We boarded the bus towards the National Museum from there.
We disembarked and headed towards the museum buliding. Only thing is, we weren't exactly there. The bus had dropped us off somewhere that is nowhere near the main entrance. Still, it's not the end of the world so we started searching for the main entrance. But not before we started looking for a trash can to throw my now-finished cup(??) of milk tea in. I could just throw it on the ground, but I didn't want to clean the entire museum area ( this is a legit punishment in Singapore).
So we walked along the building. I remember asking her on how to spot madrasah students in public. We saw a short flight of stairs. She suggested that we take a few photos before moving on, so we did. It was nice to try my hand at taking photos and reducing my general awkwardness. After we took each others' photos, we moved along a bit more to find a huge trash can near the building. We threw in our cups.
After a little more walking, we finally saw an entrance to the building. Near the entrance, the floor is elevated by using a wood floor(?), so we took this chance to take even more photos. We asked an ang moh lady to take photos with the both of us in them. After that, we moved on into the building.
We were skeptical about going in since apparently we needed to pay to go in. As we were trying to go about doing this trip using as little money as possible, we sat around for a while. It was around 1600 hours. I leeched off the free wifi and read my WhatsApp messages. Some of myy classmates went for a preparation course for their Middle East studies. Lucky jerks.
We both took some photos of the interior. During this time, we noticed that everyone came in and out just like that, so we just went in. We started exploring the museum. The first section that we went into was the World War 2 section. It was pretty unnerving.
Then, we went to the colonial era section. Truth be told, although I hated imperialism and colonialism, one thing that the English did do right was to make improve women's rights. Then we moved on to the other sections. One particular conversation I remember was when were in the 1960s section (is it?). We talked about Singapore's secession of Malaysia and how most were still bitter about it; most are paranoid that Singapore would somehow conspire with someone to conquer Malaysia or something.And there's the time we talked about childhood games...
After we were finished, we went to the toilet before heading out of the building. I hate toilets in Singapore due to the fact that they don't have water hoses. Blergh. After we were done, we headed to the bus stop to go to Chinatown. We chatted about a typical madrasah student's life; unlike their northern counterparts, they're much more closer to secular students than they are with Malaysian religious school students, with the Islamic education the only thing setting them apart.
We boarded the bus to Dhoby Ghaut MRT. When we arrived, I informed my friend. My friend asked how did I know where the MRT station is. I said that I saw it. She was apparently impressed of the fact that I could since I was talking to her at the time. I said that I could focus on a few things at the same time, as long as it was easy for me. The conversation then turned into one about car driving and licences.
We took the North-East line towards Chinatown MRT. I took out the flyer and chose to go out to via exit A.
Unfortunately, I don't remember much of our conversations at Chinatown. There were a few; I talked about wanting a cap, but never got one there because I prefer plain caps. And there's one where I compared Chinatown to Petaling St. for getting cheap touristy stuffs. And Chinese stuffs. (But Petaling St. is more inclined towards bootleg stuffs LMAO). Other than that, we also took a lot of pictures, as per usual.
At around 1830, we went back to the MRT station to head to our last downtown destination : Gardens By The Bay. We disembarked at Bayfront MRT. After that, we had to use the toilet yet again and did so before we advanced into the Gardens.
Holy crap. The view was impressive, even during a time where's there's still daylight. My friend chose to visit this at this time because according to her, the view is way more awesome at night. After walking around for a while, it still wasn't dark yet, so we decided to sit around and wait. We talked about debates, social issues, our countries problems... until 1930 hours. Then we got a move on again.
We continued walking until we were closer to the supertrees. At this time, they had started a light show of some sort, so we just sat there and watched. After the show was over, we continued on walking; as the park wasn't compeletely dark yet, we decided to go to the elevated ground above our level.
As we walked through the plants and trees, it grew darker to the point where we could barely see anything. We also realised that there's not a lot of people going around this area. We were starting to feel creeped out. But still, it did not dampen our spirits, and on we went. There's this time where we were at a place which had something to do with insects, or whatever, so the both of us started talking about our hate for those dastardly things.
We had to start heading back towards Bayfront MRT by 2015 hours, so we attempted to track back. My friend didn't exactly know how to read a map, so I had to do the navigating duties. I remember kneeling down near an orange-lighted post to read the map. After a while, we were on the path back towards Bayfront. We snapped our last few photos on the way back. After we were out of the Gardens, I remember telling my friend that we should go to Bayfront via Marina Bay Sands 'cause air-conditioning. She was weirded out by that.
We arrived back at Bayfront just in time. While we waited, she told me the reason why we were to return slightly earlier than expected (The original plan was 2030 hours) : We were going to change trains a lot; From Bayfront, we were to go to Marina Bay, then change lines to the red line- which is the line that I'll finally disembarking from - then disembark at Marina South Pier, which was the southern terminus for the red line. From there, we bounce back all the way to Woodlands MRT, then finally disembark there.
Her reasoning for bouncing trains was that so we could sit; as the trains from Marina South Pier were usually empty. She told me a lot of madrasah students living in the north were willing to spend extra time bouncing trains, like this, so I concurred with her.
We stepped on the train. The trip was comfortable, we killed time by talking crap about my school systems, which I highly disliked since I entered it last year. It was good to let it out to someone.
I also spent time looking out the window. Eventhough it was dark and the train windows prevented me from seeing the views clearly, whatever view I got from looking out was enough to make me think one thing : "Could I ever see views like this everyday one day?"
No worries about my own safety. Or finances (ok that might be a bit far fetched but...).
We disembarked at Woodlands MRT. We planned to have dinner before I was to depart at Woodlands Train Checkpoint, so we decided to just eat at Causeway Point near the MRT station. I asked my friend - "Why is there seem to be at least one mall near every MRT station?" She answered that the location of most MRT stations were designed with at least one mall nearby. I could see how that made sense.
We decided to have dinner at Burger King, but before that we had to go to Popular bookstore first so I could get a pen just in case I had any "official documents" to fill out. But the truth was - and I never told it before I wrote this... I'm so sorry - I had lost my Embarkation/Disembarkation slip the day before. When I woke up earlier in the day, I did a check, and that was when I realised I had lost it. Nit wanting her to worry for the rest of the day, I shut up about it. Stupid me. I should've always brought a black pen with me in my external pocket.
So I went into popular, bought a black pen for 80 cents, and continued on to Burger King. We lined up, and as we waited to reach the counter, I tried to get free wifi in order to know the traffic situation at the border. My plan was if the border isn't jammed, we'll spend a bit more time and I'll go off at 2245 hours. She noticed this, and she logged on the free wifi for me using her credentials. The border seems like it's jammed. Crap.
When it was the time for us to place our orders, we did so. I ordered a Cheesy BBQ Turkey Bacon Burger. We both sat down at our reserved spot (I forgot what did she reserve it with) and started to eat. We didn't actually talk a lot because we were trying to finish our food. I only finished my french fries. The portion was really filling to for some reason. I reserved the burger for my early morning train journey. While she finished her stuff, I checked the border cameras again. Still jammed. Crap. I had go past Singapore customs and immigration before 2230.
We packed up our unfinished meals and started going over to the Woodlands bus interchange. We boarded the 170 bus on the way to Woodlands Train Checkpoint.
We chatted in the bus. I don't know what exactly led to this conversation (and what was in it- before, during and after), but I all I remembered it was about family and friends. I talked about how there's not exactly a lot of people and things in my life back home, I had nothing to lose even if I migrated. I choked up a few times before letting my tears fall. When she realised that, she told me to stop crying ,as she was starting to tear up as well.
I tried to hold everything back and compose myself together. apologising : "I'm sorry it's just... the past few years..." "Everything I've been doing for the past few years, in one way or another is so that I could get out of here," with teardrops in my eyes. She tried to reassure me, telling me that I have a place back home and possibly I was meant to just stay there.
I know it was a lie. Before all of this, I swore that I'll be the last person to leave Malaysia if there's anything. Now? The complete opposite. I believed that I was meant to stay, I don't think the feelings would've changed so drastically and so fast. And my desire to leave would've never been this strong.
I told her, people like me don't belong back in Malaysia, citing my percieved contradicting careers as a reason. She told me that I have a strong passion, and thus I can make it work.
I agreed. I could make it work. If I could still want all of this after more than four years of difficulty, trials and hardships, I truly believe that this is what my life is for. And I'll make it work.
Just not in Malaysia.
Unfortunately, I don't remember any of our conversations after that before we stopped at Woodlands Train Checkpoint.
We got off from the bus and waited for her dad, who is there to give me clothing that I accidentally left at their house that morning. (oops.)
We crossed the street and waited at the Sheng Shiong supermarket building. Her dad arrived, gave me my plastic bag of clothing, and wished me good luck and farewell.
We crossed the street, entered the checkpoint building to go to the departure hall. We walked in the opposite direction of scores people moving into Singapore. As we moved I remarked to her that this is quite a long ways away from the actual exit, and it's no wonder it her quite a while to double back during yesterday's miscommunication fiasco. Finally, when the both of us reached the glass doors. That was the farthest that she could go, since she didn't have a passport with her. I said goodbye and wished her luck. We hugged, and that was the last thing I did before I continued on pass the doors.
As I walked down the bridge/corridor, I started to cry. Hard. Looking back, I wonder if she saw me crying and wiping my tears or did she just leave after I passed the doors.
I continued crying all the way to the immigration section. I wiped my tears away before I went up to the officers, and continued on. When I reached the counter, I told him I lost my embarkation slip. The officer called his superiors on the phone, and thankfully, I was only let off with a stern warning.
I continued on into Malaysia, where I got myself sorted out, though I still did cry a bit.
When I reached my train platform, I checked the time. 2307 hours. Dammit....! I was angry... We could've spent more time. I should've checked the time before we bid each other farewell just now. I almost cried again. But I barely managed to pull myself together. The tears were still welling up.
Finally, at 2330, I boarded the train to Gemas. The train departed at 2340. I tried to sleep, but I keep fading in and out of consciousness. By the time I fully woke up at 0130 hours, I tried to recall yesterday's events, but it felt like it happened a year or two ago. My head hurt. At that time, I realised... "Oh crap. I'm not going to remember a lot of things from this," I tried to sleep again, and I did so successfully. I woke up when the train stopped at Gemas.
It was so cold in the train to the point when I got out, I was greeted by a rush of warm air. I sat down at the platform and finished the burger I had bought at Singapore. It was cold, but I was hungry. It was the only thing at the time that reminded me that everything happened yesterday. I finished it, and went to the toilet after that to relieve myself. I dragged all of my bags everywhere until I stepped foot insdie my home; I didn't want to lose a single thing from the trip.
I waited until the train arrived. I sat down at my designated seat. Thank God I sat alone on all of these train trips...! To prepare myself better for the cold, I took the used pair of socks that I have and wore them over my sock-ed feet.
When the train departed, I tried to sleep again. I woke up at around 0545. I tried to stay awake from then on, since the train did not terminate at KL Sentral, but instead in Padang Besar. A small mistake and that means I'll end up somewhere in Thailand.
The train arrived safely at 0640 hours. My family won't be home until that afternoon, so I spent my time at KL Sentral, eating a KFC breakfast. Then I went to KLCC so I could stay at the park for a while to process everything. After that, I returned to Subang Jaya, had lunch downtown, and took the bus back. I stepped foot inside my house at around 1330. I dropped my bags on the floor before plopping onto the mattress.
It was done.
The trip was my best experience in Singapore so far. I visited a lot of places and spent time with one of the best friends I've ever had. What's not to like?
It was good to see her one last time before she left to further her studies. And although I think certain parts of the trip could've been better (all my fault - poor planning and rushing; I should've gone back on the morning of the 30th had I known my family would be back later than expected), I can only say one thing about this trip :
It was all worth it.
Sunday 5 June 2016
Saturday 4 June 2016
Singapore Trip 2016 - Day 2, Part 1 : The Adventure
I woke up at around 0630.
I looked around to see a huge lump beside me, covered in possibly the thickest blanket I ever saw.
It was my friend. Like me, she also had the habit of covering her entire body under the blanket.
"Oh."
I wonder how long she has been there.
We planned to go out at 0930, so there's three hours left. I couldn't pray, so I went over to the plug where I had charged my powerbank last night. It was at 100%, so I plugged it off, and charged my phone. I then scrolled through all of my social media and tweeted a bit. After about 20 minutes, I went back to sleep.
I didn't remember what I dreamed of that morning, but all I know it caused me to slam my left arm on my friend's leg. Hard. It woke me up, and roused her to state of half-awakeness. I apologised profusely, to which she waved off drowsily. She then went back to sleep. I checked the time on the clock.
0740.
I was starting to panic. Usually, at this time back home, I would've been in the shower, lest I get a "good" yelling. I dared not wake her up; her house, her rules, after all....
So I went back to browsing through my phone again. After I finished browsing, I lied down again. I was still a bit worried because of the time. I tried to ignore it.
At around 0830 (I think?), she finally got up and asked me to get ready. I waited for her to go and get ready herself, then started getting all of my things out.
I tried to take a loong shower since I haven't had one in months. Then I remembered I didn't even pay a single cent for the water or the electricity I used, so I finished up as quickly as possible.
I got ready, and waited in the room. I then peeked out of the room after a while, and she saw me and beckoned me out to have breakfast with them.I stepped out with all of bags, set them down near the table, and sat down to eat.
I got a nasi lemak, but unfortunately it's covered in sambal, which is something that i couldn't stand; so I ate the uncovered parts. As I ate, her mom asked what drink I wanted, she gave me choice between iced lemon tea (something she gave me last night) and plain water.
Worried that I might get a sore throat ( I almost got a fever before I set off for the trip), I asked for plain water. My friend asked me what drinks do I consume in the morning. I told her mostly plain water, with some coffee before I started my studies. I got my drink and started drinking.
I tried to fnish whatever I could, then when the both of us are finished, she asked for the plate which contained my meal. As she carried it away, I apologised for wasting her food.
I then waited on the couch near the living room while I waited for her. Her dad started asking where do we intended to go. I told him; and he recommended for us to go to the Singapore Zoo, telling it's one of the best in the world. I acknowledged that.
But truth be told, that place is one of the last places I'll go to when it comes to picking places to go in Singapore, I thought to myself ; I've been to many zoos in Malaysia, and I don't feel like going to a place that most likely has more or less the same experience I could get back home. I still considered going during other times, though.
After she returned to the living room, she went off to take her things, and after that, we both bid her family farewell. Before we stepped out of the house, they gave me two bottles of water, which was a blessing considering the long hours that I'll be out in the sun.
We stepped out of the house to go to the bus stop that will take us to the bus station. While we walked, we talked about our schools and lives. I remember asking her to give the social media profiles of the people with whom I had spent recess with at school two years ago. I also remembered talking about the differences between the slangs and accents of our home states.
Apparently us Selangoreans don't have any accents... unless your Javanese or something and have speech influenced by those languages. Sucks.
We boarded the bus, sat down and continued our conversations.
After we reached Woodlands MRT, I went to top up my EZlink card before boarding the train.
On the train, she asked me the where is the longest travel time between two MRT stations in Singapore; it was on the line that we were travelling on. I struggled to answer even though I already read it on twitter a few times. After that, we went over our itinerary again, then we had fun scribbling random stuff on it.
We disembarked at Jurong East Station. She went to top up her own EZlink card, so I waited around. I then looked around the station; there's a lot of malls in the vicinity. After she was done, I asked about the malls near the station. She said there were a lot of them, and now the local populace don't have to travel all the way downtown to shop any more. We then talked about shopping in Malaysia and Singapore, as well as purchasing power...which then turned into a conversation about living costs.
I'm impressed that she didn't get bored during all of those heavy topics. Most people would've literally left me the moment I bought those up.
We then continued our conversations on the bus on the way to the Science Centre. After we arrived, we went inside to the counter, but before we went in to pay, we took a few brochures about Singapore so that we won't get lost in the less familiar areas of downtown.
When she paid our tickets, the ticketer asked for my NRIC - I panicked. She told me that she left it at home and the ticketer asked for my EZlink. I immediately lowered myself to conceal my bag, which basically screams "I'M NOT FROM HERE I'M A FREAKING TOURIST". Thankfully, everything else went off without a hitch, and so we stepped inside.
I don't remember everything (sorry man...! Fever and time took most of it away...). I did remember a few things that happened, such as the time I miserably failed to try and take a Snapchat video of her ( I don't fare particularly well when using other peoples' equipment) and I had to take it multiple times. *facepalm*
And I remembered saying that I was from the pure science stream to which she went "nopenope I'm not worthy" sarcastically, which was funny. There's also the time where I explained resonance and guitar string physics, as well as the time I miserably failed to try and tune a "piano" (har har).
After we finished mucking around at the Science Centre, we checked the time; it was 1300. We estimated to get out before 1130. We were an hour and a half behind schedule. We then found a spot to go over our itinerary again, during which we decided to scrape of ION Orchard off our list.
After we exited the Science Centre, we tried to go back to Jurong East MRT. She asked whether I preferred to walk or to take bus there. At first, I preferred to walk, but knowing that I won't be able to actually rest until tomorrow morning, I tried to conserve as much as energy and muscle as possible, and took the bus instead.
When we reached Jurong East MRT, I just remembered of a friend, and so I asked her about Bandar Bahru Jurong. She said there was no such place. I then asked of Jurong Town instead, to which she said it was nearby.
Then, she asked me who was the friend. I hesitated; I feared that she knew him; the Singaporean Malay community is a small one, after all. I told her who he was without revealing his identity. We then took the train towards our next destination : Arab St. which is a street that I've went to many times before in Singapore.
On the train, we talked about the many types of schools in Malaysia, which left her confused. She also talked about her debating experiences, which led to a conversation about school uniforms and my disastrous first day of pre-university. I remember that before we got down at Bugis MRT, she talked about how she ended up choosing to further her studies in Yemen instead of Egypt.
We got down at Bugis MRT, and started to head towards Arab St. She asked me, which way is it to go towards Arab St.? I pointed towards exit B. She then asked me, which way towards... I don't remember where, exactly...
But what I did remember was when I answered both correctly (apparently), she remarked that I was more of a "Singaporean" than her, to which I feel a bit weirded out, but a bit... proud of myself in a way.
After 4 trips, 3 of which with me as the guide, of course I would remember the streets of Bugis... I would get lost a lot of times if I didn't, then.
We walked along Victoria St. during which I saw walked behind a guy. I saw the Pearl ( a drum brand) before looking at his other gear and recognizing other things, a cymbal bag, clamps, double pedal bag, or at least I thought it was, based off of the size...
I was walking behind a gigging drummer. I reacted loud enough for my friend to hear me, which led me to pointing his gear out to her. She then asked me to go up to him to say... anything. I refused, 'cause even if we were... colleagues (in an indirect way), there's no way my scaredy butt is going to say hi to a stranger just because we shared the same profession.
We then went into a mall ( a Google search IDs this as Golden Landmark Shopping Mall; I'm not sure). I asked her how is it like to be schooling in the downtown area. She said it was very convenient since nothing is ever more than stone's throw away.
I also asked her what stuff is sold in here. She said that due to the location, it has a lot more Muslim and Islamic stuff than the usual Singaporean malls. She once told me of a story that about her at the mall, which involved her, her principal and a clothing display/store.
Unfortunately, I don't remember a lot of particulars about the story. All I remembered is that she was looking at a few clothing items, and it turned out that it belonged to her principal, or at least a relative of his. I don't remember.
We exited the mall and went to have lunch at the Domino's at Arab Street. I sat down while she ordered. I ordered a Meatzza along with a Sprite. It was pretty cheap, considering that Domino's in Malaysia tend to grossly inflate their drink prices (RM 3 for a can of Pepsi are you kidding me?).
I sat down while she ordered. Then she came back to me, asking me to pay up. Since I don't have any
small change, I gave her a $50 note and took her $7. She then handed me back the change after ordering.
Since we had half an hour to go before our order was done, we decided to walk around Bugis for a while. We decided to go to one place : Madrasah Aljunied. But first, we decided to go to another place beforehand.
Sometime earlier in the morning, she suggested me to go to a restaurant which was a favourite haunt of the local madrasah students. It had awesome milk tea. And I liked milk tea.
And so we went there (Post-trip Google search said that this particular restaurant is Kohnangkam, located at Jln Keledek). We went in, and she asked me what type of tea do I want. There's two variants: Green tea and black tea (normal). I chose the normal one.
After that, we headed towards Madrasah Aljunied. As we were walking, I wondered aloud whether we were allowed to go past the receptionist's office, as I had never passed it during the three times I was there. She said that the front might not be open at all, as it was a Sunday. I then asked her of the existence of a back gate; there is one, but it goes through the cemetery next to the school, which led to my next question : does she know of any ghost stories from Madrasah Aljunied?
She said yes, but I do not remember the details. She then asked back of my own from my schools. I said that there are, but they remain dormant and silent as long as they are not provoked in any way.
We stopped at the school sign and I took my obligatory photo there. Then, seeing that the front gate is open, we entered. We saw that there's people near the canteen. My friend then remembered that there's some sort of camp today. As if we were heard, we heard muffled speech coming from somewhere inside the school; it sounded like it was spoken through a microphone.
We then walked further into the school. I was worried of getting caught, since she told me they have CCTVs in the school; they might blacklist me from stepping in the school, or worse, not letting me enlist... ever. We went into the toilet for a while to adjust our bearings. We discussed whether it was wise to go further into the school.
After dabbling on an indecision, we decided against it, and decided to go back to have our lunch instead. But before we left, she took a photo of me standing in the school corridor. After we took it, we kinda tried to go out of the there as discreetly as possible. And that's the story of how I finally got past the receptionist's office. And how this is the second school I've entered illegally. Heh.
We took photos at the leafy fence of Stamford Primary, which was located across the lane from Aljunied. She explained that the fence was often used by Aljuniedians as a photoshoot background. My friend and I then hightailed it back to the Domino's at Arab Street, where our pizza was just ready by the time we walked in. We then sat down and ate.
While we were eating, I asked her if she would we get into trouble if we were caught and ID-ed. She said that won't do anything to us except for possibly a rebuke, and even if they do , it would her who would get it worse; since she had an ex-Aljuniedian brother.
I continued chomping down on my pizza, still slightly worried. The worry, however, evaporated, when we started talking about more light-hearted topics. I remember talking about my ugly uniform colour and how it made me stand out like hell and look like a walking tree.
After we finished our meal, we decided to go to Masjid Sultan to use the toilets. I asked her on what exactly to find here since all of her friends recommended that she take me here during the trip. She answered it's for cheap clothing and carpets.
After we relieved ourselves, we headed towards our next destination...... the National Museum of Singapore.
I looked around to see a huge lump beside me, covered in possibly the thickest blanket I ever saw.
It was my friend. Like me, she also had the habit of covering her entire body under the blanket.
"Oh."
I wonder how long she has been there.
We planned to go out at 0930, so there's three hours left. I couldn't pray, so I went over to the plug where I had charged my powerbank last night. It was at 100%, so I plugged it off, and charged my phone. I then scrolled through all of my social media and tweeted a bit. After about 20 minutes, I went back to sleep.
I didn't remember what I dreamed of that morning, but all I know it caused me to slam my left arm on my friend's leg. Hard. It woke me up, and roused her to state of half-awakeness. I apologised profusely, to which she waved off drowsily. She then went back to sleep. I checked the time on the clock.
0740.
I was starting to panic. Usually, at this time back home, I would've been in the shower, lest I get a "good" yelling. I dared not wake her up; her house, her rules, after all....
So I went back to browsing through my phone again. After I finished browsing, I lied down again. I was still a bit worried because of the time. I tried to ignore it.
At around 0830 (I think?), she finally got up and asked me to get ready. I waited for her to go and get ready herself, then started getting all of my things out.
I tried to take a loong shower since I haven't had one in months. Then I remembered I didn't even pay a single cent for the water or the electricity I used, so I finished up as quickly as possible.
I got ready, and waited in the room. I then peeked out of the room after a while, and she saw me and beckoned me out to have breakfast with them.I stepped out with all of bags, set them down near the table, and sat down to eat.
I got a nasi lemak, but unfortunately it's covered in sambal, which is something that i couldn't stand; so I ate the uncovered parts. As I ate, her mom asked what drink I wanted, she gave me choice between iced lemon tea (something she gave me last night) and plain water.
Worried that I might get a sore throat ( I almost got a fever before I set off for the trip), I asked for plain water. My friend asked me what drinks do I consume in the morning. I told her mostly plain water, with some coffee before I started my studies. I got my drink and started drinking.
I tried to fnish whatever I could, then when the both of us are finished, she asked for the plate which contained my meal. As she carried it away, I apologised for wasting her food.
I then waited on the couch near the living room while I waited for her. Her dad started asking where do we intended to go. I told him; and he recommended for us to go to the Singapore Zoo, telling it's one of the best in the world. I acknowledged that.
But truth be told, that place is one of the last places I'll go to when it comes to picking places to go in Singapore, I thought to myself ; I've been to many zoos in Malaysia, and I don't feel like going to a place that most likely has more or less the same experience I could get back home. I still considered going during other times, though.
After she returned to the living room, she went off to take her things, and after that, we both bid her family farewell. Before we stepped out of the house, they gave me two bottles of water, which was a blessing considering the long hours that I'll be out in the sun.
We stepped out of the house to go to the bus stop that will take us to the bus station. While we walked, we talked about our schools and lives. I remember asking her to give the social media profiles of the people with whom I had spent recess with at school two years ago. I also remembered talking about the differences between the slangs and accents of our home states.
Apparently us Selangoreans don't have any accents... unless your Javanese or something and have speech influenced by those languages. Sucks.
We boarded the bus, sat down and continued our conversations.
After we reached Woodlands MRT, I went to top up my EZlink card before boarding the train.
On the train, she asked me the where is the longest travel time between two MRT stations in Singapore; it was on the line that we were travelling on. I struggled to answer even though I already read it on twitter a few times. After that, we went over our itinerary again, then we had fun scribbling random stuff on it.
We disembarked at Jurong East Station. She went to top up her own EZlink card, so I waited around. I then looked around the station; there's a lot of malls in the vicinity. After she was done, I asked about the malls near the station. She said there were a lot of them, and now the local populace don't have to travel all the way downtown to shop any more. We then talked about shopping in Malaysia and Singapore, as well as purchasing power...which then turned into a conversation about living costs.
I'm impressed that she didn't get bored during all of those heavy topics. Most people would've literally left me the moment I bought those up.
We then continued our conversations on the bus on the way to the Science Centre. After we arrived, we went inside to the counter, but before we went in to pay, we took a few brochures about Singapore so that we won't get lost in the less familiar areas of downtown.
When she paid our tickets, the ticketer asked for my NRIC - I panicked. She told me that she left it at home and the ticketer asked for my EZlink. I immediately lowered myself to conceal my bag, which basically screams "I'M NOT FROM HERE I'M A FREAKING TOURIST". Thankfully, everything else went off without a hitch, and so we stepped inside.
I don't remember everything (sorry man...! Fever and time took most of it away...). I did remember a few things that happened, such as the time I miserably failed to try and take a Snapchat video of her ( I don't fare particularly well when using other peoples' equipment) and I had to take it multiple times. *facepalm*
And I remembered saying that I was from the pure science stream to which she went "nopenope I'm not worthy" sarcastically, which was funny. There's also the time where I explained resonance and guitar string physics, as well as the time I miserably failed to try and tune a "piano" (har har).
After we finished mucking around at the Science Centre, we checked the time; it was 1300. We estimated to get out before 1130. We were an hour and a half behind schedule. We then found a spot to go over our itinerary again, during which we decided to scrape of ION Orchard off our list.
After we exited the Science Centre, we tried to go back to Jurong East MRT. She asked whether I preferred to walk or to take bus there. At first, I preferred to walk, but knowing that I won't be able to actually rest until tomorrow morning, I tried to conserve as much as energy and muscle as possible, and took the bus instead.
When we reached Jurong East MRT, I just remembered of a friend, and so I asked her about Bandar Bahru Jurong. She said there was no such place. I then asked of Jurong Town instead, to which she said it was nearby.
Then, she asked me who was the friend. I hesitated; I feared that she knew him; the Singaporean Malay community is a small one, after all. I told her who he was without revealing his identity. We then took the train towards our next destination : Arab St. which is a street that I've went to many times before in Singapore.
On the train, we talked about the many types of schools in Malaysia, which left her confused. She also talked about her debating experiences, which led to a conversation about school uniforms and my disastrous first day of pre-university. I remember that before we got down at Bugis MRT, she talked about how she ended up choosing to further her studies in Yemen instead of Egypt.
We got down at Bugis MRT, and started to head towards Arab St. She asked me, which way is it to go towards Arab St.? I pointed towards exit B. She then asked me, which way towards... I don't remember where, exactly...
But what I did remember was when I answered both correctly (apparently), she remarked that I was more of a "Singaporean" than her, to which I feel a bit weirded out, but a bit... proud of myself in a way.
After 4 trips, 3 of which with me as the guide, of course I would remember the streets of Bugis... I would get lost a lot of times if I didn't, then.
We walked along Victoria St. during which I saw walked behind a guy. I saw the Pearl ( a drum brand) before looking at his other gear and recognizing other things, a cymbal bag, clamps, double pedal bag, or at least I thought it was, based off of the size...
I was walking behind a gigging drummer. I reacted loud enough for my friend to hear me, which led me to pointing his gear out to her. She then asked me to go up to him to say... anything. I refused, 'cause even if we were... colleagues (in an indirect way), there's no way my scaredy butt is going to say hi to a stranger just because we shared the same profession.
We then went into a mall ( a Google search IDs this as Golden Landmark Shopping Mall; I'm not sure). I asked her how is it like to be schooling in the downtown area. She said it was very convenient since nothing is ever more than stone's throw away.
I also asked her what stuff is sold in here. She said that due to the location, it has a lot more Muslim and Islamic stuff than the usual Singaporean malls. She once told me of a story that about her at the mall, which involved her, her principal and a clothing display/store.
Unfortunately, I don't remember a lot of particulars about the story. All I remembered is that she was looking at a few clothing items, and it turned out that it belonged to her principal, or at least a relative of his. I don't remember.
We exited the mall and went to have lunch at the Domino's at Arab Street. I sat down while she ordered. I ordered a Meatzza along with a Sprite. It was pretty cheap, considering that Domino's in Malaysia tend to grossly inflate their drink prices (RM 3 for a can of Pepsi are you kidding me?).
I sat down while she ordered. Then she came back to me, asking me to pay up. Since I don't have any
small change, I gave her a $50 note and took her $7. She then handed me back the change after ordering.
Since we had half an hour to go before our order was done, we decided to walk around Bugis for a while. We decided to go to one place : Madrasah Aljunied. But first, we decided to go to another place beforehand.
Sometime earlier in the morning, she suggested me to go to a restaurant which was a favourite haunt of the local madrasah students. It had awesome milk tea. And I liked milk tea.
And so we went there (Post-trip Google search said that this particular restaurant is Kohnangkam, located at Jln Keledek). We went in, and she asked me what type of tea do I want. There's two variants: Green tea and black tea (normal). I chose the normal one.
After that, we headed towards Madrasah Aljunied. As we were walking, I wondered aloud whether we were allowed to go past the receptionist's office, as I had never passed it during the three times I was there. She said that the front might not be open at all, as it was a Sunday. I then asked her of the existence of a back gate; there is one, but it goes through the cemetery next to the school, which led to my next question : does she know of any ghost stories from Madrasah Aljunied?
She said yes, but I do not remember the details. She then asked back of my own from my schools. I said that there are, but they remain dormant and silent as long as they are not provoked in any way.
We stopped at the school sign and I took my obligatory photo there. Then, seeing that the front gate is open, we entered. We saw that there's people near the canteen. My friend then remembered that there's some sort of camp today. As if we were heard, we heard muffled speech coming from somewhere inside the school; it sounded like it was spoken through a microphone.
We then walked further into the school. I was worried of getting caught, since she told me they have CCTVs in the school; they might blacklist me from stepping in the school, or worse, not letting me enlist... ever. We went into the toilet for a while to adjust our bearings. We discussed whether it was wise to go further into the school.
After dabbling on an indecision, we decided against it, and decided to go back to have our lunch instead. But before we left, she took a photo of me standing in the school corridor. After we took it, we kinda tried to go out of the there as discreetly as possible. And that's the story of how I finally got past the receptionist's office. And how this is the second school I've entered illegally. Heh.
We took photos at the leafy fence of Stamford Primary, which was located across the lane from Aljunied. She explained that the fence was often used by Aljuniedians as a photoshoot background. My friend and I then hightailed it back to the Domino's at Arab Street, where our pizza was just ready by the time we walked in. We then sat down and ate.
While we were eating, I asked her if she would we get into trouble if we were caught and ID-ed. She said that won't do anything to us except for possibly a rebuke, and even if they do , it would her who would get it worse; since she had an ex-Aljuniedian brother.
I continued chomping down on my pizza, still slightly worried. The worry, however, evaporated, when we started talking about more light-hearted topics. I remember talking about my ugly uniform colour and how it made me stand out like hell and look like a walking tree.
After we finished our meal, we decided to go to Masjid Sultan to use the toilets. I asked her on what exactly to find here since all of her friends recommended that she take me here during the trip. She answered it's for cheap clothing and carpets.
After we relieved ourselves, we headed towards our next destination...... the National Museum of Singapore.
Tuesday 31 May 2016
Singapore Trip 2016 Day 1 : The Journey
May 29th 2016 is a day that I'll always hold dear to me.
On the previous day, 28th May, I stepped out of my house at 0920 hours to go to the Subang Jaya KTMB train station. My mom drove me there.
I was going to go to Singapore alone.
I stepped out of the car after an 8-minute drive.
I went into the station and waited. I looked up at the time board; the train is going to arrive at 10:02. The time was 9:38. Dammit! This is why I hate KTM sometimes.
9:45.
9:50.
10:00.
10:02.
"Well, where is the train then?" I thought. I looked up again : The time had been delayed to 10:07. Then 10:12.
"What the heck?" I was starting to worry.
Thankfully, the train pulled into the station shortly after.
It was an uneventful 45 minutes to the KL Sentral station. I stepped foot off the train at almost 1100 hours.
I was hungry, so I decided to go to the nearest restaurant to the departure gate and eat something. My train will depart at 1200, so I had time to spare.
I ate at KFC since it was the only place at the 2nd floor.
I finished my meal at around 1130. I quickly tried to pack the other meal that I had bought, and rushed to the departure gate. It wasn't open yet, so I just waited.
At 1150, they opened the gate and I went down to the platform. I saw a train on my right hand side. I looked up at the destination sign; it said 'Ipoh'. I almost went into the train. Thankfully, the staff led us passengers to the next platform. I didn't have to wait long; the train arrived after a couple of minutes. This train was headed to my first destination : Gemas, Negeri Sembilan.
The train was one of the newer models; I secretly did an imaginary fist-bump with myself.
I sat down at my seat; there's no one next to me. I looked up to see a TV screen installed in the train. It showed the time and the speed of the train. Pretty good for an upgrade.
The train departed at 1201 hours. The train showed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, so I could save myself from looking at my phone. The movie was good, but it barely had any sound coming out. though.
The train arrived at Gemas at around 1400 hours. I exited the train as fast as possible; my body was already numb due to the cold. I saw a train on the platform next to ours. I tried to find my coach, but didn't find the letter designation.. I asked the staff, does this train head towards JB? "Yes, but your train isn't this one..." Darn it. I had to wait another hour.
I spent that hour complaining about the new KTM Intercity system to myself. And finishing my KFC potato bowl that I had bought earlier.
The train arrived and took off at 1540; it was the same model that I went to Singapore on two years ago, which meant one thing : "Oh god, my legs are gonna get cramped again".
The second trip was uneventful, but I did notice that Johor eventually got better the further the train went south. As it rumbled its way through Johor Bahru, my first thought was... "How did I miss all of these views back then? This is awesome,"
The train stopped at Johor Bahru Sentral at 1940. I needed to use the toilet first, so I went off to do so. I then went into JB CIQ in order to enter Singapore. After I got my passport stamped, I went down to the bus platform. I saw the line : "ah, crap," I thought it was going to take an hour; I was on the bus in 15 minutes. Thank God. I arrived at Woodlands CIQ after 20 minutes. I was about to fill up my embarkation forms at the immigration section when I realised - I didn't have a pen with me...!
I began to panic.
I lingered around the immigration section for 10 minutes before I went "screw it" and used my pencil. When I tried to have it checked however, it wasn't valid, so I spent another 5 minutes re-filling the forms with a black pen one of the officers gave me. (I don't know who you are, but thank you...!)
I thought there wasn't a way to walk into Singapore on foot, so I stepped into the 950 bus and asked whether it would be stopping at the Woodlands Train Checkpoint bus stop. He said yes, so I tapped my ezlink and went in.
It was when the bus started turning right at Woodlands Crossing did I realise I had taken the wrong bus. I stopped at the first stop after that and continued on foot.
My friend started calling me. I told her where I was, and she was confused. I walked to the bus stop. When I arrived, she called me again. After a few confusing calls and multiple exchangings of words, I clarified it with one simple sentence (which I should've done WAAAYYY earlier) : "I've already exited the building," She told me to stay put while she finds me.
I waited at the taxi stand and paced up and down the walkway. As I was walking back towards the stand after multiple rounds, I saw her, then went up to her and we hugged and shook hands.
She asked where I was. Apparently, there WAS a way to walk into Singapore, but I went down the escalators instead of going to the left walkway.
I'M A FREAKING IDIOT.
We crossed the street and walked up the stairs. She asked me where would I want to eat : Either at the food court at the building of which we were at, or walk a bit further to eat a KFC or some other fast food. Being that the KFC is closer to her home and I was too lazy to wait for any orders, I chose KFC (again... har har).
I chose to eat the O.R Rice Bowl, partially because it's cheap and she's paying and partially because I've always been curious about it. It was awesome, but I got sick of it 3/4 way through. I'm impressed that I didn't throw up in the bowl. And I liked the root beer that I chose with the meal. (I took a french fry when you went to wash your hands.... sorry)
While we were eating, we chatted about a lot of things : our jobs, our personal lives... stuffs in our own countries, the works. It's nice to know someone who loathes and despises frontline jobs as much as I do...heh.
After we finished our meals, we started heading back towards her flat. While we were walking back, we chatted about the neighbourhood and the "other side" of Singapore; of which I agreed to most of her points and words.
At one point, we stumbled upon a cat; I instinctively shouted "CAAAATT...!" The cat ran away. She remarked that there's a lot of cats in the area and there's a few people who are feeding them.
When we reached her block, she told me that there's lifts and stairs for each flat. I was impressed. My own flat only had stairs. But to fair to them, they have more floors than we do, so...
I reached her flat and she ushered me inside. I did so awkwardly and stepped inside. I did so to find two of her sisters in the living room. I shook their hands. I sat on a chair while I waited to do something. They started asking me questions about myself. They showed me my room and I went in to unpack. I changed clothes, bathed and went outside, where I met her parents and a few more of her siblings (she had 7 siblings).
When it got a bit too crowded, she ushered me back to the guest room and said she hasn't actually planned any place for me to go to, saying that in actuality, Singapore is pretty "boring". I started opening my phone to search for places. We planned our trip and started to set times. We decided to go to the Science Centre, Arab St., ION Orchard, Chinatown and Gardens By The Bay.
As soon as we finished planning, I started going off to sleep when I realised I didn't actually bought any blankets with me. Thankfully, I had a towel, and they also provided one. So I went off to sleep with the comfort of two stacked towels providing me warmth.
And it's just the beginning.
On the previous day, 28th May, I stepped out of my house at 0920 hours to go to the Subang Jaya KTMB train station. My mom drove me there.
I was going to go to Singapore alone.
I stepped out of the car after an 8-minute drive.
I went into the station and waited. I looked up at the time board; the train is going to arrive at 10:02. The time was 9:38. Dammit! This is why I hate KTM sometimes.
9:45.
9:50.
10:00.
10:02.
"Well, where is the train then?" I thought. I looked up again : The time had been delayed to 10:07. Then 10:12.
"What the heck?" I was starting to worry.
Thankfully, the train pulled into the station shortly after.
It was an uneventful 45 minutes to the KL Sentral station. I stepped foot off the train at almost 1100 hours.
I was hungry, so I decided to go to the nearest restaurant to the departure gate and eat something. My train will depart at 1200, so I had time to spare.
I ate at KFC since it was the only place at the 2nd floor.
I finished my meal at around 1130. I quickly tried to pack the other meal that I had bought, and rushed to the departure gate. It wasn't open yet, so I just waited.
At 1150, they opened the gate and I went down to the platform. I saw a train on my right hand side. I looked up at the destination sign; it said 'Ipoh'. I almost went into the train. Thankfully, the staff led us passengers to the next platform. I didn't have to wait long; the train arrived after a couple of minutes. This train was headed to my first destination : Gemas, Negeri Sembilan.
The train was one of the newer models; I secretly did an imaginary fist-bump with myself.
I sat down at my seat; there's no one next to me. I looked up to see a TV screen installed in the train. It showed the time and the speed of the train. Pretty good for an upgrade.
The train departed at 1201 hours. The train showed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, so I could save myself from looking at my phone. The movie was good, but it barely had any sound coming out. though.
The train arrived at Gemas at around 1400 hours. I exited the train as fast as possible; my body was already numb due to the cold. I saw a train on the platform next to ours. I tried to find my coach, but didn't find the letter designation.. I asked the staff, does this train head towards JB? "Yes, but your train isn't this one..." Darn it. I had to wait another hour.
I spent that hour complaining about the new KTM Intercity system to myself. And finishing my KFC potato bowl that I had bought earlier.
The train arrived and took off at 1540; it was the same model that I went to Singapore on two years ago, which meant one thing : "Oh god, my legs are gonna get cramped again".
The second trip was uneventful, but I did notice that Johor eventually got better the further the train went south. As it rumbled its way through Johor Bahru, my first thought was... "How did I miss all of these views back then? This is awesome,"
The train stopped at Johor Bahru Sentral at 1940. I needed to use the toilet first, so I went off to do so. I then went into JB CIQ in order to enter Singapore. After I got my passport stamped, I went down to the bus platform. I saw the line : "ah, crap," I thought it was going to take an hour; I was on the bus in 15 minutes. Thank God. I arrived at Woodlands CIQ after 20 minutes. I was about to fill up my embarkation forms at the immigration section when I realised - I didn't have a pen with me...!
I began to panic.
I lingered around the immigration section for 10 minutes before I went "screw it" and used my pencil. When I tried to have it checked however, it wasn't valid, so I spent another 5 minutes re-filling the forms with a black pen one of the officers gave me. (I don't know who you are, but thank you...!)
I thought there wasn't a way to walk into Singapore on foot, so I stepped into the 950 bus and asked whether it would be stopping at the Woodlands Train Checkpoint bus stop. He said yes, so I tapped my ezlink and went in.
It was when the bus started turning right at Woodlands Crossing did I realise I had taken the wrong bus. I stopped at the first stop after that and continued on foot.
My friend started calling me. I told her where I was, and she was confused. I walked to the bus stop. When I arrived, she called me again. After a few confusing calls and multiple exchangings of words, I clarified it with one simple sentence (which I should've done WAAAYYY earlier) : "I've already exited the building," She told me to stay put while she finds me.
I waited at the taxi stand and paced up and down the walkway. As I was walking back towards the stand after multiple rounds, I saw her, then went up to her and we hugged and shook hands.
She asked where I was. Apparently, there WAS a way to walk into Singapore, but I went down the escalators instead of going to the left walkway.
I'M A FREAKING IDIOT.
We crossed the street and walked up the stairs. She asked me where would I want to eat : Either at the food court at the building of which we were at, or walk a bit further to eat a KFC or some other fast food. Being that the KFC is closer to her home and I was too lazy to wait for any orders, I chose KFC (again... har har).
I chose to eat the O.R Rice Bowl, partially because it's cheap and she's paying and partially because I've always been curious about it. It was awesome, but I got sick of it 3/4 way through. I'm impressed that I didn't throw up in the bowl. And I liked the root beer that I chose with the meal. (I took a french fry when you went to wash your hands.... sorry)
While we were eating, we chatted about a lot of things : our jobs, our personal lives... stuffs in our own countries, the works. It's nice to know someone who loathes and despises frontline jobs as much as I do...heh.
After we finished our meals, we started heading back towards her flat. While we were walking back, we chatted about the neighbourhood and the "other side" of Singapore; of which I agreed to most of her points and words.
At one point, we stumbled upon a cat; I instinctively shouted "CAAAATT...!" The cat ran away. She remarked that there's a lot of cats in the area and there's a few people who are feeding them.
When we reached her block, she told me that there's lifts and stairs for each flat. I was impressed. My own flat only had stairs. But to fair to them, they have more floors than we do, so...
I reached her flat and she ushered me inside. I did so awkwardly and stepped inside. I did so to find two of her sisters in the living room. I shook their hands. I sat on a chair while I waited to do something. They started asking me questions about myself. They showed me my room and I went in to unpack. I changed clothes, bathed and went outside, where I met her parents and a few more of her siblings (she had 7 siblings).
When it got a bit too crowded, she ushered me back to the guest room and said she hasn't actually planned any place for me to go to, saying that in actuality, Singapore is pretty "boring". I started opening my phone to search for places. We planned our trip and started to set times. We decided to go to the Science Centre, Arab St., ION Orchard, Chinatown and Gardens By The Bay.
As soon as we finished planning, I started going off to sleep when I realised I didn't actually bought any blankets with me. Thankfully, I had a towel, and they also provided one. So I went off to sleep with the comfort of two stacked towels providing me warmth.
And it's just the beginning.
Wednesday 17 February 2016
I don't know.
2 and a half months into 2016. Almost 4 months since my last day as a school student ( but it could change though... I don't know).
Truth be told, I don't know what to make of myself and my life right now.
There's times where I feel like my life is the best that it has been; I'm doing my passions, I have friends, I feel like I'm... me.
But there are also times where these exact things also make me feel otherwise;
I can't ACTUALLY study in the fields I wanted the way I wanted.
My friends, the ones I can actually stand, are all at least 150 miles away. And I can count their amount with the fingers on my hand.
I feel like there's something missing, making me feel unsure of myself, which makes want to just put my life on hold for a couple of years to find it and improve myself all at the same time.
But I don't think that will happen, though.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Mostly, my recent life is comprised of looking towards the times ahead, where I hope to get out of this cesspool. ( If you count 33 months as recent, of course)
33 months ago, I was looking forward to for a chance of... being different.
16 months ago, I was looking forward to exact same thing yet again.
6 months ago, I was celebrating my 18th birthday by eating dry crackers, looking forward to get out the crappy dorm and school life. And looking forward to the exact same thing. All at the same time.
I still do today.
I don't know why am I still doing this, honestly.
I don't know why am I willing to put up with everything that I've been through.
I don't know why do I still want all of this.
I don't know why am I so sure of myself and yet so unsure at the same time.
Truth be told, I don't know why don't I know.
And that scares me all to all hell.
Truth be told, I don't know what to make of myself and my life right now.
There's times where I feel like my life is the best that it has been; I'm doing my passions, I have friends, I feel like I'm... me.
But there are also times where these exact things also make me feel otherwise;
I can't ACTUALLY study in the fields I wanted the way I wanted.
My friends, the ones I can actually stand, are all at least 150 miles away. And I can count their amount with the fingers on my hand.
I feel like there's something missing, making me feel unsure of myself, which makes want to just put my life on hold for a couple of years to find it and improve myself all at the same time.
But I don't think that will happen, though.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Mostly, my recent life is comprised of looking towards the times ahead, where I hope to get out of this cesspool. ( If you count 33 months as recent, of course)
33 months ago, I was looking forward to for a chance of... being different.
16 months ago, I was looking forward to exact same thing yet again.
6 months ago, I was celebrating my 18th birthday by eating dry crackers, looking forward to get out the crappy dorm and school life. And looking forward to the exact same thing. All at the same time.
I still do today.
I don't know why am I still doing this, honestly.
I don't know why am I willing to put up with everything that I've been through.
I don't know why do I still want all of this.
I don't know why am I so sure of myself and yet so unsure at the same time.
Truth be told, I don't know why don't I know.
And that scares me all to all hell.
Tuesday 12 January 2016
2016. (actually it's 2015)
Happy very late New Year everyone. Kind of late for a New Year blogpost, huh?
Thanks to a very, very packed schedule, I haven't been able to write leisurely.
Up to this moment.
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So, happy 2016...! I hope everything is going, and will be fine for any of you reading this.
2015 was a crappy, crappy year for me.
For the first 3 months, I was shuffled between 2 government and state departments in order to confirm my pre-university enlistment status which cost me and my parents money, energy and time.
For the next 7 months, my enlistment was secured, but I was cooped up in ahellhole boarding school which nearly drove me nuts, degraded my musicianship, brought me new health problems and worsened existing ones. And to top it all off, I didn't learn anything from that particular course. I forgot everything I've learnt a week after the leaving exams.
The only things I learnt was how stupid, immature, unreliable and cocky I was. I also learnt how much of a Blue Falcon ( slang for buddy f**ker, a person who is willing to screw over those around him/her just to save him/herself) I was.(I did, however miss a handful of people). There was this ONE awesome day, though. (sigh)
The last two months though, were the worst; I ended a 3-year (almost 4) commitment that I wasn't supposed to. I cried the night it happened. I wasn't able to function for several days after. After several days, I backtracked. But by that time, I was already drained all to hell.
And I don't know how 2016 is going to be like.
All I know is that I want to improve myself this year.
Improve on the fields that I'm passionate in, improve my living skills, improve my social skills, improve my attitude.
I want to find myself, figure myself out; who I really am.
Seven months of living with people who I couldn't stand (no matter how much I tried) made me want to study somewhere I can gain knowledge that I can utilize and find out more about myself and improve on it.
Being in a situation that I'm not used to taught me what to be and not to be.
The result? Now I know.
2016? Let's go.
Thanks to a very, very packed schedule, I haven't been able to write leisurely.
Up to this moment.
_________________________________________________________________________________
So, happy 2016...! I hope everything is going, and will be fine for any of you reading this.
2015 was a crappy, crappy year for me.
For the first 3 months, I was shuffled between 2 government and state departments in order to confirm my pre-university enlistment status which cost me and my parents money, energy and time.
For the next 7 months, my enlistment was secured, but I was cooped up in a
The only things I learnt was how stupid, immature, unreliable and cocky I was. I also learnt how much of a Blue Falcon ( slang for buddy f**ker, a person who is willing to screw over those around him/her just to save him/herself) I was.(I did, however miss a handful of people). There was this ONE awesome day, though. (sigh)
The last two months though, were the worst; I ended a 3-year (almost 4) commitment that I wasn't supposed to. I cried the night it happened. I wasn't able to function for several days after. After several days, I backtracked. But by that time, I was already drained all to hell.
And I don't know how 2016 is going to be like.
All I know is that I want to improve myself this year.
Improve on the fields that I'm passionate in, improve my living skills, improve my social skills, improve my attitude.
I want to find myself, figure myself out; who I really am.
Seven months of living with people who I couldn't stand (no matter how much I tried) made me want to study somewhere I can gain knowledge that I can utilize and find out more about myself and improve on it.
Being in a situation that I'm not used to taught me what to be and not to be.
The result? Now I know.
2016? Let's go.
Monday 16 November 2015
Extremism.
In wake of the Paris attacks, I've decided to do this post due to my own reason which I need not to disclose.
_________________________________________________________________________________
The Islamic State, or Daesh, is a terror group that originated in Syria and Iraq, which began gaining traction in mid-2014.
Last Friday, they've murdered and injured scores of people in multiple incidents around the world, with the two most notable incidents being the Paris attack and the Lebanon attack.
The main question is, why are they so popular among conservative Muslims?
First of all, they play right almost into every religious Muslim's fantasy of re-establishing a grand Islamic empire (which will never happen, and even if it did, it wouldn't be good). I was deployed in a religious school for 6 months - I've lost count of how many times the issue of a re-establishment of an Islamic empire was bought up.
Add to the fact that many, too many conservative Muslims are dissatisfied with the governments of the countries that they live in - this is the main reason for the Arab Spring among ME countries - and you have a movement that has sown its seeds at an alarming rate the world over.
( I follow an anti-Arab tyrant, anti-ISIL, anti-terrorism and pro-democracy activist named Iyad el-Baghdadi. His excellent tweets regarding such topics can be found at [ https://twitter.com/iyad_elbaghdadi ] )
Secondly, they aim to establish Islamic supremacy and eliminate the grayzone, which is the co-existence zone among Muslims and non-Muslims. They aim to polarize the two communities to the point there will be nothing but bloodshed, war and resentment.
They want a world in which the non-Muslims can only live as long as they submit to every will and order- even it is detrimental to them.
Which is what conservative Muslims want. I remember a religious teacher commenting on a racial-incident here in Malaysia (All such comments are paraphrased - I didn't write them down as I didn't keep a journal like I always did every school year, which I regretted) "We have to put down the Chinese- they're starting to fight back... As long as they submit to us, they're fine"
(All Malay Malaysians are Muslim according to the constitution, and the Chinese, traditionally are predominantly Buddhists with a sizable Christian community).
That is one of many, many inflammatory comments that reflect an alarming number of Muslims.
Despite the fact such mentality is quickly eroding among urbanites, it can be found in areas or communities that are of a single race and/or religion.
Thirdly, they aim to establish a strict and unjust interpretation of Syari'ah law. I believe I do not need to explain this any further.
To summarize it up, their aims are : 1)Establishing an empire based on "Islamic law" 2)Wage war on... well, "others" (because listing out their enemies is just too tiring for me)
How to solve the problem? The answer is simple : Root out their ideology, while at the same time dismantling their armed wing to the point where they can barely do anything.
The solution, however is not. I've heard calls from both sides to bomb them (the West and IS) back into the Stone Age.
THAT IS WRONG. THAT IS WHAT EXACTLY IS WANTS.
They want to make both Muslims and non-Muslims believe that there is no way out except for war.
They want to make Muslims believe that the West is out to get them.
They want to make non-Muslims that we are out to get them.
The conservative, shielded, isolated Muslim view is that there a grand anti-Muslim conspiracy to get rid of all Muslims.
The shielded, isolated non-Muslim view is that the Muslims want to get rid of them.
Bombing IS without careful consideration and planning, muddies the water that is trying to be cleaned even further.
Combating foreign terrorism without considering multiple factors, which include but is not limited only to the local history, culture, geopolitics, among others is going to create resentment and anger among the Muslims of the Middle East.
Which plays into the IS game because it strengthens their worldview and justification altogether.
The thing that is most important to us Muslims right now is combating extremism from the inside. We are the best people to talk to our own.
But how do we do that, exactly? Now, I'm no expert, I'm just putting out suggestions based on my experiences, as I have dealt with a lot of Muslims ranging from hardliners to freerunners. I will be talking of these suggestions in a Malaysian context, however, the general idea could be put in other countries and communities as well, adapting to their own cultures, demographics and problems.
The first is to break the invisible wall that is dividing Muslims and non-Muslims.
One thing that I noticed is that the more mono-ethnic an area or a community is, the more likely it is for its people to harbour anti non-Muslim tendencies. I noticed that in northern Malaysian states, as well as rural areas in other parts of the country with an imbalanced Muslim to non-Muslim proportion, as well as religious schools.
I was lucky to be born and raised in a great part of Malaysia with a balanced demographic and open minded people (the two largest races are Chinese and Malays at 44 and 42 percent respectively). Too many others are not as lucky.
However, breaking the wall wouldn't be so easy; some provinces in Malaysia consist up to over 90% of Malays. I do not think that relocating them would be the best choice. This is the hardest solution to carry out...
The second is to open up any religious schools. A lot of people suggested shutting these down entirely, but I disagree, as it would bring about problems in Muslim communities, which I will not touch on in this post.
I was deployed to a religious school for half a year. I was appalled at what a large number of people there think of "others". That's when I realized that their system is really problematic.
By opening up, I mean to start doing more exchange programs with non-religious and start bringing non-Muslims along into these programs. (These programs exist; during my 6-month tenure in my school, there is about three exchange programs, as far as I can remember). The latter could be modified as to let only neighbouring schools let in non-Muslims, not due to cleanliness or accommodation issues, but due to the evening activities in the dormitories, which mostly consist of religious activities; however, it is a good starting point.
The second is to post non-Muslim/Malay teachers at religious schools. Of course, certain dress should be adhered to, but I won't touch on this. Conversely, all religious teachers specializing in religious subjects should be posted at an SMK for at least 2-4 years.
Another way to open up these schools is to allow greater access to information. When I stayed in the dormitories for 6 months, I was shocked at how I was forced to go by for days without much information on current events. With only teachers or newspapers providing outside news, this can stifle thoughts and are prone to misinformation, and thus, form the wrong mindsets.
Third is to stop teaching Muslims that violence is justified by any means except for self-defense. Growing up, I was taught by my religious school teachers to never harm anyone, except for when you really have to. The word "kill" was never uttered except during topics related to slaughtering animals and the usual reminder that harming others is wrong.
Going into a secular school in secondary level taught me the same thing, even as I went into the religious stream.
Until I went into a full-time religious school for pre-university.
The contempt and hate for non-Muslims in unreal.
I remember my teacher (the same one above...!) saying "If others want to accept our ways of love, then they're most welcome. If not, then, we'll just kill them." Sigh.
Another one is , "Islam must go up no matter what. It doesn't matter if you're a minority. How you're going to do that? I don't know. YOU think of it." A push-poll styled question to sway us into acts of chaos, terror and war as a justifiable act. Nice...........
And we need to teach that EVERY single human being is... well, human. A Muslim that I follow on Twitter summed it up this way : "Muslims love everyone... except if you're gay, black or Shia." Or a non-Muslim. Or a so-called deviant.
Muslims love to play the victim game when it comes to Palestine and the Myanmar Rohingyas, among others, but are apathetic and even cheers for the deaths of "others".
It is NOT a competition. No life should be snuffed out like that, not even under religious reasons like "but oh, they insulted our religion...!!!11!!"
No life should be taken unless it is done in the direst and gravest of situations.
The "others" are human. We Muslims are humans.
As long as we play victim without helping each other and break this crappy cycle, we're going to be eventually screwed.
Fourth is to root out anyone who has these ideologies. If we can't combat them with arms, we fight them before they get a chance to lift them.
If you know of any and are in a position to do so, talk them out of it by any means necessary as long it doesn't involve harsh or condescending words towards them (two types of speech used by Islamophobes and extremists while talking of each other - DO NOT USE. You're no different than them if you do).
A lot of people suggest to report straight away, but I partially disagree, as sometimes overly harsh action will only, again, strengthen their views of oppression and victimization, and thus, serve as a justification.
Only report if they start making creepy comments about seizing power and murdering "others", and especially if the person is in a position to influence others, and has clear proof of involvement in any extremist groups.
This is the only way to eliminate those who are ALREADY stepped in such ideologies. The way to prevent the hold of them in others is described in all the former solutions.
Again, these solutions are ultimately suggestions, and such need not to be taken too heavily or seriously as I am no expert on the subject and only rely on my experiences and readings.
And now to wrap this all up... Not all Muslims are terrorists, but the amount of extremism lingering among us is actually higher than we thought.
DO NOT DENY THAT WE HAVE A HUGE PROBLEM ON OUR HANDS.
Disowning them(NOT ALL MUSLIMS...!111!!) means we aren't taking responsibility for this.
We are NOT responsible for terrorism itself; terrorism spans across borders, religions, races, cultures, ideologies and a lot of other banners.
We are, however, responsible for creating an environment for tyrants and terrorists to grow and represent us.
As long as we don't take steps to eradicate extremism, we'll see new terrorists pop up after we destroy one, like a never-ending game of whack-a-mole.
As long as we let them represent us, this will never end.
_________________________________________________________________________________
This entire post is just my expression of the current situation. Any constructive comments and opinions are all welcome.
_________________________________________________________________________________
The Islamic State, or Daesh, is a terror group that originated in Syria and Iraq, which began gaining traction in mid-2014.
Last Friday, they've murdered and injured scores of people in multiple incidents around the world, with the two most notable incidents being the Paris attack and the Lebanon attack.
The main question is, why are they so popular among conservative Muslims?
First of all, they play right almost into every religious Muslim's fantasy of re-establishing a grand Islamic empire (which will never happen, and even if it did, it wouldn't be good). I was deployed in a religious school for 6 months - I've lost count of how many times the issue of a re-establishment of an Islamic empire was bought up.
Add to the fact that many, too many conservative Muslims are dissatisfied with the governments of the countries that they live in - this is the main reason for the Arab Spring among ME countries - and you have a movement that has sown its seeds at an alarming rate the world over.
( I follow an anti-Arab tyrant, anti-ISIL, anti-terrorism and pro-democracy activist named Iyad el-Baghdadi. His excellent tweets regarding such topics can be found at [ https://twitter.com/iyad_elbaghdadi ] )
Secondly, they aim to establish Islamic supremacy and eliminate the grayzone, which is the co-existence zone among Muslims and non-Muslims. They aim to polarize the two communities to the point there will be nothing but bloodshed, war and resentment.
They want a world in which the non-Muslims can only live as long as they submit to every will and order- even it is detrimental to them.
Which is what conservative Muslims want. I remember a religious teacher commenting on a racial-incident here in Malaysia (All such comments are paraphrased - I didn't write them down as I didn't keep a journal like I always did every school year, which I regretted) "We have to put down the Chinese- they're starting to fight back... As long as they submit to us, they're fine"
(All Malay Malaysians are Muslim according to the constitution, and the Chinese, traditionally are predominantly Buddhists with a sizable Christian community).
That is one of many, many inflammatory comments that reflect an alarming number of Muslims.
Despite the fact such mentality is quickly eroding among urbanites, it can be found in areas or communities that are of a single race and/or religion.
Thirdly, they aim to establish a strict and unjust interpretation of Syari'ah law. I believe I do not need to explain this any further.
To summarize it up, their aims are : 1)Establishing an empire based on "Islamic law" 2)Wage war on... well, "others" (because listing out their enemies is just too tiring for me)
How to solve the problem? The answer is simple : Root out their ideology, while at the same time dismantling their armed wing to the point where they can barely do anything.
The solution, however is not. I've heard calls from both sides to bomb them (the West and IS) back into the Stone Age.
THAT IS WRONG. THAT IS WHAT EXACTLY IS WANTS.
They want to make both Muslims and non-Muslims believe that there is no way out except for war.
They want to make Muslims believe that the West is out to get them.
They want to make non-Muslims that we are out to get them.
The conservative, shielded, isolated Muslim view is that there a grand anti-Muslim conspiracy to get rid of all Muslims.
The shielded, isolated non-Muslim view is that the Muslims want to get rid of them.
Bombing IS without careful consideration and planning, muddies the water that is trying to be cleaned even further.
Combating foreign terrorism without considering multiple factors, which include but is not limited only to the local history, culture, geopolitics, among others is going to create resentment and anger among the Muslims of the Middle East.
Which plays into the IS game because it strengthens their worldview and justification altogether.
The thing that is most important to us Muslims right now is combating extremism from the inside. We are the best people to talk to our own.
But how do we do that, exactly? Now, I'm no expert, I'm just putting out suggestions based on my experiences, as I have dealt with a lot of Muslims ranging from hardliners to freerunners. I will be talking of these suggestions in a Malaysian context, however, the general idea could be put in other countries and communities as well, adapting to their own cultures, demographics and problems.
The first is to break the invisible wall that is dividing Muslims and non-Muslims.
One thing that I noticed is that the more mono-ethnic an area or a community is, the more likely it is for its people to harbour anti non-Muslim tendencies. I noticed that in northern Malaysian states, as well as rural areas in other parts of the country with an imbalanced Muslim to non-Muslim proportion, as well as religious schools.
I was lucky to be born and raised in a great part of Malaysia with a balanced demographic and open minded people (the two largest races are Chinese and Malays at 44 and 42 percent respectively). Too many others are not as lucky.
The second is to open up any religious schools. A lot of people suggested shutting these down entirely, but I disagree, as it would bring about problems in Muslim communities, which I will not touch on in this post.
I was deployed to a religious school for half a year. I was appalled at what a large number of people there think of "others". That's when I realized that their system is really problematic.
By opening up, I mean to start doing more exchange programs with non-religious and start bringing non-Muslims along into these programs. (These programs exist; during my 6-month tenure in my school, there is about three exchange programs, as far as I can remember). The latter could be modified as to let only neighbouring schools let in non-Muslims, not due to cleanliness or accommodation issues, but due to the evening activities in the dormitories, which mostly consist of religious activities; however, it is a good starting point.
The second is to post non-Muslim/Malay teachers at religious schools. Of course, certain dress should be adhered to, but I won't touch on this. Conversely, all religious teachers specializing in religious subjects should be posted at an SMK for at least 2-4 years.
Another way to open up these schools is to allow greater access to information. When I stayed in the dormitories for 6 months, I was shocked at how I was forced to go by for days without much information on current events. With only teachers or newspapers providing outside news, this can stifle thoughts and are prone to misinformation, and thus, form the wrong mindsets.
Third is to stop teaching Muslims that violence is justified by any means except for self-defense. Growing up, I was taught by my religious school teachers to never harm anyone, except for when you really have to. The word "kill" was never uttered except during topics related to slaughtering animals and the usual reminder that harming others is wrong.
Going into a secular school in secondary level taught me the same thing, even as I went into the religious stream.
Until I went into a full-time religious school for pre-university.
The contempt and hate for non-Muslims in unreal.
I remember my teacher (the same one above...!) saying "If others want to accept our ways of love, then they're most welcome. If not, then, we'll just kill them." Sigh.
Another one is , "Islam must go up no matter what. It doesn't matter if you're a minority. How you're going to do that? I don't know. YOU think of it." A push-poll styled question to sway us into acts of chaos, terror and war as a justifiable act. Nice...........
And we need to teach that EVERY single human being is... well, human. A Muslim that I follow on Twitter summed it up this way : "Muslims love everyone... except if you're gay, black or Shia." Or a non-Muslim. Or a so-called deviant.
Muslims love to play the victim game when it comes to Palestine and the Myanmar Rohingyas, among others, but are apathetic and even cheers for the deaths of "others".
It is NOT a competition. No life should be snuffed out like that, not even under religious reasons like "but oh, they insulted our religion...!!!11!!"
No life should be taken unless it is done in the direst and gravest of situations.
The "others" are human. We Muslims are humans.
As long as we play victim without helping each other and break this crappy cycle, we're going to be eventually screwed.
Fourth is to root out anyone who has these ideologies. If we can't combat them with arms, we fight them before they get a chance to lift them.
If you know of any and are in a position to do so, talk them out of it by any means necessary as long it doesn't involve harsh or condescending words towards them (two types of speech used by Islamophobes and extremists while talking of each other - DO NOT USE. You're no different than them if you do).
A lot of people suggest to report straight away, but I partially disagree, as sometimes overly harsh action will only, again, strengthen their views of oppression and victimization, and thus, serve as a justification.
Only report if they start making creepy comments about seizing power and murdering "others", and especially if the person is in a position to influence others, and has clear proof of involvement in any extremist groups.
This is the only way to eliminate those who are ALREADY stepped in such ideologies. The way to prevent the hold of them in others is described in all the former solutions.
Again, these solutions are ultimately suggestions, and such need not to be taken too heavily or seriously as I am no expert on the subject and only rely on my experiences and readings.
And now to wrap this all up... Not all Muslims are terrorists, but the amount of extremism lingering among us is actually higher than we thought.
DO NOT DENY THAT WE HAVE A HUGE PROBLEM ON OUR HANDS.
Disowning them(NOT ALL MUSLIMS...!111!!) means we aren't taking responsibility for this.
We are NOT responsible for terrorism itself; terrorism spans across borders, religions, races, cultures, ideologies and a lot of other banners.
We are, however, responsible for creating an environment for tyrants and terrorists to grow and represent us.
As long as we don't take steps to eradicate extremism, we'll see new terrorists pop up after we destroy one, like a never-ending game of whack-a-mole.
As long as we let them represent us, this will never end.
_________________________________________________________________________________
This entire post is just my expression of the current situation. Any constructive comments and opinions are all welcome.
Saturday 31 October 2015
Singapore 2015 (again????) Part 2 - FRIENDS....!
We reached Mustafa Centre slightly tired. (Little did we know what was ahead of us...)
I bought souvenirs for my schoolmates and teachers (24 pieces of chocolate and 18 keychains), a box of blueberry tea ( THAT WAS JUST BECAUSE IT'S IN A WOODEN BOX OKAY HAHAHAHAHA HELP ME), and 4 bottles of these interesting-looking milky drinks that I saw on Twitter, and a small bag which I use to keep my wallet and passport ( It has A LOT of compartments. The largest one could fit a dictionary inside of it...! Worth the 24 dollars, IMHO)
My aunt bought 3 boxes of tea, a pack of cinnamon sticks, some chocolates (as per usual), some Indian snacks and some pastry puffs.
After we were done shopping, we decided to head to Masjid Sultan so that my aunt could pray- and I could rest for a while.
We reached the Masjid Sultan- Bussorah St. area. My aunt decided to have a drink first before praying, so we did so at the shop closest to the mosque. I didn't finish mine, so we tapao-ed it. And I snuck it into the mosque and back out again after I'm finished. It's a wonder that I didn't caught.(Although I believe I was on the mosque's CCTV...)
I sat down, stood up and walked around the women's prayer area as my aunt prayed. I started taking a couple of pictures. I checked the time - It was around 1:40.
After she was done, I told her that I was going back to Madrasah Aljunied to take a photo; she was mad for a while, but eventually relented.(I didn't take a photo earlier because there's a million students during my first arrival) .I took the photo and decided to go to Joo Chiat Complex to buy... something. Yeah, something.
I went to Bugis MRT and disembarked at Paya Lebar; my aunt stayed up on the platform since she was still tired.I started heading off when I realised that it IS actually quite the distance from the MRT station...! I wonder why didn't I notice this the first time I went there last year.
I reached my destination, but unfortunately, I didn't find the thing that I came for. I left and started heading back; it was almost 3 o'clock... I was supposed to meet up with my friend at 3:30...!
I went back to Paya Lebar MRT via a cab - when I first got in and told my destination, the taxi uncle told me, "Huh? So near one, can walk...!" Well, if I could I wouldn't take a cab, would I?
I reached the station and boarded the train. We got off at City Hall in order to get to National Library.When we got off the train and went out on the street, we took yet another cab because my aunt was tired. We got the library and I tweeted my friend in order to inform her that I have arrived.
I waited for her to arrive at the main lobby while my aunt went to the toilet. I saw her arrive and stood up. I smiled from ear to ear- I haven't met her for a year... and haven't talked to her much since I was deployed at a boarding school since March. There's a lot of things to catch up to...
We hugged and shook hands, then we sat at the lobby to wait for my aunt. When my aunt arrived, she beckoned to go downstairs so that my aunt could rest. We found a place and my aunt put our stuff down near a chair while we went off to chat. We went off to the children's area to look around there. She started cracking jokes. I was laughing and looking around when I realized my aunt was following me. I raised my eyebrows. "Hmmmm?"
We exited the children's area; my aunt apparently wanted to read a novel. My friend pointed out the novel section. We then headed off to do our own thing. We took the lift to the highest floor. From there, we explored the entire library while chatting about a lot of stuff, our studies, our schools, student comparisons (I was curious).
I found out about that she once stayed in Melaka for a month or so after Primary 6, and that if I were to go to Egypt, I have to go earlier than normal... (nope not going ever nope)I talked about my studies, my crammed 6-month course, and my enlistment delay. (I've lost count of how many times I've told her I'm going to go NEXT YEAR I'M SO SORRY DUDE)
Sometime while we were going back down, she beckoned me to take a few selfies and do some of sort of a skit for her Snapchat. It was a heck of lot of fun to see someone actually having fun interacting with me.
By the time it was 4:55, we started to head back to my aunt, who we found to have dozed off. We woke her up, checked our stuff, then the three of started heading off towards Bugis MRT so that I could meet another friend of mine. We bid each other farewell at Bugis Junction while she headed off to Masjid Sultan to pray.
I sat down at the MRT station's Guardian store and tweeted her that I have arrived. I sat down and waited.
I didn't have to wait long; I heard a voice, looked up, and...lo and behold, she was there...! I stood up to see that she had bought another two friends with her. I greeted them and shook their hands. My aunt did so as well, and she asked us where do we want to eat for dinner (it's was 5:30 ok I used to have dinner at 6 at my school so there's that). We told them it's better for them to decide since we have no idea where to go.
She brought us to Kampong Glam Cafe, which a place that I've heard many times but never got to go due to time constraints, so it was quite a nice place. In fact, I couldn't think of a better choice...
Anyways... we started chatting on our way there, talking about our studies, she is currently studying at Madrasah al-Maarif; she recommended to me to take A-Levels. I also learned that like me, she also plans to take language studies; the only difference is that she's going to study Malay, while I'm going to study Arabic. I also learnt that both of her friends were former Aljuniedians, with one being transferred to a secular school after primary school.
We sat down at a table at the outdoor area and I ordered a roti john and a blue cola drink (it tasted like cola - and I forgot the names of the things I ordered, so yeah...!). We ate while talking about comparing madrasah students (again, yup), life in Malaysia and Singapore, some more stuff about our studies, our futures, and her time at Madrasah Aljunied.
One story from her time was about some sort of guardians that are there at each floor of the school. (I forgot the origins/backstory, but I think it has something to with the earliest people who ran the school). You can see them but they won't do crap to you.
Unless you're a jerk.
Apparently there was this stuck-up kid who slept in the classes during qiam (school camp [they usually sleep in the hall or in the prayer room]); he was sleeping on a table when that floor's guardian gave him a rude awakening and shouted at him... he then ran scurrying off back to the others.
I also learnt that even the pre-u Aljuniedians are pretty chill for the most part. Which makes me want to go there even more... because I (almost) heavily disliked the uptightness of my batchmates, which indirectly hampered my learning experiences there.
My friend's current school is quite the unique one : Madrasah al-Maarif is ironically located in one of the seediest areas in Singapore, Geylang - infamous for for being an area for drinking and prostitution(IRONIC RIGHT??). and due to that they have a unique ( is it?) rule- no student is allowed to be in the school area after 4:30 pm (school finishes at 3:30 for Singaporean madrasahs), so no after school project completion staybacks for them...!
According to my friend, people can be seen drinking as early as 5 p.m - and as such, no one is allowed to stay back for extended periods of time to avoid students from being in the general area around during such dangerous times. She remarked how odd it is that how in all Geylang's lanes, which is full of seedy establishments, there can be a religious school propped up in one of them.
One story she told me of her teacher is that once this teacher once took a cab to school, and the driver, unaware of her identity, started badmouthing the school. ( I forgot why).
(Madrasah al-Maarif is pretty unknown compared to Madrasah Aljunied; even a local might not be aware of it's existence unless he or she is well versed about the madrasahs there, or have a friend, relative or acquaintance there. I myself wasn't even aware of its existence until about 2 months of befriending the madrasah students almost 4 years ago.)
So when the cab arrived at the school, she revealed her identity and stormed out of the cab in anger.
We later then finished our food, paid up and left; we started heading towards Masjid Sultan before going to Bugis MRT. We stopped at Sultan for a while; I didn't remember why.
We waited outside the ablution/bathroom area while my aunt went in and my friend and I talked about getting a license and driving vehicles. After she was done, we headed straight to Bugis MRT. I found out that she was going to accompany us all the way to the airport around this time. I was surprised.. "Wait... you sure??" "It's OK."
We almost passed the station gantries when I remembered that my brother told us to buy some Yellow Submarines subs. I told my aunt, they overheard it- and bought us there. I followed , feeling a bit guilty that we've probably made their journey a whole lot more tiring.
I ordered our subs - my friend recommended that we chose beef over chicken as the meat choice. We waited for about 20 minutes before I took our orders. We then went back into the MRT station. We waited for the train, and when it arrived, I remarked : "It's like a bloody sardine can...!" "Welcome to Singapore", my friend said.
Ah nein. If there's one thing I'm going to hate about studying here, it's the daily morning and evening sardine can, errrrr, I mean.. train!!!... commute.
We boarded the train and headed towards the airport. We continued to chat some more, but unfortunately I forgot what were our conversations here... (SORRY...!)
We got off the train at the airport, boarded the skytrain towards Terminal 1, and headed towards the departure area. Before we parted ways, her friends and I took some photos together. We shook hands and bid each other farewell before we started heading off towards the departure area. After clearing immigration, my aunt needed to go to the toilet, so I waited.
We headed towards the boarding gate after that; when I saw the line at the boarding gate, I realised why it is so important to be really early for the flight. When we passed through customs, the customs officer asked us to dump all bottles with any liquid on them. The result? I have to finish all four bottles of those water I bought at Mustafa Centre that afternoon. I finished half out of each bottle. I think my bladder grew 25 percent because of that.
And I wasted about 20 ringgit on that too... man...
We boarded the plane, which took off at 9:45. I slept throughout the flight. When we got off the flight at around 10:55, we rode the buggy towards the customs and immigration area. That was a blessing; we've been walking for almost 18 hours, almost all of it non-stop. We reached home at around 12.
This trip was a wild one. I did so much in one day, which made me realise, that maybe, there ARE enough hours in a day after all. I also realised that each trip made me want to enlist overseas even more, which means there's no time to waste if I wanted to do so. And apparently, I COULD hold a half-decent conversation after all, despite the boring topics that I bought up.
I just CAN'T WAIT to go again.
I bought souvenirs for my schoolmates and teachers (24 pieces of chocolate and 18 keychains), a box of blueberry tea ( THAT WAS JUST BECAUSE IT'S IN A WOODEN BOX OKAY HAHAHAHAHA HELP ME), and 4 bottles of these interesting-looking milky drinks that I saw on Twitter, and a small bag which I use to keep my wallet and passport ( It has A LOT of compartments. The largest one could fit a dictionary inside of it...! Worth the 24 dollars, IMHO)
My aunt bought 3 boxes of tea, a pack of cinnamon sticks, some chocolates (as per usual), some Indian snacks and some pastry puffs.
After we were done shopping, we decided to head to Masjid Sultan so that my aunt could pray- and I could rest for a while.
We reached the Masjid Sultan- Bussorah St. area. My aunt decided to have a drink first before praying, so we did so at the shop closest to the mosque. I didn't finish mine, so we tapao-ed it. And I snuck it into the mosque and back out again after I'm finished. It's a wonder that I didn't caught.(Although I believe I was on the mosque's CCTV...)
I sat down, stood up and walked around the women's prayer area as my aunt prayed. I started taking a couple of pictures. I checked the time - It was around 1:40.
After she was done, I told her that I was going back to Madrasah Aljunied to take a photo; she was mad for a while, but eventually relented.(I didn't take a photo earlier because there's a million students during my first arrival) .I took the photo and decided to go to Joo Chiat Complex to buy... something. Yeah, something.
I went to Bugis MRT and disembarked at Paya Lebar; my aunt stayed up on the platform since she was still tired.I started heading off when I realised that it IS actually quite the distance from the MRT station...! I wonder why didn't I notice this the first time I went there last year.
I reached my destination, but unfortunately, I didn't find the thing that I came for. I left and started heading back; it was almost 3 o'clock... I was supposed to meet up with my friend at 3:30...!
I went back to Paya Lebar MRT via a cab - when I first got in and told my destination, the taxi uncle told me, "Huh? So near one, can walk...!" Well, if I could I wouldn't take a cab, would I?
I reached the station and boarded the train. We got off at City Hall in order to get to National Library.When we got off the train and went out on the street, we took yet another cab because my aunt was tired. We got the library and I tweeted my friend in order to inform her that I have arrived.
I waited for her to arrive at the main lobby while my aunt went to the toilet. I saw her arrive and stood up. I smiled from ear to ear- I haven't met her for a year... and haven't talked to her much since I was deployed at a boarding school since March. There's a lot of things to catch up to...
We hugged and shook hands, then we sat at the lobby to wait for my aunt. When my aunt arrived, she beckoned to go downstairs so that my aunt could rest. We found a place and my aunt put our stuff down near a chair while we went off to chat. We went off to the children's area to look around there. She started cracking jokes. I was laughing and looking around when I realized my aunt was following me. I raised my eyebrows. "Hmmmm?"
We exited the children's area; my aunt apparently wanted to read a novel. My friend pointed out the novel section. We then headed off to do our own thing. We took the lift to the highest floor. From there, we explored the entire library while chatting about a lot of stuff, our studies, our schools, student comparisons (I was curious).
I found out about that she once stayed in Melaka for a month or so after Primary 6, and that if I were to go to Egypt, I have to go earlier than normal... (nope not going ever nope)I talked about my studies, my crammed 6-month course, and my enlistment delay. (I've lost count of how many times I've told her I'm going to go NEXT YEAR I'M SO SORRY DUDE)
Sometime while we were going back down, she beckoned me to take a few selfies and do some of sort of a skit for her Snapchat. It was a heck of lot of fun to see someone actually having fun interacting with me.
By the time it was 4:55, we started to head back to my aunt, who we found to have dozed off. We woke her up, checked our stuff, then the three of started heading off towards Bugis MRT so that I could meet another friend of mine. We bid each other farewell at Bugis Junction while she headed off to Masjid Sultan to pray.
I sat down at the MRT station's Guardian store and tweeted her that I have arrived. I sat down and waited.
I didn't have to wait long; I heard a voice, looked up, and...lo and behold, she was there...! I stood up to see that she had bought another two friends with her. I greeted them and shook their hands. My aunt did so as well, and she asked us where do we want to eat for dinner (it's was 5:30 ok I used to have dinner at 6 at my school so there's that). We told them it's better for them to decide since we have no idea where to go.
She brought us to Kampong Glam Cafe, which a place that I've heard many times but never got to go due to time constraints, so it was quite a nice place. In fact, I couldn't think of a better choice...
Anyways... we started chatting on our way there, talking about our studies, she is currently studying at Madrasah al-Maarif; she recommended to me to take A-Levels. I also learned that like me, she also plans to take language studies; the only difference is that she's going to study Malay, while I'm going to study Arabic. I also learnt that both of her friends were former Aljuniedians, with one being transferred to a secular school after primary school.
We sat down at a table at the outdoor area and I ordered a roti john and a blue cola drink (it tasted like cola - and I forgot the names of the things I ordered, so yeah...!). We ate while talking about comparing madrasah students (again, yup), life in Malaysia and Singapore, some more stuff about our studies, our futures, and her time at Madrasah Aljunied.
One story from her time was about some sort of guardians that are there at each floor of the school. (I forgot the origins/backstory, but I think it has something to with the earliest people who ran the school). You can see them but they won't do crap to you.
Unless you're a jerk.
Apparently there was this stuck-up kid who slept in the classes during qiam (school camp [they usually sleep in the hall or in the prayer room]); he was sleeping on a table when that floor's guardian gave him a rude awakening and shouted at him... he then ran scurrying off back to the others.
I also learnt that even the pre-u Aljuniedians are pretty chill for the most part. Which makes me want to go there even more... because I (almost) heavily disliked the uptightness of my batchmates, which indirectly hampered my learning experiences there.
My friend's current school is quite the unique one : Madrasah al-Maarif is ironically located in one of the seediest areas in Singapore, Geylang - infamous for for being an area for drinking and prostitution(IRONIC RIGHT??). and due to that they have a unique ( is it?) rule- no student is allowed to be in the school area after 4:30 pm (school finishes at 3:30 for Singaporean madrasahs), so no after school project completion staybacks for them...!
According to my friend, people can be seen drinking as early as 5 p.m - and as such, no one is allowed to stay back for extended periods of time to avoid students from being in the general area around during such dangerous times. She remarked how odd it is that how in all Geylang's lanes, which is full of seedy establishments, there can be a religious school propped up in one of them.
One story she told me of her teacher is that once this teacher once took a cab to school, and the driver, unaware of her identity, started badmouthing the school. ( I forgot why).
(Madrasah al-Maarif is pretty unknown compared to Madrasah Aljunied; even a local might not be aware of it's existence unless he or she is well versed about the madrasahs there, or have a friend, relative or acquaintance there. I myself wasn't even aware of its existence until about 2 months of befriending the madrasah students almost 4 years ago.)
So when the cab arrived at the school, she revealed her identity and stormed out of the cab in anger.
We later then finished our food, paid up and left; we started heading towards Masjid Sultan before going to Bugis MRT. We stopped at Sultan for a while; I didn't remember why.
We waited outside the ablution/bathroom area while my aunt went in and my friend and I talked about getting a license and driving vehicles. After she was done, we headed straight to Bugis MRT. I found out that she was going to accompany us all the way to the airport around this time. I was surprised.. "Wait... you sure??" "It's OK."
We almost passed the station gantries when I remembered that my brother told us to buy some Yellow Submarines subs. I told my aunt, they overheard it- and bought us there. I followed , feeling a bit guilty that we've probably made their journey a whole lot more tiring.
I ordered our subs - my friend recommended that we chose beef over chicken as the meat choice. We waited for about 20 minutes before I took our orders. We then went back into the MRT station. We waited for the train, and when it arrived, I remarked : "It's like a bloody sardine can...!" "Welcome to Singapore", my friend said.
Ah nein. If there's one thing I'm going to hate about studying here, it's the daily morning and evening sardine can, errrrr, I mean.. train!!!... commute.
We boarded the train and headed towards the airport. We continued to chat some more, but unfortunately I forgot what were our conversations here... (SORRY...!)
We got off the train at the airport, boarded the skytrain towards Terminal 1, and headed towards the departure area. Before we parted ways, her friends and I took some photos together. We shook hands and bid each other farewell before we started heading off towards the departure area. After clearing immigration, my aunt needed to go to the toilet, so I waited.
We headed towards the boarding gate after that; when I saw the line at the boarding gate, I realised why it is so important to be really early for the flight. When we passed through customs, the customs officer asked us to dump all bottles with any liquid on them. The result? I have to finish all four bottles of those water I bought at Mustafa Centre that afternoon. I finished half out of each bottle. I think my bladder grew 25 percent because of that.
And I wasted about 20 ringgit on that too... man...
We boarded the plane, which took off at 9:45. I slept throughout the flight. When we got off the flight at around 10:55, we rode the buggy towards the customs and immigration area. That was a blessing; we've been walking for almost 18 hours, almost all of it non-stop. We reached home at around 12.
This trip was a wild one. I did so much in one day, which made me realise, that maybe, there ARE enough hours in a day after all. I also realised that each trip made me want to enlist overseas even more, which means there's no time to waste if I wanted to do so. And apparently, I COULD hold a half-decent conversation after all, despite the boring topics that I bought up.
I just CAN'T WAIT to go again.
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