Just came back from my hometown, Pekanbaru, in which I spent 5 days for Chinese New Year.
Well, I haven't gone back for more than 2 years, so it shouldn't surprise me that there are a lot of changes... My town now has a public library building, and the building is pretty nice too, in the shape of an open book hahaha... Furthermore, being located quite close to Singapore, Pekanbaru takes its urban planning cues from the Lion City, and it now has an Orchard Road of some kind, though clearly nothing compared to the real deal. There's also a Chinatown, even if it's just a very short stretch of road, and the campaign banners of politicians of all tribes - Batak, Jawa, Minang, Malay - feature the words "Happy Chinese New Year", even in Mandarin! Malls play CNY songs, and on CNY day even native Indonesians went around decked in red....It was as festive as a small town can be...Surprising because when I was still living there, I learned Arabic-Malay in school, and Chinese culture belongs only to the Chinese,to be kept under wraps most of the time.
The most surprising thing for me though, came from my extended family...It's simply this: there are so many "new additions" to the family, and these, coming from my own cousins or young uncles and aunts! Well....Just to illustrate the situation....I'm now a proud cousin-aunt of close to 15 cousin-nephews and cousin-nieces...(I don't know how to call that type of family bond in english...)
The CNY gathering got quite hillarious, actually, several times one of the adults (A group of which I am now a new member..) would shout, "Hey stop that kid running around! Whose kid is that?!" At one point, an uncle had a noble, though completely naive, idea of gathering all the little ones to take a cute photograph....Well, if you've ever tried to gather 20 plus kids (including my young cousins) in one spot and get them to look at the camera at the same time....Let's just say it was disastrously funny....
That aside, honestly it's scary to realise that these people are 1,2,3 years older than me, and now they've got their little family. (Oh, and a friend's getting married tomorrow hehe..) And a sweet cousin of mine who's 1 year younger now has a daughter...which totally doesn't help my situation with my mom. It's surreal, but hyper real at the same time...something I can't really believe yet it's so in my face. Granted, mine's a small town and my own extended family is a conservative Chinese one, where one marries as soon as one finishes the highest qualification, be it university or secondary school...but still....
I used to think that relationship and marriage are only for the truly adult amongst us...The ones who know how to handle their pride, their emotions, how to respect their spouse when all they want is to strangle him/her, who are prepared for heavy responsibilities, and are good in managing finances and practical household issues. One of the strongest reason why I put off being in a relationship is that I think I'm not mature enough yet, and not willing enough yet to plan my life around another person's life....And there are all the idealistic notions about finding someone who's right, someone who at least won't make me bored if I have to be with him for a bloody long time...Plus I'm still hopeless at planning finances etc...
Which make it scary to see my young relatives coupling up...I mean, some of these are people whom I've seen stumble through life without direction, and I can see some of them are still kids, in attitude if not physically...Some are still being supported by the parents even after they marry...Seems that they're doing fine, though..Beaming motherly and fatherly smiles, and the warm glow of marriage around them. Have I gotten my theory all wrong? That relationships actually do not demand that much? That as long as you find a person that's somewhat okay, then it just depends on how you work it out? For sure, marriage seems to have "forced" some people to be adults.. I nearly laughed my head off when a cousin who was a gangsterly guy who loved to fight was coaxing his little daughter to drink some water...(He was totally at the mercy of the little girl...) when I told him how I find it unbelieavable, he just shrugged and said, "Well she's my daughter, my responsibility..."
In any case, it makes me happy to have so many cute nieces and nephews, and observing my cousins provide some really good thinking material, for me to examine my own attitude towards these "two-become-one" things. The downside, as usual, comes from my mom, who gleefully carried the little ones around and hugged them, while giving me the look... She's been saying something to this effect, "Look, I don't even ask for a grandkid, just let me get a glimpse of a potential son-in-law..." because I've been telling her, "Mom if you keep bugging me I'll bring you a grandkid soon just to get some peace. It's not that difficult to make a kid, you know.."
Not that I don't think about it, I guess, but I believe in taking things slow, and natural hahahaha...I have to thank my church teachings, actually, who made me believe that singleness is a gift, and a very special period in Life..I mean, in which other phase of life can you do anything you want, go the furthest you wish, be as wild as possible, without any heavy responsibilities?
Read something good:
"It's better to wait for someone you really want rather than be with someone who's available. It's better to wait for the right person than to pick someone around you and try to turn them into a loved one. Life is too short to be spent with the wrong person."
- Lovefool, kumpulan cerita hal2 konyol yang dilakukan demi cinta
Thursday, January 29, 2009
"Nothing is too wild!"
- Prof. Tse S.L
(I think architecture tutors are worth their weight in gold just by virtue of the inspirational things that they can say...hahaha...)
"Travel dengan iman..."
- Indra Chandra
Sow a thought, reap an action
Sow an action, reap a habit
Sow a habit, reap a character
Sow a character, reap a destiny.
-Samuel Smiles
- Prof. Tse S.L
(I think architecture tutors are worth their weight in gold just by virtue of the inspirational things that they can say...hahaha...)
"Travel dengan iman..."
- Indra Chandra
Sow a thought, reap an action
Sow an action, reap a habit
Sow a habit, reap a character
Sow a character, reap a destiny.
-Samuel Smiles
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
On architecture...
Haven't blogged on dear archi for a while...so, first things first: $@#$$#@@#$%#!!!!!!!!
Nope, am not cursing archi...but my photoshop had just hang-ed for the 5th time today..haih..shall follow Edo's advice and install CS2....
Had an all-important briefing today on streaming..which track we would want to follow at the end of this semester...Design? Urban? Technology? Landscape? The thing is...it all sounds so tempting!!!!! Arrgh...the usual case of wanting so much from Life...is there any way of becoming a competent architect with cool concepts who is an ace in construction, knows microenvironments-ecosystem and is skilled in urban planning and large scale projects as well? Without losing youth, health and sanity?
Don't think so... Ufh....tough choice....but I'd probably go to Technology track since they are shifting their focus to sustainability. I will confess, embarrassingly, that the major deterrent barring me from taking Landscape architecture is the lack of holidays..2 years full of classes is a terribly depressing prospect...
Oh well. Just noticed today that the NUS Department of Architecture goes by the acronym NUS DoA...It's written like that all over the presentation slides today...and I can't help thinking "DoA... Dead or Alive...." Not an optimistic thought, for sure...
Ah but for now...am so proud to be year 3 at last!! Wooohooo! Survived archi so far! Kinda can't believe it...It seems just yesterday I was learning to draw straight lines....And now...year 3...facing the legendary RIBA semester, no less...where external examiners wait in the shadows to ambush you, terrorise you, devour you, tear you into... oh,nope, sorry I got carried away... Well apparently all they do *according to my tutor* is try to give you low grades so that they look good. Dang. Don't they know the amount of blood, sweat,and tears *and sleepless nights. Let's not forget sleepless nights.* that goes into each project? Have mercy, we need it...
Year 3.....RIBA....Wow...Hehehehehe...somehow am really excited...Maybe because I've left studio for half a year so I'm actually eager to get back to the NUS DoA's way of working... Methodical, rigorous, meticulous...For sure no tutor will ask you to sacrifice good spatial arrangements for sexy facades....Though, on the other hand, sometimes they are over concerned with placement and size of toilets...
Ah well, of course there's the usual dread of not being able to give what I have.. not being creative enough, not becoming productive enough.... But even if I am more Dead than Alive by the end of the semester, at least I've sold my soul for the sake of my passion....
"....we need to re-discover the heroism in architecture...."
- DTS (Design, Technology and Sustainability) professor
Nope, am not cursing archi...but my photoshop had just hang-ed for the 5th time today..haih..shall follow Edo's advice and install CS2....
Had an all-important briefing today on streaming..which track we would want to follow at the end of this semester...Design? Urban? Technology? Landscape? The thing is...it all sounds so tempting!!!!! Arrgh...the usual case of wanting so much from Life...is there any way of becoming a competent architect with cool concepts who is an ace in construction, knows microenvironments-ecosystem and is skilled in urban planning and large scale projects as well? Without losing youth, health and sanity?
Don't think so... Ufh....tough choice....but I'd probably go to Technology track since they are shifting their focus to sustainability. I will confess, embarrassingly, that the major deterrent barring me from taking Landscape architecture is the lack of holidays..2 years full of classes is a terribly depressing prospect...
Oh well. Just noticed today that the NUS Department of Architecture goes by the acronym NUS DoA...It's written like that all over the presentation slides today...and I can't help thinking "DoA... Dead or Alive...." Not an optimistic thought, for sure...
Ah but for now...am so proud to be year 3 at last!! Wooohooo! Survived archi so far! Kinda can't believe it...It seems just yesterday I was learning to draw straight lines....And now...year 3...facing the legendary RIBA semester, no less...where external examiners wait in the shadows to ambush you, terrorise you, devour you, tear you into... oh,nope, sorry I got carried away... Well apparently all they do *according to my tutor* is try to give you low grades so that they look good. Dang. Don't they know the amount of blood, sweat,and tears *and sleepless nights. Let's not forget sleepless nights.* that goes into each project? Have mercy, we need it...
Year 3.....RIBA....Wow...Hehehehehe...somehow am really excited...Maybe because I've left studio for half a year so I'm actually eager to get back to the NUS DoA's way of working... Methodical, rigorous, meticulous...For sure no tutor will ask you to sacrifice good spatial arrangements for sexy facades....Though, on the other hand, sometimes they are over concerned with placement and size of toilets...
Ah well, of course there's the usual dread of not being able to give what I have.. not being creative enough, not becoming productive enough.... But even if I am more Dead than Alive by the end of the semester, at least I've sold my soul for the sake of my passion....
"....we need to re-discover the heroism in architecture...."
- DTS (Design, Technology and Sustainability) professor
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
S: "Emang suka sama cinta bedanya apa?"
E: "Hmm...beda lah... kalo udah cinta ya, lebih toleran....yang satunya mau ngapain aja, lu bisa terima.."
S: "Jadi, kita seneng asal orang yang satunya lagi seneng?"
E: "Suka juga bisa kayak gitu, lah.. Tapi, cinta tu lain.... *sambil cengengesan sendiri...* . Tapi yah, kalo orang nikah, suka yang kayak pas pacaran itu paling 20 taun aja, sisanya ganti, jadi lebih rasional.."
S: "Hmm...kalo gw pernah baca, bedanya suka sama cinta itu, kalo lu cinta sama seseorang, lu berusaha jadi orang yang lebih baik, dan bisa jadi orang yang lebih baik, karena orang yang lu sayang, dan itu mutual, gak cuma salah satu doang... trus, lu berhenti nyari2 orang yang lebih baik, berhenti mikir, "Will someone better come along?" at every turn.
E: "Iya, iya...."
*silence.......*
S: "Uh...do...kok jadi mellow yah huhu...."
E: "Enough, shiela, enough!"
Rasa suka, ingin memiliki, tapi rasa cinta, sanggup kehilangan asal orang yang disayangi bahagia.
Merasa bijaksana...hahahaha...
E: "Hmm...beda lah... kalo udah cinta ya, lebih toleran....yang satunya mau ngapain aja, lu bisa terima.."
S: "Jadi, kita seneng asal orang yang satunya lagi seneng?"
E: "Suka juga bisa kayak gitu, lah.. Tapi, cinta tu lain.... *sambil cengengesan sendiri...* . Tapi yah, kalo orang nikah, suka yang kayak pas pacaran itu paling 20 taun aja, sisanya ganti, jadi lebih rasional.."
S: "Hmm...kalo gw pernah baca, bedanya suka sama cinta itu, kalo lu cinta sama seseorang, lu berusaha jadi orang yang lebih baik, dan bisa jadi orang yang lebih baik, karena orang yang lu sayang, dan itu mutual, gak cuma salah satu doang... trus, lu berhenti nyari2 orang yang lebih baik, berhenti mikir, "Will someone better come along?" at every turn.
E: "Iya, iya...."
*silence.......*
S: "Uh...do...kok jadi mellow yah huhu...."
E: "Enough, shiela, enough!"
Rasa suka, ingin memiliki, tapi rasa cinta, sanggup kehilangan asal orang yang disayangi bahagia.
Merasa bijaksana...hahahaha...
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Home (?) at last...
"Travelling - it gives you home in a thousand strange places, then leaves you a stranger in your own land."
- Ibn Battuta
Back in Singapore... I have to say that it's been pretty cool... I miss Paris, yeah, wished I'd have kidnapped a baker so I can breakfast with baguette every day...but well, one can't have everything in life, and life in Singapore is indeed already pretty good...
Touchdown-ed n Changi airport, and somehow, there was a big grin on my face....hmm...familiarity does have a calming effect...the airport felt so cosy, so recognizable, so.....unthreatening.... I guess on one side travelling excites and stimulates, but it feels good too to be in familiar territory... let's see how long this effect lasts before I start missing foreign cities, foreign languages, foreign people...
Oh but the way I ogled at the food sold in shops and hawker centers these 3 days...could be called criminal gluttony...I mean..chewing on sushi while leering at carrot cake, after eating cheng tng, before heading home to dinner? Thankfully it was only for the first day.... I intend to slowly, really slowly, savour back the sights, sounds, and tastes of Singapore, just so I'll have a lot of things to do before I'm back to feeling I know this city-state like the back of my hand...
One thing I noticed that's kind of creepy... was sitting in the hawker center, in the midst of people talking, buzzing sounds, and after some time I realised...I'm hearing French!!! As in, my brain is trying to make sense of the noise around me by forming French words, even though what I'm actually hearing is a melange ofEnglish Singlish, Mandarin, Hokkien, Malay and goodness knows what else.... Either my poor brain refuses to accept the fact that it has to hear Singlish from now on (No offense but it's not exactly what one would call beautiful language...), or it's screwed up from hearing too much French guttural "r"s and nose vowels....
And whatever people say about Singapore being hot and humid, these days I'm enjoying the weather...To be able to wear shirt and shorts without fear of freezing to death...ahh... I felt so light I was half jogging when I went to buy groceries.. Yes, I don't fear winters now, I actually like it.. and yes, snow is beautiful...but I'm still very much a tropical person... Now waiting for the first rainstorm since I'm back...which would be perfect to take a nap....aaahhhhh.....
Oh, and taking about buying groceries...the funny thing is I started noticing products that I found in France...especially in the dairy section...I mean, I never knew they sell camembert and brie (types of popular French cheese) at the grocery store! Well most of the other cheeses come from the UK and Spain....but still, vive NTUC Fairprice!
Well, well....still very much enjoying what's there to enjoy in Singapore...in retrospect, it was really lucky to leave Singapore for quite long when I had my Vietnam withdrawal symptoms and couldn't really stand being here. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, as the saying goes.
Am in the middle of arranging my stuff..books, mostly...haih... Somehow my room doesn't feel like my room if the books are not properly arranged... On my first night back, I just couldn't sleep, and I spent some time wondering why...surely not the bed because it was comfortable...surely not the air because there was air-con....and then it somehow just hit me that I couldn't sleep because the shelves were bare, and whatever books were there weren't arranged according to size and category (yeah, actually, I just realised that I'm particular about that...). So, from 1 AM till 5 AM I took out my darlings from the boxes, patted them, browsed them, and.... arranged them according to category and size... no, I'm not yet so fussy as to arrange them according to Dewey's decimal system...but maybe when I have time...
As for now, it's great to allow myself to be swept along the usual rhythm...Chatter and banter with Edo and Ren, eating great Indian food (the vendors actually told me that they haven't seen me for a long time! Ohhh how I miss them too...and their cooking, actually hehehe...) before studio, borrowing new books from library then shutting myself up in my room to read them, walking along green, grassy paths and admiring gigantic tropical trees......
And yet, deep down, memories stay.... it's weird to think that this time last week I was still somewhere in Paris, walking along the snowy banks of the Seine...yet I'm sure I was there...and those memories enrich me, shape me, change me...in so many ways, whether deep or shallow...
But let's keep that for another post!
- Ibn Battuta
Back in Singapore... I have to say that it's been pretty cool... I miss Paris, yeah, wished I'd have kidnapped a baker so I can breakfast with baguette every day...but well, one can't have everything in life, and life in Singapore is indeed already pretty good...
Touchdown-ed n Changi airport, and somehow, there was a big grin on my face....hmm...familiarity does have a calming effect...the airport felt so cosy, so recognizable, so.....unthreatening.... I guess on one side travelling excites and stimulates, but it feels good too to be in familiar territory... let's see how long this effect lasts before I start missing foreign cities, foreign languages, foreign people...
Oh but the way I ogled at the food sold in shops and hawker centers these 3 days...could be called criminal gluttony...I mean..chewing on sushi while leering at carrot cake, after eating cheng tng, before heading home to dinner? Thankfully it was only for the first day.... I intend to slowly, really slowly, savour back the sights, sounds, and tastes of Singapore, just so I'll have a lot of things to do before I'm back to feeling I know this city-state like the back of my hand...
One thing I noticed that's kind of creepy... was sitting in the hawker center, in the midst of people talking, buzzing sounds, and after some time I realised...I'm hearing French!!! As in, my brain is trying to make sense of the noise around me by forming French words, even though what I'm actually hearing is a melange of
And whatever people say about Singapore being hot and humid, these days I'm enjoying the weather...To be able to wear shirt and shorts without fear of freezing to death...ahh... I felt so light I was half jogging when I went to buy groceries.. Yes, I don't fear winters now, I actually like it.. and yes, snow is beautiful...but I'm still very much a tropical person... Now waiting for the first rainstorm since I'm back...which would be perfect to take a nap....aaahhhhh.....
Oh, and taking about buying groceries...the funny thing is I started noticing products that I found in France...especially in the dairy section...I mean, I never knew they sell camembert and brie (types of popular French cheese) at the grocery store! Well most of the other cheeses come from the UK and Spain....but still, vive NTUC Fairprice!
Well, well....still very much enjoying what's there to enjoy in Singapore...in retrospect, it was really lucky to leave Singapore for quite long when I had my Vietnam withdrawal symptoms and couldn't really stand being here. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, as the saying goes.
Am in the middle of arranging my stuff..books, mostly...haih... Somehow my room doesn't feel like my room if the books are not properly arranged... On my first night back, I just couldn't sleep, and I spent some time wondering why...surely not the bed because it was comfortable...surely not the air because there was air-con....and then it somehow just hit me that I couldn't sleep because the shelves were bare, and whatever books were there weren't arranged according to size and category (yeah, actually, I just realised that I'm particular about that...). So, from 1 AM till 5 AM I took out my darlings from the boxes, patted them, browsed them, and.... arranged them according to category and size... no, I'm not yet so fussy as to arrange them according to Dewey's decimal system...but maybe when I have time...
As for now, it's great to allow myself to be swept along the usual rhythm...Chatter and banter with Edo and Ren, eating great Indian food (the vendors actually told me that they haven't seen me for a long time! Ohhh how I miss them too...and their cooking, actually hehehe...) before studio, borrowing new books from library then shutting myself up in my room to read them, walking along green, grassy paths and admiring gigantic tropical trees......
And yet, deep down, memories stay.... it's weird to think that this time last week I was still somewhere in Paris, walking along the snowy banks of the Seine...yet I'm sure I was there...and those memories enrich me, shape me, change me...in so many ways, whether deep or shallow...
But let's keep that for another post!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
"Travelling makes you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller."
- Ibn Battuta
S: "I want to renew my library card.."
O: "Oh but you are a PR (Permanent Resident) now,not a foreigner....you are automatically a library member..."
S: "You mean..I don't have to renew my library membership? I don't have to pay membership fee?"
O: "No..you don't have to pay anything as long as you hold your blue PR card...just use it to borrow library books..."
Waow....it is indeed very good news...Singapore, efficient and dependable as usual...
- Ibn Battuta
S: "I want to renew my library card.."
O: "Oh but you are a PR (Permanent Resident) now,not a foreigner....you are automatically a library member..."
S: "You mean..I don't have to renew my library membership? I don't have to pay membership fee?"
O: "No..you don't have to pay anything as long as you hold your blue PR card...just use it to borrow library books..."
Waow....it is indeed very good news...Singapore, efficient and dependable as usual...
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Human candies...chew on them!
OK, a bit of background info: the term "human candy" is introduced by a friend I met in France who also loves to pull pranks on people...and well...some people are just so much more tempting to "chew on" than others, and we call these people human candies heheheheh...
Had a pretty funny "human candy experience" on the plane today... (yeah...12 hours Paris-Singapore flight....). Went like this:
Walked to my seat n started thumbing through the in-flight magazine...then several guys took the seats to the left and right of me...2 on my right and 3 on my left....and they started speaking in Indonesian...*I wonder if the flight attendant purposely put all of us together...she obviously didn't know how dangerous it could be when Indonesians team up with Indonesians....)
Anyway, when I was still wondering how to greet them, the one on my left started speaking in Indonesian...
Guy on Left: "Eh ajak ngobrol dong tuh cewek, sana ajak ngobrol..." ("Eh, eh, talk to that girl! c'mon talk to that girl.." I guess it's because I was the only girl in a row of guys..right in the middle too!)
Guy on Right: *smiling...*
Me a.k.a Girl in the Middle: *thinking that it would be much more fun to pretend I'm not Indonesian rather than reveal that I'm indonesian and possibly get stuck with overenthusiastic guys for the next 12 hours....*
So yeah, for the whole of the flight I pretended that I'm not Indonesian, spoke to the stewardess in French, and the situation became kinda hillarious...Just after I took the meal, I went to the toilet, and after I got seated again:
Guy on Left: "OK she's back, can talk to her now..."
Guy on Right: "No...later...." *and here's the creepy part..he was looking directly at me as he said it...dang...*
Me, a.k.a Girl Stuck in the Middle: *innocent smile to Guy on Right pretending I don't understand a word of what they're saying*
And then, about 20mins before we're about to land, there was an announcement in French that the plane's about to land (and none in English...hmm..Air France...not that I'm complaining, especially with the great cheese, free wine and Haagen Dasz..), and Guy on Right "asked" me whether the plane's about to land:
Guy on Right: *gesturing with his hand a descending motion, with a questioning face*
Me: "Yes..."
Guy on Right: *looking at me again*
Me: *polite smile , then back to reading The Economist with a super serious look* (I have to admit that I'm totally laughing inside..f there's such a thing as mentally rolling on the floor..sometimes my abilty to totally disconnect what I feel with what I show on my face amazes even myself huhuhu....)
Guy on Right: "You...from Philippines?"
Me: *was gonna answer I'm from Indonesia, by reflex, but caught myself. "No, Singaporean."
Guy on Right: "Oh.."
Me: "And you?"
Guy on Right: "Indonesian.."
Me: *wide happy smile* "Ooooh.....Indonesian....."
Guy on Left: *looking over my shoulder...* "So can she understand you? Do you understand each other?" *ok I gotta admit that Guy on Left makes the situation a lot funnier that it would've been if it's just Guy on Right. Plus, bear in mind the fact that I'm actually in the middle of these 2 guys and they're talking ABOUT me ACROSS me...geez....*
Guy on Right: "Indonesian food...good..."
Me: "Yeah actually, I visited Indonesia before and I think the food's really good.."
*some more light conversation, in which almost every sentence I utter is direct/indirect lie....silence for a while...he smiled at me, I smiled at him...the whole pretending I'm innocent thing..*
Well....in the end I kinda can't restrain a smile when I look at him...and decide to confess just so he doesn't misunderstand the fact that I'm smiling everytime I look at his direction..
Me: *sweet smile* "Uhmm.....maaf ya, sebenernya saya orang Indonesia...." ("Sorry, actually I'm Indonesian....")
Guy on Right: looked at me with total disbelief, then looked as if he wanted to cry and laugh at the same time, and then looked away from me and made soft laughing noises... "uhm..ha..ha..ha..."
Guy on Right: *talking in Indonesian now* "Oh my gosh you are Indonesian...."
Me: "Yeah...sorry...but I didn't know how to introduce myself at first..and I gotta admit that I like to pull pranks...."
Guy on Right: *still somewhat embarrassed smile* "Oh, no, it's ok, it's ok...So what do you do in Paris?"
Me: "Went there for an exchange, just 6 months, I'm actually studying in Singapore...bla bla bla..."
*some more light conversation...I introduced myself to Guy on Left and apologized also...they're quite good sports...but I think if I'm a guy they would've punched me huhuhu....*
Guy on Right: "So......are you still single?"
Me: *awkward silence.....in which I thought, thank goodness I pretended I'm not Indonesian for at least 11 hours huhuhu...* "Uhm,no, I have a boyfriend.." *since the previous conversation was entirely lies, what's adding another one, right..*
*followed by some more awkward silence...*
Guy on Right: "Oh.."
Me: "Anyway, for you it must be hard to have a girlfriend right, since you're a sailor and has to move from one city to another.."
Guy on Right: "Yeah.....well....it will be difficult for the girl...bla bla bla..."
*And we exchanged parting words and I'm glad the funnily weird situation was over huhuhu....*
_____
Anyway it got me thinking, I've always viewed language as a window, by which I can look into a whole other world (by reading books in that language, for example...) - a new language will instantly make accessible a wealth of new information. Also, language for me is a bridge that makes it a lot easier to connect to other people, even if we only know one or two greetings or common words....
But hey, turns out language can be used as a wall too...for didn't I use it to build a whole barrier preventing people from connecting to me, because they think they would not be able to reach me anyway, as they don't master the language I'm communicating in. Hmmm.......
Had a pretty funny "human candy experience" on the plane today... (yeah...12 hours Paris-Singapore flight....). Went like this:
Walked to my seat n started thumbing through the in-flight magazine...then several guys took the seats to the left and right of me...2 on my right and 3 on my left....and they started speaking in Indonesian...*I wonder if the flight attendant purposely put all of us together...she obviously didn't know how dangerous it could be when Indonesians team up with Indonesians....)
Anyway, when I was still wondering how to greet them, the one on my left started speaking in Indonesian...
Guy on Left: "Eh ajak ngobrol dong tuh cewek, sana ajak ngobrol..." ("Eh, eh, talk to that girl! c'mon talk to that girl.." I guess it's because I was the only girl in a row of guys..right in the middle too!)
Guy on Right: *smiling...*
Me a.k.a Girl in the Middle: *thinking that it would be much more fun to pretend I'm not Indonesian rather than reveal that I'm indonesian and possibly get stuck with overenthusiastic guys for the next 12 hours....*
So yeah, for the whole of the flight I pretended that I'm not Indonesian, spoke to the stewardess in French, and the situation became kinda hillarious...Just after I took the meal, I went to the toilet, and after I got seated again:
Guy on Left: "OK she's back, can talk to her now..."
Guy on Right: "No...later...." *and here's the creepy part..he was looking directly at me as he said it...dang...*
Me, a.k.a Girl Stuck in the Middle: *innocent smile to Guy on Right pretending I don't understand a word of what they're saying*
And then, about 20mins before we're about to land, there was an announcement in French that the plane's about to land (and none in English...hmm..Air France...not that I'm complaining, especially with the great cheese, free wine and Haagen Dasz..), and Guy on Right "asked" me whether the plane's about to land:
Guy on Right: *gesturing with his hand a descending motion, with a questioning face*
Me: "Yes..."
Guy on Right: *looking at me again*
Me: *polite smile , then back to reading The Economist with a super serious look* (I have to admit that I'm totally laughing inside..f there's such a thing as mentally rolling on the floor..sometimes my abilty to totally disconnect what I feel with what I show on my face amazes even myself huhuhu....)
Guy on Right: "You...from Philippines?"
Me: *was gonna answer I'm from Indonesia, by reflex, but caught myself. "No, Singaporean."
Guy on Right: "Oh.."
Me: "And you?"
Guy on Right: "Indonesian.."
Me: *wide happy smile* "Ooooh.....Indonesian....."
Guy on Left: *looking over my shoulder...* "So can she understand you? Do you understand each other?" *ok I gotta admit that Guy on Left makes the situation a lot funnier that it would've been if it's just Guy on Right. Plus, bear in mind the fact that I'm actually in the middle of these 2 guys and they're talking ABOUT me ACROSS me...geez....*
Guy on Right: "Indonesian food...good..."
Me: "Yeah actually, I visited Indonesia before and I think the food's really good.."
*some more light conversation, in which almost every sentence I utter is direct/indirect lie....silence for a while...he smiled at me, I smiled at him...the whole pretending I'm innocent thing..*
Well....in the end I kinda can't restrain a smile when I look at him...and decide to confess just so he doesn't misunderstand the fact that I'm smiling everytime I look at his direction..
Me: *sweet smile* "Uhmm.....maaf ya, sebenernya saya orang Indonesia...." ("Sorry, actually I'm Indonesian....")
Guy on Right: looked at me with total disbelief, then looked as if he wanted to cry and laugh at the same time, and then looked away from me and made soft laughing noises... "uhm..ha..ha..ha..."
Guy on Right: *talking in Indonesian now* "Oh my gosh you are Indonesian...."
Me: "Yeah...sorry...but I didn't know how to introduce myself at first..and I gotta admit that I like to pull pranks...."
Guy on Right: *still somewhat embarrassed smile* "Oh, no, it's ok, it's ok...So what do you do in Paris?"
Me: "Went there for an exchange, just 6 months, I'm actually studying in Singapore...bla bla bla..."
*some more light conversation...I introduced myself to Guy on Left and apologized also...they're quite good sports...but I think if I'm a guy they would've punched me huhuhu....*
Guy on Right: "So......are you still single?"
Me: *awkward silence.....in which I thought, thank goodness I pretended I'm not Indonesian for at least 11 hours huhuhu...* "Uhm,no, I have a boyfriend.." *since the previous conversation was entirely lies, what's adding another one, right..*
*followed by some more awkward silence...*
Guy on Right: "Oh.."
Me: "Anyway, for you it must be hard to have a girlfriend right, since you're a sailor and has to move from one city to another.."
Guy on Right: "Yeah.....well....it will be difficult for the girl...bla bla bla..."
*And we exchanged parting words and I'm glad the funnily weird situation was over huhuhu....*
_____
Anyway it got me thinking, I've always viewed language as a window, by which I can look into a whole other world (by reading books in that language, for example...) - a new language will instantly make accessible a wealth of new information. Also, language for me is a bridge that makes it a lot easier to connect to other people, even if we only know one or two greetings or common words....
But hey, turns out language can be used as a wall too...for didn't I use it to build a whole barrier preventing people from connecting to me, because they think they would not be able to reach me anyway, as they don't master the language I'm communicating in. Hmmm.......
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
"I would say that when I'm with you I really try and want to be someone good, and i don't "have to" do it... it comes naturally."
"Give me a friend, just one, who meets the needs of my varying moods."
- Esther M. Clark
I could stay awake just to hear you breathing
Watch you smile while you are sleeping
While you're far away, dreaming
I could spend my life in this sweet surrender
I could stay lost in this moment forever
Every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure
- Aerosmith
"Give me a friend, just one, who meets the needs of my varying moods."
- Esther M. Clark
I could stay awake just to hear you breathing
Watch you smile while you are sleeping
While you're far away, dreaming
I could spend my life in this sweet surrender
I could stay lost in this moment forever
Every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure
- Aerosmith
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