Malaysian Day

August 7, Saturday- Preparation for Malaysian Day + Dinner with Malaysian High Commission to NZ
August 8, Sunday- Malaysian Day + Christmas Dinner

It was held in the university’s Union Hall. They had Live Cultural Performances on stage, and silat demonstration. They also had some traditional games demo, congkak, batu seremban, and sepak takraw. A garage sale, a Grand Exhibition about Malaysia, and Malaysian food…not to forget about the food, and for some reason they have that food festival in another building, which made it less havoc and a bit incontinent due to rain. I invited some non Malaysian to come and see what my country is all about (which I gonna regret later).

Here are some pics- not much, kinda disappointing though

Rehersal for Cultural Dance

Batu seremban

Silat Demo

"The Grand Exhibition"-under construction

Before Malaysian Day

These two days were quite busy. Volunteer myself for these events, and the opportunity to get to know some other Malaysian here. Management during the setting up was quite messy, and the manager /coordinator of the Grand Exhibition also looked confused. Some turned up late, and wasn’t corporative much.

That night, the Malaysia High Commission to NZ came to visit us, and we had dinner together, of course all Malaysian students were invited. Makan nasi minyak and daging kambing…very delicious. After dinner, ada ceramah by that commission chap at another building, something to do about Malaysia’s foreign policy. I didn’t go, I was helping some guys clearing up the dining hall. Beside, that ceramah wasn’t compulsory for me…tapi sponsored student kena pi. Haha, bagus gak tak pi, ramai complain ceramah tu SuX and has nothing to do with them at all, frankly, the high commission wanted to attack someone in the audience. Sebab ada satu lecturer Malaysian ada mengajar kat sini and he is quite famous in the chemistry department. Maybe this lecturer was sponsored by the government dulu tapi tak balik Malaysia kut, tah la. The funny thing was, someone in the audience asked the high commission something like “sir, what does Malaysian foreign policy has to do with us?”, haha, after that this commission guy bukak note and flip some pages tuk cari jawapan…haha. Nampak sanagt tak prepare, cam mana la boleh jadi high commission. My friends yang pi ceramah tu la yang cerita kat aku. Maybe that’s the reason he didn’t show his face during Malaysian Day on the next day.

Malaysian Day

Officially started at 1045, but I came one hour late. Haha, I wasn’t surprised there weren’t many people at that time, people still sleeping and some still pass out-what do you expect, Saturday night kan-,…kinda dull, even some of the best show already being perform at that time, including silat demonstration. Seriously, the exhibition about Malaysia really boring, just a lot of reading materials and small pictures. Some pictures didn’t even show our diverse culture and ethnic. Some of my non Malaysian friends didn't seem to be amazed by the exhibition, but the did enjoy the silat demonstration. It would be more interesting if they had something interactive…things that visitors can try, such as gasing(the big one, cam kat Ganu and Kelantan punya gasing), real sumpit, Wau, meriam buloh-kalau nak buat gila sikit, haha-, you get the idea.

Due to boringness, I went to the Malaysian Food festival. Hell, everything here was overpriced. I bought nasi minyak only. Nak murtabak tapi tak siap lagi. Tah cam mana tah I ended up helping some of my senior friends jual sate. Sate jual lambat sikit, 3 jam lepas event dah mula sebab orang handle sate ialah ahli ahli silat and time table depa jadi serabut with another demonstration coming on and a silat exhibition nak kena jaga. Actually I don’t really mind helping out, another chance for me to mingle with lots of new people here. Believe me when I told you, kita bukak je booth ramai gila mai beratur…they didn’t really care about the price. $5 for 3 sates and 5-7 cubes of nasi himpit, onions + kuah kacang. Good thing Mahdi was there to help me.

Just two of us manning the sate booth, while few available ahli silat bakar sate kat parking lot and one runner. Oh yes, the food festival was indoor and at the upper floor, so leceh gak la. Ramai gila enjoy sate tu dengar comment orang putih pun kata sedap, too bad the kuah ran out within 2 hours…sate banyak lagi. It was fun, but very tiring. I didn’t stay for clean up.I had to go back to my college and prepare for another event.

Christmas Dinner…

Just want to add:

As I mentioned before, the Malaysian Day was organized by several (maybe all) Malaysian clubs and associations, and to be honest, they did not do a good job for this event. Maybe they did their best but it wasn’t nearly good enough. Personally, they kinda failed to deliver what Malaysia is all about. Kecewa gak.

Aquinas College Christmas Dinner

We were the first group to arrive there. Ingat kan dah lambat dah, padahal depa lagi lambat. Our RA’s really did a good job decorating the dining hall.

Here are some pics-it was too dark for my phone camera to get anything good,

Before start

Appetizer,

Main course,

Dessert,

My RA(Mike) as the fat ass Santa

At the end of the dinner, we all got our presents. I got Whittaker‘s Chocolate and some other sweets. The girls got stationary set, smiley-face stickers, and the other one refuses to open her present…actually she got two.

It was fun.

The rule was to get someone a present that cost less than $5, so a lot of these guys bought a lot of odd presents, a toy rifle, real size champagne as a necklace, rubber duck, and the weirdest present so far is my floor mate, she got a real cucumber, hahaha…apa makna tu.

-Out-