Kursus Kenegaraan At Malacca

Well, it has been a while since I updated my blog. Just came back from my Kursus Kenegaraan in Ayer Keroh, Malacca. It was held when we are still celebrating Chinese New Year. Kinda doing-thing-at-a-wrong-time I guess. I thought the place will be kinda like chalet type. But when we arrived there, the place wasn't as good as we'd expected earlier. The first day was nothing much, just did some registration and stuff like that. We stayed in dorms and luckily for us, it's air-conditioned.

Then the next day was the most enduring day out of our 5 days there. We had 4 session of talks and each session lasted for 2 long hours. Imagine sitting there hearing to the speakers talking for that long. Fuhh!! So, it's not surprising seeing some of then got into their dreamland with their sweet dreams. But not all 4 sessions were that boring actually, especially the speaker of the 3rd session. Those who went there will know it, I'm sure. I guess that time all 131 of us didn't even have a nap coz the topic was interesting. I won't be mentioning what was the topic but the way the talk was really energetic. Until one of us stood up and say this. "Tuan, apa yang tuan sedang cakap memang cukup menarik. Saya tahu tuan betul-betul bersemangat untuk meneruskannya, tetapi boleh tak tuan perlahankan suara?" (Sir, what you are talking is really interesting. I know you are really in the mood to continue it, but can you please lower your voice?) I guess that's enough to describe the atmosphere in the tiny hall.

The next 2 days, we we divided into 9 groups comprising around 14 people in each group. We did group activities like discussing a particular issue which touches about patriotism and stuff like that. Anyway, during that time, I managed to learn some simple Russian language. Yes, you didn't hear it wrong, Russian. I learned them from some of my group 6 members (Sharmin, Afiq and a few others) who will be furthering their studies in Moscow. Spasiba (Thank you). And another interesting word was Ya liubliu tibia (Aishiteru). Well, I'm not going to continue with this translation thing coz later it'll look as if this entry is a Russian-English dictionary!

If there's anything I won't forget from the camp, it must be my friend's experience of being spied by 'someone' when he was showering. Okay, I won't reveal who's that (so HW, you don't worry, you are safe ;P) But I guess there's a number of people heard about this. Anyway, if you guys wanna know who that spy is, well... it's actually a CAT! Yup, that's right! A greyish-stripped cat. It seemed that that 'hamsap' cat put his/her (I'm not sure of the sex of that cat...hehe) head below the shower's door and spied my poor little friend. Kasihan him! During the last day, there wasn't anything much. There were just the closing ceremony and certificate presentation. Then we headed back to KL to 'continue' our CNY holiday. Next stop: KLIA

PPKTJ'S Graduation Day '07

February 16, 2007. Finally, after almost 2 years studying at Preparatory Centre for Technical Studies to Japan (PPKTJ), it comes to an end with our Graduation Day. This year, it was done kinda different from the previous years. It was held at the main hall of our campus. And our kohai (juniors) were there as well. Just like usual, it started with the arrival of the parents and students, followed with the sensei (lecturers). Of course all of us were busy snapping pictures among each others.

When the VIPs and guests arrived, it started with speeches. And next was the presentation of certificates to all the students. It continues with speeches (yes, again!). But most of the speeches weren’t that boring like what we go through usually. Wonder why? Well, the speeches by Mr. Koji Takahashi, representative from the Japan Embassy and by the representatives by the 1st and 2nd year student were presented in Japanese. So when they were joking in their speeches, all of the lecturers and students who understand Japanese laughed. However, for the parents, this was not the case. Although there were translations in the programme booklet handed out, I’m very sure they didn’t have any idea at all about what was being said. Having no other choice, they just follow us laughing (without knowing the reason!). Kawaisou ne!! =)

And presentation of awards to students who obtained excellent results throughout our 2 years at PPKTJ followed. I was one of them, along with Wan Ying, Yew Keong, Chang Zhi and Shuk Yee. And those with full attendance were awarded too. But if you guys out there knew about the criteria to qualify for the full attendance award, it might be surprising or should I say shocking. 1 minute late for the lecture in 2 years and you can kiss goodbye to it. That’s the Japanese way, be very very punctual up to the seconds in whatever they do. But believe it or not, there are still those who ‘managed’ to avoid being late for the past 2 years. In fact, there were 6 of them in total.

After all the presentations of certificates and plague, the ceremony ended with UTM’s song and Negaraku. Actually, I don’t think it’s appropriate to say we being unpatriotic, but it has been some time since we last sang the national anthem. So as expected, everyone was in full spirit while singing it. Then, the guests and parents got the chance to have a look at an exhibition. Well, it was on the culture and way of life of the Japanese and also a section about our life at PPKTJ. And during this time, the photo session among us continued. And as noon was approaching, one by one bid farewell to the lecturers, staff and friends. But actually, it will just be a short one as we’ll be attending the Bina Tatanegara camp at Malacca in 4 days time. And between this short period, we'll also be celebrating Chinese New Year. So that’s roughly about our Graduation Day. In a whole, we did enjoyed ourselves throughout the day : )

Chinese New Year 2007

Well, lucky me coz this year I still able to celebrate the Chinese New Year in my hometown. For the next few years, I will be most probably be celebrating Chinese New Year just among my friends in Japan. So, I must enjoy as much as I can this time. For the reunion dinner, my family and I had steamboat. So it's kinda different from the usual reunion dinner that we have been having for the past few years. By the way, it was my idea to have steamboat actually =)

And the next day, after getting ang pows from my parents (don't know still how many years I'm 'qualified' to receive it!), we went to my grandma's house. My aunty from Singapore came back to join us this year as well. Many might be wondering who that 'ang moh' (those of you out there who don't know what it means, it means westerners in hokkien) little boy is. Well, that's Kilian, my cousin. As my uncle is a German, I guess that should tell why that cute little boy looks like 'ang moh'. And as usual during this festive season, fireworks (more commonly known as bunga api) will cross our mind. But I didn't really play the 'big-big' wan la. In fact, I just accompanied my cousins playing bunga api. And talking about ang pows, this year my so-called 'collections' is a little bit more than last year ^.^ Maybe coz my aunties and uncles know I'll be leaving very soon. But that's just my 'hypothesis'!

That's all for this year's celebration. Looking forward to celebrating Chinese New Year in oversea next year though. Wonder how will it be. But I'm sure I'll still be missing my family, relatives and friends here in Malaysia. And by the way, to all of you out there, have a wonderful and prosperous year ahead! GONG XI FA CAI!

The First Post

There is always a first time in anything we do. When we are still a baby, the first word we say, the first step we took. And this continues up till when we got our first crush, first kiss, and the list goes on. But don't you feel this post sounds to be too formal? Actually I didn't intend to be like that in the 1st place (notice the sentence pattern have changed already!) Well, this is the first post. And I posted this on the first day of CNY. How coincident is that? :) More to come soon from my short-time-left in Malaysia up till my new life in Japan, which will be very soon. I'll try to update this site as often as I can though. And it would be nice to hear get some comments from u guys :)

~calvin~

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About Me

My name is Calvin Ong.

I was born on April 7, 1987. That's make me 20 this year. So, if you happen to read this and my birthday is around the corner (which will be in April 2008), you don't have to send any presents to me. A wish or a short and sweet message will make my day much nicer.

I'm from Taiping, a small town located in the northern part of Perak, about 3 hours drive from Kuala Lumpur. I received my early education at SK Saint George (Satu) and later spend my secondary years at SMK Saint George.

I later continued my studies at Pusat Kajian Teknikal ke Jepun (PPKTJ) in University Teknologi Malaysia, KL City Campus for 2 years. I'm currently taking Mechanical Engineering at Nagaoka National College of Technology (NNCT) in Japan.

I started blogging early this year (February 2007) as a mean to keep in touch with my family and friends as well as the happenings in Malaysia, besides serving as a platform for personal expressions in life.

I am 90% what is written here. And here is what my readers think of me. You can help me describe who am I here. Go figure.

Last updated: June 8, 2007