Oops I Did it Again! (Didn't I?)

Interframe part 1: The first pronoun "I" in the title above is referring to me (Maureen) and not her (Britney Spears).

I guess I have a mad habit of pretending that I do not understand Mandarin when consulting a stranger. I mean, Mandarin speaking stranger. There are reasons behind these actions.

1) I speak broken Mandarin.
2) I don't look like Chinese. (Before they speak Malay to me, I speak to Malay to them first so that both parties would not feel awkward.)
3) I am afraid people will speak to me in a jargon/deeper/fluent Mandarin. (Choose the correct adjective. Sorry my English sucks/is pathetic/needs emergency help)

Today, I went to Sungai Dua to print the pictures of my club's activities at the developing photos shop . Well, I had to rush to print out these photos because back in Sibu, the price to print one 4R size photo is 60 cents but at here, it is 50 cents and below. Yes, 10 cents count, my dear, especially when I want to print more than 10 photos (and also especially when I am a cheapskate).

When I arrived at the printing photo shop, I noticed the taukenio is a Chinese. So, spontaneously, I spoke Malay to her because I guess, if I speak Mandarin to her, she'll speak to me in a jargon/deeper/fluent Mandarin, and I may had a hard time pretending to understand though I just had a few clues about what she might say. So to be on the safe side, I did what I did --> I spoke Malay with her. It's easier to pretend that I do not understand something that I understand than pretend that I understand something that I do not understand, right?

She looked at me and smiled, and she said that she thought I am Chinese. I was speechless. In my 21 years on this earth, I could count with my one hand that only a few strangers who would thought that I looked Chinese when I do not walk with my Chinese friends. Yes, one hand. So, probably under five people.

Not that doesn't look like a Chinese is not a good thing, don't get me wrong. But when someone from a race thought that you are from the same race as them, you will feel honoured, right? You are indirectly being accepted into their clan, their clique, their family (okay, maybe I think too much) because you share something in common with them. I felt honoured too, last time when two Siamese girls thought that I am Siamese because they thought I looked like Siamese. I mean, when someone finds the similarities between him/her and you than finding the differences, you will feel that you belong to that similarities, right? You will feel welcomed right?

So, here, there was this mixed Chinese+Indian = Chindian girl working there and she is Mandarin speaking. I tried my best to cover my Hokkien slang when speaking in Malay with her. Yup, I had the typical lah, lo, etc, etc, at the end of my sentence when I speak Malay and this would make me terkantoi that I am actually Chinese. Thank God I can always say that I am a Bumiputra from Sarawak (which is half truth actually) if they asked me why I do not speak like Malay. After paying and promising her that I would come to get the printed photos around 6pm to 7 pm in the evening, I went out from the shop and went back to my sister's apartment.

Phew~! --> part 1. Mission half accomplished.

* * * * *

Around 6.45 p.m.

I went to the developing/printing photos shop and met the Chindian girl to take my photos. Now, it was another woman (not the taukenio) who was seated at the counter arranging photos with the Chindian girl and the taukenio was nowhere in sight. I asked for my photos from the Chindian girl by giving her my receipt. Then she gave me my photos complete with a photo album (just the simple plastic album which we always took for granted back in Sibu, fyi).

So, I thought photos with photo album was a common thing at any printing photos shop. I asked for my receipt from the Chindian girl and the woman (not the taukenio) said in Mandarin that "Actually hor, if she only wanted to print 19 photos, she has to pay RM1 for the photo album. Only those who printed 30 photos and above is eligible to have the photo album for free." and added " don't just simply give people photo album, it costs RM1 you know!" The way she said it, it was as if RM1 is the most valuable possession in the world. And the way she said it, was not as polite as the way I paraphrase it in here. She was mean to the Chindian girl for the sake of RM 1. RM 1! I know, I am a cheapskate too, and RM1 is big yeah, but scolding your employee [not sure if both of them are employees or the woman (not the taukenio) has a greater authority or not] in front of a customer is not appropriate, whether the customer understand the language or not. [I am glad I understood it.. ;) ]

I was quite surprised at the policy there, but since I pretended that I do not understand Mandarin, I had to hide my surprise and give my blur look (which is easy for me, and I can give a blur look as natural and natuREAL as possible since I am good at being blur). Don't believe? Ask me a Math or Geography question. Hah, add in History question too. You will get a blurrest look (trademark look of yours truly) from me ever!

But appropriate or not, I am glad that the woman (not the taukenio) did not demand RM1 from me though I took the photos with the photo album. Maybe if I gave them an impression that I knew how to speak Mandarin earlier, then I would have to give up my photo album since that is the appropriate thing to do because I know what they are talking about right? Oh, now I believe that some things do happen for a reason. I am glad I did it! :P

Phew~! -->part 2. Mission fully accomplished.

Interframe part 2: Actually, I don't know how to call a kedai cuci gambar in English. So, I just translate like in the post above. So bear with me.

Interframe part 3: Suddenly, I thought of learning Tamil so that I can do well in the English tongue twister challenge.

Oops I Did it Again! (Didn't I?)

Interframe part 1: The first pronoun "I" in the title above is referring to me (Maureen) and not her (Britney Spears).

I guess I have a mad habit of pretending that I do not understand Mandarin when consulting a stranger. I mean, Mandarin speaking stranger. There are reasons behind these actions.

1) I speak broken Mandarin.
2) I don't look like Chinese. (Before they speak Malay to me, I speak to Malay to them first so that both parties would not feel awkward.)
3) I am afraid people will speak to me in a jargon/deeper/fluent Mandarin. (Choose the correct adjective. Sorry my English sucks/is pathetic/needs emergency help)

Today, I went to Sungai Dua to print the pictures of my club's activities at the developing photos shop . Well, I had to rush to print out these photos because back in Sibu, the price to print one 4R size photo is 60 cents but at here, it is 50 cents and below. Yes, 10 cents count, my dear, especially when I want to print more than 10 photos (and also especially when I am a cheapskate).

When I arrived at the printing photo shop, I noticed the taukenio is a Chinese. So, spontaneously, I spoke Malay to her because I guess, if I speak Mandarin to her, she'll speak to me in a jargon/deeper/fluent Mandarin, and I may had a hard time pretending to understand though I just had a few clues about what she might say. So to be on the safe side, I did what I did --> I spoke Malay with her. It's easier to pretend that I do not understand something that I understand than pretend that I understand something that I do not understand, right?

She looked at me and smiled, and she said that she thought I am Chinese. I was speechless. In my 21 years on this earth, I could count with my one hand that only a few strangers who would thought that I looked Chinese when I do not walk with my Chinese friends. Yes, one hand. So, probably under five people.

Not that doesn't look like a Chinese is not a good thing, don't get me wrong. But when someone from a race thought that you are from the same race as them, you will feel honoured, right? You are indirectly being accepted into their clan, their clique, their family (okay, maybe I think too much) because you share something in common with them. I felt honoured too, last time when two Siamese girls thought that I am Siamese because they thought I looked like Siamese. I mean, when someone finds the similarities between him/her and you than finding the differences, you will feel that you belong to that similarities, right? You will feel welcomed right?

So, here, there was this mixed Chinese+Indian = Chindian girl working there and she is Mandarin speaking. I tried my best to cover my Hokkien slang when speaking in Malay with her. Yup, I had the typical lah, lo, etc, etc, at the end of my sentence when I speak Malay and this would make me terkantoi that I am actually Chinese. Thank God I can always say that I am a Bumiputra from Sarawak (which is half truth actually) if they asked me why I do not speak like Malay. After paying and promising her that I would come to get the printed photos around 6pm to 7 pm in the evening, I went out from the shop and went back to my sister's apartment.

Phew~! --> part 1. Mission half accomplished.

* * * * *

Around 6.45 p.m.

I went to the developing/printing photos shop and met the Chindian girl to take my photos. Now, it was another woman (not the taukenio) who was seated at the counter arranging photos with the Chindian girl and the taukenio was nowhere in sight. I asked for my photos from the Chindian girl by giving her my receipt. Then she gave me my photos complete with a photo album (just the simple plastic album which we always took for granted back in Sibu, fyi).

So, I thought photos with photo album was a common thing at any printing photos shop. I asked for my receipt from the Chindian girl and the woman (not the taukenio) said in Mandarin that "Actually hor, if she only wanted to print 19 photos, she has to pay RM1 for the photo album. Only those who printed 30 photos and above is eligible to have the photo album for free." and added " don't just simply give people photo album, it costs RM1 you know!" The way she said it, it was as if RM1 is the most valuable possession in the world. And the way she said it, was not as polite as the way I paraphrase it in here. She was mean to the Chindian girl for the sake of RM 1. RM 1! I know, I am a cheapskate too, and RM1 is big yeah, but scolding your employee [not sure if both of them are employees or the woman (not the taukenio) has a greater authority or not] in front of a customer is not appropriate, whether the customer understand the language or not. [I am glad I understood it.. ;) ]

I was quite surprised at the policy there, but since I pretended that I do not understand Mandarin, I had to hide my surprise and give my blur look (which is easy for me, and I can give a blur look as natural and natuREAL as possible since I am good at being blur). Don't believe? Ask me a Math or Geography question. Hah, add in History question too. You will get a blurrest look (trademark look of yours truly) from me ever!

But appropriate or not, I am glad that the woman (not the taukenio) did not demand RM1 from me though I took the photos with the photo album. Maybe if I gave them an impression that I knew how to speak Mandarin earlier, then I would have to give up my photo album since that is the appropriate thing to do because I know what they are talking about right? Oh, now I believe that some things do happen for a reason. I am glad I did it! :P

Phew~! -->part 2. Mission fully accomplished.

Interframe part 2: Actually, I don't know how to call a kedai cuci gambar in English. So, I just translate like in the post above. So bear with me.

Interframe part 3: Suddenly, I thought of learning Tamil so that I can do well in the English tongue twister challenge.

The New Look and Other Short Stories...

Today, I woke up early, but today, I had a hard time choosing my outfit so that it could go well with my new hairstyle. Well, yes, I cut my hair yesterday afternoon, accompanied by my friend, Susanna at "O Hair Saloon" (which was spelled salon at the billboard). And guess what, the hairstylist was quite laser-tongued. Waiseh~I know I had a funny-shaped head but what can I do about it? I know what I can do about it, go to the hair saloon (which I was doing) cut my hair with quite a round shape at the back to normalize my funny head. Though maybe my funny head shape was due to my wrong sleeping style when I was a baby, what, can a baby know what is the effect of wrong sleeping style? By the way, don't baby prefer comfort more to appearance?

Well, the thing about my experience at the hair saloon was that, the hairstylist was honest, which by the way is a good thing, but he was honest in a harsh way. I am a customer what, I am not here for a free haircut. When Susanna asked him to cut my hair nicely, he told her that since my hair was already not nice and messy, there is no worry about that, and he can simply cut my hair, and it will still be more beautiful than my hair that time. Wa lao eh~ Though I find it amusing, and I damn know that my hair was such a mess, I think that it was kind of inappropriate. If I had a beautiful hair that time, why the crap should I go to the hair saloon? Isn't hair saloon a place for hair makeover? And one more thing which I quite agree with him was that, my hair is very oily. I did not put the oil on purpose, but that was the natural oil coming out of my hair due to the conditioner I used on my hair. He asked me not to use the hair-conditioner anymore and that was the only positiveness that he was showing towards me. After that, that was the end of the episode on my new look from the saloon.

The other thing was that, which is another story, was that I am quite regretful that I did not really connect myself with my close friend. Yesterday, I just know from a friend that my close friend lost her father when she was younger, and I took for granted that both her parents still alive. How can I overlook this one. But the thing was that, my friend kept insisting that she already told me last semester and I was quite sure that she never tell me before, because this is something so sensitive, of course I would remember, don't I? Unless, I lose my memory, which in this case, so out of the way. So, that was not the point. The point here is that, how can I be so NOT observant. No wonder she always talk to her mother, but not her father. I was so busy mentioning about study stuff with her until I overlooked the personal side, which by the way, is so important. So, we kinda made pinkies that we would share our problems and personal stories with each other. :" I am so sorry, my friend, for neglecting the personal bond we should have.

The thing about today was that, it was my senior's ( senior in year, but peer in age,) birthday!! This senior (Stephanie) is a really happy-go-lucky and a person with a great joking skill. She can joke about anything and make you ROFL. The moment she saw my new haircut was that, she said I am wearing a helmet. :D Though being the subject of the joke, I couldn't help laughing. We surprised her at McDonald, and took some pictures there. Too bad I don't have the pictures with me, but I would upload it in the future if I go to the library or when I already get the pictures from my sis.. We were trying to surprise her, and it worked. Woo hoo! She actually thought that we were treating her birthday like any normal day because we did mention about her birthday, but we just buat selamba.. By the way, the movie we watched at the cinema today was kinda nice, "Race to Witch Mountain". Wow, the dialogues were funny.. I recommend this movie to be watched, and oh, the Shopaholic movie is coming soon on April, I can't wait.. I am already a number one fan of Isla Fisher.. ;)

Ah, I still have assignments to rush, so the end of the short-long stories.. ;)

The New Look and Other Short Stories...

Today, I woke up early, but today, I had a hard time choosing my outfit so that it could go well with my new hairstyle. Well, yes, I cut my hair yesterday afternoon, accompanied by my friend, Susanna at "O Hair Saloon" (which was spelled salon at the billboard). And guess what, the hairstylist was quite laser-tongued. Waiseh~I know I had a funny-shaped head but what can I do about it? I know what I can do about it, go to the hair saloon (which I was doing) cut my hair with quite a round shape at the back to normalize my funny head. Though maybe my funny head shape was due to my wrong sleeping style when I was a baby, what, can a baby know what is the effect of wrong sleeping style? By the way, don't baby prefer comfort more to appearance?

Well, the thing about my experience at the hair saloon was that, the hairstylist was honest, which by the way is a good thing, but he was honest in a harsh way. I am a customer what, I am not here for a free haircut. When Susanna asked him to cut my hair nicely, he told her that since my hair was already not nice and messy, there is no worry about that, and he can simply cut my hair, and it will still be more beautiful than my hair that time. Wa lao eh~ Though I find it amusing, and I damn know that my hair was such a mess, I think that it was kind of inappropriate. If I had a beautiful hair that time, why the crap should I go to the hair saloon? Isn't hair saloon a place for hair makeover? And one more thing which I quite agree with him was that, my hair is very oily. I did not put the oil on purpose, but that was the natural oil coming out of my hair due to the conditioner I used on my hair. He asked me not to use the hair-conditioner anymore and that was the only positiveness that he was showing towards me. After that, that was the end of the episode on my new look from the saloon.

The other thing was that, which is another story, was that I am quite regretful that I did not really connect myself with my close friend. Yesterday, I just know from a friend that my close friend lost her father when she was younger, and I took for granted that both her parents still alive. How can I overlook this one. But the thing was that, my friend kept insisting that she already told me last semester and I was quite sure that she never tell me before, because this is something so sensitive, of course I would remember, don't I? Unless, I lose my memory, which in this case, so out of the way. So, that was not the point. The point here is that, how can I be so NOT observant. No wonder she always talk to her mother, but not her father. I was so busy mentioning about study stuff with her until I overlooked the personal side, which by the way, is so important. So, we kinda made pinkies that we would share our problems and personal stories with each other. :" I am so sorry, my friend, for neglecting the personal bond we should have.

The thing about today was that, it was my senior's ( senior in year, but peer in age,) birthday!! This senior (Stephanie) is a really happy-go-lucky and a person with a great joking skill. She can joke about anything and make you ROFL. The moment she saw my new haircut was that, she said I am wearing a helmet. :D Though being the subject of the joke, I couldn't help laughing. We surprised her at McDonald, and took some pictures there. Too bad I don't have the pictures with me, but I would upload it in the future if I go to the library or when I already get the pictures from my sis.. We were trying to surprise her, and it worked. Woo hoo! She actually thought that we were treating her birthday like any normal day because we did mention about her birthday, but we just buat selamba.. By the way, the movie we watched at the cinema today was kinda nice, "Race to Witch Mountain". Wow, the dialogues were funny.. I recommend this movie to be watched, and oh, the Shopaholic movie is coming soon on April, I can't wait.. I am already a number one fan of Isla Fisher.. ;)

Ah, I still have assignments to rush, so the end of the short-long stories.. ;)

My Looks Fooled Ya'll !! (Don't I look Malaysian enough?)

It's ironic when I did not have the intention to fool other people, they are fooled and when I had the intention to fool them, they are soooo not fooled.. I did not fool others verbally, but they were just fooled just by the way I looked. Let me describe the way I look. I have black short hair, dark skin, average-sized eyes, average height, and I am Chinese. (Refer to the side of the blog) But people tend to think I am Malay. And that's understandable. People tend to mistake my ethnicity, but recently, strangers that I just met had their own ideas of what my nationality is. I thought I looked so Malaysian, and then the comments and queries from strangers made me think twice.


The first incident was when I was at Prangin Mall with my sisters and her friends at a bra store. Suddenly the saleswoman approached me while I was scanning through the weird-looking bras and asked me "Are you Indonesian?" The moment I heard her question, I laughed out loud. I told her that I am a Sarawakian. And she just nodded. And she asked us if we came to Penang to work, and I answered her, "Urm, we come here to study.." I could not hide my amusement and I was clearly grinning that moment. The saleswoman was smiling sweetly and looked at the five of us and nodded "Good, good." Then I nodded along and wondered, if only we were really Indonesians and we came here to work, will the same comment come out of her mouth?

The second incident happened the day right after the first incident. This second incident took place at a bus stop near the Language Centre. Me and my friend, Hema, just came back from swimming practice and we were like, dead tired, man.. We talked and talked but not even one bus came that time. Then, suddenly, a Chinese guy appeared. Apparently, he just came back from jogging. He asked us, in English, with his Mainland China accent, how long have we been waiting there. I answered him "Half an hour." Then, out of the blue, he asked me "Are you from Thailand?" I was like, hehe, with an amused facial expression, corrected him and said that I am from Sarawak, Malaysia. I even told him that I am actually Chinese, but I am a mixed-blood of Chinese and Melanau.

The third incident, took place at the Language Centre's bus stop again. And the incident happened just yesterday. There were these two girls, one with tudung and one without tudung, waiting at the bus stop with me. They were conversing in a foreign language, which I finally detected as Thai language. Suddenly, the Thailand girl who wore the tudung eyed me with an interested look and asked me something. At first, I thought she was speaking in Thai language to me, but when I asked "huh?" she repeated her question -"Where are you from?" Inside my mind, I was like, not again, not this question. I've had enough of this questions for the past few days. No wonder I noticed both of them kept checking on me earlier. I thought they were laughing at my slippers, and thank God, no, they weren't. I answered them, with the same amusing feeling, telling them that I am from Sarawak, Malaysia. And she was like smiling, saying that she thought I was from Thailand too. She informed me that she and her friend were from Thailand and I was like, "Oh, i see.." And pretended that I just realized it though I knew it all along. ;)

Actually, I am not the only one in the family who faced this looks-fooling crisis. Both of my elder sisters were facing the same circumstances too. My eldest sister was mistaken by her best friend's family's friend as their Indonesian maid when she went shopping with her best friend's family, which I find amusing till now. My second sister, on the other hand, was mistaken as an international student from Japan during her first year in the university. It was not easy being mistaken as international student, she said, for the other students did not dare to approach her, thinking that they need to speak a really good English to interact with her. Lol.

Me, a Thailand girl? Maybe, I gotta do a research on my family background to see if I have ancestors from Thailand. Or else, why do people got fooled when we don't even try?

My Looks Fooled Ya'll !! (Don't I look Malaysian enough?)

It's ironic when I did not have the intention to fool other people, they are fooled and when I had the intention to fool them, they are soooo not fooled.. I did not fool others verbally, but they were just fooled just by the way I looked. Let me describe the way I look. I have black short hair, dark skin, average-sized eyes, average height, and I am Chinese. (Refer to the side of the blog) But people tend to think I am Malay. And that's understandable. People tend to mistake my ethnicity, but recently, strangers that I just met had their own ideas of what my nationality is. I thought I looked so Malaysian, and then the comments and queries from strangers made me think twice.


The first incident was when I was at Prangin Mall with my sisters and her friends at a bra store. Suddenly the saleswoman approached me while I was scanning through the weird-looking bras and asked me "Are you Indonesian?" The moment I heard her question, I laughed out loud. I told her that I am a Sarawakian. And she just nodded. And she asked us if we came to Penang to work, and I answered her, "Urm, we come here to study.." I could not hide my amusement and I was clearly grinning that moment. The saleswoman was smiling sweetly and looked at the five of us and nodded "Good, good." Then I nodded along and wondered, if only we were really Indonesians and we came here to work, will the same comment come out of her mouth?

The second incident happened the day right after the first incident. This second incident took place at a bus stop near the Language Centre. Me and my friend, Hema, just came back from swimming practice and we were like, dead tired, man.. We talked and talked but not even one bus came that time. Then, suddenly, a Chinese guy appeared. Apparently, he just came back from jogging. He asked us, in English, with his Mainland China accent, how long have we been waiting there. I answered him "Half an hour." Then, out of the blue, he asked me "Are you from Thailand?" I was like, hehe, with an amused facial expression, corrected him and said that I am from Sarawak, Malaysia. I even told him that I am actually Chinese, but I am a mixed-blood of Chinese and Melanau.

The third incident, took place at the Language Centre's bus stop again. And the incident happened just yesterday. There were these two girls, one with tudung and one without tudung, waiting at the bus stop with me. They were conversing in a foreign language, which I finally detected as Thai language. Suddenly, the Thailand girl who wore the tudung eyed me with an interested look and asked me something. At first, I thought she was speaking in Thai language to me, but when I asked "huh?" she repeated her question -"Where are you from?" Inside my mind, I was like, not again, not this question. I've had enough of this questions for the past few days. No wonder I noticed both of them kept checking on me earlier. I thought they were laughing at my slippers, and thank God, no, they weren't. I answered them, with the same amusing feeling, telling them that I am from Sarawak, Malaysia. And she was like smiling, saying that she thought I was from Thailand too. She informed me that she and her friend were from Thailand and I was like, "Oh, i see.." And pretended that I just realized it though I knew it all along. ;)

Actually, I am not the only one in the family who faced this looks-fooling crisis. Both of my elder sisters were facing the same circumstances too. My eldest sister was mistaken by her best friend's family's friend as their Indonesian maid when she went shopping with her best friend's family, which I find amusing till now. My second sister, on the other hand, was mistaken as an international student from Japan during her first year in the university. It was not easy being mistaken as international student, she said, for the other students did not dare to approach her, thinking that they need to speak a really good English to interact with her. Lol.

Me, a Thailand girl? Maybe, I gotta do a research on my family background to see if I have ancestors from Thailand. Or else, why do people got fooled when we don't even try?