JYSim for jobless-yokel Sim

This is a moment to be serious, not because it’s the eve of CNY eve, but this day half a century ago marks the liberation of all Holocausts from Auschwitz. For those who have never heard of those 2 words before, please Google it before proceeding.

Before the war, Jews made up the biggest community in Europe; after the war, the numbers perished so quickly you barely have enough time to rub your eyes and cry for their fate. Due to the fact that Jews are ‘too much in abundance’ in Europe, while starting the war Hitler silently determined to exterminate European Jews as well. The only way of doing this is by sending them off to Auschwitz and later exterminating them by suffocation of poisonous gases in large quantities. Unfortunately, most of the Jews are not privilleged enough to enter the extermination chambers - many die of hunger, infection, the plague and refusal of medical treatment.

Do we not feel the throbbing pain when someone we loved is taken away from us? Do we not suffocate, not struggle, not feel every cell dying away when we inhale anything other than what we should inhale?

In the appaling conditions of Auschwitz, a kindered spirit rose above all others. Oskar Schindler as a Nazi member initially spotted Jews as a profitable alternative of labour. However, later he realised that his Jews workers are also fathers of children, wives of husbands, and sons and daughters of parents. Throughout the years, he spent all his wealth in bribing German officers in Poland for the lives of his workers. There are fewer than 4000 Jews left alive in Poland today. There are more than 6000 descendants of the Schindler Jews.

So, on the eve of CNY eve, please spare 5 seconds for more than 6 million Jews who died in Auschwitz. 6 million is 1/4 of Malaysia’s current population, and 5 seconds isn’t really very much.

Where do you come from?

Malaysia

WOW, Malaysia! Malaysia! Ehem…where is it actually?

…North of Singapore, south of Thailand.

What season is it in Malaysia now?

In Malaysia is sempre estate (always summer).

Wow, you must be very lucky. Sempre estate. You go to swim everyday?

Eerm…(monologue: I have better things to do than to go to swim everyday!) no, cos the sea is quite far from my house.

Sempre estate…so you don’t ski?

No. Skiing to me is as unfamiliar as Earthlings is to planet Pluto.

Huh?

Niente (nothing). I never ski before.

So, why do you choose Italy?

(Wow, this is tough!) Heh, it’s actually a coincidence, cos I finish schooling at December, and the exchange to Italy takes place on December to February, so I won’t have to miss school.

Oh…but why Italy? I mean…is it about the food, or the culture etc?

Erm…ok, I’m curious to find out more about Italian food, and the culture impressed me a lot, cos I get to know that Italians are quite family-orientated. This actually resembles the culture of Asians. Furthermore, Italy is not very well-known in Malaysia as US or England, so I think it’s an adventure to explore something mysterious.

How do you find Italians then?

Oh, Italians are very friendly. My classmates are cool and on my first day they had already acquinted me well. Other than that I think Italians are very well-dressed. You should see my classmate Soon Khen (no personal offence).

Heh. Anything else?

Well, Italians talk a little too loud to my liking.

That’s universal truth. When you’re back in Malaysia you can tell your friends that Italians are deaf.

When are you leaving?

cinque febbario (5 February).

What food do you usually eat in Malaysia?

(This is even tougher) Well, we have mainly 3 streams of food - Malay, Chinese and Indian. Which kind do you want to know?

Eerm….Chinese then.

Well, we inherited some cooking styles from China, mainly Cantonese, Hokkien, Hainan yadda-yadda (Italian frowns). Never mind, it’s not important. Then that’s a type of cooking called the Baba-Nyonya style which mix Malay and Chinese cooking together. Anyway, rice is the main staple food for all 3 types of cuisine mentioned just now.

What do you know about Italy in Malaysia?

Eerm…Pavarotti, Bocelli, pasta, pizza, Pisa, Roma, Alitalia, and that’s just about all.

(Saw Jun Yi carrying big shopping bags back home) The cost of living in Malaysia is higher than in Italy?

Oh NO, 1 Euro is about 4.5 Malaysian Ringgit. Just that I have endless relatives to attend to when I go back and that’s why I have to buy them something. Or else they’ll start complaining: That Jun Yi ar, went overseas and what I get is this stupid bar of chocolate.

You have to get everybody something?

Basically yes. Chinese are a community which put more importance to their ‘faces’ than their money.

Inspired by the biography ‘Nicholas Sparks on Nicholas Sparks’

The most vivid image I can remember for my childhood is of stumbling down the rough tar roads at the teacher’s hostel behind CLHS. Majority of my friends never knew that Dad was a teacher in CL Private when I was small, and poverty had driven him to accept the nearly-broken-down hostels behind my ex-school. As a kid I had spend most of my idle time strolling along the soft grass surrounding my house. Numberless times I fell, cos my legs are a little deformed since I was born (another thing most friends don’t know).

When I was 3 I fell from my tricycle and broken my arm, got dengue when I was 9, and aside that I’ll be down with fever every December.

JYSim will never be a nice-looking guy you expect him to be. Firstly, one of his teeth is dented, and though he’s on the waiting list to do braces in the government hospital, I think it’ll never be his turn until he’s 21 or so. Secondly, his mouth is not symmetrical, and when he smiles it’ll never look like Julia Roberts on a print ad. And thirdly, he’s not tall enough.

Secondary school was fun, though stressful all the time. You find yourself buried in books though a part of your mind tells you that you can as well spend the whole afternoon watching television and finishing the whole box of cereals without milk. JYSim will never believe that even politics existed in sec. school and he was definitely not up to it.

And though he did high school quite well, he’s still uncertain of what he wanted in his future life. Everything seems all right as long as you have a friend or two with you. One thing to be certain though: he can’t live without a proper internet connection, he’ll always fight for humanity, and AFS has implanted a oh dear, what’s that word? …semangat in him, that is peace is a dymanic concept threatened by injustice, intolerance, and inequility. No longer is he afraid of being in company with people of a different skin colour, and no longer is he worried about adapting himself in whichever part of the world.

Upon graduation he learnt that studying is not the only thing for a student to do, and though he frets sometimes about not being able to go to college, he never regretted participating in the exchange to Italy. To those people who forgot to send in their applications (you know who you are), four words - if only you’ve joined.

Happy CNY. I can’t wait to come back to M’sia

Aside the usual answers you hear (i.e. learn a new language, be more confident, food, experiance a new culture walah-walah), there are some hidden advantages to be discovered only after you’ve board your plane and arrive at your host country.

1. Your parents will suddenly know when your birthday is (before that every year they’ll ‘purposely’ forgot your birthday), and call you in the middle of the night to wish you happy birthday. Frankly, i was touched.

2. Your parents will keep on asking whether you have enough money to spend, whether you can communicate with your host family etc. Before that, I have to beg like Oliver Twist for an extra Ringgit for Wan Than Mee in school.

3. Previously, your parents will want you to decide whether you want F6 or college 3 months before you graduate. Now that you’re abroad, they keep repeating in every e-mail ‘don’t worry about it, you can make your decision when you’re back’, ‘don’t worry about your tertiary education, if you can’t get into Public U, we’ll sell the house…’

4. Previously, if you have to go to KL for something, there are only 2 choices: express bus or train. Now, you can ask your parents for a MAS business class (cos i have a big bulky luggage, and i don’t think any bus will accept that. Moreover, I’ve commune over 20 hours of plane upon arrival in KL, so just spare me another 4 hours of bus ride).

5. Amazingly, you’re allowed to go to pubs, discos and bars (as an experiance), accompanied by a handful of girls. In Malaysia, try mentioning ‘pub’ to Mum, followed by ‘a girl’, she’ll have you out of the house the next minute.

At first it will be total darkness, then, after the eye pupil manage to adjust to the right wideness for the dim conditions, you’ll be able yo distinguish a few stripes of streetlight which illuminates around you on the cream-coloured walls. You’ll never want to shut the shutters completely as firstly, you’ll want some chill air to creep into the relatively large room, and secondly, you’ve never quite like the feeling of sleeping in total darkness.

Hearing sharpened, it’s not and never total silence as now and then the stupid rooster will ring the morning call (even though it’s 12 midnight) or a car will speed by, rousing an excited crowd of dry leaves and pungent fumes (if you stand close by) along. You’ll glance at your watch, which you’ve put beside the bed last night. It’s a digital Casio. Firstly, the Casio have a tiny bulb which may light up at any moment, provided you push the correct button. Secondly, admist drowsiness and reluctance to stay awake, a digital watch will report its time 2 seconds faster than an analog.

- Man, it’s only 4.30. Why do I always have to wake up at 4.30? It’s 2 hours before due.

Just as you’re doubting how much sleep can you catch during the remaining 2 hours, you’ll fall into a mode of light dozing named ‘drifting sleep’ by JYSim.

Instinctively, you’re awake before your host mother does. She paces heavily through the sitting room, her footsteps shattering the icy silence of the whole apartment. Lights on, the tranquil darkness evaporated, but you’ll appreciate she only knocked on your door and mumble some Italian you’ll never catch. The reply is always similar: "Oh, ok."

The action of unwrapping oneself from the warm comfortable blankets is the hardest thing you ever do for the entire day. Angle will tell you to get off quickly and make haste (well, in short just be a nice guy) while Devil will pursuade you to stay in for an extra moment or two. Blankets off, you shiver from top to toe as you’re only on a short sleeve tee and a tracks. You quickly fumble for the thin cotton sweater, abandoning the warm wool one laying beside it. There’s reason for it…

You’ll peep outside to see whether the toilet’s occupied. It usually will be, you’ll shut the door and pull on a jeans, with the remains of shivers in your body. You’ll hear the toilet door unlock, and while pacing out of your room to the bathroom, you roughly calculated how much time you’ll need for today’s business - it’s always different, but may never run away from a certain variation: shaving, brushing your teeth, washing your face etc. You’ll appreciate your host sister for turning the tap towards the warm water side, as stoopid gas heaters require several tens of seconds to get to work. Your mouth will suffer 2 possibilities after you’ve brush your teeth - either it’ll be so numb from the icy cold water, or it’ll be slightly scalded as you’ve turn on too much of the warm water.

You’re always the last for breakfast, and breakfast is the most boring meal of the day. You’re smart, you’ll know what to do to suit your time frame - Chocolate milk (which requires vigorous stirring) for idle mornings and plain milk for rushy mornings like today.

After that you’ll fumble into the room for your jacket, while determining whether to wear the scarf or the cap to school. They must never go together, as you’ll look like an exact Eskimo if they do. You make a quick check for everything that should be present - bus card, wallet, watch, mobile, and sometimes - lip gloss.

You leisurely walk down the stairs, but your host siblings will run down as if they’re being chased by Judas from behind. You silently laugh at their ignorance and stupidity (not that I’m smart) - if you miss the "Cuneo" bus, there’s always a "Cuneo - Roccavione" following, and after that at every interval of 5 minutes, every bus passing by will definitely stop at Corso Nizza. And even if you overslept, so what? The most you do will still be walk into the class and greet the agitated teacher ‘Bongiorno’

The bus journey is not unpleasant, just that you don’t want it to last forever as there’ll be more than 10 pairs of eyes scrutinising you every moment. Mind, your skin is slightly more yellowish (undetermined, undesired probably), hair a darker shade of brown, not balck (desired) and your eye pupils the same shade of brown as your hair (desired as well). You’re glad to find that most Italians have about the same height as you, and winter clothings made everyone quite slim and aerofoiled. The only drawback(s) is that your nose is not sharp enough, and your lips are of the undesired thickness.

School, a warm, yet still fresh environment to you, emerged unceremoniously. No fields, no A, B, C, D block, no flag pole, but a cement coloured, shabby single-block 3 storey building. Strangely, you always feel more comfortable and cheerful in school than at home.

Lesson starts, and, well, that’s something else to talk about, as it’s already well pass dawn.

JYSim in Italia, 13 Jan

Now that you live with them long enough, you’ll notice a handful of irritating habits that you’re just uncomfortable with. To list a few:

1. My laundry is done once every 2 weeks, but my host siblings got theirs done in 3 days. Not that I’m not thankful, but 2 weeks is quite a long-long time, and I’m running short of underwares.

2. When you’re watching Titanic on TV (in Italian, tsk tsk), your host sibling will be flipping through the encyclopedia (Internet is quite a luxury here, in my house) and gasp…’Mama mia! About (i’ve forgotten the figures) died in this tragedy,’ etc etc. This lasts until the ship is about to hit the iceberg then only they shut up for the first time in 2 hours. Honestly, do you do that in the cinema?

3. When you’re listening to Laura Pausini (Italian singer, comparable to Celine Dion), your host Dad will be shouting from one end of the house to another for your host Mum because the window in the bathroom is not shut. Later, your host brother go into your host sister’s room to tease her, and she shouts as if she saw an alien emerging from under her bed. After that both your host Mum and host Dad will be scolding him, and by the time everyone is quiet the CD ends.

4. When you tell your host sister you’re thinking about getting a haircut this afternoon, she has to take 17 hours to deliver that message to your host Mum and Dad. Not that the translation job is difficult, but she was talking about, I believe, other issues more important in the family i.e. who should do the dishes after this, what’s the answer for the question in the TV game show.

5. Your host sister is away to Rome for 4 days, when she comes back she spend 6 hours imitating how the person giving a speech during a congress she attended wave his hands, speak in an extreme falsetto, and how the crowd remarked. Well, you can do that, but not to the extent of standing up on the chair and holding a real microphone right?

6. There’s this ad. on TV, and everytime it’s showed your host sister will repeat what the boy in the ad. said after drinking the milk, with her voice an octave higher. This doesn’t just apply for the milk ad., but also the detergent ad., the supermarket ad. and the car ad.