To Dwell in Possibility

I
 made this list shortly before I left. So more than one year later, here are the results...

After nearly 11 months in the country, I consider myself pretty Malaysian. Here's some of the habits/ ticks/ words I and other exchange students have picked up that have made us "Malaysianized"

You know you've been Malaysianized when...

• You know when to use lah, leh, lo, lor, meh, and ma all correctly
• You know the pros and cons of using DiGi, Maxis and Celcom
• Why do like this meh? is a completely okay question to ask
• You don't go out if it rains. Or even the day after it rains if it's a bad storm. Actually the rain stops all plans, and who wants to deal with the jam anyways??
• You think of KL people as city folk
• "We see how first" are words to live by
• You know the words for eat and tea in Tamil, Malay, and a few dialects of Chinese
• Complaining about how hot it is while soaking in the aircon/ fan is a completely justifiable way to spend a day
• As is going on facebook, twitter, and 9gag for 7 hours straight
• School holiday? Sleep until noon
• You know you should be studying but instead go on to twitter to complain about how much homework you have to do
• Shaving is optional
• You know at least 1 Malay and Tamil song
• You know whether to call someone "anne" or "abang"
• You'd rather call a women that looks slightly older kakak than deal with the consequences of calling an older looking woman that's young mak cik
• Arguing with the taxi drivers to use the metre isn't so difficult
• Crossing a busy street? No problem, use the hand
• You know how to use chopsticks and eat with your hands
• You've slowly forgotten how to eat with a knife...
• You get scolded by the prefects for not buttoning your baju kurung 
• You know what food stall at the canteen has the best food on what days
• There are people in your class that speak better English than you
• You know exactly what drama went down on twitter last night
• You always take a Chinese friend with you to eat dimsum because the dimsum women always try and rip you off
• People back in the US don't understand your English
• It's really hard to understand a non-Malaysian accent
• It's really difficult to form an English sentence without using a Malay or Chinese word
• You've used the phrase "special discount untuk mat salleh boleh cakap bahasa melayu" countless times
• You get really angry when someone thinks you're a tourist
• Hearing someone talking about you in Malay and approaching them and saying saya boleh faham bm is the best. thing. ever.
• You've never watched a Korean drama but still know what's going on in at least 3 of them from your talkative classmates
• It's second nature to bring tissue with you everywhere
• You've learned to not be offended when a Chinese or a Malay auntie tells you how fat you've gotten
• Whatsapp is crucial to survival
• You can't go more than one week without eating roti canai or nasi lemak...
• ... or one day without eating some form of nasi
• You can tell how sweet the teh o ais is going to be based on the race of the pak cik or mak cik that makes it
• You know what night market is open when and where
• You feel vaguely uncomfortable when you're in a new place and the call to prayer goes off and it's not the one you're used to
• You can tell what app someone is using on their phone based on the azan it plays
• You know what the call to prayer sounds like on at least 3 different radio stations
• You start to spell things the British way
• You know and taste the difference between Malay and Chinese char kuey teow
• You know which way to fold and your banana leaf and what it means after eating banana leaf rice
• Everyone goes to you with their problems because they know you don't know the names of anyone in school still
• Life without roti scares the crap out of you
• The GE is all you can talk about
• You laugh at the amount of political flags hanging up
• You still don't know the name of two girls in your class
• You know the LRT and Monorail system better than your host family
• The Starbucks baristas know you by name because you hang out there so often
• Malaysians know more about American pop culture than you
• You still can't recognize school people when they're not wearing their uniform
• People start ridiculous rumors about you (I DID NOT MOVE TO CHINA FOR 2 WEEKS)
• It doesn't phase you when you find out it was your English teacher that started the rumor
• You're tired and lazy all the time
• Going on a run is literally a joke
• People keep telling you the rainy season sudah pass but it still rains everyday
• There is no such thing as too much milo
• You started saying going back to America instead of going home, because Malaysia is home
• You don't know if you have friends/ who your friends are back home, but that's okay
• The thought of leaving Malaysia makes you cry. Really, really hard.
• You know that you'll be back one day!!