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! :)

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.

Industrial Training Supervisor

This morning I called one company here in Bangi to speak to one of my students' Industrial Training supervisors. The number that I dialed got me connected to the receptionist. So I asked for this person.

-Selamat pagi. Boleh saya bercakap dengan Puan Norazmirah?
-Dari department mana ye?
-Saya tak tahu.
-Tak apa. Boleh saya dapatkan nama penuh dia?
-Errr...(looking at the excel file I had in front of me)...Norazmirah bt Abdul Aziz Junior.
-Hmmm...tak ada la Puan. Betul ke nama tu?
-Betul betul. Saya tengah tengok list nama saya ni.

I took the spectacles that I was cleaning, wore them and looked at the list again. At the column where the name was written it said, "Norazmirah bt Abd Aziz, Junior". Then at the line below it said, "Section Leader".

She was the Junior Section Leader.

Moral of the story: I need reading glasses.

Levels

A couple of days ago I showed some caving pictures to my niece. She looked at all the photos of caves and insects and shells and snakes and bats and just couldn't stop keeping her mouth from dropping in awe. Aku pun happy la sebab dapat eksyen dengan dia.

Then she said:
"Wow Mak Long this is so cool. You're so adventurous. You're already at level 9. But not yet at level 10 where you put your head in a lion's mouth!"

Sigh. Anybody knows where I can rent a lion? I need to impress my 9 year old niece to advance to level 10.

Oh. And I might need some breath freshener as well.

Nasib baik...

During my French class I would always try to include either games, movie watching or songs to have a bit of fun. This week I decided to let them listen to a French song that was very famous in the 90s. Before we listened to the song, I gave my students a brief description of the song and of the singer. And told them that the song came out in 1992.

Then one of them exclaimed:
"Waaaa masa tu madame dah kat France ke?"
"Yes. I was doing my diploma at that time."

Then another one said to me:
"Owhhh...Tapi kan madame selalunya macam tu. Kalau cikgu atau pensyarah tu mesti nampak muda je walaupun dah...dah...ermm..."
"Walaupun dah apa?"
"Errr...ermmm..."
"WALAUPUN DAH APA?"
"Walaupun dah banyak tahun mengajar madame!"
"Oh. Ok"

As I turned to the board to write some words, from the corner of my eye, I could see the boy mengurut-urut dada. And turn to his friend and whisper:

"Fuh. Nasib baik aku sempat cover. Aku nak kata tua tadi. Nasib baik..."

CEH.

Aina riding in Mak Long's Ferrari

I drive a car that is 13 years old. I didn't realize how rickety it has become until my niece sat beside me while driving to One Utama yesterday for some bonding time.

We stopped at the big giant intersection in front of One Utama and it just take ages to wait for the light to turn green. We sat quietly. Then my niece made strange sounds. You know the sounds that you make when you open your mouth and just say "Aaaaaaaaa" in front of a fan that is switched on just to hear your voice vibrating?

-Wow! Kerusi kereta Mak Long macam masage chair la!
-Ok.
-Pastu bila cakap pun suara gegar...
-Ok.
-Look Mak Long! The dashboard is shaking!
-Okkkkayyyyy....

Silence for a while.
Then a few seconds later...

-Ooooh Mak Long! You have four hands. I can see you with four hands!
-That's my steering wheel vibrating.
-Wowwww. Your car is one big washing machine! Semua gegar!
-OKAY OKAY OKAY!

And the light turned green.

Jam baru

Pagi tadi saya tengok jam saya. Pukul 6:58. Saya terkejut. Sebab menunjukkan waktu yang lambat. Hai takkan baru beli dah rosak kot? Jam digital yang nombornya glow in the dark tu. Tengok lagi sekali. Mungkin saya rabun. Masih lagi 6:58. Saya tenung jam saya lama-lama. Saya lihat lambang three stripes tu ada di atas. Hmmm...sepatutnya ada di bawah.

Ohhh. Saya pakai jam terbalik. Sebenarnya sudah pukul 8:59.

Barulah betul.