PARENTING STYLE AND ITS EFFECTS ON PARENTAL RELATIONSHIP SATISFACTION

Have you ever heard of tiger mom? Roarrrr!! Well, it usually refers to Asian moms. There are three parenting style:

• Authoritarian
• This style put the parents in total power. Decisions are made by them. Some of us may not in favour of this style. However, some children opt for this style as they cannot make decisions for themselves. Thus, by having parents to decide for them, it makes their life easier.
• Permissive
• Basically, your parents just let whatever you do. You have the power lads.
• Authoritative
• This is the combination of both style. You and your parents share the power in decision making. They might guide you and you decide your choice.

Check this video ;)

Non verbal communication

Every countries have their own symbols that symbolize a lot of meanings including improper meaning and one country differs with one another. Non-verbal communication is always type of
communication that tend to give unintended meaning or become the main reason for miscommunication. In Malaysia, Muslim women and Muslim men will not shake hand with each other and sometime men will slightly bow to women as the symbol of respect. In addition, when Malaysian shake hands, they will not grasp it. They also shake hands using both hands and then they bring their hand to their chest as the symbol of “I greet you from my heart”.

There is something interesting about what Hanna has shared with us. It is about the greetings. The Filipinos usually shake hands when they meet formally. Some Muslims prefer to put their right hand at the chest as a symbol of respect instead of shaking hands.

According to Hanna, she was quite surprised at first when she saw how the Muslim families greet  each other during the early days she started living here. In Malaysia, the young one will kiss the hands of the elders which is similar to the Christians culture in the Philippines. In her country, the elder will be kissed one either on the cheek or on the forehead.

Food

Fooood!!! Yummy


I know everyone like food so much just like me. Now I will be talking about food in Malaysia.
Malaysia is so famous with hot and spicy food like Nasi Lemak, Asam Pedas Melaka, Masak Sambal and more. For your information, the most basic ingredients for majority of Malaysian cuisine or traditional cuisine are coconut milk, spices, and chili. In addition, it is normal for us to consume high calorie food during morning like Roti Canai and traditional desserts such as kuih seri muka, kuih talam, tepung pelita and so on.

Normally, Roti Canai will be eaten together with curry, anchovy’s gravy, or dhal gravy .Different with Nasi Lemak , the rice is cooked with coconut milk and normally it will be eaten together with egg, fried anchovies, condiment, Rendang or any other side dishes that is suitable to be eaten together.

Roti canai

Nasi lemak

Hana's story

Being in Malaysia for the first time, I was shocked by the colour of the food. There's orange, red, yellow, white and black!!! I couldn't take it since all of them appeared weird in my eyes. I wonder how does it taste? So, during my early days in Malaysia, I just eat 'ayam goreng' (fried chicken). We do have colours in our food but I think Malaysia is more colourful haha. And it is my first time to see curry and oil floating with colours. Our food is usually dry. We do have soup but here is toooo much soup.

Another interesting experience is....the drinks inside the plastic tied with a rope. WOW! IT WAS COOOL!! Never seen one before. My friend even poured it out because she thought it was dirty.

KELAPA (coconut) and KEPALA (head). I cannot distinguish this back then. I once ordered a pau with kepala flavour. Of course I become a laughing stock haha. But it was a nice experience. So the people in the beverage stall was laughing at me as well as the students nearby.

Malaysia also has weird name for food. NASI HUJAN PANAS. I cannot remember others. Hmmm....

My story, your story, our story - Mevlana Exchange Programme.

I spent one semester, approximately five months, in Karabuk Turkey. It was a valuable experience that I couldn't get from anywhere else. The very first thing that shocked me the most is that they don't speak English. It was my mistake to assume and not to learn the language. My bad... I struggle within the early weeks to learn the basic Turkish. You never knew how fast you can learn a language when you were in that situation. I'm proud of myself. HAHAHA. From this, we know that the Turks value their language very much.

Turkish people like to drink chay (tea) so much. Be it morning, afternoon or night, chay all day looong. The tea is slightly different from the Malaysian tea. It is not sweet and we drink in a special cup like in the picture.

Whenever we tried to talk with the local people in Turkish, they would be delighted and served us chay and ekmek (bread).

The place that I stayed is a rural area where there were not much foreigners. When we passes by any shop, or riding a bus or buying something in the market, people would stare at us like they just saw alien and they will whisper with each other calling us yabanci (foreigner). Sometimes it is cool to receive attention like that, feeling like a celebrity once in a while but it was sooo frequent that made me feel inconvenient. But, all these memories are fun when you think it back.

If you guys have the chance to go abroad, I, with all due respect, encourage you to do so. It will open up your mind into a new world and your way of thinking wouldn't be the same anymore. Who knows what you might encounter? But it would definitely worth it. If you have any question about my experience there, do drop a comment and I will answer it ;)

My story, your story, our story - Malaysia Debate Open

Hye! We meet again here. Today I just want to share about my experience mingling with people from different culture and from different country. I am an English debater in International Islamic University Malaysia. I'm pretty sure you must be shocked if you see me in person. >.<

Ok.....Enough about me. I just want to share some pictures during Malaysia Debate Open. It is an Asian Parliamentary debate and open to everyone including internationals.

This is my Japanese friends. I can't really remember their names. Haha. Silly me. I can speak Japanese a little bit and they are so shocked and impressed when I speak Japanese with them. Well, knowing Japanese, they are so proud with their language. So, if you want impress them,try to speak in their mother tongue.

Haha. I am one of the adjudicators. This is my first time being an adjudicator and it is so challenging because I have to listen until all the speeches end (sigh) >.<

They are the winner for the tournament. The handsome guy at the right side is my debate trainer. His name is Syed Saddiq and he is quite famous today.

Well, in debate there are not so much formality and it's all about making friends and talk about current issues. If you want to be a debater, you need to know all of the current issues and you need to be critical in analyzing and you can't be bias. You will meet people from different culture and different background. You can't force them to fit into your culture but you have to respect other's culture and be open.

I hope you enjoy reading my blog. Toodles.... >.< 

Stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination

If you are living in a multicultural country,  one of the challenges  is stereotype. 

Most people like to label other based on stereotypes. Sometimes it is good. Other times it gives trouble. Let's have a look at these videos.

• Asian stereotype

• White stereotype

Hanna and her story

Hanna shared her story about how Muslims being discriminated in her country back then. Years ago, the Muslims had less privileges in job employment and education. They also could not wear hijab. Some were being bullied in school and were called 'terrorist' even before the tragedy of 9/11. She further explained that Muslims were being stereotyped as bad people that love to kill. This is because one of the tribes, mainly Muslims, always appeared in the local news causing uproar and disturbing the peace. However, as the number of educated Muslims growing day by day, they are now accepted by the society. She also shared the prejudice against  the Filipinos where most people especially the Arabs would think them as domestic helper. Due to this, some are embarrassed to mention their nationality. Hanna experienced this a few times in her life where she was called bibik (maid).

Hanna's stories had made us think back about ourselves. Have we done this to other? Are there times when we do it unintentionally?  This is something that we really need to check back guys. We sometimes tend to judge an individual based on the particular group he or she belongs to. Cultural identity is important but we must remember to appreciate an individual as they are. I believe that having stereotype is normal but we must be aware of it and prevent it from blinding our judgment towards an individual.

People often don't say what they mean...

...and they often don't mean what they say 

This happens everyday. We do this everyday. Don't tell me you're not part of it, eyh?

When I watch a video about "people often don't say what they mean and they often don't mean what they say", I laugh a lot because I do this every day and normally we misunderstood each other. In the video, Richard said to Mr Wong that they should spend some time together having lunch. Mr Wong said that he would enjoy it. However, even after a long time, Richard never asks Mr Wong which bewildered him. Do you know why this happen? Sometimes, in a certain culture, asking someone out for lunch later is a form of courtesy. They do not necessarily mean it. 

Sometime I used to say, “I would like to meet you again” while I actually just want to run from her :p .  In our culture, we also do like how Richard does. Sometimes we ask 'how are you', but we are not necessarily want to know his/her well being. It might be a sentence to start a conversation. Hanna also has shared her story to us. In her culture, if someone approach them while they are eating, they will say kain tayo (let's eat) even though they don't mean to invite them eating together. In my mind right now, I only can think of women. Do you know why? Check this out! >.<

Well, women are very complicated creatures, aren't they? Hahahaha. Not everyone mean everything they say >.< To the girls out there, do you approve this? What say you? Do voice your opinion.