Frisked

I know this is a long overdue post, but I’ve finally gotten around to writing it. I’m here! After all the preparations and meet-ups and everything else, I am here in the B-E-A-Youuuuu-tiful city of Krakow, Poland!

So. I was at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at around 4.30pm on the 28th of August, 2011. Dallied around a bit before checking in my luggage at 5.30pm. Remember how I said that my luggage limit was 20kg for check-in luggage and 5kg for hand luggage? Well, my check-in luggage eventually amounted to 24.5kg, hand luggage more than 10kg. Thank goodness they allowed us to bring a maximum of 25kg for check-in luggage, and they did not weigh my hand luggage. So guys, when you fly, just bring 25kg with you. XD

Between the time I arrived at KLIA and the time I boarded the plane, I received so many text messages, and as i later discovered, tweets, too. I can’t list all of you, but you know who you are, so thank you very much. Many thanks to Rachel, Lynton, Joan, Anna, Yee Jia and Bibiana for calling me. And how could I possibly leave out the people who came to send me off (apart from my parents) – Joshua, Deborah and I-Vonne. And most of all to my family who stayed till late at night just to see me off, and then drove back to BP in the wee hours. Thanks everyone. =)

We took a MAS flight from Malaysia to Frankfurt Germany. The flight lasted about 12 hours with the aeroplane reaching about 31000 feet. And as expected, I had to deal with a terrible bout of motion sickness. Aeroplanes have never been kind to me, but I’ve never had to rush to the bathroom just to vomit 3 times on a single flight before, probably because I’ve never had to take such a long flight. After we reached Frankfurt at around 6am (Central Europe time), we got our boarding pass printed by using the machines you see on the right.

We then proceeded to go through a rather stringent check by the custom officers. We had to remove our blazers and place them in little bins, take out everything in our pockets, take out our electronic gadgets from our bags and then put them through the scanner. As I walked pass the body scanner, I think my necklace set off the alarm and I had to wait for my turn to be frisked. No kidding. These people are serious. As the metal detector thingy went pass my neck it beeped like mad. I guess the officer was pleased with that (maybe because it proved that I didn’t have anything on me that wasn’t allowed in) so she just scanned a bit more and let me pass. Some other people even had to remove their shoes to be checked.

After that we rushed to the boarding area and got on a smaller flight to Krakow, Poland. I still wasn’t feeling too good from the previous motion sickness, so I didn’t eat anything at all on the second flight. The effects of motion sickness then plagued me for a little more than a day, leaving me feeling slightly sick and dizzy at times. I guess you can only puke so many times before your body goes haywire.

Despite all that, we arrived safely in Poland with our luggage intact. We were greeted by our seniors, Ming Lee, Charissa and Piravin, and two school office clerks, or something like that. They assisted us throughout our check-in at a student’s dorm, called OLIMP and took us around to introduce us to beautiful Krakow. It involved a LOT of walking, and I hope I’ll get used to all that walking soon, because the soles of my feet are begging to ride in a car instead of walking from one bus/tram stop to another.

For photos of the dorm, please visit this link. My room looks exactly like that. It’s small but nice. I’m hoping to find my own place by this week’s end, so just pray that everything works out fine.

So far I’ve seen several parts of Poland, and they are all beautiful. Absolutely love this place, but for some reason, no matter how breath-taking it is, I can’t seem to feel like I properly belong here. Maybe it’s because the people here look so different, or maybe it’s the superb climate, but I guess Malaysia’s still home. =)

EDIT: The link isn’t working. Methinks the webpage might be removed already. Too bad then, but it looks really comfy.

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 #3

The above is an aerial view of the aftermath in one part of my room after I dumped most of my things into my luggage bags. I assure you it was at least 2 times worse when I first started packing. I guess I can be very messy at times.

Packing has been a major pain. When my seniors said that they checked in less than 20kg, I somehow couldn’t being myself to believe them. I’m quite, quite sure they wouldn’t bluff me though.

I had my stuff weighed yesterday. My check-in luggage amounted to 26.09kg, hand luggage 13.70kg, plus an additional 5.25kg from the things that I absolutely have to bring but haven’t packed yet. The total weight of all that is heavier than my current body weight. No kidding. Even if somehow I find a way to bring it all over, I definitely can’t carry it all.

I think I packed too many pieces of clothes. I really can’t seem to figure out which to bring and which to leave behind. And then there are the memorabilia from family and friends which I really want to bring along, like the things in the photo to the right, and also a certain fake tiara from certain friends of mine. *I assure you I appreciate the spontaneity which drove you guys (girls) to buy it*

I never realised how many clothes I have until I started packing. I guess I’m more of a girl than anyone else would like to admit.

 

3 days and counting.

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.

MSN Chats

My favourite form of online communication, closely rivalled only by Skype.

Also a very effective tool when it comes to making me get all emo-ish. Listening to songs like Here Comes Goodbye by Rascal Flatts doesn’t really make things better.

I know, I’ve had too many ‘serious’ posts, but I really have to say this.

Ever since the first of August, I have been acutely aware of how little time I have left in Malaysia before I depart to Poland to further my studies. I realized how I’ve not been spending enough ‘quality time’ with the people I love and care about. I realized how I’ve not really been reconnecting with the friends who mean a lot to me. Being home on holiday for two months should have given me enough time to do that, but interestingly, I haven’t really accomplished much.

They say friends come and go, but I have a few whom I would dearly love to keep. The idealistic me says that distance and time zones are immaterial to relationships; the realistic me begs to differ dreadfully.

I guess as time drags me aboard a ride I’m not exactly prepared for, there will be things I’ll have to leave behind, things that I’ll have to change. And yet I hope I will never have to make drastic adjustments. I feel more or less the same way I felt when I was moving from school to college – intimidated, jittery, unsure. Except that this time, there’ll be no phone calls from familiar voices to accompany me through the night.

And yet, this move is absolutely necessary. Necessary for me and for the people who care about me. Most importantly, this move is crucial because I know it is within God’s perfect plan for me. Because of that, even though my insides occasionally churn at the thought of flying off into the horizon, I know that He is with me, and that He will hold me through the lowest of my lows and the highest of my highs.

It will be slightly daunting going to a place with people I don’t consider myself close to, it will be even harder leaving behind the ones I love. But it’s comforting to know that I still have friends who will reassure me and try to empathise with me. It’s also highly comforting to have the Lord with me. =)

⁹ I took you from the ends of the earth,
   from its farthest corners I called you.
I said, ‘You are my servant’;
   I have chosen you and have not rejected you.
¹⁰ So do not fear, for I am with you;
   do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
   I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:9-10