Happy Malaysia

so i decided to be a little more patriotic this year. there was this Project Happy Malaysia going on and there are over 30 bloggers involved in it. (me inclusive). unfortunately, i typed it all out last night and blogger bailed on me. so typical, i know.

anyway, i wrote a weird story last night. i considered writing another this morning, but i'm kinda brain dead right now. so here it goes again. my happy Malaysian story.

***if you knew me, you would know that every year i'd disappear for 2 weeks in December. i have this little retreat which i keep going back to. ask any ex-bounder and they'll testify that Outward Bound is addictive.

2 years back, was actually my first time as a course assistant. course assistants are volunteers who go to OB to help out.

90% of the staff in OB are malays. its not that im a racist. i just thought that it'd be hard to chill out with them for 14 full days - u noe talk their lingo and stuff.

then there's the Project Trust people, who are like exchangees from other countries. In 2004, there were 2 Scottish girls Kirsty and Helen. They were really cool.

that year, my charges were a bunch of spoilt 13-14 year old brats. my watch was divided into the Malays and the Chinese who bickered and argued over the most trivial issues. it was almost nerve wrecking when they start complaining to me, pointing fingers at one another.

OB teaches lots of silly songs and dances and all those other stuff u do at camps. there was this one song called Bumble Bee and it was such a nursery rhyme. seriously. if i sang it aloud outside the premises of OB, ppl will start staring at me. heck, even kids will start staring at me. but i guess when ure in a group, and there's no mtv or channel V, you pretty much sing whatever that comes along!

so there was this one night after night cap, a few of us were chilling in the dining area. Kirsty and Helen were there. so was a couple of instructors, tho i cant remember who. i remember Adrian, our MPCA (multi purpose CA) was with us. And there were a few of my participants. it was already the 5th or 6th day for the participants, and by then, most of us were pooped. fatigue was etched on each of our faces, eyebags puffed under our eyes. all of a sudden Kirsty leapt into the air and started singing Bumble Bee. and as if on cue, everyone joined in! the energy was electrifying because we sung it over and over, each time speeding up the actions and beats. it was so cool!

if you took a step back from the circle, you could see how 2 scottish girls, a handful of spoilt teenage malays and chinese, a couple of CAs from KL, and 2 malay speaking instructors from i-dont-know-where, just singing and dancing together. it was quite amazing!

this story has no beginning, climax nor ending. it has no protagonist whatsoever. in fact it's such a simple story. but i guess when i was there buzzing along with the rest of them to Bumble Bee, i really felt like i belonged. like everyone belonged. so as cheesy as this may sound, that was a truly malaysian moment. :)

***
this is kinda late i know...but i wasn't really in the mood to write somehow...hope it was worth a read anyway. *shrugs*