FAQs of Malaysians
So, you’re back.
Yes I am.
How was it? The whole experiance?
Well, it’s cold, first things first. I felt so hot and humid since Tuesday after I entered KLIA. Generally the whole thing was fun and memorable, but I think it can be better if my host family have had more experiance and I was more proactive.
How’s so?
Well, I’m the first exchange student to be hosted by my host family. Appearantly they don’t know much about how exchange students felt. I spent more time sitting at home watching television than visiting places of interest i.e. Pisa, Venice, Milano etc. There might be a possibility that they don’t tour very much (for as far as I know the furthest place they’ve been to is Sardegna).
Where’s your town?
This is difficult…You know Torino? City hositng the Winter Olympics this year? It’s 1.5 hours drive southwards from Torino. The name is Cuneo (pronounced Ku-neo).
Can you speak Italian?
A little, yeah. The girls speak better, cos they’re more willing to try and they are more thick-skinned. For us shy guys we don’t catch very much.
Try speaking some, please please please.
Ciao, mi chiamo Sim. Sono di Malesia. Io ospitalitado in Italia per 2 mesi, e mi molto piace Italia e mia compagni di classe.
Hi, my name is Sim. I’m from Malaysia. I was hosted in Italy for 2 months, and I like Italy and my classmates a lot.
How’s school?
Well, my class is small, 19 students only, and they’re what we call as ‘cool’. They won’t be like 5SA1 dahulu when some people are having fun and some others don’t feel good about it, and they go complaint to the discipline teacher. Anyway, my class is a bilingual class, so I learn French as well.
Anyway, been to anywhere during your 2 months?
Not very much actually. If I can grade my host family, I’ll grade them C+. Basically they do pretty well for feeding me, tucking me in etc, but they don’t take the extra labour to bring me to visit places, shopping, or yadda-yadda. I only went to Ventigmilia, Menton (France), Torino and Aosta during my exchange. Some of my friends went to as far as Roma, Venice, Napoli and Sicilia. Their host family is those A+-grade ones. And there are some worse ones too, but you won’t want to listen to any of them, I believe.
Any complaints about Italians?
1. They talk way too loud.
2. They smoke a lot. Almost everyone in my class smokes, but not in the class-lah of course. they smoke during intervals at fire-escapes, football fields and the walkways.
(clears throat) Ok, Mr. Sim, has this exchange made you a better person in one way or another?
(clears throat) Eerm…well…I find that now I can talk to my natural family in a more interactive way. I think I’ve learnt that finding a person who can speak the same language as you is so good you want to tell them everything you know. I’m more tolerant with my sister, and I learnt to appreciate beauty in another prospect. You see, Italians are just beautiful (blunders), i mean…their features are more striking than Asians, and they are more fashionable. In Italy whichever way I looked there’s something beautiful to behold. When I’m back, everything looked plain and simple to me. Even the buildings cannot be compared back to what I had in my host town. However, later I learnt to catch the ’spirit’ inside everything. The person may not look as nice or as attractive, but he/she is still a beautiful soul to look at. A building may not have elaborate decor and architecture candies, but…like the painting Mona Lisa, she isn’t beautiful, but her soul, what she engrossed in doing, what it gives off, is divine.
…
You catch what I mean?
Yeah, I think so.
In another way, it’s like Penang, or like Chung Ling High School. Penang isn’t more beautiful than Sardegna or Miami, but tourists come back every year because the whole island gives off a magical feeling. You have to be there to feel it and to love it. In short, I’ve learn to appreciate things in a way I never did, that’s all.
Ok, anything else?
I’m sorry I can’t show you the 312 photoes I took when I’m there, it’s a sad story, and sad stories never appear in Jun Yi’s blogs, so I’ll explain when I meet my friends. However, I did have something to say about KLM and Alitalia. I think that they’re a disgrace to Europe for their so-called politeness and reliability. Well, the air hostress and air steward did look much attractive than those of MAS, but they don’t even bother to say ‘excuse me’ when handing out food, no ‘chicken or pasta’ for my dinner, and when it’s time to collect the meal packs, they just grab everything and leave, not asking whether I would like to keep my bar of ‘Kit-Kat’ with me. Another thing, they misunderstood ’sweets’ as ‘candies’.
That’s not relevant to the interview.
Last thing, if you’re travelling with kids or infants, spare the tired and cramped passengers in economy class, take first or business class instead.
Enough rubbish. Thank you, I didn’t ask for that.
You’re welcome.
