Hi there everyone! I know its been ages since I've posted anything on my blog. Mostly due to the fact I'm going to NS (and also I'm lazy......).

Anyways, I've been in Kuala Kangsar for the past one and a half month, staying in a NS camp called Tangkas Kendiri. The first week wasn't what I expected from a NS camp......At least not what I've heard from friends, seniors ect.

Well, the NS trainees from Ipoh had to gather at Stadium Sultan Azlan Shah on the 20th of March before getting sent off to various parts of Malaysia. I was one of the trainees, unsure of myself, incompetent and a little bit awestruck bu the sheer number of people (parents, teenagers like myself and family) gathering in the stadium. My parents trusted me enough to let me go in by myself. After a brief goodbye to my mum, dad, and grandad, I picked up my luggage and other miscellaneous stuff and went in, got myself registered and got on the bus.

The only person I knew on the bus was Louis Chong (met previously a week ago in Agro Bank, who is also Magdeline's brother). Anyhow, I was surprised that louis was kind enough to introduce himself to me and sit next to me (such a touching gesture). And he became one of my best friends in my NS camp.

Throughout the journey we shared our experiences in our own respective bands. Without noticing, time flew by and we reached the NS camp.

Well, my post seems to be a bit too long detailing every scene......... I'll try to be brief then.

That's my first day in NS camp. Trainees from Selangor and Kelantan have arrived a day before us. Only Perak Trainees are arriving that day. We didn't get officially introduced to the camp but we did get a through and long body check (to prevent us from possesing dangerous objects like knifes and blades).

After that we got our names registered and sent to different Companies (trainees in a camp are divided into 4 companies mainly Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta) and into different dormitories ( 4 dormitories for each company, 2 for guys and 2 for gals). Louis and I both got sent to Bravo company but in different dorms (Baung for me and Tengas for louis).

Skipping the minute details.........

Okay, we didn't know where our dormitory was. Even so, we were helped by the guys from Selangor. The helped us with our stuff and told us about the boys dorm (Toman, Haruan, Baung Tengas, Tongsan, Jelawat, Sebarau>>>names of fish, I find that quite amusing). Later we found out about our company and dorm's trainer. We had to address every trainer by "cikgu" and army personel by "Encik". The trainer who is in-charge of my dorm is Cikgu Roslan and for Louis' is a nasty one called "Cikgu Aswadi".

Back to the first week dillema.......

The first week was quite horrible. It seems to be the opposite of every NS experience I've heard.

1st. Not enough sleep!
Lights out at 2359 but we're awake around 0500.......... Adolescence need at least 8 hours of sleep to grow properly but we get less than 5!!!

2nd Racial Discrimination
Racial Discrimination is quite bad during the first week. We could see its obvious the Chinese and Indians are marginalised due to the fact that 70% of the trainees are Malays and ALL of the NS staff (trainers, army personel, canteen staff) are Malays. Its quite a culture shock from us Ipoh guys because the population majority in Ipoh are Chinese. Discriminating acts are as folllows:

i) they get more food
ii) they get MC (medical certificate) easily
ii) they get lesser punishment
iii) they could group up and bully other minority races

3rd Marching under the hot sun WITHOUT protection!!!
Marching during the first month was bad. We march every single afternoon including sundays without fail from 1430 to 1600. Since the Logistics store isn't complete with proper attire, we march without caps. To add insult to injury, all the boys had to get their hair cut. With the sun glaring down on our shy scalp which had hidden under tons of hair for years, Its a wonder we don't get skin cancer. Our scalp started to peel off...... The layer of skin has no other word to describe except "ewwwwwwwww". The skin that peels off had holes in it due to the hair growing out of our scalp. That's what making it so grotesque.