Pre-departure #4

So this is it.

This is goodbye, what I hope to only be an au revoir.

I know I’ll be back in Malaysia before I know it (or so everyone else says), but I can’t seem to get it out of my system. By ‘it’, I mean this ball of nerves coiled up somewhere inside of me just waiting to explode like a tightly wound spring, full of elastic potential energy. Okay, that was my inner nerd speaking.

But you get the point.

I’m not nervous, neither am I excited. I’m just not sure I want to leave although I know I have to. By now, I believe that if suddenly I was given one more month here, it’d never suffice. I’m guessing this has something to do with how we all experience a slight bout of trepidation at the sight of the unknown, which is in this case, a few thousand miles away from what I am so used to.

And from the people I love.

I cannot see myself being so far away from my family. Sure, they get on my nerves sometimes (don’t you dare say tsktsk, at some point you’ve probably felt that way too), but at the end of the day, they are most definitely the ones who will bend all the way back to be there for me, come hell or high tide. I’ve caught myself wishing that there are things about them that they’d change, but then again, no one’s perfect, and for them to love me the way they do, I really shouldn’t ask for more. One of these days, I’ll try to make them really see what I mean when I say I love them. I see a future filled with homesick moments. O the horror.

And of course, when I talk about the people I love, I simply have to include my friends. True, I do reserve more affections for some friends, but then again, you definitely do that, too. The way I see it, it’s not a matter of being pilih kasih or anything. It’s simply a matter of knowing who is closer to you and who isn’t. Some friends you connect with on a higher level, while others you get along just fine with.

Either ways, if I consider you a friend, I do love you. I understand that in this time and era the word ‘love’ gets thrown around a lot, along with the words ‘hate’ and ‘miss’. It makes me furious to see that happen, but the least I can do is make sure that when I use them, I mean every letter in those words. So now you know that I do love you, and I will miss you. I most likely already miss you, anyway. That’s how much you mean to me, even though everyone knows how fickle friendship can be.

Which brings me to my next point (cewah, like writing essay). Thank you very, very much. I appreciate all your effort, time, energy, money, resources, IQ, EQ, everything lah.

‘You’ in the sentence above refers to:

1. The people who nagged me while I was packing to make sure I don’t leave anything important behind.
2. The people who took me out to makan.
3. The people who spent money on me (mostly my parents).
4. The people who bought me gifts and wrote me letters or tiny notes.
5. The people who took photos with me, especially a certain Evonne who apparently hates being in front of the camera.
6. The people who rushed home from wherever they were just to have a few hours with me.
7. The people who made an effort to see me at least once, just to say ‘bye’.
8. The people who gave me advice on how to pack and manage my things into a little over 20kg.
9. The people who put up with my increasingly transient emotions and idiosyncrasies. Especially when I become all emo and irrational.
10. The people who have done anything at all for me, like that random text message or wall post about how I absolutely must be happy. Or whatever else you did.

I guess what I’m trying to say is it’s not exactly easy for me to drop so many things and get on that flight, but I’ll do it and I’ll be positive about it and I’ll try to enjoy it and make everyone back home proud of me. =D If all else fails, I’ll just be me.

Oh and please, please, do remember to buzz me every now and then, alright? Like I said in my first ever blog post, I’m not very good at keeping in touch, so try to play your part too. Please? =)

Before I fall asleep on my bed back home for what would most likely be the last time in a year, I’d like to draw your attention to the video below. Several days ago, I posted one here which was basically a call by this Malaysian on YouTube who was asking people to submit response videos. Below is the compilation video he made using those response videos. It’s sort of a Merdeka thing.

And then Evonne asked me to watch another video which was made for the upcoming Hari Raya Aidilfitri, but I felt that it was relevant regardless of the time of year, so here it is.

Miss me loads, yar. =)

Pre-departure #2

18 August 2011, 8.00a.m. – JPA’s pre-departure briefing at their headquarters in Putrajaya.

Batu Pahat is about 3 to 4 hours from Putrajaya, which meant that I had to leave home at 3.30a.m. just to make sure that I reach there on time without my dad having to ‘fly’ on the highway. Cruising through BP at 3.30 in the morning was rather calming. I rather wished that I had my camera with me so that I could take decent shots from the car.

Frankly, I was expecting to yawn my way through the briefing because firstly, it was a briefing. How many briefings have you ever attended which weren’t yawn-inducing? And secondly, I didn’t sleep a wink before we left for Putrajaya. Since my holidays started, I’ve been going to bed at around 2 or 3 in the morning so I simply couldn’t coax my brain into silencing itself sufficiently for me to fall asleep. As I write this, I’ve only had around 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep since the 18th, not including the times when I slept in the car. Oh, my eye bags!

I did yawn quite a bit, but not as much as I thought I would, probably because the briefing wasn’t as boring as I expected it to be. I did have to resort to doodling to keep me awake though.

Doodles on Page 1 of my notes

Anyway, to satisfy your curiosity and perhaps draw you even deeper into the deep abyss of boredom, I’ll give you a brief outline of the briefing according to chronology.

When we arrived at the briefing hall, we were promptly given our tailor-made suits, a 1Malaysia lapel pin and a JPA bag, which is even smaller than the smallest school bag I ever had. The suit (which costs RM430.00 and was deducted from our clothes allowance) consists of a blazer and a pair of pants. The pants have stretchy rubber sides! Sure, it’s good if you’re the kind who has a fluctuating waistline (like yours truly), but it is so unpleasant to look at.

After a short, childish rant over the stretchy pants to the people sitting near me, we rehearsed standing up for the Negaraku, the prayer recital and the students’ pledge. Both the prayer and pledge were led by students from ALL2, my class in KTT! *childish haolian moment*

Amirul and Mcdowell who led the prayer and pledge respectively

At around 9.10a.m., the VIP, Encik Othman bin Mohamed Nazari from JPA arrived. Like little chicks, we all obediently stood up, sang the Negaraku, sat down, recited the prayer, listened to his pep talk and recited our pledge. Basically, he was there to tell us that we must remember to contact our family members when we’re abroad, inform the officers when we leave the country and that we could get married after the third year. Stuff like that. XD

En Othman

Then came the briefing with the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) representative, an Encik Nasir, if I’m not mistaken. He was there to tell us about the flight regulations, the do’s and don’ts, the weight limit, and the all-important flight details.

The MAS representative

I have a measly limit of 20kg for my check-in luggage. Even with my excellent packing skills *ahem* I have absolutely no idea how to bring only 20kg of items over. Hand luggage should not exceed 5kg. O woe is me.

My flight is scheduled to leave at 2350hours (Malaysian time), 28 August 2011. I’ll transit at Frankfurt, Germany, breathe the air there for roughly two hours, and then proceed to Krakow, Poland. If everything goes according to plan, I should reach Poland at 1000hours (Polish time), 29 August 2011. Thisisallmovingsofast! *breathes*

After that was perhaps the most looked forward to event of the day: the briefing by the officers from Bank Islam. *kaching!*

Practically everyone turned to look when two men in grey coats came in with two yellow boxes. No prizes for guessing what was in them.

The officers with the yellow A4 paper boxes. Which contained more than just A4 papers.

I’d be foolish to write the amount of money we received here, but it wasn’t really a lot. They gave us enough money to get by with, and perhaps, if we are careful we’ll have quite a sum of savings. Anyhow, I’m just grateful my parents didn’t have to fork out that amount of money from their savings just so that I can further my studies.

An officer from Bank Islam then briefed us on how to use our traveller’s cheques and advised us a little on how we should go about with the banks and all that.

Next up was Professor Dato’ Dr. Nik Mohd Nasri Nik Ismail, founding dean of Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM). He was there to brief us on Medicine from the Islam point of view. It was interesting to listen to what he had to say about it, but I didn’t take any notes because, well, I’m not Muslim and I don’t foresee myself converting to Islam anytime in the future. He did seem to understand the requirements of his faith well enough though, so I suppose it was beneficial to the Muslims.

Prof Dato’ Dr. Nik Mohd Nasri

After a lunch break from 1.15pm to 2.00pm, we headed back to the hall for our final briefing – our meeting with our seniors. There were more seniors there than I had expected. That was a rather relaxed meeting with them basically allaying whatever apprehensions we might have had and answering our questions.

We finally ended at around 4pm, and by then I was most ready to head home. Who knew that a seemingly simply briefing would take 8 hours to complete.I did miss a few people at the briefing, especially my former classmates who didn’t pass JPA’s cut-off point. It was, however, heartening to learn that some of them will be heading to Indonesia to continue their studies.

Now all that’s left to do is for us to prepare ourselves to leave the nation, and put the taxpayers’ money to good use.

8 days to go and counting.

Pre-departure #1

The purpose of this post is to address some of the questions that you’ve asked me again and again, and the only responses I’ve ever given were most likely slightly longer variants of yes, no, maybe or I don’t know. I don’t resent your questioning, instead I welcome them, but it does get tiring to answer the same questions over and over again. Anyway, since I’m definitely going to Poland (thank God a whole lot for that), come up with a few fresh questions, yeah?

Here are your most frequently asked questions in no particular sequence.

1. When are you leaving?

28 August 2011. Currently, it is still a tentative date, but I believe that is the official date and that there won’t be anymore changes. I still don’t know what time though.

2. Will I still be able to talk to you?

If you make it a point to go online, then yes, of course you will. Oh, and for those of you actually asked if there will be Internet in Poland, the answer is yes. I’m not going to some third world country, for goodness’ sake. If the Internet doesn’t seem particularly appealing, then feel free to get my Polish number (when I do get one) and call me. All charges will be on you, though.

3. Have you bought everything you need?

Honestly, I don’t think I’ll buy everything I need here. That’s kind of ridiculous, don’t you think? I’ll need a bed, wardrobe, lots of food, lots of clothes, etc. etc. . Okay, I’m just trolling, but I do believe I’ve gotten almost everything I want to bring.

4. Will you miss me? Will you remember me?

This has got to be one of the most asked questions. If you’ve ever asked me this question, then you probably already have your answer. If you are wondering if I was lying when I gave my response, well, wait till I’m there in Poland, and then judge for yourself.

5. Will you get an angmoh boyfriend?

Seriously, do you even have to ask? Unless something very miraculous happens, my answer will always be no. The reason? I’m short enough. I don’t need a super tall guy to accentuate my lack of height. All the guys my age I currently know are taller than me. == *note serious face*

6. What are you bringing?

Erh. I’m actually not sure how to answer that question. I mean, I could give you my entire list of things to bring, but if I did, I’d expect you to come over and help me pack. XD

Obviously, I’ll be bringing some essential items like my toothbrush ( lol ) and my clothes and my Bible, but I’ll also bring a few other, er, sentimental (?) things like my Sunny Twin and all your notes, letters etc. I suppose it’d be nice to have a little breath of home when I’m in another man’s land. =)

My Sunny Twin, taken when I first got it in KTT <3

7. Why do you have to leave so soon?

If I am highly vain, I’d say that this is my favourite question, because it means you don’t want me to leave soon! Fattening my ego. heh. But no, I’m not that vain. This is another question that often leaves me speechless. The only proper answer I can give is because I have to be there early lah. Summer course starts in September. I wish I could stay in Malaysia until late September though, because leaving in August would mean that I’d be missing my mum’s birthday, a friend’s birthday, and a self-created JieJie’s Day. Sigh. I really didn’t want to miss Mummy’s birthday. :/

That’s about it. I won’t bore you with the other questions, because you’ve probably been mightily bored by the seven above.

Gonna digress here and share something I found on Willy’s Tumblr, simply because I think it’s nice and some of them are true. =)