Migrating to Australia Good meh? review

Before this book, all I know about Australia are rugby, Uluru, kangaroo, koala, great barrier reef, great outback, Sydney and of course Lynas. And I also know it is the place where Malaysian parents love to send their children to for study, besides UK. Basically, what I know is that Australia is a good place for visiting, and like many other hypocritical developed countries, Australia also sets up their hyper-polluting industries in developping countries.

Not that I am considering moving to Australia, I knew about this book because the co-author Ken Soong, sent me a free copy of it. Around a month ago, Ken Soong contacted me via Facebook and email me a free copy of the book. He notice me first through my blog, more specifically the one I wrote about Liang Wen Dao giving a speech before last year's general election in Malaysia. First of all, I am extremely flattered that my blog caught his attention and also honoured to be able to make his acquiantance. But when I got the copy of the book, I honestly felt obliged to read it and give my sincere opinion as if it was my duty or so. Rarely I feel forceful to pick up a book, that is why it took me quite some time to finish the book eventhough it is merely 150 pages long. 

I am a bit ashamed of myself by feeling forceful to read the book. Not that the book is bad or what, it just doesn't concern me very much. As a foreigner living in France for a certain amount of time, I do share many of his ideas. So the book speaks of many things which fundamentally I already knew. To sum up the book in one sentence : the moon isn't always rounder in other countries, emigrating is a huge decision and we should take time to weigh different aspects of it carefully. 

Enough of the negative comment about the book, enough of me complaining about my first world problem. A tool rather than a literary work as I would consider it, the book does serve its purpose very well. Very informative, and it provides also many links for further research. Plus the authors are residents there, through the book we also get to know what is it really like to live there in Australia. Not exclusively from their point of view, it also includes interviews with other Malaysians living in Australia to provide us readers more different opinions. Eventhough I said before it is not my type of book, but I did learn a thing or two from it, like the one I remember vividly - the existence of a strange trafic regulation called "hook turn" in Melbourne.   

Set up to be a book about migrating to Australia written by Malaysians for Malaysians, the language used resonates very well to a Malaysian. The authors slip in from time to time some words like "lah", "mah", "meh", and make it casual and familiar for Malaysians to read, as if the authors are infront of you talking to you. As one had already noticed from the title of the book, there is a "meh" there.  

So in the end, it is a book that serves its purpose and certainly a book worth reading for those who considering migrating to Australia. As for now, the book doesn't concern me. But at least one day if ever I or somebody else I know want to emigrate to Australia, I know from now on where to find the necessary information. As for the question : migrating to Australia good meh? After reading the book, Australia might be a good touristic country, but to live there, not so appealing to me.

Opss, also worth mention is that Ken Soong has a Youtube channel, find more about the book on his channel and also on the Facebook page.
https://www.youtube.com/user/gandhigujarati
https://www.facebook.com/MigratingtoAustraliaGoodMeh

Duty or dream?

When I posted a video, “Open door to solitude” (https://vimeo.com/86651195), my friend commented : is duty or dream more important? Honestly, I am not sure about the answer either.

In fact this very question haunted me once. It was when I was deeply depressed. My girl dumped me, my godmother diagnosed with terminal cancer and two of friends died in a tragic car accident, I was so lost at that time. I didn't see the point of continuing what I was doing, not sure of myself, of what was I to be. And it was during this time that a friend I had knew from travelling offered me a chance to go travel around the world on foot with him.

Travel around the world is my dream, and it still is. During that lowest low of my life and given this irresistible offer, I was so tempting of leaving everything behind, away from civilization and did what I had wanted the most, or at least what I felt like I needed the most for that moment – an urge of change, an urge of fresh air. But I am a student under government scholarship, I have a bond, a contract. If I abandon midway, I have to pay back the scholarship. And if I can't afford, my parents would have to pay the humongous debt.

If I was really that crazy and left for the my dream, it would be a disaster. I would drag my parents into my deep shit hole, and that is just irresponsible from my part. When to pursuit your own happiness means suffering for other people at the same time, that is just wrong. That is a cowardly escape from the real problem.

Sometimes you need the right moment to pursuit your dream at your fullest. For me, that moment was not the right moment. Now when I look at the update from my friend in the middle his tour around the world, I always wonder what would have happened if I chose to go with him. I feel no regret and I am just glad that I didn't go fully crazy at that time. I even feel proud of myself for my choice. Duty or dream? In this story, it should be responsibility first. For me, it is very simple and clear : my parents are my sole responsibility because of a simple fact – I owe them my life.   

Falling in love with Kathy H

Graceful is the first word I thought of when I saw Kathy H in the movie Never Let Me Go. I can't ignore the fact that she is portrayed by Carey Mulligan, Carey's beauty adds a big plus to the character. But Kathy has such softness that makes her so beautiful within. If Madame wants to know whether she has a soul, I can assure her that she definitely has one, and a magnificent one too. She doesn't talk much and keeps her feelings to herself. She always puts everybody first thus makes her a good carer. 

When I watched the scene where Kathy was listening to the record Tommy just bought for her, I was so drowned in the atmosphere set by the scene. I am not pedophile or what, but when she was hugging a pillow and swaying gently alongside with the rhythm of the song, that was just so adorable. The song has the same name as the movie and it fits the scene very well too. To my surprise, it is just a fictional song. Here is the interpretation of the song by Jane Monheit.

  

The only time she couldn't hold her emotions within her was when Tommy discussed with her about the "deferral". She was waiting for a confession from Tommy, but in the end nothing but disappointment. When she said : Tommy..., with a trembling voice, she could not hold her tears anymore and rushed away. Her heart was shattered, I felt it and my heart was shattered too. 

I want to hate Tommy and Ruth so much but at the same time, I understand that whatever they did to hurt Kathy isn't pure evil, they are just human. Ruth is just jealous about the love between Kathy and Tommy, while Tommy was offered physical intimacy when he was the vulnerable. 

The ending is just so so sad. 

  

Ski addiction

Finally I am able to ski relatively fast and that adrenalin rush is proven to be a true addiction. Recently with the Winter Olympic games coming up, french medias keep broadcasting live events. Watching athletes skiing is just tingling my nerves. My feet are so itchy that only putting on ski and gliding down the mountains can ease them. My urge is so much that I had watched countless skiing videos on Youtube since yesterday, thinking that it would help me to quench the thirst.  

Among all those videos, these are the few good ones :

The third video is downhill ski racing. In fact, it is the only event in Winter Olympic that interests me. It is amazing how fast these downhill skier go and still able to maneuver around sharp turns with elegance. It is an extremely dangerous sport, one slight mistake you could be thrown off the hill. It is practically putting your life at stake.

Now curves I can do tend more and more to a perfect giant S and I am able to do some carving as well. Last time I skied, which was less than two weeks ago, I was able to ski down red piste with ease, while black was a bit choppy but still able to enjoy it. Steepness doesn't scare me so much anymore. What I am still afraid of are bumps, bumpy pistes, especially when they are both bumpy and steep. 

So much room still available for improvement.

A peculiar hobby

"My Hobby" is probably the most common essay title we had when we were young during the primary school. I am not sure whether it is true for other people around the world, but it is certainly true in Malaysia, where I grew up. And normally we would write about some very ordinary hobbies like fishing, collecting stamps, gardening, football, basketball, etc.. There is nothing wrong about these examples of hobby but they are just so commonly known to be a hobby. If a hobby is defined as some  regular activity you do for pleasure during leisure, then the following can be considered a hobby too. 

One of my hobbies is peeling orange or mandarin or clementine or anything resemble. What I am saying here is not just a simple peeling action. I like to peel the orange until it is totally clean of the white stuff which is called pith, which I just found out its name. It is not like I hate pith. I can totally eat them all together with the flesh and I know the pith contains a lot of fibers and good for health. But whenever I got time and whenever I got some oranges, I would peel them and try to get rid of the pith as much as possible.

The fun is not peeling the skin, it is rather easy to remove. Remove the pith is the major challenge. Again, I don't hate pith eventhough it has a slight bitter taste. But I cannot resist to peel them. No tools, no knife, just fingers. Of course with fingernails, peeling pith can be easier. Without, I would use my fingertip to gently rub off the pith. But the tricky part about using fingernails is to not destroy the very fragile membrane that keeps the juicy flesh inside. Once broken, the juice would burst out, then it is harder to remove the pith. The ultimate quest is an intact orange without a single bit of pith. 

Among so many citrus fruits, pith can be removed the easiest is clementine. The level of difficulty of peeling pith is also depends on the age the fruit. A fresh orange is generally harder to remove its pith because it is so juicy that the membrane is so easily broken and it is frustrating when it is broken. The pith of an old one can be removed without much effort but normally it tastes pretty bad. So everytime, I kinda have to make a compromise between the peeling difficulty and the taste. 

If you still cannot understand why I go through so much trouble to eat an orange, let me give you some analogies. Peeling pith is just like removing price tag stickers or like removing the plastic membrane on the screen of your new smartphone. It feels great when the price tag sticker comes off in a single piece. The sensation here is the same. When the pith comes off in a big chunk, it probably triggers off some endorphin and gives me a few seconds of satisfaction. For these few seconds, nothing more is needed. For these few seconds, it is bliss, a glimpse of heaven. 

I am sure that everybody has at least one or two uncommon hobbies of this kind. Like in the movie Amélie Poulain, it has this genius idea to introduce the characters by going a list of little things the characters like to do and dislike to do. If you watch like even the first 10 mins of Amélie Poulain, you will already notice a few little hobbies you have in common with the characters in the movie. For example playing with paper glue, popping bubble wrap, cracking knuckles, etc.. Like the following extract, Amélie loves dipping her hand into a sack of beans, cracking the caramel of crême brulée, and stone skipping.