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ALUMNI
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MY TOEFL !
Bazuki, standing left, and classmates having all night out during their 2nd-year architecture studio class. Marc is sitting left on the couch.
Bazuki and Daughter Intan in front of the Louisiana State Capitol when he revisited his alma mater in 2017 while Intan schooling in Oklahoma.
Yupe, I failed my Test of English as a Foreign Language! So sad. I came to America for my college education. Twelve of us sat for TOEFL in Kuala Lumpur, then we flew to the Land of Opportunity. TOEFL is a requirement for foreign students for admission to universities in the United States. Most Malaysians passed TOEFL. Malaysians do have good English. Out of 12 of us, 11 passed, but one failed. I was the one that failed! Luckily I was already in Louisiana, or otherwise, I would not be flying to the US for my Louisiana State University’s (LSU) experience. All my 11 friends started their classes. I was left out. I went to Allen Hall, registered myself for an English class for beginners. I hated the class, but I scored 505, just 5 points above the passing mark of 500. Alhamdulillah, I started my architecture classes, the classes I was supposed to be in. But, being a Kelantanese, I had limited English. And being in Louisiana, it was even worse, people here speak their own Southern accent. Now, it’s a real problem. In class, I could understand only a few words of Southerners! I changed my mindset. Now, I just want to understand the language, not speaking the language. Speaking the language was way too ambitious for me.
I mixed with the local people, hoping by listening, I will get used to the way they speak. I decided to work at a cafe - cleaning toilets, mopping floors, washing dishes. Great, here I managed to listen to the way they speak, and “beautifully” I could ask them to slow down when I can’t catch them. After a few months, I became quite comfortable, mixing with the real Louisianians, and more importantly, I started to understand the language. I don’t care about me not being able to speak, as long as I can understand, I am happy. Surprisingly, after a while, without realizing, I was able to speak! I learned that understanding the language makes it easy to speak the language too. It was beautiful when they laugh at my jokes... Hey, “ain’t it cool they no more no understand” my jokes in a foreign language! Dating helps. Arguing, fighting, shouting - does improve when you have to yell at each other. From the cafeteria, I had a bit of confidence and decided to apply for a job at a newspaper. Hey, we are talking about a newspaper, where it is fully English. From Daily Reveille and Gumbo in Baton Rouge near New Orleans, I went to Knoxville in Tennessee to shoot for Knoxville Journal and Maryville Times. Then I took a long “leave” from being an architect while experiencing my “Thinking Eyes” for 17 years with Reuters. At Reuters, I covered from President Bush to Olympics, Formula One,
MotoGP, Afghanistan, tsunami, and Hajj in Mecca. Well, from failing TOEFL, not understanding a word in class, cleaning toilets to mix with locals, and finally having enough of a foreign language at least to be able to make a living, is a “syukur” for me, not bad at all! I must thank my good friend Marc Couvillion for being there, during those years when I was struggling with the “atmosphere” which was just too foreign for me. And during my seven years of schooling, I refused to go again to the Allen Hall where I had to sit for my English class. True, I never stopped at Allen Hall even though I had to walk past the building every day to get to Atkinson Hall where my architecture school was. And also Allen Hall is just across from my photojournalism classes at Manship School of Journalism. But finally, in 2017, while visiting Daughter Intan schooling in Oklahoma, I went back to LSU and pushed the door of Allen Hall, walked to the basement, and smelled my classroom... which was just still the same! Having a second language does NOT make me less Malay. ~ Bazuki is a creative person. An architect-turned-photographer, Bazuki enjoys Thinking Eyes - picture making and graphic designing. Bazuki is the Class of 1990, School of Architecture, College of Design. Bazuki lives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Bazuki is at bazuki.com.