DAY 1
Whoah that was a tiring trip. Got a bus on tuesday night, and I got there on wednesday morning, I rested a bit at my cousin’s place and then went on straight to my college with a friend of mine. Lucky that I didn’t have to get on the LRT as my friend volunteered to come and pick me up at Gombak. Got there and after a bit of confusion I manage to get registered for the convo, got my robes and all and then paid for the photography services. (yes it’s a bit weord paying beforehand) While at the college there was here and there small gatherings of KPLI students, stopped by a few of such gathering to exchange news and after a while we parted ways.
Had lunch at the Velodrome, and then after much thought my friend and I both skipped the rehearsal and went straight to Lowyat. Manage to buy myself some toys (big boy’s toy) 🙂 A Jabra bluetooth headset, a car charger for the phone and a SD Wifi card for my PDA. Also picked up some stuff that my friends wanted. Was thinking of buying a new skin for my PDA but they didn’t seem to have stock of what I wanted, maybe I’ll have my friend buy it for me next time. After hanging out at Lowyat for a while, I was already tired from lack of sleep and the non stop walking, so I decided to go back and had my friend drop me off at the Masjid Jamek LRT station.
Got back at my cousin’s home, but he’s still at the office, then suddenly I found myself waking up to the sound of the phone ringing, hahaha I accidentally slept must have been damn tired. Anyway the phone call was from my cousin he was outside and can’t get in because I locked the doors from the inside :p Sorry cuz! Anyway that night I treated my cousin and his wife ( + baby) to a dinner at some seafood restaurant. I think it was one of those “Air Buah Gelas Besar” establishments located nearby. Had a splendid dinner, the food was amazing, and the juice was nice.. yummy!
Tag: kpli
Pre KPLI Convo
I’ve missed a lot of blogging, mostly because my hosting upgraded some items and then totally forgot to upgrade the perl package as well. Yes it seems I’m the only hostee here using perl to blog. WHAT!!! Forget bout that.. let us continue to the stories….
Things I did and happened while I was away…. 1. I went to Sri Tujuh Beach at Tumpat for my school’s Leadership Camp. Was the facilitator there. The camp is actually for the school leaders, i.e the prefects and what nots.. we had fun there (more like I did and they suffered). The students was constantly under pressure to be on time and everytime, especially because the first thing we did was to strip them off their watches and lend them 1 watch each night so they wont be late for subuh prayers. The activity was really packed and gruelling from activitiy to activity there’s not even enough time to think. A few friends and I handled the morning session, my part was to do some stretching with them.. that’s it. Then I’ll pass the baton to a friend who will do physical exercises with them. Those physical exercises are really tiring.. heheh…. the apex of it all is the last night, it started with a sombre enough activity which will force them to rethink on what and who they are and followed by a blind folded solo drop at the beach that will last till 1 AM, and then still blind folded they will have another activity at the hall that will continue until 4.30 AM in the morning. I failed at that one, was so damn tired, I bailed out at 3 AM. :p We packed and left for home the next day.
2. Got my first pay + the backdated one that I was due. Was so glad of it all, splurged a hundred over on the car for a new floor mat and get it all cleaned up.. hehe will spent a few more ringgit to fix the alignment, yes the terrain I drive thru is a bit torturous for my car.
3. Will be packing off to my KPLI convocation at the college next week. Have already applied for a leave. The principal said something about signing it the other day. Wonder if it’s approved or not, I guess she’ll approve it anyway. Have already gotten myself the bus tickets for the day. Was thinking of going by car but decided otherwise as I don’t want to get there tired. Really looking forward to meeting all of my friends there, and on hearing all of their experiences so far. Only a few more days to go 🙂
Adieu :devil:
A Year It Has Been
Time flies when you are having fun, the past year has been a magnificent year for me. Eventhough the course is a really challenging one with it tight schedule and neverending assignments, but the people that went through it with me has made the experience a really rewarding one.
I would really treasure all of those moments together, all the bad joke and even worst punchline (especially from me), the hours spent doing groupworks, seeing the whole gamet of personality in front of me everyday. From the class jokers, to the quiet ones, from the one always serious in class to the one that can never keep quiet. It has all enriched my life 🙂
The class trips was really fun, the almost routine pilgrimage to Jaya Jusco Maluri, the few movie trips, trips to fast food joints, the open houses. Everything was cool 🙂 I guess those places have never seen a large group of cikgus hanging around :devil:
Most of all, I would remember our last few weeks together, the days spent in the auditorium, making jokes and quirky comments behind the lecturer :p Sadistic cartoonist killing everyone and me being dubbed as Super Rahman who is always reading an e-book. The endless supplies of food by the moms, from a simple muruku to ghee balls.
Seriously I can’t remember when was the last time that I had so much fun with a group of people like this, the experience is truly amazing, and one that I will always treasure.
To everyone, if you ever read this (I know a few will chance upon this :p) Know that this year has been one of my best years.
I say adieu, till we meet again :devil:
p/s: The lecturers were also great, but it was you ppl whom I spent most of my time with.
Practicum Is Over
School’s is over temporarily for me, its now back to college time 🙂 Now I don’t have to do lesson plans everyday hehe 🙂 Though might I say that I’m a little sad to leave all my students… Spent my last day there taking pictures with them actually. Not as many as I wanted, but as film is not getting cheaper… that will do. :p
First day at college and we had to do a group reflection, our group as usual with its crazy antics was envied by everyone especially when we told them we got a few free t-shirts from the school (baju pun nak berkira :p) There will be two more days of reflections for us. Most of it will be group work if I’m not mistaken, then after those sessions we are going to have to work our butt off finishing a lot of assignments… 🙁
On another note, seems its the season for KPLI interviews, I’ve been getting a few call and sms asking for tips on what to be prepared for. Not that I really know what they are going to be asking, but as people keep basing it on the fact that I got through on the first try so I should know. Had to get some other ppl to chip in their inputs as well. But basically as one counselor said, its all in how you show your interest and how knowledgeable you are.
Ok I think that’s it, gonna have to go and rearrange my “Buku Rancangan Mengajar”. There’s a few missing items I need to paste in.
Adieu :devil:
Almost Practicum Almost
Almost finished with my practicum, trying to take in a deep breath and let out a huge sigh, but I can’t. Not with my lecturer planning to come everyday next week to observe me .. and friends….
I’m seriously gonna burst, just trying to hold it in…. coming up with lesson plans which is both interesting to the student and also educational is very hard with these kids, them having a very short attention span and a very limited scope of what they are interested in.
Anyway I did something about rice today, and true to what I expect they are city slickers to the bone, some have never seen paddy fields… so they got a nice input on everything rice, the facts and figures and the hows…. gonna teach them something about bridge next week. Maybe put in some spark and cause some of them to be engineers and architects…
Till next time, adieu :devil:
Breaking In The Teacher
I’ve started my practicum 3 weeks ago, and it all went by in a blur. It was all jumbled up. This and that to do. Getting accustomed to the routines here at school. Getting up early and going back home late. Not that early really ‘coz I only have to get to school by 8.30am but I do have class till 2.30pm.
You must be wondering why my time is slightly later than normal schools ‘coz I’m actually doing my practicum at Sek. Sukan Bkt. Jalil. And the kids have to go train in the mornings.
Teaching at the school has its pros and cons. You know how athletes behave, they just can’t sit still in class, and I have to think up of very exciting activities, or else they will just ignore me and jump around instead. But they are a fun lot, if u know what I mean :p
Been involved in a few activities at school from the moment I got here, basically had to handle the language week (quizzes, ceremonies and all) and we had to supervise the kids during one of their motivational seminars.
If I’m not mistaken I still have to accompany them for a summer camp or something in 2 more weeks. There’s more to come after that…. woooo…. Merdeka day? I hope I don’t have to go and go for the Merdeka Day parade with them….
Now if only you could understand why I’m always tired these days…
Till next time…
Adieu :devil:
Why Are You Here?
Warning : If you are caught using my writing as a basis for your Pernyataan Hasrat, don’t blame me if you don’t get into the course. Get a valid reason or else drop the idea of being a teacher at all!
Why are you here? why did you join up? why do you want to be a teacher?
Those are among the questions that will be asked during the interview and later on by your lecturers. Trust me when I say that the interviewers are much more forgiving when it comes to you giving stupid answers as they are just going to fail you with a smile (yes the interviewers usually smile all the way through the interview which is unnerving.)
The lecturers on the other hand are not as forgiving, cut the crap of serving your nation (berkhidmat utk bangsa agama dan negara). Most of them will smile and afterward bang u real hard for trying to lie to them. Don’t tell them u really believe in serving, they know you are actually lying and it is actually because of the perks a teacher will get. Just tell them the truth and u might get out of it unscathed.
Decisions, Where Do I Want To Go?
Most people after knowing that I’m about to become a teacher would ask some of these questions, “Why did I want to become a teacher?” sometimes more specific “Why did I choose to become an english teacher instead of a biology teacher?” or the inevitable, “Where are you going to ask for your posting?”
The question that I’d like to highlight is ‘where’. My answer would definitely be “somewhere close to home”. Then they would all lament about my obvious lack of wisdom to choose somewhere close to home. I digress, home is always better, and for me the best place to be.
They would say that it is better to go to Sarawak or Sabah, and earn more ringgit, as the pay is higher because of the oversea allowances. I would really want to say, “what is there in more money” and risk sounding like a hermit. But to be true to myself, I’d answer yes more money from allowances, but how much is the plane ticket? Would you just go back home once a year? or more? Not so much savings now eh?
Then most probably they would say that I should go to other places and experience life there. The thing is I love to travel and I hate to say it, but I’ve been almost to all of the states in Malaysia excluding Sarawak and Johor and also to Japan and Saudi Arabia. But then again I love to travel, thus I’ve always gotten myself on all-expense-paid trips. How? Plain lucky I guess 🙂 But I’ve never had the desire to stay long.
The truth is, most of the time when people laud all the benefits of working/staying far from home, I would just keep quiet. No point in telling them what I think, when all they would care is their own opinion. Even more so when the fact is they themselves have never had to stay/work far away from home. I have a friend who works far away from home and is always happy to just get a break to go home. (isn’t that so amran? :p)
But lets not stop at that, let me tell you of a little comparison. When I was staying in Penang, I usually wake up to the sound of crows going “akk akkk”. It was also the same when I was in Klang, crows everywhere. Now in Cheras, it would have to be the early LRTs that sometimes wake me up. But at home, I wake up every morning to the cheerful sound of the birds, not crows certainly. I feel refreshed not stressed.
Then there’s the case of money, here in Kelantan the cost of living is low. Dirt cheap low in fact, more so if I stay with my parents. Then again a small terrace house cost only RM300 per month or so. In penang that small terrace house near the town would fetch as high as RM600, or perhaps higher in KL. How can I not be persuaded to live around here?
To be fair, if I get posted somewhere else. I wouldn’t really mind, it is always a good experience trying to get accustomed to a new surrounding. And I think, I am fairly good at adapting myself considering the fact that I lived in Penang for 5 years without any problems.
At the end, its not about where I want to go, but where I am forced to go. 😀 :devil:
Of Ilmu Khas And Karut
It has been more than a week since I got here and the pace that I’m going is very hectic. There’s never enough time to do everything that needs to be done. And not even half of the time that I would like to have to do everything that I love doing.
But still I’m enjoying it here. Meeting and making new friends, learning a variety of things, and yet still more to learn. Ah.. the student’s life is the best sort of life. 🙂 And learning what I want to learn is better still.
For now I’m bunking outside of the College as us KPLI students don’t get to live at the Dorms, most of us are staying at a block of Apartment that was specifically reserved for us by the college. The environment is OK. Tons of shops downstairs, everything that you might need is there.
Learning to manage and juggle my times effectively here, as we have tons of assignment (actually I’m doing one of such assignments right now). Currently I’m bodily and mentally exhausted from the first week of studying. But I guess that’s the norm when you first get to a place and needs time to adjust to the surroundings. And yeah I still hate KL’s air.
Till next time, I have an overdue dinner waiting and an assignment to finish.
Adiue :devil:
p/s: For those who still don’t know I’m doing the TESL menengah program for KPLI. Doing it over here at MPIK, Cheras.
Test What Test?
Yeah I took a test, some of you might know what it is. Anyway it was the MTeST. The test is for those who wants to do KPLI. 2 and a half hour of sweating. Saw some frustrated ppl after the test. Seriously, the questions were a bit tough. Even had some analytical questions, equivalent to IQ tests. Thankfully I managed to pull through. I don’t think I’ll even get near to a 100 for it though (azya jgn berlagak :p ).
Anyhow, I only got to know that there was a textbook for it the day before the test. And it was by chance… My mom was chatting with a relative over the phone and the topic of me going to go for the test came up and he responded by saying that his son got a copy of the textbook as he is also sitting for the test. So we went over to have a look at the sample questions and textbooks. (5 of em!) Perghhh the question was very tricky… thankfully the real one wasn’t that tricky. But I couldn’t get a copy of the textbook as it was friday and all the shops are closed (note: This is Kelantan not KL) and he was still reading the books.
And yes, I am serious about making teaching my career. Why not, it’s a noble profession. And I like working with people, beats the crap outta my stagefright. (yes I used to have stagefright). And it’s fun! ehehehe
After the test, I went to KB to buy a new UPS. Now I’m not worried about blackouts anymore. Previously my house had problems with multiple blackouts in a week, and I was worried that my Hard-disks might get fried because of it. Problem solved… I hope.
Adieu :rose: