Finding love in Kota Kinabalu

14th February, Valentine’s Day. The day of love in which people profess their love, or just another commercialised holiday, depending on how you want to look at it.

This year, I spent Valentine’s Day in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. I thought I’d share a funny story of how I nearly (nearly being a bit of a stretch) found love in Kota Kinabalu.

Being a black woman in an area with no black people (I never saw even one in the two weeks that I was there), most people’s reaction, when they see me, is to stare (a post about this is coming soon). However; a few days before Valentine’s Day, whilst I was at a restaurant with my friend and her parents, I received a very different response from the owner.

As the owner did not speak English, her side of the conversation was translated to me by my friend and her parents, who by the way found it very amusing, well I did too, but still…

Here is how this embarrassing moment went down:

After taking our seats at a table in the restaurant, the owner approached us and after taking our orders asked

Owner: “Does she like Chinese breakfast?”

Me: We’re having lunch, why does she want to know if I like Chinese breakfast? And what is Chinese breakfast anyway?

Owner: “Is there any guy here that you like for a husband? They are all single.”

I look over to my left where I can see her sons cooking in the kitchen… and errmmm yeah, they weren’t really my type. At this point, I was starting to feel very relieved that she did not speak English, as having to answer these questions would’ve been beyond awkward.

When she returned with our food, she asked

Owner: “Do you think my son is handsome?”

Not knowing what else to do, I just nodded reluctantly in response. I’m not sure if she noticed my nod, but when she later returned she seemed to have accepted that I wouldn’t be marrying any of her sons, but now she seemed to have other ideas lol.

Owner: “Even if you’re not my daughter-in-law, I don’t mind adopting you as a daughter, but you will need to learn to speak Mandarin or Malay.”

So, that’s the end of my little love story, hope you enjoyed it, let me know what you think in the comments.