few years ago, i was extremely excited to join plkn, as i love adventures and those challenging activities, but when i noticed that i was selected to go for national service at etnobotani gua musang, i was kinda frustrated, yeah i have planned lots of things to do after spm, such as to start some business, get the license and bla, bla, bla..... then ive started to cheat in my medical checkup report, i made my mind very clearly about that. when i was at home after spm, a month passed with me doing nothing at home, then i made up my mind to join the national service. i registered at etnobotani camp of gua musang on 27 dec last year.
sincerely, i went to the camp with a hateful mood. u know, i want to be at home after spm, i dun want to be a student or trainee anymore, to be instructed, ordered by anybody, i babbled to the government, in the millions of malaysians, how on earth i was selected to join this programme?!!
the first week at the camp wasn't good. to get the clothes and uniforms at the logistic part was so tiring, the workers was kinda 'serabut' to satisfy about 387 trainees, some of us became the victim of their anger, hum... it was quite messy there... and i suffered environment shock. the people here have great vocals, always shout for 24 hours a day, u know, we are trained under armies and ministry of defence, u know how they do the kawad orders, scolded people, and everything,, the character building classes were too boring, we are treated like a kindergarten child in the class, did the pemetaan visual by using the magic pen... u know when was the last time i use the pen? when i was in standard one! but not everything in the first week was bad. the trainers here are called 'cikgu'. they are all kind and nice to us. the commandant is also good, the TKP is sooooo handsome, i doodled him 'handsome boy'. he is a very nice charming guy, i guess he is in the late thirty. our TKL, mejar hamdi is very friendly, he always walks around to see our condition. i had a chat with him for few times, he is a nice guy, an army pensioner. in the first week, i was homesick, i felt like i really2 wanna go home.
in the second week, i started to feel happy to be there.. i don't know why, but i started to feel mixable with everybody, started to feel enjoyable of being there, started to like the people and have lots of friends. in the character building class, i started to give the speech in front of the class. there was once when we learn about the'win-win' situation. i told the class about the beneficial of let both parties win and i relate the lesson with the current issue, that is the war between hamas and the israeli. i started to build my confidence. sincerely, eventhough i am an active debater, but in the first week of being there, it is hard for me to speak even a word, because i hated the camp. but time determines everything. then the TKP announced about the camp's open day. the parents are invited to come to visit their children and visit the camp and have a dialogue session with the commandant. cikgu asmah asked anybody volunteerly to join senam seni group to do the performance during the open day, i was kinda shy at first, but then i couragely walked to the front. there were 40 of trainees who came to the front, but only 20 who are really qualified will be chosen.
senam seni is a type of exercise using dance, like aerobic to keep us in shape. but aerobis is more into the west style. senam seni is totally distinctive from aerobic. the traditional music was used and the traditional dance is used as the steps. with the theme 'keep in shape in malaysia's style', the music used is traditional malay song, lion dance song, and jumbalika song. these song represent the multi-racial residents in malaysia. dancing is my passion, but i was only good in modern dance during my schooldays. traditional dance? i just tried. surprisingly, i was chosen among the 40 trainees to do the senam seni performance during the open day. i like traditional dance. due to my involvement in the senam seni group, i learn various type of traditional dances such as zapin, zapin sarah , tarian sumazau, anuman, inang masri, inang, joget, sewang, mengiluk, and lots more...
if i was sent home now, i think i will cry, because im already fall in love with kem plkn etnobotani gua musang, we did jungle trekking and water confident last week, eventhough i was attacked by 'pacat' but the experience is so precious. i still cannot believe that ive got into the jungle, hiked the hills and everything. how at first i was so sad of going to the camp, and now i feel like i dun wanna go home. i want to stay at the camp. i think 3 months period are too short for the training session. i think the gov should extend the training period because the life there are rockss and enjoyable. i wish i will perform more senam seni performance in the future. senam seni is the thing that i like the most at plkn... i took a year to love my old school, but i took less than a month to love my camp....
