That One Time I Met a Canadian Guy Who Can Speak Bahasa Indonesia

This post was first published on April 22, 2015, on one of my older blogs. Decided to repost it here at Her Little Guilty Pleasures due to the reasons that I mentioned in this post.

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I have been freaking out about the subway lately and somehow, my memory of meeting a Canadian guy who can speak Bahasa Indonesia rushed in. I met this guy at a subway station, in case you're wondering about the relationship between the subway and a Canadian guy who can speak fluent Bahasa Indonesia.

That winter where I spent 3 weeks in Toronto.

Masa winter break first year, saya tumpang rumah seniors saya dekat Toronto selama 3 minggu. Merempat sekejap dekat tempat orang sebab time winter break tak boleh duduk dekat residence. Banyak benda baru yang saya belajar dekat Toronto masa tu. Banyak benda dekat Toronto yang buat saya excited masa tu.

Salah satunya, subway.

Saya tak ingat sangat masa tu saya nak pergi mana, tapi saya naik subway. Saya yakin dengan diri saya untuk naik subway masa tu sebab saya dah google semua benda. Saya tahu saya kena ambil transfer ticket, dekat stesen mana saya nak naik, dekat mana saya nak turun, dan dekat mana saya kena tukar line.

Tapi, itulah, kita merancang. Allah yang menentukan. Waktu saya turun nak tukar line, saya confused ke mana saya patut pergi. Saya tak nampak pun line seterusnya yang saya kena ambil. And I think this Canadian guy noticed my confused look. He approached me and offered his help.

"Excuse me, miss. May I help you? You seem to be lost?"

"Oh, it's okay. I'm not lost. I'm just confused. I need to go to this line as I want to go to X station, but I don't know where should I go to catch this line."

He pointed out the way and gave me a detailed instruction.

"Well, I think that might be a lot for you to process. I can walk with you."

"No, it's okay! You look like you're rushing. I think I understand your direction. I can ask other people if I'm lost or unsure."

"It's okay. I have few minutes to spare."

Maka, berjalanlah kami ke line yang saya nak tu. Borak-borak sikit. Masa tu, dia tanya saya dari mana. Saya jawablah dari Malaysia.

"Oh, you're from Malaysia. Maaf, saya nggak bisa berbahasa Malaysia. Saya hanya bisa berbahasa Indonesia."

"Wow! You sound like an Indonesian." (Jaw dropped okay!) 

Dia cakap "Maaf, saya nggak bisa berbahasa Malaysia. Saya hanya bisa berbahasa Indonesia." without mat salleh accent! And he did not sound funny at all! Memang macam orang Indonesia bercakap. Apparently, he used to live Indonesia for few years. So, dia agak fasih. Tapi, dia cakap bahasa dia dah berkarat sikit sebab dia dah lama tak practice. And of course after that, dia keluarkan segala perkataan yang dia tahu.

Sampai dekat line yang saya kena ambil tu, we bid each other good bye.

"It was nice meeting you! I feel so happy as I get to speak Bahasa Indonesia today. Enjoy Toronto and Canada. Hope Canada will treat you well."

"It was nice meeting you too. Sorry for taking your time. Thanks so much for your help. Have a good day."

Then, he ran, super rushed to catch his subway. And of course, saya rasa bersalah sebab ambil masa dia. However, I am glad that I met him. Daripada dia, saya belajar yang ada je strangers yang baik hati, yang selfless, yang ikhlas nak bantu kita kalau kita dalam kesusahan. Dan, saya juga belajar supaya berhati-hati kalau nak guna BM dengan kawan-kawan saya yang lain. Malaysians yang saya kenal ada tendency to use BM when they (we) want to talk about someone. Ada je orang dekat luar sana yang mungkin faham apa yang kita cakapkan.