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!

 

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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…