..) No. But surely most of Malaysian are better than me.
Mat Saleh : I mean it. You are good. Maybe you are just lazy.

Well that was inspiring from a stranger.

Chem-is-try. So try harder. Human body consists of 60% water, but now i'm thirsty.