Say ‘Good night!’ and Go

Day 1 (22nd Jan 2007)
Registration:Paid RM210

Was called out of the room by the coordinator. He asked how many pairs of baju kurung did I have. He added that they would give me some slack (being the first non-Malay/non-Muslim student there) and allow me to wear slacks/pants to classes. He continued by saying that they had opened their doors to people of all races and I was the first one to arrive. He believed that working/being with people from other walks of life would enrich and improve everyone’s life. I nodded in agreement as he mentioned that he had worked with the Japanese and others from abroad. I assured him that I would have no problems fitting in as I had stayed with Muslim friends while I was studying at KUSTEM. He looked extremely relieved then! When he was done talking to me, I went back into the room.

11:30am: Brought my stuff to the hostel, unpacked. Got ride back to Admin building with Mum and Dad. Before I left the car, I gave my phone to them since there didn’t seem to be any signal for Maxis. Bade them goodbye and walked to the first floor. There was another girl there and we chatted while we waited. The lunch was on the table, but the people in charge were nowhere to be seen.

12:30pm: The guys from the Photonics and Fiber Optics course as well as the TQM course started to attack the food.

1:00pm: Started getting hungry. Did not want to risk gastric pains, and joined in. Rice and some chicken with watered down gravy. Edible is all I can say.

1:30pm: Walked back to the hostel with Shima (she’s in the TQM course) and took the wrong route back. Walked on very dusty road between the workshops and the construction site. Ignored calls from the construction workers.

 2:00pm: Walked back to the Admin building for next round of ‘taklimat’/briefing.

8:00pm: Was reluctant to venture down alone to the cafeteria. Nobody seemed to want to eat. Asked if anyone had plans for dinner and they said they’d go down around 8:30pm. Figured I could withstand some hunger.

9:00pm: Some of my roomies finally make a move.

9:15pm: The ‘makcik’ at the cafeteria says that there’s not much food left and the only option was ‘Mee Goreng’. When the four plates arrived 30mins later, there was more gravy than noodles and there was a strong chilli powder smell. Was a tad too spicy for me. Hated it.

10:30pm: In bed, hoping I’d wake up by 6am the next day (I did ask my roomies  to wake me up at 6am as a precaution)

Day 2 (23rd Jan 2007)

 6:00am: Woke up without any help.

8:30am: Walked to the room with my roomies, but on the way there, the ustaz (title given to religious teachers) called me aside and said that the program was more on spirituality (Islam) and that I could go to the library during the ‘Muhasabah Diri’ program. So I just put my file in the room and went down to the library. I read the NST from the day before, and then I realized that the current issue was available too. While I was putting back the current issue, En. Azam (the coordinator from yesterday) noticed me there and asked me why I wasn’t in the class. I explained the situation and he seemed okay with it. Then two new students entered the library with their things. Ina and Syu were the newest additions to the Photonics class. They joined the Muhasabah Diri class just as it was about to end. I went up after 10:30am for the break and at 11am, the assistant entered the room to say that the next program had to be scrapped because the coordinator was not available. So off we went to the library again, until 12:30pm.

Found issues of Reader’s Digest and I chose the one with Allan Wu on the back cover. I do wonder which team is going to win the Amazing Race Asia. I’m rooting for Joe Jer and Zabrina!

Lunch consisted of rice, marinated chicken, veg soup and ‘Air Bandung’ (milk mixed with Rose syrup). After the meal, Ina and Syu managed to get En.Lan the driver to send us to the hostel with the van. Ina and Syu had a lot to carry with them.

Ina agreed to accompany me for dinner at 7pm, even though she had brought her own food. I ordered Fried Kuey Teow ‘to go’ and it still took ages to prepare. There was no one else there at the time! Tasted better and the helping was bigger than the night before.

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