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! 

Prejudices vs Fairness

Hahahahahahahaha. Allow me to start this new entry with my evil laugh.

Okay…. Maybe that isn't funny enough. Today, I (Anne The Fabulous) will be sharing some of my prejudices that I own. Reminder guys, this is a quite sensitive topic to be discussed. Please read this with open heart and open arms hehe.

"Males do not know how to clean up and organize their rooms or personal space"

My brother-in-law has proven that my prejudice towards males is definitely wrong! My brother-in-law really knows how to clean up their house and as well as organising and designing their home interior! I am so jealous of him. HE CLEANS UP BETTER THAN ME (oops please pretend that you do not know about this).

Have I been the target of prejudices? YES I HAVE! I have heard of these statements throughout the period of 20 years in my life, "I thought you were arrogant" "Never knew you were friendly before!" "You never smile whenever you see me".

Clarification (￣▽￣)╯I am not arrogant or whatever. I just talk to people who I know (which is a bad attitude though, I need to change it asap, ugh). But once you know me or close to me, I would be the loudest person ever. I talk non-stop (ask DJ about this haha). I AM UNSTOPPABLE. 

Alright. Now, it's DJ's turn to brag about prejudice.

In my case, my prejudice is towards people who are using iPhones. You know iPhones? 

Of course you do, right? The smartphone which said to be one of the greatest phones ever invented.

Price ranged between RM 2,000 to RM 3,000 and above. People are willing to que up just to get it on the day it was launched.

Why do I have this prejudice? 

First, I used to think iPhone users are simply RICH PEOPLE. Either they are rich, or their families are. Like, come on, you spend RM 2K for a phone? Which eventually most of you just use it for text, call, internet, camera quality, and some other synchronised apps to it. But, you dropped it once and the LCD screen breaks? Where is that RM 2K safety features? Okay.

So, before all you iPhone users out there bash me with this post, I have to admit that I know understand the reasons why you prefer iPhones than other smartphones like Sony, Samsung, Lenovo, etc. out there in the market today. I know the functionality of the phone, the specialties that it has, and the professionalism and all. 

Previously, for the past 4 to 5 years ago, there are not many number of iPhone users within our community, but now, the number rapidly increased due to its' affordability. I admit that every single time (maybe until now), when I see anyone holds or use and iPhone, I will have this thought in mind, "UUUUUU IPHONE UUUUUU~~". But nah, not anymore (I think so), because I know understand that people have their own preferences to use it. Some use for the real purpose of the operating system (OS) and its, while some other use it just to fit into the society, and I'm not going to judge anything about it, because it's your life! :)

All in all, these prejudices that we have may come from our own background, and the way we were brought up by our own family, or the community and the society we live in. These all can be flushed away by telling ourselves "it's okay, they know what and why they want. Who are we to judge people."