Orang Dulu Orang Sekarang

Alhamdulillah dah dapat haircut. Rambut dah pendek balik as someone had requested before. Biasanya aku gi potong rambut kat this one salon kat Calder Way. Kat situ diorang charge 20 dollars untuk haircut and shampoo sekali rambut. But this time ekonomi poket melecet sket, so aku gi tempat biasa aku potong rambut waktu freshman and sophomore dulu, kat Phil's Barber Shop at S Pugh St.



Macam biasalah waktu tengah gunting rambut, barber sure sembang dengan customer dia kan. Sama la cam aku. Aku sembang dengan Uncle Phil ni. Dia ni dah tua dah. Dari apa yang aku sembang dengan dia ni kan, rupa-rupanya dia dah stay kat State College ni for about 50 years. Imagine that?!!

Aku tanye dia, pernah tak dia join WWII. Dia kata dia tak pernah, tapi dia pernah dihantar ke Munich, Germany waktu Korean War untuk military affair. Waktu tu dia jadi Military Police. Masa tulah aku baru tahu yang Germany after the WWII tu dah dibahagikan kepada beberapa bahagian kepada negara-negara Allies dan Russia. Even di Berlin sendiri pun dibahagikan kepada beberapa wilayah kecil untuk diagih-agihkan kepada negara-negara bersekutu ni. To make thing worse, Russia dismantled kilang-kilang milik orang German yang ada di dalam wilayah dia untuk dihantar ke Russia. Oh man...brutal gak tuh..tamak haloba tak ingatnya!

Kemudian ada juga sembang tentang tempat asal aku. As usual, not many the older generation of American would know about M'sia. It's okay. Aku kena explain kat dia yang M'sia ni next to Singapore. Baru dia leh agak kat ner tempat tu. Dia lak asal dari Bellefonte which is a small place about 10 miles from State College. Aku pernah lalu tempat tu dua tiga kali kalau nak balik either from New York or from Allentown.

Menurut Uncle Phil, perkataan Bellefonte ni asal dari French word yang bermaksud, Beautiful Fountain. Memang ada mata air yang mengalir dekat-dekat dengan area Bellefonte. Aku musykil jugak, camner boleh guna french word although kawasan Pennsylvania ni mainly populated by Germans descendants. That's why people call this state as Pennsylvania Deutsch.

Another amazing thing I learnt about Bellefonte is, this small town used to be bigger than State College itself. Wowww..aku serius tak tahu pun. Plus, it produced 4 governors for Pennsylvania. Politically speaking, this place has its significant in Pennsylvania political history. The sole reason why Penn State University is here because someone who had political influence from Bellefonte instructed the state to build the university here, not anywhere else. Pennsylvania State University was originally started as Farmer's High School. Then later it become a college and then upgraded to the university later in 1970s kot.

So..ada gak pekdahnya borak dengan orang-orang tua ni. Dapat history lesson for free and plus the real insight about what was happening during the old days. :)

Apa-apa pun, rambut aku sekarang sudah pendek dipotong oleh Uncle Phil. Makin hensem dan makin comel..hahahahahha!!!