NS. (Chapter 1) - Humble Beginnings

Hey guys, i'll start blogging for here for the NS post, because I can't cope with xanga as xanga is too slow.

Day 1

Got up quite late actually, but that was because the night before it was Ian's surprise farewell gathering. Woke up with the most aching body! I think it was because of the drinking on that night itself. Felt like really shit anyway. So anyway, got up, double checked everything to make sure that I've brought everything and left with my parents.

Our place was supposed to meet up at MPPJ Stadium (Kelana Jaya Stadium) at 10am. So of course that means that the bus leaves later then that la lol. When we reached the place, I realised how idiotic I looked. I was wearing 3 quarter pants, an orange shirt and SHOES? Like omg what am I doing here I'm giving the wrong first impression. But anyway, I meet some of the people from Sri KDU that were going like Joey and Richard Teo. They went to Raub, Pahang. Even meet Kenneth who was also going to the same place. Anyway, while waiting around, I saw someone. Someone who I thought was going somewhere else, but I was thinking, "Why is he walking to my direction?"

Omg, Ben's going to the same place with me!

I really didn't know that at all, and neither did he. Quite a suprising encounter for the both of us.

So we said hi and chatted for a while while Bens dad chatted with my parents. The first person who I didn't know that I met was Zhi Young, and that was only because my mum and his mum were friends. So whatever la, the 3 of us were small talking when the driver said. "Semua orang naik ke bas sekarang" So I said my goodbyes to my parents and went.

On the bus, I was thinking, "Where do I go? What should I do? Why is the back of the bus so noisy?" Bloody hell, the back of the bus was DAMN noisy, and of course later I found out that they were actually from DJ and DU combined.

Slept halfway through the bus ride. Woke up when there was this particular bump on the road. "Where are we?"

The bus turns a road.

"Is this our camp? Where's the jungle?"

Amazingly, my camp is not situated in the middle of the jungle. In fact, it was just off the main road! And it looked big too the first time the bus entered the camp.


The bus dropped us off and we had to walk abit to reach the dewan makan. There were the staff to help us sign up and everything to get settled down. I believe that we were one of the last groups to arrive on that day. Of course, the Johor people came a day later.

Well, after signing up I didn't really do anything much. Just walked around the place with Ben talking about how life brought us here. Haha weird innit?
Classrooms
Anyway, when everything was settled, we were all supposed to gather ourselves at the marching field or the padang kawad. The KJ (Ketua Jurulatih) asked everyone to line up according to location. Finally, he gave a speech, like welcoming us to the camp and hope you'll enjoy your stay and all that. Ok.


The padang kawad

The teachers then asked us to line up according to location and race. So all the chinese who came from MPPJ lined up on one side and then the teacher started to divide us into four corners. We all knew that we were going to be divided into companies. But I didnt know which company was it when the teacher took my shoulders and asked me to walk behind and to the left.

Little did I know that I was to be placed in Alpha Company.

You see, there are 4 companies in every camp. Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta. It is like the sports houses back in school actually. So these companies compete with each other under countless games and activities and in the end, the total marks are tallied and the winning company is found.

The first person who I meet from Alpha Company was the guy sitting beside me, Kah Wai. That's because we shared the same birthday! While all of us were writing down our name, I.C. and so on to register in the company, he looked at my I.C. and said, "We share the same birthday." I quickly replied, "Yeah I kinda noticed that too *laughs* So, where you're from?"

-Selangor. You?
-Hey, Selangor too. Which part? PJ?
-Yea! Damansara.
-Eh, that's cool! I'm from the same area too! Which school you go to? BU4?
-No, DJ.

And so on and so on. Haha, It was cool to meet someone who lives so near to you area.

Fast forwarding the day (Lunch and resting, its 3pm now) I met the people who were the same dorm with me. I choose to be in dorm 2, the back dormof Alpha Company. Met people there. Joel, Wilson, Daniel. Found out too that Daniel was from DJ.

The scene from Dorm 2

Then...
They started speaking in Mandarin.
Fuck.

Memories of class floating by.
Memories of times where I wasn't invited due to language barriers.
Memories of people I couldn't talk too.

"Kevin, Kevin!"

Dream ended.

"What?"
Wilson - "Ni jsdhfi isodf ma? ni hsdif kjsdh foajqn fgks."
"Wo bu hui ting hua yu"

Everyone was shocked.

"So you're a banana? No way right, do you know dialeks?"
"No."

*silence*

In the span of a week, I realised the importance of learning chinese. I WAS the minority.

I think they were shocked at first. Later, I found out that some of them, especially the girls, have never meet a pure banana before.

So, we technically did nothing, nothing at all from 2pm till around 10pm. OMG, it was so freaking boring. I decided to hang out at Ben's dorm btw. He ended up in Charlie Company. He's so damn lucky I tell you. He meet friends who would rather use English then Mandarin LOL. Again with his luck. Anyway, meet Chester and Raaj who were from KL. Just chatted abit during that period of time. The pace of life here was shifted from 4th gear, which I felt I was going, to 1st gear.

The time ticks.
But not fast enough.

At 10pm, there was this roll call thing. It is held everyday so that the teachers can tell you what to expect tomorrow morning, and also it's the perfect time to meet girls xD

Over there, they told us stuff and overall, there won't be anything interesting for the next 2-3 days. HOW ARE WE GOING TO LIVE LIKE THIS? Also, I meet more people from Alpha company, like Chris and Roshan. I'll remember Roshan's first sentence to me.

"What kinda fucking shoes are those?"
"It's leather damnit."

Nothing like having an opening sentence like that.

As I lay on my bed at night and as the people were talking in mandarin (Haven't realised that I couldn't join in the conversation, haha) I wondered what's in store for me. What's going to happen during my stay here. Would everyday be like this? Should I have deffered? Why are there so many mosquitoes here? How long can I last without pork?

What the heck.

Fell asleep :D
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I will post pictures soon, when I find out how the bloody hell to do that.