How we are strong

I resolved to pen more thoughts this year, even fleeting ones, so here.

In scattered entries throughout this blog, we have established that time and energy in each day is finite, and it is how one spends that resource which determines the outcome of next day, and the days to come. Simple.

In our education, there is a lot of time and energy spent on following a program of learning new information, and getting appraised at the end of the process. This is school, and typically, that is what schools are meant for. That is fine.

Probably, what is not fine is the lack of realization that 1. equal time and energy should be invested in clearly identifying one’s strengths and weaknesses, and 2. those said strengths and weaknesses are sometimes, but hardly effectively reflected by the results of the said school appraisal.

This is not a new concept, yet there are many who consider their 20s as a time of self-discovery, I not excluded – and I just wished mine could have begun earlier.

Because in the real world where summits shift, and not much is linear, it is the intimate knowledge of one’s strengths and weaknesses, passions and dislikes, which will guide personal strategy, sanity, and ultimate survival.

Yes, it is an evolving process, much of which is earned from experience and years, but I believe the sooner one is able to begin to describe oneself, if only to themselves, the more powerful that person will be.

The New Year

What a confused entry below. Well, it is fitting considering it got somewhat confusing towards the end of last year. And you know, it still is.

Anyhow, it is nice to feature something I am not confused about. Adibah Amin's As I Was Passing is an outstanding offering of Malaysiana. Beyond that, she and I do have some thoughts in common, and when weary to write, it is encouraging and comforting to find someone who has been there, and said it before.


Good 2011 to you all!

Places

Nothing like a Swatch to remind you about the passing of time – it ticks so loud.

As a child I did not spend more than 3 years living in the same city or town. And although some say adolescence is the most formative time of one’s life, I never quite lost the wanderlust from my childhood years of exploring the vibe of a brand new place, and inhaling the scent of possibilities only fresh paint in an empty house can offer.

I “incubated” in Petaling Jaya during my teenage years and cannot say I enjoyed it too much. One year in Sydney introducing me to myself, then it was back to base camp. I call it such because the next 8 years (man, that is a big number) was and is one big old fschiwizz of travels – 37 places and 16 countries, each experience alternately wonderful, lonesome, insightful, intimidating and peaceful in itself.

These opportunities come from work. I’ve been fortunate to get the corporate version of a Globe Trekker job. And to digress, I love how equalizing work can be. Hairdressing in Hong Kong is no different from hairdressing in Manila or anywhere else – a good cut is a good cut. Not much gives me more satisfaction than seeing a Malaysian working alongside and holding their own with people from different, more developed countries, I’ll be honest. For me, that is through playing in a field with rules and people from different places, and making it, on the books, and in my way.


Jalan-Jalan (I’m just travelling around)

I love traveling. Despite immigration and suitcases, I do. This I realized when standing in Amsterdam's airport at 5.30 am after a 13 hour flight, teeth un-brushed and slightly bleary eyed looking for the next connection, and I am inexplicably happy. I think it had something to do with spotting Ronald McDonald with that congenial arm draped around an airport bench, familiarity mixed up with adventure, like making a friend of an acquaintance you clicked well with before.

Some places will always feel a little bit like home – Kuala Lumpur, Sydney, Antwerp. Some feel like I never knew them in past lives but have the maiden chance to start now – Busan, Bangkok, Tokyo. And some, I’ll just be passing through.

Being loyal to a place for me is similar to being loyal to someone. If it is the right person, it is not highs all the time but there are wonderful moments that keep you nourished, and despite the work and rough times there is a kind of peace from feeling that you are in the right place. And if it’s the wrong guy, it is suffocating and draining despite all the getting by.

Yet, at some point we all need to get past the second date, the second year, yes? I guess what you earn for accepting the ugliness alongside with the light is your own furniture, and your own someone to come home to. We reap what we sow. Good thing is, we can make our own rules and do it on our own terms, but we reap what we sow.

Getting acquainted with Antwerp

Apparently this city lies at the crossroads of five international motorways, linking the Netherlands, Germany and France. Bergen op Zoom where I work is a speedy 30 minutes away, and Maxis sends me texts every morning when I cross the border, to tell me to enjoy my time in the Netherlands, and not to worry as I can call the Malaysian embassy at +31703506506 if I need to .

I love how urban it is here. It is classic and beautiful like so many European towns, but there is size, scope and enough trash on the street to make a city a city.

It feels a little like Sydney. It reminds me of how much I relish walking a city, disappear in it, discover it at my pace and make it my own.

I will make you a Bo Bunh

One sunny day in Lausanne, I decide I would visit Dalat for dinner.

Tripadvisor highly recommends it so I take a cab, 10 minutes up slopes and into apartment suburbia.

I sit outdoors in a corner between the wall and the other side of the door, and a nice man hands me a menu in French, as most things are here. I don’t recognize the words but I smell something wonderful coming from the kitchen.

I suspect he is the owner, a French man who married a Vietnamese lady, and we gesture to each other that I don’t read but what is that cooking? Do I speak Vietnamese? No. Chinois, anyone? No. He decides to take me to the kitchen where I am introduced to a petite Asian lady with kind eyes.

For some reason, I am so happy to see her and I have a huge grin on my face when I tell her I am from Malaisie and could I please order what is cooking? Apparently there are several things cooking. After some back and forth, she tells me, she will make me a bo bunh. Her eyes tell me, with the confidence of a mother who knows what is good for you, this is what you want.

That settled, the one who I think is the husband takes me to choose my drink. He shows me the interior of the dark cooler and all its possibilities. I take a sugared green tea, which he makes a show of swirling in a wine glass and letting me try. I love this couple already.

The bo bunh comes – a bowl of vermicelli topped with beef sautéed in onions, spring rolls, carrots, beansprouts, peanuts and coriander. It is a hearty serving, yet I realize as I look at it that I am going to finish every last scrap. And I do. I take my time, for it is so good and so authentic that it makes me understand how food can be restorative, even remind a person of who he or she is.

These two people will never know the kindness they offered a homesick girl in a foreign land simply by being themselves and cooking good food. I am truly grateful.

2nd time around

"Maybe I'd gone up twelve stories, then down three. Maybe I'd circled the globe. How would I know?
- Murakami -

Although there's nothing like being in a place for the first time, I say sometimes coming back is even sweeter.

Sydney after 7 years, and Amsterdam just about two, it's good to see you again.

Actually, it is Simple

When things are going well, be grateful.
When things are not going well, don't worry.