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Finally I have reached the end of my study in Plymouth, UK. After two years of bittersweet memories, everything has come to an end. But memories will be cherished, and talked about in almost every aspect of life. It seems like it was only yesterday that we came to land of the English people. I wonder when will I be able to visit this place again. Like my lecturer in Portsmouth said, you might be able to come back but by that time everything must have changed significantly. The people you've met may not recognise you and you might not recognise them. Probably facebook can help with that. Even so, the feelings and atmosphere may not be the same.
I will be leaving Plymouth on Christmas eve and on the plane on Christmas day.
Goodbye Plymouth.
Making a list, checking it twice... How's your holiday shopping going? Who's left on your list?
I've done most of my shopping for my relatives and extended relatives. The only one I have not bought is probably for my dad and my little sister. I'm going to the city for the last time in Plymouth, saying goodbye to my favourite shop spot Sportsworld, Madhouse and Poundland (and also British Heart Foundation, Scooe, Red Cross, Oxfam!). The stuff are relatively very cheap, so I'd recommend anyone who are thinking of saving money for Christmas to visit these places.
And maybe I'll get some souvenirs for my lecturers in Malaysia. Probably the last ones on my list? :3
Well, probably not.
What are you hoping to find under the tree this year?
I'm hoping that it will bear fruit instead of gifts. Hope the tree will grow with hopes and anxiety to embrace the future. I don't celebrate Christmas so I don't have Christmas trees. But I'm on my holiday too and it's new year anyway, so why not wish for something good?
I wish for a better tomorrow. Peace to the world.
I wish for success in whatever that I do.
I wish for everlasting friendship.
I wish other people would share the same wish under their trees.
Happy holidays everyone =)
Random stuff. Watch in order. This is the original remastered version:
I just bumped into a link of an event organised by cyberview involving a 40-hour-online gameplay to set for a world record. In my opinion, this is better than setting world records for wasteful and irrelevant event such as the largest cake, the highest roti canai and the longest bread (unless people will eat it!). They are things that even ordinary people can do if they have the money. It also questions the role and status of the record adjudicator. Games can also help people's brain to work effectively, depending on which type of game they are playing.
But having to sacrifice 40 hours for the record can be absurd too. Unless you are provided with the necessary things to keep you survive, I think it should not be a problem. This is better than loitering every night doing stuff that makes parents worry.
I'm still hoping to see Malaysians who become record breakers in athletic and adventurous stuff, like hiking Everest or sailing around the world. This is something that not everyone can do. However we could hardly see that now. It's all about spending money to break records.
What’s your favorite movie quote of all time?
Sponsored by The Official AVATAR Community on TypePad. See AVATAR in theaters December 18, 2009.
I've got a bad feeling about this.. (Obi Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, C3PO, Princess Leia)
My friend posted an interesting facebook status regarding us Malaysians:
When Malaysians are busy, they tend to eat a lot and become fat. but it's the same case when they are on holidays. and that is the Malaysian Dilemma.
I commented,
we probably eat 5 times a day excluding when we r bz, when we r bored, when we r watching the tv, when we are hanging out, when we are celebrating sumthin, when we r stressed out, when we r happy, when we r on holidays, when we r making frens, when we r having a banquet, when we r studying, bfr going 2 sleep.. some may get fat n some may not. but some may attempt to try n get fat. so where's the part of our lives that we don't eat?
A Spanish friend of mine even asked us how we can be so into this eating habit that we have open houses almost everyday during Eid festive.
So, I assume that if you don't agree with the first statement, then you are not "truly Malaysian". Hahaha.
I am still not over with this issue.
I was watching this documentary and saw the comments which I found not reliable if I were among those people who were working in the plantation. As someone who loves the environment myself, the palm plantation had limited the movements of the Orang Utans, and the government should start revitalising the rainforests by planting trees that can grow tall by 50 years, instead of just focusing on the plantation. Tourism can help a lot in Sabah, though it may not help to produce as much job opportunities.
People who don't know the real deal may just say by buying one litre of palm oil you are actually killing more orang utans. But like what has been said by Aput who had worked in the palm oil industry, it is evident that the we are just reusing the agricultural land from being a waste of our economy.
It is ironic how people who were the first to introduction palm plantation to the country are now against what they had practiced.
And the palm plantation was established to save the economy from being vastly timber-based (which was also introduced and practiced by the outsiders), which is far more devastating . And it gives people job opportunities, avoiding them from doing things like illegal logging.
And at least we still have our rainforest and orang utans. And we don't do open burning just for the sake of the palm plantation.
So instead of boycotting the palm oil which won't help to destroy the palm plantation and grow more trees (in fact ruining our economy, thus further losing hope of saving the rainforest which can be costly), you should start adopting Orang Utans and breed them in your own country. At least you know that they are safe under your care. As for us living here, we should start spending on replanting the trees to save the future generation. Not building skyscrapers.
Maybe we will have Bapa Perhutanan in future?
What's your favorite thing about the holidays? Least favorite?
The most favourite thing? Being able to spend more time with my family. Least favourite? Not being able to spend time with my friends. But they said there's no place like home. So I wouldn't regret it. It is better to spend your time now or you won't be able to do it again in future.
It's about language again! It seems like I have been revising for my exam through my blog (when actually I am more of procastinating). If you feel like it would cause a cognitive overload, don't bother reading this. But I find this interesting so I want to share what I understand with everyone.
Today everyone is struggling to get their language recognised, preserved and practised in all levels. However, there are always challenges to that, such as money and government intervention towards language policy. Multilingualism has always been a problem to countries that are made up of different racial and cultural backgrounds. However, in today's world, it is almost impossible to say that a country is made up of only one race and one language. All of this are just an ideology imposed by the politicians and those in power to make us believe that the country can be a better place if everyone is united under one language.
The countries that has multilingual policies include Canada, Belgium and Singapore to name a few. Canada for example, has English and French majority of speakers. Belgium has three distinctive languages in different regions such as French in Brussels, Flemish in the northern part of the country and German in the southern part bordering German. Singapore has 4 official languages, and one national language.
The reason for the existence of different languages include colonization, trades and history. Canada was once colonised by the French Empire before being almost entirely succumbed by the British expansion. That explains the reason why only one part of the country which is inhabitant by a large majority of French speakers, which is Quebec. When the British and French came in contact for the first time, they decided to have the legislation and parts of the administration to be constructed in both languages. Thus, they became in effect, becoming official languages, and were used until today. Only Quebec in unilingual in which French is the official language.
Singapore was a thriving trade post and attracted merchants from different parts of the world. However, not until the total inclusion of the island into the British Empire, the language was focused on Malay and English. When the Chinese labour were brought to the island, they made up the majority of the population. Therefore, mandarin, a dialect accepted as a lingua franca for all the Chinese, gain an importance in the area. Since 1979, the government has been encouraging the population to speak Mandarin Chinese. However by the late 1990s, despite being considered successful, the language had to compete with English language which was becoming more important.
When Singapore became independent from Malaya, four languages -Malay, English, Mandarin Chinese and Tamil were recognised as the official languages of Singapore due to the significant number of speakers on the island. However, Malay was being acknowledged as the 'national language' of Singapore since the island was once part of Johore Empire, a Malay dominated region.
When the population shifted, so did the language. When a country is colonised, so did the language.
