If the Makmak China can, so do I

This observation started as early as I was in Romania two years ago for my medical school exchange program. At that time I wasn’t really thinking about it because I was too busy enjoying myself but this time as I travelled to spend some times before my paper presentation in Berlin I found something quite interesting that later become a motto for me : If the Makmak china can, then so do I.

Disclaimer : I have lots of Chinese bestfriends and I love em, so this is not a racial post - I swear.

I was at the famous Gare du Nord - Paris, half confused with the French language being spoken by so many people around me with the omg-that's-so-fast-are-you-guys-gurgling kind of speed and overwhelmed by the weight of my luggage (It was definitely over 25kg so, yeah sorry poor back and hands) when I saw this bunch of middle age Makmak China. I mean, why did I just realizing it now that everywhere I travel to there is always bunch of them, here there everywhere? They were busy with their stuff and souvenir bags so I took some time to observe this –usually big- group of women who don’t speak English (They didn’t speak any English to anyone around and I’ve met some in Romania who asked me question in Chinese/Cantonese-No idea) let alone French. Some of them even lean their back on the wall looking just fine and not panicking at all.

Cool kali mak~

And I started to think about this : they’ve gone through lots before coming to where they are right now. They’ve managed to passed every challenge and thousands of days of struggling as a mom and not uncommon as a worker that either work for someone or runs their own business and little do we need to hear about how diligent, persistent, hard working person that they are so it seems like this kind of time is the time when they harvest what they’ve been seeding, of the battle they’ve won past years and now everything seems to be worth it.

So what these Makmak has to do with me? Well, as koas is about to end which means UKMPPD thingy is about to start, I am in a state when I really miss travelling by myself; Bringing the luggage that weighted more than half of my body weight, get lost, taking the luggage to the 3^rd floor using the stairs - juggling-actually, singing and listening to my favorite music as the train passes the field and the tunnel and the suburban area just so I can see the dark orange color of the sunset beautifully shining at the tip of the roof of some traditional houses - the kind that I really love-. In short, I certainly miss travelling far all by myself and as I reminiscing my journey last year all I can think about was that fine evening at the Gare du nord when I learned something from this humbled women I may never being amazed by if I did not do travel.

Dear Makmak, thank you for remind me that women are admired for their hard work and persistent of doing the best for them self and their loved one, as their strength lies within their humbleness, their smile and love that all combine, giving birth to a better civilization. So this time, let's all be grateful for those amazing women around us and let them know that we appreciate everything that they did for us and may we be able to learn from them to be amazing yet humble women of the next generations.

And yes the whole world is a big school and you can actually learn anything from anyone if you take your time to observe, and also next time when you have to face another challenge in life just remember this : If Makmak china can, so do you!