Malays and their English (language)

Schoolchildren in Dili, Timor-Leste - cannot speak a word of English but I like the fancy footwear :)

11 years of studying English and cannot speak the language. That's my comment on the level of most Malaysians' grasp on the English language. And that does not include the ones who graduated from universities and still cannot speak the language confidently. OMG, so embarrassing...

It saddens me to think of my own people who wasted spent so much time studying something and gets nothing out of it. So whose fault is it? Inevitably, the big fat finger will point to the students and/or the teachers. Students for being lazy of course, and the teachers for teaching for teaching's sake. Once when I was in Form 5 at secondary school, our beloved English teacher was baffled when she found out no one in our class knew when to use an apostrophe after an s (our class was made up of students with the best marks in English, and our school was one of the top in the country). At that moment I realised that my grammar really sucked, and I had a sneaking suspicion that apostrophes were not part of our English syllabus (not sure if it's true, though). My teacher dutifully taught us about it there and then, and I remember it until now :)

I still believe a lot of the nooks and crannies of the language need to be explored by English teachers and taught to their ignorant students. Raising the standard in English doesn't necessarily means extending teaching hours and setting up more difficult exam questions, which the government is doing. It's about bettering the quality of the teaching - better syllabi, better teaching methods to make the students understand easier, et cetera. Of course I am no teacher myself, but I tutored my younger brother for his SPM (equivalent to the British O-Levels) many years ago using my unconventional technique and his English improved by 3 grades in under 2 months!

I'm not saying my English is perfect, because I don't speak it on an everyday basis or even at home. Plus, I personally know several Malaysians whose English is notably superior to mine ;) But I guess if you're a university graduate, conversing in English shouldn't be an agonizing torture you would rather avoid. Not to mention the 14 year-old relative of a Chinese patient in Penang who cannot speak Malay in spite of all the schooling... Well, that's another (sad) story.

Of miniature leviathans and not-so-fast turbos

They're seashells of course! And they're mine :) Yes, I do collect seashells as a hobby - one I naturally picked up when I set foot on Sipadan and Mabul Islands off the coast of Sabah in 2007. Located north of Borneo and sharing a maritime border with the archipelago known as the Philippines, Sabah is bursting at the seams with exotic life in and out of the sea. With Sipadan being one of the most beautiful islands in the world, it is truly nature at its best. And oh those wonderful seashells - I've never seen such lovely colours and patterns on gastropods anywhere else before, and I had to have them!

Mind you, I'm not trying to have every single species, just the prettier ones. Cowries are my favourite by default - shiny, non-fragile, and perfectly pocketable! I even have the prized Golden Cowrie, worn by Fijian village chiefs in the olden days as a symbol of rank or privilege. As I mentioned earlier, I also own a small Leviathan Cowrie with its creamy pink dorsum streaked across by darker bands of brown hiding its striking violet teeth underneath, which I happened to find at the bottom of a heap of seashells in a shop in Semporna, Sabah. Alas, somehow I refuse to buy a Tiger Cowrie - too common perhaps?

11 species of cowries and counting :)

Other highlights of my collection include a fully striped shell of the prehistoric Chambered Nautilus, the pale coloured spindle shell Fusinus (Fusinus) undatus, a couple of cute carrier shells Stellaria solaris and Xenophora pallidula, and those fist-sized turbo (marine snail) shells I bought in Kota Kinabalu, Calvi, and Bali.

Previously wrapped in old newspapers and tucked away in boxes, they are now rightfully stored in elegant glass jars, ready for public viewing :)

My glass jars brimming with seashells. Do you like them?

Spring/summer 2012 menswear is fresh!

'Tis spring 2012 and while people in Japan and Korea are anxiously awaiting their cute cherry blossoms, I'm stuck here in good 'ol Malaysia 'enjoying' the searing heat and paralysing downpours (sob, sob). But wait - the 'SALE' signs are everywhere this week (including imaginary ones) in conjunction with the Formula 1 event and I'm heading to those chic malls in the capital with a vengeance, guns and wallet ablazing!

A calm and collected fashion-conscious person like yours truly would know better than just barging in boutiques and swooping down the shelves like a hungry vulture. A quick trip to cyberspace is much advised. And voila! Amazing cheerful colours at Burberry, fresh new bag designs by Kim Jones at Louis Vuitton, not to mention the cool swagger at the Roberto Cavalli show. Apart from the flood of grey in every permutation of the colour, menswear hasn't been this exciting for years!

Alas, those lovely LV bags - they never made it to Malaysian shores, did they?

Humble barbershop versus swanky hair salon

Does that come in shocking pink as well?

Which one would you prefer, guys? I can still remember when I was a lot younger, my dad used to take my brothers and I to the town every now and then to get our hair trimmed. My dad used to be in the navy so having a long hairdo in our schooldays was a definite no-no. Sometimes to a Malay barbershop and sometimes to an Indian barbershop - they're all rather good but I find the Malay barbers a tad gentler most of the time.

When my dad was posted to the HQ in Kuala Lumpur and budget was tight, he would take us to this elderly gentleman who would cut our hair at his makeshift barbershop a stone's throw away from our flat. Well, you could hardly call it a shop, more like a chair under a tree really.. Come to think of it, the outdoor experience was not so bad after all - well shaded, breezy and cheap!

Nowadays even the humblest of Malaysian barbershops have stepped up their game by including a quick neck and shoulder massage at the end of every session! But the best part for me must be the hair washing in any respectable hair salon - love it when they massage the shampoo into your hair. Give them some complements and they will massage for a bit longer, hehe ;)