Friday, October 26, 2012

Kapit - 3rd Part (Hari Raya AidilAdha)


Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha!!!

Ok so, here I am in Kapit and this is my first time ever celebrating Hari Raya far from my family… but hey, surprisingly... it is not that bad…
J
 
The Mosque that we went for our Solat Raya ^.^


We went to the mosque for the Solat Sunat Hari Raya. It started around 7.50 am (My housemate was kind of late so she speeding without any glance to the person behind her… luckily I know where to go despite being here for about 10 days... ^___^. The solat and the kutbah end around 9.00 am and we begin our journey around Kapit, visiting friends (I went back home first to fetch my phone in 10 minutes flat. Yahoo me!!) and friend’s friend… if that making any sense… J

 
 
 
 
 
From left, Sis Syud, Sis Lini, Sis Ashikin, Me,
Sis Shida and Farhana
  
 I went to eleven houses and that was kind of like record breaking since I never went more than three open houses in one day. It was fabulous and everyone was so nice to us~

 

 
Khairil, Ustaz, Sis Lini and Farhana leaving
the house at Kg Baru
 
 
There are lots of foods served but what you can find in most houses are:


1)      Lemang

2)      Ketupat

3)      Rendang ayam

4)      Nasi minyak

5)       Kek Lapis (they make their own Kek Lapis like us (The peninsular people) bake our own cookies for Hari Raya)

6)      Nasi Impit

I also given chance to taste one of the signature dishes of Iban People which is call ‘Pangsuh’. The ‘Pangsuh’ that I ate are made of fish instead of chicken. It was quite delicious and the meat was tender and a little bit salty.

Overall, today left me no time to lamenting my sadness and I was really happy that my first experience ‘beraya’ in Kapit turn into such an adventure. Thanks to my housemate for bringing me along with them (and Zura for lending her bike to me)... Guys, I heart you!!
 
 
I am so happy today!!!

Kapit 2nd Part (SK Methodist)



Assalamualaikum…

Holla… the second entry of Kapit is HERE!!!!!!

This time I want to tell you about the school that I had been posted which is..

(Drum roll please)

SK METHODIST, Kapit!!!
 
The entrance to the School
 

Pang! Pang! Pang! Pang! (Ok, I know it’s annoying, sorry)

My school situated in Pasar Kapit (Kapit town) and near the Kapit General Hospital. It consists of 5 buildings and one canteen. The canteen only serves the pupil, so the teachers have to bring their own meal to school or went out during the recess.
 
 
Ha..ha.. at first glance it kind of look like a P1 school,
right?? but it is not :)

 
The view from above...bwahahaha.. Oops sorry!!

 
The canteen

 
The badminton Court in between 2 buildings

 
The staircase connecting the building. Seriously, I'm no longer feel my leg nowadays.. (T.T)
 

There are 24 classes with four classes for each level. They are call Biru (blue), Hijau (green), Merah (Red) and Kuning (Yellow). The average of student for each class is around 30 pupils.

Right now I only took the elective classes, but I am going to teach English next year. Since this is my first school, I hope I can do everything I can to be the best here… J (^___^)V… Hwaiting!!!

 

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

To Kapit


Assalamualaikum..

Holla!!! I’m in…… KAPITTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!

AYAK, my previous post deal with my angst and my depression on my destiny to be posted to Sarawak and guess what??

 I’m HERE already~

Ho..ho.. I not going to say that I really love it here…. But so far so good… place is okay, not that much different from Kampar (the communities here are mostly non Muslim and It is not bother me since I’m also come from that kind of communities) though it is too quiet and too serene for my own good.. I am already here for about a week and I already got depressed from the lack of excitement (shopping complex and etc). .. L

Well, let’s stop talking about my lack of excitement and focus on to the main topic which is…

“How to arrive at Kapit from the Penisular of Malaysia” (semenanjung
J)(and I hope I phrase this sentence well)

That is my concern the whole Sunday and Monday before I arrive here last week.  Since the govt haven’t got any time to deal with us, we (the teacher being posted to Sabah and Sarawak) have to deal with the ticket, the JPN and PPD ourselves), As for me, I did not even have anyone to pick me up until I arrive at Kapit by myself! (My friend who are supposed to go with me decided to not since she is heavily pregnant)
 
Me fooling around with my friend Hanisah
 


                                                             My Flight MH 2712
 

I left home on Tuesday and boarded the 3.20 PM ETS and arrived at KL Sentral  on 5.30 PM… My uncle picked me up and I stayed at his home. The next day journey begins at 6 AM and it took nearly one-hour drive to arrive at KLIA. There, I met with my friend Hanisah and we waited until 8.00 to enter the departure hall. At the departure hall, we unite with Syazlin and Hani who just arrive from Kota Bharu by airplane. Overall, the flight was uneventful, I got a mild plane sickness, the handsome flight attendant got prick with my needle which are poking out from my bag and the food was considerably good ( I HEART Malaysia Airlines).

We arrived at Sibu at 9.50 in one piece and multiple sick scenarios in my mind since we are going to be separated in another mere minutes. The Immigration was smooth and before long we are out of the airport with our bag. Now the important things, In order to go to Sibu from the airport, you have to purchase the Taxi ticket from the counter inside the airport. There is no other way except if you have your own ride. It cost RM 35. After boarding the taxi,  we went to Sibu’s Bas Station to drop Hani who are going to Mukah before continuing to Waf, where I am going to board my Boat to Kapit.
 

This is my boat, Sibu Boleh~
 
I am lucky to be able to board the express since the next and the last boat are going to stop all over the place. The ticket can be purchased at RM 20, RM 25 and RM 30. Since this is my first time riding a boat, I opted for the expensive one, with a hope that I am going to survive the ride. The ride was TOTALLY uneventful. I was so short that I can’t  look outside if I am sitted and I was loaded with bags that I can’t move freely. Furthermore, I was too strung up to consider sleeping to pass my time (but the guy next to me was so cute… kind of like a Korean’s BB J)

 
The inside of the Boat (kind of like Transnasional)
 
The trip took me 3-hours along Rajang River (no crocodile in sight) and I arrive at 3.30 PM. Now I got problem. One of my biggest luggage is parked on the top of the boat and we have to walk along the small side of the boat to get off or picking up our luggage. There are many people and I was kind of blocking the traffic trying to pick up the bag (even if I managed to pick up the bag, I think I’m going to fall off from the boat eventually since the bag is heavy) so I decided to get off the bag and waited until the crowd dissipated, when one men asked me for my luggage number (wow kind of like boarding an aeroplane) and promised me that he will get it for me. After waiting for 5 minutes, he came with my luggage and even brings it up to the station (there are 30 steps up I think before we arrive at the station). I paid him RM 5 (he asked RM 4 for his services but I just can’t be bother to find changes since I am too tired from the journey,. My housemate later on tell me that they are called Kuli Batak and the can even lifted up the motorcycle from the boat!!! And actually you can pay them however much you want) and here I am at Kapit. I met the PPD’s officer, however since I already called the school to pick me up. Luckily for me that my GB already waiting for me and off we go to school…

 Ok that is the overall experience I got during my journey from Perak to Kapit. I hope that I can help the students here and be a better teacher in the future.. Until next time…

 Intinerary
Kampar - KL Sentral - Rm 22 (ETS)
KLIA - SIbu Airport - RM 391 (Aeroplane)
Sibu Airport  - Waf Rm 35 (Taxi)
Waf - Kapit - RM 30 (Boat Express)

 

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Interim teacher... SARAWAK??!!!!!

Assalamualaikum....


Shock! Shock! S.H.O.C.K!!!!!

Ok did I ever mention to you all that I am a teacher-to-be? Well I am. After being ignored by the government for the last 6 months, finally my friend and I will be posted as Interim teacher or also known as DC 41 instead of DG 41 ( a full-fledged teacher)

So what is Interim's Teacher?
The duration the teaching that you done during the Interim period will not be counted as a permanent services, which mean that your seniority and gratuity will not be counted. The permanent appointment will be subjected to the decision of SPP interviewer, either from the date of the interview or to be moved up to the date you're deployed as an interim.

So this is an interim teacher. There are advantages and disadvantages which are:
Advantages:

1) For me who are tied by the government, this is an opportunity for me to work.
2) I got the wages.
3) I got money to spent

Disadvantages:

1) They might forget us and we will lose our seniority and gratuity as we continue to be interim  teacher.
2) We only got wages in a lump sum of three months.

And this year, 88% of the B.ed Tesl Cohort 5 IPG Kampus Perempuan Melayu are being posted to Sabah and Sarawak.

What???!!! (Ok this is my first reaction)
No way (my denial)
How can this be? (Started  to cry here)
Sleep (trying to forget about this ordeal)

What's more, we have less than a week to prepare everything from the DPT (Dokumen Perjalanan Terhad) to luggage, tickets (still not sure whether I have to buy it myself or the government will support us) and etc!! So here I am slowly preparing myself for the worst. I know that some people have the scepticism about the Sabah and Sarawak. I admit, I also have some worst views about the Borneo.. but my brother advise me to do my best and I also had promised myself to give everything a chance before jumping into any conclusion.

So to sum it up... Sarawak and Sarawakian, please take a good care of me... Onegaishimase !!!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

No electricity??!! Oh No!!


Assalamualaikum! Are you giddy today?? He...he…

Did it ever happen to you? While you are busying yourself googling, face booking and such suddenly your laptop shut down and the fan/AC stopped spinning/functioning! And you was like OMG, there’s no electricity! What should I do?

Guess what… It happened to me today (The electricity is back now and that’s why I am writing this entry ^.^) Anyway, I’m sure this had happened to you many time. So what did you do during the blackout? And that is the question for today entry.

There are many options that you can try such as:

1)      Use your laptop’s battery and continue surfing as usual (well if I am to use one I might last for about 2 hour but I am not going to since we don’t know how long the blackout going to be, for all you know it might lasted for a day)

2)      Or you can do what people do when they did not have any computer/laptop and /or Internet connection

According to my personality, usually I choose no 1, the kind of let’s live the moment and worry later, however today, I choose the option 2. I pick my mp3 and my scarf project, find a chair near the window and began to crocheting away. I am so lucky today, though it is twelve in the afternoon, the breeze was blowing pleasantly and it was quite comfortable. Sometimes, I also pick a book and try to immerse myself in it in order to forget the heat and the boredom from not being online! Ha...ha…

If my parent at home at that time, we usually went out just for a drive. Reason being, we want to stay in an air conditioner place (Aka in our car) as long as possible. Sometime we also go visiting (relatives) just to get out of the house. Of course, we phone them first (their house is 20 minutes drive) in case they’re also having a blackout like us. Well it kind of uncomfortable, you know. They might also want to go somewhere else to escape the heat… (-.-!). I still remember there’s one time when our family decided to go to Cameron Highland just to escape the blackout! And lucky for us that the electricity is kick in when we come back home… \(^.^)/…

Well, that are some of my way in dealing with blackout. So, tell me, what did you do during the blackout?

p/s : I think blackout is hundred times better than having water shortage! You can at least bath and there is water to drink if you are in heat. But if there is water shortage, how long can you survive using the water sparsely???

Monday, September 10, 2012

Me and My Love-Hate relationship with diet


I am not fat! I am overweight (Ok I’m fat according to my mother and relative!)
 
Okay, what make me write this statement? Today I was ‘googling’ the diet programme and I was wondering of doing it while my parent away for the hajj. It is easier that way since I can plan my own meal and such. Do you know one reason of my unsuccessful diet at home? It is because I cannot planned my own meal (What should I do, I am not the one who are holding the money.. that why I hate the GOVT right now for not giving me a job ~ in case you’re wondering I have a contract with the GOVT so I can’t work anywhere else) My Mom always going on and on about my weight but it is not like she is helping me one bit (sorry kind of emo because somebody always act like she know it all when she doesn’t) so I think I want to do this secretly and try to look for the result for the whole 40 days.


Back to the story, I read something on Blood Type Diet (I am an A type) and guess what, all my favourite veggies are on the must avoid list!! O-O... WHAT??!! Furthermore it is advisable for me to do slow and relaxing exercise like Tai Chi and Qi Gong. Another WHAT??!! Well I like activity like dancing and strenuous workout (No longer do much of it compares to when I was at IIUM, shame) so I was like, no way I am going to follow this. Full Stop.  Then I found another diet program known as Atkins Diet, but according to the comment, the weight seems to fluctuate frequently and it is a no-carb diet ( Is it healthy?) which mean no carb for life. I’m not sure it is goes well with me since I am a Malaysian and most of our food is full of carb, so I guess it is a no-no. (I know, right now I’m sounding like a reluctant dieter who always go on a diet but failed miserably in every single one)... (T.T)

 So what do you think? Can someone suggest me some sites which can help me determine suitable diet for myself. For a starter, I'm joining the Fat Secret group and I hope I can gain something from it! (^.^) But one thing for sure, I’m going for it and it is DO or DIE resolution! Till then Ciao <3

 

Friday, September 7, 2012

Being a Teacher : Response to You know Who (mostly blabber on my part)


Assalamualaikum

Recently, the blog entitled “Untung la sape jadi Cikgu” (is this the correct title?) by Miss Yana Adnan has gone viral over the internet, getting many angry responses from teachers, teacher’s husband, teacher’s wife and etc. The content of her writing for me is shown as someone who is in Malay called ‘Cetek pemikiran’ or in English someone who are shallow in thinking! Maybe she is shallow or maybe she is not but only Allah S.W.T and she knows what is going on in her mind and heart.

In my opinion there is no occupation/job/work that is easy. Even ‘Pembuat Roti Jala’ is a hard work! I can’t imagine myself to be one, to stay close to the fire and working in the heat (no offense to anyone but if  no one is cooking it, how am I going to eat one, ha..ha.. ).  The same goes for every other job. The doctor, the engineer (hmm.. hmm I cannot be angry with every engineer since my bro is one) the teacher, the shop keeper, the paddy planter, and etc. What is important is your passion to do it! If you did not have any passion for it, nothing is going to work for you.  So it is wrong for her (Liyana Adnan) to bash on teacher occupation or even any other occupation! We are living in a symbiosis world. We need each other!

Well, before I started being a teacher trainee, I also have these types of misconception (well at that time I was only 18, so I might be forgiven for being ignorance?? Ha..ha..) The wage is pretty good, the working hour is not bad and plus we got a lot of holiday, isn’t it? Furthermore, to those who are lucky to be chosen to enroll in Teacher Trainee’s Institution, you even got scholarship to go by! Isn’t that a good deal??  So I applied for it and when I got in, I went to my college with a thought that I will able to sail my life breezily by being a teacher.

Well, how wrong of me to think of such things! Being a teacher is NOT easy! In fact being an anything is not easy.  (My teaching training took six years that sometime I wonder if instead of being a teacher, I was actually learning to be a doctor. Well doctor of life, attitude, child problem and ethics I guess!) My teaching experience only expand for 6 months (I know, but I have no one to blame but the GOVT for not making the posting process go faster rather than at the speed of the turtle, *grrr!) 3 months as the practical teacher (last Jan – April) at one primary school and another 3 month (last April – July) at Special Education Secondary School. So it is not a lot. But during those 6 months I have learned the harsh world of being a teacher.

I am not saying that my job is more important than other but can you imagine of facing a class average of 30 pupils who are small and totally dependent on us to provide them the knowledge of the world?? Well maybe you are not if you have never experience being a teacher! The first time I step into the class, I was feeling totally overwhelmed and helpless. These small children with their innocent (and sometime not so-innocence) eyes looking up at you, expecting for your first word and action, their brightened up face when you praise them and their glee when they compete with each other sometimes make me wish that I was a better teacher than what I am. Even though I had prepared my lesson plan and teaching aids, I always feel like that it wasn’t enough. My urges to develop them to become a better human being sometimes make me cried due to my own helplessness.

Teacher deals with a human being and that one thing sometimes make it one of the hardest works in the universe. There are no human that are two peas in a pod. All of them have a different need. All of them need a different approach. All of them need a different style.  And teachers have to deal not only with the student but also with the parent, guardian, colleague, Admin and etc. I think one of the people who deal with many people in their life is the teacher!  Probably this is one reason why teacher are being respected and known to many people! However I also believe that, the teacher conducts and attitude also play major important roles in the gaining (is this a right word? Oh well need to improve more) the “Respected Teacher” title (I also need to work more on this, with me always being to childish)

Though to some people, there are many so called perks in being a teacher, but in my opinion, many of those perks are sometime being use for the children itself. I always feel happy to spend my money and time to conduct a different teaching approach for my pupils. For me, when their eyes lit up in appreciations and understanding, it is more than enough to give me energy to work harder for them (this might sound over the top, but I really love it when pupils understand what is being thought to them)

There are people who said that we tend to act rashly when we feel dissatisfied with something. Maybe Miss Liyana Adnan are not satisfies with teacher profession who seems to be having free wages by only walking and teaching at the front, with a lots of holiday and GOVT servant perks. So if you are not satisfied with your work and feel envy of being a teacher, why don’t you apply for the KPLI and try to be a teacher. Maybe by doing that you will know the word of gratitude?

                Well I apologized for my inconsistent blabber. I think my brain is not working properly due to the feeling of angry and sad with Miss Liyana’s statement.  Actually there are many things I want to write about but I think enough is enough. I think Miss Liyana herself is no longer needed for another person to tell her the holiness of a teacher! Ha..ha.. Well as the word goes by, try putting yourself in someone shoes before you spew off offensive word. Because   ‘Terlajak perahu boleh diundur, terlajak kata ….’

                Until next time Miss Liyana. I hope I will get the honors of meeting your children in the future!