I'm going home!

I'm going back to Iran in the coming holidays for the first time in 4 years! "How could you stand being away from your homeland for 4 years?" people ask me. The answer is simple: My family has been here with me all this while! "No f***ing wonder!" they exclaim.

It's been quite easy being away from Iran for this long. To be honest, I don't miss it all that much. See, I'm the kind of person who doesn't really miss things or people.

For example, I changed schools several times when I was young, but I never held on to my previous school or friends. I always focused on making new friends at the new school. I remember spending weeks away from home at study camps during high school, but I don't remember missing my family. In fact, I got so immersed in the here and now that I sometimes forgot I had parents at all!

Call me cold-hearted, but I think it's a good thing. Missing things or people too much can keep you from moving forward in life. I once met a Malaysian girl who got a full scholarship to study in the UK, but didn't go just because she was too bloody emotionally-attached to her family!

The story of my leaving Iran for Malaysia is interesting. Iranian boys aren't allowed to leave the country after the age of 18 unless they complete compulsory military training for 2 years. I left the country when I was 17, only 10 days before my deadline! I remember looking outside the airplane window and thinking, "This might be the last I ever see of my country." Turns out I was wrong. I can leave Iranian borders this time because we paid the government to exempt me from this law.

It's winter now in Iran. It'll be nice to experience cold weather after so long because all we get in Malaysia is heat and humidity. Most Malaysians have never seen snow or experienced four seasons. They don't know what it's like to come back home after a long day and not be wet with sweat down to your underpants!

I'm really looking forward to seeing all my relatives again. I bet they'll notice so many changes in me, both in terms of physical appearance and personality. I bet I'll notice all the changes in them too. I was shocked to see how my nephews and nieces have grown when I saw their photos recently.

I'll also take in all the little changes in an Iran that has moved slowly ahead, from the new towers and subways to the way chicks dress!

Obviously, the one thing that won't have changed will be the buildings. The rooms and corridors of our old house will definitely take me down memory lane and remind me of the good old days.

I'm expecting to get more fluent at speaking my mother tongue. Having dealt with so much English over the past 4 years, I now use some English words in my sentences when I speak Persian. I'm also expecting to hear a lot of new funny words and expressions that have entered the slang while I was away.

Be Positive!

One of the obvious things about Westerners is their positive attitude. It's like you can see the reason behind the success of Western nations in the attitudes of their people. They carry it with them wherever they go.

For example, you tune into Australian radio stations and they keep saying what a lovely day it is. They crack a lot of jokes and create a warm and happy atmosphere. They do discuss problems and bad news as well, but they never let it ruin the good mood.

During the time I spent with the two Germans earlier this year (see my internship weblog), they never talked behind anybody's back. They only spoke of their good experiences here in Malaysia and avoided negative topics as much as possible.

"Successful people don't become positive following success. Their optimism is one of the big reasons for their achievements."

The humble American

Last week I attended a briefing for a group of students including myself who are leaving for a science centre program in December. The Director of the department organizing the program was an American man named Jamie.

I haven't met many Americans, but despite the common belief that they're arrogant, Jamie was surprisingly humble. During the briefing he didn't talk about himself much. Instead he gave a lot of credit to his team members. After the meeting, he socialized with some students, politely introducing himself, learning their names and saying he was looking forward to having them on the program.

We could tell that sometimes he did this on purpose. Maybe it was part of his job, or maybe he derived personal pleasure from being nice. But whatever the reason, seeing him so modest felt good anyway. Nobody likes arrogant people, even if their status justifies their conceit. We all want to be around people who are successful but unassuming.

I had a chat with Jamie after the briefing. He said he'd been in this line for 20 years. Interactive science museums started in North America in 1969 with one in San Fransisco (where Jamie is based) and one in Toronto. Later it spread to other continents. There are currently 10 such centres in Australia and 2 in Malaysia. Jamie has been to several countries around the world, helping them establish thier Centres of Learning.

I think it's a great idea to have experts from developed nations lead Malaysian teams. If developing nations were to be overly patriotic and independent and try to learn from their own mistakes, it would take them forever to catch up with the West. Jamie is leaving Malaysia in two years. By then the people he supervised will have learnt how things are done and will be prepared to take on his role.