That morning, we stood in front of my room, exchanging reluctant expression. This was embarrassing. I thought to myself that I won’t cry in face of separation. But when she (my mum) cried, my tears rolled down. I faster wiped them off and gave assuring words to convince her that I would be doing fine and she need not to worry about me too much. My younger brother approached her, and asked why she’s crying. My mum said to the innocent boy "Koko will be leaving us to go to study. We won’t be seeing each other so often…." Upon listening to her, he stared at me & said "Koko u also cry." I looked at him and said thing that I always say to him "Ai guai guai tiah ma ma eh uar". My father was waiting downstairs, he didn’t come up to join the drama. Maybe he wanted to spare his tears. But in my heart, I know that he loved me. Then, as they left reluctantly, I drew a breath, locked myself in the room and started to write my history here….
Well, look for yourself, this is the symbol that represents my matriculation college, namely Johore Matriculation College or rather Kolej Matrikulasi Johor (K.M.J). Looking back in the month May 2009, I could still remember how reluctant I was to leave my beloved, oh-so-familiar place. Because ….. (See the earlier post). Situated in Tangkak, Johor(North-est of Johor), it takes 6-7 hours long to reach my hometown. Now, I have completed the whole course(Physics), successfully graduated and left KMJ on 14/4/2010. This college is equipped with both qualified, dedicated academic staffs & facilities. It offers three kinds of courses: Account, Biology & Physics. The hostel is fine to me. Thank God that my room A 1.3 was just beside the staircase. It really helped people who’s notorious for being a latecomer. Last minute boy mah, I will tell you later about my routine, hehe! Back to the topic, well, this college has 6 hostels (2 for boys, 4 for girls, so fair hor
), 5 canteens (Hall of Houseflies), 1 big library, 1 big hall that has 4 badminton courts inside(Dewan Sri Ledang, DSL), 1 meeting-the-standard stadium (namely Astaka), 2 basketball courts, 1 volleyball court, 1 BBQ site, X hostels for teachers/lecturers/administrators, 1 big, man-made pond that’s teeming with fish, 1 gym(I seldom use lah), 1 GUARD HOUSE with damn-many-guards ("Eh, pi mana?"), 1 operating koperasi, 1 Internet Cafe (Sounds not right, it actually is called Kedai Siswa), 1 BSN ATM machine ($.$), many tutorial rooms & science labs, 4 Small Lecture Halls (DKK), 2 Large Lecture Halls (DKB), staff block & finally the administrator block. The total population of KMJ of my batch(2009/2010) was nearly 2200, excluding the number of academic staffs & PDT students. Sadly to note that we Chinese only occupied nearly 10% of this big family, 105 to be exact. More girls than boys, this is common sense by looking at the number of hostels allocated to girls and boys. Ratio of boys to girls 1:2 (approximation nia lah). Malays is the predominant group, followed by us Chinese, finally Indians. Pity Indians, however, they are so united! Astoundingly amazed by their spirit of unity. Basically, the students were courteous, displayed commendable tolerance & attitude. I would rate the atmosphere of my college harmonious despite the many great differences we have.Next, let me talk about the routine and the cultures here. Same like going to ordinary school, you ought to wake up as early as you can and make provision for your class that would either started at 8am or 9am. Tutor, Kuliah….Kuliah, Tutor…Lab, Kuliah, Tutor…Kuliah, Lab, Tutor…. The monotonous cycle of a day that requires us to go through all these for around 300 days… We all have a timetable & we need to stick to it to follow the lessons. Nevertheless, English is a must for every student here. As far as I know, English was only important to most of the students in the first half, because we were taking MUET that time. I must admit that I didn’t touch anything that’s RELATED TO ENGLISH after MUET was over. Curiously, I have a friend, well, he’s Yee Yang, who still had the passion for English after MUET was done. I admired his fortitude & lend him the English books that he wanted so much as a mean to improve his English. I deviated from my topic, fingers’ fault, LOL! We have to sit for a total of four examinations. Examination only occupies 70%, the other 30% comes from course works marks, assignments & the involvement in extra-curriculum. Talking about extra-curriculum (or rather Ko-Ku), we have various activities, my gosh, I am lazy to list them out, maybe other time or only list them out upon my dear readers’ request
Usually, our class would end at most 5pm. However, if you’re so lucky to have some very dedicated lecturers with you, you would ‘enjoy the privilege’ of learning at night. Well, also usually, the Chemistry or Account lecturers would make 8pm nightly lecture. I thank my lecturers who held night classes for me, though some I didn’t go. But I really appreciate in my heart. Hopefully you(my dear lecturers) know 
. Ok, here’s my Semester 1 routine, I eat, nap, study till late midnight, sleep, + sometime jog/played basketball. Because it’s so convenient for me to go back to my room, I normally went back to my room to nap/complete homeworks/bath. Sometime(Hmmm…Some Many Many Time), I skipped classes & hid in my room. Semester 2, my routine changed a bit, more loose in study, & mixed with more new friends (Or maybe because I have to….well, I was a committee in CNY programme, I tell u later about this). But I still study till late midnight, not often. I can’t help. This is Matrik way of life where everything is done in rapid pace. I was actually constantly left behind because…simply because I am slow in picking & absorbing knowledge Last time, I don’t study with Malays, I don’t know them, & never say Hi with Malays (PLS, jangan tangkap me for sentuh-ing isu ISA) The fact is I was in Chinese primary & secondary school. My teachers all were Chinese or Indians. I got to say that I don’t have the chance to mix around with Malays (Well, my neighbour was Malay family, & I love them
). Ironically, I was the only Chinese in my practicum F3T19. Gosh. What a challenge for me (At that time, it was a challenge). To add the matter worse, my roommates all were Malays. But it didn’t take me too long to get along with them, thx God. My roommates were all fine gentleman, they don’t smoke, don’t shout aloud, don’t have friends that brought bad influence. In fact, they were very considerate & diligent. They were more hardworking THAN me, sobx. This somehow stirred my realization up to be as hardworking as them. Proudly introduce my roommates: Amin (who left after SEM 1), Ezwan & Hairi. I was closer to Ezwan, maybe because he’s funny at times and we were studying the same course-Physics. Hairi was Mr. Serious. Very(too) focused in studying, very quiet. But when he unwind, the whole room ROCK~ In short, I like both of them. And I like my ROOM A 1.3 . Pen off here. Will be writing soon.This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.
Be the first to like this post.
3 Responses to Flashback 1 (Introduction)
-
Yvainne says:
Nice post… and my malay roommates are also very nice!!! ^^ - gud pasage…honest…look frwrd fr ur nex writin…hope wil see it soon…
- bravo! ur brain…really geng =) love this.
