Hello hello !

One of the most gratifying things in my view is to be able to communicate with someone after a long period of separation. And that's exactly what I did last night. Sitting at my desk, I had the sudden urge to call someone back in Malaysia. I didn't really mind who it was; it would just be refreshing to speak with someone from home.

Call number 1: Tan Jia Huey. Jia Huey was my class VP while I was President in that ever so awesome Lower 6 Azam class of 2004. Thinking of her brings back fond memories of my last few months in Klang before departing for the States. I recall that she was elected (despite her reluctance) to the VP position by the big group of Convent girls in the class. She did an excellent job though. I remember the preparation for our Hari Kantin; Jia Huey's assistance in coordinating the different foods which the class would sell was ever so helpful. But it was not just class matters which Jia Huey reminds me off, but the group of friends whom she brought along with her would later on be some of my friends whom I would establish bonds with. There was Pinky, or Capt. Pinky as the rest of the group would call her due to her authoritarian nature; there was Pei Sim, ever so mindful of her facial complexion; Jia Yong, the math wiz of the group; and Lee Kean whom was at times the absent-minded one. Throughout the few months which I spent mingling with them, we had barbecue at a birthday party, occasionally left school during the last period (which was a free period), had dim sum the Friday before I left, and a lunch at McDonalds about four hours before I left for the airport. Fond memories...and I shall always cherish them.

However, my call to Jia Huey did not go further than a "Hi" and "Bye" because Ms. Tan was in the midst of driving. So I said I'd call back some other time. Ended the Skype phone call and dialed another number.

Call number 2: Sook Mei, Yong. Sook Mei is also another friend which brings to me memories of home. I did not spend as much time with Sook Mei as I did with Jia Huey's gang, but Sook Mei was one of those friendly faces I would see every morning before assembly. I would walk over to her class everyday to chat with the Lower 6 Gigih bunch, and Sook Mei would usually be one of those who could spare the time to chat. Shanmugam, my partner in crime, and I would occasionally drive out of school after assembly for some breakfast at Moden, the mamak stall in Chi Liung, and we would bring back some roti canai or tosai and stuff for Sook Mei and her buddy, Chee Unn.

The phone rang a couple of times and Sook Mei picks it up.

"Hello? Hello? Hellooo.... Hel-lo!"
"Sook Mei! This is Andy!"
"Andy?! Ei...you spoke Malay just now is it?"
"Malay? No, no...I didn't say anything in Malay"
"Oh...I thought I heard something...but anyways...hey! How are you?"
"Hahaha...I'm doing great...and you?"

And a 45 minute long conversation soon followed.

Sook Mei tells me of her university studies in Sungai Petani (or S.P.) as she calls it, and how the mamak there is not good, but the ice kacang is soooo big! And it's only RM 2! And so I say, "Ok, ok...don't have to make me feel jealous" (for I am drooling in my mind). We talk about my life here, I tell her that I would be going back next June for holidays. She asks if she should inform everyone else. I tell her that I'm buying everyone mamak when I get back. We talk about our friends, how she didn't know about the flood in Johor till she got back from S.P. She laughs at Chee Unn being stuck in Johor due to the flood. I say,

"Sook Mei...tch tch...you're sooooo bad!"

And she mischievously replies, "Hey, have to laugh at her a bit mah...you know la...how people say Johor will never get flood, but now got flood d."

I smile to myself. That's the same Sook Mei I left behind two years ago. We talk about my going back home. She checks her calendar to see if she would be down in Klang during that time. I playfully beg, " Sook Mei...after two years...can you not just make a li---------ttle time for me?" She replies, "Of course I will come and see you. But I have to see when I'm free." She has her finals and the bus ride to Klang takes 6 hours. "Bus ride?" I ask. "Ya la...I don't have car over there." "Oh...I see." She then proceeds to tell me about the accident which the bus she was riding in almost got into the last time she came back. And she slept through that near encounter. She heard the story from her friend later on.

Things like this brighten up my day. Just to hear a voice whom I have not heard for some time. Just to be reminded of home. To be assured that there are still people who know me. To gleefully anticipate the time when I will be back home. To wonder what the changes are; over there, and in me. But I patiently await, and look forward to returning home.

Sook Mei and Andy