NS???

ok, so ppl have been asking me to blog about my NS experience, which i promise i would about a month ago... i dunno why but i seem to be making excuses to myself to not do it... i guess it's just laziness.... oh no, nowadays i'm so slow n unproductive i feel like a pig...(oink oink)

ok, ok, better not delay things even more... don't worry... i kept a diary throughout the whole experience so i can recall everything in a matter of minutes...

wow, there has been some sweet n erm not so sweet times there... let me break out some facts to u first....

1. my camp was Kem Latihan Etnobotani, Gua Musang which is situated in the town of Gua Musang, Kelantan... the town is small, i mean SMALL...

2. I was in Group B(there r 4 groups), better known as 'Batalion'.... I was in Dorm B02, there r a total of 14 dorms for guys... each dorm has about 8-14 ppl, mine was only 10 so it was comfortable n not over crowded... i like my dorm mates coz they're all peaceful n friendly...

3. the more interesting activities in NS were flying fox, repelling, rafting n kayaking competition, obstacle course competition, marching competition, and of course how can i not mention the shooting part... i got to handle a real M16 rifle, and it was amazing...

4. the main sports in my camp (for riadah n competition) are volleyball and sepak takraw.... needless to say, i suck at both... (how come there's no tennis or badminton?) oh wait, i did play badminton on weekends with my friends Hong, Leong & Adrian... Hong brought his rackets over after the CNY holidays...

5. the guys dorm is on a hill, seriously... so everyday we have to climb up and down just to get from our rooms to the common area... n the long slope circling the hill is steep... initially it was dreadful to go up n down...

6. the food was very very normal... i don't say BAD becoz it's still edible... but some trainees didn't quite accepted it though.... they resorted to instant noodles... personally i'm not a fan of 'mee segera' so i have to eat what the kitchen makes... we have meat every meal... either chicken or fish... but i prefer the chicken (usually fried or curry or some other version of it) to the fish coz the fishes r very boney.... not appetising at all... n they don't seem to serve much vege... it's always ikan bilis or eggs....i guess my taste buds were numb alredi... it wasn't until i got home n tasted REAL food that i realised the difference...

7.In every camp there is a Koperasi that caters to the trainees' endless needs... from instant noodles to all kinds of junk food... u name it, they got it... mostly unhealthy snacks though... those 3 months i had so much junk food i think it is even more than i've ever taken in my life... becoz once a week i have picnics with my gang of close friends... we do it at night n we sit in the open and stare at the stars (lots of stars in kelantan sky) while we chat about things back home.... those were good times.. i still keep in touch with them...

8. in my camp there is a burger store that opens at night, but of course these things u have to pay on your own... even though the canteen feeds us sufficiently, a lot of ppl still like to buy themselves good food... i heard that some camps even got mamak.... how fortunate...

9. Character Building (C.B.) module was fun in my opinion, though quite a number of trainees sleep through it... it all depends on the trainer... if u get a good one, the class is fun... the structure of this programme is well crafted i feel... i did learn some useful things... oh, one of them is juggling... but i'm not good at it...

10. the Chinese population in the camp is small, about 60+ out of the 350+ total.... so it's a huge contrast to what i'm used to... a bit of a culture shock at first... but i slowly adapted to the NS way of life....

11. the thing i hated most is washing clothes.... it is the most tiring chore... hence a lot of ppl don't wash often... haha that includes me... also, another thing that i hate is the behaviour of some trainees.... there's nothing wrong with the trainers (we adress them as Cikgu)... they're all so nice to us... one friend even said that one of the cikgu was like a father to him... BUT some of our fellow trainees.... i tell u i almost exploded with the annoying things they did to my friends n i... but i stayed patient... my mantra was "three months only... three months only... this is not permanent... so just tahan..."


overall, NS was an eye opening experience for me... it introduced to me the real world (Malaysia)... i met so many different types of ppl there... n my group of close friends... even though we r completely different characters... n i believe we won't even be friends under normal circumstances... but in NS, we just clicked instantly... when ur with someone 24 hours a day u tend to know them reli well.... u see their living habits... u chat to them about so many things... we withstand the best n worst of each other in those 3 months... this is priceless... Making friends is the BEST part of NS... so if u ask whether i enjoyed the whole experience, i would say "yes!"... =)

if u want to know about anything NS related that i failed to mention... just drop me a message...