Malaysian Montage 2008

Last week, the whole of the Sec 2 cohort in RI went for a 5-days 4-nights trip to Pahang, Malaysia. The name of this annual trip is known as Malaysia Montage.

It was a trip whereby the students were exposed to several things that they would not be able to find in Singapore.

The main thing that struck me was that you don't always need to have handphones, PCs, TVs, Internet, PSPs, etc to feel happy and satisfied. Many of the locals that we saw during our trip don't have most of the above-mentioned stuff. But they are still as contented and happy as they are.

Sometimes, we Singaporeans (whether young or old) do need to slow down and simplify our lifestyles.


Here are some of the photos of the trip.

My Life as a Beloved Son

I had quite a blessed and stable childhood. I was surrounded by my parents, grandparents, elder brother and elder sister. I was the youngest and hence, naturally, I was pretty much pampered by everyone in the family.

I knew that my parents love me. It's just that the way they love me might not be exactly the way that I wanted (when I was very young).

My grandparents really love me. My grandma would always leave the best food for me (even now too). My grandpa would always bring me out to play, especially at places like Chinatown.

To provide a better life for my family, my father actually worked overseas for many years. Every year, he would come back home about 6 times, each time staying a few days. As a result, I was not able to spend much time with him.

My mum has all along been a full-time housewife. She takes really good care of the house and she was the one who disciplined me whenever I misbehaved. I know that she love me because she really cares for me. There's a particular incident that I would never forget.

There was this time that we went McDonald's. I think I was about 6 years old or so. I accidentally spilled my coke. I was so upset and I cried. I was also afraid my mum would scold me for being clumsy. But she didn't. She comforted me and helped me clear up the mess and even got a new cup of coke for me. I was really surprised and I just knew that she love me.

Probably because we are more of the traditional Chinese family, my parents seldom spoke words of encouragement and praise to me when I was young. No matter how well I did for my exams, my parents would only say that it was expected of me.

As a result, as I grow up, I realised that I crave for people's approval often. Sometimes, when I don't watch it, even now, I sometimes also care too much for everybody's approval.

No, I'm not trying to complain about my parents. I truly believe that they love me in ways that they themselves experienced when they were young. I'm really thankful for them. It's just that they didn't know the importance of affirmation that teenagers and children need.

Now that I know. I really want to use words to affirm, encourage and praise others - especially my students.

My Life Journey Part 5 - 98S33

After considering VJC (20 min away from my home) and HCJC (45 min), I eventually settled for the more obvious choice. I decided to go to a place where all my friends are. I chose with my heart and not my mind.

Hwa Chong JC is a very different place from The Chinese High. One obvious reason would be that there are girls around. Having being in a boys' school for 4 years, surprisingly, I can still get along with my female classmates.

Being a more Science than Arts person, I chose double maths (C.Maths & F.Maths) and double science (Physics & Chemistry).

98S33. That's my class.

We had a Orientation Camp right at the start of school. It was organised by the Students' Council. The camp was fantastic. Though we were hit with mud and ketchup, dirty beyond reason, my class bonded together really well. And hence, we were quite close. We even had class outings within a short span of time.

After the camp, I made an important decision. I decided to serve the school as a Students' Councillor. To do that, I had to go for elections. My JC classmates helped me come up with simple tokens to get the students to vote for me. My ex-classmates from The Chinese High did a banner with me. My slogan was "No one is more willing to serve you than me."

Yes, I made it. I was elected. But I know that I wouldn't have made it if not for my JC classmates and ex-classmates. I'm really thankful for them. They have made a difference in my election campaign.

And hence, my life in JC totally changed after I was elected.

Always be thankful for your friends. Especially those that stood by you in times of need. You can also choose to stand by your friends when they need you. I think there's more joy in the latter case.

My Life Journey Part 4 - The Hidden Side

When I was in secondary school, I have a side of me that not many people know. Except my NPCC-mates.

I think it all started when I'm Sec 2. Every time, after NPCC training on Fridays or Saturdays, my squadmates and I would go to the usual MacDonald's at KAP (King Albert's Park - the biggest Mac in S'pore) to have dinner. Or if we're tight on money, we will go to the the hawker centre at Beauty World.

After dinner, many of us would automatically make our way to the arcade centre either at Bukit Timah Plaza (the preferred one) or Beauty World. Then we would spend tokens and time and money at the machines. For me, I liked to play fighting games.

Almost every time, without fail, I would spend all my pocketmoney at the machines. Yes, literally down to the last cent.

These are the games that got me crazy (and addicted).

Marvel Super Heroes





X-men VS Streetfighter





Marvel Super Heroes VS Street Fighter





Marvel Super Heroes VS Capcom






Marvel Super Heroes VS Capcom 2






Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo

But seriously, I really don't know how much money and time I've wasted over arcade games. Every week, at least once or twice or even thrice, for a total of about 3 years.

Time is something that once you have wasted, it will never come back. I have wasted a significant part of my youth on arcade games.

Are you wasting your time doing something not worthwhile? Like addicted to online games such as Maple Story or DOTA?

My Life Journey Part 3 - The Chinese High

I spent a significant part of my youth life at The Chinese High School. As mentioned before, what drew me to this school was its sheer size and good reputation. Every day, in order for me to travel to & fro the school, I need to spend at least 1.5 hours on the road. But I've never regretted it.

One of the main reasons was because I joined the National Police Cadet Corps (NPCC) as CCA. When I first joined the CCA, it was because I felt that the uniform looked smart. I didn't think so much. I didn't know what I was in for.

My squadmates & I went through 3 years of really really tough training. When I was in Sec. 1, we had to gather at the monkey bar every day after school. Our NCOs (officers) would meet us there and made sure that each of us cross the monkey bar a few times. As a result, our hands were always filled with blisters. Eventually, these blisters hardened and became hard skin.

Besides physical training, foot drill was also an essential part of our training. It's really crazy, marching up and down in the hot sun, doing amazing numbers of push-ups and sit-ups. The record number of sit-ups my squad did was 500. Crazy right?

So, the question is why didn't I quit the CCA? After all, some of my squadmates did left us & I don't see the purpose in all that tough training at all. 2 reasons that I can think of. Friends. And pride.

Friends
My squadmates and I began to form a bond, mainly because of shared experiences (shared sufferings to be exact). My closest friends till date, besides my church-mates, are all from The Chinese NPCC unit 1994 - 1997.

People like Lenin, Jianzhuang, Jingrong, Tianshen, Kaiyang and Junqiang all left footprints in my life. Every one of them had been a tremendous blessing to me personally. Even now, we still keep in contact.

Of course, there're many other squadmates who had also influenced me but I have kind of lost contact with them - Kangliang, Liangbing, Shukun, Shane, Marcus, Zhong Hui, Weiwen, Gim Teck, Ah Phua, Yunxi, Danny, Dalian and Junchao.


Pride
Even at that age, I hate giving up halfway. I preferred to endure the tough training and show people that I can make it. There was a lot of pride in me, and that sometimes caused me to do foolish things in the latter part of my life.

At the end of 4 years, I attained the rank of Staff Sergeant and was the Publications Chairman in the Executive Committee. I had the badges as shown below. More importantly, I made many many good friends, who had been with me throughout my life journey.

Don't give up. Persevere on in the things that you really believe in. We need this in every stage of our life.

My Life Journey Part 2 - Those were the days...

I found some of these old photos. Yes, the boy is me. =D

My Life Journey Part 1 - Primary School

I'll be starting a new series of posts on my life story. I believe that everybody has a story to tell.

Me? I was born into a family of 7 - my grandparents, my parents, my elder brother, my elder sister and I in 1981.

My brother and sister are older than me by 7 years and 5 years respectively. Hence, they don't really interact much with me when I was young. The only thing that drew me and my brother together was the computer. He taught me how to hack games at the age of 10.

My primary school life at Maha Bodhi was mainly filled with memories of me and my friends. We played games like catching, five stones, "hantam bola", 1-leg, erasers flipping, hop-scotch, Chinese chess, etc. (Compared to now, kids are usually playing PSP, Gameboy, Nintendo DS, etc)

One of the key highlights of my primary school life came when I was in Primary 5. My Maths teacher, Mrs. Teo chose me to represent the school in a Maths compeititon in the Chinese High. Though I didn't win any award, I gained a lot of confidence because I felt that my teacher trusted me.

Futhermore, the compeition exposed me to the compounds of the Chinese High. It was really really huge with water and hills and many many classrooms. I was captivated by it and that propelled me to choose the Chinese High after the release of my PSLE results in 1993.

A simple action of my Maths teacher caused my life to be changed. It just goes to show we can never underestimate the long-lasting effects that a teacher's actions (or lack of actions) can bring to a student's life.