kill the time

28^th September 2011.

Time flies so fast, before I couldn’t even record all the new things I discovered in here, Belgaum, India. Well, now is almost 3 am and I didn’t feel sleepy, yet. I blame the tasty WHITE COFFEE of OldTown , which I had took for breaking my fast. That caffeine is the culprit which restraint myself from curling up on my bed.

I had just received phone call from MR. A. Looks like he is easily adapting in Liverpool, having fun time chit chatting with the girl sitting next to him. Coincidence as it seems, that the girl has exactly share the same name as him. Well, in a simpler words, they are both have the same name. The girl is an Arabian from Kuwait if I’m not mistaken. HAHAHHAHA, well if they are together (soon), the only things that differ is the title of MISS and MR. in their first name. So sweet J.

Well it is a free call actually, that being rewarded for him, as the promotion strategy to persuade him to buy the sim card. Hence the phone call doesn’t cost him much.

Regarding my study in here, it is quite different as my degree is Medical Degree (MD) and not MBBS, the most common degree in Malaysia. So, the explanation is here, in my brain, but my fingers refused to type it one by one. Maybe I can explain it later, if necessary. But basically, now I’m in nursing block. Nothing much, but I’m quite surprised by the enthusiasm showed by the lecturers. They are dedicated to give the knowledge and deliver the lectures/lessons as clear as possible. Somehow I feel like been given spoon feeding. Imagine we are just need to enter the lecture hall, then the lecturer will explain things from A to Z, he will clear up your doubt if you have any, he will do research if he can’t answer the questions and get it back to you, and you can even rewind the lesson on the website because it was recorded. Fuh!

I’m afraid the students (including me), will have the tendency to become too dependent on people soon. You can’t always depend on the people. That’s for sure.

However, I had the small talk with Frans (my senior), and she mentioned about the PBL in the 2^nd year. PBL stands for Problem Based Learning , is a method of study where the student will have discussion among themselves, solve the case given, and learn new thing from the case. For example, case related ermmm MALARIA. Then they will study the factors or anything related to it. Luckily they provide the space for the students to be independent in digging new knowledge. Maybe that’s one of the reason, this system is called ‘integrated’.

Till then,

yup. INDIA it is,

Hey!

So, I safely arrived in India, to be specific in Belgaum. I travelled with Juraimy and Fazmi, few KMBians and the rest of Kolej Teknologi Timur (KTT)’s students. Oh ya, we were accompanied by our deputy dean Prof. KJ.

Kuala Lumpur International Airport à Bangalore Airport à Hubli Airport

HUBLI AIRPORT

2 buses of Karnataka International School were arrived readily for us. One is meant for the boys and one is for the girls. Next, 3 Indian boys kindly help us to lift up our luggage on the buses since they have no bag compartment. Well, it is just like a school bus. But I thanked them for their kindness.

Throughout the journey to our campus, the green lush scenery never failed to amaze me. The road was functional well, so I won’t bother to complaint about it anywhere. By the way, I was so excited to see a tank lorry –( just like our PETRONAS lorry which usually used for carrying fuel like petrol or natural gas) with a ‘MILK’ labelled at the back. WOW! HAHAHHA. Milk is as important as the petrol back in Malaysia. One more thing I love to emphasize is about HONKS. They greet each other via honks, so ‘noise pollution’ is not really exist in the dictionary of people of India. Sometimes their honks have this melody *

Main Hostel

Alhamdulilah. I had reached the campus. Once again, the Indian patron carried my luggages and boxes up to my room. Since Adibah Abd. Rahman (my roommate) had reached the campus one day earlier than me, so I don’t need to register for another room. My room number is 511 which coded for 5^th floor, no. 11. Fazmi and Ju’s room is 506. Yes. Boys and girls are living under one roof, in the same building that being divided with a partition, where the right sided is boys’ hostel and the other half is for the girls. No worries, the partition is concrete enough that no one is able pass through it. So, I won’t meet any boys along the corridor. Too bad. :P

Everyone kept asking about my rice cooker since the box is only wrapped by the airport plastic that can be seen clearly on the outside. I had no problem to lend it to them, with a condition that they are obliged to put extra care of handling it. I brought the rice cooker from Malaysia so that I won’t have trouble finding hot/warm water in the middle of the night. My mom insisted me to bring rice cooker because it is multi-function rather that kettle/water heater alone. Apart from that, I bring along my hair dryer ( girl’s stuff) and air purifier – for health purposes.

USM KLE Campus

So, the next day we had a welcome ceremony. It was their tradition to welcome the new comers with roses. I was ecstatic to see the pioneer, the first batch of USM-KLE were gathered at the main entrance, waiting for us to make an honour entrance. While we were moving inside, each of us will receive a rose. Romantic right?

I still kept the rose inside my book.

p/s The above text was written on 12^th September, but I just had the opportunity to post it. Haha

my $400

I went to USM ( Universiti Sains Malaysia), all by my self. It was tiring, but luckily I hop on earlier flight to Kuala Lumpur. So 0n 5th september Kota Kinabalu- Kuala Lumpur. The next day, Kuala Lumpur - Kelantan. And I took an airport taxi to the university, which cost 30 bucks.It's quite affordable.

Surprisingly, the taxi driver told me that airport taxis are not belong to any company but they themselves. So, all the profit gained will be theirs minus the fee/rent need to be paid to the airport. Wow. Imagine all the airport taxi drivers need to work under a AIRPORT TAXI company where they need to pay around MYR 70 per day, MYR 21oo per month! But in Kelantan you can cut those cost and the money is all yours. Seriously $2100 is a BIG DEAL, especially in this global downturn economy (despite of slightly increase in our currency) . It's rare to find this system in Malaysia since I only discovered in Kelantan, so far. Management wise, it is beneficial to the people of Kelantan.

Orientation days? HAHAHAHAHA. Sometimes, it is too risky to put a high expectation. I thought USM-KLE is an international programme, which should be PRESENTED/CONDUCTED in a more PROFESSIONAL way(s). Before I further hitting the keyboards, letting nasty comments appeared in the screen, just let sum it up, MANAGEMENT SUCKS. I don't think my $400 is worthy to fly off to Kelantan.

But still, they are 3 things that caught my attention,

1) Prof KJ is a deputy dean. He is a charismatic person, with the ability to persuade people with words. He knew what to talk to, in a CORRECT register, language and tone. Get what I mean? As far as I knew, an official international ceremony should be conducted fully in English (like he did), well yes, the otherwise happened in USM. Luckily, he is my savior, and his speech reminded me of my 'niat' to India, which is to gain knowledge, not only in the lecture classes but also in picking up the experience along the street, supermarket or maybe in the mosque.

2) It was a golden opportunity to get listen to Tan Sri Sidek Hassan , Ketua Setiausaha Negara ( Chief Secretary) face to face. Not really. USM utilized the IT technology, where 3 official events are conducted simultaneously, and appeared in the large screen. Just like skype.

USM have 3 branches 2 in penang , and 1 in Kelantan. The main campus is in Penang, so while Tan Sri delivered his speech in the main campus, the students from the other campus will glue their eyes on the screen, or just felt a sleep. One of the senior had captured my picture while I'm taking my siasta. grrrrr.What really matters is Tan Sri's speech entitled CHALLENGING STATUS QUO. I don't really understand what he was saying( his voice isn't that clear or maybe because of the speaker problems) but I'm so intrigued to study more of his hidden messages. In my opinion, it was like asking MALAYs/Bumiputeras, do we really deserved all the scholars/subsidies/ financial help yet we didn't put much efforts to help ourselves? I don't think I can elaborate more about it, since I didn't get a big picture of it. But I already asked PPSL ( facililtator) of USM to send me a copy of his speech. Luckily, she said she will request it from the main campus. I am agree with him, go forward, we need to think like a professional, stand with our own feets and keep moving.

3) I'm making friends with 3 normal people in my batch. Mira, Fadzrin and Faris. They are normal.

Mentality, Malay. I hope my bad impression will be gone.

Overall, my flight is postponed due to some technical problems. So, I'm going off to India tomorrow, by 10.10 pm. Still I had mix feeling. I wasn't that excited. I wasn't that sad.

p/s people do think before you talk, it is way disrespectful using your dialect and assuming everyone else will understand you.

start

My journey is about to BEGIN. Bismilahirrahmannirrahim.

sleep.

Email from miss sheila : my flight itinerary

Kuala lumpur - Bangalore 9.9.2011 MH 192 2210 - 2340

Bangalore - Hubli Airport 10.9.2011 IT 2433 0805- 0920

The problem is, where do I sleep on 9/9? At Bangalore airport perhaps. I don't think my sponsor body is rich enough to book a hotel/motel for us. (:

syawal.

my 'gothic' sis

MY COOL dad

p/s my mother wasn't around because she was too busy in the kitchen.

So, Ramadhan had passed. Now come, SYAWAL.

Like always, after we done with raya-prayers at the UMS mosque, we (my family and I) pay a visit to the my uncle's graveyard. Done with yassin, du'a and al fatihah, we went home.

************************************************************************

Time flies, and soon I'll leave kota kinabalu. I had mix feeling, well I been travelling A LOT,( ALONE). So, I'm not really sure this 4hours + 1hour journey will make any difference from the others. I'm sure it will but my tongue still do not detect any flavors, my heart is still numb or I just didn't lick anything , (yet) that worth my heart to skip few beats.

I used to forget how to wake up early, line in front of the bathroom (in the hostel), wear baju kurung which doesn't require ironing and I'll run as fast as I could when the clock showed 8am.

Unfortunately, some(many)times I got caught red-handed by the warden, causing my ID to be 'hijacked' and I end up showing up late for class. No worries,teacher will still go on with the lesson which had started earlier before me , but no complaint will be attainable if filed because of losing 5% in my final exam. and even 1/2 MARK makes a BIG difference.

One more thing, for the first 2 semesters in KMB, I found it hard to adapt, to survive. My flawless skin got major damaged by the new environment, I had been quarantined for a week thanks to H1N1 virus, struggle hard enough to change my eating pattern, where I need to wait another 1 hour than usual before having my lunch (in Sabah, I had lunch at 1 pm) and of course, fever and flu. The above mention(S) gave me a pass to skip the academic class(es) . Yes, but no matter what happened, you still can find me serving the volleyball up high or dribbling the basketball on the court. or just, running around the field IN THE EVENING. (:

Ouh. 3 months had passed. Today, I need to fly to Kuala Lumpur to start another chapter of my life.

And I wonder, do the cycle really rotate? Will the old routine repeated itself?