My Alma Mater : MGS Ipoh Forever

a wacky friend of mine back in MGS days, sharon ng posted in her facebook, a class photo when i was in form 4 and a lot of other wacky, weird shots during class party and such. it was really a steppity step back to memory lane looking at many shots of my friends when we were, like thilaga puts it, "young and innocent" - to which i replied, "young, yes. innocent - no!" i thank sharon for posting that pict in her facebook, reuniting some of us in her page.

can you spot me?

my school
it made me think about my school - from when i was standard 1 all the way to form 5. it was my one and only school. it all comes back to me; monday assembly at the badminton court, rush hour recess, the darken hallways, bats and a flasher next door - my dear ol methodist girls' school. best in ipoh. some say, perak. (no, honey. yours is a boarding school. tak geng lah!) i'm very proud of my school (and i despise it when people assume that i'm from tkc JUST because i'm married to a koleq boy. i mean, get out more!)

with form teacher, mr. ooi ah bah - the year we won first prize - raking the highest amount of moolah - on canteen day selling hot 'questionable' burgers

i remember my clique - the muhibbah gang of chinese-malay-indians, and my just10 malay buddies as well as so many other girls whom i build friendship with along the way and dedicated teachers who inspires; literature teacher puan cheah, puan norlida, kind mr. ooi, smoky smokerson mr. cheang, lovely puan chan, cikgu kebun, cikgu bibir and many more.

one should be proud of one's school. a place that makes you or breaks you. a place that builds characters, enhance skills and nurture talents. a place you'd find friends or foe. it's where you become the known or unknown. a place to gain knowledge and experience life. it's the place that changes you - forever.

the main part of the main building. teachers' lounge is right upstairs

my school is strategically situated opposite a kfc. (fine, convent ipoh wins on location: theirs is next to ipoh parade!) it's a plain ol kfc but it holds many many moments of crazy laughters and giggly screams. no, really - it's situated near a main roundabout in ipoh, from a road that links medan gopeng to ipoh town.

my school badge
i love my school badge. why my school badge is cooler than other schools' badge:

• it's so simple - none of those gaudy colours unlike convent ipoh (heheh)
• it's simply made up of 2 colours; red and white
• easy to draw
• it's made of metal and a clip on, instead of the cloth-material that you need to iron-on

Our Utmost For The Highest - my school motto

my school canteen

the canteen. ah, my favorite place. days of cheap but delicious food and saving places for our click. the mural at the back and long benches. i've been to other schools' canteen and none were comparable to ours. we have a variety of food to choose from: from laksa, nasi lemak and roti canai to chee cheong fun, cut-up fruits and kacang putih. our drinks stall is at the very end and attracts bees like heck. my favorite is lengkong or cincau (black jelly drink). sigh.

i remember niraku, in her early prefectorial days, standing next to the nasi goreng stall as part of her recess duty; making sure everyone queued up properly - hence wani coined the term pak pacak - especially for the courageous prefects on duty.

gambar sekadar hiasan - from MGS facebook group

my school field and the Canyon Cottage
i remember main cop tiang at the school field. it was one way to kill time waiting for the bus or waiting for our club meeting to start. other activities include:

• pendidikan jasmani activities
• the dreaded UDTA (ujian daya tenaga asas); going around the field 7 times was a *hoot*!
  
• rumah sukan meetings which i despised - i'm in nightingale (there's cavell, crosby and victoria)
• where our beloved ol (believed to be haunted) rain tree is, also where we assemble during a fire drill
  
• cabut-cabut rumput while sitting cross-legged on the grass; gossiping

..and Canyon Cottage - a classic! it's a cottage - used as a classroom. since i'm in the arts stream, the classes were dismissed earlier than the science-stream classes. and when we want our science-stream pals to join us in lepak sessions, they cut class - and left in the middle of the final subject! i won't name names to protect their identity (ok, hani, anneeza your names are safe wit me!)

canyon cottage, seen in the middle of the glorious green field

i remember a hillarious story involving keet mei. at the end of pendidikan jasmani, we're forced to look for rubbish - pieces of paper, empty snack packets - nothing too icky - but still thrown stuff. there were none left for all 30+ students to pick up - i mean, we have a fairly clean field - so keet mei went to...the nearest rubbish bin - to find some 'clean' rubbish she could disguise as something she kutip from the field. her plan went well until, "keet mei, you buat apa?" it was puan chan! so memalufying!

science lab

the science lab
not much of a science lab rat - but it can be fun - some of the time. i remember a LOT of copying, and exercises in my science workbooks meant simply changing active sentences into passive - "tuang air dalam tabung uji" into "air dituang dalam tabung uji".

also, i remember the lovely puan chan. she always dressed up nice and pretty. despite both being married (takde keja lain) we matchmake her with our form teacher mr. cheang. hihi.

kemahiran hidup classes were held here

the cooking class
this is where we had our cooking lessons. i remember in form 3, we baked banana cake earlier that day. we had to leave it at the cooking class for it to cool. we snuck in soon after, took a handful of our banana cake and gobbled it up. when the time came for us to actually go there and take our cake, there was chaos - "syigim, tikus makan kek ko!" hihi. little did they know i was the 'rat'...

workshop - bengkel kemahiran hidup - woodwork, pipework and electronics

the workshop
woodwork - not so much. but pipework was - ok. i'm no feminine i-don't-want-my-nails-to-break but woodwork is just A LOT of work! i'll pass. electronic was something i enjoyed doing. i can't remember why.

library

the library
i remember shakespeare books were placed at a secluded corner, collecting dust. tsk tsk tsk. my fond memories of the library was brainstorming for a debate - i was in the english debating team (beating st. michael's institution to become district champion - woohoo!) and believe it or not, i was once shooed off from the library for making noise. man, those were the days...

the upper hall
saving the best for last - the upper hall, where the stage is. oh, how i wish i have pictures to show to you, dear friends. i love my school stage. it is so classic, so magical - a place where my dreams are made. with velvet red curtain and semi-circle stage. ol wooden chair and its very own backstage. i was absolutely into putting up stage performances. from plays to stand-up comic to doing acapella - i was on top of my game when i'm on stage. it was the best!

not to mention the best place to play spirit-spirit-of-the-coin...

my school song
and now, i shall leave you, my friends, with my beautiful soaring school song.

1, 2, 3 - stand straight and sing with me now!

Shout all hail for the Methodist Girls’ School
Shout it loud and long
Our beloved Alma Mater
Come and join our song.

Chorus

Lift the banner, bear it onwards
Righteousness and truth
Is the motto held before us
Here while in our youth.

Here we’re taught the joy of service
And the truth to love
Learn to write and speak correctly
And good manners have

ok - last try - can you spot me now?

*take a bow*

p/s: i thank sharon for the picts of us i conveniently took from her facebook. thanks, dear.