Leah Robinson
Student Writer
As a British citizen who lives in Thailand, I have experienced a lot of travel, especially since coming to the States to study at Messiah. Being a part of the Messiah community is wonderful, but it can also provide some very amusing questions from other students who are curious about where you’re from, your accent or quirky rumours about where you have lived. This column is meant to provide a humorous flavor of what it’s really like to be an international at Messiah, how you can get to know internationals more and why international students are a valued part of the Messiah community.
A group of Malaysian students at Messiah practicing for the International Banquet this Saturday.
An interview with the “Malaysian Mafia”:
(Natalie Moey, Kucha Ganeng, Toby Mea, Shung Yen Tan , Junmey Wang, Phoebe Chua)
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to talk to the Malaysian Mafia? Are you scared of how to approach the pack? Curious about their day-to-day lives? After getting through multiple levels of security (including guard dogs), I was able to have a talk with certain members of the “Malaysian Mafia” themselves. Their humour and voices blend together in this exclusive interview at an undisclosed location on an undisclosed date this year.
What started the “Malaysian Mafia”?
Kucha: Rukshani Perera and she’s not even Malaysian.
Shung Yen: Cam started it.
Phoebe: Junmey started.
Who is the ringleader?
Kucha: Bryan Leong or Camillus Anak Nahar.
Should other people be scared?
Toby: Yes, strength in numbers. No eye contact allowed at any time even in emergencies.
Natalie: And if you insult Malaysian food we will force feed you Singaporean food. We will put you in curry and eat you whole.
Junmey: Why force feed them when we can eat them whole, right?
Shung Yen: Don’t compare Malaysian food to Singaporean food!
What reaction do you normally get from other Messiah students when you enter a room?
Phoebe: Another Malaysian.
Shung Yen: Urgh Malaysians.
Toby: In every class I’m in there’s, at least, two Malaysians.
Junmey: FEAR.
Shung Yen: Do you speak English? (When walking into Witmer) How do you say hello in Malay? My response: urgh hi!
What do you guys do when you hang out?
Phoebe and Toby: Eat and talk about food, nothing else… really.
What should the public do when approached by such an intimidating bunch of hooligans?
Junmey: Bow down and feed us.
Toby: Submit to our dominance and hand over your homework.
What are the most frustrating questions you receive about your country?
Natalie: Do you speak English?
Phoebe: How do you speak English so well?
Toby: Is that near China? Is it in China?
Kucha: Do you live in treehouses?
Junmey: You have a great Asian accent!
What would you like to tell people about your country if you could?
Shung Yen: Our country is great so come visit us and eat our food.
Junmey: We speak three languages, how many do you speak?
Toby: Take the time to get to know us, we are very intimidating but just come up and say hi, pick us off one by one.
Natalie: We’re not all the same, don’t stereotype from one encounter.
What’s something we can be taught about Malaysia?
Shung Yen: We may have our differences, but we still have our joys and differences. We are one but not the same.
And finally……
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ3tB1UO1hM