Trivia...

1.

(During lunch in the student lounge, in Japanese,
with a mature PhD Japanese student whose kids are in their twenties)

Y-san: So you make your own bento everyday?
Me: Yes, I have to cook for my family anyway...
Y-san: Your family is with you? Must be tough then...
Me: I have two kids, boys. It is not easy, but I don't mind the extra chores so long as we get to be together.
Y-san: But it must be hard to handle both studying and caring for the family...
Me: That's why I am here in school - can't get anything (academic) done at home...
Y-san: What about your reading?
Me: Most of it done on the train...
Y-san: Sugoi ne, yokudekimashita...
Me: Oh, there's no such thing - I just do what I have to do...

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2.

(With Amy, who's currently pursuing her Masters in Sydney on FB)
Amy: A.Z. I dreamt of you last night
Me: Good dream, I hope
Amy: Oh, it was a good one. You came to my home, in Sydney, with other friends, and we caught up on old times.
Me: I hope your dream will come true
Amy: Me too
Me: I've never been to Sydney yet, hehehe
Amy: Must be I was ralat sangat that we did not get to see each other when I was in Tokyo, sampai termimpi-mimpi jumpa u...

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3.

A friend shared her experience as a volunteer Bahasa Malaysia teacher in the UK for expatriate Malay kids under 7 years old;

"... puas kita cakap "A untuk Ayam"
dia org jawab ramai-ramai "Noooooo, A is for Apple"
kita kata ye la that's for English but for Bahasa Malaysia,
A is for Ayam
2-3 orang lagi pula kata
"Teacher, that's not Ayam, that's Chicken!!!
CHICKEN, TEACHER!!!!"

ada mak ayah bagitau
anak dia eja buku, "booku"
ni dah balik Malaysia dah la ni..."

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4.

Closer at home, Yam's 9 year old daughter, Khadijah Najwa scored all A's in her mid-year exam except for BM.
Yam told me, one of Khadijah's sentence read as:
" Jovan dimarahi kerana mencuru tuan punya epal"

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5.

SMS from Fauzee, a fellow PTD who is currently pursuing his MA in GRIPS (and already has 2 girls before the newborn arrived) read as;
"Salam. Alhamdulillah saya telah dikurniakan seorang lagi anak perempuan pada 16 Jun jam 9.36 pm"

The reply;
"Alhamdulillah. Omedetou gozaimas. Mudah2an jadi anak solehah penyejuk mata ayah ibu. Kirim salam kat Ailin, lepas ni kene tukar senduk aar nampaknya (^-^)v"

I said it, but I still couldn't figure out what on earth is the co-relations between baby's gender and cooking ladles?
(Mothers of all boys are sometimes advised to exchange ladles/spatulas with mothers of all girls and vice versa before trying to get a baby of the other gender...)