of language, stuck door and super heroes

I won’t say I am proud of this but Haqim speaks very little Malay. But he just rang me up and attempted a full conversation in Malay. It went something like this; (but remember to read with a slight God-knows-what twang.).

Haqim: “ Mom, roti emm, tinggal emm, du-wa keping”.
Me: “ oh really?” – not realizing he was determined to pursue that in malay asked further, “you and adam ate the bread?”
Haqim, “ ermm , no, saya saje”
Me: “why are you speaking in Malay?”
Haqim “nak practice saje. Aunty Nadia (his teacher) kata”
Me: ‘ ooo’
Haqim : then gushed out excitedly, “oh mom, did you hear about the stuck door today??”

And there goes the Bahasa conversation.

Actually, he had already told me about the stuck door earlier in the day. In English. Apparently, the classroom door got stuck today and he and his friends, Aunty Nadia included, were all “trapped” inside. This was how he related the incident to me.

“ Mom, today our classroom door got stuck and we were all trapped inside Mom..!”
“ Oh dear, so what happened?”
“Auntie Nadia had to shout from under the door mom. She tried to use a card but the door wouldn’t open"
“Were you scared?”
“Nooo, but one of the boys was.”
“He cried?”
“No, he whined”.
“So then how did you get out? “
“Auntie Marisa. She rescued us Mom. With a screw driver. She’s a super hero..!”
“Oh wow..”
“Yeaaa…I think I;m going to call Opah and tell her that Auntie Marisa is also a super hero.”
“What do you mean?”
“Opah went to the flood and helped the people there. She’s a super hero..! “
“Oh wow….” (totally impressed and by then beginning to imagine if Opah will look better in the Catwoman or Wonder Woman suit….)

Kah kah…So there. My son is attempting to speak in Bahasa, which is great. And of course I am proud of Opah too, for being part of the adopting a vilage program in Johor. Just that super hero bit from my son gives it a different angle lah, that's all.

Meanwhile, me and hubby, known as Mama and Abah to my nieces and nephews, one day asked Ed, Haqim’s best bud –
"Adam, are your classmates mostly Malay, Chinese or Indian?"
"Only Malay and English."
"English??? That can’t be.."
"Yeesss lah mama...."
"And you are..? "
"Tsk - English-laa"

aaah...I should have known..his cousin Airis Sophia - she's English too..!