Friday, April 6, 2012

New colleague #1

My new colleague turned out to be a very nice guy. Seriously, super nice. He even calls me madame. I feel like the wicked witch beside him with my booming voice and all when I interact with my students when they come to the office for consultation.

And I've never met anyone who really likes research. Dia selalu bercerita yang dia sangat suka bekerja. He is happiest in front of the computer. Cuma sekarang ni bila dah kahwin dia perlu balik awal untuk ambil isteri dari tempat kerjanya. Katanya.

And I was like, "Ooohhh ini motivasi untuk saya menulis kertas akademik ni. He is put right beside me for a reason; Nothing is random in this world. Nothing."

But that feeling lasted for about half an hour.

Yesterday my new colleague's Section Head came to visit and look-see. He introduced this Dr to everyone formally. He told us that Dr would be teaching during the next short semester. Then he asked us to welcome him and make him feel comfortable in his new surrounding.

Secara berseloroh, saya bertanya ketua seksyennya (tapi dengan muka serius), "Since he's new here, can we ask him to make us coffee every morning?"

Ketua seksyen tersebut hanya tersenyum dan berkata, "Up to you la." Dia pun tau saya suka buat lawak walaupun kadang-kadang kemolaran kelakar saya agak rendah sekali.

Then that evening I chatted again with my cubicle neighbor. He was expressing concern about his classes and I gave him whatever advice I could. Then I asked him if how he was getting along working at MFI. He said everything was okay. No problems.

"Yang penting ada respek kan madame? Takde nak buli-buli kan madame?"

Alamak, madame joke-joke je Dr bila cakap pasal buat kopi tu. Takpe-takpe kalau Dr tak nak buat kopi minggu depan madame suruh tiup mentol menyala sampai padam.

P/S: Doc if you're reading this welcome to A004! :)

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

New colleague

Yesterday the empty cubicle next to mine was occupied with a new staff from the HVAC Section. Katanya seorang pemegang doktor falsafah. So I took the opportunity to ask him more about his previous workplace before he decided to come to MFI.

-Dr dulu kerja kat mana?
-Saya belum bekerja lagi. Saya baru habis belajar.
-Oh! Muda lagi la!
-Saya baru 28 tahun.

Wow. I was so impressed. At such a "tender" age, he has reached one of the big milestones in the world of academia. The courage. The hard work. The discipline. The persistence.

He would have started on his PhD work when he was 25. Me, at that age, I still wasn't sure of what I wanted to do in life. Everything was decided on a daily basis.

And I was still dreaming of dating a rock star.