how i met X :part 2

                she wore a dark coloured vest over a bright shirt, with hair not longer than her shoulder, tied neatly with a hairstick on her back. her fair complexion was made perfect by a distinct design of her half-framed glasses, it was with the pattern of a tiger’s stripe. this is it. this is it. i will talk to her. i walked over to the spot where she settled down, beside her bags and her foldable bike. i can still remember vividly, our first conversation after i walked over to her side.

“miss”, i called out, ignored.

“miss”, i called out, again, ignored.

“MISS”, i called out, then, noticed.

she turned to me, politely returned my smile that i had on my face.

“hello, where are you from?”

“hi, i am from taiwan.”

“ooh, i see...what is your name?”

“my name is X.“

“aah...my name is faiz.”

and that is how i met X. some moments later, she asked me, is ‘faiz’, an islamic name?, to which i answered yes. it is obvious to me that i am the first ‘faiz’ she ever met. this is followed by her comment, that i took it as a compliment, that i look a bit chinese, to this i only replied that i might have chinese blood running in my veins. we talked about a lot of things, what she do, where she’s from where she’s going, and all. i also told her about a lot of stuff, what i am studying in school, what i was doing in penang.

she told me that she’s a teacher, teaching about theology, or is it christian theology, in a seminary. she’s on her way to a forum about theology in hong kong. i am amazed, honestly, i always have my utmost respect for people who always go for knowledge. there’s this one point, she asked me about muslim mosque’s architecture, the circular dome that makes the major part of a roof of a mosque. i told her that a dome is not an obligatory to a mosque, there are mosque that doesn’t even have a dome on top, but a muslim mosque nonetheless.

realising that out topic of discussion was a bit heavy for a newly made friend i tried to talk about other things. i noticed that she has this hairstick on her that i dont think i ever saw any malaysian woman wear. “i love that thing you have on your hair. that looks soo...oriental”, i said, pointing at her hairstick. “this one, haha...you know, we can use them as chopsticks, as long as we have a pair of ‘em”, she replied jokingly. for a moment there i thought it was for real. a pair of hairstick used as a chopsticks, now thats a good one.hahaha...

last, some conversation filled here, i’ll not go into the detail, but its safe to say that shes one of the most intelligent person i’ve met. i managed to get myself to asked her to exchange our email addresses. moments before we parted, i wanted to take photos with her, just for a reminder for myself how she looks like, i am really bad at remembering people’s faces, or even names sometimes. but, i just couldnt ask her, i don’t know why, its like the hardest thing to ask for back then, i regret that, maybe its because of the logic i had. i hope i doesnt forget her face.

from early in the january 2011, up until this post is written, meeting her was the best thing that happened to me. i really hope that i can meet her again sometime in the future. o, yeah, i made her name as a single capital X because of no particular reason, i just like her name, i want to keep it to myself for some time and i will tell you readers her name in later post. ok? ok. haha...

  

MEDIA

a. her hair stick looks like this, but not exactly like this. it got some little ornamental beads hanging. LINK

b. i remembered her glasses well. like this one, but with a tiger stripes pattern. LINK

c. for part 1 on how i met X is here. LINK

how i met X: part 1

                 it was the third or the fourth or the fifth or the sixth time i have been to the island, penang, im not very sure, most of my trip to penang island was during my school days. this time, i got the chance to go to penang island to visit my aunt and uncle, and their beautiful trio of daughters. the trip was fun, it was okay. the best thing that happens on this trip was when i was on my way back to mainland penang from penang island via ferry, i met X.

                it was very calm at the ferry terminal. everybody was waiting, i was waiting, some were blonds, others, blacks. some were pale skinned blue eyed tourist, while a bunch of others, were tanned skinned, dark eyed local. i was thinking about talking to some of the blonds there, but i dont think it was the best time to talk to people, they seemed so unease, i’ll wait till we get on the ferry, with the sea breeze, the ocean waves and all, that ‘ill be a good thing when people chat over things.

                we boarded the ferry, some sat on the wooden bench, some take a look around, for a view of the sea, the port, the people. i was beginning to calculate my next move, trying to talk to a cute girl sitting next to me when i saw her, i saw X, of course, at this point, i didnt know her name yet. she went to this side of the ferry, then to the otherside of the ferry, holding a digicam with her, recording the view as she pleased. she walks with such elegance and pride that i felt overpowered just by seeing her. she got this vibe that tells everyone that watches her, that she's not local, not a malaysian, no, and not just a tourist, she's an original traveller. i recognized her, i saw her earlier, before i reached the ferry terminal, but i’ll tell this one later.

                soon, i realised that i must talk to her, i feel that all the western and european backpackers there on the ferry are nothing compared to her. i got up and asked the cute girl sitting next to me to keep my bags company for a while. before i saw X on the ferry, i kept thinking about asking the cute girl her number but i resisted from doing so, she's just an ordinary cute girl, so i’d go for the slightly mature woman who seems to be very intelligent, X. i went to this little stall there to buy a bottle of water, and made my way to X.

to be continued...