Hendrik and Wonderful Malaysia
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A few colleagues and me have been teaching a very willing Dutch colleague to speak Malay. So everyday it’s a few new Malay words for Hendrik, our geophysicist. He'd say words like "sekarhang", "nanti dulu", "mari makan", "baliklaaaaaa" and "benci tapi rindu" like he's one of us.
We tried learning Dutch from him but after a few sessions of throat-clearing attempts at the language we figure he’d be a better Malay-speaker that all of us combined would be at speaking Dutch. I’ll stick to the choice Dutch words that I learned from Willem and Jan when we watched the Brazil-Holland world cup match in 1994 and some other real simple words like meneer and mvrouw….. Now, if you remember well, Holland lost that particular match so you could imagine the kind of words that I learned that day from those two.
We have introduced him to mamak and Malay cuisines, some local fruits and teh tarik but we have yet to succeed to get him to taste, just to taste, sambal belacan and we have managed to stir up some interest in “dhurhian”, as he would say it. But seeing me eat tempoyak today dampened his enthusiasm for the fruit but I think we managed to convince him that “dhurhian” would not be as bad. It’s OK to lie to him, in the interest of him learning more about the wonderful taste of our food.
He finds many things in Malaysia amazing. The weather is wonderful, “Two seasons, hot and hotter”. The people more so. Friendly, easy to communicate with. Everyone is willing to help an orhang (not a typo) putih. He said most places are as safe as home, good old Holland that is, maybe even safer.
“But don’t tell my fellow Dutchmen that I told you that.”
“Oh, you are so kind, we believe you.”, we’d say.
He went up to Cameron Highlands recently and had nothing but praises for the place. Things are cheap. He’s got a wonderful boss, me!!!. Our answer to him was pure, simple and the truth :
“Well, Hendrik, that’s Malaysia. Wonderful ain’t it?”.
But then, there are the ways we put our lives at risk with our driving antics. And the lives of our children when they are seated with us in the front seats of our cars.
“Well, Hendrik, that’s Malaysia. Wonderful ain’t it?”.
He went drinking once and was amazed when one of his colleagues, who is absolutely plastered, decided to drive home. No one prevented him from doing so.
“That guy could hardly walk, much less drive!!!”
“Well, Hendrik, that’s Malaysia. Wonderful ain’t it?”.
.
A few colleagues and me have been teaching a very willing Dutch colleague to speak Malay. So everyday it’s a few new Malay words for Hendrik, our geophysicist. He'd say words like "sekarhang", "nanti dulu", "mari makan", "baliklaaaaaa" and "benci tapi rindu" like he's one of us.
We tried learning Dutch from him but after a few sessions of throat-clearing attempts at the language we figure he’d be a better Malay-speaker that all of us combined would be at speaking Dutch. I’ll stick to the choice Dutch words that I learned from Willem and Jan when we watched the Brazil-Holland world cup match in 1994 and some other real simple words like meneer and mvrouw….. Now, if you remember well, Holland lost that particular match so you could imagine the kind of words that I learned that day from those two.
We have introduced him to mamak and Malay cuisines, some local fruits and teh tarik but we have yet to succeed to get him to taste, just to taste, sambal belacan and we have managed to stir up some interest in “dhurhian”, as he would say it. But seeing me eat tempoyak today dampened his enthusiasm for the fruit but I think we managed to convince him that “dhurhian” would not be as bad. It’s OK to lie to him, in the interest of him learning more about the wonderful taste of our food.
He finds many things in Malaysia amazing. The weather is wonderful, “Two seasons, hot and hotter”. The people more so. Friendly, easy to communicate with. Everyone is willing to help an orhang (not a typo) putih. He said most places are as safe as home, good old Holland that is, maybe even safer.
“But don’t tell my fellow Dutchmen that I told you that.”
“Oh, you are so kind, we believe you.”, we’d say.
He went up to Cameron Highlands recently and had nothing but praises for the place. Things are cheap. He’s got a wonderful boss, me!!!. Our answer to him was pure, simple and the truth :
“Well, Hendrik, that’s Malaysia. Wonderful ain’t it?”.
But then, there are the ways we put our lives at risk with our driving antics. And the lives of our children when they are seated with us in the front seats of our cars.
“Well, Hendrik, that’s Malaysia. Wonderful ain’t it?”.
He went drinking once and was amazed when one of his colleagues, who is absolutely plastered, decided to drive home. No one prevented him from doing so.
“That guy could hardly walk, much less drive!!!”
“Well, Hendrik, that’s Malaysia. Wonderful ain’t it?”.
.
posted by dudae_simboyo at 16:21
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