poor guys..

Today, I had the opportunity to talk to two interesting group of people, from two totally different cultures.

The first group of people I spoke to, were the guys from India. First we were talking about attractions in Singapore, then it went on to cultures in Singapore.. and then one of them mentioned about differences on the train. I thought they were going to talk about how clean and comfortable trains in Singapore are, and how dirty it is over there. But I was wrong. Luckily, I didn't say it out.

They told me that when an Indian guy goes up the train in India, and he opens up a newspaper to read, the people around him, on the train, can actually ask him for pages, that he's not reading. And so those people in the train, will be reading all the different pages of the newspaper.. it's shared. Mind you, they don't know each other. And when the guy wants to get down, he can ask for the pages back. I was like... REALLY??????????

So, when this guy first came to Singapore, and took the train for the first time, he felt awkward ignoring people, so he turned to the stranger beside him, smiled at him and said, 'Hi I'm Anand', and the guy next to him gave him a funny look and went.. 'ok..' heh.. poor guy.


Then, during the event dinner, I was seated with some people I don't know. Then one guy, he looked Japanese, he kept looking at me and suddenly he asked.. 'kamu bisa bahasa melayu?' And started speaking in Indonesian..

I told him I thought he was Japanese.. didn't know he is Indonesian Chinese.. He said, he IS Japanese. He has been in Indonesia for 2 months, and has been taking Bahasa lessons for two months now. Impressive. The other Japanese guy seated next to him, he explained, is stationed in India.. and he is suffering because there's no Japanese food, and he is still trying to adapt to the surroundings and culture and food in India. And most times, he can't understand the Indians.. especially outside the office.

To think that he will be there for another 21 months... poor guy.