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About

"I started this blog for 2 purposes. 1, to chronicle my days and experiences in Malaysia's National Service for my own future references, and at the same time, 2, to provide a personal insight into the life of a National Service trainee for whoever who would care to read."

Recent

"Back from NS, and updating this blog bit by bit. I wrote almost every single day in there!"

Archives

Hungry Ghost Festival Holiday for NS Trainees Thursday, August 14, 2008 |

Came home by bus yesterday. All Chineses are given 3 days holiday sempena Perayaan Hantu Lapar--Hungry Ghost Festival.

At home. Just chilling, listening to music, watching movies, animes, catching up, doing the things i wanna do.

Life is good.

Btw, gonna start collecting photos. Here's a sneak peek at my collection: pic of our camp's padang kawad taken by my friend.


And a pic of the wirawati dorms.


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NS holiday 17th - 20th July Friday, July 18, 2008 |

I kept a diary during NS, and i wrote in it every single day. So rest assured, i'll be posting them bit by bit when i finished my services in Kg. Baru Camp in September. This 4-day holiday isn't much when you consider it took our bus 5 hours to get us back from Manjung, Perak to Klang, Selangor on the 17th, and it's gonna take more than that to get us back to camp on the 20th.

So yesterday, i was woken up at 5.30 am by the usual "Wira dan wirawati bangun, bangun, bangun". I hit the pillows and continue to sleep till 6.10 am or so while my muslim dormmates climb out of bed to bersuci and line up in front of JLB to go for their Fajr prayers.

"Wira dan wirawati yang akan menaiki bas ke Selangor dan Ipoh dikehendaki beratur di padang kawad dalam satu kosong minit lagi." was heard at 7.05 am, at which 3 of my fellow dormmates and i dragged our bags out of our dorms while hugging, kissing each other on the face, and wishing goodbyes. Before having our bags checked (to make sure we're not bringing any celorengs--the army-striped uniforms home), we had another hugging, kissing, goodbye-ing session with most of the girls, and plain waving goodbyes to some of the guys.

After that, off we go on the bus which brought us to Manjung, Lumut bus station. Everyone was extremely cheerful on the bus, due to the fact that it's been more than a month since we've seen home. I don't really know how to describe how great i felt looking out the window while listening to the guys singing this song:



I'm not sure why, but the guys from our camp are crazy about this song.

Those leaving for Ipoh, their bus took off before 8.30 am. The rest of us going back to Selangor waited at the station with Cikgu Wahab and Cikgu Yus accompanying us. Some guys went to the back to have a smoke...

Even though the time on the ticket says 9.15 am, our bus arrived at around 9.45 am. It stopped twice on the way to Klang, once at a Petronas petrol station, and once at a small bus stop off the highway at Slim River. About 5 Ethiopians who are here on vacation got onto the bus for a short distance, and i chatted with one of them a little ^^ On the bus, it was all jokes and chatters amongst guys and gals... Good times.

We reached Klang bus station a little after 3.oo pm. Bought tickets to go back, RM19 each. Cheap, considering the alternative is driving, and that's gonna cost a bomb with the fuel prices up and the toll fees and all. We'll be meeting back there on Sunday afternoon.

Dad came to pick me up. And we went straight to Da Fei for their famous mee huen kueh. Best real human food i've had since i went to NS.

I feel like i'm in heaven right now. Doing the things i wanna do while listening to music on the laptop. That's not much, i know. But it's a lot considering i've been imprisoned in a small camp for more than a month. It's not the chores that makes me wanna leave camp, it's the lack of freedom. So, ciao for now :)

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Day 10.3: Briefing On Football and KB Idol, and Company Pride Monday, June 23, 2008 |

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Was at padang kawad to listen to some lecture on what to do during emergencies. The teachers also briefed us about this upcoming football match between a team of wiras and a team of teachers. We were also told about a certain Kg Baru Idol ala American Idol. Sounds like fun! Can't wait for the football match!

Our company leader just came in, telling us that Cikgu J complimented another company but said that our company's reputation is gone. WTH?!?!?! What did we do wrong?

Meeting involving the whole dorm going on right now.

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Day 10.2: Malay, Chinese Different Treatment |

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A Chinese girl got sent to the hospital because of severe gastric and was given 3 days of medical leave. A Malay girl twisted her ankle a little and was given one whole week of MC. Talk about being fair between different races.

During waktu riadah earlier in the evening, we did a 'Bleep Test'. I didn't really push myself much. After the test, my leg joints hurt a little, and my legs got a little wobbly. Weak, i know. I'm not proud of it.

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Day 10.1: First Sesi Bersama Tuan Komanden |

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...Malay girls cried during the session. Indian girls too. Our Tuan Komanden gave a moving speech, then played a Teman Sejati song and projecting the lyrics on the screen in front, let us sing along with the music. 







Only the Chinese girls were having fun, made a circle holding hands, clapped, sang, hugged each other, even tried to throw a teacher in the air! The guys did threw KJ Amin in the air ^^ 

And no, the reason we're not crying is not because we're cold-blooded or anything like that. We Chinese girls just thought that, instead of wasting our energy on producing tears and making ourselves feel all sad and blue-ish, we'd rather have fun and make the most out of this session, spend some quality time with each other, friendship bonding stuff.

Tuan Komanden hugged some of the guys. He told us how great he thinks our Kumpulan 3 Siri 5 is, then proceeded to make a call on his mobile phone to a former wira, switching on the speakerphone function, and amplifying the volume of their conversation by putting the phone close to the mic so we can all hear.

After supper, around 11 pm, all our mobile phones were collected.

Then, most of the girls from our dorm (except me and SJ) feasted on the KFC they asked Cikgu D to buy for them.

By the way, we're supposed to be doing our routine morning exercise earlier in the morning, but the sky looked like it's gonna rain anytime soon, so we were sent back to our dorms to tidy our dorms instead.

After breakfast, it finally rained. Everyone climbed into their beds and is now fast asleep. I'm gonna take a quick nap too. Ciao.

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Day 9.4: Back From Sesi Bersama Tuan Komanden Sunday, June 22, 2008 |

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Just came back from our first Sesi Bersama Tuan Komanden ("Sentuhan Rasa"). A lot of Malay...

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Day 9.3: First Real Meal Since Arriving At Camp |

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During lunch just now, everyone was like 饿鬼s (hungry ghosts) lol. Jia Lin* brought back to camp this vegetarian fried mee hoon from the temple. Usually i'd avoid anything vegetarian, i just can't swallow their artificial meat. But boy, this is the most delicious food i've had in this whole week, or rather since i got here. Mary* shared her chicken from her chicken rice her mom bought her. Best food ever!

Seriously, the dewan makan's food here is inedible. I usually eat the least food possible for mere survival. I don't care how many times the teacher said that our camp has the best food amongst the NS camps around here, or how delicious everyone says our morning nasi lemak is. They're absolutely horrible.

*All names have been changed to protect the identity of the people involved.

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Day 9.2: Sunday Morning In-Camp Gotong-Royong |

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Sunday! Finally spoke on the phone with daddy, mummy, and my aunties.

Today's supposed to be rest day, but we (non-Buddhists and non-Christians) have to do gotong-royong in camp, while the Buddhists and Christians get to go to the temple and the church respectively. WTH? They get to go out and have fun while we have to stay back and work? Plus, i'm like, the ONLY Chinese left in camp, being the only free-thinker. Drat.

On another note, quite a number of my dormmates' parents are coming to camp later today.

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Day 9.1: KKJ Presentations, Girl Sent to Hospital & Pissed Over Baju Kurung Issue |

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I just came back from our group's KKJ (Kontrak Kita/Kami Janji) presentation. DUDE. I was presenting on the freaking stage man! I was on stage, just barely an hour ago, in this lovely baju kurung i borrowed from a fellow dormmate. Woot!

Damn. Lights are off already. But i'm still writing, pencil in my right hand, a torchlight in my left. I HAVE to write this down.

Frankly, i didn't really contribute much to the preparation for the KKJ presentation. The parts where i actually gave some of my ideas were eventually scrapped. We (or rather most of our teammates) prepared all these company mottos and strategies on sheets of mahjong papers, some composed a company song, some worked on the company flag, others created our company logo (complete with what each object symbolizes and what the colors used stands for).

When our group leader asked me to present on stage, i didn't protest like everybody else. Cuz, well, i have to contribute something, and i pity her having a hard time convincing people to go on stage. So i agreed to go on stage, without the slightest idea what's written on those mahjong papers. Surprisingly, my legs didn't even shake when i was presenting. I was as calm as ever, not that i said much on stage, just presented 2 pages of information, that's all.

Oh, and that baju kurung i wore? I absolutely love it! Lots of people commented on how good i look in it *embarrassed*

During the presentations, a girl who has gastric was sent to the hospital. This is already the 2nd Chinese girl who got sent to the hospital, and that's within the first week since the activities began. According to WC, the girl has her own gastric medicine, but the medical personnel wouldn't let her take her own medicine. Instead, they forced her to take the medicine prescribed by the medic, which aggravated her condition and in the end, she had to be sent to the hospital. WC was extremely upset about her friend not taken better care of.

Okay, back to the KKJ presentations.

Our company leader was incredibly pissed off after our presentation. Not because we weren't up to her expectations, but because there was this Malay girl from another company whom, during Q&A session, asked why there is a Chinese (meaning me, obviously) wearing baju kurung instead of our own Chinese traditional clothes. Apa salahnya? Everyone in my dorm is pretty pissed off about it actually. What the hell is her problem? Me donning baju kurung shows that i respect their religion, and i'm comfortable wearing their traditional clothing. I wanted to step in front, grab the microphone, and give her that piece of my mind, but our company leader seemed reluctant to hand over the mic in her hands. So, whatever.

Nightz.

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Day 8: Medic's Incompetence Saturday, June 21, 2008 |

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We did KKJ (Kontrak Kita Janji) today. No need to line-up and take strength at 6.30 am, so most of us slept through breakfast ^^

Accompanied a friend to the medic. We had to wait for 20 minutes or so outside of the medic room because the medical personnel on duty is a man and he had to call for a female teacher to be in the room with my friend during diagnosis. So while we wait for him to make the call and for a female teacher to arrive, i watched my friend writhe in agony (She was having a very bad stomach ache). Tick tock tick tock.

No wonder people die in camps.

Medik 24 jam kononnya. What's the use of that when they can't even handle one patient with a certain amount of efficiency in broad daylight?

By the way, this is not the first time. I've accompanied friends to the medic numerous times and every single time we had to wait outside for at least 20~25 minutes until they're looked at. That's "at least".

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Disclaimer

*All names have been changed to protect the identity of the people involved. Usually i'd just avoid putting names and refer to them as 'friends' instead ;)

"While every care has been taken to provide my readers (if any) with most accurate information and candid accounts, please note that the author would not be bothered to update this blog following the end of her NS days, and that all accounts only reflect her views alone over the course of her NS days. If the author has presented comments that may be deemed harmful, rest assured that they are not meant to offend anyone, and she may not be held liable for sharing her opinions on this blog."

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