Tuesday, October 16, 2012

See a Msian in Dubai : What to Do?

ok. you live overseas. melbourne, new york, tokyo, sudan, or dubai. on a day out, you saw a malaysian. what do you do?

  1. ignore
  2. run the other way
  3. smile
  4. scare them
  5. exchange salam
  6. smile, give salam, then have short conversation
  7. do no.5, and then exchange numbers (of friend them on FB!)
  8. mintak pinjam belacan

 

my sister-in-law diyana is studying to be a dentist in cairo, and she said there are TOO MANY malaysian students in cairo to be bothered with, so I guess sometimes they just walk past each other like it’s just another day in klcc or a pasar malam in kuala kangsor. it’s not sombong, or ego – there are just TOO MANY of them! hihi. so terjumpa malaysians tu memang benda biase hari-hari!

however, I feel that in dubai that shouldn’t be the case. ok, there are a LOT of malaysians in dubai – especially those working for construction companies, petronas, the emirates airline – but if  you ask me, I am always excited to see another malaysian in dubai. I want to smile at them. I want to get to know them. I would want us to be friends.

these are just a few of my ‘brushes’ with fellow malaysians :

 

at geant, ibn battuta mall

there are a couple of times where I saw a fellow malaysian, and I am waiting for her to notice me, so that I can give her a smile. haha. like this one time, I was at the cashier in geant ibn battuta, and there she was, this lady in tudung lilit-lilit across me, and I kept looking at her, while putting my groceries on the counter, waiting for her to notice me. lansung tak pandang sampai sudah. takpe. bukan nak kata sombong kan. tak perasan kot. tak pun dia indonesian. haha. kot-kot dia ingat ‘apa makcik ni pandang-pandang! ade hutang ka!’ huhu.

 

at ikea, dubai festival city

walked behind this young couple pushing a stroller. the little wife wore tudung bawal. sah-sah malaysian! haha. I gave salam, and with a smile we started talking. husbands exchanged name-cards.

 

sari nusa at satwa

this was at an indonesian restaurant in dubai. a malaysian family had just finished eating. we gave salam, smiled, laughed, talked a bit. our boys got along quite well. we exchanged information. then we became facebook friends. I went to her place for her son’s birthday, and she came to my place for my boy’s birthday. friendship formed!

this is how you do it, people!

 

at Ibn Batutta Mall

this happened just last weekend.

i had just entered the mall, when I heard the beautiful sound of bahasa melayu being spoken right behind me. turns out there was a group of 5-6 malaysians in shirts and tie (one lady, the rest are dudes). excited, as usual, I actually stopped and said out loud, “eh eh malaysians ye..” and the closest person to me was the lady who should’ve heard me, tapi minah tu buat bodo je. the guy who was walking beside her, but further from me was the one who responded to me with a nod and a smile.

now maybe she really did not hear me – but when the man walking very close to her looked TOWARDS HER SIDE, and nod and smile – wouldn’t she have noticed, and looked to her side too, to see who the man was smiling at? tapi minah tu still buat bodo.

I was hoping for the lady to notice me, sebab takkan aku nak mamat tu yang stop and bersembang dengan aku kan? tak manis lah kan…tapi hampa uhuk uhuk.

ek eleh minah. rilek la. baru visit dubai tak sampai seminggu nak buat sombong ke. rugi tau. eh, ntah-ntah dia dah duk dubai 20 tahun kot…

 

outside of mandi restaurant al-tawasol

we just came out after mandi rice dinner. bumped into another group of malaysians going in. both sides gave salam enthusiastically. I love that moment. it was just a short meet – not even a ‘meeting’ but just berselisih bahu kata orang – but berbalas salam dalam senyuman tu yang bermakna.

simply two groups of malaysians in a foreign country, acknowledging each other with warm smiles and greetings.

 

at medcare hospital, jumeirah

saw a malay family. give salam. turns out they’re indonesians. husband works at atlantis. cool. we exchanged name-cards.

 

lulu hypermart, al-barsha

met a friendly group of malays – turns out they’re singaporeans. very lively bunch. come to think of it, I must say that ALL the singaporeans I’ve known and met in dubai are all very friendly! seriously!

 

* * *

bagi salam tu nampak mudah sangat, apatah lagi kita sebagai umat islam, tapi percaya lah, tak ramai yang murah dengan salam dan senyuman.

moral cerita : kalau berselisih dengan aku kat dubai ni, kasi la salam. confirm aku tersengih-sengih balas salam. paling koman pun senyum je. takpe. bukan nak paksa korang jadi kawan aku pun. my husband may have the pinoy slash chinese slash mexican look, hihi but I have an absolutely wanita melayu face ok! confirm malaysian punya!

also, when I see a chinese, in groups or couple – I always wanted to ask – malaysian ke? because I cannot really tell, unless they’re speaking MANGLISH – then they’re most probably malaysians or singaporeans. otherwise, I might be saying hi to a taiwanese, japanese, korean or even indonesian chinese…

aku memang seronok jumpa rakyat malaysia kat dubai. korang tak seronok ke? I don’t want to make a big deal out of this simple thing, but I just hate it when people don’t reciprocate smiles and friendliness…

14 comments:

Madre said...

Totally agree with you:) selalunya I kalau nampak org yg muka mcm Malaysian, I'll smile & if she reciprocate will try to strike a conversation.

Tapi pernah jer org buat2 tak nampak... Nak buat macam mana. Padahal, kalau senyum pun bukannya susah. Just had an encounter like that last month, of all the places, it was in Dubai!

dhr said...

I akan senyum. Kalau dia senyum balik baru i akan tanye Msian ke? Rindu pulak nak jalan-jalan ke Dubai. but now dh jauh :(

Yuslinda said...

Hahaha...Syigim....bestnya,mmg selalunya kaklinda pun excited kalu nampak Malaysian....baru last week kat MOE jumpa Malaysian,punyalah terjerit jerit kak linda....tapi selalunya mmg kak linda pun macam Syigim selalu tegur,tapi selalunya mmg nasib malang,sbb dorang buat bodoh je :(

Nadiah Sidek said...

paling tinggi yang biasa kite buat senyum. segan nak pergi tegur dulu >_<. oh, tapi kalau senyum tak berbalas, sedih tau!

hubby pula dia akan senyum, bagi salam, sembang sikit-sikit dan bertukar no.phone (tapi biasa kat sini minta FB dulu..hihi..)

Liz said...

Assalamualaikum kak!

Hehe.. salam jauh dari Malaysia nie. Sila senyum-senyum. Saya tak pernah rasa lagi pengalaman macam akak. Tapi rasanya kalau la macam tu, saya pun excited bila jumpa Malaysian kat luar. dunno why ada yang buat bodoh je bila akak tegur.

foodie said...

Hahaha, great post. Thinking back, it was so funny that whenever I went to Sari Nusa ke, Singapore Deli ke, Dubai Mall, MOE or any food place, I will look around to see if you are there cos nak sgt kenal you :p (did that just make me sound stalker-ish? haha)

Syigim said...

>> madre, yah to me it's just common courtesy to reciprocate! kita senyum, org senyum lah balik kan kan kan :)

>> dhr, betul, plg basic is SENYUM! xnak bersembang pun xpe asal senyum :)

Syigim said...

>> kak linda pun sama ka? alalaa sian kita kan...nak bermesra pun org buat dek :P they dont know how fun we can be! hihi

>> nadiah, segan tu takpe, tapi at least senyum kan :)

Syigim said...

>> liz, waalaikumsalam! hihi. ramai kot yg xherannnn jumpa malaysian kat oversea. padehal kita xcited sgt hihi

>> foodie dear, creepy but loving it!!!!! hahaha so cute lah! too bad we didnt really get to meet here in dubai over hot choc n muffins hihi. come back to dubai lah! :D

Zamila Aleiya Zahari said...

so true! kalau pergi sariNusa,mmg akan jumpa org yg dikenali.borak and gelak mcm kedai tu kita yg punya.kalau jumpa org msia yg tak kenal pun boleh jadi kenal sbb dorg akan tanya "dari mana?"..hihi...

kalau kt mall mmg saya akan senyum sbb kdg2 taktau dia tu m'sian ke,indonesian ke,singaporean ke....so senyum itu sedekah.tak rugi kan..kalau dorg start tegur and borak,sama2 naik la..haha...

tapi mmg ramai yg buat dunno jer kt kita. saya assume dia org lama Dubai :) tak perlukan kawan baru.kalau tak kenal kita pun dia tak rugi..unlike us yg excited jumpa malaysian!

Anonymous said...

4 tahun dah, saya pun ada juga jumpa malaysian yang sombong. baru je naik pangkat dapat posting overseas, belagaknya mengalahkan CEO. senyum tak berbalas apakan tegur bertanya nama.

ada pernah juga saya terkial bawak stroller anak nak masuk restoran Melayu di Bur Dubai, haram group Malaysians ni tak buka pintu (walhal kaca nampak dari dalam pun).sedih perangai camni.

alhamdulillah, ramai lagi malaysians yang peramah dan saling tukar name card bila saya senyum (walaupun tengah beli ikan kat Geant Ibnu Battuta).

oh, tambah lagi kalu nampak tie merah rabu saya...hehehe

~budak koleq batch 96

Anonymous said...

Selalu jumpa msian kat kedai green curry..selalunya saya sengih2 je..tak reti gak nak start conversation..tp kalau org ajak borak insyaAllah sy akan borak gak..btw sy baru 2 minggu kat sini..bila jumpa msian mmg excited! :)

Anonymous said...

Setuju with this post. Ramai Malaysians yang saya jumpa di Phulwani..dari depan lagi dah cakap BM..and biler kita pusing belakang and senyum, depa ni tak balaih senyum kita..baik lagi si Manish tu..kat Abu Dhabi pun gitu jugak..kita ni puaslah tersenyum senyum..tak berbalas jugak..so in the end, sad to say after so many failed attempts, I became a snob..I will not smile first or look friendly but if I see someone trying to be nice..I will definitely reciprocate. So, if tou do see a very cute lady but looks sombong a bit with a battalion of children...hahaha..jgn takut..hang senyum saja..pasti dibalas.

Syigim said...

>> zamila aleiya zahari, betul senyum tu satu sedekah. xrugi pun senyum kan :)

kak duk dubai dah 4 years pun still xcited jumpa msians in dubai! no excuses! ;)

>> budak koleq, jangan risau. ramai budak mc di dubai :) diorang celebrate old boy weeknd tiap-tiap tahun ;)

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