great encounter...

early in the morning at 7 a.m. i received a message from ma, asking if i was awake yet... but of course i did not reply to that as i was still in la-la-land, and then another one came in after 15 minutes asking me out for breakfast. i think she finally gave up on waiting for me to reply her message, she decided to just call... finally i was woken up by the song that she totally hates by sean kingston, "beautiful girl" and i set this tone especially for her!

agreed to meet her for breakfast, oh wait, agreed to pick her up for breakfast actually... so yeah went through the morning jam, which wasn't as bad to be honest! i expected to reach at her place after an hour or so, since that is the common thing we malaysians go through every morning of the weekday.

anyway, finally got there and headed to FAM, as we were eating she saw my grandfathers good friend! yes, you read that right! it was my late granfathers good friend, Raja Che Zaitun "mak ungku". a woman who was 78 years old, on her own... choosing her own yong-tau-foo... dressed in her kaftan with her curly hair, and her strong physique. i was amazed, by just looking at her. mom approached her and asked if she remembered mom. mak ungku was rather excited, and said yes, yes i'll join you in a bit and so she sat...

they were asking each other loads of questions, i was just trying to keep up... mom told her that she was still in great shape, for a person her age, and she wasn't forgetful and all...

she said i should tell you a story, but i think you might think i'm crazy!! because my 4 boys, said i was...

mak ungku sharing her experience...

about 4 years ago, as i was driving on the road, out of a sudden i lost my memory... i had to stop the car at the side of the road and waited for at least 2 hours or so, as i could not even identify myself. slowly i regain my memory and made my way back home. the next day i went to the hospital, for a medical check-up and i told them about my situation. doctor discovered a whole lot of other things that was wrong with me, for a person of my age... and told me that my brain cells was slowly giving up on me. i was rather unsatisfied with the first check up i had to go for a second opinion, and was at university hospital, they came back with a worse report, as i was walking i saw ungku aziz, and asked him at his age how did he maintain his sanity? and not lose his memory and all? all he said was just to pick up some hobby that would make my brain cells work, which is to STUDY! acquire more knowledge.

... and so she did...

she was interested in taking language courses, so she was at a prestige institute and acquired more on that, but they told her they will not be able to accommodate her. for the fact that she is old and they did not want to jepordize the standards of the school!

as i was still determined, i checked out our local university, and uitm had offered these language course... and so i enrolled... i think the registrar, emphatized with my situation and agreed.

and now... after 4 years, i have learned 4 other languages... i speak french, spanish, german and mandarin. I KID YOU NOT! i was impressed with mak ungku's capabilities, half the time she was speaking in french and explaining it to us. she told us of her experience on her practical exam last year, she was in paris, she decided to do a cooking show explaining how to cook our famous "nasi beriyani" but in french, it was all recorded, and she was interviewed and covered in our local papers!

she kept us really entertained! i was in awe, i could not believe my ears, and eyes!! i was looking at a 78 year old woman, who was a linguist!! she wrote a beautiful poem for her lecturer for her exam yesterday and she recited it for us. WOW. i loved it. of course i can't explain it to you, but it seems like it's a part of her mother tounge. impressive. she also recited some parts of the quran as she said he had given lectures in london for the malaysians performing their umrah, she translated from malay-english-french... she was just happy sharing her moments and experiences with us... i think the rest of the patrons were also impressed by listening to her speak. i would have to admire her for her determination!

then she said to mom, this was the only way she kept her sanity, she had to find things that would get her brain cells active, and that is how she managed to not lose her memory... then she looked at us and asked, "you must think i'm crazy right?" i laughed and said no, not crazy think i have nothing but admiration for your courage and determination... it was such a great encounter. seriously, i guess if you really put your mind to it, you're able to achieve anything that you strive for, insyallah.

it was really pleasant meeting her... such a beautiful person with colorful personality, with vast experiences. that really made my day.