What with Chinese New Year, cross country meet, tests, tests and tests, I ended up not blogging for quite some weeks. As all of you know, the first day of CNY is on 14
th February (Sunday). Hence, we have a five-and-a-half day break lasting from Friday afternoon to Wednesday. During this period, I got to attend two celebrations and go back to my hometown.
On 12th February (Friday), our school held a CNY concert in the morning. We went to Kah Kee Hall after flag-raising for the concert. Frankly, the concert was quite a failure - it was SO BORING! Almost every one was chatting amongst themselves, playing and even sleeping (or maybe just drooping their heads)! Furthermore, with thousands of students packed into the hall, it was pretty cramped and hot and stuffy. Within minutes, lots of us were sweating profusely. The performances include a lion dance (where the 'lions' just jumped about in situ due to limited space), music played by the Chinese string orchestra, CNY songs sang by some teachers, etc. The concert ended at around 11am and we have the afternoon off where we are supposed to 'return to our respective primary schools to pay a visit to our primary school teachers', which is not the case for me.
In the evening of the same day, the boarding school organised a celebration too at the dining hall. It is mainly for those who are unable to return to their hometown as a 'substitute' for the reunion dinner. There, we got to enjoy 'tossing yusheng' and steamboat. We witness many performances such as dance, songs sang by the boarding school council, etc. We have a lucky draw where prizes include stuffed tigers, vouchers, etc. The celebration ended at 8pm and we went back and (most of us)packed up our luggage for returning home the next day.
As I mentioned, I went back to Kuala Lumpur by bus at CNY eve, and then to my hometown at a kampung (village) near Kampar (a town south to Ipoh) the following day. We paid a Chinese New Year call to our grandparents, relatives and friends and receiving angpaus in return. The second day of CNY is very much the same, except we got treated to a movie by our friends. We went to Ipoh for the movie, which was entitled Little Big Soldier (大兵小将) . It was a Chinese movie featuring Jackie Chan and Wang Leehom. The movie was both humorous and moving. On the third day, my father drove me back to Singapore for school the next day.
Have you noticed that Valentine's Day falls on the same day as the first day of CNY? You can visit this my
post on Valentine's Day.
Personally, I felt that the CNY break is too short. We only got to visit a few of our relatives in the two days. On the other hand, they have a one week break in Malaysia, allowing them sufficient time to celebrate CNY more 'completely'. Therefore, I hoped that the school will give us a longer CNY break next year.
After CNY comes the dreaded test period, which is also unarguably the busiest time of the term. Starting from 19thFebruary (Friday) to 27thFebruary (also Friday), we have a least one test every day except for the weekends and the 24th (due to cross country meet). During this period, even the laziest could be seen clutching books or notes. It was certainly stressful, and every one let out an audible sigh of relief after the last test has ended.
Amidst the test period, we have the annual cross country meet on Wednesday. Having cancelled last year because of H1N1, this year's is the first for us sec 2s. With the High School Council's tiger mascot (signifying our school's co-values of J-TIGER-R), Top 20 songs countdown (voted by the student body), and running the school flag together with the various levels, the council have significantly added a different touch to the event. Besides that, there's a group of torch relay runners who passed the torch to one another on the school track and finally to Dr Hon, our headmaster, for the lighting up. It was funny when the fire extinguished when it was almost passed to Dr Hon, and a teacher hurriedly lit it up again. The torch relay idea was indeed a special way to start the event.
The competitive runners who were representing their classes started first, followed by the mass run by every one except for the organizers and others such as some members of SJAB, NCC, etc. Some teachers also participated in the event. I was part of the sec 2 mass run, the last to start. I decided to sprint at the start to 'get a taste of what leading feels like'. I got the wish but found it quite pressurizing since I had to run hard in order to keep the lead, and soon I gave up to let others took the lead. The 4km run around the school campus was tedious, especially slopes which took a lot of effort to run. Drinks were provided halfway during the run and I took one gratefully, for I felt like dying of thirst due to the hot weather and the tiring run. I run every few hundred metres, then stopped to walk and took a sip of water for a while, then run again. A hundred metres before the finishing point, I sprinted again and surpassed a few others. I was happy to receive a "Top 50" key chain in exchange for my effort.
I would like to befriend Atticus as he is the most upright character in the novel. Of all his traits, I admire his bravery the most. He displayed moral courage throughout the story instead of bravado. One example would be when he defended Tom Robinson although aware that he would be looked down upon. To be in the minority and remain there because of your beliefs is a courageous act. He also put a lot of effort in the case despite knowing right from the start that it is a lost case. Below is a quote from Atticus :
