Thursday, February 12, 2009
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
The banana leaf.
Please note : I have edited this blog with grateful feedback from... a READER!! swowzer
Today, like most days, I ate some food.
Dr. Dion's wife, Mel is having their sister's over so I decided to go for a walk, get some fresh and and some nice quiet time to myself. I was intrigued by an Indian restaurant that was serving some milk concoction and I had to try. Its called Padam Milk I believe.. very nice.. with cardamum and lots of sugar.
I was hungry too and it started to pour outside so I said what the heck.. might as well make it a dosa on top. These Indian restauranteers are very persuasive. Their grim smile beckoning me to come in always gets me or at least leaves me feeling quite guilty for just passing by.
Dosa on a banana leaf. Delicious as always. Banana leaves are excellent plates. You don't have to wash them like porcelain plates and they don't waste the environment like paper plates. After I finished my meal I wiped my messy face up with a tissue, deposited the tissue onto the banana leaf, and folded the leaf over. A normal act one might think. Normal if you fold it the right way! After seeing this the restauranteer, looking stunned, quickly wrote my bill and motioned me to the door. All of a sudden no grim smile. I felt like I was being slapped asian style (through silence). When I first came here I didn't pick up on the anger through silence method but after being in KL for a little over three months I've started to pick up on such things.
So what was wrong with what I did? Luckily a friendly patron, as always, was there to witness the event of my foreigner faux pas and all to eager to point out my mistakes. I didn't fold the banana leaf over in the right direction. Supposedly if you fold it away from you it means you were happy with the meal and if you fold it away you are very angry because you feel you were ripped off.
Perhaps Asians should try tipping in their restaurants. Money speaks much more than folding banana leafs.
Nota Bene (Edit) : M. Riley was so kind to point out that I said you fold the banana leaf away from you in both cases whether you are angry or happy with the meal. This is obviously wrong. To be honest I can't remember which way is the correct so I suggest you do what I will do if I find myself in the situation that I am eating from a banana leaf in a kind man's restaurant... wait until someone else folds their banana leaf over and replicate what they do. (p.s. if you follow my advice you will never have to read a book on etiquette again)
Today, like most days, I ate some food.
Dr. Dion's wife, Mel is having their sister's over so I decided to go for a walk, get some fresh and and some nice quiet time to myself. I was intrigued by an Indian restaurant that was serving some milk concoction and I had to try. Its called Padam Milk I believe.. very nice.. with cardamum and lots of sugar.
I was hungry too and it started to pour outside so I said what the heck.. might as well make it a dosa on top. These Indian restauranteers are very persuasive. Their grim smile beckoning me to come in always gets me or at least leaves me feeling quite guilty for just passing by.
Dosa on a banana leaf. Delicious as always. Banana leaves are excellent plates. You don't have to wash them like porcelain plates and they don't waste the environment like paper plates. After I finished my meal I wiped my messy face up with a tissue, deposited the tissue onto the banana leaf, and folded the leaf over. A normal act one might think. Normal if you fold it the right way! After seeing this the restauranteer, looking stunned, quickly wrote my bill and motioned me to the door. All of a sudden no grim smile. I felt like I was being slapped asian style (through silence). When I first came here I didn't pick up on the anger through silence method but after being in KL for a little over three months I've started to pick up on such things.
So what was wrong with what I did? Luckily a friendly patron, as always, was there to witness the event of my foreigner faux pas and all to eager to point out my mistakes. I didn't fold the banana leaf over in the right direction. Supposedly if you fold it away from you it means you were happy with the meal and if you fold it away you are very angry because you feel you were ripped off.
Perhaps Asians should try tipping in their restaurants. Money speaks much more than folding banana leafs.
Nota Bene (Edit) : M. Riley was so kind to point out that I said you fold the banana leaf away from you in both cases whether you are angry or happy with the meal. This is obviously wrong. To be honest I can't remember which way is the correct so I suggest you do what I will do if I find myself in the situation that I am eating from a banana leaf in a kind man's restaurant... wait until someone else folds their banana leaf over and replicate what they do. (p.s. if you follow my advice you will never have to read a book on etiquette again)
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Madis' Thesis
I read a great paper friday night one of my friend's had written for his fourth year thesis. It was extremely well written. I had the complex ideas that a student of four years of engineering science possessed, but most of it was still accessible to a large audience.
I will write more about his paper at another time. I should probably seek permission first.
I will write more about his paper at another time. I should probably seek permission first.
Yogi East is Yoga West
Friday night, my yoga teacher, Dani said something that struck a cord in me. She was asking if I found a difference between the western style of yoga and her class.
I found her class was a good experience, but definitely not as intense. I found the concentration was more on doing the simple things right. And by right I mean in a happy manner. For example, whenever we entered a somewhat challenging pose, she would ask us to smile. I also found that her words the way she gave instructions must have been very practiced. In the past I found myself almost in a state of hypnosis while in a yoga session, but I always attributed it to being in an extremely difficult pose with blood rushing to my head... that sort of thing.
Thats not what is important. What is important is her feedback that she provided me about her thoughts on western style yoga. I think some of the most valuable information I can obtain here is not only new information about the east and how I was misinformed because of my preconceived notions about the east before I arrive, but how the east view the west.
She said that she found western style yoga aggresive. She is totally right. This last week I contacted a malaysian web hosting company and gave them words about what I thought of their technical support system. If this happened in a non-business setting I would have told them it was crap, to f- off, and that I will be telling people about the poor service I recieved, and that I will be discontinueing my service.
I see no problem with this. I think directness can be a virtue. I guess choice of words really does matter. The west percieves themselves as direct. And the east as their inability to be direct. The east values their own nature of kindness, politeness, hospitable. And percieves westerners as having inability to display this nature. The west is aggresive and the east is indirect. Should we not pass our judgement of the other because they don't belong in their respective paradigm? I disagree. The best way for all of us to improve is to analyze what works and what does not. Sometimes being direct is necessary. I may have hurt this poor malaysian web hosting companies feelings but if they had taken the time to listen to what I was saying the could have really improved their company.
Feedback is extremely important for improving the quality of a companies product. Even if an angry customer is an idiot... they have a point. It makes me want to go work in an IT support section at some company with a reputation for horrible customer service.
Back to yoga. Asians look at yoga in a very nice way. It is practicing how to put yourself in to hard situations and maintain them with grace. I read that while reading a blurb in this poster advertisement at the rock climbing place I was at. They were trying to make the connection between rock climbing and yoga. I think it is a great way to look at both activities. Another reason I like them is because they are individual actions. Why I like running. I find team efforts are necessary (like playing soccer with fellows from my complex) because they provide a way for you to learn a lot about the people around you... and have them learn things about yourself.. .but that the same time it can be very frustrating. Because it is an activity involving other people, its success is also dependant on those people. Success meaning, did I enjoy the activity? I found there were several people that love to just kick the ball all the way up the court, or dribble the ball themselves all the way up the court and then slam the ball into the net (reminds me of a book I read about a connection between italian soccer players and the courtship process) it was very hard to participate in this process. On the other hand, others would concentrate on stealing the ball from the other team, or passing the ball around and trying to make moves/pass the ball around in attempts to discieve the other team, or create chaos and repeat the benefits. Some people had a much more intellectual way of playing the sport. I had a much better time playing with these people.
I guess I am done for now.
I found her class was a good experience, but definitely not as intense. I found the concentration was more on doing the simple things right. And by right I mean in a happy manner. For example, whenever we entered a somewhat challenging pose, she would ask us to smile. I also found that her words the way she gave instructions must have been very practiced. In the past I found myself almost in a state of hypnosis while in a yoga session, but I always attributed it to being in an extremely difficult pose with blood rushing to my head... that sort of thing.
Thats not what is important. What is important is her feedback that she provided me about her thoughts on western style yoga. I think some of the most valuable information I can obtain here is not only new information about the east and how I was misinformed because of my preconceived notions about the east before I arrive, but how the east view the west.
She said that she found western style yoga aggresive. She is totally right. This last week I contacted a malaysian web hosting company and gave them words about what I thought of their technical support system. If this happened in a non-business setting I would have told them it was crap, to f- off, and that I will be telling people about the poor service I recieved, and that I will be discontinueing my service.
I see no problem with this. I think directness can be a virtue. I guess choice of words really does matter. The west percieves themselves as direct. And the east as their inability to be direct. The east values their own nature of kindness, politeness, hospitable. And percieves westerners as having inability to display this nature. The west is aggresive and the east is indirect. Should we not pass our judgement of the other because they don't belong in their respective paradigm? I disagree. The best way for all of us to improve is to analyze what works and what does not. Sometimes being direct is necessary. I may have hurt this poor malaysian web hosting companies feelings but if they had taken the time to listen to what I was saying the could have really improved their company.
Feedback is extremely important for improving the quality of a companies product. Even if an angry customer is an idiot... they have a point. It makes me want to go work in an IT support section at some company with a reputation for horrible customer service.
Back to yoga. Asians look at yoga in a very nice way. It is practicing how to put yourself in to hard situations and maintain them with grace. I read that while reading a blurb in this poster advertisement at the rock climbing place I was at. They were trying to make the connection between rock climbing and yoga. I think it is a great way to look at both activities. Another reason I like them is because they are individual actions. Why I like running. I find team efforts are necessary (like playing soccer with fellows from my complex) because they provide a way for you to learn a lot about the people around you... and have them learn things about yourself.. .but that the same time it can be very frustrating. Because it is an activity involving other people, its success is also dependant on those people. Success meaning, did I enjoy the activity? I found there were several people that love to just kick the ball all the way up the court, or dribble the ball themselves all the way up the court and then slam the ball into the net (reminds me of a book I read about a connection between italian soccer players and the courtship process) it was very hard to participate in this process. On the other hand, others would concentrate on stealing the ball from the other team, or passing the ball around and trying to make moves/pass the ball around in attempts to discieve the other team, or create chaos and repeat the benefits. Some people had a much more intellectual way of playing the sport. I had a much better time playing with these people.
I guess I am done for now.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Accesibility in Kuala Lumpur
I learned an incredible thing the other day. I thought it was incredible. There are these patterns on the sidewalk. Sort of plastic lines with bumps on them running parallel to the sidewalk's edges. They are sort of yellow and previously, I had mistaken it for a norm that exists in Canada - urban modern art (i.e. art in the city that takes a form of the city, serves no purpose.. not necessarily is asthetically pleasing...and looks like it should server a purpose... first thing that comes to mind is that odd steal beam at leslie and sheppard (in toronto.. (ahh nested brackets) ) that really looks like it is (or was) there for a reason.. and not until somebody told me it was modern art did I realize it was indeed not serving a purpose) Back to these yellow plastic lines with bumps on them. Another reason I thought they were art is because they blend in with all the other muslim style medieval arabicesque stuff (like mosques) going on. But no!!! they are not useless art!!! They are there so that blind people can put their canes on them and guide themselves (so to not accidentally walk into traffic and such) Kuala Lumpur actually cares about accesibility! Go KL!
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Pictures
I have posted some pictures using flickr.
They were mainly taken during two foot treks through KLCC and Lake Gardens Kuala Lumpur.
They were mainly taken during two foot treks through KLCC and Lake Gardens Kuala Lumpur.
Encik
My Bahasa teacher's wife had a baby on Thursday!!
Well actually I think it happened as the class was Wednesday and he said they were planned for a C-section.
Nonetheless, being nice, he still took me out for a coffee after class. Actually, we went to bank to fix his credit card, then to internet store to update his E-cosway subscription, then out for a lassee.
(he doesn't drink he is muslim)
Sooo.. multi-level marketing. I have heard about it three times since I've been to malaysia. Once this couple from New Zealand was trying to convince this health product multi-level scheme, second my bahasa teacher, third, after I brought this up to Dr. D (guy I'm staying with's ) friend. He mentioned he lost about 500 USD.
I think it could work. On internet. If it wasn't scheme. It should work solely on adsense. Not require a subscription fee or any other fees. People get their own page. They market their page through whatever means, data, music, art, widget... and they make money off their page through adsense and get a commission of the people they refer.
Well actually I think it happened as the class was Wednesday and he said they were planned for a C-section.
Nonetheless, being nice, he still took me out for a coffee after class. Actually, we went to bank to fix his credit card, then to internet store to update his E-cosway subscription, then out for a lassee.
(he doesn't drink he is muslim)
Sooo.. multi-level marketing. I have heard about it three times since I've been to malaysia. Once this couple from New Zealand was trying to convince this health product multi-level scheme, second my bahasa teacher, third, after I brought this up to Dr. D (guy I'm staying with's ) friend. He mentioned he lost about 500 USD.
I think it could work. On internet. If it wasn't scheme. It should work solely on adsense. Not require a subscription fee or any other fees. People get their own page. They market their page through whatever means, data, music, art, widget... and they make money off their page through adsense and get a commission of the people they refer.
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