Today i'm at a seminar being held in my town, with the subjects being colon cancer and mental health. My MIL asked me to come along, sayng it would be good, i could learn something. I sort of said i would and encouraged by the fact that they would be speaking in English, here i am.
I didn't wan to come because i didn't want to plan with ex. It's always hard to do that. I'm so awkward and uncomfortable with him, just asking if he wants a coffee is difficult.
But i did plan, at the last minute which is never a good thing, because his mum was really keen for me to come. So i'm really here because she wants me to be here, not because i really want to be.
And although she was sure it would be in english, it is not. It's in malay, a language i only know a bit of. Don't bother to ask me why, after living here for almost 6 years, i still do not know enough of the local language to understand what is being said here. I will put forth a barrage of excuses such as, all the people speak in a local slang anyway, i didn't have time to learn it to "i have an emotional block thst makes it impossible for me to learn a language of the country where i feel trapped. I have many more in case you dare to ask. All of them are just excuses and really i should be fluent in malay by now.
So, ipad in hand, connection to the hotel wifi established, I'm off to translate any visual presenttions they provide so that i at least get something from my 4 hours spent here.
And guess what, i'm not the only one who can't understand malay and mandarin -my MIL can't either and she was born here. She speaks hokkien, a chinese dialect and was educated in english when the British were in charge.
NOT JUST ME
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