In Humans of KL

“My mom’s the Italian and my father is a Malaysian Chinese from Sabah. It’s an unusual combination.

My mom said that it was love at first sight but dad doesn’t really agree with it. I learned that they met on a train and my father didn’t have enough money on him so my mother decided to pay for his ride. He couldn’t speak Italian and my mom’s English was limited too but they got to know each other during the train ride. 

Eventually, my dad gave her an address where he was studying in the UK and told her to contact him if she ever came to the UK to visit.

In fact, my mom purposely flew to the UK to look for him and they fell in love then and there. After my dad finished his studies, he went to Italy to be with my mom for her final year of university. 

After mom graduated, they decided to move to Kuala Lumpur and tie the knot here.

I dream that one day I’ll meet my own love in a way as romantic as my parents did. I would imagine myself walking on a beach or just strolling on a hill reading my favourite book “Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini and I would bump into my prince charming who would turn out to be also a fan of the book. We would start walking, talking and falling in love.

“Tell us a bit about your siblings, growing up together.”

I have 2 older sisters and a younger brother. I love my siblings very much. I have so much fond memories with them. 

Once, I remember it was the 31st of August and we were in Italy for Ferragosto, it was a summer welcoming celebration they have over there. We were looking up to a majestic sky full of stars together. We witnessed a shooting star right in front of our eyes and we all made our wishes in our hearts. 

I’m a cat-crazy lady and I remember vaguely wishing that my cat would live forever and ever. 

“What have you learnt about life, growing up with your unique upbringing?”

My parents always reminds us to see the beauty in everything around us and to be grateful of what Kuala Lumpur has been for us. I’m thankful for my education here, my friends, my social life and most of all my beautiful family and home. 

I do get asked a lot about how I feel growing up here in Malaysia. 

Most of the time, I just shrug it off by saying I don’t know but recently, I’ve been thinking about the question more. I imagine that If I’m in a room full of Italians and Malaysians, I would identify myself more with the Malaysian group because I just feel more welcomed when I’m with them. After all, I was brought up here all my life”. 

Story and photo by Mushamir Mustafa
Editorial assistance by Dao Hong

This story was conducted in October 2016. 

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