Skip to main content

Guess who??


My talented friend AmyHeidi's thoughts on language, culture, and tradition struck a chord with me. Being a product of mixed parentage, I could relate to her comments on how she never learnt the dusun dialect from her grandmother.

Its so sad isnt it when a tradition or language just fades away over time because its not passed down between generations... I'm equally guilty of this.

I am fortunate enough to be fluent in some dialects of chinese, partly due to my propensity for absorbing languages rather quickly, but largely due to the fact that my maternal grandma lived with us throughout my childhood and she only spoke chinese.

Much as I would love to pass down my chinese heritage to my children, it feels like an uphill battle and the way I'm going, I doubt I will succeed.

It saddens me to think that my chinese heritage will end with me...

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Migration Complete...

If you recall, sometime ago, I was toying with the idea of migrating to the wordpress platform. Today, that idea becomes a reality. The migration to wordpress is complete and all posts from today onwards will be at http://anakbrunei.org Do bear with me for the next couple of weeks while I figure out the ins and outs of wordpress hehe. This site will remain visible for archive purposes. Thank you and see you over at the new pad !

Body scrub, Brunei Stylie...

Attended a friend's bedak mandi (pre-wedding ceremony which involves a blessing by close family elders and a cleansing body-scrub) ceremony this afternoon and it brought back memories of my own bedak mandi all those years ago. What fun, a free body scrub performed by several family members, watched by even more family members! More pics here . Short rant: During the Microsoft Vista launch , both of us went in "business attire" as stated in the invitation. While trying to photograph the guest of honour, I was approached by one of the more seasoned photographers who asked me where I was from. I said I was an invited guest who happened to bring my camera. This is what he said to me, "Mana baju kot mu? Kalau jemputan duduk saja. Kalau mau buleh pulang ku panggil AO ni untuk membawa kau keluar." Yes, very Bruneian indeed matey. You could have just told me that its a requirement for photographers to wear a suit in the presence of royalty. No need to bite my head of...