Thursday, May 31, 2018

How to tell an Asian from a Caucasian or an Easterner from a Westerner

There are some quirky idiosyncrasies to distinguish the Easterner from the Westerner(tongue in cheek)

Cultural Fusion or Confusion????????
1. You know if it is an Asian or a Caucasian if they take along an umbrella when they leave the house and open it when the sun is blazing hot while the other when it is raining cats and dogs

2.You know if it is an Asian or a Caucasian if at the beach,they wear long sleeved shirt to cover their arms and huge floppy hats while the other strips down to the bare minimum level of  acceptable decency to sun bathe by slapping tons of oil on their body

3.You know if it is Asian or a Caucasian if one looks at a frog,deer,snake,monkey,monitor lizard,crocodile,chicken feet and thinks of delicacy meals whereas the other thinks of protected species and dog food.

4.You know if it is Asian or a Caucasian when one goes to a scenic tourist spot like a mountain and while one takes endless photos ,the other tries to experience it by rockclimbing ,bungee jumping from it or skiing on the slopes.

5.You know if it is an Asian or Caucasian when one blasts LOUD music while hiking while the other soaks in the quietude and silence.

6.You know if it is an Asian Or  Caucasian when one decorates his house with the latest exotic Asian vase,mask or  woodcarving  and silk cushions while the other prefers Italian baroque,furnitureWestern impressionists and art deco furnishings  or marble sculptures of the Renaissance.

7.You know if it is Asian or Caucasian when one whispers at the fine dining whilst a live pianist plays in the background  but the other shouts at the top of his or her voice to drown out the loud karaoke singer or piped music in the background.

8. Skin whitening lotions are targetted at Asians while skin tanning lotions are targetted at Caucasians

9.Asians who want to be Caucasian wannabbes have blue,green or grey pupils and blonde,red,platinum,purplish or green hair but their skin or slant eyes and flat nose give them away  each time but Caucasians don't need to spend a single cent to achieve the look.It comes along with the birth certificate.Lifetime guarantee.

10.  Asians will work until all odd hours and is prepared to make the office my second home whereas Caucasians value work life balance and would rather make the pub my second home.

11.Asians live to eat whereas Caucasians eat  to live.

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Sweet tooth

I have a sweet tooth but I'm trying to control such unhealthy craving for sinfully rich desserts like cakes,muffins,tarts and puddings by eating fresh fruit like blueberry,dragonfruit,starfruit and mango.
  But to get a homebaked birthday cake is a wonderful treat but I'm an absolute failure at any thing that needs baking as those thingy that enter the oven hardly emerges looking like anything similar to the glossy picture of a recipe book-most probably what comes out looks hardly fit for human consumption. That glossy creamy moist chocolate cake I baked  turned out to look like the volcano with a sunken crater in the middle,oozing out hot lava from its sides or the coffee cake that looks like the ground split into deep chasms after an earthquake has split the earth and cracks appeared on the surface.Even the stray cat took a sniff at the BLOB and ran for its life despite my pathetic attempts to coax it to try a bite.
    But I'm an eternal optimist so I've found a recipe for a chocolate cake adapted from Nigella Lawson's book Feast.OMG trying to emulate the domestic Goddess at whose feet I worship.So when I googled "The Idiots Guide to Baking a Cake-fuss free and failure proof" the Google Artificial Intelligence took a long time to figure out this IDIOT's request and out pop "Recipe for a very simple chocolate cake" for simpletons ONLY.

    Now I'm scratching my head.What is " a stick of butter"? ,am I supposed to get a yardstick to measure the amount of butter.
 This is not rocket science but what the hell is the difference between to whisk the egg whites or do I whip the cream? Sounds very like some manual on dominatrix training on use of kitchen utensils to make cooking an instrument of torture,I have to beat the eggs ,crush the nuts and I give up- scorch my finger by dipping it in the milk to test the temperature.This freaks me out so I'll head to the nearest bakery to indulge in sinfully rich cakes.Forget about trying to be a wannabe domestic goddess- The proof of the pudding is in the eating- and who says you can't have your cake and eat it too.Second helpings anyone and smell the aroma of Earl Grey or Orange Pekoe steaming hot tea which I savour after giving up slaving over a hot oven.That's my cup of tea!

Thursday, May 17, 2018

A letter from an old Malaysian

Dear Minister of Education,
    
Congrats,Education changes lives so as an educationist of over 3 decades,I speak from experiencing the educational process myself to one delivering it to young Malaysians.
          As stakeholders in the nation building process,let me give my two cents worth of opinion.The education system in the past did some things right-it produced Malaysian professionals who were eloquent in English and critical thinkers as well as well informed about the global perspective as we studied the geography of the whole world ,its topography,population and etc and we studied the General  Paper which trained us to be  critical and logical in argumentative skills.
            Along the way,a lot of interference by non educationists with different agendas messed things up and now we have ended with students who are trained to regurgitate everything the teacher taught (non critical memorisers of facts) ,hardly able to defend and argue out their stance on any issues with weak speaking skills,and taught to attend tuition classes to study  past year questions to attain top grades of A which attests to inability to handle unexpected questions or think out of the box.So the no. of As scored doesn't measure the success of the system if it fails to prepare them for the careers of the future or compete an international levels as gauged by PISA ranking.
                Please start a forum to listen to suggestions and feedback from stakeholders like the PAGE chairwoman ,teachers' unions and the principals association for we are the PEOPLE who have direct contact with students at the grassroot level and we keep track of our students as they enter the professional fields on what they lack or how they benefit.Top down directives don't succeed as much as bottom up changes as we are directly involved with the classroom management.
           It's not a matter of giving teachers computers but how we can reorientate the way students learn.Listen to Sir Ken Robinson on why creativity matters in the future as Albert Einstein said as imagination is more important than knowledge for knowledge is limited but imagination embraces the entire world,stimulating progress and giving birth to evolution -imagination is a real factor in scientific research .
       Education should be looking into the future not the next 5-6 years.Thank you for starting the visionary Multimedia SuperCorridor,you have brought us to have electronics manufacturing ,and heavy industries to diversify from relying on non renewable resources like fossil fuel which is depletable but the human resources is invaluable to be harnessed for creating new industries for the future.
        Skills for our students should be to prepare them to be self motivated,independent learners not waiting to be spoon fed ready made answers.
They should be well read not to rely on unreliable sources of information so media literacy should be taught in schools to teach them to evaluate reliability and relevance of information.Teach them to think for themselves and not think for them so free the press instead of censoring it.
         To reduce the digital divide between rich and poor students,the placing of computers in slum areas,an experiment by Sugata Mitra revolutionised education for poor students as self accessed learning empowered them to gain knowledge without paying for expensive tuition fees.Free learning resources like those set up by the Khan Academy opened up opportunities to any learner worldwide.
 I've just viewed an open talk by two top intelletuals Yuval Harari and Thomas Friedman and their ideas for the future.Two important survival skills for humans in the future would be adaptability and propulsion.Learning from mother nature tell us that we have to change to survive and not to look back at the past but move forward.
     The commendable nation that they said had forward looking leaders is in China in which they look generations ahead and not just a step forward.They are pushing for environmental sustainability by using progressive methods like the environment tax to change individuals purchasing habits for green technology,the use of solar and hydro renewable sources of energy ,redesign of smart transport that uses electricity and even solar surfaced roads or buses that are elevated to reduce traffic jams.
      The other skill we should instill is cross cultural awareness as they need to work in a globalized world and democratic skills of civic awareness through participation in voluntary work at grasswork level and skills at researching and debating instead of the way they debased the meaning of free speech with crude and vulgar language.
       The changes in the educational process would not be immediate but in a few generations time,we would HOPEfully have a new generation of Malaysians who are truly well educated in every sense of the word.We can hopefully only plant the seeds and see them grow and bloom after a decade or so.


Change,Ubah Hopefully for a Better Tomorrow
    

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

the Divas and Prima Donnas who let fame go to their head

The Higher They Climb,The Harder They Fall

I feel that entertainers like actors and musicians are public figures-some are idolized by youths who ape their idols blindly.So they should send a message that good,
clean fun is ok but abuse of drugs,use of violence or abuse of women is not OK.Audience pay a 
premium to attend live performances for relaxation and to destress,chill out and whatever happens,
the creed is that the SHOW must go on like the level of professionalism of Freddy Mercury but for
 those who are publicity seekers and attention getters ,we fans must send the message to them that it
 is not OK to see artists inflicting pain on themselves in order to entertain us unless the  audience are
 sadists.Most fans love their idols to bits and it upsets them to see an entertainer in pain in order to
 give us pleasure.We FANS are mainly not sadists so for a star to indulge in sadistic desires in a
 public performance causes fans more pain and stress .So we appreciate entertainers who are
 enjoying themselves and losing themselves in the show ,so if they are not healthy or are in mental 
or physical pain,please cancel public performances.Heal yourself,take better care of yourself,
Refund us and we can understand your predicament. for like us,at the end of the day,you are human after all.
We understand that it takes long hours of practice to reach the level of perfection needed to perform 
in public ,the painful repetition of practice and vocals,the long rehearsals but they get rewarded by
 the millions of profit they earn for their work so that's the price they are willing to pay for FAME
 and FORTUNE.Those are the rules of the game and that's why many young people want to be
 pop stars wannabe-they become RICH and FAMOUS but let it be a reminder to them that when they lose their glitter
 one day,these stars who let the fame and fortune go to their HEAD may suffer from depression
 and be ill equipped to handle anonymity.. One day,accidents or ill health may rob them of their
 unique talents and if they havent made preparations emotionally and mentally for such a day,then
 it may result in suicide,self harm or emotional break down.To go from ordinary to
 EXTRAordinary is EASY but to fall from EXTRAordinary to ordinary requires great adjustment
 to live as any Tom,Dick and Harry and to have the papparazi always ready to hound them for
 photos on what depths they have fallen to-without the make up,the bling blings and flashy dressing,all their wrinkles,loss of hair,
unshapely figure and disability become food for fodder for tabloids waiting for the next 
 sensational shocking scandals to sell more news on what's happened to the old stars.But for 
 stars that have their priorities right ,they are still admired not for what they can't do anymore 
but for what they can use their fame to do -to fight for others.We admire Brigitte Bardot for her
 fight for the cause of animals,and not the sex kitten she once was,we look up to Barbara 
Streisand for her speaking up for liberal causes,we look up to John Lennon and always remember
 his fight to end war and for peace on Earth.,Christopher Reeves for medical research for
 rehabilitation  and cure of parapelgics.So the down to earth performers like them have the support of their followers as they give back as much as they get.

Monday, May 14, 2018

Critical thinkers

I would have thrived mentally to have a chance to study under Howard Zinn,Edward Said and the intellectual giant Noam Chomsky.I remembered I hated the linguistic theories but it dawned on me the way language empowers in that it frames our perceptions or misconceptions.
               Not only being stuck in the ivory tower,they are grassroot activists who bridge the abstract theories of academia with the practical realities on the ground.
An open mind is like a parachute -it works best when it is open.
           In a free society,diversity of views is acceptable as it is through constant reexamination of our stance that we can see the strength and weaknesses in our thinking.

Sunday, May 13, 2018

We are same same Malaysians lah

After 60 years,we have put aside our differences in skin,faiths and dressing to stand together to exercise our rights as citizens of ONE nation - a case of all citizens for One nation,One nation for all citizens.
   We did it without shedding a drop of blood or a big fanfare of soundbytes.
I'm proud of the young Malaysians -they make up 40% of voters and could bridge differences to unite at a critical moment in the nation's history and turn the tide against corruption,cronyism and abuse of power in a democratic manner.As my former high school principal always reminded us ,we may look different but inside we are the same same Malaysians at heart.Like rojak,we are made from different ingredients from cucumber,papaya,kangkung,sengkuang but in the salad bowl we are mixed by the same sauce.SEDAPnya.
       

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

cultural fusion

As the multicultural society evolves,people borrow elements of each other's culture ,adopt and adapt it to suit their cultural context.In a modern society,our food choices, our music or even clothing is a mish mash of mix and match.That's the excitement of living in a multicultural society that enables us to explore other cultures from kung fu to yoga to hip hop and rock and roll,from sushi and mochi to dim sum and curry to croissants and pies to burghers and fries.
 So for someone to accuse another of cultural appropriation when an American high school girl wore a qipao or cheong sam for her prom.She looked absolutely stunning and awesome in it and the fact she can appreciate the stylish fashion shows her openmindedness to non conventional clothing.The critic should have a more flexible and open mind as we learn and adapt to each other's culture in a globalised world ,the more connected and open we are to differences,the easier it is to break down barriers that divide us.An Indian in a cheongsam and a Chinese in a sari or sarong is showing our appreciation for other cultures and reduces the "otherness" of stereotypes.So kudos to the American teen for her appreciation of cultural diversity.You look awesome.Ignore the detractors.
cultural borrowing is COOL


























Monday, May 7, 2018

I love line dancing

The music is so catchy,my heart is pounding and my hips are swaying to the beat of zumba.I love dancing in the park surrounded by the trees and bright sunshine over the hills of Taman Rimba.The wonderful instructors choreograph such slick movements that is so easy that even beginners like me can follow.I love the Latin American beats which are so catchy.My favourite is the latin song 'Havana" a latin fusion pop with vocal input from the American rapper Young Thug.It has such a rhythmic beat that I'm dying to learn the dance moves from Dancefit,The Youtubers.
Guarantee to irritate the Snoring Emperor BIG TIME but who cares when the Rumba meets the Samba,my heart is already in Cuba,Cuba ,Cuba.
    The great thing about sports or exercise in public arenas is it unites all Malaysians regardless of race,gender or age.A few guys were brave enough to kick and sway without batting an eyelid from us,the oldies like us with the young adults,the Sikh,the Muslims,Buddhists or Christians are all sweating and swaying to the beat,the working class with the upper class.The grandma asking her grandkids to take selfie with the young parent with kids in strollers.We come together satu Malaysia so exercise and sports is colour and age blind.Now i've fallen in love with Latin dance so how can i find a dance partner or free dance lessons cos


Rumba dan Zumba di Taman Rimba (try rapping it as it has a beat)

mama,mama nak cuba ,cuba,
Tari rumba dan samba bila bila,
kenapa nak cuba tari zumba,
kerana sihat badan saya saya,
bila satu hari tiba
Mama akan tari rumba di Havana,Cuba.
Bukan lagi rumba dan zumba di Taman Rimba

Siapa siapa pun boleh cuba cuba
Lelaki atau wanita pun suka rumba dan samba
goyang kaki  pusing kepala ikut kata
Tari rumba dan samba bila bila
muda dan tua jangan pandang hina
bila musik rancak dah mula
Siapa siapa pun boleh cuba cuba
Rumba dan Zamba di Taman Rimba
lebih hangat dari penari di Havana,Cuba

Friday, May 4, 2018

Witty Ditty

For the student who was humming the music of Havana whilst I was ending the class.Iknow I tend to be long winded and Man,I hear you though I pretend to be deaf.I know how it is to be young and hungry as a wolf.I was young once upon a time too.
So this lagu I heard you singing on Fauzana (the all famous student cafe for cheap meals)Hint : This will make you run to the loo straight away and puke.

Ohh fauzana
Oh na na
Her cooking took me by the throat
My mouth is with Fauzana
All of my heart is with Fauzana
There's something about her cooking
Fauzana,oh na na
She didnt cook my hot kway teow goreng
with thatt "Hari ini,what you eating?"
When she came in the cafe,she said
There's a lot of things I can cook with
But I can't cook soup torpedo
I'm cooking hot and spicy in a sec
Every dinner time in May
And fauzana says she got hot and spicy looking at me
She got me feeling like
oh oh oh
Fauzana oh
half of my stomach is with Fauzana
I love it when I eat there
I miss her when I left college
got me feeling like oh na na
and then I had to tell her
Give more to me ,Fauzana,craving on me
Got to licking for more
She cooking for me
She took my mouth by surprise
na na na
All of my stomach is with Fauzana
This is history in the making for me
quick meal,close shave,stomach run
If I'm stuck in the loo,that's me
I'veno moola,yet she feeds me
fauzana,
half of my stomach is with Fauzana
I love it when I eat there
All of my heart is with kway teow Fauzana
Gimme back my umami
Gimme back my umami
hameed,just graduated,fresh from campus,man
fresh out KL ,with no manners,damn
choke on ya cilipadi like a volcano
I didn't wanna pay the bill but I had to eat
Da loo is no fun place to run to
only get it at Fauzana
Oh na na

Tropical idyll

Lately I've been captivated by high soaring mountains until I came across the website  of the eccentric Spanish artist's Don Antonio's art musuem in Bali.He turned his personally designed home into a museum filled with his paintings.I remembered how enthralled I was roaming from room to room filled with his artwork with a pre adolescent Jun in tow asking "Why are there so many nude women in the painting?" He enjoyed chasing the chickens in the sprawling gardens more than art appreciation but this Spanish painter's love of Balinese beauty went so deep that he married one who became his muse on canvas.
       I really miss the ocean as it's so tranquil to stroll on the sandy beach,listening to the sound of waves lapping the shore.I miss lying on a hammock under the coconut trees and plunging into the oceans and the silent world of fish darting here and there.At night .the luminiscence of the ocean beckons.I miss the ocean and my next trip would be to go to one with a yoga retreat,healthy food and healing massage.That would be so relaxing to get away from the hustle bustle of the city life.Hmmn ,perhaps one without hordes of tourists like a small villa near the beach.The smell of salty,tangy air of the ocean,the warm lapping waves so therapeutic for the mind to retreat to a very quiet place.