I know i have al'd posted an entry today...but i jus feel like writin this down b4 it leaks away from my poor memory. Hehehe...having finals now...shud be studying...but as the chinese says:" Even when hanging urself by the neck you still need to take a breathe"
Em...this could be said as a continuation of my first blog, 'thick blood'. I apologize tat my first blogs has al'd bored u to death and u probably dun understand wat i'm talking bout anyways. Hahaha...but er, i still feel like saying it out. So bear with me...i dun blame u for not finishing it either! : )
Today...i went out for a normal family dinner at a coffee shop near where i stay with my parents and my lil niece. It was a familiar place where we frequented. First thing we do, is to find a good place to sit and ern ern, my niece in my father's arms pointed to her favourite place, a table right next to the aquarium tat contains a few fish. We were seated down and the waiter took our order. We ordered the famous taufu with pickled vege on top, a oil fried fish wit soya sauce and kangkung belacan for a nice dinner. Immediately, ern ern gestured towards the aquarium wanting my dad to carry her nearer to admire the fish swimming around in the rather murky water. The happy grandfather was more than willing. Then a restaurant staff excused my mother from sitting near the tank and took out a net. He caught 2 fishes in the tank and dumped them in a pail of water. b4 going away seeing tat my niece was still admiring the fish, he tilt the pail slightly so she could get a better view of it. Then he walked off with it. The murky water stood still in the aquarium...and my niece starts to look for the fish...Little does she knows tat she had jus bid the fish farewell...but she'll get to see it again very soon...on our table with soya sauce on it. Admittedly, i was taken aback by the reality of it all...of course i know they had to kill a fish b4 they cook it. But...i mean, isn;t it a bit crude? I JUS saw it swimming in there and now it's sitting on my plate.
Imagine how it will be like in China? Oh boy...! The cut and gut out fish right in front of ur eyes...ah...u might think," cheh...m'sia pasar oso the same wat" but instead of jus fish...there are whole lot of things they slaughter in front of u...(do believe it tat they hang slaughtered dogs and rats like how we hang slaughthered chickens here.) As chinese as i am, no doubt i will be amazed and shrink at the sight...
Therefore, it makes me think, how 'chinese' are we in m'sia? No doubt, we have been influenced by the various cultures here. (acculturation-where we accept other cultures into our own yet at the same time maintain our own cultures...it only gets altered a bit) And this might shock u as much as it shocked me. If u think u r no difference with China Chinese, think again. While studying for my management subject, i came across a topic bout multinational companies doing business around the world. And when Subway, the sandwich bar opened it's first franchise in China, the Americans there were very happy..one even kissed the floor. Yet, the chinese were having thier doubts bout this 'gui-lou' place. While eating there, they didnt believe tat the tuna they serve is actually fish. Why? Becoz they claim tat it doesnt have a tail and a head. Yup...believe it.
By the way i see my mom pick through the remains of the fish...especially the head, i think it would be enuf for the gui-lous to throw up. Mainly becoz usually they do not see the whole fish while eating it..(fish sticks, fillet), nor do they when they eat pork and chicken. they always cut out the head and the limbs...yet, chinese here states tat the best part of the fish is the head...we even hav curry fish head and steam fish head.
So, how 'chinese' or how 'american' u r? Becoz the trend in M'sia is to wat we call Westernization...simply jus copying wat the west are doing. So many of us unconsiously have been influenced by the West. If not why r we so different from the chinese in China...dun we all come from there? (Chinese i mean) And why so many chinese nowadays dun even know how to speak their mother tougue? Only english or BM? Are we yellow on the outside and white on the inside? Or are we yellow in and outside?
I'm not suggesting tat we go back to China and learn our culture there...no, wat i mean is...look at how far we have become, yet, we hold principles and values a typical China chinese would teach their children...like...never to waste food if not ur future husband/wife's face will be the same as ur unclean plate, or never to tell lies if not your tougue will be pulled out...etc etc...sounds like old wives' tale ya? But if u look deeply, they all contain sensible morales. So, hold on to the valuable things tat only ur chinese parents could teach you...becoz i cant imagine wat will happen to the future generation...they might be jus like the Americans...never see a head or tail b4.
~Try telling this face tat her fish jus became dinner~
Obtained from Amy Tan's The Kitchen God's Wife
On my birthday morning, Grand Aunt asked me which chicken i like the best. I pointed to the one tat is my favourite. The one tat lets me feed her out of my hand. And later tat nite, Grand Aunt cooked a good dinner for my celebration...and to my horror...it was chicken.
(I recall this from memory, not her exact words ya!)
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