This afternoon I had another go at the practical assessment. This time with another assessor. I once helped him take some pictures of a logbook's pages, some kind of scanning, but using a compact camera instead of an actual scanner.
Of course, when I entered his cubicle, he saw me as someone new to him. Yet another trainee, he might think. I've learnt that the assessors at the training school have a habit of giving some time for the trainees they assess to tell of their backgrounds. A secretive and reserved I am, I always tell only three things, my full name, my parents' names, and where I'm from. The assessors would have to ask more, like what do my parents do, where did I go to school, my siblings, my SPM results and whatnot. I would then give straight-cut answers, in a low voice as to subtly imply that I do not like to be asked of my private life.
Anyways, this assessor, who has a prefix 'Wan' in his name then said that I don't sound like someone who hails from Kuala Trengganu, borne and raised by Trengganu parents. He said I am more like someone from Johor, or Selangor. I said to him that in fact, I am an anak jati, and the false impression may be caused by the absent Trengganu slang in my conversations, which is always the case anytime I talk to orang luar.
It wasn't the first time someone is surprised to learn of my Trengganu origin. Back in school, a teacher said the same thing to me. Cikgu Zairos was filling in his History class period but really he wasn't into teaching that day because it was already past mid-term and the school used to have an extreme approach to finishing the syllabus, usually the whole textbook was done by May or June. The rest of the year would be spent on rigorous exercises and tests.
After a test, Cikgu Zairos had some chats with all of us. When it came to me, he asked of my background, and I said Trengganu, which surprised him. He actually didn't believe me and I had to say it twice. He said I don't look like a Trengganu kid. At that time I was baffled, like I was again today. How does a Trengganu boy look like?
Are we commonly seen as good-looking so my (insert insult) face doesn't qualify as being Trengganu-ish? Or are we better known to be brash so my neat appearance betrays the stereotype? I really don't know. It can't be the slang omission alone.
By the way, after the assessment, I cross-questioned the assessor. I asked him the same thing he asked me before, where does he come from? Take a guess, he said.
Well, he is a Wan, a common name in Pantai Timur, not from Trengganu or else he could've told me his hometown when I told mine, and doesn't speak a tinge of Kelantanese, in fact very good at using standard Bahasa in conversing, so I guessed he is from Perak. He said no. Next possibility, Kedah, but he shook his head. So I was left with Pahang and Mersing, both of which are not, too. Finally I said Kelantan, initially ruled out, and he said yes. I pulled the same thing on him, "Well, you don't look like a Kelantanese, sir". And he said, "Yeah, that's why I said almost the same thing to you".
