It was the much-anticipated trip of the year, which was the immersion program to Brunei organized by our district education ministry of Johor Bahru. Well, most of us in the group were waiting for that green light by PPD ever since the Raya holiday started. Initially, when I knew I had to learn how to dance and attend all the courses, which was tailor-made for us in order to participate in this program, I had second thoughts about it. But after thinking it over, I was glad that I had made the right choice! During those multiple courses, our general knowledge was widened, our speaking skill was improved and not forgetting, our dancing skill was sharpened. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect, all of us were armed to the teeth when we were there. All in all, I would say it’s a one in a lifetime experience and something that I would find hard to forget throughout the journey of my life.
Here’s an overview on the program in a nutshell. On the 4th of October 2010, a group of 60 students comprises of 28 secondary school students and 32 primary schools students were taken abroad to Brunei for an immersion and internationalization program. Well without further ado, here is a recount of my trip there.
Day 1: 04/10/10, Monday (Departure)
The fact that my brother and I were chosen to attend this trip just couldn’t avoid me from getting up any later than 4.30am! Oh gosh. He was way more excited than I was and as expected, he woke up on time and dragged me out of bed. So, we got ready in a jiffy and left for PPD at about 6.30am. On the way there, I find it weird cause I suddenly had this feeling of not going. Anyway, we reached PPD office at about 7.00am and there was a short briefing made by En Taufiq.
As expected, we were all behind schedule but all of us got used to it as it has always been this way ever since the first day this program started and it’s quite saddening to hear that we, the students, are warned to be on time. Well anyway sharp 7.30, we were all ready and made a beeline for KLIA in two separate busses. Half-way through the journey, we stop at Pagoh for those who need to use the lavatory and have some refreshments. We reached KLIA at about 12.30pm and had our lunch by the road. Why by the road? Well, our bus driver conveniently missed the stop before KLIA for us to have our lunch and in the end, we had our wonderful lunch by the road at the airport! To a certain extent, we do look a little weird with our blazer on, eating with a Styrofoam by the road! Well, after our lunch, which was about 1pm we went into the airport to check- in our luggages. It was no joke. All of us took jumbo size luggage as if we were going to stay there for months. Later on, we went through the custom checks and boarded the Aero-train to the satellite terminal as our departure gate was C13! At 2.25pm, we gathered at gate C13 and filled up our white card while waiting for the plane to get ready. At 3pm, we boarded the plane and at 3.30pm we were off in the skies! The journey to Brunei by plane took us about an hour and a half.
So, we reached Brunei International Airport at about 5.30pm. After grabbing our luggages and exiting the airport, we headed off to our respective busses. The first thing that shocked all of us was at 6.15pm the sun sets already and it was getting darker by the minute. So, we got into out bus and headed to our hotel, The Holiday Lodge in Jerudong. We arrive at our hotel at 6.20pm, got our rooms and freshen up ourselves as we were going to attend a reception dinner organized by the Ministry of Education of Brunei. The dinner started at 7.45pm and ended at 10pm. One thing for sure was, the food was great! At 10.30pm, it was bedtime, so all of us went back to our room, prepared our stuffs to school for the next day, get our luggage packed as we ain’t staying anymore in the hotel the next day but our foster parent’s house and hit the sack. Pretty much everyone was dead tired from the long continuous journey!
Day 2: 05/10/10, Tuesday (1st Day in School)
Schedule today was going to be really tight. So all of us woke up at the wee hours of the morning and got ourselves prepared. At 6.30am, we had our breakfast at the hotel cafeteria. I could see everyone was pretty excited to go to their respective school. At 7.30am, we left the hotel and to our own school. Traffic that morning was quite heavy but since my school was the first school to be sent off, so we arrived school on time. Six of us in the group including me were placed at Maktab SOAS and since it was a boy school, all of us were boys.
We reached our school at 8.10 and were welcomed by the Principal of Maktab SOAS and a few prefects. We were immediately brought to their closed hall to listen to their principal’s welcome speech. At about 9am, we had some refreshments and a visit to the Vocational Education Students before heading off to the history centre. We were escorted to the History Centre and arrive there at 10am. It was nice to be escorted there and back as we got to experience how does it feels like to beat every traffic light available round town. Since it was that case, we arrive there in no time. As soon as we arrive, we were being briefed by the employee there and we learned how to trace historical artifact onto a tracing paper. After tracing those artifacts, we went to Raja Ayang Gravesite by foot. Though that day was hot, it was worthwhile. We were told about the story of Raja Ayang’s son and daughter. In a nutshell, both of them did something that was highly prohibited by the royal family and so they were buried alive in the same grave. Right beside their grave was Raja Ayang’s grave. We didn’t really spend quite long there since it was really hot, so then we went back to our school and wait for our bus to bring us to Maktab Sains Paduka Seri Begawan Sultan for the Foster Child Giving Ceremony.
We left Maktab SOAS around 1pm and the journey there took us an hour. When we arrived at Maktab Sains, we had a short conference with the Head Girl there regarding their school. The school, to me looks more like a college than an ordinary school. The compound was really large and it was one of the top performing schools in Brunei! The facilities provided at that school, well for sure it’s nothing like in Malaysia but way better than what we have here. Frankly speaking, I was in awe when I first step into that school! It was just amazing. Well, before the handing over of adopted child ceremony commences which was about 3pm, I had a tour of the school with my old friend from that school and had a little chat with them. It has been a while since I last met them which was during my previous trip to Bangkok for the APEC 2nd Future Scientist Conference.
Sharp 3pm, the ceremony started. My friend, Syafiq and I had the same foster parents. My dad was the Vice Principal of Maktab SOAS, the school I am and my mum was working as an accountant in a government firm. So then, our foster parents came to pick us up, sign some documents and then we went back home. When we reached home, it was already 4.30pm. Their house was huge. Well, am I not surprised? It’s Brunei! Well, we did not straight go into our room. We were brought to their living hall and had some tea and I would guess that’s their culture. While waiting for my mum to prepare the room for us, we had some chit chat with our dad about their family background. One thing I noticed from my visit to Brunei was, the way they welcome guests were different than in Malaysia. Every house will have a special living hall, nicely decorated with chandeliers just for the purpose to welcome guests. There were lots of photos round the hall and they even have photo albums about their past events on their coffee table for guests to browse through. It was a nice experience though. After chatting for about an hour, we went to our room to have our bath and have some rest. At, 7pm which was after our Maghrib prayers, we went down to have dinner with them. The food was great! Later on, around 8pm, my family relatives drop by to visit us. All I can say about them was they were really friendly and nice, not to mention their hospitality was fabulous. We had so much fun talking, exchanging thoughts and we even had a family photo together. I got to admit, that uncle was really good at taking those shots! Well, the night did not just end there. We had Nasi Katok for our supper. My foster dad brought us out to buy them. Typically, it was just white rice with hot fried chicken, which was fried on the spot and some spicy gravy which just cost a dollar. With our stomach filled to the brim, we had our good night sleep at 12am!
Day 3: 06/10/10, Wednesday (Performance Day)
One piece of advice, never fill up your stomach to full tank before sleeping. And yes. My friend and I had problem waking up today. Thank god for our multiple annoying alarms, I manage to drag myself up. In fact, I was shocked to get up and see that it was already bright outside. Since sun sets there early, so do the sunrise. Without wasting much time, I got myself ready for school and quickly woke Syafiq up who was still in deep slumber. Surprisingly, both of us were ready at 6.10! We had our breakfast prepared by our mum with our dad and brother. Gosh! My little brother was just so cute! Our sister was already in school as she had something on. After our breakfast, my dad brought us to school after dropping my mum at work.
We arrived in school at 7.20 and had a short assembly at the hall. Then, we were brought to our respective classes and followed their usual lesson. Two things about Brunei schools. First was, one class has only 25 students at maximum. This means that the teacher have enough time to concentrate on individual students and get to know their benchmark. The other thing was every classroom available there was air conditioned! How nice if that was the case here in Malaysia. Well, I would guess if air condition is installed in our classroom, it wouldn’t be called classroom anymore but bedroom! We had our add maths lesson at 8 till 9am. Add maths there was quite similar with us here only that instead of them learning our form 4 syllabus, they are already learning form 5’s. After our add math class, the six of us who were placed in that school were told to practice our dance move as we need to perform a short performance for them during their Mini Raya Party organized by the Vocational Education Teachers in Maktab SOAS. So then, we got our steps ready and then had some fun with the special needs students. They were really nice only that they weren’t normal like all of us. And so the teachers who are teaching them must also be extra patient. In the end, the party went well and again we ate. At 11am, it was already time to go back as we need to get prepared for our afternoon event which was the cultural exchange ceremony. Since it was our last day in school, we exchange gifts and souvenirs and gave our email addresses so that we can keep in touch in future. Soon then, we had to bid farewell and everyone went back to our foster parent’s house to have their forty winks.
We reached home at about 11.45am. Syafiq and I had our bath and then our lunch. Did not really eat much during lunch because I was just so full. Oh man! At 1.30pm, we were on the way to SM PAP Hajah Masnah for our cultural show. We arrive about 1.50pm and immediately got ourselves changed to our costumes. Looking at how the girls face was brushed to put on the makeup, thank god I was a boy! It’s like practically having no cheeks anymore to spare after the event. Everyone was really tensed at that moment and nobody really communicate. Perhaps the teachers were the people who were the most stressed out at that moment. With my face unharmed, my friends and I were brought to the hall to watch the performance brought up by the Brunei students from other schools. The event started sharp 2.30pm. They really did put up a good show there and that even made all of felt like butterflies in our stomach. The tension was starting to build up and soon then it was our turn to perform. We started off with our Zapin dance by the secondary school students, followed by the Joget dance by the primary school students and the last dance was a combined of primary and secondary. All of us breathe a sigh of relieve after hearing the loud applause and a standing ovation given by the spectators noting that we have done a great job. Our dance choreographers wouldn’t be any happier than that looking at their billionaire smile. Everything ended about 4pm and all of us had our group photos taken. We were all over the news the next day! During the photo taking session, time move so quick that we didn’t even realize that it was already 5pm and some of us had to go already which included me and my fellow friend.
We quickly bid goodbye, got ourselves changed back in a jiffy and followed my parents back home. My parents wanted to bring us out that night to get our souvenirs, to the mosque, the royal palace and their relatives’ house. Sounds like a jam packed night and yes it was. That night we got home at 2am and not forgetting, food, food and more food! I guess I gained a few kilos after that trip. They were forever feeding us. We reached home about 5.30pm and had our bath. Then, before we had our dinner downstairs, we did our Maghrib prayers and then went down. After dinner, we straight went to Masjid Jame’ Asr’ Hassanal Bolkiah to perform our Isyak prayers. Gosh! The mosque was superb. The lighting at night was really beautiful. Being a typical photographer, I took whatever pictures I can take in and out the mosque, savoring every minute I have with it. The interior of the mosque was really big and they had really big chandeliers right in the middle of the dome. The feeling to be in it was just indescribable and I just find it hard to get out from there. Never seen a mosque that big and beautiful before. After that, we went to get our souvenirs and then to the Royal Palace. And again at the Royal Palace, we took some photographs, but sadly only from the outside. After that, my parents brought us to their relative’s house. If I am not mistaken we went to 2 houses and got back home, like I said earlier at 2am! We did not actually immediately sleep that night because we need to pack our bags as that was our last night at our foster parent’s house. The next day till the end of the trip, we will be staying at the hotel again. So, in the end we slept at 3am after packing all our souvenirs into our bags. I would say today was the most tiring day throughout the whole trip but oh well, it was so much fun! Good nite!:)
Day 4: 07/10/10, Thursday (Tour Round Brunei)
Since our first program in The Holiday Lodge started at 8am, we didn’t bother to wake up any earlier than 6am! Well, 6.30am to be exact! As usual, we did our mundane wake up routine and we were up and ready at 6.40am downstairs with all our luggages packed. At 6.45am, we had our last breakfast with our foster family and by 7.15, we left for The Holiday Lodge for the Returning of Adopted Child Ceremony. It was quite saddening, when we had to part away from our parents after establishing such a strong bond between them. This may seem exaggerating but feelings do say a thousand words. After bidding goodbye and had our group photo taken and our tour round Brunei started.
Our first destination was the Floating Village Museum. We left the hotel at 8.30am and arrive at the port at 9.30am. To go to the floating village museum, we have to take a boat to reach there. We arrive at the Floating Village Museum at 10am and we were brought to tour round the museum by the tour guide. It was just primarily about the history of the Floating Village. Then at 11.20, we departed by boat to Awang Semaun Secondary School. It was just a typical everyday school and the teachers there brought us round the school. By 1.40pm, we were out from that school and back to the jetty. Our next destination was to have our Zohor prayers in Sultan Omar Ali Safiudin Mosque. The most distinctive feature of the mosque was the gold plated dome. The interior was a little smaller than the previous mosque I went to, which was the Masjid Jame’. After our prayer which was about 2.30pm, we left the mosque and headed off to the Malaysian Embassador’s Embassy for a short tea party. We had a few Q and A sessions there and some refreshments prepared for us before we head back to the hotel. The trip to Jerudong Park was canceled that evening due to heavy downpour. So in the end, we went back to the hotel and took our bath after a long sticky day. Since the officers allowed us to go out with our foster parents that night, so, my foster dad brought us back home to have dinner and out we go visiting again to their other relatives’ house. And as you know it, even more eating and more eating. After visiting a few houses, it was time to go back to the hotel as it was already 12.00am. Any later than that, I doubt I would be able to wake up in time for the next day trip to Miri. So, we reached back at the hotel at 12.30am and my parents planned to take us out again the next night to The Mall. Well, after that bid goodbye and good night and that ends Day 4!
Day 5: 08/10/10, Friday (Trip to Miri)
Woke up quite early today, as I needed to use the internet badly at the lobby. Instead of sleep deprived, I was internet deprived. So, I got up and ready around 5am and waited downstairs for the rest to slowly appear. We were told to have breakfast around 6am. After having our breakfast which was about 6.45am, we had a short meeting with the officers in charge about today itinerary. After that, we left for Miri at 7.10am by bus. I slept throughout the whole journey and only woke up when we arrive at Sungai Tauh and Miri Checkpoint as they wanted to check our passports. The journey there took us approximately 3 hours. In the end, we arrive at SMK Lopeng Tengah, Miri at 10.30am and were welcomed by the school principal, teachers and students together with some short performance performed by the students in that school. Later on, we were brought to the conference room to listen to a short briefing given by the principal about their school. Then, we had a tour round the school, to their school library and their prefect room. One thing that impressed me was the way they manage their prefectorial board. It was quite different than how we usually do it here. But, it was also manageable as the quantity of students in that school was not as many as what we have here in SSI. After spending a few hours in that school, we left for the shopping mall. There was nothing much to do at the mall though. I just got a few donuts and we left the mall at 3.20pm. Journey back was a little longer as we were stuck in a bumper to bumper crawl at Brunei Checkpoint. In the end, we arrived at our hotel at 7.15. We quickly had our bath as our foster parents were going to pick us up again from the hotel at 8pm. We went to the largest shopping mall available in Brunei which was The Mall. Still, compared to Malaysia, that shopping mall ain’t that big after all. Well, beggars cannot be choosers, so I just did some window shopping while my mum bought some clothes for herself. At 10pm, we went back to our foster parent’s house as they got us something to eat. Since it was our last night together as the next day we were scheduled to go home, we stayed with them till 11.45pm, talking and eating! It was so much fun and I savored every last minute I had with them knew that it would be the last. We got back to the hotel around 12am and did our packing since it was our last night in Brunei. Phew! Packing that night wasn’t easy as there was so much stuff fit into my luggage. Well, thank god it all ended at 2am.
Day 6: 09/10/10, Saturday (Trip Back Homeland!)
I got up at 4.45am and got myself ready. Did some last minute packing and then we brought down our entire luggage to the lobby. After having our breakfast, we left for University of Brunei Darussalam for a short visit. The facilities there were great! We had a short tour round the university and before we left for the airport, there was a closing ceremony of the program. We left for the airport at 12pm and all our foster parents met us there to bid us farewell. We departed Brunei at 3pm and reached Malaysia about 5.30pm. From there on, my parents picked me up and everyone else head down to JB by bus. That pretty much ended our immersion and internationalization program to Brunei! Well, before I end my recount on my wonderful trip to Brunei, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who have made this trip a memorable one for me. I can no other answer make, but, thanks, and thanks.
Muhammad Mustaqiim Bin Muhar~2010.
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