华人，还是马来西亚人？

以往放学时，有都会从后门速闪，可是今天我从大门离开，踏出讲堂，离开这具有深重意义的最后一堂课前，特地向前握了教授的手，当下的情况也只能用一句“谢谢”来代替千言万语。


我们打从小学开始就被灌输种族和谐的理念，尽管生活在一个多远种族的国家，可从小到大都活在自己的生活圈子里，从来没离开过大马华社半步，上课跟华人同学一起上，人住在檳島，就连逛街或者在街上游荡，看见的多数都是华人，极少接触异族文化，自然国语也讲的不流利。


思维逐渐发展，开始对时事产生兴趣时，却开始被政治洗脑。刚成年的我们还没踏出社会却被网路上一些种族极端主义和政治人物的种族言论清洗，还搞不清楚整件事情到底是怎么一回事，却已经自己认为大马不宜再居住。

中六毕业后，爱探险的我决定自己离开大马，看看这世界，开阔一下视野。

去了柬埔寨以后才发觉，自己国家其实没那么糟；听了捷克的民主革命经验后，才意识到一个国家迈向独立之路不简单；看见英国如何保护非洲移民的人权地位，才知道种族和谐来之不易；去了法国看见他们黑皮肤白皮肤通通都自认是法国人，才知道对自己身份认同的重要性。


我，是华人，还是马来西亚人，后者，成为了我在国际平台的身份。


接着大学开课了，那应该是我人身中真真正正体验大马多元种族与文化的开始，族群比例按照大马实况 6：3：1，不论在课堂里，食堂里，考场里都跑不掉这个比例，再无可逃避的情况下只好操着一口Rojak语言，坚持混了过来。

链接回文章的第一段，最让我感动的是这位教授，Prof. Mohd Ammyrul Ashraf。


这学期我报考了大马建国使（Nationhood Studies），那，是每位大学生的必修科，这科目被政府设定为必修科的主要目的是为了提倡种族团结与爱国精神。老实说，透过课本里的内容与考试的作答范围根本难以达到政府的目的，可是这位教授却把民族和谐的精髓成功的传达给我们。


还记得上第一堂课时，他问的第一个问题是：你，是什么身份。


教授点了几位同学们一个一个轮流回答，马来人的回答’我是马来人’，华人也很理所当然的回答‘我是华人’，接着他说你们都答错了，我们是马来西亚人！全班一片肃静，唤起了我对身份认同课题的共鸣。


他时常都会在班上分享有意义的故事与亲身体验，也时常苦口婆心的告诉我们要记得和谐的可贵，更有一次非常心痛的告诉我们他教过的学生尽然忘了他的教导，在社交网站挑起敏感又脆弱的种族话题。


学期的最后一堂课，他忽然告诉我们，来！现在我们来个小考！全班一片哗啦，糟了，上一堂课不是才小考吗？怎么搞的，今天又来？！接着，他告诉我们不需要紧张，你们的小考是认真的看这部短片，然后回去认真思考短片内容，接着，他便播放了一部关于华，巫，印，三位好朋友的故事。放学前他说：2020宏远，是事在人为，省略了其他科技通讯发达的元素，回归到宏远本身最初的出处，就是希望大马人民能够像短片里那三位好朋友，结伴同行，迈向更好的未来！


这句话，深深的烙印在我的脑海里，也非常的耐人寻味。


反问自己吧，你，是什么人？马来西亚在你心中的地位是什么？

My First Car!

Finally! Finally! I've got my new car!

My parents have been planning to get me a new car this month. well, I was asked to choose any car but the budget limited to below RM55k. Well, you know, when the budget is only that amount, there's only a few options and those car within consideration will only be local made cars.

Anyways, i'm not complaining because, hey, having a car is better then non!

I picked Myvi at first, my reason is simple, it's a nice car and i need the horse power, because i'm traveling to and fro from my university. We proceed into the loan application and I've submitted all the necessary document because I want it fast as I'm schooling already.

Fortunately it took more then two weeks to process everything. Wait, did i just said fortunately? I want the car as soon as possible! well, it goes like this, I saw an article about Proton's Preve, a C-segment sedan, which i wanted badly. I didn't consider it at the beginning because it exceed my budget limit, but after doing some comparison, although it exceeds my budget, but the money value pays off. It's even better then Myvi in some expect!

first drive

I regretted choosing Myvi after reading the article, but wait, the car is not ready yet, can I still change my option? I called up my dad and discuss with him, he seems to see the advantage of getting a Preve instead of a Myvi and agreed to change. I immediately phoned the salesman with joy! The best part is, after all the discount, I'm given a net price of RM58.5k, which is just a few thousand more then the original budget! well, i believe it to be a good investment ;)

look how happy I am!

Immediately one week after the decision, I've got my first car in my life.

Thank you mum & dad! <3>

Life in Timisoara

Timisoara, the third largest city in Romania, and one of the wealthiest city. I guess that's the reason why I choose Timisoara. We all know that Romania is dangerous with gypsies and pickpockets, well, I would like to avoid all that!

let's begin with the routine life here. well, all of us have been assigned to work in an institution, but unfortunately not all the institution are functioning! I have friends who sleep til 2pm in the afternoon and have lunch after 3pm, sleeps around 4am after clubbing. that's their summer.

I've tried to construct my summer holiday to be better than that by waking before 12 pm,  have my lunch between 12 to 1pm, work and finally sleep around 12 am.

nothing much in this city because most of the attractions are under construction! that's a really sad thing as we couldn't see the best of Timisoara within our stay, hence,  Iulius mall became our first choice place to visit! 

                I introduce you, Iulius mall!

A mall with the biggest hypermarket in town, Auchan, with big brands like H&M and Zara, a big food court and a big cinema!

it has become the EPs first choice of visit as we all have to do our grocery, buy ingredients for dinner, entertained, and hide from the sun and rain.

well, some little thing that I've noticed during my stay in Romanian. They love coffee! There are coffee machines almost everywhere serving all kind of instant coffee with only one lei per cup! The Romanian simply love it. They have to take a cup of coffee from the machine whenever it's possible. besides that, most of the driver in Romania are gentle. They will stop for pedestrian to cross the road even there's no traffic light. its a good habit that they have. speaking of good habit, well, one of the habit that the Romanian have that I hate the most is, they love smoking! they smoke everywhere, even indoors and public area, they couldn't stop smoking, and smoking seems to be the national habit of Romania! I wonder have they ever learn about the harm of smoking.

With that, it basically sums up my life in Timisoara.

My dorm in Timisoara

I'm going to talk about the life here.

so i'm staying with another 4 people in my room and I'm sleeping on the upper bed of the double-decker. its a multiracial room as I have an Italian,  an Indian,  a Ukrainian, and a Turkish in my room. here are some photos of my room

well, it's not tidy and clean. I have been sleeping with cockroaches for weeks and as you can see, the room is messy, nothing of it belongs to me!

The worse part is the toilet! I'm going to talk about the bathroom  first. although guys and girl's bathroom are seperated,  but there's no doors to seperate every shower room! there are five shower rooms in the boys bathroom, and if you are using the first one, four of the other will walk by your shower room, and because there's no door, your naked body is exposed to them! god! I have been struggling for almost 3 minutes before I decided to use the bathroom for the first time. but we'll,  it all goes well, as most of the guys doesn't really bath! haha

 

and as for the toilet, well, guys and girls are sharing the same toilet. I've once seen a sanitary pad unwrapped in the rubbish bin with blood on it. OMG, and also, cockroaches! I couldn't believe I've made it for 6 freaking weeks!

The kitchen is nothing better either! those EPs never wash their dish and clean up the kitchen after using, and it's always dirty. because of the budget problem, the Asians decided to cook for dinner every weekdays, well, we became the main people responsible to clean up the kitchen.

well, I have so much to blame, but still, overall it's a different experience staying in such a dirty dorm. anyway, it's free of charge, I've seen worse accommodation that Aiesecers provided for EPs!

ReBranders

So let's put my travel stories aside, first, let me blog about my exchange experience.

I've signed up for exchange through AIESEC last year, and have already decided to go Europe. Found a good project to attend in April and Here I am, Timisoara, Romania.

ReBranders, the name of my project, and the name speaks itself. It is a career development internship, whereby we (exchange participant) have to help our assigned institution on re-branding and establishing new marketing strategic.

I was assigned to work with Muzeul Consumatorului Comunist, a start up museum of consumer item in the communist ere. The owner owns a pub in the same time, so we are allowed to work in his pub, with a flexible working time. I love the pub, it's decorated in an artistic way, but the down side is that there is no non-smoking area. The highlight of the pub is, it's decorated with things that can be found in the 70s, those are all antiques now!

There's also a theater in the pub, a black box theater, which is really small, but somehow it adds on the sense or feel of art in this pub! before i met the owner, i thought that I'm going to work for the theater, which I'll be more than happy to do so! Well, I'm working for the museum now, which is challenging for me, because it's a start up, what he need is all about designs and stuff.

That's all for now. Will be blogging about the lifestyle in Europe!

我，与我自己

一场生日会，把大家都给聚在一起了。
本来打算到场嘻哈两下，见大家一面，吃一顿饱饭便掉头回家读书，谁知道老友相聚，一座，就是几个小时。

我的主席常常会告诉我，要我站在家庭比较不富裕的角度看待世界，老实说，她那番话从来都不带任何影响力，只有我跟我的几个死党在一起时，我才知道自己应该反省。

跟他们在一起的日子，我懂得自立根生，我知道什么事情都得自己争取，我懂得我得对自己的生命负责人。

今天的一番话，怎么让我觉得，我在大学的态度似乎完全不对了？

The election

I have so many things in my mind I just couldn't stop thinking about it.

I was running for VP of iGIP recently. Passed the VoC with 81% votes and went through this interview like half an hour ago.
I was not performing well during the interview. I was thinking, what if I failed the interview? Am I going for the second round? Will I still be motivated to do all that? Seriously, I don't know. I don't want to stop my journey in AIESEC just like that, but I also dont want to do everything all over again. How frustrating it is to start from zero? I can as well give up and enjoy my holiday! I can go Europe this coming break for two months, I can plan another trip on October, I can enjoy my Himalaya trip on February next year and I can do so much more!
You see, when i go for something, I put a lot of effort to make sure I got it done, and I expect equal return from my investment. I was in the national hunger games, and I was the top performer for 4 continuous weeks. When I bring my troop out for competition, I make sure I get the champion back.
How demotivating it is to fail the election when you have basically neglected your study, putting so much effort and money and time into this hunger game, and basically forget what is the taste of break and holiday.

MyLDS 2014

OH finally I'm willing to blog about MyLDS after so long!

Why did I joined MyLDS? Well, the one and only reason is to widen my network. Yes, I've been missing a lot of AIESEC gathering and I barely know anyone outside iGIP(my AIESEC department). I took up this Global Villager position in the chief delegate team, which I'm really regretted before pre pre MyLDS. 

It took me a lot of time, doing preparations, meetings, this and that. And I'm actually frustrated with all these job especially during my finals. I couldn't believe why I commit into this in the first place!

I survived!

until pre pre MyLDS, I finally found my sense of belonging. Sad but true, after weeks of meetings and I only found my sense of belonging to the team? Time went by, from being uncomfortable with literary EVERYONE to being one of the team, making new friends and doing crazy things together.

Flashback!

Dear dear~ Its already the final half an hour before 2014 and I've just started to blog!

So what to blog about? Well, 2013 is really a good year to me, perhaps one of the most meaningful year in my life! Lets go through my timeline!

January: I've just came back from my Hong Kong trip with my family and STPM is over! I'm enjoying every moment of my life!

February: So I went to Sarawak, and this is my first phrase of my backpacking experience! being host by a local Chinese Sarawakien and met two friends from Sweden!

March: Went to Beijing with my mum in early March, first time traveling alone with my mum, and I'm the guide! It's freezing cold over there, too bad the snow was melting.
I went to Cambodia during mid March, alone! this is my second phrase of my backpacking trip, and also first time traveling abroad alone! backpack with two foreign friends, one from Canada and one from France. STPM result was released during my last day in Cambodia. I was so nervous! I received a few message congratulating me before I gain internet access to check my result. I got 4As! although not 4 solid As, but I was so happy! This is like a miracle! I cycle with a ranted bike with joy to Angkor Wat again(half an hour away from my hotel), just for the sake of my merryness! That moment is so special, my whole cycling journey is covered by my overwhelming joy, and I'll never forget!

Merry Christmas in UUM 2013

So this is the Youtube link to a video i made during Christmas Eve, a random act of kindness, the crazy thing I've been talking about in my previous post. Enjoy ~

Christmas Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!!
A blink of an eye huh? It's already the end of December!

So I'm experiencing a very different kind of Christmas this year, I'm having my finals!
Oh god!
Anyway, I'm driving to school recently, so I'm driving back to Penang to celebrate Christmas after my paper.
Can you believe it? I'm having Management exam on Christmas eve! 500 pages to cover! But I'm consider lucky compare to my friends, they are having two papers today!

So in order to create a holiday atmosphere among all those book reading zombie, I wore a Christmas hat into the examination hall! wahahaha! I'm so crazy man! but yeah! it's Christmas! like, who cares!

I managed to get over it, the examiners didn't ask me to take off my hat. One of the examiner even asked me my name and tease me that he taught I'm Santa Claus. haha

Santa Claus is coming to town yo!

Hey, while writing this post, an idea suddenly pop up from my mind, why not I give out candies outside the examination hall? A random act of kindness! What do you think about it? :)

My November

Well, here I am, on the last day of November. It's been three months since my first day in university.
It has been two hours since I depart from Penang, and I'm still on the road.
There is so much different between the last time I wrote something on the road and today.

So what's going on so far?

I've organized a ghost house event together with my collage friends and it's a successful event although we had some problems with the JKPS seniors. We have been through a lot together.

How did we come up with this? Well, it's actually an idea of three girls from my collage, and they asked us whether we would like to help. We all agreed to help and we had a meeting. I was well, kinda elected as the Vice President of this event.

Things get nasty when I went back Penang in a random weekend. I received a phone call and was told that I'm the director of the event.

So we had meetings, some arguments, some trouble from the JKPS and of course, some fun time together and finally we were there, the ending point of this journey.

Somehow I'm really tired, but I've managed to survived this, and I'm glad I did, and also happy to be a part of the team.

Here are some photos taken during the last few days of the event.

Was doing preparation, covering up the open space.

My zombie make-up time!

Tadaa! a mini scar in my face ;)

A Man of Freedom

So my one week holiday is going to end soon, and I have to go back to UUM.
I'm so reluctant and I don't feel like going back.

My best friend Hean Tee asked me why, well, that's a good question.

First, you have to know the life in UUM. Well, there's curfew in my university, lights off after twelve. Although the authorities seldom check on us, but you feel guilty if you are not in your room after twelve. Even though you are not afraid of that and think that the school is busy enough to leave us alone, where can you go without a car? There is no entertainment within 10 Kilometers radius after twelve around you, and the nearest cinema is 45 minutes drive away from your hostel!

Dear authorities, I'm a man of freedom, in the age of twenty, I've been to 16 countries over three continents.  TEN countries and TWENTY ONE cities over two continents on 2013 itself.  No one gets to stop me where I want to go and I'm able to go alone. Culture different is not a problem and I have no problem walking alone in a country where they don't even share a common language that I know. I've met pickpockets, robber, scammers, poor, wealthy, nice guy and all different kinds of people and situations, and I manage to survive them all without a problem.

I couldn't say that I'm the best and I'm always right because I'm not perfect, but I believe that I've seen more then the others in the age of twenty and that's not the way to treat a mature guy by locking a freeman in a cage.

This is not how a university life should be, this is not how I imagine my life would become.

游子归家

虽然我在大学里生活了一个月半，回槟城却多达四次，这非一般的数目，相信在大学里没几个人比得上。
即使如此，今天在回家之前，我还得为亲爱的槟城写上一篇。

咱们这21世纪的Y世代，踏上升学这段漫长的路不算稀奇，留学他乡的有的远至英美国家，一年都不知能回乡几次，农历新年也只能与异乡同胞吃上一顿，Skype回家说上几句。
而我的情况比他们好多了，大学就离家乡区区两小时车程，每一个星期都会有两三趟巴士从校园出发，回家路程就象进电影院看上一部戏。不过每次说到回家，我心里总是会有一份莫名的兴奋感；回家，让人联想到那张温软的床，那干净舒适的私人厕所，餐桌上那热腾腾的家乡饭。回家，你能不兴奋吗?

当大家陆陆续续离开大学，当大家忙着整理行李，当课室走廊外空无一人，你知道你离你的家不远了；上课时想着回家要做的事情，谈话时想着在家乡的老友们，收拾时想着回家要带来的东西，上车时想着踏入自己家里的感觉。

那两个小时的车程，游子们不断地查看定位系统，不断地寻找路牌，不断地告诉自己，我离家很近了！

我亲爱的槟城！那漂亮的海峡，那繁华的岛屿，在标志性的渡轮里，看见了迎面而来的大厦，黄昏时分，夕阳下的槟城更显得特别壮丽，这时，脑里狂欢着，心里尖叫着，我告诉自己，我到家了！

槟城，我爱你！

7.9 a Life as a Student

Well, my IT lecturer wanted us to upload a lyric of a favourite song and I have to make this post relevent to what I want to blog for myself, anyhow, It's cool that I attended an underground music society few days ago and I'm going to blog about it now.

7.9 (in Mandarin) is an underground society in UUM. It's where a group of Chinese students gather during the evening to play music and sing songs together. I was introduced to this group by my senior and I'm really interested.

Attended the first gathering and I love the feeling of it. some of the seniors played guitar and electric piano and the rest of us singing the song played together. It's really relaxing and maybe because of the song and lyric, I feel the sense of belonging and this is how a university student's life should be like.

My University Life in UUM

So I'm finally back!

This is my third week in university, I wanted to update my blog badly but well, there's always an activity going on!

 

How was my orientation week?

I'm glad to say that I survived! Two hours of sleep everyday and our orientation last for one week! UGH! UUM is not the only university having this kind of crazy orientation week, well, although we (the UTBs) are all apart, but we managed to stay in contact using wechat. For what I know from the others, all of them are having the same crazy orientation week like I do. WHY Malaysian university have this kind of tradition? It's so torturing! All those talks and workshops! I was named the fishing king by my new friends because I was always sleeping during the talks. And one more thing, the toilet is really dirty during the orientation week, I think the janitors are still in their holiday, cockroaches and toads everywhere in the toilet and corridor! GOD! Imaging you are having a bath together with a toad in the middle of the night!

 

My DPP.



My bed room in DPP TM

So we call our hostel DPP and I stay in DPP TM (I think TM sponsored or funded this hostel). I was given 3 hours to clean up my room when I first arrived in UUM. My roommate, Hong Wai was there first, so he get to choose which side of the room he want so sleep in. Good for him, I got the side which the outsider can look into my bed and study desk whenever the door is opened. It's really dusty and I have to clean my side of the room, but luckily the furniture are all new and my bed sheet matches the colour of the furniture very well.