10 days in National Service

I was among the lucky ones who were selected to join National Service this year. Being in the first badge, we had to go there on the 27th of December, 2008. That morning, we gathered at Stadium Darul Aman. There were lots of people there. I boarded the second bus to Dusun Minda Resort, Kuala Nerang as I reached there quite late. Carrying a luggage, a backpack and a pail full of things was a big challenge for me. It was damn heavy. After bidding farewell with my family, the bus departed. Bus number - ??? 4218. And here I come, National Service!

The ride was bumpy. We reached the camp site at about 11a.m. There was a swimming pool. BUT can only be used by the guests of the resort. All of us were gathered in Dewan Tun Abdul Razak. We were given our room number, a pillow, a blanket, a plate, a cup, a spoon and a set of bed cover after handing up all the documents. All our things were checked before we entered our cottage. They were looking for cigarrettes. I met Chik when I entered my room, that is A11-3. I gave my parents a call. Then, a few minutes later, Akmal came in. We started introducing ourselves. Lunch was provided at 12:30pm. I was relieved after having a look at the bathroom. We rushed to padang kawat lama to resemble for group-dividing. There were 4 groups, that was Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta. My group was Alpha. After that, in order to elect a new group leader, a few trainees and I were selected to give commands but I wasn't chosen. On the second day, trainees from Penang and Perak finally arrived. K.J. from Penang and Amirul from Perak were my new room mates.

I'll talk about my friends and trainers. I met some old friends and knew a couple of new friends:

Chinese - K.J., Jian Tong, Ah Keong, Jian Lee, Wen Jun(Penang), Ah Tong, Sam(Perak), Chia
Ching, Michael, Justin, Soon Theng, Yang Wei, Han Jun, Zhi Yang(Kedah), ....

Malay - Sayuti, Akmal, Chik , Irfan, Akmal(K), Ridzuan, Zuffar, Amirul, ....

Indian - Naren, Para, Kolgi, Tira, Puni, ....

Siam - Pramot

Trainers- Cikgu Ismail, Cikgu Raul, Cikgu Zul, Cikgu Yusof, Cikgu Taib, Cikgu Azi, Cikgu Seha, ....

Except a few stupid babarians, all trainees there were quite friendly. The trainers were also very friendly, helpful and humerous. My funny room mates kept begging me and K.J. to teach them some chinese sentences. Pramot taught us Thai while we taught him Chinese. I didn't jot down but I remembered some like ku chop su, kin kao, su shuai, ku lo, ku tong kan kin mee, .... Anyway, I didn't manage to learn Hindu.

We were taken for a trip round Dusun Minda Resort and briefed about some future activities like flying-fox, obstacles run, jungle-trekking, canoeing, .... which I didn't manage to try. But before all that, I forget to mention that I'm the first one to be cut off my hair.

A few Landmarks in Dusun Minda Resort

Cottage A

Above is the landmarks I could remember and my cottage. Although it wasn't drawn to scale and not 100% similar, I think it was something like that la. It was quite blur, so if you wanna take a closer look, copy it down. Haha. For your info, the dark blue one of cottage A is our bathroom. Our accomodation was quite good. 6 Persons a cottage with 6 beds and lockers, 2 fans and 2 lamps.

The food there was quite nice. 6 meals a day that is breakfast at 7:30am, tea break at 10:30am, lunch at 12:30pm, tea break again at 4:30pm, dinner at 6:30pm and supper at 10:30pm. Chicken or fish as the main protein, one or two dishes of vegetables, and fruits. I went for the medics once for gastric problems, not because the food wasn't enough but I because didn't eat according to time.

Every trainee was given two sets of pakaian celoreng, two sets of pakaian kelas, two sets of pakaian sukan, two celoreng T-shirts. I learned ways to polish my boots from Chik. My boots were so shining as I got a new one. Ways to tie my boots, how to wear the marching uniform, and even ways to tidy our beds were taught by the trainers. Some particular uniforms and shirts can be sent to the dobby. We had to wash the other shirts we brought ourselves.

As for the activities, I managed to march one time, went to Pokok Sena's Buddha class once, finished Kontrak Kita Janji, attended Charater Building classes three days, i think, Bleep Test, etc. Nohting much to talk about the marching part. The Buddha class was quite fun. We sang songs out loud in the bus on our journey back to the camp. The Kontrak Kita Janji was an activity for all 4 groups to present their promise to the trainers like promised to be punctual, etc. Each team even made their own flag, motto, slogan and song. The Character Building classes had some games that contain some moral values needed to inculcate in life. The Bleep Test was a physical test. I passed the test with level 6.6. Haha. At night when all Muslims went praying during Maghrib, I think, non-Muslims were gathered in Dewan Makan. For the first night, Cikgu Zul let us played a game that was passing the bottle around. Punishment will be given to the one holding it when the music stopped. The purpose was for ice-breaking and encourage us to show the real part of us without feeling embarassed. For the other nights, we gathered there to watch TV, play chess and learn Thai. Ah Tong's and Ah Keong's chinese chess skill were good. I had the chance to play sepak takraw and football a while during leisure time.

It was a good 10 days experience. Although I could not try the flying-fox, the gun-shooting part, etc, I hope all the trainees there will have an enjoyable time.