Aisatsu, Arigatou!

Dr. Sooi enters the classroom.

"Good morning, class," he greets us.

Only a few people mumble indistinct 'morning's in response. The rest of the class remains silent.

This has been the trend for the start of almost every class for the past 3 years of my university life. Some lecturers don't even bother with greetings anymore. They just get in and get cracking without so much as a hello.

It strikes me as such a far cry from our chorused "Selamat Pagi, Cikgu!" from our school days. No, I don't expect university students to stand up and shout "Good morning, Teacher!" in a singsong voice at the start of every class. But I would have thought that we could at least spare our lecturers the courtesy of replying to their greeting. It's a shame to say that the routine which we have repeated day after day for at least 11 years has made almost no infuence whatsoever to our adult lives.

Yet all hope is not lost. There are still a handful who feel the need to thank the lecturer after every class albeit unchorused and uttered personally as they pass by to leave the room.

This reminds me of the students in UiTM Penang. Like most universities, UiTM Penang provides buses to transport students to and from certain places. This service is free of charge and drivers are specifically employed to drive these buses. Although the drivers are clearly just doing their job, most of the students make it a point to thank the drivers when they get off the bus. This is an example of courtesy in it's finest. The students aren't required to thank the drivers, but they do. The drivers don't need to welcome the students, but they do.

And at times when I shake my head and sigh at the indifference of the people around me, I'm glad that I can think of the students of UiTM Penang with a smile.

Inanimate Gender

Something my Mom forwarded to me. Thought I'd share.

TIRES: Tires are male, because they go bald easily and are often over inflated

HOT AIR BALLOONS: Also a male object, because to get them to go anywhere, you have to light a fire under their butt.

SPONGES: These are female, because they are soft, squeezable and retain water.

WEB PAGES: Female, because they're constantly being looked at and frequently getting hit on.

TRAINS: Definitely male, because they always use the same old lines for picking up people.

EGG TIMERS: Egg timers are female because, over time, all the weight shifts to the bottom.

HAMMERS: Male, because in the last 5000 years, they've hardly changed at all, and are occasionally handy to have around.

THE REMOTE CONTROL: Female. Ha! You probably thought it would be male, but consider this: It easily gives a man pleasure, he'd be lost without it, and while he doesn't always know which buttons to push, he just keeps trying.

Boys Don't Cry

Men are from Mars. Mars is the Roman god of War. I don't think Men, as a rule, must be violent and full of bloodlust. But I do think that it should take a lot to reduce a Man to tears.

My father -- rock steady and solidly grounded. I've seen him outright angry. I've seen him excitedly happy. I've seen him valiantly masking his disappointment and fears. But only once have I seen him cry. He didn't cry when his father died. He didn't cry when we were so scarce of money we wondered how our family would survive. Only once in my whole lifetime -- long or short depends on one's perspective. Only once did my father succumb to tears and that was during a time my mother was so sick that she stopped breathing for a while.

To see a Man such as my father commit an act so innocent and common among their female counterparts -- too see any Man cry -- is for me, something entirely disturbing. It shakes the foundations of the ideology I have held on to ever since the time when I could understand the differences between males and females -- Man is stronger than Woman. Not necessarily better, not necessarily smarter. Simply that the extra Y in their chromosomes enable them greater physical strength and a higher resistance to tears.

So when my mother stopped breathing and my father's tears came, I felt like it was the end of the world. The unmovable mountain of dependability that my father represented had come crashing down with one drop of that saline seepage. Every worst case scenario I could imagine seemed about to come true.

Seeing my father's tears, something hardened in me. I took care of everything while my father took my mother to the hospital, all the while not producing a single tear myself. I would have taken care of everything even if my father had not cried but I would have sobbed and sniffled all the way. Deprived of my tears, I don't know how I looked while I comforted the youngest ones, Yusof and Betty Jane, and put them to bed. I wonder if I managed to put on the front that had crumbled on my father's facade. I hope I did.

My father hasn't shed one single tear since. I don't blame him for his moment of weakness. He remains that dependable mountain that shields this Daddy's Girl from everything undesirable. I hope I don't ever have to lose that mountain again. It is so scary when a Man cries. As a female, I can take up the reigns if a Man relinquishes his hold on them. I can even survive quite fine without a Man to take care of my life. But having a Man in front of me break down and cry....It will happen again, inevitably. I just hope I'll be prepared for that when it comes.

World Class University

I attend a "World Class University". Let me give you an insight on what that means.

There are too many students, too few lecturers. The optimum student to lecturer is 30:1. Classes often have up to 32~35 students. A bit too crowded. This is "World Class". The world is becoming overpopulated. Too many people, too little land, too few jobs, too many, too few...Just like my university.

Wireless connection is sluggish and flickers in and out of existence. Might as well have no wireless at all since we can't use it anyway. Most of the world does not have wireless connection anyway.

Roads are congested and pedestrians have difficulty crossing the roads. Most motorists care only about getting to their destination. The lack of a proper pedestrian crossing couple with the reluctance of motorists to stop or slow down and give way to pedestrians result in a fearful escapade of 'dodge the vehicle' each time one wishes to get to the other side of the road.

The classroom floors are garbage strewn. Despite the fact that most students are above 20 years old, they still to seem to not know the function of a garbage can aka rubbish bin. Which would be the case for the rest of the world as well. There is a reason why Singapore imposes such heavy fines for littering -- it's because most people just don't care enough to give a thought to where they put their trash. The fines provide that reason to care.

Being "World Class" doesn't necessarily mean a good thing.