Reunion With Cikgu Ong

It all started when Cikgu Ong found our blog.

Next thing we knew, he was on Facebook as well!  That's how we found out that he's now staying in Alor Gajah, his hometown.

A few weeks ago, I mooted the idea of visiting him to Stephen Chung and Heroes.  They were a bit aphrehensive at first, but I convinced them the journey will not take too long, and that we can do it sometime during the Deepavali weekend.

I sms'ed Cikgu Ong of our intentions.  Not only was he most welcoming, he took the trouble to work out a map for us to follow.

At the last minute, Chuan Ming decided to join us as well by driving over from Bahau via Tampin, so I mms'ed him the map.

And so on Deepavali morning, we took a quick breakfast at Puchong and set off for the Simpang Ampat toll on the NSE.  Getting there from Puchong took us only 50 minutes, and along the way we had an impromptu karaoke session in the car of old Mandarin songs, just to put us in the mood, hehe :)

From Simpang Ampat, it was a matter of following the map given, and after about 15 minutes we made a left turn to Machap Baru.  At that time we found out that Chuan Ming was just right behind us.  After another 5 minutes or so, we reached Machap Umboo.  A left turn after the Pondok Polis, 50 more metres down the road and we were greeted by a smiling Cikgu Ong.

He hasn't aged at all!

He remembered all our names except for Stephen Chung, but he managed to recall it after a few minutes.  :)

For some of us, it's been 20 years since we last saw him.  He was actually still in SHS until 1998, when he got a scholarship to do his Masters at USM.  After graduation, he taught at Raja Uda Penang until early this year, when he came back to Melaka.

After some time catching up, we noticed some old SHS annual magazines sitting on one of the shelves.  So out they came, together with photos that Cikgu Ong took at SHS.  The photos were mostly taken in the classrooms and some school functions. It was amazing he still remembers the names of almost all the students that he taught in those days.

We adjourned for lunch at a nearby restaurant.  Being the gentleman that he is, he refused to let me pay for lunch :P

As we made our way back later, we thought about the reunion we just had with a teacher who had  touched our lives in many different ways.  How he had encouraged us and planted the seeds for us to become who we are today.  We are forever thankful for his presence in our lives.

Last but not least, we have an open invitation to visit him again during the next rambutan season!  But if anyone wants to pay him a visit before that, we can organize another trip again soon :)

Photos courtesy of Cikgu Ong and his new Nikon D60 :)

The Formation of SHS' Girls' Club

My post has been long overdue, apologies! But I have good reasons – I needed to interview someone to get my facts right before putting on the post. So here goes….

A couple of months ago as I was chatting with my sister on the phone, we came across the topic of how the Girls’ Club got formed in SHS. Of course, by the time we girls (meaning the girls in our year) went into SHS for our Form 6, the Girls’ Club was an entity that had been fully accepted by the boys. Not only accepted, but welcomed. Am I right, guys?

To find out how the Girls’ Club came into formation in a boys’ school, I “interviewed” the founder of the club, Ms Ho Mei Ling, and also my own sister, Audrey, who was one of the committee members.

The Girls’ Club was formed in 1982. According to Audrey, that was the very first year that SHS accepted girls into their science stream in Form 6. Not only was it the first year that the science-streamed Form 6 boys had to adjust to having girls in their class, but they also had to adjust to the number of girls that came in – about 30 of them, almost a class on its own. Prior to that, SES girls who were science-streamed went to Methodist for their Form 6.

According to Mei Ling, one of the reasons that the girls decided to form the club was because they felt a need to “fight for the girls’ rights” in a much male dominated school. For some reasons, the boys treated the girls with “an aloof attitude” – particularly the girls in science stream. The boys’ egos were probably slightly bruised by the fact that their female counterparts were as smart as them, at least that was what my sister claimed. Remember, in those days SHS students had brilliant academic results, what more to say of those who are science students.

I asked Audrey what reasons the girls in her year had to feel that they were being treated differently, and she had quite a few to tell! Firstly, they were called to the school hall by dearest Abai to start off the school term with a bang – he warned the sixth formers that they had better not have any ideas of hanky-panky with the boys, and vice-versa. When you’ve been in an all-girls school for 11 years, it’s not a totally pleasant experience on your first day in an all-boys school.

Then, there was the lab incident. My sister happened to be one of the last person to leave the lab one day, and as the boys from another class waited to use the lab, they threw taunts at her something along this line “hai ya, leave lah, why are you occupying our lab”. This of course mainly came from the junior boys who were more mischievous.

The girls in that year created a new abbreviation for the letters M-C-P : male chauvinist pigs. Hey, don’t get offended ya, that was 1982. I would have used that term too if I had experienced what they did – a maths teacher said this to the girls “Why do you need to learn maths, you don’t need it for cooking”. Hah hah hah! No wonder the girls were chastised!

So much for that. Mine was a wonderful 2 years in SHS, though! Pat, you’re tagged.

Reunion 2009 at the Peak

A magnificent view isn't it ?

A view from Kundasang, KK, Sabah. This photo was downloaded from Wikipedia. I do have this similar photo with my family which was taken during our last trip in 2005. It is now placed at my office side table since then.

A view from the peak....this one I do not have, the two figures in the photo are ammo (I guess) but definitely love to be in the photo.

I have to admit that this is a teenage dream ! To conquer Mount KK, inspiring from Mr. Chong (our form 5/6 lab assistant) who used to lead few expeditions of teachers and students but I am not one of them. We have talking for many years....at least 20 years...though the last round of talking was a Heroes' company trip that was never materialised (though he was eager and nearly bought a RM300 climbing shoes).

This challenge of conquering "pop out"again in the last one month and ada "ura-ura" to make this trip happen very very soon. Background works have started.....

What do you think...any of you interested...flying our flag up high at the highest peak in South East Asia (so...the Dragonteas visit may have to take a backseat due to financial and melamine issues...)

Friendly Match

On 2/10/2008, 3p.m sharp, we have finally had our long awaited squash friendly match which was held at SHS Squash Court between ex-SHS form players from Kuching against Sibu squash loyalists (we have been planning it since August 2008). We also have a suprised player from Klang, who is none other than Lieng Tee, who happen to have his short break in Sibu during this Raya season. Why surprise ? We actually did not count him in this match as it was purely arrangement between Kuching and Sibu as we do not expect due to distance and costs. Hmm...what a good arrangement it turn out to be as we have him in our team (Kuching) as if not, it is 3 against 4 players.

Who are the players ? From Kuching, we have Ah Too, Mr. Tee and myself and in Sibu team, they are Dr. Lau, Ah Chiew, Ngieng Kee (Lieng Tee's brother) and Lawyer John Tiong (our senior..the one in singlet below).

Ah Too was playing against John in court 1 whilst Lieng Tee was playing against Dr. Lau.

All of us enjoyed the games as we played at least 3 games with each other. With the solid sounds generating from the squashing acts, it is no surprise as Kwong Siong a.k.a Ah Poh also turned up to meet us in the squash court together with his youngest son to find out why the sound was so unusual as compared to usual days (Ah Poh's house was just quarter stone away from the court) :).

The returning leg in Kuching will be more exciting...as vengeance is already building up though no dates were selected but we are determined to have it before the year passes on....

You must be curious....why no result was announced ?

Remember vengeance ? Yeap...Kuching team "kalah really teruk" and I may have purposely did not keep any scores...:) For consolation...just blame it on sea...lag, road..lag or just heavy balls....hehehe..

Bottomline..I enjoy myself very well (what a good time) especially revisiting the part of my yesteryears...oh..yeaaaah,,