I attended a private kindergarten for a year. ["Private" as in "non-government", not exactly "exclusive" like some schools in J-dramas or K-dramas that I used to watch. My mind keeps thinking of the elite all-girl high school in J-drama "Mei-chan no Shitsuji" (Mei's Butler) where every girl from very rich or influential families attend special classes while being carefully taken care of by their respective mostly-cute young butlers.] Thinking about it now, I can't seem to recall much of what I've learnt from that one year in kindergarten. I remember playing with clay, I remember practising for year-end performance, I remember being slow in learning Mandarin and there was this Chinese boy (classmate) whom the teacher assigned to help me with my Mandarin workbook because I was crying after not being able to answer some of the questions. Yes, I remember that particular part. ㅜㅜ I remember how the helpful boy tried to teach me what was in the workbook. He explained and showed how to write the (simple) Chinese characters. He didn't give up easily even though I wasn't catching up right away. And mind you, we were as young as 5 to 6 years old at that time. I feel really bad for not remembering his name now. He probably forgot mine too. I hope he did, so that he doesn't remember me as the hopeless crybaby who was bad at Mandarin in kindergarten. >< I thought of mentioning about that boy here just to acknowledge the good deed that he had done back then (even if it was the teacher who ordered him to do so). My point is, it's nice to have someone giving you a hand or simply keeping you accompanied throughout your life. Being on your own is necessary at times but having your friends around brings extra joy and enlightment especially when your life is like a roller-coaster of events or happenings. It doesn't matter how old you are. Friends are special and those who are close enough with you make it feel like you're having your own little "clan". Or you can call it your "gang", in a more relatable manner. So, when I was in kindergarten, my little clan consisted of my cousin Mariana and me. I was really close with her (and still am) as she attended the same kindergarten with me and we ended up in the same class even though she's a year younger than me. Sorry for acting up or being more child-like back then, okay Na? You've been very patient and kind. ^^
In my elementary school years, I went to a school not far from grandma's area. My parents and I moved in to live with grandma and uncles because my parents were transferred somewhere that required them to commute to and fro on daily basis. A simple house was actually provided for them to live near the school but they didn't permanently live there. Sometimes, they brought me along to stay overnight at the house near the school they were teaching at. OMG I just remembered this one thing! There was a band performing at my parents' school for an event one evening. The band members were youngsters not too much older than me. The lead vocalist was a foreigner (or mix-blood, IDK). At that time, I thought he was cute but never approached him. *Typical young girl thingy* xD At that school, which was (and still is, I think) located next to a village, everyone was getting along well with each other. Students, teachers, parents...they all knew each other. They even knew me since my parents were working there. Even years after my parents moved to different places, we still went to visit the village during festive seasons. Well, we stopped doing that quite some time ago because of the hustle bustle of city life that we got ourselves into. My school at that time (the one near grandma's area) was built on a hill. I wonder how it looks like right now. Was I particularly close to anyone in the three years that I was at that school? I don't remember. Probably I was too busy doing tasks as the class monitor. I was one of the faces that the teachers in the teachers' room saw very often. Having to carry such responsibility at such young age made me forget to be closer to any of my classmates or schoolmates. 흐 But I remember this boy (classmate) who always took away my cute sharperners and never returned them. Laz, why were you so mean to me?! ㅜㅜ The funny thing was, not too long ago, we 'met' on Facebook and he introduced himself to me as the boy who often stole my stationeries during elementary school. LOL.. There was also this boy (another classmate) who sneaked a love note into my school bag! A freaking love note! Why is it hard to get such gesture these days?!! It's not that hard to do it, okay guys! Screw the high-tech phones or computers! You can sway the girls with simple yet sincere actions. >< Okay, back to the love note boy. I remember his name but I better respect his right by not revealing it here. LOL.. Sadly, I don't remember exactly what he wrote on that note. I also don't know what happened to the note. OMG did mom or dad or grandma see that note but never told me that they did? Not that it's a big of a deal but it would still feel awkward. xD So, to cut the story short, it didn't work out between us (What the heck! xD Seriously, I feel like slapping myself right now for using such sentence and tone to talk about this petty yet worth-mentioning thingy. Just bear with me, okay? Don't take it too seriously.) because I had to move to a different town and a different school the next school semester. Maybe we weren't meant to be. That's why God worked his plan to keep us apart. Okay, I really should give myself a slap for sounding so modramatic. We were just 9 at that time! 9! Not 19! Not 29! Just 9! What the... But you know I'm just trying to be lively and transparent in this post here, right? Bukan selalu pun. ^^
My other three years of elementary school were spent in a school within a housing area in town. So, is that like the suburban area in American towns? IDK. I was a prefect in those years. Mom was a teacher in the same school. We moved to that school at the same time. So, I know what it's like to have own mom teaching at the same school, okay? It wasn't that bad but I had my challenges. LOL.. Since the school was a walking distance away from my house, I usually walked on foot when I was going back home. In the morning, dad would send mom and me to school on his way to work. In those years, I was close with a friend named Angela. Her house was located at the same lane as me back then, so we often walked back home together and hung out together. I think she still lives at the same house. It was me who always moved here and there. Now, Angela is happily married and has a son (or is it two sons already? orz). She's one hot mama now. :D And then there's me.... Am I left behind? Will I end up as a boring loner? Where did I go wrong? Okay okay...being dramatic again. xD No wonder my sis calls me a drama queen. I kind of am. Kind of. Apart from Angela, I also hung out often with Sylvia, Sara, and ___ (Oh my! I forgot the name of one of my childhood friends! Why can't I remember? The two of us even went to the same matriculation college. ㅠㅠ Forgive me.) whose houses were also at the same lane as mine but they went to different schools. We would get together after school to play ting-ting or cops-and-criminals or hen-and-chicks or batu seremban or "zero point" (OMG I miss this game!) with other kids, if I weren't playing Mario video game at home instead. As for those whose houses were not at the same lane or housing park, I was pretty close with Grace and Felicitys (I knew two girls whose names are Felicity M and Felicity A.) Once, Angela and I stopped by at Felicity A's house after school instead of going straight home. We spent a couple of hours there till my parents became worried sick and searched for me around our neighbourhood. That time, it was hard to contact parents at home since I didn't have a cellphone. But I could have just called using my friend's house phone, right? -.- There was another time when a few of us were late to our school's cleaning activity only because we were baking cookies that didn't come out right. *Sigh* The young and foolish us were so confident that we would be able to pull it off in time. Then, Felicity A's older sister brought us back to reality by telling us that it would need longer time than we had to bake the cookies. Our teachers and classmates who heard about our silly story kept teasing us by asking for the cookies that were never successfully baked. ㅜㅜ
After completing a total of six years in elementary school, I went to a secondary school that was different than the school which I would be automatically placed in based on my elementary school. So, another goodbye to classmates/ schoolmates. I sure moved a lot. In my second and third years, I was the only non-Chinese in the class. It was pretty cool to be the only one (in a way) even though I would be lost when they all spoke in Chinese and I couldn't catch it. And some of you may think that I would be good in common Chinese phrases or sentences since a lot of my friends are Chinese, but I never bother to learn from them. They did teach me some words but I couldn't improve much as I was preoccupied as their almighty class monitor for a couple of years. During my secondary school years, I was close with Melissa, Stella, Sharina, and Catherine. Melissa was the one whom I got close to as we sat next to each other in class for a year. We have the same native language but we mostly communicated in local Malay language. Stella too has the same native language as me. In our matriculation year before university, the two of us became closer when we happened to go to the same institution. Melissa also went to the same matriculation college but she stopped to pursue her diploma at a different institution. Sharina and I became close when we both were fans of Westlife. She even gave me Westlife VCD and poster for my birthday. Oh, Sharina also went to the same matriculation college as I did but we didn't meet up so often in matriculation. Catherine and I took Accounting as an extra subject and we went to tuition for that subject because we weren't taught that subject in school as we were Science stream students. So, we had to learn on our own and we learned it for one year instead of two because we finalised our subjects only a year before the big exam. One of the memorable happenings during my secondary school years was when my classmates held a birthday celebration for me at Pizza Hut. EiChi, a dear friend who is very talented in arts, won a Pizza Hut meal package. She didn't know how else to make use of that package, so she discussed with my other classmates and decided to throw me a birthday celebration. How thoughtful! Another memorable happening was at the end of our final year in secondary school. I planned a Christmas get-together at home with the permission of my parents. BTW, we just quite recently moved to our current house at that time. Like I said, I moved quite often. I prepared gifts for all of them who came. I even made fruit jellies myself as their desserts. Some of them came with gifts. For me! Oh, I just remembered something! That evening, I asked all of them to bring something from home to put in our time capsule (which was a box, actually). You know what? I still keep the time capsule and the chain around it is still intact. When are we going to open it up, you guys? We never had a proper reunion. Some of you are now working, some are still studying, some are overseas....we're all scattered around the globe. Tell me if any of you are already at a different planet, kay? *Lame joke*
After secondary school, I went for a one-year matriculation programme. It was my first time being away from home to study. I lived in a dorm with three other roommates. Coincidentally, one of my roommates was my secondary school classmate. I was glad to have kind and fun roommates. Phyllis, Fifa, Fathiah, and I went for outings together sometimes. One of my favourite things to do is watching movies or dramas with Fifa. We would squeal or sulk while watching. Oh right, Fathiah, the youngest of us four roommates, had just gotten married not a long time ago. Remember Stella, my friend from secondary school? More than anyone, I spent my weekends with her the most. Even though we were placed in different lecture groups, thus different tutorial groups, I went to the church and mall with her regularly. We even booked the same flights almost all the time.
I'm now pursuing my bachelor degree in university. At first, I was a student of Faculty of Medicine and Health Science. I made good friends with the Medicine and Nursing students there. In my first year there, I stayed at the dorm even though my house was about 15 minutes away by car (minus traffic jam). There was this group of friends I was very close with. Another friend jokingly called us "buah-buahan" because the seven of us together reminded him of "buah-buahan tempatan" (local fruits) since five of us are locals from the state our university is at and the other two are non-Chinese-like Malaysian Chinese. Do you get it? xD Later on, we were known as "unifruit". I miss the time when Valerie, Rebecca, Chien, Joannes, Calvin, Ibi, and I had our days or nights out. We also won first place in a group activity during our batch's trip to a beach some time ago. We rarely hang out now because of our different schedules and routines. I wish to have a meet-up with them soon. After two years at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, I had to experience what I deem as the most uncertain and confusing period of my life so far. A lot of study-related things were playing in my poor head and I felt so distressed that I didn't want to get out of bed for days. It was no fun at all. After consulting some individuals, I obtained the help from my original faculty to transfer me to a different faculty. It also meant that I would no longer be receiving scholarship from a government-linked association. I'm telling you, I then realised how considerably "rich" I was while being a scholar. xD So, my new faculty is Faculty of Economics and Business. A 180° change, you say? It sure was. And I met some wonderful friends. All my coursemates are fine but I'm especially close with five kumangs by the name of Marcella, Rachel, Victoria, Martina, and Mariam. It was like we were programmed to find each other. This is part of Your plans, isn't it, God? From time to time, I recall the good times I've shared with my friends. They're precious.
Okay, I'll stop right here. This is longer than I planned it to be. You did read all of it, didn't you? You better! :D
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