Badminton

Yeah, I know. I said this blog is specially for AFS. Sue me. When it comes to badminton, nothing gets in between me and my lover. 'Nuff said.

So I'll just start from the beginning. See, the day started like any other day would. I got up to painful sunlight burning my pupils through ridiculously thin eyelids. I struggled with my inner self to drag my lazy (and getting lazier) butt out off bed and proceeded to drink strawberry milk. While doing so, I heard on the news that the Malaysia Open semifinals would start at 11.00 a.m. Thus, I calmly took my bath and fidgeted around here and there to pass my time. When the time came, I plopped on the sofa only to discover that my beloved Chong Wei wouldn't be playing. I threw a fit till my little sister told me there was only one active court. Which meant, Chong Wei still had to APPEAR on the telly. Which meant GUIDE! Which meant 5.00 p.m. Problem solved.

So I'll fast forward to 5.00 p.m since yall probably won't want to know what I ate for lunch and that I scrubbed long and hard on Mom's praying stuff (tomorrow's Ponggal, Happy Ponggal people!) till my nail polish chapped. Anyway, I checked out the schedule and found that Chong Wei was playing last. So me tells me mumzy that me predicts lover boy would be playing around 9-ish. And me mumzy proposes we all go out to buy beer from Giant (they had sales). So we hopped into the car with no panic. Zilch. Yet. While there, we dropped by Guardian and the whole 'Oooo, that's pretty' and 'Eeeee, I want that' and 'Yikes, I didn't know I needed that till now' happened and we ended up spending so much time there. The bill came up to 250 by the way. Lesson learnt : Never go to Giant with the sole intention of buying beer. Then my mom and dad went on to pick out the alcohol while my sister and I took turns lugging the big heavy plastic bag from the shoe shop, to the computer shop, to the magazine shop and to the massage chair place thingy. Apparently, you put in a dollar and the chair automatically kills your bones. One by one. And when you think you had enough, it squeezes your butt and makes you stay in place. Curse them.

Bananas, by the time we left Giant, it was 8.30 and I was panicking. A lot. And when I say a lot, I mean A LOT. So we threw away dinner plans and rushed to McD cause y'know, they're fast. When we got there, the telly showed someone who looked so much like Lee Chong Wei that I figured I might as well go in and have a look. And it WAS Lee Chong Wei. So we changed plans again and decided to take-away. And when we got to the car, I told Dad to step on it. And boy, did he STEP on it. We zoomed in and out of traffic and reached home in no time. Actually it was some time, but you catch my drift, right?

Finally at home, we switched on the telly, blasted the speakers and munched on twisting fries (is that what they're called? Sounds weird). 

And. Andd. Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnddddddddddddddddddddddddddd, Chong Wei won the first game! As for the second game, I remember the part he was on this streak of points when suddenly Chen Long asked the official to have the court mopped. Which was when the crowed started booing, which I personally thought was kindda immature. That is, until Chen Long started having a run of points. Which was when I realized, we Malaysians are so superstitious. I mean, I actually blamed Chen Long's court mopping incident on Chong Wei's loss of points. Rationally, it could have been true. He might have been distracted whilst Chen Long composed his thoughts to get his act together. But the Malaysian side of me was thinking: BLADDY Chen Long, Fighting with the Bladdy FENG SHUI in which the delicate matter of badminton togetherness hangs on. DAMN YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Later, I had a sudden flashback to the time when I was a kid. I was watching Koo Kien Keat and Chan Chong Ming. And I remember eating tiger biscuits during one of their games and they won. Ever since then, I always ate tiger biscuits when I watched them play. Now, the rational part of me wonders how the heck I convinced myself that tiger biscuits proved victorious against the actual fact of playing badminton. Which brings us back to the Malaysian culture. I should really explain this to the Germans when I'm there..

Also, at the end of the second game, both players got a minute's rest before commencing for the third game. During that break, the camera focused on Chen Long and while he was talking, I heard this humongous big foot-sighting type of roar that surprised the Bejesus out of me. And I was thinking, Malaysians, behave yourselves! Don't make us seem so rowdy! Because I thought they caught on with what Chen Long was conversing with his coaches. Harh. How wrong I was. The camera turned to Chong Wei and he changed his shirt. You hear me? He changed his shirt! As in, he took off his shirt, DISPLAYED his abs, and put on another shirt. But the point is, it's another Malaysian thing to go BONKERS over a guy who takes off his shirt in public, specifically so when he is Lee Chong Wei. Sigh. And all this while, the camera was trained on a very animated Chen Long. Life's hard. But life got significantly better when Chong Wei romped home to 21- 13 victory. I hope he demoralized Chen Long. One really must not think so absurdly, but when one is me, and me is a Chong Wei fan, one should have special exceptions. That-a-way, one prides oneself when one sees Chen Long all down and sombre. Yay!

Next, I would like to say that apparently Chong Wei cut his hair! And the commentator noticed! And she said he looked smart! HANDS OFF LADY! Still, thanks!!

In a nutshell, if you merely observe (as the AFS volunteers have been dictating 24/7), you can actually spot all the little, sometimes insignificant, but more often, very important details that provides the insight into Malaysian culture. I've come to see that for most countries, their culture is passed down for centuries from their ancestors. It's quite the opposite in Malaysia. We don't have an outstanding history. We only claimed independence in 1957. But our culture is the best cause it evolves with time. Just like how it's our culture to lepak at coffee shops and talk loudly like everyone's deaf. Duh it's irritating, but that's what defines us. Everyone is so prim and proper elsewhere that they don't really see the fun in life. We see fun in every nook and corner. It's what makes us US. I think Lee Chong Wei is proud to be a Malaysian. I'm proud to be a Malaysian. And I'm sure you are too (if you're Malaysian lah).

Notice his hair? Cool innit? Feast your eyes buddies!

A New Beginning

The title is supposed to sound cheesy. You see, it IS a new beginning. And what a way to start by saying I'm going to Germany, right? 

I guess I have AFS to thank for that. If it weren't for them, I'd be spending the rest of my New Year wallowing in boredom and stuffing chocolate ice cream up my face. But then again, where's the harm in that eh?

So, let me recap 2012. (Not like there's much anyway) New Year's was a so and so affair. Drank some coloured water and ate a few chips. Exactly my type of supper. I then proceeded to share my resolutions with my family, or so I would like to believe. I stopped making New Year resolutions since way back then when I miserably failed at fulfilling them. I yada yada yada-ed and pretty much lazed around.

That is, until I got an email from Kak Azreen saying we had an orientation camp. My first response was Yes, YES, YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! I won't rot no more. 

The camp was held from the 6th to the 8th of January. Of course, I was all butterflied and nauseous at first. I mean, I didn't know a single person and I was to mingle with them for 3 days. But it turned out amazingly well. 

I went in scared and came out with 30+ friends :) HAH, beat that! And some of them even knew my circle of friends. Doesn't the world work in mysterious ways? On the last day, everyone was a lil sad to leave. There were much hugging and goodbye wishes.

And I learned a lot too. About my trip to Germany, I mean. I now know to EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED! Which, of course, the volunteers kept chanting above our heads. Now that's something I'll remember for life. We had loads of group activities, mostly centering on communication. There were also a couple of games, Bonnie being the very least respected among the rest.

I haven't really got much to add, considering I'm just writing everything down today when camp actually ended on the 8th. Memories aren't the best things when one completes SPM. I need more time to reboot it. And in all fairness, I'll just keep on procrastinating :)

Oooh! Before I forget (again), I met Tun Dr. Mahathir. And at Watsons too! My sister and I joked that he was looking for deodorant. Dear me, I hope no politician would stumble upon this. And so, I rushed up to him with a donkey grin plastered on my face. Kept mumbling 'Hello sir' over and over again. Couldn't help myself. When I shook his hand, I told myself I wouldn't wash it till forever. Sadly, I inconveniently or rather, conveniently forgot when I NICELY lathered my hands with some lavender smelling soap after a scrumptious dinner. Oh well, I'll see him again. I hope.

So this pretty much sums it up for now. I'll write more when I get creative and an inkling to scribble somewhere. But first, here's a TEENSY picture that best describes my camping experience. I wonder why it's called a camp though. I don't remember sleeping in tents..

See how everyone is making funny faces??