Wednesday 25 March 2009

Terd Sek

When you are in a foreign land, you might turn to your embassy for help or seek advice. Some people, even make it known that they exist in the foreign land and perhaps try menjalin hubungan silaturahim with the ambassador and crew.

So this was what I did today, only resulted in disappointment and hopelessness of my countrymen.

My aim was to find out about permanent stay/residential permit, whether the embassy should be involved and more about the 3-month visa’s validity etc. My enquiry was passed on to En.Z (he isn’t the ambassador but he’s supposedly ranked).

This was how the conversation went.

Me : Hello, I’m from Malaysia and I’m currently in Istanbul. I have a few questions about staying here. Can you help me?

En.Z : Ahhh.. ahhhhaaaa…

Me : I understand that I can stay here for 3 months without visa right? What should I do when 3 month period is up?

En.Z : Aaahhhhh, yayaya… you can hev 3 month stey without veesa.

Me : Yes, I know but I’m planning to stay longer and I would like to know how to prolong the visa.

En.Z : Tsk, tsk… dis metter, aiyaaa.. tsk, tskkk, dis metterhow to sey you hev to go back Malaysia. We as diplomet oso lek dis. Go bek Malaysia and then kam bek.

Me : You mean I must return to Malaysia? Can the embassy help in any way? I mean, through the embassy can I have an extension or something like that?

En. Z : Aiyaaaaa… ni… ape kate… susahlah ko ni macam… you ade kontek nombor tak? Bila dapat info, I call bek. Ape kontek nombor?

Me : Encik, saya faham working permit mesti apply dari Turkish Embassy kat Malaysia.

En.Z : Haaaaaaaa! (as though he solved Enstein’s equation) Betulah, ni! Aiyaaa… apasal tak tanya baikbaik dulu? Buat apa datang kat sini? Ape kontek you? Saye perlu gader infomehsen baru boleh bagitau.

Me : *gave him my number* Encik ambassador, ke?

En.Z : EH! Terd sek.

Me : Ohhh… okay.

And he hung up.

Hahahahahaha I didn’t know to laugh or to cry.

Whatever Terd sek is for. There is something seriously wrong with the system or the people in the system. I’m not sure if I was frustrated at his manner (not his language ability) or the fact that I couldn’t get some answers nor additional information but I can safely say, it was useless.

I was slightly embarrassed that our embassy has such an inadequate staff. Terrible.








Continuation.

Me : What if I told you I’m a Terd sek?

Tolga : What? You are a *Turkcell?

*Turkcell is a mobile network provider, like Maxis in Malaysia

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG!i can't believe this really happen..their working attitude almost the same like russians ler..faint*

I hope you won't get much trouble in your visa prolongation there..Good luck!

Sha said...

LOLLLLL. Good Lord! I can so totally get the heavily accented English he was speaking in.

Try looking online for more info, my best, before you go back to the Terd Sek ahahahahah.

nila said...

3rd secretary maybe?
=p

Bunny said...

Oh my! >.<

JayneAi said...

haha...biasa la our system...:P
btw..so funny the way u write it out made me imagine the way he speaks with broken english...it do sounds like typical msian style of conversing in English..hahaha

Gorgeous Ol' Eve Loves Vanilla. You? said...

It was horrendous to my ear.

Plus my call was considered official, not like I called for a chit-chat LOL

That's why I wondered what's Terd Sek for.