Contemporary

Insights of Social Patterns

A lecturer asked us to write up a 5-minute opinion of my own on “What is it like living in Glasgow.” Just after I wrote up a 5-minute long writing which pathetically consisted merely 6 sentences, i continued thinking about certain experiences and incidents I had have from the past four months.

No, I ain’t just talking about the clouds and skies here, the Scots-people, their sedentary and pubbing lifestyles or their culture that differ much from the Malaysian lifestyle I’ve lived for over 2 decades. In fact, it’s the social pattern I’ve observed that actually got me pondering about people around me… as if there was a whole slab of Harry Potter 5th books (that thickest instalment of them all, i think) dropping from above me. In other words, it is more like a whole better insight that I’ve seen and got me to share my opinion.

A few times already that I came across a scenario when friends of other races hanging out with us, a bunch of Chinese people… we all know how to speak a common language, which is ENGLISH. However, of those particular times aforementioned, my pudden-headed mates would have decided to speak Mandarin in front of these other-race-friends who have the slightest knowledge to translate those Mandarin conversations to the language of their choice. One of my tutors told me before that it is rather rude to speak your own language, of which other person(s) in the middle or hanging out together do not understand. And i regarded she meant that if we could use a common language, it’s helpful to be a lil’ polite at times. And these mates of mine could have gone on and on blatantly if it wasn’t for me to just remind her of her tactlessness. It is not that I, a “banana-girl” (aka a Chinese whose first language is not Chinese), cannot understand a word my mates spoke about (or even speak almost all the time). I definitely understood, my parents speak Mandarin, my hommies use Cantonese, how can anyone thought I would not understand? I never ignore languages of other origins. As a matter of fact, I appreciate the diverse languages this world could offer. There was once during some random discussion, a boy from my class said that it was rather pointless to master the English language as we are all Malaysians and people there do not usually speak good English anyway. So I thought he was kinda shallow to have thought that way… I bet Yee Pei would have something to say about this! Oh yeaa…

I now believe the statement of “independence is a luxury” carries utterly different manner in both Malaysia and UK. Having to know my Caucasion colleagues in my Italian workplace and from magazines (don’t worry mom! I bought these mags with my tips!), I came to know about how most of the Brits and European youths live about. Apparently after 16, when they are about to go to college/university/higher education, they’re also given that independence of living by themselves. No, it’s not that way of living on their own with other people or so. It’s the way where they were cut off either totally or partially of their weekly allowances, thus forcing themselves to get a part-time student jobs if they’d want to have beyond “only three meals a day” lifestyle. And when i thought about a few of my hommies who had their early “independence” to travel around and complete their tasks with the presence of 2 or 4 wheels and multiple credit cards offered by their parents, indeed lifestyle as such is a luxury. On the contrary, the mates i know from the UK here who are bounded with their school fees and rents that they have to pay on their own, such lifestyle of the Malaysian students that I told them about, is a luxury that they have to strive “independently”.

Oh, and what d’ya know?! The HoT&SpiCy PeiKz is beginning to like the Brits Urban Music! Massive Attack’s Air’s and Sneaker Pimps’ albums totally rock my audio system, erm… technically AND biologically! Tunes from Gorillaz and Franz Ferdinand are so cool they’re smashing the charts here! woot!