One of the biggest things I resent about not growing up in Malaysia is how awful my BM is. It wasn't a problem in high school because everyone spoke English, but in college, a lot of the students are good ol' Malay-speaking SPM graduates. I don't even know how to casually ask someone for their name! Nama awak siapa? Siapa nama? I'd really like to blame the language barrier for my deficiency of friends, but I'm not doing so well in my most confident tongue either :P

There are some questions that will obviously arise in the first introductory conversation, questions whose answers may lead to confusion rather than clarity.

Are you Malaysian/Malay/mixed?
I'm Malaysian, despite not ending my sentences with "la", "ma" or "sumore" :P I joke. People have thought me mixed, Arabic, Indian, Egyptian, Sri Lankan and even Indonesian-Indian. The truth is I'm as Malay as Malays get :)

Where are you from?
Admittedly, this question was much easier to answer when I lived out of the country because "Malaysia" was a good enough answer then! Usually I'm from Ampang. That's where I lived for the last three years before moving into my dorm room. Sometimes I'm from Melaka, as that's one of my kampungs and a place I call home. Last week though, I told someone that I was from Cheras. Haha, next I might just be from Perak, which wouldn't be a lie either since that's my other kampung.

Where do you live?
I live on campus.

Where's your house?
I don't have a house, I'm homeless :/ Yeah, I meant it when I said I live on campus. This answer might lead to the question, what do you mean you don't have a house?, which often requires me to relate my life story to strangers-cum-friends (with as little detail as possible).

I know I said I wouldn't blog for a while, but I couldn't help myself. Hope everyone's well :)

Labels: Rants and/or updates