At the moment of doing this, I'm sitting at my desk in this stuffy staff room and I've just finished my lesson with the students in class form 2B. That was the only class for me today. Only 2 periods. 

I won't be describing my teaching and learning process in this entry as I wanted to share with you my experience prior the commencement of my teaching practice. Here it goes.

Fact #1

On Sunday afternoon, the owner of the rented car (I am renting a car for 3 month as I do not have my own car here) handed over the car key to me. It was a humble Kancil. A tiny and old car. I was glad to have the car because I was able to move into the rented house. Another thing that bothered me was the fact that there were another 3 persons that were going to move their things into the house. Obviously, the tiny car couldn't fit all the things but fortunately Nad, at that time happened to be renting another car - a sedan - because she was driving her parents over to the airport. So, after that she drove back to campus and helped us shifting the things to the house in Banting.

Fact #2

We were on our way to Banting when suddenly I realized the speedometer on the dashboard indicated I was driving at 60 km/h even though I was pretty much sure I was driving faster than that. The feeling of curiosity suddenly came. I knew something was amiss. Then moments later the car jerked and the temperature meter indicated that the car was overheating. I had to stop at the roadside, turned off the ignition, switched on the hazard light and opened the car's bonnet. Clouds of grey-ish smoke billowed from the engine. Felt bad for not checking the water level prior to the journey to Banting. We waited for the engine to cool down a bit and we opened the cap on top of the radiator and filled it up with water. Then, we continued our journey. The car didn't overheat but somehow the temperature meter was still indicating that the engine's temperature was slightly higher than usual. 

Fact #3

We went back again to UKM to get the remaining items (yes. two cars were not enough to move all the things in just one trip). I also went to fetch my other two friends as they wanted to go to the airport to catch the flight back to KK. Since, it was already dark and everybody was hungry, we stopped by at McD for dinner. To our horror, the sound of boiling water was heard coming from the engine as soon as we turned off the ignition. Crap! Why would that happened at that particular moment when I was extremely busy and I was few hours away from reporting for duty at the school. I didn't want to take a risk for driving the car for a long distance. Therefore, I decided to leave the car at Hentian Kajang and extended the rent for the other car; the one rented by Nad. So, we used that car to drive my friends to the airport and went back to Banting.

Fact #4

I was not sure what was happening to me on that day. Perhaps, it was my unlucky day. My sandal was spoiled. The strap spoiled!

Fact #5

Both Nad and I reached home at around 2 in the morning and we were damn exhausted. I was not able to recall the time but most probably I went to bed (err...mattress on the floor to be exact) at around 3 a.m. and woke up at 6 a.m. I only slept for about 3 hours and got myself ready to report for duty at school.

Fact #6

When I was reporting myself for duty on Monday morning, the principal told me that I was assigned to teach in the afternoon session. So, the first day of practicum I spent the whole day at school from 7.30 a.m till 6.30 p.m!

Exam was already over days before and I'm still here in campus preparing myself for the coming 'big-thing' - practicum. My practicum will officially start to commence on this coming Monday (3rd May 2010) and I'm having a mix of feelings about going to the school. A little bit nervous and excited at the same time. Nervous because it's going to be my first time to teach the students and this time around a supervisor and a mentor will be with me throughout the 3 months period serving as guidance for me. Excited because this is the time for me to immerse in a real environment - school environment - in which I will do all the things that a teacher usually does; from preparing lesson plans till attending teachers meetings and not to forget the core business - teaching. I just hope everything will run smoothly without much hindrance from the day I report myself for duty till the end of the practicum.

This is just a rambling by yours truly on Saturday morning...

Exam is still on and I just sat 2 out of 6 papers for my final exam this semester. This time around, while other fellow students in the campus are currently preoccupied with the final exam, I together with the rest of the cohort are having two important things in our mind; exam and practicum!

Speaking about practicum, I will be doing my practicum (teaching practice) at SMK Jugra, a school in Banting area and I will start on the 3rd May. At this particular moment, there's nothing to be worried about the school. It's just a matter of waiting for the day for me to go to the school. 

Initially, I had a difficult time to find a house to be rented at a reasonable rate. FYI, the school is about 50 minutes to 1 hour drive from UKM and come to think about it, I don't think I can drive to and fro everyday with such distance. Lucky enough, Nad and Leen managed to find a house and they invited me to stay with them. It's a double-storey house and not furnished. I repeat. Not furnished. Empty. Zero. Kosong. Anyhow, I don't give much damn to it. No worries,  we'll get it sorted sooner or later. Most importantly, my friends and I have a place to stay and the journey to my school takes only 10-15 minutes drive. Woohooo!! 

So, last Friday we went to visit the house. The initial plan was to meet the landlord and to discuss about the payment. After looking at the exterior and interior of the house we all decided to clean the house. I mean serious cleaning was to be made! 

The living room...

This supposedly a dining room...

The kitchen...

We spent the whole afternoon to clean the house. Tiring but worth it. Oh yes. Thanks to our helper, Ken, for willing to help us with all the cleaning...

Despite the fact that the final exam is just few days shy from now, we managed to spare some time for a simple yet 'fantabulous' party. I had to admit that I wasn't able to pay full attention to my revision few hours prior the party! 

At around 7.30 pm, I (together with Ken and Fred) left UKM. Reached Hentian Kajang in less than half an hour. However, we got stranded in front of 7 Eleven for a while because suddenly there was a heavy downpour. Moments later, the rain stopped and we walked to Lester's house which is just few steps away from the bus terminal (Hentian Kajang).

That night, everybody had much fun. Laughter here and there. Eating and drinking. Oh by the way, we had steamboat that night...wonderful!

The man behind the partay was Lester. Thanks Lester for inviting us!

While waiting for makan time...

I had a wonderful time last night. Thanks Lester for inviting us. The food was damn good. Drinks? Excellent!! Looking forward for upcoming partay!!

Hello peeps! Apology...apology. I was caught up with so many things lately and I decided to put everything in this post. 

So, what was I up to during the month of March? 

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UKM had a regular maintenance for its power supply and for that purpose, the whole campus had a temporary power disruption - from morning till evening. 

It was on Sunday and since there was no electricity in the campus for the whole day, we decided to go for an outing at Putrajaya after the Sunday service at HFC, Kajang.

 

The month of March also filled with so many dinner functions. My residential college also had one at DECTAR and the theme was "Retro Musical" - if I'm not mistaken. I was initially less interested to attend the function but thinking about the sum of money that had been 'automatically' deducted from the account for the function, I was like "Heck, I paid for that whether I like or not".

Do I look retro enough? :)

Later that night, we went to celebrate Connie's so-called sweet 16 (blueekk) XD and that night was definitely a night to remember. Hahaha...

Another dinner that I attended was the CSSUKM annual dinner. It was held in Country Height Resort, Kajang. A wonderful place indeed...

Picture credit: Gnet

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That's all for now peeps. Btw, today is April 2. So, I hereby would like to wish all of you a blessed Good Friday...Have a Blessed Easter too!