May be? May be not?

FB reconnects me with many friends around the globe..and I always wonder how does it feel to be away from home for so long like them. In the recent trip to Dubai, we met another Malaysian friends working there..and like others, they share their experience working in foreign land.

I would say that my brother's departure to oil land is a different situation.. I guess he made the decision partly because he knows that our parents are in the good hand of the remaining siblings back home; abang, nami & myself (puji sendiri)
Can I be like them? I don’t think so.. (penghijrahan kawan2 ke Kulim pun sudah cukup meng'teruja'kan kan saya) And I remember having sleepless nite when other half were reconsidering the Bahrain's offer. Why not? Let me see, my list goes like this:-

1) Called me old fashioned but I need to be surrounded by family..my parents, brothers, sisters, in laws, nephew nieces.. I already spend many years fulfilling the 'educational' requirement..and it's time to stay put (think I made the right decision not accepting the Aussie offer lepas SPM dulu )

2) Majority of the people working abroad says "we dont have our family here, our friends are our family"..so if everyone practice this, what happens to flesh and blood punya family? Saya mahu jadi the orang yang tinggal itu yang dapat both family & friends..

3) They quote "..technology keep us connected" .. but to me, Skype still won't be able to walk your sick mother to the clinic..

4) For some, it is partly an advantage having to skip many rounds of wedding, kenduris, birthdays etc. That is why they have ample time to have holiday in other country, weekends fill with gathering, bbqs with other expat etc. Balik kampung (Malaysia) is just like a must annual trip.

5) Another plus point from my fren in foreign land "Our children will be independent, and meet people from different corners of the world." Yup, this will partly influenced one upbringing,..but I prefer (again) to be surrounded with love..(ala. dah besar nanti bule jumpa/keje ngan omputih gak cam saya.., hi hi..). Quote from newspaper cutting which feature my brother:-
“..Besides that, they actually expose their children to challenges no words can describe nor books can teach, but eventually this will make these Malaysians more tolerant and better strategists, to avoid failure and the unlikely consequence of survival in a foreign land..”

*wait a minute.. who says by staying put not challenging enough? Malaysian education system is still more exam/paper based which make it harder compares to practical/project based in other country...*

6) One said “..observe FOREX for this currency against ringgit, the rate is going up.. !!you should consider working here Nana!".. looking at the glass half empty it would actually sound like this "..wishing the ringgit is going down". (Tak baik tau, orang2 Malaysia pun nak gi jalan2 oversea jugak, kalau ringgit jatuh it means higher cost for malaysian).

7) Kat oversea tak ada asam laksa yg sedap macam kat Malaysia!!!!

8) If everyone’s going off shore, KL will end up like Heathrow airport (full of Indians) and Dubai (Pilipino). Bibik2 dan mat2 bangla will surely dominate the city!. ( It’s OK, I know there will still people like me and mat salleh foreign like my boss to be here..)

9) Ada orang cakap “..ala Nana tak mau pegi mana2 coz dia nak parents dia look after her children..” eerrr.. just cant find a better way to explain this, nanti kena hentam lagi ~(Thank you mak & bapak for taking care of my kids)

There I said it. My mouth are just too heavy to say the above whenever my expat friends ask me or other half to consider working abroad..This is my stand for now. I may have DIFFERENT opinions say 2, 3 years (or may be faster) down the road. Mana lah tau there’s a big opening (i.e Bagi Porshe sebijik, mansion sebelah David Beckham ker? Atau makcik laksa buka cawangan kat New York ker?) Who knows I may just leave everything behind and fly!!!! But I hope if that happens, I will be rich enough to bring my family (parents, parents in-law..) along.

Rasanya kalau mampu, let those foreign land remain as 'holiday destination' ajer la..

Pics: Desert Safari dinner in Dubai..memang best! Tapi to think of seafood dinner kat Muara Sg Duyung Melaka tadi, (to be exact; ikan bakar, sotong celup tepung, butter prawn, sweet sour..) phuh!..