A weekend in the Longhouse (Day 1)

Date : 6th & 7th October, 2007
Destination : Rumah Ampik

I never thought I could actually go to a longhouse anytime soon. I've always wanted to go, especially during the Gawai celebration, where we drink and drink and drink till we drop. Sad to say, I'm a Sarawakian but never been to a longhouse before.

But...
I finally made it there! YEA!!! *cheer* *wave*


I woke up late that morning - 5.10am when I was supposed to wake up at 4.45am... Lucky for me, my roommate, Thien was also going for the trip. And lucky for both of us, her friend, Debbie knocked the door and called for her. I practically jumped out of my bed and rushed to take a cold, early morning shower and got my bags ready and left to campus with Joel, Calvin, Debbie and Thien. We stepped foot at the drop-off area at 5.45am and we were early... Both the Curtin buses were waiting for us, we boarded different bus and departed from Curtin to Villa and Village to pick up the rest of the volunteers.

the volunteers for John Curtin Weekend

After the picture was taken, the bus drove off from Village to our next destination, Rumah Ampik. Two cars were tailing behind the bus as well. We had a tuna sandwich, a kaya and red bean bun with two bananas and a packed of soya bean for breakfast in the bus. It only took us about 30 to 45 minutes to reach our destination.

the road into the longhouse

That's the one-way road into the longhouse. It was very bumpy and the bus was galloping up and down throughout the journey into the longhouse. The proton in front was our Tuai Rumah Ampik. He waited for us by the roadside and drove us in.

And.... *drums roll*

presenting...Rumah Ampik...

We arrived in our destination and that's our home for the weekend. The chair that we are sitting on is the longest chair ever made in Malaysia, sponsored by Courts Mammoth to this longhouse. Presenting also our team...

that's us; 5 girls and 8 boys

As soon as we came down from the bus, there were music playing and it seemed like a welcoming for us and as we stepped into the longhouse, we saw noone other than the kids playing the traditional instruments. I was surprised to see how good the kids were at playing the instruments. We were greeted by the Tuai Rumah with some other people there. Lucky for us, there was a man who knows English and he somehow or rather became our translator. He told us what the Tuai Rumah told him to tell...and soon after our breakfast, it's off to work!

We were told to plant 100 trees along the road, along the longhouse. We organized ourselves and started our community work at once.

busy 'mengcangkul tanah' to plant the trees

that's me, trying to plant my tree

and...after an hour or so, we were DONE!!! that was fast though. we took a break, cool ourselves with drinks and also another group picture.

after phase 1 of community work

soon, they asked the girls to help out in the kitchen to prepare for the lunch. We went in the kitchen, and there was nothing we could help. The 'makciks' there were doing all the work and when we ask to help, they would say, 'tunggu ya.' and it never worked coz we never got anything to do...sigh... So we stood and watched the 'makciks' cutting chickens, marinating chickens, preparing sambals and cutting the palm oil's heart for soup. Daniel came in and wanted to try cutting.

Angeline and Daniel getting their hands on the knives

And again, there were only Angeline and I in the kitchen after the girls and Daniel left for the plantation to pick sweet-potato leaves. It was a hot and long walk there...

the plantations where they picked sweet potato leaves

The others were decorating the balcony area with ribbons, some sparkling stuffs. The funny thing was our communication barrier which had us into so many miscommunication.... But, at least, we managed to get things done before lunch. We had great food; lunch was great, BBQ chicken wings, curry chicken, pansoh chicken, sweet-potato leaves, soup..............and the best of all....... *drums roll* BEER & TUAK!!!

Well, BEER and TUAK for lunch, how often do you do that........
Anyway, back to the story....

So, after lunch, we went off, getting ready to 'menyambut tetamu' which was at 2pm. We were told that a YB will be coming, so we had to dress up in our CV T-shirt and get ready to greet him when he comes. And here's the best part.... Angeline and I were brought to another house to get ready and the 'getting ready' means....................

aahhhh.......my first time wearing this!!!!!!!!!!!

I couldn't believe it myself that I actually wore this traditional dress......... I was such a great experience to wear it. No doubt it's heavy, by the look of it, it's pure silver from head to toe. It was hot and heavy and the worst part was we had to wear this outfit throughout the YB's arrival until the end of the ceremony.

Presenting........ *Drums roll*........... the YB!

it was the longest walk I had with heavy dress...and a tray with a tuak glass in it...

We walked the whole longhouse, from one end to the other with that outfit and it was so hard to walk especially with two dangling, heavy silver on the leg. But, we made it through, with a couple of of tuak shots along the way and thank God that the Iban guy signal me what to do....we were point blank on everything coz we wasn't told to do anything at all....sigh sigh... But it was a good experience after all.

The celebration was quite a long one...there were speeches from a lot of people including Catherine! There were also people taking photos here and there, flash were blinking everywhere...feel like someone famous for a minute there...

Catherine with her impromptu speech

Soon after the YB left, we had our own fun; taking pictures everywhere and as the Tuai Rumah came back, he started the dance ceremony. And one-by-one we went up to the tree and dance our way there. Daniel was doing a great job entertaining the people there.

Tuai Rumah's gift for CV

...ahem...the three gorgeous girls...

..all for one and one for all...beware...

Just before we took our break, Tuai Rumah allocated all of us into our foster family. Catherine, Angeline and I were staying with Tuai Rumah and his family and the others were with the other families in the longhouse. Everyone took their bags and went home with their foster family; getting to know each other...

*chime, chime, chime*
Time for TUAK!!! This time, we walk from one house to another, drink one glass to another, eat here and there. Some were already high on TUAKs but we carried on with our visits from house to house. The drinking never stops and it just gets better and better from house to house. What a great time!

a glass in a house

the 5 girls syok sendiri photo

taken somewhere in someone's house but can't remember which where we drank and ate nice food

And it was dinner...Food, food and food again. Their food were great and tasty and delicious and...just great!

After dinner was another hell of fun time there. There were programs lined up for us; karaoke, singing, dancing....and families from all over came to celebrate with us. We just dance and dance and sing and sing till we drop.

Angeline and Daniel's duet performance 'Can't Help Falling In Love With You'

just bored I guess...playing 'Under the Rainbow'

one auntie taught the dance to everyone

i got cheated!
it wasn't Tuak at all..it was Scotch Whisky!
my throat and tongue was burning

???guess who's drunk???

It was 11pm where we had to get rests. After asking permission, everyone went into their house and slept........till the next morning...........

*lullaby*

*whispering* "Coming up next....A weekend in the Longhouse (Day 2)

Cheers,
Kay.

Bowling Competition 2007

The bowling competition was fun...though we didn't win anything but it was all for the sake of having fun, representing the club....yea...

There were about almost 20 groups from various clubs and teams playing and it took us about two hours to finish all 3 games...

CSS team; Melissa, Valerian and me...with our so-call mascott, Joel


...and this...we all wanna 'pan cute'...

hahaha...there's not much photos coz none of us brought camera so we took with our camera phone...hehe...

but it was all for fun!

peace to all...

Snap shots on Curtin Open Day 07

Here are some photos during the Curtin Open Day 2007...

The main stage
...dances, singings, performances and the place where I collected my lucky draw prize...

The balloon arch into the Kids' Corner
...a small Hulk bouncing castle and a sumo wrestling game...

The baskets for the Blind
...one part of CSS's stall...
The CSS stall
...selling apple, beef, chicken pies, lasagna, banana and raisin loaves...

The people of CSS
...hardworking and dedicated...

and...the volunteers of Mass Communication Department...
Amy, Jasmine, Kroll, Anthony, Suhas and me
Creative Inspiration team
...Leslie, Amanda, Agnes...selling fruit punch and doing body painting...

...some game...
that's Joel right there with Angeline and I throwing and splashing him
...and here's Kroll and his friend, doing some 'hugs' stuff...

...and these are the only photos I took with me in it...
Joel and IAngeline and I
...and finally, my shepherd's pie!!!

Everyone had fun, tiring but fun!!!
Signing off...

Pie baking day...

CSS, as usual sells apple pies, chicken pies, beef pies, banana and raisin loaves, lasagna and pizza during Curtin Open Day. But the pies and loaves and lasagna won't baked and cooked by itself. So, the team gathered in Jalong's house for a two day baking marathon; two days before Curtin Open Day...

Present as chefs were Sharon, Adeline and I; the only 3 girls available and the guys were Adrian, Robert, James, Valerian, Ambrose, Jerome and Jalong. It was a surprise to see everyone so gifted in baking cakes and pies and we had a great time baking them...

...look at how hard everyone is working...

...and here's a sneak peak on our end product...


...our apple pie!!!...
...yummy...

Now, I'm looking forward to next year's Curtin Open Day to bake more pies...

Footprints in the Sand

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord.

Scenes from his life flashed across the sky and he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, one belonging to him and the other to the Lord.

When the last scene of his life had flashed before him, he recalled that at the lowest and saddest times of his life there was only one set of footprints.

Dismayed, he asked, "Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way. I don't understand why, when I needed you most, you would leave me."

The Lord replied, "My precious child. I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering when you saw only one set of footprints... That was when I carried you."

Curtin Open Day 2007

9th September, 2007. (Sunday)

Curtin Open day...
Wow! It was a great day for me, especially because I hadn't had fun setting up, preparing and selling for food fair since Form 4 in St. Teresa. Of course this time was a little different than it was before. I was partially involved with two different clubs namely Catholic Student Society (CSS) and Curtin Junior Toastmaster. I was also a volunteer for Mass Communication Department with their screenings and programs lined up for that day. It was tiring; been standing on my two feet since 8.30am till 9.30pm. Gosh!

CSS sold good food; lasagna, apple pie, chicken pie, beef pie, banana and raisin loaf, quiche and barley. Toastmaster sold garlic bread. I was running here and there, one stall to another to see if anyone need a hand.

Not only the selling part was fun but I was lucky too! First of all, I admitted that I was a little silly to drop the whole lucky draw paper into the balet box; which I soon realized that I have to tear the small partition out and keep the other. I thought my chance of winning at least 1 lucky draw was down the drain but fortunately, I WON!!! I got myself an electronic broom which cost RM150...

Later; an hour or so later, I came up to the MC and answered a question about the Malaysia flag and got myself a free buffet dinner at Imperial Hotel!

Hahaha... I felt so lucky and happy! Well, the CSS team waited for the final lucky draw at 9pm which the grand prize was a Nintendo Wii! Out of 200 tickets, not one won any of the final draws. Sigh...

There were fireworks too and everything in both booth was sold out! We had our CSS 10 shots before disperse. I'm looking forward to next year's Open Day!!!

The week of horror is finally over

Week 6 of Semester 2, 2007 is finally over - the horror week of the whole semester!

Why do I call it a horror week? Check this out and you'll understand why...
Throughout my study free week, I have been busy preparing and finishing assignments and presentations and storyboards for week 6.

1. MCI 112 presentation
2. MCI 112 1500 words essay
3. MCI 102 proposal presentation
4. FTV 111 storyboards
5. FTV 111 journal (3 unfinished films)

Finally it's over. Everything had been submitted to lecturers. I'm glad it over!!! No more terror and horror for the next few weeks, at least...

I shot Curtin Idol

Last Sunday, 2nd September 07 was Curtin Idol's semifinals in Lecture Theater...

Quite a lot of people turned up for the show with 33 people singing to get their chance to sing again in Curtin Open Day for the Finals. Well, my coursemate and I thought of covering this event as a side project of our own. So I did! Since he was the organizer of Curtin Idol, he couldnt film the event, so I brought my video camera and with my friend, Joel, taking photos, we shoot Curtin Idol.

Eventually, people knew that we were the only ones covering the event and people came to enquire for the videos...amazing...

But, I havent have the time to edit them yet but once I get the videos edited, I'll let them know...it was cool though!

Another video for my portfolio!

When I thought I had it right

When I thought I had my assignments done correctly; after reading the Unit Outline, checking out with my coursemates...but still, I had it wrong. It was just only half an hour before the lecturer told us not to bind our storyboard, I binded mine! Damn!

But I asked my lecturer about it and he - as usual - sarcastically, he said 'I told you to read the outlines.'

I said, "Yes, I did but its too thick to staple them."

He said, "Get a bigger stapler."

I smiled and sighed simultaneously. He was 'ok' with the papers binded on the sides but I have to find a bigger stapler to staple them together and submit it on Friday. I'm glad he's 'ok' with it. At least I dont have to recut and repaste it on new papers again, it'll take me a one full day to do that!

So, I learnt a lesson today - no bindings of assignments in Curtin University unless asked to do so!

Class starts again...

Class starts today...after the week free last week, but it ain't free for me. Tons and tons of assignments, drawings, presentations to prepare...I met with basically all my groups from Monday to Thursday each just to get our work done...sigh!

Well, class starts and there goes my 6 weeks of presentations, assignments and exams....
YEA! im glad its class coz i wont be bored with my room...and there's FOOD!!!