헬로^^

2월19일 시작한다^^

여러분 안녕!

난 이지 또는 샤라고 불러줘

우리 블로그는 한국과 말레이시아의 문화에 관해서 많은걸 알려줄꺼야

이 두 나라의 비슷한 점과 다른 점에 대해 알려줄께 ㅎㅎㅎ

우리친구들이 이걸 보면서 많은 흥미와 관심을 가졌으면해 다음에 또 와!

(김성찬에게:해석해줘서 고마워)

Recipe #2- Sugarcoat

Hello earthlings! ^^
I hope you guys are having a splendid day!

Today's we are going to introduce fresh from the oven recipe #2- Sugarcoat

No... No.... No... Not this kind although it looks scrumptiously delicious (If you are alone, hungry and probably broke because of your excessive spending last month, I am extremely sorry for posting this picture and making you mentally screaming on the inside)

"people often don't say what they mean and they often don't mean what they say"?- Scollon

Upon reading this phrase, we can't help but to think of our beloved Malay culture and the fact that we are well-known on top of being highly expected to observe our "budi bahasa" or politeness from the moment we were born till the day we die.

This brings us to a lot of sugarcoating the core point or the basic understanding. It is rather polite and sometimes it is just the beginning of showering a person with compliments before you viciously chop them down into pieces. Nonetheless, the idea behind this whole concept is not that simple. We are sure you must have met some people who sugarcoat too much that they expect you to understand the intended meaning because it is just not polite to spill out the truth. This process can go on and on and on for weeks, months and even years. It is also quite funny the fact that we always have this one belief installed in our minds that things will get ridiculously awkward if we say things in a straight-forward manner.

(Problem: I need you to chip in some money for the gas)
A: Hey, you know, the price of the petrol is increasing nowadays.
B: Yeah, that's true.
A:You know...
B: Yes.
A: Nothing. It's great having you around.^^

The situation gets rather toxic when it involves the elderly. Sometimes we would just bury the bitter truth down to the grave and never speak of it again. This scenario usually happens when you go over a friend's house and the food don't mix well with your taste buds or the moment you have to agree to the elderly even with the invalid facts and contradicting opinions while you are raging inside.

Regardless of the cultural interceptions, ALWAYS say what you mean and mean what you say especially when you are apologizing to someone. 

Recipe #1- Perception

"People always see what they want to see, they don't always see what you see" -Pellegrino Riccardi

Hello beautiful earthlings! 

So today we are going to serve you a special menu based on this recipe called "perception". 

Perception can be like a mirror to your own preconceived reflection. 

Sometimes it's all about the mind and what you think and what you want to see regardless of the apparent black and white. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMyofREc5Jk

Watching Mr. Riccardi's fruitful sharing about his intercultural experiences had our eyes glued to the screen while repeatedly nodding our heads in a synchronized motion. Never to forget the laughter that we shared while agreeing to the points. 

We would like to lay down one of Mr. Riccardi's many brilliant points that emphasizes on being "accepted and familiar". It is to adhere to different ideas understanding the variation of ways in executing a single action. For an instance, changing our eating style from bare hands to chopsticks throughout the time in Korea was relatively awkward at first. It was quite funny that some of our friends went over the moon whenever they saw a fork in a restaurant.

Regardless of the differences or in other words the colorful diversities that vary among people throughout this planet, it is a grievous sin to jump into negative conclusions especially in uncomfortable environment. The image of people staring at us throughout the subway ride is still fresh and evident at the back of our heads. Izzy was so scared that she thought those people were going to confront us and tell us to get off since we were wearing hijab until one of them came to us and told us that our hijabs were beautiful. We received buckets and gallons and trucks of compliments. We realized that some of the fears that we had were nothing but just an ugly combination of ridiculous assumptions and paranoia. 

You walk, you experience, you learn. 

Across the universe to MaSeoulPalette Cafe

(Izzy and Sha)

Izzy (not easy/eezy/izi/ etc..) is a 21 year old XX born and bred in Malaysia. She has always been a state hopper (started in Sarawak-Penang- Kuala Lumpur- Kedah- now Kuala Lumpur) and spent half of her life acquiring different dialects as well as getting adjusted to the different cultural registries state by state. She could be defined by her strong enthusiasm in languages, good reading materials, poetry and music.

Izzy’s partner in crime, 22 (2016) year old Sha is a pure Kelantanese and currently pursuing Bachelors degree in ENCOM. Both Sha and Izzy were alumnus of Korean Language Institute in Sun Moon University, South Korea. Before we move any further, let’s create a room as to answer the big question. Why Korea? Her exchange programme over there somehow has opened up her mind about the uniqueness of a different culture. Living in a different environment, culture and social expectations had her realized that the basic tolerance and the act of trying to understand another culture unconsciously had granted her a lifetime priceless experience. The experience that she gathered had transformed her to be a more open-minded person now.

MaSeoulPalette is an initiative taken by two culture-driven roommates [Izzy and Sha] in the pursuit of venturing the colourful ideas of cultures, precisely between Malaysia and South Korea(대한민국) together with observing the intersections that might appear somewhere around the lines. Intercultural communication and the variations that come within is our cup of tea. We serve as a cultural café that welcomes all readers from different walks of life. Therefore, we are more than delightful if you could share your experiences with the rest of the world in our palette. So all you have to do is just to sit back, relax and enjoy reading while travelling with us^^