New People, New Culture

Hello earthlings,

Let's take a moment to appreciate the Best Male Actor winner on Oscars yesterday.........

Leonardo Dicaprio (✧∀✧)

Okay, let's stop dreaming, DJ! Oops, and Anne as well. Today, we met our international friend! *insert people screaming sound* We spent 30 minutes of talking, exchanging information, laughing, and eating as well. So here you go!

He is Mahmoud Soilihi Cheikh Moussa. He is from Mdjoiezi, Hambou, Comoros (maybe some of you did not know his country, it is located in the African region). He is 26 years old and currently majoring in Information and Communication Technology. Interestingly, he speaks 5 languages, namely, Shikomori (mother tongue), French, English, Arabic and surprisingly, he is very good in Malay!

Let's get to the business, shall we?

When it comes to food, he said that Malaysia's food is quite similar to Comoros' in which, we share the same agricultural products. The difference is only HOW we cook and serve the dishes. 

In terms of communication, smiling is something weird and unusual in their culture. They do not simply smile to random people. They would only smile to the people that they know. He also added that, when he first got here, he was quite shocked when the Malaysians smile at him. This is due to the fact that, in their culture, if you smile to a stranger, he or she would think that you are flirting on him or her. 

Then, we asked Mahmoud about the different kinds and norms of celebration during the Eid-ul Fitri. In Malaysia, we normally will do the preparation of the dishes a day before the Eid, and then during the Eid after the Eid prayers, we will sit with our family members and ask for forgiveness, and then proceed with the dishes that we have been waiting for, and proceeds with visiting our relatives and friends. However, it is different in Mahmoud's culture. How different it is? 

1) They prepare 3 different sets of clothes for Eid. Morning, evening, and night. 

2) They do not sleep the night before Eid, in which they spend their night preparing dishes and nasyeed at the mosque, make du'as, and stayed up all night.

3) After the Subuh azan, the community will go around the neighbourhood, palying songs, and waking up the neighbours like in the parade. It is very happening!

4) They do not have the culture of sitting with the family members and ask for forgiveness and all. They just give Salam and wish Happy Eid to their parents and family members. 

See? How different they are from our Malay culture. What's interesting for us is that they treasure the time and culture among themselves and for the kids especially when it comes to new clothes. 3 sets is a MUST! If not, they will think that the kid does not have a good eid in their lives. 

We will share more on the differences and some prejudices that our international friend owns. Stay tuned, beloved readers! And here is our picture together, yay!