2010 Pictures

"Maybe I am crazy, and my mind is trying to deceive me," The Artist by Alesana.

Sorry for being absent here for quite some time. Internet connection was disturbed when fibre-optic cables from the nearest town were stolen, and subsequently affected the Internet connection around my area.

Here are pictures of most of the things that have occupied me throughout 2010. But before that, a short speech.

Ehem.

It was a great year for me, a year of change (and no, Mr. Obama had nothing to do with it).

Hoping for a great 2011, insyaAllah.

Please do try to check out my Youtube channel, where I'll be posting weekly on Sundays (I hope). If you like my stuff, please Subscribe.

Don't worry, I won't neglect this blog entirely. It will be updated "from time to time". It's just that I have a brand new shiny toy, so naturally, the older toy will get less face-time. But I promise you, it will be updated with stuff that I can't (or don't want to) talk about in video-form.

Okay, it wasn't much a speech as it was an act of shameless self-promotion and "clarifications". But it had Obama in it, so close enough, ay?

The pictures are in no particular order.

Tun Mahathir the Musical.

We (some of the Institute Culture Club) were lucky enough to be able to attend and enjoy the Musical rendition of the life of a national hero (no matter who you are, you con't deny that he did some good stuff for Malaysia), the 4th Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir.

Personally, I felt that the musical touched more than it should have on the "romantic episodes" between Tun and his wife-to-be. Those scenes went on for too long for my liking, and the time that they wasted there could have gone to delving more into the history behind this great man.

Alas, it had to cater to the masses, as it was a performance for the masses, so I guess I'm a person of less mass because of my critique above. Despite my comment, I have to admit, it was indeed entertaining, and if you were there to be entertained while sprinkled with a little bit of history, then you would have been pleased. I was pleased, for the most part.

Getting to know the good people of Cohort 4.

Even though they were our seniors of 3 years, the gap was (most of the times) barely there, since they were a fun bunch of people and were very warm and friendly.

I gained a few close friends from this Cohort, and I am confident that our friendship will last even after we go our separate ways in work. That's because even though we only got to know each other for one semester, the friendships that were built were strong and won't sink anytime soon. Plus, we have Facebook to act as a medium for us to throw taunts and insults at each other.

Raya Feast 2010 at Paradise Sandy Beach Resort.

I wasn't in charge of this Raya dinner, but I had my hands full nonetheless, being the PA guy, an actor in a pantomime, as well as one of the (last minute) MCs, I barely had time to eat. Seriously. And I like eating (just in case you didn't already know).

School Experience at SK Sri Aman.

My first (official) gig being a teacher, and it lasted 2 weeks. The kids were awesome and very supportive. Some even developed crushes on me, and that was cute (no kidding). However, the kid that I got a crush on didn't care about me very much, and that broke my heart. :(

On a serious note, it really did open my eyes to the reality of the teaching scene in Malaysia (or at least at SK Sri Aman). Some of the teachers' treatment towards the children were unacceptable (to me), and the level of respect they had for the kids were minimal. It saddened me to no end watching these kids getting verbally abused and shouted at.

It made me wonder what sort of teacher I would end up being. I really didn't want to become like these teachers who don't consider the students' feelings when interacting with them, and that feeling still lingers. I hope it stays with me for the rest of my life. I wish to become the teacher who is, while firm, is also open to talking and listening to what the students have to say, what the students feel. I want respect to be mutual, and not just me demanding for theirs while I don't reciprocate and do the same to them.

I still have a long way to go, so we'll see where this road takes me.

I would also like to take this opportunity to mention my teacher-trainee partners who went to this school with me, Amala, Piravina and Chrisnarita. I am indeed grateful to have had you guys as partners. You guys helped a lot, and sorry for being late every morning for picking you up. Thanks again.

Project Indigenous to Cameron Highlands.

It was an awesome trip, being able to get a glimpse of the life of an Malaysian orang asli (aborigine) in Cameron Highlands. They treated us like royalty, but we tried our hardest to accommodate ourselves with their ways of doing things. We cooked and ate communally, we slept in their houses, we prayed at their surau, we interviewed their elders and played with their kids.

My favourite part about the trip to Kampung Kuala Boh the children there. They were by far the best bunch of kids I have ever met. All they wanted to do was play with us, ALL THE TIME. I fell for their "abang abang abang" calls for me far too easily and got tugged away from work way too often, and this was really heart-warming. I loved them, even though I no longer remember their names.

I also found out that they were really big fans of Wali Band's song "Cari Jodoh". They were all able to sing that song from start to finish, and they proved that over and over and over again throughout our stay. I have come to memorise that song as well, just because they sang it for us so many times.

Big ups to the Project Managers, Aminah and Najihah, as well as all the other committee members who played an integral part in making it all happen.

Camping at Pulau Pangkor with Cohort 3.

Now this was one of the first things I did in 2010. We got there on the 31st of December (I think) and spent new year's day there with Cohort 3. I went there one of the facilitators to Mr Sam and his team of lecturers for their Outdoor Education Programme. The other facilitators were Pak Din (Science Education), Naqib (Social Studies Education) and Akmal (Mathematics Education). The facilitators were from the same batch, i.e. first year degree students.

We had a whale of a time with the Cohort 3 folks. They were really a fun and awesome bunch of people. I could never forget the night when we stayed up and made crude jokes around a bonfire together. I also won't forget my first experience being a "safety" in repelling, being the honorary "parang holder" while jungle trekking and exchanges of "Happy New Year" with Esther, the spunky Cohort 3 girl. We still continued to greet each other as such even after we returned to the Institute, and I'm sure if we were destined to cross paths again, there would be no change in our greeting.

I had an awesome time, and Madam Malar treated us facilitators very good, taking us out for laksa and other foods. I still love her and the way she calls each of us "Abaaaang~".

I also got to bond with my fellow facilitators throughout the camp, for which I am very grateful. They were great to me, and friendships like that cannot be bought.

Assignments and presentations.

As we were in our degree years already, the learning shifted from sharpening our language skills (during the foundation course) to sharpening our teaching skills. No more were the days of merely learning language was on the agenda, since emphasis was put on being able to teach. Here, we were forced to switch modes from "carefree English student" to "professional English teacher", because if we weren't professional enough in our teaching, our grades would suffer, as mine did in one particular subject. :(

My favourite subjects of my first year are Children's Literature and Classroom Management, and it showed in my grades. Please don't misunderstand. I don't like these subjects merely because I could score in them. I genuinely loved them because:

-the lecturers that taught these subjects were awesome.

-both subjects were 100% assessed on assignments and presentations (no written exams).

-both showed how I could interact with students better.

-the lecturers were awesummmmm~

The subjects that weren't close to my heart, I won't mention. Why they were not close to my heart, please find the opposites of the above reasons I gave.

Ultimately, I am now faced with a humongous task of pulling up my pointers to where they should be, because right now, they are waaaaaaaay below par. And I can't stress the "way" enough here. Wish me luck. I'll need it.

Trip to Jerejak Island.

You may watch the video I made of this trip by clicking here. It was truly an awesome trip. Loads of fun. I recommend it to anybody looking for a change from going to Queesbay Mall. It's a healthy and much more fun alternative. And seriously, you haven't been to Penang until you try it, even if you're studying in Penang.

I took that opportunity to record my first video since it was an interesting enough programme, and I wanted to see if I had it in me to make a video. But I realised that when you make a video, you don't really get to be in the video much. Heck, in this Jerejak video, I'm not in it at all. So those glamour-chasers shouldn't take up video-making. (What Youtube channel? What IniAnwarHadi?)

First Time Donating Blood.
It was a good experience, but as you can find out by clicking here, it didn't go all too well for me. I'm definitely going to donate again in the near future. Just want to find that opportunity to present itself.

Selling Burnt Catfish at the Institute Ramadhan Bazaar.

Okay, they weren't burnt. From the feedback we got, they were pretty good. Not bad for first time catfish mongers. We sold 20 of the 20 fish we had to offer, and there were still demands for more. However, it was one-day-only event, and we had to close shop. Now that I think of it, we still haven't done anything with the money. Bagan! Mana duit tu?!

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Obviously, a lot more went on in 2010, but these are the only pictures I've got. I need to go and scavenge pictures of the other activities I did in 2010.

So with this 2010 comes to a close. What will 2011 have in store for us? We'll just have to wait and find out.

I pray you all the best, and take care.

Cheers!