Of Forts and Fish

And I call myself a Penangite. After 15 years of my life on this tiny island, I never knew there was such thing as a War Museum and Aquarium in Penang til' today.

Finally, a post-PMR school activity that doesn't involve sitting on the hall floor until one's legs go into full rigor mortis, and eyes don't glaze over at staring at some slide from the computer.

'Lawatan Sambil Belajar's are always fun. There's something nice about sitting in a bus with your classmates off to visit someplace. Today was no exception. 39 students and 2 teachers were packed off to the War Museum in Batu Maung.

Now, this is the best way to learn History. Rather than cramming pages upon pages of text into our heads, we get great exercise and a fun experience. And yeah, we learn a little something-something as well.

The War Museum was once a fort built by the British from 1930 to 1939. No wonder it took nine years to build... this place is a fair size. We walked for a couple of hours, providing breakfast for the tropical rain forest mosquitos. We got to see tunnels that were 100 feet underground, places where cannons once were, ammunation the size of a medium-sized dog, torture chambers, soldier barracks and offices.

Equipped with torchlights, we got to go through two tiny tunnels that had walls 4 feet thick, which were used for hiding during attacks.

Definitely not for the claustrophobic.

And I learnt a valuable lesson to keep my torch light aimed in front, so that I don't ram into a wall before I actually see it. Also, I learnt not to be possessed by fear so deep that I want to race out of the tunnel ASAP, leaving my poor torchlight-less classmates screaming in the pitch dark.

Heh. Ok... I'm exaggerating. But I'm not kidding when I say the dialogue while in the tunnel went like this:

A (with torchlight): Woah...
B, C, D (holding on to each other's waists for guidance, like a human train): Woah!
B: AHHHHH!!!! Don't WALK SO FAST!!!!
C & D: WAIT!!!!!!!!!
A: OK! OK! (slows down) Turn coming! Watch out!
C (Head hits the low ceiling for the 5th time): Ow...
(seconds past)
B, C, D: AHHHHHH!!!!!!!! DON'T WALK SO FAST!!!!!
A: OK! OK! Solly!

Yeah... something like that.

On the whole, a really great trip. A few things were a little disturbing, like the sex crimes, torture chambers, Yamashita Tomoyuki's boots at the spot he was hung... things that make you think how darn lucky you are to be born a good forty years later.

Now that we've had enough of guns, we head towards the Aquarium, to feast our eyes on fish and corals. God's beautiful creations. Blue, yellow, blue with yellow stripes, etc. Also, we see the impact of Pixar on everyone. Every surgeon fish and clown fish we see is affectionately referred to as Nemo and Dory.

And along with Ms Koay, we mixed and matched the fishes in the aquariums with the ones displayed on the directory. (Some were mysteriously missing though...)

A: Ok, see if you can find the black ribbon eel!
B, C, D stares for a while: THERE! THERE! THERE! (points frantically)

Aren't we an enthusiastic bunch?

What a day. Tomorrow will be another field trip. This time, to the USM museum and gallery. Wheeee!

Holiday Time

Time flies. It's already Thursday, school resumes on Monday. Which means, the 'fun-filled' events they have set for us post PMR students will resume. Starting off with the Prefect Speech. For anyone who wants to ask me (again), no... I haven't finished my 3-minute speech, and no... I haven't even started. Yoiks... it's Thursday... uh-oh...

What's up with this speech-making session anyway? Everyone has already made up their minds on who they're voting for... and I'm sure they're quite aware they are voting for the next generation of prefects who are gonna hunt down their wrong-doings... but that's besides the point. And I kinda pity all of us... having to sit through 48 3-minute speeches... that's like 144 minutes... that's more than 2 hours!

But this is of course training us to speak in front of huge crowds (Just in case one day we plan to lead a rebellion one day and we need to convince others to join us...). But I don't care what the BM proverb says about 'alah bisa tegal biasa'... no matter how many times one does it, it's still one heck of a scary experience anyway.

And if we make it through all that, we still have to face the discipline teachers as they bombard us with questions on who-knows-what. Which is scarier? A hoard of Form 3 students, or sitting across Mr. Oung and Pn Latha, completely unarmed? I'll let you decide.

My point is... actually no, I don't really have a point to this.

This Prefect elections have been a part of CGL um... tradition since, well, as far as anyone can remember. Every year we see the colourful 'Vote for Me' posters being hung up on the bulletin board, and it's quite a nice feeling to be able to finally be part of it. (no matter how scary...)

So, I'll just wish all the best to all the other 47 candidates (whose speeches are in much better condition than mine, I'm sure... :-P), come Monday, let us impress everyone with our speech making skills. Or die trying...

Nah... I'm kidding.
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Hmm... letters that end with NY... any, many, uncanny, nanny, zany... ooh! Danny! XD

Another 'Milestone'

PMR has been over for a week. Form 1 to 3 textbooks can officially be thrown into the furnace or burned in a bonfire celebration... or be environmental friendly... recycle! Heh. In a way, when we handed up our Geography papers on Friday morning, we had actually finished another 'milestone' (so to speak) of student life. Next stop? SPM.

And it seems not so long ago we were just stepping into SMK CGL in new bright blue pinafores, unsure of where Secondary School life is going to lead us. And I'm sure it wasn't that long ago where we were still clinging onto our mothers as the as the teachers' taught us how to recite the Rukun Negara.

I still remember I was among the handful that had no idea what was going on, and when the prefect asked us to 'angkat tangan kanan', I raised my hand high up amidst laughter from parents... Now you know.........

And yet, here we are, halfway into Secondary School life with a mere two years left.

When revision floods us up to our necks, or when we are receiving a hard whallop from teachers, or when fights among the best of friends are occuring, school sure doesn't feel the least bit fun. But I've been told many times by the people who had already left school that school life is the best of all.

Darn right. Who can forget the days when PMR was drawing closer, where lessons were no longer held, and everyone sat anywhere they wanted, pencils and workbooks in hand... though whether more revision or more talking about pointless things were done, is anyone's guess.
We laugh over anything and everything until we double over in pain and tears flowing down our cheeks. Effective stress reliever, no?

Entering Form Four has never loomed so clearly over us. This past week, teachers had explained to us the new subjects, explained about then Arts and Science streams, personality tests and so on. And of course, prefect election campaigns are also going on.

In short, it's going to be a whole new, different world. But at the same time, a lot of things remain the same. Friends... exam stress... competition stress... and, well, love for CSI NY. ;-P

I'm gonna love each moment,
Of every day and night,
I'll look back to the past,
With the sweetest smile.
-The Journey, 911-

Oh, and Selamat Hari Raya!