Tadika!

Pre-school! Lovely, interesting, learning was fun, friends, the games we played, the activities, the cuteness of it all... I miss it.

I was enrolled in Children's House 1 in Damansara Heights. When I got in, Fariz was already in Standard One. I was four. The kindergarten was a bungalow, red and white and usually compared physically to Strawberry Hill, although we were a hell lot better than them. Anytime. Strawberry Hill. Ahahahahahahahahahahaha..! What a name. Our other rivals were Villa Maria. They sucked, too. They had this white and navy blue uniforms and since they had too many students, operated like a school.

Children's House is rather classy and high-end. We were the second most expensive at RM300 a month (average of my time, it peaked at RM 400). The most expensive being Zaikarim, a fucked up school where they fine you for everything. My cousin Dina was there and she actually got fined RM10 for farting during class! She was also fined for bringing a 2-in-1 shampoo and soap for swimming. The rule stated you MUST bring a shampoo and soap for bathing. What the fuck? The owner made a fortune with branches in Bangsar, Johor Baru and SINGAPORE. No wonder...

Back to MY place... The teachers were nice. All women, though. We were to address them as Auntie this and Auntie that. We had high-end playthings, unlimited Buncho Poster Colours and Luna colour pencils (they sharpened them for us!) and graet activities. We painted, did gymnastics, learned Malay (only half an hour a week, the rest was E N G L I S H), we had the playground with the monkey bars and the see-saws and slides. My favourite toy was thid world map jigsaw puzzle. The six continents and countries cracked up and I had to fix it. The meals rocked! I can remember pizza and chicken rice (freshly cooked!).

I was transferred to Children's House 3 in Bangsar. Just for a short while. I remember doing this kinda snowflake thingy for Christmas. Fold paper thrice and cut out small shapes and unfold it and voila! I liked the place as it had a fire exit. A long slide and a cute little staircase. Several of us were deemed 'too advanced' and were promptly sent back to CH1. Closer to home.

Throughout my years there, I made several friends (duh!). I can recall being closest to Ayman. Others I knew were Amirin, Hoong Kit, Emir, Farah and Priyanka.

All went to SKBD except for Farah, who went off to the United Kingdom. I remember she had to tell the class about visiting the UK. I thought it was some kinda museum people visit. Yet I imagined it in a European setting, with her whole family clad in trenchcoats and winterwear. Wrong...but right?

Priyanka defected. She became Hana's friend.

The others were my age except for Emir. We were close as we were cousins. But we thought him a tad bit peculiar. He'd go around telling everyone and anyone that "we're cousins" and all conversations would rotate around that. And he was a year older.

During the final year there, I had to do a lot. We had to care for the juniors (they pissed in their pants and all). We learned things advanced even for Standard One (multiplication for example). Then there was the Farewell.

For the final three months we learned baking, fire-fighting, choir singing (the 'Negaraku', as it was held days before Merdeka), we had no flag pole so we erected a gigantic Jalur Gemilang (which I painted!), and then there was the play.

The Shoemaker and the Elves. Who be the Shoemaker? Yours Truly. Ahahahah! I was That Damn Good back then. A Chinese girl was my character's wife and Farah was the daughter. On the big day, we put up a good show. We sang Negaraku and several other good-bye songs, and Auld Lang Syne, too. The parents ate their meals with cookies we baked, we had them in our Farewell packs, too. It was a little green pack with our handicrafts, an elephant pencil holder (An elephant never forgets), a cookie and several other items. We got certificates, too.

I miss those days. Still miss those days. Will always miss those days...

School 'Till Now: What It's Done To Me

I had been an intelligent, yet inconsistent student in primary school.

Three years in a Montessori kindergarten moulded my mind (and my siblings) to become very pro-American. I spoke mainly English. Bahasa Malaysia - my mother tongue - was foreign to me. There, I learnt many things, in fact, much more than I did in Standard One. However, shifting to a totally BM environment was a real culture shock for me. Everyone would easily score 90s and I’d be 80-something as I made the stupidest of mistakes by misunderstanding the language. Back to the inconsistency, of course in later years my Malay had picked up and school was to me what it was to anyone my age: likes and dislikes. However, in the six years in Sekolah Kebangsaan Bukit Damansara, I only achieved the elusive ‘First in Class’ once. And that too didn’t get me up on stage on Speech Day. Studies-wise, I was a front-runner, especially in Mathematics and English. I dreaded BM’s karangan (even to this very day). In my UPSR, I feared the Penulisan paper but surprisingly I made it through the rain.

Academia was my strong point. I hadn’t any achievements in sports and in co-curricular activities, I was just another boy scout. But still I was accepted into Kolej Yayasan Saad. That had other factors involved, such as the IQ test, Math and English papers, and a selection program that had many activities I had an interest in. In Form One, I was a real slacker. A record low was set, 35% for Pendidikan Islam. Quiet, anti-social, stubborn, loner. I mixed in very slowly with my classmates and others. Very slowly.

In 2003, things turned out very well for me. I was no more the loser. People paid more attention to me and I was more and more noticed and befriended. Even academically, I performed. Straight A’s for PMR. Something I have never, ever done for a very long time. (Standard Four, maybe?). Five years living with at least a B or two. Not your average 'top student, eh?' Now, in Form Four, I have achieved many of my targets here. I am comfortable with life, I feel accepted, I’m simply happy. The big mental block comes when the question “Wotcha gonna do after SPM?” comes to mind.

I had always loved drawing. Not colouring. And when I asked what could drawing lead me to, people always answered ‘architecture’. A short talk with my friend’s mom and another friend’s dad was enough to convince me that this was what I wanted. Flying and traveling were also fantasies of mine as a little boy. But fear of crashing and being held responsible for the hundreds of passengers stunted my indulging into piloting. As a child, I was very much embroiled with cousins and friends about the battle of the sexes. It struck me that, men can’t cook because they didn’t know how to. They can’t sew because they didn’t know how to. And they didn’t do housework because of their ego. So maybe I’d attest to that and learn, learn, learn. My dad worked as a part time chef once, and my mom and both grandmas are excellent cooks and seamstresses. Bingo. Conclusively, I like cooking. Sewing is just something I learnt so I won’t have to be too dependent.

(Adapted from my Post-SPM Study Route folio.)