Monday, November 5, 2007

The 'Thing' About Overseas Students

Im writing NOT to accuse or offend any overseas student. If you happen to be one, you may not like it. disclaimer: may not apply to everyone. general observation. discussed and agreed among friends.

I was blog-hopping the other day, came across this site, overseas Malay on one of the Adsense banner. So I went there, had a peak, a question struck, "why do you study abroad if you miss your own race?"

Actually not just a question, but many. Also presumptions, judgment, comments etc.

why study abroad if you..

1 - want to find your own race ?
is it a universal law? sent to a foreign place, does it echo "that youre still a kampung boy and miss speaking malay?" Oh come on. make friends, participate in GLOBALISATION and learn about other races and people. your connection with them might come in handy someday. if you really need to be with your race, forget about studying abroad. be the kampung boy you always were.

2 - dont want to miss hari raya?
classic. im sure you can find tonnes of student out there, missing the ketupat, lemang, family, friends, foes, cat, dog, kurap, belacan or whatever. but the fact that you are "seeking" for sympathy is pathetic. dont want to miss it? just fly back for a week. dont give stupid excuse like no money.

i went to school in full malay on hari raya. everyone looked at me. i have people asking me, what am i wearing? and most importantly, i seek forgiveness from my classmates. they were stunned, and asked WTF am i doing? i explained everything to each and everyone. most find it fascinating and certainly would like to witness the culture first hand. in other words, it can contribute to tourism industry.

3 - come back and complain about your small pay slip?
tied to the contract, you again seek sympathy for your "cleverness". whats the ratio? 1 year study : 3 years service? its a business. they invested in you, of course they want something in return and thats your BRAIN. if you want a big fat check, drop out from school, be the next Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, facebook developer, youtube founder, write stupid ebooks or find a sugar-mommy/daddy.

4 - dont bother learning their accent (and culture)?
i asked some grads, did you pick up the british accent? they replied, why would i? duh! because its COOL. it shows you were EDUCATING yourself out there and not just being educated. your next excuse would probably be "learning accent is hard, probably too demanding. also has to go with the mannerism." yeah crap. some kid here learned it from mp3.

5 - come back and think youre superior than us?
damn. just because you have the brain, doesnt mean you have the balls. after all, a degree is just a piece of paper. the probable things that distinguish you is your writing (and speaking) skills, the rest is nothing. another point which i hate to include but i must, the God element. "God only cares about your Iman". so wtf bro?

6 - come back for holiday with the invisible mode ON?
ive seen them do it. came back without notice and a text message,"sorry cant meet you, will be leaving tomorrow". so for the whole summer where were you? with your 'superior' friends?

we dont intend to chase you like a celebrity (or will ever treat you like one), we just want to hear about your experience, life and maybe spare some time for teh tarik. after all, we are the "katak bawah tempurung". did you forget that we were at KLIA when you left for your first year?

7 - try to run from your sponsor.
stupid selfish arrogant bastard. is it money that clouded your vision? is it the small pay slip? third rate mentality? somebody was generous enough to give you a good education, a good allowance so you can buy your ipod/O2 PDA/Laptop, flight tickets and a job! this is how you repay your nation? it was never about the money, its about the TIME invested in you. we need you to enlighten us. oh hang on, lemme check, perhaps we dont need another stupid selfish arrogant bastard.

8 - come back and bitch about your country?
yeah german have that, uk have this, us have everything, aussie have white asses on the beach.. so what does malaysia have? gadis kampung bertudung beromen atas motor on youtube? jalan raya penuh mat rempit? stupid 3rd rate mindset? yeah2, same old story repeated many times over here. we dont need you to relay the message over and over again. we want change too, so help us!

in conclusion, overseas student = messenger boy, get a degree and come back.

so who am i to talk cock? im just an unemployed observer.

you feel like slapping me with a big trout? leave a comment.

13 comments:

Khalisa Ridzuan said...

hebat!saya student dalam negara je.tapi saya bangga.hahaha ;p

Khalisa Ridzuan said...

hebat!saya student dlm negara je.tapi saya bangga.hihi ;p

SalamMedia said...

i belom ckp pasal local students lg. soon la kot or too obvious to state?

Anonymous said...

wah..pedas2 nie..huhu seronok membaca :D

SalamMedia said...

asik makan cabai "BOH" je. ape salahnye pekene skit reality hidup.

Missy eLLe said...

i agree with you, but about the raya thingy, i guess tak salah kalau orang nak celebrate reramai.. i didn't have the money to just balik just like dat (gaye mcm ada private jet je kan?) tapi that aside, the fact that malaysians flock together overseas its apalling..

and oh, i actually went around the city in my baju kurung during raya and raya aji. dahla tak cukup layer tok menahan winter tapi belasah je la kan? oh tak pasal2 kene peluk ngan sorang makcik ni yg igt aku ni orang palestine and then she said "i saw a video on palestinians, i'm so sorry that your people suffered"

muka arab ke aku nih?

Missy eLLe said...

oh and it took me 3 months to get ride of that aussie accent.. takyah learn pon aku trus pikap jek. takdela sume but still i thought it's a natural thingy that people adapt, tak perlu youtube pon?

SalamMedia said...

"all asians look the same" my groupmate told me that. just us, having problems identifying black dudes.

ninie, the accent mmg easy to learn. by 2 weeks continually speaking and trying sure bole nye. i just couldnt understand those who NEVER want to try. and when they speak, they still use LAH. come on... thats friggin idiotic.

Anonymous said...

urgh, I think it is ok to use LAH. I don't care about any grammatical error, weird malaysian + english accent. for me, everyone has their own style of communication. In communication, we don't have to be a so-called perfectionist grammatical expert, as long as people understand you meant for!

for me, I admit that I'm not good enough in english. but, when someone is trying hard to improve their english, and you keep condemning or looking down at them, then something must be wrong with you.

p/s: I love to be myself, speaking this 'freaking' melayu+english accent.

SalamMedia said...

frankly, english is supposed to be english and malay is supposed to be malay. what do you feel if someone is using malay like crap? do you like?

its partly the understanding thats important in communication. but in TELEcommunication, everything has to be in perfect sync.

Miss Aida said...

I'm studying overseas and on a scholarship to boot. For the most part, I'm thankful and happy.

However, I dislike the mentality that just because we are sponsored, we have to do everything our sponsors say, even if it is unreasonable. We are investments, but in the interest of human resource, there should be more liason between sponsors and their sponsored students, more discussion of issues and ideas.

Then maybe people would be less inclined to 'run' from their sponsors.

It's not about the money. It's about feeling valued as a future employee.

SalamMedia said...

Miss Aida,

You have to understand, when you signed an agreement, these are terms that you have to honour.

Exactly how valued do you want to feel? All expenses paid, flight tickets, books allowance, computer allowance, clothing, etc.. what more do you want? Can you please explain?

In all honesty, if you hate the agreement, you can just give to others. Im sure they can learn to appreciate more.

Im not being harsh, reality bites. Ouch!

SalamMedia said...

we have to do everything our sponsors say, even if it is unreasonable.

its not like they asked you to undress and rip off your liberty.