"Family" Talks

18th March 2008, the St. Patrick's Day was celebrated at Trafalgar Square yesterday. About twenty of  my "family" members were there for the celebration. I did not turn up as promised because a friend from Malaysia suddenly gave me a visit on that day.  I apologized to my "family" members for not able to join the fun. Well, I hoped that I had not disappointed anyone. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The "family" members were not related to each others, however, we were living under a same roof, a five-story building in central London. We were from different parts of the world. The people who were living here were family oriented and quality individuals. We normally would have our snack time in front of a TV around 9.00 p.m. everyday. We were very close to each other, and we shared our daily stories, food and something interesting about our countries. It was interesting enough! We just treated everyone like brothers and sisters. We had different education qualification. We were lawyers, associate professors, real estate agents, medical doctors, world travellers, students, cooks, waitress, drivers, cleaners, programmers, nurses and many others.  We were young!  It was a combination of graduates from the Ivy Leagues universities to high school dropped out. We were international compatible, having dreams, and we were fluent in English.

We had only a few Asians. We had only one Indian, one Malaysian, one Filipino and two Koreans. The Asians were normally quiet at a communication period except the Malaysian and the Indian. The popular communicators were the German, the Australian, the Canadian, the Italian, the Portugal, the Danish and the Belarusian. We had a few South African, Spanish, American and French. The "family" talks were not gossip, however, we exchanged ideas and cultures to know more about our country and ourselves. It was all about friendship. We had fairy tales, the success stories, Oxford University, Microsoft, Law, London Police Force, our family background, our parents, European Union, the country politics and etc.

The fairy tales started with Prince Charles and Princess Diana, the Denmark's Crown Prince Frederik and his Australian wife, Mary Elizabeth Donaldson, the Malaysian Princess and the French and .......

"Go! Mary! Go! Go! Mary," said the Australian. The Australians were very supportive on Mary and the Danish Prince's marriage. "They met at a Pub and Mary did not know that he was a Prince. All Australians  were very proud of her, a Tasmania lady," he continued.

We moved on to St. Peter's college, Jesus College and Trinity College at Oxford University. A handful of them graduated from there in Law, Art History, Geography, Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

"How did you guys get into Oxford? It is amazing, right? I just wonder what food you guys eat every day.  How can you be so smart?  I want to attend schools in Oxford too," said the Canadian.

"What are you eating? I am extremely hungry. Can I have some? " said the Norwegian.

"These are the cauliflowers and leeks mixed with tomato paste and extra virgin olive oil. Also, this is a cup of green tea with lemon flavour. You may have some if you would like to," said the Malaysian.

The TV showed the "Hairspray", and it had created a history for a resolution for the blacks on the dancing stage.

"This is my private trip. I would like to stay here because I love this place when I first check-in 3 years ago," said the Nigerian professor in Pharmacy.

Later, it was about the country politics in Belarus and Cyprus. They were not sure about their political stand. Are they joining European Union? Belarus is an independent country which has some relationship with Poland, Ukraine and Russia. Cyprus is an independent country related to Greco-Turkish relationship. The Belarusian and the Cyprusian were very concern about their countries' politics, and, they had reminded me about the relationship between Singapore and Malaya years ago before Malaysia achieved the independence from the British.

The German was very concern about her look, her dress and her career. She was the most popular lady among us, and she was an interesting lady. She was very hot. We loved her very much.