After regaining some of my enthusiasm on writing, here I present to you...my journey Part 2.
The schooling days...
After much of the happily and carefree kampung life, I was began to embark to another part of my journey, i.e my schooling days!
I received my first time education (informal), also known as pre-school education from my third sis. Since my family was poor at that time, my ma and pa simply didn't have that extra money for our preliminary education. I learnt to write A,B,C and also 1,2,3 not from any kindergarten teacher in the world. Instead, it was my sister. That is why I'm particularly enjoyed children songs even until now, thanks to the lack of the exposure when I should learn it at that time. :) When the mood is in the air, I will sing a few to cheer myself and thinking how good I was in memorizing those words...Ding dong bell, pussy in the well, who put her in, little Tommy Lin......
OK, I'm prepared to set out for my primary 1! My school is located 10km from my village. It is situated in a small town which was perched on some hilly areas, and from school, I can witness the majestic scenery of the banjaran Titiwangsa. My parents enrolled me in a national school and to be specific, all of my siblings were educated from the same school! Even though my family is a very typical Chinese family and like the other chinese families do, we SHOULD be sent to chinese schools. Instead, our parents sent us to national school. Their reason was so simple. They wanted their child to be educated in Malay and English, so that they can use both of the language proficiently when they go and seek for jobs later in their life. Our parents did not want us to be ended up like them. Cannot even understand or read a simple Malay/English letter from the government. But of course one of the main disadvantage from this was all of us can't read Mandarin!
I was accompanied by my second sis for my first day of enrolment in school. Feel a bit bored since I did not know anyone of those who was same class with me. I was assigned to 1 K, which was later changed name to 1 Hijau. I can't remember much of what was happening to me for that whole year. What I managed to remember was that I wanted very much to become a class assitant monitor and I lifted my hand up once the class teacher asked who wanted to become one. Unfortunately, my application was rejected :( Then in one occasion, I remembered bring my sis's big white bag to school. The boys in my class was a bit notorious. There was no teacher in the class and the started palying the chasing game. My big white bag became the victim of their game. They stepped on it when they were running and jumping from chairs to chairs and my big white bag became a black colour bag with numerous shoes prints on it! I was scolded nicely by my sis for that. Haha. I did pretty well in academic and I remembered making my ma proud by producing 7A (various subjects) in my report card and she liked to praise me in front of the neighbours. :)
Then I was in 2 Hijau. Settled in a class in the upper floor. Had 2 blackboards in the class, located vertically to each other. One at the top and one at the bottom. When the blackboard at the bottom position is occupied by writings, the teacher will pull the another blackboard down and placing the one with writings to the top by operating the pulley. For me, with the 8 year-old thinking at that time, thought it was one of the greatest invention ever! A few girl classmates and I loved to squat down and sat under our wooden study tables. Down there we will have a bit of chat, shared some biscuits and played games. I'm not sure what were in our mind that time but we kind of liked these activities very much and we did these quite frequent in the class when the teacher was not around. When I was in standard 2, my sis who is 1 year younger than me started her primary 1. I used to wait for her during the recess time and we will be headed to our our school canteen to grab some 10 cents fried sweet potatoes. Our pocket money was 20 cents each and by deducting the 10 cents for the fried sweet potatoes, we managed to save 10 cents and thus started our saving money project.
We were moved to another building near the canteen when I was in standard 3 (3 Hijau). This was the last year that I'll be in evening session. Standard 4, 5 and 6 will be in morning session. I liked to do a lot of picture colorings in the B. Melayu text book. In fact, the whole class of mine liked it. What's more, it was graded by our teacher. Hence, when there was a new topic being introduced, we will color the pictures as colorful as we can and try to get grade As as many as possible and compared the amount of As among ourselves. These were the most unforgettable moments in Standard 3. Some other unforgettable moments including: I was slapped by the dental nurse for brushing the wrong side of the mouth when she conducting the 'how to brush your teeth correctly' by holding a set of teeth in front of us. I gave a slap to a girl fren and ended up in the penyelia petang's office. This year, I made my parents proud again by securing a 3rd place in my class, and I was given a chance to attend the Upacara Penyampaian Hadiah by the Headmaster. I was so happy that my parents came to the ceremony and watched me receiving the present from headmaster on the hall stage.
Starting standard 4, I was reshuffled to class 4 Jingga. Farewell to my classmates in Hijau class of 3 years. 4 Jingga consists of pupils with smarter brain, in other words, stiffer competitions for getting high rank in the class. Some of the classmates in this class were still remained as my good frens until now. 4 jingga is basically a bunch of naughty, notorious, noisy but yet intelligent brats. That was why my class was well known all over the school for that. No teacher was willing to become our class teacher. The syllabus for standard 4 were more intriguing compared to Std 3 as we were introduced to Alam dan Manusia (subjects about science, geography, history but mostly science) which was quite fun and knowledgeable.
Standard 5 and 6 Jingga, I shall summarize it in one paragraph since the enthusiasm juice is getting drier. I was placed in a laboratory-cum-classroom in Standard 5 Jingga. We'd got to see speciments of reptiles, amphibians in large jars. This was the year that I got bullied by a spoilt brats. He chased me after school and was trying to beat me. He likes to threaten me in the class. Sigh, I never make him angry or what but somehow he liked to bully me. In Standard 6, the final year in our primary schools, we were especially nervous as we need to face the major exam, the UPSR. Still, we enjoyed very much that year. We had the most fiery teacher in the school, Miss M and we were so scared of her. She likes green colour very much, all the exercise must be underlined with green colour. Must pay attention in her class, or else...you will get the super duper hot slapping from her. I kena once, for the stupid 'pongkes' which i don't know that was the 'penyodok' that she meant. Had a pinch on the face and a big slap on the back. Pity me, I was the first student on that year that received such a noble award. Fuh! Well, all in all, I managed to get 4As in my UPSR that year and once again made my parents proud. :)
Goodbye primary years.....and welcome secondary years....
To be continued....
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Thursday, April 19, 2007
My journey....
I was inspired to jot down the life journey that I had travelled this far, after reading some thought-provoking blogs. Mind you, it'll be a very long long post.
At the same time thinking that I will be leaving this country soon, (well just crossing the Causeway only) in 6 weeks time.....I plan to write something that will makes myself smile when I looked it back at it after, maybe 10 or 20 years.
Here it goes...
All my life has been evolving around this harmonial country and I'm sure gonna to miss it very much, especially its food, people and surroundings. The farthest place I went was the Golden Triangle in Thailand, shared border with Laos and Myanmar.
I began my life somewhere in Perak in a very tiny new village, with around 100 houses. My childhood was definately a cherishable one as living in this new village, I was introduced to tree climbings, kampung games like 5-stones, kunda-kundi, bang-bang (hide and seek within a few houses range), kick the condensed milk cans, masak-masak and the best of all, the kite flying. I used to have a hideout somewhere near my house compound, the laici tree and coconut tree.
I have 9 siblings and am the fourth child of the family. According to my ma, I'm the only child that she delievered prematurely via operation. Like she always said, I caused a cut and leave a mark on her stomach. Oops... I was considered a naughty child in my family, reminiscing the fightings with my sisters (pulling hairs, punching, slapping and kicking), I was also once in a while rewarded with caning and chasing by my ma out of the house when I did something wrong. The place that I go after being chased out...my hideout. I can play on top of the trees for many hours, picking the leaves, did some foldings or pluck their flowers and start experimenting. When it came to dinner time, my ma or my sis will called-out "jong ng seh tak fan lei ah' simply translation, 'still don't want to come back to the house ah". Then I'll happily climbed down from the trees and joined them for dinner.
My family is not a well-to-do family. With so many siblings, we have to divide tasks betweeen of us based on the seniority. Both of my parents are working (rubber tapping, farmers) and they were earning money to feed us, thus no time to do household chores and cookings. All these were carried out by my elder sisters. The elder sisters will do all the washing in the house eg, clothes and pots. The younger ones will do on some minor and easy tasks, like sweeping the floor, cleaning the windows, pick up dry leaves outside the house, etc. I started to cook the first pot of rice when I'm standard 1 or 2, a loyal assitant cook to my sister whenever she prepares meal, mop floor and do other house chores when I'm just in standard 3 or 4. This applies to the sisters younger than me too.
At the age of 5 or 6, I loved to follow my parents to the rubber estates...the main reason was...not to help around but to taste the superb and delicious maggi mee that was cooked with fire wood and in the forest. I still remembered the scene vividly. I will follow them to the estate at as early as 3 am. My parents went tapping while I slept in the car. After the dawn and I'm awake, they will start a small fire and start cooking the yummy noodle. Whenever I missed the chance to go to the estate with them, I will starting crying and shouting around. Sigh...ha ha ha
At the around that age too, I like to sing a lot. My father, used to be salesman liked to tag me along to their persuasive product-buying seminar. After the seminar ends, I would sing the company song in front of the aunties and uncles. Surprisingly, I was not shy at all! I just keep singing and singing....I guessed at that very young age, I still didn't know the defination of shy...malu nyer..
I started to know the existence of God when my grandma brought us to the little chapel and attended the mass there, a kilometre away from my village. What I did not forget was that I always fall asleep during the mass and slept on my grandma's lap, since there is no chairs but benches in the chapel.
Well, that's all I remembered for my childhood, before the schooling period comes along....
To be continued....
At the same time thinking that I will be leaving this country soon, (well just crossing the Causeway only) in 6 weeks time.....I plan to write something that will makes myself smile when I looked it back at it after, maybe 10 or 20 years.
Here it goes...
All my life has been evolving around this harmonial country and I'm sure gonna to miss it very much, especially its food, people and surroundings. The farthest place I went was the Golden Triangle in Thailand, shared border with Laos and Myanmar.
I began my life somewhere in Perak in a very tiny new village, with around 100 houses. My childhood was definately a cherishable one as living in this new village, I was introduced to tree climbings, kampung games like 5-stones, kunda-kundi, bang-bang (hide and seek within a few houses range), kick the condensed milk cans, masak-masak and the best of all, the kite flying. I used to have a hideout somewhere near my house compound, the laici tree and coconut tree.
I have 9 siblings and am the fourth child of the family. According to my ma, I'm the only child that she delievered prematurely via operation. Like she always said, I caused a cut and leave a mark on her stomach. Oops... I was considered a naughty child in my family, reminiscing the fightings with my sisters (pulling hairs, punching, slapping and kicking), I was also once in a while rewarded with caning and chasing by my ma out of the house when I did something wrong. The place that I go after being chased out...my hideout. I can play on top of the trees for many hours, picking the leaves, did some foldings or pluck their flowers and start experimenting. When it came to dinner time, my ma or my sis will called-out "jong ng seh tak fan lei ah' simply translation, 'still don't want to come back to the house ah". Then I'll happily climbed down from the trees and joined them for dinner.
My family is not a well-to-do family. With so many siblings, we have to divide tasks betweeen of us based on the seniority. Both of my parents are working (rubber tapping, farmers) and they were earning money to feed us, thus no time to do household chores and cookings. All these were carried out by my elder sisters. The elder sisters will do all the washing in the house eg, clothes and pots. The younger ones will do on some minor and easy tasks, like sweeping the floor, cleaning the windows, pick up dry leaves outside the house, etc. I started to cook the first pot of rice when I'm standard 1 or 2, a loyal assitant cook to my sister whenever she prepares meal, mop floor and do other house chores when I'm just in standard 3 or 4. This applies to the sisters younger than me too.
At the age of 5 or 6, I loved to follow my parents to the rubber estates...the main reason was...not to help around but to taste the superb and delicious maggi mee that was cooked with fire wood and in the forest. I still remembered the scene vividly. I will follow them to the estate at as early as 3 am. My parents went tapping while I slept in the car. After the dawn and I'm awake, they will start a small fire and start cooking the yummy noodle. Whenever I missed the chance to go to the estate with them, I will starting crying and shouting around. Sigh...ha ha ha
At the around that age too, I like to sing a lot. My father, used to be salesman liked to tag me along to their persuasive product-buying seminar. After the seminar ends, I would sing the company song in front of the aunties and uncles. Surprisingly, I was not shy at all! I just keep singing and singing....I guessed at that very young age, I still didn't know the defination of shy...malu nyer..
I started to know the existence of God when my grandma brought us to the little chapel and attended the mass there, a kilometre away from my village. What I did not forget was that I always fall asleep during the mass and slept on my grandma's lap, since there is no chairs but benches in the chapel.
Well, that's all I remembered for my childhood, before the schooling period comes along....
To be continued....
Monday, March 26, 2007
March Surprises (",)
After all the festivals months went by...Christmas-New Year-Chinese New Year...here comes the month of March...a super duper long month, 5 weeks in a month really starting to pull down my mood back to the monotonous, mediocre and routine life...
The surprise is....I got a crucial call from a big organisation that I was accepted :) I was being nervous for two to three days, refusing to believe that I am that lucky.....But somehow, I am still as happy as a lark! The anticipation begins.....
Still working in the present company but the environment started to get weary and lifeless. Basically there is no what-so-ever drive to work cos there is nothing to do, besides updating some files and do some fundamental calculations. But I am kind of relief when knowing that I am leaving this boredom kingdom soon....Invigorating, isn't it?
Sorry but I like to digress a lot...writing here a bit, thinking about that a bit....my mind seems to flying here and there. Recently I am quite contented with my life. They are so meaningful (besides working hours, of course!) I mean, on weekends, I go for social work and participating in the church choir group makes me joyful and the satisfying feeling is there while serving our Lord and his people...especially in this season of Lent. I am not saying that I am a noble person or what, I just a sinner that trying to do something that pleases God and do what a Christian should do. The most important thing is, I am trying to fulfill His purpose for us on earth, that is to serve and praise Him :) Hopefully everything goes well before I leave this place again in two months time.
Talking about outing....I went to FRIM last Sat with two of my colleagues, W and B, my best friend and her bf, CH and CY and not forgetting my loved one, R. Upon reaching that place, I was so envy of those people working that place. I guess that is the most refreshing place I've ever seen. The buildings are surrounded by trees, i mean, a lots of trees! and the air is so invigorating! Too bad, I'm jus a bloody engineer, instead of preserving our nature and environments, our aim is to fully utilized them...ha ha ha
We went for a canopy walk, have some breathless scenery and took some photos before heading back to our city life again....Definately we will come back again someday, to recharge our dusty lungs and suck some fresh again.
"We belongs to the nature, we need them to revive us"....
The surprise is....I got a crucial call from a big organisation that I was accepted :) I was being nervous for two to three days, refusing to believe that I am that lucky.....But somehow, I am still as happy as a lark! The anticipation begins.....
Still working in the present company but the environment started to get weary and lifeless. Basically there is no what-so-ever drive to work cos there is nothing to do, besides updating some files and do some fundamental calculations. But I am kind of relief when knowing that I am leaving this boredom kingdom soon....Invigorating, isn't it?
Sorry but I like to digress a lot...writing here a bit, thinking about that a bit....my mind seems to flying here and there. Recently I am quite contented with my life. They are so meaningful (besides working hours, of course!) I mean, on weekends, I go for social work and participating in the church choir group makes me joyful and the satisfying feeling is there while serving our Lord and his people...especially in this season of Lent. I am not saying that I am a noble person or what, I just a sinner that trying to do something that pleases God and do what a Christian should do. The most important thing is, I am trying to fulfill His purpose for us on earth, that is to serve and praise Him :) Hopefully everything goes well before I leave this place again in two months time.
Talking about outing....I went to FRIM last Sat with two of my colleagues, W and B, my best friend and her bf, CH and CY and not forgetting my loved one, R. Upon reaching that place, I was so envy of those people working that place. I guess that is the most refreshing place I've ever seen. The buildings are surrounded by trees, i mean, a lots of trees! and the air is so invigorating! Too bad, I'm jus a bloody engineer, instead of preserving our nature and environments, our aim is to fully utilized them...ha ha ha
We went for a canopy walk, have some breathless scenery and took some photos before heading back to our city life again....Definately we will come back again someday, to recharge our dusty lungs and suck some fresh again.
"We belongs to the nature, we need them to revive us"....
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Latest Updates of Me
Well, well, well....
Time has really flies..and it's getting close to chinese new year (CNY) soon. :)
As usual, every CNY give me a lot of anticipations, be it reunion with family members i.e. beloved papa and mama, fellow sisters and brother, my nieces and nephews, close and distant relatives or with my ex-classmates and churchmates.
CNY is a time to keep update with each other and at the same time is an ideal time to retighten those families, frens and mates strings and bonds before it go loose again after it. For me, CNY mean this kind of things and not forgetting too that it is also the time for indulgence....especially extremely good chinese cuisine and delicacies...and they are in abundance!!
Ok, ok...since CNY is 10 days away....let me tell the other things that had been happening to me lately.
#1: I'd started my volunteering work for ppl with prison, drugs and HIV background in january. Been in the half-way home (it is called half-way home because women that come from various background (prison or drugs) are kept in the home so that they can experience life with God, withdraw from their addiction and discipline their own life before they come out to face the cruel and dangerous society again.) for twice. Initially I was scared, as you see, i treat them as abnormal ppl and have the perception that they are sullen, deceitful people. As I was slowly integrated into their daily life and acquire some exposure from the staff there, I come to realized that they too, are ppl like ourselves...the difference is, they took the wrong path before they knew it. But knowing God means knowing that there is still hope and love around, it is never too late for them to maneuver to righteous path again.
Yeah, each one of them has their own story to tell, but the important things is that they see hope in front of them, the hope to be united again with their families, a hope in God, a hope in everything. Hopefully, by exposing myself to them, I too will slowly giving myself in to God and be at service to them, whenever they need it.
#2: Inaugural Floral Parade in PutraJaya for me
Yup, went to the parade with the total of 18 floats from different states in Malaysia and some brass bands from prominent schools. It was quite special for me since I've never been in this kind of celebration before. Dancers from Istana Budaya managed to give the parade spectacular show, with the dances and their flower props around. But really, the place was so crowded that day that we were not able to squeeze ourselves in the flower bazaar. But overall, it was really an unforgettable show.
#3: my loved one's birthday
It was his birthday at the end of January, and we did something peculiar again this year. Both of us had a romantic + quiet (except the noise from the crows up the tree) in The Ship near Sogo. We had our cod fish and rib eye steak, which turned out to be tasty and mouth watering!! Nice :)
I guess that's all my updates for now...there are more to come..just wait and see...
Gong xi Gong Xi
Time has really flies..and it's getting close to chinese new year (CNY) soon. :)
As usual, every CNY give me a lot of anticipations, be it reunion with family members i.e. beloved papa and mama, fellow sisters and brother, my nieces and nephews, close and distant relatives or with my ex-classmates and churchmates.
CNY is a time to keep update with each other and at the same time is an ideal time to retighten those families, frens and mates strings and bonds before it go loose again after it. For me, CNY mean this kind of things and not forgetting too that it is also the time for indulgence....especially extremely good chinese cuisine and delicacies...and they are in abundance!!
Ok, ok...since CNY is 10 days away....let me tell the other things that had been happening to me lately.
#1: I'd started my volunteering work for ppl with prison, drugs and HIV background in january. Been in the half-way home (it is called half-way home because women that come from various background (prison or drugs) are kept in the home so that they can experience life with God, withdraw from their addiction and discipline their own life before they come out to face the cruel and dangerous society again.) for twice. Initially I was scared, as you see, i treat them as abnormal ppl and have the perception that they are sullen, deceitful people. As I was slowly integrated into their daily life and acquire some exposure from the staff there, I come to realized that they too, are ppl like ourselves...the difference is, they took the wrong path before they knew it. But knowing God means knowing that there is still hope and love around, it is never too late for them to maneuver to righteous path again.
Yeah, each one of them has their own story to tell, but the important things is that they see hope in front of them, the hope to be united again with their families, a hope in God, a hope in everything. Hopefully, by exposing myself to them, I too will slowly giving myself in to God and be at service to them, whenever they need it.
#2: Inaugural Floral Parade in PutraJaya for me
Yup, went to the parade with the total of 18 floats from different states in Malaysia and some brass bands from prominent schools. It was quite special for me since I've never been in this kind of celebration before. Dancers from Istana Budaya managed to give the parade spectacular show, with the dances and their flower props around. But really, the place was so crowded that day that we were not able to squeeze ourselves in the flower bazaar. But overall, it was really an unforgettable show.
#3: my loved one's birthday
It was his birthday at the end of January, and we did something peculiar again this year. Both of us had a romantic + quiet (except the noise from the crows up the tree) in The Ship near Sogo. We had our cod fish and rib eye steak, which turned out to be tasty and mouth watering!! Nice :)
I guess that's all my updates for now...there are more to come..just wait and see...
Gong xi Gong Xi
Monday, January 15, 2007
Hello 2007
Hei,
It's new year again and life has begin with another new cycle. I am grateful to God as this new year celebration has given me some insights from the inside. I went to Cameron and spend some precious quiet moments with the loved ones and did something that we never did before....that's conquering the mounts in Cameron. Forgot the 'gunung' name that we'd step our feet on its peaks, but the whole Cameron scenery was superb. Thanks to Mr Yen, we were able to enjoy such a fantastic scenery.
Personally, I didn't experience such a sublime moments like this before albeit I've been in Cameron for so many times *with family every chinese new year, with classmates and friends during school time*. We took our sweet time to travel here and there and simply enjoyed the fresh air that surround us. Life is so simple there (oops, mind you that this is only subjective to myself) and slow...not like the fast forward city life...everything is fast, rapid and lifeless.
I guess I have to continue this blog some other time...cos I need to things that is far more important. Ciao
Take care ya!
It's new year again and life has begin with another new cycle. I am grateful to God as this new year celebration has given me some insights from the inside. I went to Cameron and spend some precious quiet moments with the loved ones and did something that we never did before....that's conquering the mounts in Cameron. Forgot the 'gunung' name that we'd step our feet on its peaks, but the whole Cameron scenery was superb. Thanks to Mr Yen, we were able to enjoy such a fantastic scenery.
Personally, I didn't experience such a sublime moments like this before albeit I've been in Cameron for so many times *with family every chinese new year, with classmates and friends during school time*. We took our sweet time to travel here and there and simply enjoyed the fresh air that surround us. Life is so simple there (oops, mind you that this is only subjective to myself) and slow...not like the fast forward city life...everything is fast, rapid and lifeless.
I guess I have to continue this blog some other time...cos I need to things that is far more important. Ciao
Take care ya!
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