Pre Exam Tradition

SOKSEK really has a big impact in my life. Before going to high school, I was so sure that nothing can rival my time in elementary. But here I am, going to recount the time I had in SOKSEK.

This pre exam tradition is particularly for the candidates sitting for PMR and SPM.

Apart from inviting parents for yassin recital in designated evening, we did more.

One is having the teachers line up on Dataran Bendera ~ this, is what we called Majlis Izin Ilmu.

It's some sort of asking for blessing from teachers who taught us despite our cheekiness/naughtiness/laziness etc. and also offering our thanks to the teachers.

Normal activity ~fooling around in the class

Then there will be some sort of other asking for forgiveness from juniors and seniors.

High school, as everybody knows is where the hormones are flying around, so when you think you are loving a particular fellow student, another student might brand you homebreaker. And sometime, you will tick someone off without even realising it. We used this particular phrase if we were mad at someone - tak redho. roughly translates as you never get my blessing.

If you never have at least an enemy in your life, you never go to high school. Period.

Girls will usually do this (asking for forgiveness) at the musolla or the girls'hostel compound.

Fake or genuine smile, you are the one who decide to wear which, doen't matter whether you are the one who asks or gives forgiveness. Seriously, girls are so superficial back then. But of course there were some genuine souls regardless.

Boys had the ultimate fun time. The XY candidate will storm into ALL classes in group and ask for forgiveness like ordering a teh ais at the canteen. The SPM candidates (boys) had the most fun time. The PMR candidates (boys) will head to Form 5 floor in a particular evening for the asking for forgiveness business clad in baju melayu or collared t shirt and go back looking like a soldier disguising in the jungle. Apparently, the idea of forgiving is by doodling on the sinner face.

Ah, I miss high school.

Photo taken by fellow classmate.

Songs

In Form 5, we spent most of the time in the classroom.

It was a noisy year that if you only was listening and not looking, you'll thnk that what the hell are they doing when they are supposed to be studying.

Well, we were studying and singing. Sometime we took some break and speak about everything under the sun. But as I said, most of the time during school hours, when there's no teacher, we did some questions and studied this and that.

My friend didn't really tolerate the noise but for me, the noise was what that kept me going.

You'll see Afiqah and Shafiqah suddenly broke into teletubbies song in the middle of thinking and spinning the pen.

And when Nia and Ridzuan have had it with the cracking knowledge, they'll just sang the high octave song by Marsha Milan Londoh (unfortunately, the title of the song has been lost among all other things in the goop inside my head)

Yours truly fancied rock kapak when she was a high schooler.

Each weekend at home, I kept coming across nice songs, and I always go back to school knowing at least one song and I used to sing it in the dorm and humming it when I was doing my things in class.

Mat Jat sat a table across me. He's a math genius. As for Bahasa Melayu, he invented a new peribahasa that I remember up till now : masuk kandang lembu mengemoo, masuk kandang kambing mengembek. Anyway, he's not the type to sing a song, but one day while I was so engrossed in my book, I heard one of the rock kapak song, but it was a male voice. I turned left and caught Mat Jat singing the song that I've been singing for the past few days. It was a pity though that he didn't try the teletubbies song. That one would be phenomenal.

Classmates, wherever you are, I hope you have a good life.

Ceramah Agama PLKN

There were sometimes after Subuh prayer where the camp's ustaz will deliver the talk.

I don't really remember what they were about.

Perhaps something about fiqh and I am pretty sure he talked about aqidah and how many teenagers have strayed.

But I vividly remember him saying one thing.

"wirawati yang kat belakang tabir tu ramai yang dah tumbang"

Because I was included in the figures.

Salted Ice Lemon Tea

In the wake of recent chicken fight back home, I'd like to reminisce what I used to do for some credit in my bank account.

Moons ago, I was a worker at a fastfood restaurant.

I had a good time experiencing something that I know I won't get to do after I turn myself in for another 6 years of formal study.

So I got to

~ dump loads of leftovers, many which are still edible.

~ flip a tray holding 6 cups of hot mushrooms soups.

~ sit on the same table with the immigrant workers at company dinner (and eat to my heart content since they don't do chinese courses).

~ be the one who run to KFC to never get the chilli sauce since our restaurant hasn't even return the batches that we borrowed before.

~ sweep the floor every 20minutes, everytime a team finished their slot in national competition that took place at our premise. and get a bag emblazoned with company logo as thank you gift.

~ make salted ice lemon tea.

It's stupid but we always run out of stock of this and that.

The customers, having paid a finger for MSG loaded food would understandably be irritated when we don't even have chilli sauce to go with the meal. And you call yourself a fastfood restaurant.

The company? They set up the rule of using only supplied stuff. So you couldn't run into Giant which is a sneeze away to buy the chilli sauce when you are undersupplied.

What am I to do? Me, the part time worker.

Anyway, one fine morning, I was assigned to the bar. Prior to opening, it's my call to make a batch of ice lemon tea.

Surprisingly, we almost ran out of sugar this time.

Luckily there's the tin labelled with sugar in the bar.

So I proceed into the kitchen to make the syrup.

I poured the BOILING water and diluted the sugar in it, except that after sometime, some of the sugar still hasn't diluted.

My friend came over to help me dilute the sugar but dissolved only 2 tiny pieces of it.

After I collected some assurances from coworker, I made my first batch of ice lemon tea ever using more than a dozen teabags.

And you must know this one of many peculiar things about me ~ I don't often taste the food or drink that I made. Most of the times, food and drink are served straight after they are prepared.

So, I got lucky that before we really open business for the day, my manager called out for a glass of ice lemon tea.

She took a sip and just freeze.

The tea must be either too good or the other way round.

She asked me to drink some and I did.

The ice lemon tea tastes wonderful, just like Eno, and not like ice lemon tea.

An investigation was carried out and we found out that sugar labelled tin instead contained salt.

Anybody who did that will make a factory goes bankrupt has he or she be in the inventory department.

And for the record, thankfully, no customer place order for ice lemon tea that day.

History Taking

When we are visiting wards, the doctors always make us take patients' history.

It's either the Czech healthcare really stresses on history taking or it is always lunchtime, which means everything else has been taken care of in the morning.

As if that is not enough, we speak minimal Czech and the warded Czechs mostly doesn't speak anglicky.

Anyway, there's this one day where I went to surgery ward and interviewed this merry middle aged man postop.

Any allergy? - Communist.

What are these bruises on your lower abdomen? - *lengthy explanation in difficult Czech*

Uhuh? Well is it insulin injection?, we asked.

He grabbed the newspaper, borrowed my pen and drew a drawing version of his belly and a syringe.

Halfway from passing the drawing to us, he put it back in place and proceed to add some character to the drawing-ball and phallus.

I tried to keep a straight face and tried to think about positive thing ~he just want to orientate the picture since it was just belly and syringe before.

Anyway, the bruises is indeed from insulin injection.

Thank you very much for the effort to draw us an explanation picture, Pan Obraz.

Losing Your Husband Part 2 : If You Want To Lose Your Husband

We went back to the accessory shop to pick up the lost husband/the lost client. He was reclining on the pole relaxingly smoking away his cigarette.

The lost husband/client : *came in and shook his head in disbelievement*

The rest : *laughed away*

The lost husband/client : *turn to us girls* Girls, when you get married, don't lose your husband like this.

When we finally dropping people off, Emre turned around and ask the Italian couples of their next destination.

Italian couples told him they already plan their route etc.

Grandma : Don't you want to ask where we are going after this?

Emre : Oh yes, where you are going?

Grandma : Anywhere where you are not there!

I felt like roling on the floor laughing. It was that hilarious hearing the remark and seeing the gestures.

Emre : *Smile like a sheep* Don't forget to tell your friends back in America if they come her to use my service.

Susan : Don't worry. I will tell them if you want to lose your husband in Turkey/Pamukkale to contact you.

Seriously eventhough Pamukkale actually needs not you to go with tour group, I am glad that I went on. This tour group is the best that I ever had eventhough only me, Qibah and toddler Leyla are the young ones with others aged above 30 y.o. It's the people in the group that makes it so.

Food, Glorious Food

Born and bred in Penang, food is a major thing in my life. I eat, speak and cook food.

My all time favourite will always be Penang laksa but I wouldn't even look at pulut inti.

Before I start going to school, pulut inti was a regular breakfast. I have never liked it. Pulut is just not my thing.

When I decided to come here, there's no food in the reasoning but to go back for good in the future, food certainly is one of the strong point of why should I go back.

Sitting here typing this, I am missing tau fu fa, koay teow thng', lengkong, nasi dalcha, sup mamak Padang Broom, boiled crab/udang lipan, stir fried seashells, boiled cockles, 5 spoonfuls of cendol, 3 spoonfuls of bubur chacha, pau kacang merah, the abundant tropical fruits. Oh man, I truly miss the food.

Losing Your Husband Part 1

It's unavoidable if you are with a tour group, they'll dump you in a specialty shop/store/whatever the name is at the end of the tour.

The only place the tour guide wouldn't rush you is this place.

In Pamukkale, this stop took rather an extended time.

First 5 minutes, the grandma was talking to me about having too many jewelries from her husband countless business trips and how useless it is to buy something from this shop.

The next 20 minutes, I was shoving my face against the displayed goods.

After 5 minutes, I lent my finger to measure the ring that Susan's buying for her daughters.

Done with that, I took the plastic chair and even invited the journalist to sit on another one.

He gladly took it "Since we are staying for some more time"

The grandma? She's buying tourqouise earrings. "I bought my granddaughter *some jewelries that I don't remember what it is* sometime ago and she's always wearing it. So, I am buying her these." and somemore reasonings why she's buying those.

When we were finally in the coaster, Emre asked if we are missing anybody.

The journalist's wife said yes, we are missing some people (she means HER HUSBAND and the Turkishes).

All of us : no it's okay. They are staying for some more time because they still want to shop (we mean the Turkishes)

Basically in the middle of the miscommunication we left the journalist.

When we arrived to drop them off, we turned back and realised that the journalist is not there. Things took many turns from here, to panick (mostly on Emre's side) and to halirious. Read the next dialogues with exaggeration, thick teasing tone and lots of laughters.

Us : Where's he?

The Wife : I don't know. We left him at the shop. *dengan muka bersu dan libasan tangan*

Someone : Did you call him?

The Wife : I have his handphone with me.

Susan : How can you lose your husband??? *turning to her own husband* See honey, I am the best wife. I have a mother and a husband to take care of and I don't lose them. *continue to tease the wife*

Me and Qibah : *laughing so much that we couldn't even speak*

But grandma's remark is the best ~~ It's ok. Then he will have more time to buy something for you. *turn to Emre* How can you lose your client!

Spot the wife who 'lose' her husband

-to be continued-

Pictures With The Veterans

I guess Susan has passed half century, so you can estimate how old her mother is. I am 21 y.o.

They are the source of joy during my one day touring Pamukkale.

At the end of our tour, I told them we are taking picture together.

I, was ready to go for the snap.

Susan and her mother >>> wait.wait. *touching up their bangs*

Me went like this (-.-')

That's Susan on far left. Her mother is the one in the yelow dress.

Roman Theater, Hiearapolis

Tour guide : OK. We will do this in 10 minutes.

Us : What?Only 10 minutes?

Susan : The Roman built the theater for 25 years and you just give us 10 minutes to tour it?

Note : 25 years is a scaled down estimation.it took the Romans more or less 100 years to build it.