School's Out

for many years for me but got a bit nostalgic about it today, triggered by some discussion I had with HHBC members earlier this morning. 

It started with Anay talking about his parents, then about some bloggers asking him info on Muslim food in Japan, which lead us discussing about Halal food and then I told them a bit about my old school. Yes, the hamsap people of HHBC can and do talk about serious matters and not only about hamsap things. Right Meow and SK? ^^

Anways... school days.

I don't have a lot of photos to reminiscence about my long ago schooling days. I hate taking photos. I don't take them much these days unless with my family and when I'm running. Shocking huh? LOL
Primary school. Methodist Girls School or Sekolah Kebangsaan Perempuan Methodist. I used to wear a badge with MGS wording and not like the one above. I'm OLD. Huhuhu

Nothing spectacular in primary school. I was just an average student. Rarely got top 3 placing. Only hovered around top 10. Not that active in sports either. I was just a quiet and weird girl in class who rode the chopper bicycle to school. Hated the bike and actually wished to have that 7-up bicycle instead so that I can race my friends after school. xD

But it was in MGS I discovered the joy of reading. Love the school's library. I read Peter Rabbit, Bom the Toy Drummer, Asterix & Obelix, Tintin, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Sweet Valley High - all while in primary school. 

Super strict teachers abound but we survived school.
Then, 5 years of secondary school in Maktab Rendah Sains MARA (MRSM) or MARA Junior Science College. A boarding school. 
"Dewan makan" food anyone? Anybody miss eating from those trays? ^^ Can anyone recognise me in this photo?

Gotta sit for an MRSM entrance tendency test after my Penilaian Darjah Lima (yes, I did mention I'm old. UPSR was after my time. booohooo) OK so, I sat for it during Standard 6. It's more like an IQ test. Didn't take it too seriously, I remembered me and my schoolmates were the noisiest bunch amongst all the students from other schools in Raub who sat for the test. Don't really know why I got selected. Bwahaha

I went to three(!) different MRSMs during secondary school! Crazy, huh?

Form 1 - 2 was spent in Kuantan. Love this school. It follows US style classes and we were with different classmates for different subjects and change classes every period. English and Mathematics were according to our level - bright class, average class & not-so-clever class. Totally funny thing happened for English class. I didn't do too well during my first test while in the "bright" class for English and was "demoted" to the not-so-clever class. Stuck in that class for two years BUT I had one of the highest scores for English for each tests after that. A "bodoh" English student in C class managed to outperform most of the "pandai" students in Class A. LOL

For other classes, we get to choose our teachers. First day of school was spent registering our names under a teacher we wanted. Popular teachers of course get his/her classes filled up first. Not easy to be a teacher in MRSM Kuantan... ^^

By the way, who really understands "Lateral Thinking" subject? I loath this subject and can never make any sense of it. Must be because I am never logical in the first place! Hahaha

In Kuantan I enjoyed the finer points of performance arts. Poem recitals (deklamasi sajak), drama performances, choirs, pantomimes. Popular poets were invited during the weekends. Artists too. 

Saturday mornings were spent doing tai-chi at the school field. Sunday afternoon were spent in senior rooms for usrah. Learnt the Surah Yasin by heart when I was 13. Finally.

Saturday nights were a treat sometimes, with some performances by local artists.

I got the chance to learn how to sail a catamaran while in Kuantan too. Just a couple of times though. The "Kelab Perahu Layar" or sailing club wasn't all that active. I was one of two girls in the club and us joining the club were met with strong objections from senior boys.

Form 3 was spent in Kerteh, Terengganu. MRSM Kerteh doesn't exists anymore. It moved to Kuala Berang now. It is so confusing to be an alumni of a school located in a place I've never been to. Heck! It's confusing to be an alumni of three different MRSMs! o.O

Weird how the teachers in Kerteh chose to put students in classes. We were sorted alphabetically. So in my class were all those whose names started with M,N & O. There were three students with the same name as mine in my class!

I went crazy in Form 3. Instead of buckling down and study for SRP, I became totally active in co-curriculum.

Athletics. Volleyball. Spelling Bee. Poem recitals. Hiking. Co-op member (and on duty almost every other night at the co-op shop). Committee member for dunno what.  Joined nasyid too (we won second place at a nasyid singing competition!)

MRSM teachers were big on making us walk crazy distances. It was a normal weekend activity to make us walk from our school in Alor Akar, Kuantan to the beach. 10km? Pfftt. We once walked to Cherating for our homeroom excursion! 

Teachers in Kerteh had us walk from our school to Kemasik just to have a picnic. Who needs a bus, anyway? @.@
 Me and my classmates during Form 5 in our "stesen keretapi" style class.

Form 4 & 5 was spent in Kem Terendak in Melaka. I got the option to return to Kuantan but I had this "bright" idea of going somewhere totally crazy. It was Kem Terendak as first choice and Balik Pulau as my second choice after Form 3. I wasn't bright enough to be selected to go to Taiping, where most of my BFFs managed to get in to. Huhuhu

In Form 4 & 5, I found out that I am really good at writing speeches. I can write a last minute piece for an elocution contest my English teacher had me enter and still get placing. 

One school holiday, I turned down a chance to join a international level jamboree that was held in Kuantan just so I can become an English facilitator at an English camp. Why? Because I DO NOT like marching! LOL

Though here, I encountered the ugly world of rank and file. My English teachers asked me to join the debate team but I found out that the members didn't believe a kampung gal can be any good in their team. Furthermore, I'm a poor kampung girl unlike other team members who were children of high-ranking army officers. I bailed out from English-lit class because of this same reason too. :(
But all in all, I still had lots of fun here. School was fun. When I wasn't in the classroom! Hahaha

Barely remember or make any use of what I learn from class. I had a barely enough CGPA to graduate too. I think my CGPA at the end of Form 5 was 2.75? Or was it 2.50? Something low like that lah... Low grade also meant that I can never contest for a post in the students' body. Not that I have any leadership skill to want to anyway. ;p

How was your school days like?

p.s. I'll bore you to death writing about running next! *evil laugh*

Comments

  1. Wah!! So long story about your school days!

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    1. Yeah, because it's been ages since my last update! Revenge! LOL

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  2. I was not fond of my school days. So I won't want to even talk about it! Haha!

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  3. I prefer my post-school days. Haha!!

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  4. Huh? Students sorted by alphabetical order?

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    1. Interesting sorting, right?

      No need to use a sorting hat for us! Bwahaha

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  5. Looks like your secondary school days were quite interesting!

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  6. Maybe I will talk about my primary school days where the toilet in our school was haunted, and the tree in the field was haunted. LOL!

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    1. Plenty of haunted stories at school for me too! After all, it's a boarding school. ;)

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  7. But definitely no photos from me hahaha!!

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  8. Waah banyaknya aktiviti you masuk! Very good :)
    Mine hovered around volleyball, camping, pegi trips ikut homeroom, main kompang sekejap, choir & dikir barat sikit (hehheh)...but the one thing that I did consistently from Form 1 to Form 5 was track & field. BWP/BIP (ke LDP?) semua of course were not for a budak nakal like me. Only penolong ketua rumah sukan je. :P

    I bet you didn't carry bags to classes? Hehe. We all pegang je buku, I tak sure style mana semua orang dapat ni. During break every one will get the after-break set of books before or after morning tea break kat dewan makan.

    I rasa masa kat MRSM I lagi suka pakai uniform yang light yellow/kain brown instead of the blue one. Because I think warmer tones suit me better. Sampai sekarang I rasa macam tu hahahaa

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    1. Millie,
      Ada TKD activities lagi. Tatau pegi sekolah gi belajar gi gi beraktiviti jer... Hahaha

      LDP? Kena kantoi dgn LDP selalu lah! Ponteng prep! wakaka

      I was AJK makanan (passed the interview sbb yg interview tu minat kat I. *golek-golek gelak*) and AJK kebudayaan under BWP. ^^ Nak jadi AJK ko-op in Form 4 but no opening and I was the budak baru in Terendak masa tu. Paling best jadi AJK Makanan (aka AJK dewan makan) lepas supper leh bawak balik mcm mcm from dewan makan - roti, biskut, air. Masyuk... LOL

      Yeah, mana main pakai beg kan? Usung lah buku2 tu ke hulu ke hilir. Sama mcm you. Buku tukar time break. :) Funny kan, different states pun, we all "operate" the same. ;)

      I pun suke uniform coklat. Sesuai dgn jiaw, gitu. hahaha

      Delete
  9. haha, i think ytday's topic is a good one.. we learn from each other the culture and taboos, it's very beneficial lah i think.. and you know why our topics have been serious and not hamsap recently?? because the cock-king SP was so busy he wasn't chatting with us!! :D

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    1. I suspect so lah. If SP around, sure he turned the discussion into hamsap discussion! LOL

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    2. lol....then he sure kena anay shoot :p

      i learn something new too about clay ..

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  10. aiyoh, i like this account of your schooling life lah.. so interesting!! although so long like foongpc and STP post but i enjoyed reading it from the first word to the last~~

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    1. Thank you for reading my long winded story. *sayang SK* ^^

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    2. err....cham...me taking a break from the post to comment here...baca sampai the UPSR....cont later

      U and me sanme la...no UPSR

      Delete
  11. i guess my primary school is more interesting than my high school.. i was indeed a very active and popular student in primary school, bagging the "student role model award" during standard 5 and 6.. i was good in studies (always in top 5) and also active in all sorts of competitions.. won in so many academic competitions as well as representing the school in interschool athletic competitions..

    ReplyDelete
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    1. SK is such a good boy and student.

      Zaini was the student of the year in Year 6 too.

      Me? I wasn't a good student like you guys, Booohoooo

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  12. high school is just very normal lah.. went to the independent chinese high school and spent all time in studies.. because academic is highly important in that education system.. also, getting fatter and fatter so cannot compete in athletics anymore!! and we have like 5000 students in the school very tough to excel in any competitions too..

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    1. Wah! So many students!

      In MRSM (well, the ones I went to anyway) a batch consisted of less than 200 students. Small la. But small also, fat chance for me to compete with all the clever students. ^^!

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  13. i like your secondary school life lah, so different from the conventional secondary or high school!! you really learned a lot, and it's interesting they do it in college style.. get your prepared earlier for the real uni life..

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    1. It was different but for some, the less than rigid style of learning and lesser dependence on exams (as opposed to assignments that accounted for 30%), it can be quite an adjustments. We were kids after all mah.

      But I do appreciate to have the chance to experience a lot of stuff I may not get to experience if I stayed on in Raub, my hometown. :)

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  14. Aha! I knew you'd been to many different schools, but finally the full story.

    Many bits of information made me grin. Methodist school?! Yikes! Quiet girl? Naaah, get outta here! Weird girl? Well, yes, that I can imagine.

    That third photo - is that you in blue?

    PS: I hated school but loved university.

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    1. MGS was considered the top school in my hometown way back then. To enroll in MGS and be accepted to MGS' secondary school is something to be proud of. No issues about sisters and nuns and churches... ^^

      Yup. In blue. Clever girl. :)

      p.s. I AM QUIET. RESERVED. SHY even. ;p

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  15. Another interesting language discovery: kampung is village in your language; the word was adopted as kampong in South Africa. It's become obsolete, but it used to refer to small settlements where workers (usually mines and farms) lived. I never realized it had a Malay connection, too.

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    1. And I learn something new too.

      This just make me feel I should visit SA someday.

      But first - learn the history of SA! Must! Must! :)

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  16. let me try to spot you in the photo lah.. 2nd from the right in the dewan makan photo, and then 2nd from the left in the classroom photo.. betul tak?? the classroom photo too dark and blur lah, cannot see also actually, just hantam..

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  17. interesting you spent your secondary school life in three different places!! haha.. is that a norm for Mr Saxo-Masochism or was it because your family was moving from one place to another?? i stayed in the same school in the same place for all 6 years in high school, haha.. we only have one "branch" lah obviously~~

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    1. Not normal for most MRSM students, that I can say.

      I was transferred lah. My parents stayed put in my hometown as I was in a residential school. Mana ada balik rumah after school. Sleep in dorm. :)

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  18. what i remember most for my high school life was: a mogok did by the form 6 students to anti the discipline master!! hahaha.. it was teachers day celebration and it's a tradition for all form 6 students to be responsible for the event.. all the years, we printed a theme t-shirt for the event, but the new discipline master did not allow the t-shirt to be worn on that day.. we were all so unhappy about that!! so on teachers day itself, all the form 6 students mogok and wear the t-shirt like BERSIH 2.0 to school, then all kena detained outside the school gate.. until too many came and blocked the road, and we were asked to go in and stay at the basketball court.. until after all came and the headmaster gave his speech to condemn our act (apparently no one listened lah), then everything went back to normal and we get the things started wearing our own t-shirt.. yeah, the student won!! :D

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    1. Wah! Respect you students lah!

      You exercise your right to have a voice!

      Clap clap!

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  19. I was in a girls' primary school and a mixed high school. I remember how startled I was by these big, noisy, smelly, rude, obnoxious male creatures. (I have sisters, no brothers, so I had little exposure to the masters of the universe up till that point.) I was never popular amongst the boys - had no boyfriends at my own school - I was too confrontational, I had higher marks than any of them and they were terrified of my frowning, strict, lawyer-and-mayor-of-the-town father. :D

    Are all Muslim schools separated by gender in Malaysia? The older I get, the more I wonder whether separated schools aren't better than mixed schools (for girls; not sure about boys). What says you?

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    1. I would be terrified of your father too, if I'm a boy and interested in you. ;P

      Not all. But I went to an all girls primary school. Zaini went to an all boys primary school. Raimie is in a co-ed school. :)

      Even Islamic schools are not gender segregated. But we won't sit mixed together. It's always one side boys and one side girls.

      Or if we had a rather religious teacher - front rows boys, back rows girls.

      I tend to agree with you on the all girls institution. Less distraction?

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  20. I rarely got off the bottom 3 during my school days ... LOL!

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    1. LOL

      As if I believe you. xD

      Anyway, doesn't matter now. Right, Boss? hehehe

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  21. I was only in two schools for my school life. Then a college and a uni.

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  22. I had my share of eating from those trays when I was in teacher training college in the 70's. The food was horrible!!! I wouldn't know how I survived! Then in 1986, I did my specialist course at an institute in KL - the food was a whole lot nicer but these days, they do not cater to the student sin colleges anymore. You get an allowance - you go and worry about your food yourself. Quite a hassle if no transport and no nice eating places nearby. The one across the road from my daughter's institute - more flies than people. So dirty, really!

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    1. The food wasn't great but we survived. My mom always tell me not to be too choosy about food. At least got food to eat.

      Anyway, I think when we were in our teens, eating at the dewan makan was not in our high list of must dos. There was a canteen too. Can makan there. But pay la.

      Though I remember we ate a whole lot of instant noodles back in school. I actually went off instant noodles for a few years after school! LOL

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  23. back in my day at SBP, we are very jeles of MRSM punya food. we went to one event at MRSM taiping, mmg lagi banyak and lagi sedap compare to us.

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    1. Matjoe, yeker?

      Hehehe

      Tapi I ingat dulu klu kat Kuantan every alternate Saturday, dream mkn served chicken chop. Besh...

      Masa kat Kerteh, highlight was the delicious nasi ayam for lunch on Ftiday.

      Terendak... X ingat lak apa mkn best kat situ. Hah hah

      But after 5 years duk asrama, i totally stopped mkn ikan jeket. :-D

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  24. wow...you wne to so many schools. So your classmates and all still keep contact?

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  25. Form 1 and 2 sounds good leh can choose own teacher. If pandai then can choose teacher who suits own style of studying the best

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    1. but its first come first serve. One teacher's class quota full, then gotta find another teacher ady.

      So kena be assertive n fast to register name. Hectic wor...

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  26. Form 3 really crazy ....Kemasik walk back?? pengsan.......is that where you get your fondness of jogging and running?

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    1. i can walk a lot one but I hate jogging la... I only started running as a workout after I stopped going to gym in 2011. :-D

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  27. compared to yours my schooling days have been "boring lo...go to smae school then "graduate". that's all

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    1. I think for normal boarding school students, they either spend 5years (if they enter during Form 1) or 2yrs (if they enter during Form 4).

      3 boarding school in 5yrs is nit really normal! :-D

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  28. I love to read Asterix & Obelix!

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    1. hi-5. :-)

      I still keep them. Haven't been reading them though.

      Delete
  29. Eh Kak Lina! any chance you were born in 1975? My sister went to the exact three MRSMs like you, in that exact order too..


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    1. Erma,
      Who is your sis?

      Ida?
      Linda?
      Ada lg sorang... Gosh... I forgot her name. O_O

      Delete
    2. Hai Kak Teh!
      Hai Bad! My sister brought me back here. Lama dah tak blogging n bloghopping.

      Haha nostalgia tul entry nih. Miss that stesen keretapi! And remember that class masa kita form 4, tepi tasik terpinggir dari orang tuh? Kesian kita.. 2 tahun kelas tak serupa orang. Haha..

      Kak Teh.. Koi ada menyelit antara gambar2 di atas. Cer cari. cer cari.. Cari yg kurus taww..

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    3. Kahkahkiok...

      Hi old friend. :)

      Kan... Kita dari Form 1 sampai Form 5 kelas tak serupa orang. Apalah punya nasib. huk huk huk

      Erma... a'ah ada gambar dia kat atas tu. BTW your sis used to my dorm mate (form 4) and classmate. Tapi dia LDP. Garang. I asyik kena tangkap LDP sebab ponteng prep. wakaka

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  30. I had many old coloured photos like yours and they all faded too. That was why I posted black and white ones! I could point out you easily after straining my eyes!

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  31. I purposely want to make you all strain your eyes! LOL

    My photos aren't faced yet la. "Baru" 20 years. School photos still look good. Kekeke

    ReplyDelete

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