The Sense of Belonging
Nowadays, I have this feeling of staying in outer space or concentration camp for the past three years in my undergraduate life. This is why... ... ...
1) There's one pasar malam at the town stadium every Wednesday. I always visit it to buy fruits and 'alang-alang' (顺便 or conveniently) dinner, and now to buy veggies for the two furbrats. It's almost 1-2 months I never visit the place due to time constraint and stuff. When I finally got the chance to re-visit the place, I went to the usual stalls for my usual food routine. The first sentence the hawkers said to me:"Lama tak nampak! Mana you pigi? (Long time no see! Where have you been?)" And yes, I seriously felt so touching!! Because...
The thing is, there's another pasar malam at Kuala Perlis every Tuesday, and although it's a smaller scale, but the usual stalls are there, which I would visit when I stayed in Kampung Wai hostel. This never happen!!
The best part is, I get extra fruit too if I buy from the same abang :) That is so nice of him~
2) I join the belly dance, yoga and zumba classes (and have been actively involved too!) which I only know about when I started postgraduate. So bloody slowpoke~ Thanks to the classes, I finally have the chance to know some of the local friends.
You see, it's like I've been here for three years but not even the food stalls' tauke recognize me, the car accessories shop tauke said never see me before though I have been walking pass his shop almost weekly. So sad -___-... Unlike my housemates, who the WHOLE food court knows their name!
From there, comes the other extra activities - routine badminton sessions (FINALLY!), have some kinda out-of-the-mind events like going to KL for concert, etc etc... Due to my grandpa's funeral and some other stuffs, I skipped classes for almost 3 weeks. The first time I finally attended the class, everyone (I close to) shouted:"We miss you!" :)
This is enough to make me feel I finally belong here, not just some alien who come to this place to study and not having someone local smile at you because they know you. That's so foreverarone~ I'm glad and contented :)
1) There's one pasar malam at the town stadium every Wednesday. I always visit it to buy fruits and 'alang-alang' (顺便 or conveniently) dinner, and now to buy veggies for the two furbrats. It's almost 1-2 months I never visit the place due to time constraint and stuff. When I finally got the chance to re-visit the place, I went to the usual stalls for my usual food routine. The first sentence the hawkers said to me:"Lama tak nampak! Mana you pigi? (Long time no see! Where have you been?)" And yes, I seriously felt so touching!! Because...
The thing is, there's another pasar malam at Kuala Perlis every Tuesday, and although it's a smaller scale, but the usual stalls are there, which I would visit when I stayed in Kampung Wai hostel. This never happen!!
The best part is, I get extra fruit too if I buy from the same abang :) That is so nice of him~
2) I join the belly dance, yoga and zumba classes (and have been actively involved too!) which I only know about when I started postgraduate. So bloody slowpoke~ Thanks to the classes, I finally have the chance to know some of the local friends.
You see, it's like I've been here for three years but not even the food stalls' tauke recognize me, the car accessories shop tauke said never see me before though I have been walking pass his shop almost weekly. So sad -___-... Unlike my housemates, who the WHOLE food court knows their name!
From there, comes the other extra activities - routine badminton sessions (FINALLY!), have some kinda out-of-the-mind events like going to KL for concert, etc etc... Due to my grandpa's funeral and some other stuffs, I skipped classes for almost 3 weeks. The first time I finally attended the class, everyone (I close to) shouted:"We miss you!" :)
This is enough to make me feel I finally belong here, not just some alien who come to this place to study and not having someone local smile at you because they know you. That's so foreverarone~ I'm glad and contented :)
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