An identity (race) crisis??? (Part 1)
Currently, I’m studying in UKM ,Bangi doing a course called chemical science or its popular name, pure chemistry. When I started my 2nd week here, I met different types of people from all over
Malaysia . Most of the West Malaysians are from Johor and Selangor. There are some who come all d way from Kedah n
Penang too.
Ever wonder what happened during my 1st week? Oh well, I was not able to go out and ‘socialize’ around when all the 1st year students were doing that(it was the orientation week.1st week is always meant for that). I was quarantined the whole week in my room because of the conjunctivitis I got during my very 1st day in UKM. Sad.. And I was BORED(very!) too! No one to talk to. Got nothing to do. No entertainment. Everyone was a stranger to me..
I remembered my 1st encounter with a Kuching guy who has been introduced by a friend of mine ,Madey. Little did I knew we end up being good friends. His name is Cyril. We actually went out on a Wednesday night (2nd week I guess) to Putrajaya for sight-seeing and came back around 4 in the morning and I have an 8am class that morning! Just imagine how my eyes hurt in class. You know when you don’t have enough sleep, your eyes will feel pedih semcm..hehe
That weekend, he(Cyril) introduced me to 2 of his fac-mates.. Both from Johor. A girl and a guy. We got along well despite my imperfect Semenanjung slang.. my ‘bah’ will tend to come out after my sentences and everything will sound wrong. Funny I can say. =P but yea, I’m working on it. =)
The guy asked me what race am I actually. When I said I’m a Kayan, they had that weird expressions on their faces.. As I had expected, they didn’t have any ideas on my race. I bluntly asked, “It came out somewhere in the Sejarah book last time
kan ??”
They gave me their blank looks but I know, they were trying hard to make flashback in their heads but can’t seem to remember it. The guy told me that I have that unique look from
Thailand . Not a Malaysian. -_-“
The girl agreed. So I’m like ookayy..
So much of my 2nd week..
Then came the 3rd week..
I was walking around Pusanika with Madey when we came across a booth with students looking for people to become the committees for UKM’s Pesta Tanglung which was held recently. ( last week if I’m not mistaken) Two girls came to us and straight away spoke Mandarin to us.. I was like eerrr???
Coincidentally, Madey has a Chinese look too.(Got it from his mom) and LUCKILY he is able to speak Mandarin since he attended Chinese primary school. But the two girls stopped for a while when they looked at his name tag. Mahathir bin Yusup ?? They were reluctant after that so we said we are not interested (in fact we ARE not interested). So know I have met people who thought I’m a Chinese..
To be continued…….