What could have happened if?

Studying medicine in Al-Azhar University has been my dream since i was in secondary school.. I dunno, maybe it has something to do with the hype that was circulating among my teachers there..

It's the sole reason too, why i turned down my JPA offer to do medicine in Indonesia back in 2004, when i was in Darul Quran Jakim..

Sometimes it got me thinking, what if i accepted that offer? Maybe i would have graduated med school and work as a doctor now, instead of being stranded here having 3 more years to graduate.. Maybe my parents wouldn't have to spend so much money supporting my flight ticket back to Malaysia whenever i feel like going back home.

But i chose Al-Azhar instead.

I know that i have to live that choice by hook or by crook. That's why sometimes i feel frustrated and down by some particular things that occur around where i study [you know what i'm talking about] and take it out on Egyptians by blaming & belittling them as a result.

But not until a couple of days ago that i realized the silver lining behind all this..

You see, even though i practically live & study in a dump, i do feel this wonderful feeling whenever i went back to Malaysia during holidays.. I started to appreciate even the smallest thing that happens around here.

For instance, when i ordered some takeouts just now.. I was amazed by how fast they managed to finish cooking 4 different meals.. Waiting for 10 minutes felt like nothing compared to 30 minutes or sometimes almost an hour of waiting in Cafe Malaysia Hall Cairo.

I was psyched receiving 20 cent change after paying for stuffs that cost, say RM9.80 using RM10 note.

I felt satisfied when the cashier in hypermarket like Giant of Carefour did all the work for us, including putting our stuffs into plastic bags.

I started to appreciate the delightful feeling being blown by a light breeze in the evening (which a perfect for a short nap by the way..hehe)

I felt relieved when some cashier said to me that it's ok if i don't have small change, and that i can pay a four-ringgit stuff using a RM100 note.

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Those things i mentioned before seem negligible, but deep down in my heart i know that i wont be able to feel that way if i were to study in a waaaaay more developed country, like say, Australia, United Kingdom or United States.

I would look down on my own country and my own people, just because they are not as civilized, or as developed, or as polite as those people there. I would speak and act boastfully. I would belittle the standard of life in Malaysia, even though i was born and raised there for almost 20 years.

So i guess, i have found my silver lining after all these years full of resentments, and sometimes, regret for choosing to study in Cairo in the first place. Alhamdulillah (^_~)

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Gold Coast, Australia.. Who wouldn't wanna live here?