Home sweet home, is it?

Interestingly I have nothing much to think about these days, except for the change back to BM in science and maths. It's just a populist measure for the sake of those who are afraid to lose their mother tongue.

When I first got back, I realised that the internet was too slow and the weather too warm, plus my sleeping patterns were screwed up. Now everything seems to get into place now, with my tolerence with heat is back to my pre-UK days. Eating very well, and the food here is 100 times better than the ones in the UK. No more fish and chips and kebabs for a few months. Just plain Malaysian food.

There are some things that will never change - the motorcyclists in Penang are still the same - Kings of the Road. Of course until they get hit by a lorry because they think they're invisible and still wanna *gaduh* with them.

Thinking back, the whole year away really changed me - either for the better or worse. When people go abroad for studies, it is either soak up some of the values they preach, or totally shun it and decide to be a really conservative person, or the other way around, take up the worst of their values to bring it back home. It is like either you embrace it or shut the door away from it.

Another amazing thing is, people still cling on to their roots even though they are now considered another country's citizen, while embracing their new country's values too. It just reminded me of the Malay proverb, 'Melayu tak akan hilang di dunia' - and I think it rings true not just for Malays, but also of all other races.

We might now be following every single thing we used to do, but we'll definately retain most or at least some of our values. So why so much fear of losing one's Malay-ness or Chinese-ness back home?