Recently I visited a natural reserved forest somewhere in Padawan with my group members for assignment purpose. The trip was okay, all went well and what I'm trying to say here is not bout the trip but it's about one of my group members who is a foreign student from a country that I've never heard before; Kyrgyzstan (pronounced as Ker-giz-tan).
I've never met her before we actually plan for the trip, and frankly saying I was a bit nervous because you know..that kind of feeling when you're teaming up with someone that you've never met before, and to make it more 'scary', that person is not from your own community. Being a typical Malaysian, I had all of these typical thoughts in my mind like..
"Will she even wanna talk with me?"
"Is she arrogant?"
"Did I made the right decision to have
her in my team at the first place?"
....and the list goes on anddddd on. That morning, she was the last person that we picked up before continuing our journey to the place mentioned earlier. As she came towards my car I was filled with curiosity about this slim and tall lady, and the next thing I know, she opened the door and to my surprise, she bid me good morning! That simple greeting had totally torn down my walls and I was like "hey, maybe it won't be that bad after all". Haha yeap, being a typical Malaysian I was still scared of her, to be honest.
The trip to our destination was silent. Only the sound of music from the radio accompanied us along the way. Everyone seemed to be awkward towards each other as we only know each other by name. I tried to initiate a conversation but somehow my lips were like glued, and thus I kept silent too.
At last we arrived. I felt relieved at the moment because the silent ride was finally over. And again, this foreign friend of mine surprised me by giving me a smile and asked whether I have been to that place or vice-versa. I kinda felt ashamed of myself for being so reserved at the first place. We talked and shared opinions on things. She was a great contributor to the group assignment as she calmly interviewed the park rangers.We slowly started to chat more and my other members seemed to be okay with her too.
On our trip back to campus, we chatted along the way. We stopped by at McDonald's for lunch and that's how everything turned a lot better. We actually have the same interest in a lot of things and she talked about her views on Malaysian culture and also her culture in Kyrgyzstan. We laughed at the stories we shared, our daily struggles (and what I meant by daily struggle here is how difficult it is for us to wake up for 8am class!) and also our views on religion, politics and knowledge.
As I slowly get to know her better, I found out that she is a very friendly person. I like the way she elaborate her thoughts, and I like her being open-minded in every topic of our conversation. Her passion for nature and animals inspired me, and although she claimed to be a person with no religious beliefs, she was able to talk about religious things openly..unlike certain skeptical people here who makes religion a taboo in daily conversations.
My perspective changed. She made me realized that even though we may differ in terms of nationality, cultural background and language, we are all still one human race. She had made me ponder on a lot of things, and the real eye-opener for me in this experience is no matter where we come from, we still share a lot of similarities in terms of passion and we all believe in good deeds and kindness towards each other.
I've no idea how to describe this incredible feeling that she had implanted in my heart, nor how should I end this post. But one thing for sure, she had taught me that foreigners are still normal human beings. They enjoy food, they appreciate kindness, they love beautiful sceneries, and we all hate waking up early for class xD (I'm saying these things based on Malaysian context because from my experience here in university, local students tend to ignore/ walk away from foreign students because they think these so-called "special group of people" (as they name it) are not interested in becoming friends with them).
So make friends with people from the other side of the world, understand their culture, and get to hear great stories from them. We gain knowledge not by our own understanding, but through our own experiences and also from others.
Have a great day ahead!
Loves.
As I slowly get to know her better, I found out that she is a very friendly person. I like the way she elaborate her thoughts, and I like her being open-minded in every topic of our conversation. Her passion for nature and animals inspired me, and although she claimed to be a person with no religious beliefs, she was able to talk about religious things openly..unlike certain skeptical people here who makes religion a taboo in daily conversations.
My perspective changed. She made me realized that even though we may differ in terms of nationality, cultural background and language, we are all still one human race. She had made me ponder on a lot of things, and the real eye-opener for me in this experience is no matter where we come from, we still share a lot of similarities in terms of passion and we all believe in good deeds and kindness towards each other.
I've no idea how to describe this incredible feeling that she had implanted in my heart, nor how should I end this post. But one thing for sure, she had taught me that foreigners are still normal human beings. They enjoy food, they appreciate kindness, they love beautiful sceneries, and we all hate waking up early for class xD (I'm saying these things based on Malaysian context because from my experience here in university, local students tend to ignore/ walk away from foreign students because they think these so-called "special group of people" (as they name it) are not interested in becoming friends with them).
So make friends with people from the other side of the world, understand their culture, and get to hear great stories from them. We gain knowledge not by our own understanding, but through our own experiences and also from others.
Have a great day ahead!
Loves.
