Thursday 7 August 2008

Tagged, Again.

I got tagged by Hissychick and Lia. The same one I did before, but never mind, to write 6 random things about myself.


Here are the rules …
1. Link to the person who “tagged” you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.


1. I can draw considerably well.

My sisters and I used to draw on the walls in the old apartment we stayed in in the heart of town. A rented place. It sure was a nightmare to my parents, trying in vain to keep our hands off the walls. When we got older, I lived there from birth till 6, and moved the whole place was repainted. Lost are our early art works. We fondly called those walls our art-gallery. All the training we did in our childhood earned us popularity among friends during art classes. hahaha...


2. I have always admired patience and perseverance in people.

Hence some of the people I really admire and look up to and have very high regards for are my former teachers, those from my kindy years till pre-U years. They have been on the job year after year and never fail to help, teach, advise and encourage their students year after year. Their job, as far as career prospects were concern sucked, yet they never took it out on us innocent kiddos who could really make their life so stressful. hats off to them! (These teachers really added to my thoughts of becoming an educator myself...but looks like I did not quite make it there.)


3. I studied in a local Uni. Never thought I'd actually make (for those of you who know how tough our Pre-U is and also the qualifying grades), but it was here that I really learnt the ugly side of Malaysian's inwardly-turned eyes. I never knew what racial polarization was until I was there. I never even used that phrase in any of my conversations before that. Talk about culture shock for foreign students, I really felt foreign. Those were my years of real awakenings of what social and political concerns were. In protest, I actually refused to speak any Mandarine (the little that that I know) and used only Malay and English, and to some of the girls who were very shy, or from Penang and Perak, I spoke northern Hokkien.


4. Brainwashed - in a good way.

This has so much to do with all the ingraining of my Alma-Mater of my Secondary school years. I studied for 5 years in St. Mary's Girls School and the 2 years of pre-U in St. John's Secondary School. Both schools were heritage schools, started by missionaries, and moral values, Godly values, and civic consciousness were in the air we breathed for the many hours we were in school. So this was something very different in my sisters and I compared to my brothers and other family members. It's also very non- Chinese mindset that thinks only of taking care of yourself or your own family first. Contributing to the community or doing charity comes only when it's worth it or not too costly.


5. The oldest friend I have and still am in touch with is one I knew from Kindy. We were 6 then. Today she has 3 kids and stays 10 minutes from my place. My other best friend (next to Gadget-daddy) is one I knew from when we were 10. Todate, we still meet for lunch at least 10 times in a year. She's married with a baby boy and stays 10 minutes from my moms.


6. I loved school. I was blessed with many good friends and very good teachers. One friend in particular has a very volatile kind of character. We brought the best and worst out of each other. Because of her I often found myself in leadership positions (though I did not always handle the pressure well) but I had a very full and meaningful 7 years of school in my teenage years.


Hmmm... Looks like this one has a lot to do with school for me.

OK. I tag:

Florence

Infant

Lynn

Mummy-yeoh

Mundane

U.Lee

8 comments:

Lee said...

Hi Mommy, many thanks for remembering me, but I sincerely regret I have to decline your kind invitation...
I was approached wayyyy back before but declined as well past months by few bloggers, again declining...so, it would be ungentlemanly of me if I were to accept one now.

Once again, I appreciate your kind thoughts, thank you.
You hang loose and have a great weekend, Lee.

hissychick said...

I'm fascinated to read about racial polarization in Malaysia. Obviously these issues are also faced here in Australia but are not so overt or widespread...or so I like to think anyway.

Anyway thanks for your post Kathie. Yay for the WWW and being able to find out about other countries/cultures on a personal level.

PS Hope you are feeling well :)

Banshee Creative said...

hahaha sorry didnt mean to tag u again :)

JLow said...

Random, but yet insightful things about you. Makes my attempt at this tag pale in comparison :)

Regarding the racial polarisation, I hate to say that whilst it's true locally, I was also somewhat proud to have come from a true multicultural country, when I interacted with school friends in Australia.

Back in those days, and especially kids of that age, most had not been out of Australia before, and found us foreigners different, in both positive and negative. The negative I won't go into, for its obvious implications; the positives were that, and especially 2 incidents, a friend was so astonished that I could carry a conversation in English while overhearing someone saying something in Cantonese.

The other, was a genuine harmless question: How do you see through those eyes??

Moomykin said...

u.lee,

No problem. A tag is a tag. Nothing else attached. :)

You have a good weekend too.


-----------

hissychick,

Well, racial polarization actually happens more because of those village folks who have only grown up with their own racial groups, etc. For us city folks, we grew up with all kinds of people and we are all good friends in school, regardless of race, religion and status.

Of course it shows it's face at one time or another else where, but we all deal with it differently.

p/s- Am coping Ok. Just can't seem to get off my feet. Oops.

Moomykin said...

Lia,

It happens.

Btw, remember I was the one who tagged you with this first?


------


jlow,

Malaysians are always proud of where we come from when we are abroad. Just that we have all these issues to seal with on home ground. pretty much like how you'd feel about your family even though it may be messed up here and there.

Yes, I too have been told, and feel prod, how we are so multilingual and understand a few cultures more, not just being monoculture. pretty good for us. :)

That's being a Malaysian.

neomesuff said...

alamak..hafta to think...hehehe

Moomykin said...

neomesuff,

Ai-ya. Apa-apa pun boleh-lah.
:)