Sunday, May 21, 2006
Celebration - Kool and the Gang
Plans have been made - some before and some immediately after we sat for the exams - for get-togethers and parties. After all, it marks the end of the "taught" portion of our Masters and 60% of our overall marks! Some will be leaving to go back to their respective homes to do their dissertations. Others will leave to do their internships.
Inevitably, i was thinking back of how i used to celebrate the end of exams. Being Malaysian, our celebrations will typically have to do with a good meal!
I guess the most unforgetable time was the end of our SPM exams (O-Levels equivalent). That was the one which was rescheduled many times, with timetables changing all the time and us getting informed of it at very short notices. This was due to the bad flooding in the East Coasts of Malaysia. On top of that, there was a leak to our Additional Mathematics paper. In the end, we were given the "back-up" paper - which was extremely difficult.
After the end of that paper, we were just too exhausted and too down to celebrate (it was also our final paper for the exams). As Geof, one of me mates said, "Everyone I met after the exams was saying a swear word"!!!
We were still loitering around the school compound, letting the realisation that the exams have ended - finally - when one of our church deacons came to look for us! After some small talk, he said, "Let's go to Kajang for Sate"!
Huh? We were still in a daze and din know wat to make of that! But we were also young men who suddenly realised that we were hungry. Very hungry!
We were whisked into 2 cars and driven to Kajang (those days, the new highways were not up yet). Soon, plates piled high with skewered grilled meat were placed before us and we clean off everything like good little children! :-)
Smiles came back onto our faces and we were in pretty good spirits - and extremely stuffed at the end of the evening!
Then came the moment! We should have (and would have seen it under normal circumstances) seen it coming. There was a catch! The deacon casually informed us that in view of our long holidays ahead of us, he would like to have a series of Bible Studies and training with us on a weekly basis.
There we were, having tasted the generousity of our deacon and eaten to our hearts' content, in the middle of nowhere (those days, Kajang still quite ulu, ok!), minds totally exhausted to think of any good excuse to say no, feeling like real suckers...
To be fair, we had a brilliant time together, studying God's words and learning skills to equip ourselves to serve in Church. Most if not all of us can look back and say that those sessions played an important part in us all ending up serving actively in Church.
When we got to college and University, our celebrations would include having a drink at the pub or disco, and perhaps even karaoke (the most oversung song for after exams is "Just Once" with its first line going "I did my best, but I guess my best wasn't good enough..."!!!).
So how did i celebrate my final exams ever? Well, the rest headed towards the Top Bar for a drink - but me, being typically anti-social declined to join them. But we did hang around for a long time in the exam hall, and later outside at Square 4, just chatting and sharing about our summer plans.
I then got back - to be honest, i rather be wif me flatmates! Ghisseh was asking me how was i gonna celebrate. I put on the kettle made meself a cup of Tesco value coffee!!!! :-)
Please bear in mind that due to my sickness, i had not have any coffee for almost 10 days!!!!!! And i sat in the kitchen with Ghisseh, Sachin, Michael and Wei, chatting wif them and enjoying me cup of coffee.
It was brilliant. :-)
I then went to me room, put on Integrity Worship's Give Thanks album and started cleaning me room (the first time since i got here ;-P).
It was also weird - i din feel hungry, i din feel sleepy. But i felt good. Really good. And extremely thankful to God, of course!
Inevitably, i was thinking back of how i used to celebrate the end of exams. Being Malaysian, our celebrations will typically have to do with a good meal!
I guess the most unforgetable time was the end of our SPM exams (O-Levels equivalent). That was the one which was rescheduled many times, with timetables changing all the time and us getting informed of it at very short notices. This was due to the bad flooding in the East Coasts of Malaysia. On top of that, there was a leak to our Additional Mathematics paper. In the end, we were given the "back-up" paper - which was extremely difficult.
After the end of that paper, we were just too exhausted and too down to celebrate (it was also our final paper for the exams). As Geof, one of me mates said, "Everyone I met after the exams was saying a swear word"!!!
We were still loitering around the school compound, letting the realisation that the exams have ended - finally - when one of our church deacons came to look for us! After some small talk, he said, "Let's go to Kajang for Sate"!
Huh? We were still in a daze and din know wat to make of that! But we were also young men who suddenly realised that we were hungry. Very hungry!We were whisked into 2 cars and driven to Kajang (those days, the new highways were not up yet). Soon, plates piled high with skewered grilled meat were placed before us and we clean off everything like good little children! :-)
Smiles came back onto our faces and we were in pretty good spirits - and extremely stuffed at the end of the evening!
Then came the moment! We should have (and would have seen it under normal circumstances) seen it coming. There was a catch! The deacon casually informed us that in view of our long holidays ahead of us, he would like to have a series of Bible Studies and training with us on a weekly basis.
There we were, having tasted the generousity of our deacon and eaten to our hearts' content, in the middle of nowhere (those days, Kajang still quite ulu, ok!), minds totally exhausted to think of any good excuse to say no, feeling like real suckers...
To be fair, we had a brilliant time together, studying God's words and learning skills to equip ourselves to serve in Church. Most if not all of us can look back and say that those sessions played an important part in us all ending up serving actively in Church.
When we got to college and University, our celebrations would include having a drink at the pub or disco, and perhaps even karaoke (the most oversung song for after exams is "Just Once" with its first line going "I did my best, but I guess my best wasn't good enough..."!!!).
So how did i celebrate my final exams ever? Well, the rest headed towards the Top Bar for a drink - but me, being typically anti-social declined to join them. But we did hang around for a long time in the exam hall, and later outside at Square 4, just chatting and sharing about our summer plans.
I then got back - to be honest, i rather be wif me flatmates! Ghisseh was asking me how was i gonna celebrate. I put on the kettle made meself a cup of Tesco value coffee!!!! :-)
Please bear in mind that due to my sickness, i had not have any coffee for almost 10 days!!!!!! And i sat in the kitchen with Ghisseh, Sachin, Michael and Wei, chatting wif them and enjoying me cup of coffee.
It was brilliant. :-)
I then went to me room, put on Integrity Worship's Give Thanks album and started cleaning me room (the first time since i got here ;-P).
It was also weird - i din feel hungry, i din feel sleepy. But i felt good. Really good. And extremely thankful to God, of course!
# posted by imissw : 2:05:00 am
