Canoeing & Rafting

Canoeing and rafting are under Sukan Air. These two activities are some of the activities that I anticipated for long. Since our camp is a small camp, plus we don't have a lake or pond for us to do these two activities, we travelled to a place called Tanjung Dawai (I hope I am right with the place ...T_T not good in remembering places) where there is a pond (errr..this pond is kind of somewhere in a paddy field...).

-the pond-

We did canoeing and rafting seperately due to limited time factor. For canoeing, Wirawati went for the training first while the Wira did the next day after the Wirawati. We left our camp early in the morning. Upon reaching, we did some stretching and later, the trainers showed us a demo on how to canoe. Earlier before we came for the practice, we had some theory about canoeing and rafting. Besides demo on how to canoe, there was also demo on how to save yourself in case your canoe overturn. Then, it was our turn to try it out. As usual, ALPHA was the first company to start. After putting on the body aid, we were ready to face the challenge! For canoeing, there are two categories; single and double. I did double with Malathi. It was fun canoeing although it was quite energy consuming to make the canoe move forward. Anyway, I think I and Malathi quite well. Here, cooperation is very essential for those who went for the double.

Let's talk about rafting now. Rafting is another brand new experience for me. In contrast of canoeing, rafting needs 10 members per group. One will be the leader, the person in charge of giving direction and also pulling up the group's spirit. Another member will be the 'jurumudi',the person in charge of the direction of the raft. Meanwhile, the rest will be rafting by the side. Like canoeing, we had the warming up and demo session. Again, ALPHA was the first to try. I was in the same group as my dorm mates. With their support and trust, Norain was the captain and I was the 'jurumudi' in my group. Rafting is not as easy as we thought. It was tough when we wanted to make it moves straight forward instead moving to the side. Besides that, rafting needs a lot of energy to move. It was so tiring when we were in the middle of the pond. But, the most memorable moment to me during the session was Norain screamed when she gave instruction."Kiriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii............Kanannnnnnnnnnnnnn.........."It was so loud and her facial expression was so funny when she screamed. It was like as if she was giving birth. Hahahaha.....I was sitting right in front of her and I just can't stand from laughing. It was so funny! Once again, cooperation played an important role in this activity.If there is no cooperation, then we will not succeed in this task.

Overall, I am glad that I managed to do both these activities. And, I would give a thumb up for Sukan Air! :)

Water Confidence

Water Confidence, an activity to build up our confidence in water before we go for our canoeing and rafting. This activity was held at the river in front of our camp's main entrance. After having the warming up session, we were only allowed to undergo the training in the river. Basically, it is not a very tough activity, unless you have fobia towards water! Anyway, it shouldn't be a problem too if you have fobia towards water because body aids are provided. Each and everyone of us need to wear the body aid before moving into the river. The depth of the river that we always thought is shallow is not as shallow as we thought. Aha! Refraction of light! It is actually quite deep...not really la...but your feet cannot reach the bottom of the river.

For this activity, we need to form a group of 10 person. When we were in the river, we were instructed by the trainer in charge to form several formations. All these helped to build up our confidence in water, especially for those who are afraid of water. At the same time, we need to trust our friends cause each of us are dependant to each other. We cannot do this activity all by ourselves. Friends are there to help and give support to us.

It was a fun activity. Although I did shout when I first got myself into the water (it is actually quite embarrassing!), but I do have a lot of fun there. I guess everyone felt the same.

Pertandingan Kawad Antara Kompeni

Pertandingan Kawad Antara Kompeni is one of the major competition in my camp. Our company teacher, Cikgu Shimin wanted us to do our best in this competition and be the champion for it. Initially, our marching (wirawati) was terrible. The Wira's marching was great until they were praised by other teachers. Thus, every Friday morning, we had our marching practice at the Padang Kawad. Haih...Friday supposed to be our rest day, but we sacrificed our time to practise. Although reluctant to go for the practice, yet I still went for it. Some of my friends felt the same too. Sacrifice our sleeping time and stand under the hot sun for ALPHA!

The marching practice was conducted by my company leader, Masnita and assisted by Gda. Meanwhile, for the guys, it was conducted by Afiq, the Wira company leader and Yusuf, the commander for the marching competition. Earlier, we did our practice seperately. However, when our marching(wirawati) seem to have no improvement, we practised with the guys. And thanks to them, our marching improved a lot. The guys showed us the right way to march.For example,raise our legs up to 90 degrees, ensure that we are one hand away from our friends only,etc. Although sometimes they might be a bit harsh, they did it so that we can deliver the best during the competition. Whatever they did was for the sake of our company, ALPHA. Thanks a lot for your guidance during marching, WIRA ALPHA!

Later, we had a new trainer, named Cikgu Haji Hassan. He is a pro in marching and he had high expectation on us to win this competition. Whenever we have free time, he will ask us to march. March, march, march till we are perfect! No jokes, no prank! Must be very serious in marching. I was punished once when I did not turn correctly. I had to run around the Padang Kawad. How embarrassing! But, I accept it cause I knew I was wrong.

After all the hard practice, the competition day finally arrived. We were all nervous and when it was our turn, there were some mistakes made by us. I was one of them. But, overall, our performance was not that bad compared to the other companies. Suprisingly, ALPHA was the champion for the competition. For the Wira, ALPHA Wira scored the highest. Meanwhile, for the Wirawati, DELTA Wirawati scored the highest followed by us. When both ALPHA Wira and Wirawati marks added together, thus that make us the overall champion!

Tali Rendah

If there is Tali Tinggi, there is Tali Rendah too. Although Tali Rendah activities are not done in a high place like abseiling and flying fox, yet Tali Rendah is not an easy task for us. It is tough! In my camp, there are 5 Tali Rendah activities. I can't remember all the names. Out of the 5, I can only remember Tension Traverse and Hole in One. It might look easy, but actually, Tali Rendah is a hard task to be accomplished. It required teamwork and also creative thinking.

Comment: Another enjoyable yet challenging task!

Tali Tinggi

Tali Tinggi or High Element is one of the activities under physical module. Generally, Tali Tinggi consists of activities like abseiling, repelling, flying fox and etc. The main objective of Tali Tinggi is to build up confidence in us. So, before we undergo the activities, we need to listen to the theory first. The trainer in charge of Tali Tinggi is Cikgu Rosnan or commonly known as Cikgu Nan. He gave us all the theory about Tali Tinggi, what are the terms to be said when we are doing abseiling, the precautions that we must take note, etc.

Before we did abseiling or flying fox, we had a session of building confidence first. I can't exactly remember what that session call. Each of us must have a partner (roughly of the same size), one stand in front and the other behind. I did this session with Nadiha. Then, the one standing in front will have to cross her hands. When both of them are ready, the person one in front will shout "SEDIA". Then, the person behind will shout "SEDIA". The person in front will then say "SAYA JATUH". "JATUHLAH", the person behind will answer. The person in front will then close her eyes and drop herself. The person behind will catch their friend and say " ANDA SELAMAT" and push her up. The person in front will say "TERIMA KASIH". Besides building confidence, this session also test us whether do we trust our partner. Here, I would like to thank Nadiha for ensuring that I am safe. Thanks, Nadiha!

After all the theory and self confidence session, we finally allowed to experience abseiling and flying fox. We did not do both on the same day. We did it seperately. We started with abseiling. Abseiling is kind like repelling wall, but what make abseiling and repelling wall different is abseiling has no wall! There is nothing for you to step on. The only thing that you can count on is the rope. Before climbing up the tower, we need to wear equipments like harness, gloves and helmet. After the trainer checked and ensured that we wore them correctly, we just have to wait for our turn to climb up the tower. Experience climbing up and looking your friend doing it is so different. It might look easy to do so from below, but when you are climbing up, you will feel differently. Upon reaching the top, if you are lucky enough, you can actually see KOMTAR (according to the trainer). Before descending down, we need to say " ON BELAY, ON REPEL". Then, off we go! When we landed on the ground, we had to move backward and then shout "OFF BELAY, OFF REPEL, THANK YOU SIR!" One word to describe: BEST!

FLYING FOX, I did this once in Pusat Kokurikulum in Bukit Mertajam for a Kursus Kepimpinan. But, once is not enough. Haha...Same like abseiling, we need to wear all those safety equipments and let the trainers check us first before climbing up the tower. For Flying Fox, I did not scream ( I did scream during abseiling :P). Everything turned out fine. But, if the distance is longer, then I think I will have more fun...hehe...

There is also another High Element tower in my camp. That tower consists of four elements. Unfortunately, only BRAVO wirawati and those who never did Flying Fox were allowed to do that. I only remember 2 part of the tower; Postman Walk and Catwoman. Too bad, I don't get a chance to do. Haih..

Overall, I felt that Tali Tinggi activities are very challenging and I enjoyed myself doing it very much! If I am given a second chance to do all these, I will definitely grab that chance!

Character Building Class

There are four modules in National Service. One of the modules that the trainees have to follow up is Character Building (CB). It is a module to build up our character, to make us a better person. Lessons such as honesty, trust, leadership, responsibility, etc are taught in CB class. There are two main part for this module; Menampilkan Yang Terbaik Dalam Diri Sendiri and Menampilkan Yang Terbaik Dalam Orang Lain.

We usually have our CB after breakfast. All of us had to gather at the hall according to our company first to know the strength of each company. When the strength is reported to Cikgu Mazlan (Ketua Guru Multiskill) or the teacher-in-charge, we will have to line up according to our class. There are 6 classes in my camp; Serindit, Merak, Punai, Merbok, Merbah and Merpati.
I was in Serindit! Next, we will move to our class for the lessons.

Yay! I like to be in Serindit. Want to know why? Cause the teacher-in-charge of Serindit is Sir Kumar. He is a funny guy, that makes the class more lively. The other two teachers of mine are Cikgu Wawa and Cikgu Sariza. Ok, don't you think that this is like your school where you just enter and do whatever you like, cause there are Peraturan Asas that we need to follow. To ensure that we are punctual all the time, they played 3 songs which are Anugerah Terindah Yang Pernah Kumiliki by Sheila on 7, Hijau by Zainal Abidin and Olympic Fun Fair. The rule is we must be in the class before the third song which is Olympic Fun Fair ends. That is just one of the Peraturan Asas. Besides that, we are not allowed to chat among ourselves during lessons (this is the rule that we break the most), not allowed to eat or drink in class, whatever happens in class have to be kept as a secret among ourselves only, etc. * can't really remember all the Peraturan Asas*

We in Serindit are seriously lucky people cause we got Sir Kumar. He is an outgoing, sporting, funny and hilarious guy. He created lots of fun for us. The other two teachers are also not that bad. Hence, I would said that I am happy to be in Serindit.

The first activity that we did in class daily was Gerak Ceria. It is like an activity that you imitate the action of other people. For example, ballerina, fisherman, etc. We started this module with Menampilkan Yang Terbaik Dalam Diri Sendiri. We were divided into four groups. I was in Supper Massive. The other groups were Slumber, Style and Ideal. After following the class for about 8 days, we moved on with Menampilkan Yang Terbaik Dalam Orang Lain. We are reshuffled and I was in a group called KAMI (which stands for Kami Akan Mencapai Impian). In this part, each of us have to find a buddy to share our answer that we wrote in the book. Besides that, the role of our buddy is also to coach us in the juggle activity. Yea...we had to juggle. It is part of the syllabus in Menampilkan Yang Terbaik Dalam Orang Lain. Unfortunately, I still can't manage to juggle yet. Some of my classmates can really juggle after following the guidance given. For both Menampilkan Yang Terbaik Dalam Diri Sendiri and Menampilkan Yang Terbaik Dalam Orang Lain, we need to do visual mapping everytime. And, before entering CB class, we are required to watch a series that will be related in lessons the night before. However, we usually fell asleep while they played the series. Hehehe....

Overall, I felt that CB is one of the most boring activities in NS. Sometimes, I do enjoy the activities. Sometimes, I do not. There were several times I even felt asleep in class. Anyway, I do appreciate the teachers' effort to teach us especially Sir Kumar. You are the BEST!!!

Kelas Serindit

Cheers!

Each company had their own cheers and song. Each of the cheers and song are unique and they increased our spirit especially during competition held such as netball, futsal, etc.

For ALPHA, i don't exactly know what is the cheers for the guys. The guys have theirs, and the girls have theirs. So, these are the song and cheers from ALPHA's wirawati:

Yakinkan diri dengan semangat,
Hadapi lawan di dalam padang,
Terus maju, berusaha,
Yakinkan diri dengan semangat.

A-L-P-H-A, pasti boleh! (hu...), pasti boleh (hu...) x2

ALPHA, bolehlah...
ALPHA, bolehlah...

For Bravo, their cheers was Go, BRAVO!加油！加油！However due to the inaccurate pronounciation by the Malays, we often heard Go, BRAVO! sayur! sayur! hahaha...hilarious, right?

Next, CHARLIE. Because their company's colour is yellow, their cheers sound this way:
Go, CHARLIE! pisang! pisang! And they have their song too. I can't really remember the lyrics but they use the Double Decker's cracker tune.

Lastly, DELTA. Their song and cheers sound this way:

Wa sama wa, lu sama lu,
Lu jangan campur, wa sama DELTA.

Everywhere we go,
People always want to know,
Who we are, where we come from,
So, we tell them,
We are from DELTA,
Mighty mighty DELTA!

Interesting, right? Everytime when there is a competition, each company regardless the wira or the wirawati will cheer to increase the players' spirit.

ALPHA!

ALPHA, that's my company in National Service. There are four companies; namely ALPHA, BRAVO, CHARLIE and DELTA. The colour for ALPHA is red, BRAVO is blue, CHARLIE is yellow and green is for DELTA. Let me tell you guys more about my company! :)

ALPHA

Ketua Jurulatih :

Cikgu Ahmad Isa

Jurulatih-jurulatih Kompeni :

Cikgu Shimin, Cikgu Koek, Cikgu Haji Hassan,

Cikgu Ita, Cikgu Aza, Cikgu Mimi, Cikgu Arzi, Cikgu Siti

Ketua Kompeni:

(Wira) - Afiq

(Wirawati) - Masnita

Penolong Ketua Kompeni:

(Wira) - Bob

(Wirawati) - Shajeeda

Daily Routine!

BANGUN!BANGUN!BANGUN!

That is the first thing we heard every morning. With the aid of the PA system, the trainers will wake us up as early as 5.30 am. Generally, only the Muslims wake up that early cause they need to prepare themselves for the morning prayers or more commonly known as Sembahyang Subuh. As for the non-Muslims, we will continue our sleep for another half an hour and then get ourselves ready for the day. Everyone have to be at the padang kawad at 6.30 am. It is still dark at that time and if we are lucky enough, sometimes we still get to see stars in the sky.

6.30 am - Everyone must be at the padang kawad for the roll call. Each company leader will have to count the strength of their company and report. After that, we will have to sing Negaraku and Wira Wirawati Negara.

Wira Wirawati Negara

Wira wirawati harapan bangsa

Tiba masa kita berjasa

Kita sahut cabaran

Bergerak seiringan

Demi mencapai wawasan

Kenali rakan pelbagai budaya

Selami warisan kita yang kaya

Bersama bergandingan tiada perbezaan

Kita warga Malaysia

Berkhidmat untuk negara

Berbakti penuh setia

Satu hasrat

Satu semangat

Satu tekad bersama

Kami wira wirawati negara

Kini masa kami berjaya

Kami sahut cabaran

Bergerak seiringan

Kami pasti mencapai wawasan

Kita sahut cabaran

Bersama bergandingan

Berkhidmat untuk negara

Malaysia

Followed up next will be Rukun Negara and Bacaan Doa. The teacher-in-charge will give a short briefing on what is going to happen on that day and later, our company trainers will take over us for some physical training (PT).

7.30 am-Breakfast Time!
8.30 am- Get into class or go for physical module (depends on what the trainers arrange)
10.30 am- Morning Tea!
11.00 am- Return to class or continue with what we did in the morning
12.30 pm- Lunch Time!
12.30 pm-2.30 pm- Pentadbiran Sendiri ( which means is the time for you to sleep, bath and
whatever stuff you wan to do)
2.30 pm-Get into class or go for physical module (depends on what the trainers arrange)
4.30 pm- Evening Tea!
5.30 pm- Riadah
6.30 pm- Dinner Time!
6.30 pm-9.00 pm- Pentadbiran Sendiri
9.00 pm- Roll Call at Dewan Syarahan ( they will tell us what is going to happen tomorrow and
any announcement to be made)
10.00 pm- Supper!
10.30 pm-All have to be back in dorm
11.00 pm- Arahan Padam Lampu & zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......................

This is what life is like over there.
And when the clock struck 5.30 am, there it goes again; BANGUN!BANGUN!BANGUN!

New Friends Found

The first few days or should I say the first week, I really think that I am the only odd one there. Being in a dorm of Malay girls already made me feel miserable. The another thing that made me felt miserable was that all the Chinese there speak in Mandarin. And me, from an English educated school, can't really speak in Mandarin like they. To them, I am a banana (a term for those who speak English and cannot speak in Mandarin).Thus, at that moment, I felt that I am going to spend 3 miserable months there. Am I going to have new friends or will I be left alone?

I guess about a week after being transferred from Dorm A2 to E1, I started to mix with my dorm mates. Initially, I was quite quiet there as I don't really know them. I guess we never even have a self introduction time. But later, after a while, I started to speak with them and joined in their conversation. Frankly speaking, gossips made us closer. We were like talking about this girl, complaining about her bad behaviour, how she embarassed our company and etc. Never did I expect, we became close since then. And my dorm mates are really nice people. Although I am the only Chinese there, they never left me out or abandon me. Now, I am glad to say that I spent my 3 months, sleeping, eating, making jokes and gossiping with them. They are great people. Let me list them out : AINA, DIBA, MIMI, BALKHIS, NORAIN, FIZA, DIANA, AMY, IZZATI, TANIA, MIRA.

a picture of some of my dorm mates. <3>

I don't exactly remember how I befriend with these two Chinese girls. They are the first two Chinese that I was close to. They are X'yhong Huey ( commonly known as Chong in camp) and Chiew Ting (people called her mashi maro). We were in the same company, ALPHA. I met X'yhong Huey when we were sending our clothes for altering (I saw her before this but we didn't get a chance to talk). Both of them were from the same dorm. So, I don't know how but it just like we became close, and we had our meals together. Later, another girl in my company named Shu Ting (more popular with the name Susu)mixed with us and this made a group of 4 people. 3 Ting & a Huey. We spent our time together; eat, bath, wash clothes, etc. With my broken Mandarin and Hokkien (plus with English and Malay in between my words), they managed to understand what I want to say.

Shu Ting & Me


Me & X'yhong Huey

Chiew Ting

The problem that I thought I will face for three months slowly fade. Found more new friends, regardless Malay, Chinese or Indians. I am really glad that I managed to overcome this problem.

Divided Into Company

The 2nd Day of NS.

I don't exactly remember what happened that day. We were all asked to gathered at our rather small padang kawad. Later, we were asked to line up according to our dorm. Suddenly, I and a few malay girls were asked to move to the other line. Not knowing exactly what happen, I just followed what we were told. Then, I realised I was transferred to another dorm but the main point was all my dorm mates now are malays. "HUH???What is happening? Ain't it should be a mixture of race in a dorm? I am so doom!!!" We were all under ALPHA. At that moment, they were choosing the right person to become the company leader and her assistant. But i was thinking how am i gonna survive in my new dorm? No doubts, they are some of them from A2 moving with me to Dorm E1, but they are all malays. I started to think nonsense like being left alone when they go for their prayers and getting bullied cause i am the only odd one there. I tried asking the teacher to make a change, but she said that is not possible already. I felt like bursting into tears. Why me???

Reaching Camp

After about an hour like that ( i am not really how long it took to reach my camp from PISA cause I was sleeping..hehe), I finally reached Damai Park Resort, the place where I am going to spend 3 months. Upon reaching, we were all asked to go to the hall for some procedure such as giving the people-in-charge our bank book, handing in our medical report, taking our plates and utensils, being informed which dorm we belong, and etc.

After all the procedure, we had our lunch at the dewan makan. I was kind of shocked to see that there are people with the NS uniform. Ha! Then, I only realised they are from Kedah and they came a day earlier than us. I went to my dorm, A2 to place all my stuff. Met some new people there. Later, in the afternoon, those who just arrived (the penangites) made a trip to the logistics to take our uniforms and etc. All in all, nothing really happened that day. Ha! I forgot about something. I discovered that the showers there are not working, which means we have to use the water in the kolam mandi to bath. That is the only way. Arghh...which meant that i need to use the kain batik to bath, which i am so not comfortable to bath that way. ishh...

Before Leaving

Let me talk about my feelings before leaving NS. Being chosen to join NS could be the worst thing happens to some of us in these past 17 years, but towards me, i felt that is alright to attend this programme specially created for us, who just finished SPM. What is wrong about NS? Why worry? In fact, i am excited and looking forward to go to camp. I still remembered when my letter was not delivered to me yet, I was so nervous and anxious, "Where is my letter????".

Finally, i received my letter and I went for the medical check-up and opened the bank account for my allowance.

Finally, the day to report ourself at our camp. It was 28 December 2008 at PISA. I went there quite early and after registering myself at the counter, I got all my stuff placed inside the bus. And then, started calling michelle and maryam. I met with both of them and have a short talk, and soon it was time to leave.

us; in PISA

Introduction!

Aha! This blog is specially created by me to share and to jot down my moment during National Service Batch 1 for Year 6/09. So, before getting further, let me introduce to all of you about my camp.

Damai Park Resort; that's the camp that i went for National Service @ NS. It is situated in Merbok, Kedah. If you guys know about Muzium Arkeologi Lembah Bujang, then you will know where my camp is.