A Long Journey

i still remember teaching in SJK[C] school in Johore Bahru..it is a big school with more than 1500 pupils and more than 70 teachers. i have to learn some mandarin words in order to communicate with some children who are small, young and couldn't speak malay at all. i still remember what the canteen man said to me, "cikgu, susah aaa..cikgu cakap serupa macam itik cakap sama ayam..". It is true! Some pupils called me 'lausyer' [teacher in mandarin] rather than calling me cikgu. Ha ha.. It was my first school after posting, and for abour three years there, i was teaching bahasa melayu..surprise yea..at first, it was a shocked actually....because i had no experience teaching before; except the practical teaching months in Brickfield. i tried very hard to teach the pupils since i had to teach year 2, 3 and 5. it was easier to speak or communicate to the year 5 pupils, maybe they had more malay vocabulary. sometimes i had to translate the words into English because they knew more English than Bahasa Melayu. surprise? it was a reality........!! And, it was in 1989........

i was at that school for three years before transferring to another school in Kota Tinggi after i got married. here,i taught almost all subjects.........................except Pengetahuan Agama Islam. the pupils called me 'cikgu' for the Malay medium subjects and 'teacher' for English. i wondered who were confused, the pupils or me...! here, i got a lot of experience...................teaching in rural area..'very the rural'.......................................because the parents, sometimes .............made us scared, confused, worried...

my husband's friend was threatened by a family...........the whole family came to his house with the parang, guns and other weapons...the grandfather, who was a big tough guy shouted...asking him to come out...his housemates asked him to hide in the house [nextdoor] through the back door. then they said the teacher was not at home....but then, the grandfather said,"bagitau cikgu tu, hari ini nasib dia baik..kalau tidak, mayat dia kami hantar balik Mersing![his hometown]"

however, it was only a small part of my experience there.............i have a lot more sweet memories living at the kampung, nearby the beach, with beautiful scenery and many friendly neighbours and friends...living there, i became a 'body buider' ha ha...coz i ate fresh seafood every day...........some kinds parents came to my house and sent some of their very fresh catch...big squids, small squids, big fish , small fish, crabs, prawns.............ah....wonderful!

during weekends, my husband took me around the village, wandering from a beach to other beaches.........like a scene in hindi movie, bercanda di pasiran pantai........................beautiful! i will never forget those days.................................................to be continued.