1st time away from home Part 3

I never been to a boarding school and never dream to be in it.Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman is an Ellite school and most of the students comes from some royal or a well known rich families. I was blessed to be in that boys school.

The next day we use the same taxi driver's service after the early arrangment before and he drove us the the STAR Ipoh. My first impression was... WOW!, what a beautiful school, and it is boarding school for Boys and the USM adopt the school for doing its Matriculations programme for Level 1, meaning i'm going to be there for 2 semesters or nearly a year before I go for Level 2 which is in USM Penang.

The 1st person we met was Ayahanda, ths school Principal. We got to enter his room and he did some interview but somehow I felt that I won't like him starting from that time. He was impolite to my dad. Maklumlah orang berpengaruh and berpendidikan tinggi... I was surprised to see dad was so timid and quiet at that time. He didn't talked or defenced me when disagreement happened. Maybe he knows when is the time to talked and when to listen especially infront of an academic person..Don't know lah.. Later we were greeted by a teacher and he brought us to see my dormitory.

It was a 15 minutes walked from the office and my 1st impression was, wow, so far, huge but a little bit messy... The 2 storeys buidling have 4 dorms and I got the room on the 1st floor dorm 3, the 1st lower bed near to the exit door and I got the middle cupboard. There is a 1.5 meters high divider in between all beds for us to put books and personal things. There were about 10 double deckers wehich means 20 beds or 20 students in 1 dorm. But actually only 16 including mine were occupied. The rest were empty. The bed above me also empty. So I have such a big space for myself I reckoned. Dad being dad complain to the teacher on how messy the place was and requested to add more fans for his “Anak”... hehheh...

Then finally the melodrama thingy happen. It's time to say goodbye to dad. I looked at him for the last time but I was still strong. I don't know whether dad cried or not,. It happened too fast and half minutes after dad disappeared from my sight, and the teacher in charge also left and I was alone in the dorm then suddenlty I sat down on my bed and I burst into tears.


It was 10am and a reccess time and there were few boys came back to the dorm. My eyes were still red and I felt alone. I never been into any of the boys school but I did watch how they live in tv. But then, out of nowhere;

Hi, my name is John ak Chukit. Welcome to STAR.

I looked up and I saw a fair handsome figure introducing himself to me. Starting from that day, I was not alone anymore and John an Iban lad became my close friend. I know God will provide me a good companion. God is so good, all the time... Amen.

1st time away from home Part 2

I love to fly at that time and I still remember during my long SPM holidays, my family and I went to KL for a week . Adding to the excitment and to our surprised, dad bought an AIRbus flight where we got to transit in Singapore before heading to KL. So same as my flight to Ipoh, I think this is the 1st time I tell people about my journey to IPOH....

That morning, our 1st destination was to Johore Bahru...Yes, from Kuching we flew to Johore. Transit 1 hour there, I got to see how Johore airport looked like, small, old and no aero bridge so we have to walk from the plane to the terminal to get some drinks. Then guess where next, Ipoh? No no no.. next we flew to KL and have to wait about 2 hours at Subang terminal 3 before we got the last connection flight to Ipoh. Finally We arrived at Ipoh around 5pm.

Ipoh airport is quite similar to JB, old fashioned, small and no aero bridge. Again we have to walk into the terminal. We took taxi to the hotel and believe me, the hotel was P. Ramlee movie liked hotel, similar to the one in TV lah.. hehe... Very old fashioned at that time. Near by the hotel, I can see the Grandys, a fast food like KFC and Sugar bun. I don't know about dad's feeling at that time but I got a good sleep that night due to the jet leg.

To be continued!

1st time away from home...

May 1994, it was the time when I entered the lower 6 science 2 in SMK Green Road Kuching. There were many new faces in my class. But the common ones were Margaret, Haseanti, Yohanna and finally Melcome. I can still remember the subjects which we took were all the “killer subjects”. Mathematics S & T, Physics, Organic and Physical Chemistry, Biology and General Knowledge. I can still remember every tests which I took I never passed any of it. The subjects seemed to be so alien and tough as if I never studied it before. They all are about the fundemental or basics stuffs like how this person came up with the formula and then how to apply it in our daily life.

Frankly we were waiting for any offer be it a diploma programme or matriculations which ever comes first we would be happily take it. FYI, there were no internet during our time and no such thing as ONLINE applications. Every thing need to do manually where ones bring his IC and buy the PIN number at the Post office due to the forms were limited and ONLY the '93 SPM holder can buy it.

During our time, only USM, UM, UKM, UUM and UIA offer the matriculations programme and the programme is handled by individual university where unlike now, that programe is fully under Ministry of higher education. UPM and UTM offers direct Diploma and Degree courses. ITM (now UITM) only offer Diploma level. UNIMAS and UMS and other Unis masih belum wujud ya.. Melcome and I applied for Matrix in USM while Margaret, Haseanti and Yohanna applied for Matrix in UM. Among all, I was the last one whom get the offer and the last one to fly to tanah Malaya. The waiting part was so hurting only God knows how I felt.

That Saturday morning, I received a telegram from the mr postman written;

Please register yourself at STAR Ipoh Perak on Monday 15/08/1994 ; 8:00am. Please bring a pair of school uniform and baju melayu, sports wear, towel and etc.

I was very happy and called my dad whom was working at PDRM at Petra Jaya. At that time, my mom and my sister Dolina was at home I guess... I can't remember all the detail, my sister Ivy was still in Sandakan sabah, my late brother Igat was in Kapit while my brother Andy was still studying in UPM Bintulu.

When dad arrived, we talked a lot and doing some planning such as doing shopping, buy air tickets ( mind you , the ait tickets were quite expensive at that time... Air ASIA was not born yet). Finally we got the Sunday morning flight tickets and that evening we went shopping and I got my 1st big brown travellers bag for me to put my stuffs. I know mom was the saddest woman in the world because her youngest son and the last child finally would left home and being far away for quite sometimes. But she hid her emotions very well and I did so, well I have to show her that his 'anak emak' is strong!

The next day I flew to IPOH accompanied by dad. I only remembered hugging and kissing mum good bye. The rest, somebody need to story me, please.

To be continued!

All Souls Day

This morning i drove the family to visit Igat's resting place. It was the 1st time his wife and his only son May and Jeremiah visit. Many other people were there to show thier love and respects to their beloved ones. As usual i couldn't control my emotion and started to cry, well, mom and dad cried too.. In times of grievness, words are hardly said or perhaps i rather not to say anything at all because the cry iteself was telling amd showing you how and what i felt at that time. Jeremiah unlike the mother was still in his own baby world. What can an 8 months old baby do or say or think? Yes, he was really innocent but in his really best outfit. He was handsome that morning! The visit ended with a word of prayer by the sub deacon. November is here and i hope it brings more blessings! Tomorrow we will be going to Lundu for for a wedding. Mom is so excited to go i guess. To me, Lundu has been a place where many things happen, things that change partial of my spiritual life and only some people know about this because the had experienced it too. This year we have been staying night in Lundu more than twice. 2 times over night at Gunung Gading, 1 night at rumah merah and several day trips. <- For my own record! Today is Friday and my wife and i have not plan anything yet. I pray that God protcets everyone who trust and put their believe in Him, in Jesus name i pray.. Amen!

The day is here again....

Yup, the day is here again, and it comes only once ayear and when it comes, your age increases and the day comes with a celebration, depends how you want it to be and where you want to celebrate it and with whom you want to celebrate it, its your choice. To me, I'd like to share that day in a small family and close friends gathering doing some BBQ and some cordial, accompany by a light and easy music, perhaps some jazz.. karaoke would be consider depends on time and whether there are people who wants to sing a long and make things running smoothly. Jokes and gossips are mostly welcome to make the night alive and stress-less..; Yes, i did ever experience that day... it was a perfect day where you celebrate it with the right people.... But maybe that time would not repeat as the way you ALWAYS like it because the RIGHT people won't always be there with you or you won't always be there with them... This year it would be my 1st ever birthday without my late brother Igat. I always remember during the day, henever fails to call and wish me a Happy Birthday, no matter where he was, Bintulu, Sibu or Miri, though it was a short call, he remembered! Now tho i wouldn't receive any call from him, i will cherished all the 35 wishes he ever wished to me and today surprisingly i recieved the 36 birthday wish from his wife, May! Anyway, i really put my faith in God's hand! I'm married happily to Snah and we have a small house at riveria and we do have plans to have kids one fine day... It's just the matter of time :)