Salam wrb,
Today I had the chance to visit the long houses near my school. My school's teacher's day celebration will be held this friday. The teacher who is assigned to prepare the students' performance asked zul and I if we could help to train the Year 5 students for Tarian Ngajat. One of the most important thing that the students need is a costume. I don't think they'll look nice to perform in their PJ shirt. Therefore, last friday, before the kids went back for the weekend I had asked them to bring the clothes on Monday.
However, as usual they always have 'reasons' not to bring the costume. So, today we went to 6 long houses to collect the costumes that we need for the dance. At the beginning all I want was to drop the kids, wait in the car, and then quickly zook off to another house. But then, some of them had problem to convince their mums that cikgu will take care of the costume. Thus, I had to go to their house and ask permission from their mummies to borrow the costume for the dance.
One of the problem that I faced was I had trouble understanding what these mummies are trying to say. I had to ask the girls to translate them for me. All the time I was in the house I had the urge to say "aku na nemu jako iban" = I don't know how to speak Bahasa Iban. When we were in the car the girls keep on saying " kesian cikgu tak pandai cakap bahasa iban. cikgu belajarlah cikgu". All I did was smile. Korang ingat senang ke nak belajar bahasa baru? Ingat magic boleh pandai ke.. haha...
Anyway, everything went well for the first 3 houses. I didn't get any nasty look, just curious looks from the residents of the house. Then we went to the fourth house. Flo***** went into her house to get the costume from her mum. Suddenly, an uncle came to my car. I was like.. uh-oh what should I do now? We shook hand and he wished me selamat hari guru. I said thank you with a puzzled face. I racked my mind trying to match this face with a name. Then, he asked the magic question "Kenal saya tak?" "Err.... tak kenal"I said. He was taken aback by my answer. Then he said "saya tuai rumah". Okay that was when I panicked. Great Afifah, you don't know that he is the tuai rumah. I quickly apologise to him. But I think I was whispering when I said sorry.
I hope he does not feel kecik hati. I am a bit afraid. So, dear friends where ever you are. If there is a ketua in your community you should make the effort to know this person. In my case there are more than 10 long houses around my school. I should not be ignorant with my surrounding. From today onwards I should make an effort to know the community I am living in.
Okies, till then, wassalam
Today I had the chance to visit the long houses near my school. My school's teacher's day celebration will be held this friday. The teacher who is assigned to prepare the students' performance asked zul and I if we could help to train the Year 5 students for Tarian Ngajat. One of the most important thing that the students need is a costume. I don't think they'll look nice to perform in their PJ shirt. Therefore, last friday, before the kids went back for the weekend I had asked them to bring the clothes on Monday.
However, as usual they always have 'reasons' not to bring the costume. So, today we went to 6 long houses to collect the costumes that we need for the dance. At the beginning all I want was to drop the kids, wait in the car, and then quickly zook off to another house. But then, some of them had problem to convince their mums that cikgu will take care of the costume. Thus, I had to go to their house and ask permission from their mummies to borrow the costume for the dance.
One of the problem that I faced was I had trouble understanding what these mummies are trying to say. I had to ask the girls to translate them for me. All the time I was in the house I had the urge to say "aku na nemu jako iban" = I don't know how to speak Bahasa Iban. When we were in the car the girls keep on saying " kesian cikgu tak pandai cakap bahasa iban. cikgu belajarlah cikgu". All I did was smile. Korang ingat senang ke nak belajar bahasa baru? Ingat magic boleh pandai ke.. haha...
Anyway, everything went well for the first 3 houses. I didn't get any nasty look, just curious looks from the residents of the house. Then we went to the fourth house. Flo***** went into her house to get the costume from her mum. Suddenly, an uncle came to my car. I was like.. uh-oh what should I do now? We shook hand and he wished me selamat hari guru. I said thank you with a puzzled face. I racked my mind trying to match this face with a name. Then, he asked the magic question "Kenal saya tak?" "Err.... tak kenal"I said. He was taken aback by my answer. Then he said "saya tuai rumah". Okay that was when I panicked. Great Afifah, you don't know that he is the tuai rumah. I quickly apologise to him. But I think I was whispering when I said sorry.
I hope he does not feel kecik hati. I am a bit afraid. So, dear friends where ever you are. If there is a ketua in your community you should make the effort to know this person. In my case there are more than 10 long houses around my school. I should not be ignorant with my surrounding. From today onwards I should make an effort to know the community I am living in.
Okies, till then, wassalam
3 comments:
if we find it hard to learn a 3rd language,
mcm tu kot our students feel about learning english...
it's like an alien language to them
but since we are so used to english, we think that the studens should find it easy too...
entry ni sgt menyedarkan saya...
it's been 1 year I have mixed with the ibans.
from my experiences the Ibans are friendly but yet they are stubborn. Haha.
So don't worry about doesn't know who is who. They don't mind. They are good at play time but a little bit lazy on working. Hehe.
Anyway its good to know these tuai rumah(s). They could help you when you got problem. Anyway, the problem is when they invite you to their house. Try to make 1001 excuse not to go. Hehe.
syada: oh, good point syada. never thought of it that way actually. true la... it's not easy even when i am immersed in the jako iban surrounding.
paiz: pah dah masuk dah rumah diorang. takde pape pun. setakat ni diorg sediakan air tin ngan jus je. cume jangan pergi selalu sangat. it may not be a culture shock for girls. it may be for guys. hehe... sekarang ni orang kantin pah asyik ajak gi umah dia je.. huhu... asyik nak kene kasi alasan je.
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