constructing curriculum

i missed the lecture for this course last monday, so today i came to the workshop with nothing in my mind. yesterday, safa freaked me out by telling me that it's whole bunch of scary things and topics are regarding the Australian education system, which, as you can guess, i have no single idea about. and i freaked out, of course. especially when safa immediately dropped the subject and took something else. i cant sleep last night thinking that i would fail this paper with or without trying my best. my feet trembled, not cos of the weather, but because i was so afraid about what might happen to me and my whole academic life.

so i went into the class. some people were already there. some old, some young, some look like they dont give a damn. i look like a freaking nerd, who got lost on the way to this room. so we had some ice breaking thing going on. met a few people - Liam, Nathan, Emma (or was it Emmy?), Aska etc. then the whole thing just melt into me - i felt a bit relieved that there are quite a number of people who dont really know about the curriculum here in asutralia, and mind you, they are Aussies. haha! great. just what i need. a confidence booster. talk about ignoramus :p

so we went on discussing stuff, some in the class are arrogant (i hate you), and refuse to enlighten me on things i couldnt comprehend. but alas, a knight on a white horse helped me out. hah! seriously people, i tell you, he looks exactly like Keanu Reeves. hows that for a classmate! *drools* geez. anyway, we had to come up with a picture/logo/symbol that represents the curriculum system (what the heck?) in a group of four. and given the fact that i LOVE coming up with things, i unconsciously let loose and relaxed. so there. no more scary thoughts and hopes to die.

my group came up with a snakes and ladders concept with snakes representing the challenges and bombs/booby traps/dragons as the stake holders which could, if overpowered can be damaging to the system. we had a bunch of shitty stuff on that picture too, that i just have to draw (i.e. clock, a tarzan, a tree, loopholes etc) all on the same piece of paper. so it kind of looked like a bit of a complex, unidentifiable, random curriculum we've got. we presented it amidst barrels of laughter and snorts.

but least unexpectedly, the workshop tutors (there's two of them), liked it. he thinks that we saw it in a new light that most people cant see. geez. what a twist! i guess it's because that i explained the whole idea of the snakes and ladders is that the system could sometimes be in the hands of fate and chance - the roll of the dice. we can never know whats gonna come out of the proposal we just implemented and shits like that, y'know? so yeah, he liked it and decided to put in in his office. haha.

but that's just for starters. you have no idea what else is in store in our assessments plan. i've got a major essay, and a multimedia display, which i have to present in the presence of 9 external scholars/lecturers from the whole uni. but lets forget it for now.

tell me, what's going on with all of you people over there? hows class? update me.


roger and out.



p/s: i wonder how the political states are in Malaysia. i've almost forgotten all about it. gosh, i missed local politics.

my address

yeah, im back at the computer barn. cos basically, this is the only chance i have to connect to the cyber world. i have no internet back at home. not yet at least. tomorrow, im gonna get them internet providers. just ended class.

anyway, to all you peeps who want to contact me, or send me cards and cookies, please do so and send it here:

18, Ozone Parade, Paradise, 5075, SA, Australia.

i know you're probably thinking, "geez, Ozone parade? what a name!" yeah well. i think it's a cool name. like the black parade. as if the ozone layer is parading along. and the suburb, is called Paradise. it sure is one heck of a paradise! i'll talk about my house in another post aite. i'll upload some pictures of it too. i gotta go catch Asar. it's almost ending. gahahaha. procrastinator me. very naughty girl. and the prayer room here at the uni is not bad too. sufficient facilities. ok, really gotta go.

bye peeps! and in case you need to know, i miss you all!

:)

my third day of class

the third day of class has commenced today, and i have a feeling that im going to like it, despite the fact that the assignments are friggin tough. but what is one to do right? i'll just go with the flow. expectations are flying high, and competitions are everywhere with anyone, all the time. to excel, i have to be very, very extraordinary. i cant be my usual self. sigh. no more last minute assignments. now, i have to rehearse my presentations, not like before, spontaneity is the name of the game.

the assignments, involve hardcore researches, and need hardworking people with ridiculously creative minds. whether i will be able to complete the assignments by the due is one thing, whether or not i can get high distinctions for all of it is another.

to prove the extremeness of it all, there are 2 to 3 lecturers in one lecture. not like back home, one lecturer per lecture/tutorials. all of the lecturers give speeches that are so freaking inspirational you just have to be awake. to tell you the truth, i cried in my first lecture. they were so bloody, unbelievably good. i love lectures!! (for now)

you know, im actually at the computer barn here at the cafe (where there are public computers), and there are actually people waiting to use this PC. i think i might have just abused the IT usage here. more than my quota. gahaha. so i guess, i'll just write more later. i cant stand the guy standing behind me watching every letter i type.

gotta bounce, peeps. catcha later!

My day today

On the way back from Victor Harbour today, I came to deep thinking. I wondered what He has got written on for me. What’s to become of me in the future, and what the freaking hell is going to happen.

I thought about why I was sent here, there must be a reason (or reasons). Of course, I can’t very well see it now, but the curiosity is killing me. ‘The unknown’ has been quite a primal interest of mine but sometimes, I do feel like it’s a torture.

However way it is going to lead me in this one and only life of mine, I wish that it would be the best for me. For regret is the worst thing that can happen to me, and it is the last thing I need.

On the way back from Victor Harbour also, I thought about the friends I have met in the course of my stay here since the last week or so. They all come from different backgrounds, varied cultures and have similar or different ‘baggage’ from the lives they live.

When I talked to them, I got to know a little bit of their pasts, and the things that brought them here. They come for different reasons, and all of them very interesting and some unusual.

It amazes me how people simply amaze me, every time.

The trip, which is part of the orientation process, was really tiring. I was friggin’ exhausted by the end of it all. When we all got to the coach bus, everyone was lying back on their seats and dozing off into effortless slumber.

I wasn’t, though. Or rather, I couldn’t. Like I said, I went into heavy-loaded mental journey. And it was one that I couldn’t get my mind off.

I’ll have to go get some Baghlava now and clear my mind with happy, unserious thoughts. Toodles.

a hell of a shower

if i take showers here in Ade, it is bound to be more than 15minutes. once im in the shower, i can never allow myself to get out of it. thank God for water heaters, they made my bathing experience very pleasant. i need anything and everything warm these days - hot chocs, hot teas, hot scones, hot guys..

geez, snap out of it izza.

okayh peeps, going to take a warm shower. i'll make it a loooong one.


p/s: Mak takes an even looooooooooooong shower everytime. she has kurap.

Abrar

Abrar is the name of the house that i stayed for the first two days. the house is originally resided by four seniors but it soon became the place for new students to get help and shelter before they settle down on their own. hence the name Abrar as it means charity.

there are a few major houses like Abrar here in Adelaide. the people who reside the houses are close to each other. they call them selves sisters, while the guys are called the brothers. they are like family. i have nothing to worry about as they took care of everything. they cooked, they provided sleeping bags and quilts, they made me feel like home. people keep coming to the house. those from Campbeltown, Windsor Gardens, Newton, they all came to have dinner together. i had no idea it was going to be like this. we prayed Jama'ah all five solats. they are very close-knitted.

on the second day, 90% of them were going on a one-week road trip to a few parts of Australia. so Mak, Yani and me had to transfer to Mile End and stayed with Shidah and Fiza. so now, that's where i am staying for the time being. it is approx 10mins to the city centre. a very huge one-storey house. very colonnial. i like it here, but i will have to find my own place to stay soon. maybe somewhere with a garden and patio.

Adelaide Arrival

upon my arrival in Adelaide, Australia at approximately 5.30am in Saturday 12th July 2008, i was calm and relaxed like nothing happened. i didnt get any sleep in the flight and i didnt eat much. i was almost too nonchalant about everything.

when i get out of the arrival hall, i saw a lot of families, friends and whoever waiting for somebody for them to pick up. and then it hit me - nobody's going to pick me up. being a so-called "seasoned" traveller, i didnt panicked. well, not really, maybe a tad. i went thinking "geez, nothing to worry about. it's only Adelaide, the equivalent to Perlis maybe. or Perak. i'll get around safe. so i texted Mak, and ask her if she could pick me up. but she didnt reply so i thought maybe she's asleep coz it's still Subuh. then i decided if i call her, maybe she'd wake up.

so i went to find a phone booth. and heck, i aint got no coins. so i went back to the money exchange counter (with all my horridly huge and uglaaayyy suitcases) and asked for small change. the lady gave me some in return for my $10 that i have. so i tried to call. i was so darned stupid. i was confused, the number was confusing and i confused the phone that it went hay-wired. in the end, i just managed to vandalize a foreign country's public amenity and i still have nobody to fetch me. it's unbelievable how my klutziness followed me all the way from malaysia to australia.

by then, i already got frantic. my hair was all over the place, i didnt care about my belongings anymore, the only thing i held on to was my passport and my sometimes-useless creativity. my brain didnt stop working. my eyes scanned around, looking for handsome looking males that i could ask for help. then something caught my eyes - tudung. i saw somebody wearing tudung. i automatically assumed that person must be from Malaysia or Indonesia (coz of the type of tudung). yey, a friend! saudara seIslam! i dashed towards her, who is busy texting someone on her phone. i greeted her warmly and straight away told her about my predicament. she spoke Malay. her name is Saidatul.

to summarize, her friend (Anne) came to pick her up, i borrowed her friend's phone and finally got to talk to Mak, and she will come to pick me up with a senior. turns out that the senior was Saidatul and Anne's friend. it is a really small world after all, and i was saved.

when i stepped out of the Adelaide Airport, it was shit cold. colder than Cold Storage (that's where i practiced cold-endurance). i didnt wear any coats, just the tshirt and blazer i wore from KLIA. but heck, i was Superman and my teeth didnt really grittle. so i loaded my stuff in the boot, and we drove off to Abrar.

*to be continued

bring it on

geez bananas. holy shit. major crap. this is serious. adelaide is in two days - which summarily means really really really around the corner. and, lo and behold, i havent done packing.

packing is a JOB. i should get paid for packing, cause it takes so much time and energy and perseverance. but if i were to choose, i'd rather pack than unpack, that's double the task.

i can't wait to embark on this journey. it might not be that far from home, but a new place promises a whole new experience - and 'the unknown' is something i truly anticipate. i'll be going off alone to adelaide, as some of my friends have gone or will be going later. i dont mind the 'going off alone' part. used to it.

some of my friends promised to send me off at the airport, my family will be there too of course. i dont know what to expect. will it be deeply saddening? tearful maybe? merry and joyful? i reckon it will be a mixture of feelings and sensations. different people may feel differently about parting and goodbyes. but one thing's for sure, saying adieu is never easy. the impact will hit you sooner or later - even temporarily.

my progress for the packing part is quite pathetic. what i've done so far is dump everything i saw in the closet that can be used in that huge green suitcase. i'll fold it all tomorrow. some stuff is still in the stink laundry basket, havent washed it. quite a right timing for the murphy law to take action unto this humble creature (me), our washing machine is shit. it almost fall to pieces yesterday while spinning. it actually, and out-of-this-wordly jumped forward and the top cover sort of shut on top of my index finger. now i cant write or eat with my right hand injured, and i cant do laundry.

when the clock strikes midnight tonight, i'll be a modern day cinderella, doing laundry manually. geez. i hate alkali from the washing soaps. i prefer detergent, though made of the same substance. and i'll be an OKU cinderella. i'll have to hold the brush in a weird way since i cant really get my (injured) fingers wet. oh maybe i'll just use gloves.

im writing this and sighing sighs after sighs of laziness and disappointment at the situation im in - all simultaneously. thankfully, i can still type. but everything i do, my index will be sticking out oddly with the yellow cartoon plaster.

my granny is here in KL to send me off. she is really confused about where im really going. she kept telling me to take care of myself when im in GERMANY. im like, err, no. im actually going to Australia. and she'll go "ohh, Ostrolia. Ostrolia tu kat dalam German ke?". the ugly thing is, she told everyone about me going to GERMANY. so some of my extended families and her neighbours in johor who get the news from her thinks im going to germany and they (quite "efficiently") automatically presumed i'll be doing a degree in engineering there. geez people, stop believing the first thing you hear. i'll have to spend my last moments in Malaysia clearing my name and telling people the real story. nobody gets granny's obsession with germany.

well i guess that's that for now. the next post will be after my arrival in Adelaide, Australia, i think..cause im running out of time to blog after this, i havent done packing, remember?

so till the next one, dear readers!

on cloud 9

Being on a plane again after a few years was quite an experience. it resembles the sensation i had when i first got the wheels of a manual car after almost one and a half year not driving a stick. i feel jittery initially, then i start to feel religious (i.e. praying so i'll be home safe) and my adrenaline thrusts through every calm vessel i have. give five seconds grace, then i feel relaxed and almost out-of-this-world (i.e. hey, i can survive this!). the rest will be history.

i almost forgot what it felt like to be amongst the white cottony clouds. ahh subliminal. it was just like heaven - the closest you can get to it, at least. the higher it gets, the smaller and thinner the clouds become. they will almost lose their shapes and forms - all merging into one huge white cloth surrounding you. at its peak, the horizon formed an endless line - a borderless border.

i saw cruise ships breaking the stillness of the glass-like sea, all looking like miniature doll parts that gradully grew smaller till they finally lost from sight. as much as everything is in the system, anything can happen up here, and there's no way out. there are exits, but they lead to death. lol. getting to the destination safely everytime is already a miracle in itself.

i'll be going on another jet plane series in a few days time. bet i will be feeling a little different and maybe a tad smuggish. lol. i'll update you on how i whiz through it, alright?



*written after touchdown

Her two cents

"Beneath the stain of time, what have I become?"

-Khairiah Tadin-

I can't help but notice, this string of words stampered on the profile page of her Friendster. geez bananas, what have i become? hmm, pretty much nothing. i mean, sure i've been myself all this while, but something to be proud of? not really. we are supposed to be relatively wiser with time - the older you get, the wiser you become. experience teach you everything you know.

and taking that into account (experience), i personally think im quite wise. haha. really, how can we even measure experience? we cant, and for that matter, i think im accountable to say im wise, enough to rough it all out, that is.

so to answer the question by Khai's shoutout, i think that beneath the stain of time, i have become.. wiser.

you can reach Khai here and ask her for something to ponder upon :)