How are you! So you want to know about my time in Hawaii? I would say that my days at East West Center (Hawaii) were the two best years of my life - ever! Hawaii is a very strange place. You can't really pinpoint what's good about it, and you can't really think of a reason why you like Hawaii. But once you go there and you stay there - even when I go back there on holidays - by the second day, as you walk along the beach, the gentle breeze, the friendly people, the smiles, then it all comes back. It is really the place that makes it special. It's the same thing with Hong Kong. When I go back to Malaysia, people ask me what's so good about Hong Kong. Well, it's very hard to say what the good things are; I can think of a lot of bad things about Hong Kong that you shouldn't like: it's congested, rentals are so expensive, people are always rushing about. But yet, when you live in Hong Kong, you grow to like it, you learn to appreciate that at any time there's food and drink, whenever you want to eat it, no matter what time of day, no matter when. That's not to say that you go out every night, but it's comforting to know that they are there when you want them.

Well, back to Hawaii...yes, I was very lucky! During that time, I was under Uncle Sam's scholarship, that means the US government's scholarship to a very special place called the East West Center. It is called this because it tries to promote Eastern and Western culture. The scheme was that for each American student they brought into the Center, they would take two others from either the South Pacific or the Asian islands. The dormitories were divided into units of ten and every one of the inhabitants of the dorm would be from a different country. I remember during my time, Malaysia was in a confrontation with Indonesia, and they made it a point to make my roommate Indonesian. It was a forced kind of a world; they were trying to make people understand each other in spite of differences. It was a very unique program. I remember, when you arrived in Hawaii at the East West Center, you'd have an orientation period, like I think many universities have. The strangest thing about it was when you left, they had a disorientation period. They were trying to tell you that when you go back to your own world, back to your own country, the world will never be the same. There may still be confrontation between Indonesia and Malaysia, but they hoped that through that scheme, you've known each other better. That's what's quite wonderful about the program.

Going to university in Hawaii was very interesting. I grew up in Malaysia under the British education system where you study everything and you only have one main examination at the end of every year. The American system (now I'm not saying that it's inferior or superior) is different because you go through one semester and your examination is every semester. So, as opposed to the British system where you have to memorize everything - really, you literally have to memorize everything! - and put it out at one goal, in America you only need to remember three months of education and you pass that exam. I'm proud to say I did pretty well; I was almost a straight-A student and for that I was rewarded. For every good student, the scholarship included a trip to the mainland of the USA and since I was studying agricultural economics - which means how to help the farmers make money - I got to go to a lot of places. I think I went to at least 30 states and more than 50 cities in America, including places like Des Moines, Iowa, Yellowstone National Park, and many more. I think I've seen more of America than many Americans!

Another nice thing about the Center is that they promote culture between countries. They put a lot of stress and emphasis on how you show the culture of your country or your area to other people from all over the world. I was a pretty good singer and dancer and since there were not too many Malaysians around (but there were a lot of Filipinos) and since I was Malaysian Chinese, I looked dark enough to look like a Filipino.  I got to go out with the Filipinos to the other islands, performing and introducing Asian culture, and getting to know a lot of people.

For those who asked about surfing...no, I've never been a very good sportsman but of course we would go to the beach a lot. We would choose classes carefully - never a class before ten or after two so we'd make sure that from ten until two we would study and go to school, and after that we always had time to go to the beach and mingle with the guys.

Those of you who know me know I always end up my letters with "Warmest aloha." That's how much Hawaii means to me.

Warmest aloha,

Willie

August 29, 2006