American high schools

It's a beautiful day in Pamplico, South Carolina. The skies are clear and the air is fresh. I can hear the birds chirping on trees aaaaand.....

IT'S FREEZING!!!

My brother called the shot gun and I was left at the back of the car chilling to my bones because there's no butt warmers at the back of the car seats.
* There's this high school culture or American culture where people wake up early in the morning and then prod another person and yell SHOTGUN!! The person who yells it first get to sit in the front. The annoying part of it is that CJ wins it all the time.

I'm enrolled in Hannah-Pamplico High School (HPHS) or also known as Florence High district two. My new American high school is relatively small compare to the others but it's still BIGGER than my old Malaysian high school. ( no picture provided, sorry :( )

                                                           This is my high school emblem.

The school is only one floor, unlike many typical Malaysian high schools( the higher the better). It's super clean and the toilet will all flush automatically ( ain't it amazing?! ). The classrooms are well equipped with heaters for the winter, smart-boards, white boards, LCDs, you name it. It's so high tech here and all students are required to wear a student tag around their necks which distinguished them according to their grades.

I am placed in Senior year which is AWESOME! Here in this school, we only take 4 classes, and that's the maximum. I'm dropping all Science classes, I have enough of them back in Malaysia!! Therefore, I took English 4( seniors only). US History ( mandatory), Masonry and 3D Art.

School starts from 8am to 3pm. Each schooling day consists of four blocks and a block lasts for 90 minutes. Unlike the schooling system in Malaysia, it's the students that move classes, not the teachers. We only have 3 minutes between each classes so there's quite a massive traffic jam in the hallways whenever the bell rings.

I have Ms. Cusack for first block which is English 4, Ms Cornwell for second block which is US History, Mr Shird for third block which is Masonry and Ms Calcutt for fourth block which is 3D Art.

What is amazing about American high schools is that you get to wear anything to school and even eat and drink in class! My masonry teacher, Mr Shird has a small grocery in his workshop where he sells us drinks like Dr. Pepper and stuff for 50 pence per item. That gave me a culture shock.

The Americans in high school are very bright and friendly. The first friend I made is Ashley Poston from English 4. She's real nuts about OCs and anime characters and her English is real good. Other friends made eventually throughout my first day are Maurice, Nadia, Lisa Whaley, Justin, Blake Calcutt and many more. They're all like "Hey! It's the new girl!! HI!!!'

I can also see many couples holding hands in public and even in class. I got culture shock for a couple of time in school and I got confused about which bus I was supposed to be boarding to get home.

Let me make a list about the differences between Malaysian and American high schools

MALAYSIA :

1. Clothes : Pinnaform
2. Classes : Restricted to Science subjects
3. Hair : No more than 5 cm below the ears.
4. Nails : Whatever you like


AMERICA :

1. Clothes : Anything, as long as its not too short.
2. Classes : Each to their own aptitude.
3. Hair : Anything
4. Nails : Anything

However, no matter how different the school systems may be in these two countries, I still heart MALAYSIA.

#Proud to be Malaysian#

I AM IN AMERICA!!!

Okie, here we go. This is going to be a LONG post.

Previously I have mentioned that I applied for the Kennedy-Lugar YES scholarship which allows us to go abroad to the USA for half a year on an academic exchange program which is totally FOC and a rare chance that many students will kill for right?

Here's the deal. I got the scholarship.

And I am in America now.

Sometimes I stare around at my host family's house and wonder whether all of these are real, and wonder whether I am still dreaming. I am actually in South Carolina surrounded by thousands of Americans and tens of other exchange students. I am actually in an American high school and enjoying senior year ( yep, like what you see in High School Musical ).

And my host brother will strangle me every time I ask if he's real.

So this is real.

The plane flight from KLIA Malaysia to Heathrow London was brutal. B R U T A L I tell you, but it's worth it. I was stashed in the the window seat and every time I want to go out and pee, I have to scramble through a very sleepy Karen and an absolutely expressionless Saktesh so I tried to hold my pee in as long as I could. It didn't actually work out.

The flight was approximately 13 hours and it was freezing by the time we reached Heathrow. It was 10 degrees below zero and we actually breathed smoke whenever we go outside! London is awesome, but the currency is a pain in the arse! One pound is actually 10 ringgit ( sweating bullets even thinking of it )!!!

It was then another 6 hours of checking in and baggage scanning at the airport before we board United Airlines to Dulles International Airport USA.

By time we reached the Youth Conference in Washington D.C USA, we're all nearly half dead from exhaustion and jet lag with fatigue.

We had an orientation for two days in the Youth Conference and we had quite a lot of snowball fights there. The freshly fallen snow was destroyed by all 43 of us in a wink and we practically destroyed the lobby with our snow prints and flakes of ice ( guilty look ). Lovin' every moment in USA!!

But it is COLD!!!!! But I made 3 snow angels all the same. :p

                                Group photo at Youth Conference USA lobby!! Love YES 14!!

After the orientation, we were divided into three separate group with different plane and bus boarding time to our respective host states and families. I was arranged into the bus "Crackle" in which it's boarding time was 5:30am in the morning. I was in the group with Sakti, Saktesh,Karen, Ashie, Bella, Suzanne, Priscilla, Kat and a couple others. Kat and I were strayed from the group earlier because we are going to the same state and our flight is the same. There were lots of hugs and well wishes and soon we're off!!

There are butterflies in my stomach when we landed in Florence Airport. The flight was brief ( thank god, the plane is TINY!!! ). I saw three golden headed people inside the airport and my local coordinator waiting for me. OH MY GOD.

Mama, Keri and CJ was waiting for me!! Oh my gosh!!

                                    Here's the happy picture of my new American family!

                                                 From the right : Keri, me, Mama and CJ!

                                                                   This is my  room.

                                                         I know, I know, it's pretty right? :p

Okay, I'll stop here for the moment, more to follow up as I'm so tired now!!!  LOVE AMERICA!!!!

TRIP TO THE US EMBASSY

20-12-13

Shak hacked into Dev’s facebook account and posted : “Love Farah.”

Dev dear, don’t give excuses about Shak hacking into your account. Just admit it already, hahaha! :p

It was also the dreaded day for the “small part” (for the origins of the names Big Part and Small Part please ask any of the 2014 YES-ters, they’ll all be quite willing to tell you). The “big part” had finished their VISA interview yesterday and all had gotten their VISAs. We were told by the Big Part that the interview was abnormally difficult and harsh. The Small Part which consisted of a small number of the 2014 batch was quite shocked and was nervous for the interview.

We all donned our formal attire like monkey suits for the boys and dresses and baju kurungs for the girls and we WALKED to the US Embassy, under the afternoon sun. We took the LRT from KL Sentral to Ampang Park and then we walked all the way to the US Embassy in our formal attire. We were all sweating when we arrived and then at the moment we entered the building, it started to rain.

The US Embassy is extremely strict about everything. No belts, no phones, no laptops and anything sharp like a scissors or nail clipper would be confiscated and returned at the end of the visit. Saktesh and Neville took off their belts and we all were shooed into the waiting room where everyone sat still and was so quiet that I can hear a pin drop. 

And then when we couldn’t take it any longer, we all burst into mad laughter, Jordan actually said BOOM and nearly got shot. Haha Jordan dear…

We all got our passports and VISA papers and we signed before we were taken into another room where we got a number each and waited for our number to show up on the screen.

My VISA interview lasted for 30 seconds. I can’t believe it. The “Big Part” actually “pakat” and told us that the interview was damn hard. Dev, I am so going to take your braces off early. But the most important thing is, we all got our VISA!!! YAY!!!

                                                          # WE GOT OUR VISAS!!!#

DANCE PRACTICE

16-12-13 (Dance Practice Starts)

I travelled down to KL with my Penang friend, Jordan Tang from Por Thay High School. We don’t actually know each other well but thanks to facebook, we got to introduce each other and chat our way to KL. We took the Aeroline bus which was an absolutely grand ride to me as it had a steward, a toilet and a personal television.

It was a slow ride though, and I watched television the whole trip down while Jordan simply slept like a log. We reached Coral Hotel at approximately 9 o’clock night and we couldn’t find the LRT station. We wandered about with our luggage like tramps and asked every guard or policeman we met. Finally, a helpful taxi driver pointed us the direction and we hit YMCA Hotel at 11pm.

Totally drained and exhausted, we crashed to sleep with our cute roommate, Tzy Jun, but everyone calls her Jun (She was suffering from an awful cold, and Jordan and I caught it too). Dance practice starts early at 9am at the Temple of Fine Arts and we had to walk there in a group from KL Sentral. There were 5 others staying in the same hotel with us. Andrew Lee, Mr. Google from Penang, Nabella, Ryhana, Hoshi Ooi ( the deaf deligrate also from Penang), Ang Yan Jun and Low Chia Yen.

Dance Practice practically started with a warming up and an energizer hosted by the AFS volunteers, all of them are 2012/2013 YES returnees. Our head volunteer is Sylvia Chan and she’s as nuts as the other volunteers. After an energizer of “My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean” and the ice breaking session, we grouped up and started practicing our steps.

I am the group leader of Group 1, which also happened to be the finale group. We have Keeka, a sweet Malay dancer, Wan, also a dancer, Shakirin (We all call him Shak), a singer which happened to be quite good looking, Hoshi, a hand-signer, Katherine (Kat) a choir singer and a most talented musician, Mellissa (Mel), Saktesh, computer electrician(whatever it is called) and Athirah.

We were going 1 Malaysia song, and our first draft and cheorography stank so much that our volunteer, Swee gave us some ideas about doing it in couples and perform the front part as a fashion show.

Athirah got paired with Wan, Saktesh with Keeka, Mel with Hoshi and I am paired with…...Shak.

Yep, and that is the beginning of all my “problems”…heeheehee. 2014 YES-ters, you get what I mean.

Group 5 is going the Dikir Barat and all of them sang the “Ewah buleh, ewah buleh, ewah buleh, bersuka ria…..” . There was one guy in the front, Daniel Foo, he was the most energetic of them all. Group 2 is doing the Indian dance, Group 3 is doing the tarian Sumazau and Group 4 is doing the Chinese dance. Dev, the tallest guy in our batch at the height of 190 something cm was the centre of attention with his awesome kung fu.

Dance Practice ended at 4pm and I went shopping at LOT 10 with Jun, Jordan and a couple others. I have to admit that Jordan was quite a shopper herself. She browsed through all the clothes and made inaudible comments and then kept on badgering me with questions about what clothes would a guy like to wear( Jordan, everyone gets it :p ).

We all wanted to sleep early, but all of us ended up sleeping at 12am and we woke up feeling like grizzly bear and rushed to the next practice, because everything is fun!!!

CONFESSIONS OF AN EXCHANGE STUDENT

Hi guys! My name is Saw Stefanie, 17 from Penang, Malaysia. I am studying senior year at Sacred Heart High School and I am just some typical high school student with a coconut haircut and wearing ridiculously tall socks just like any other Chinese school students across Malaysia.

This year, I am an exchange student, a young ambassador of Malaysia to the United States of America. Yup, you heard me right. I got the Kennedy-Lugar YES scholarship to spend six months FOC in America. At first it was like a dream. Thousands and thousands of people applied for this scholarship and 120 made it into the selection camp, which is the final round. Out of these 120, 46 were selected. And I am honored to be one of them.

It was a friend’s complaint that actually changed my life. I was going to apply for the 2 weeks Kizuna program to Japan since I assumed that I was going to be eliminated anyway from the YES program, since so many students had applied for it and failed. And then, my friend, Zi Ying came over and asked me to switch to the KL-YES program since I was form 5 and everything. I shrugged and agreed. The school counselor was most unhelpful with this program so I had to search and get the forms myself and send it.

It was a surprise when I got the interview letter for the state and national level.

Well, here I am, one of the 44 chosen young ambassadors of Malaysia. And this is also the end of my normal days as a typical high school student. So, I am blogging to start the new PART II of my life: confessions of an exchange student.

Basic stuff about my new life:

1.     I am hosted in Pamlico, South Carolina.

2.     I am going to Hannah Pamplico High School.

3.     My host mum is Lori Bowen, a good cook and working as a pharmacist. Plus, she is divorced with my host dad.

4.     Host dad is a policeman, so I guess I don’t have to worry about personal safety. :p

5.     I have two host siblings, Keri Bowen (21) and CJ Bowen (13).

This is basically what I know about my placement. I look forward to spend time with my host family! <3

SPM TRIAL RESULTS

No wonder they call it SPM Trails.
It is really a trial.

Ok. I don't really remember reading or studying very intensely, but I do know that I've paid 101% attention in class and tuition especially for the subjects that I suck at which is Physics and Mathematics and Additional Maths.

When the results came out, I got the shock of my life.

My results is absolutely UNEXPECTED.

I got 90 marks for my Physics and 92 for my Maths. I even got 92.5 for my Moral and 94 for English. For Chemistry it is a 87 and I don't even want to mention about my Chinese marks. I have flushed it down the toilet bowl without regrets.

Er hem. I would say that I am extremely pleased with my Trails results.

But I won't get too cocky as the real deal is approaching.

Speaking of school, I can't believe that they have actually post-pond the last Form 5 hair checking session to next week! Argh! The earlier it is over, the better.

Everybody in my school is getting so busy over the so called Flash Mob. It is practically a mob of people doing something out of rhythm. But I can tell that the participants enjoyed themselves immensely. The teachers in my class are not pleased given the very few students in class and SPM is approaching and everything. On the bright side, the teachers gave the remaining handful of students all the attention they need about revision and last minute exercises.

I've counted.
41 days to SPM.
I am extremely curious how my sister endured the whole ordeal last year.
Because I am handling things pretty badly.
My concentration has a lousy span of 2 hours and no more.
And I'm currently back in the writing addiction.
Not to mention novel reading.
And I have put on weight, a LOT of weight as I have been glued to the study table for 10 hours a day and being too lazy to exercise and eat a lot of junk food.
I feel really really fat.
And guilty too.

When I sit at the study table, I suddenly miss my sister very much.
Although it is much cleaner without all her clutter at home.
I wish she is here to gossip about that*girl and help me with my studies.

SPM Trails

10 subjects

1.  Bahasa Malaysia
2.  Bahasa Inggeris
3.  Bahasa Cina
4.  Chemistry
5.  Biology
6.  Physics
7.  Mathematics
8.  Additional Maths
9.  Pendidikan Moral
10.Sejarah

SPM Trials is this Friday and the first subject happen to be P.Moral. I have to make space for storing 36 nilais into my brain and brush aside Malaysian History and the three science subjects.

Apparently, my brain won't cooperate with me.

I know, I know. I am currently preoccupied with the K-L YES scholarship which provides a totally FREE SIX MONTHS SCHOLARSHIP TO AMERICA! I actually got the scholarship and whenever I pick up a book, the excited thoughts of the scholarship will overwhelm me.

First is a whole week of insommia. Then is a week of over-excitedness. Now is sleeping-spell.

Gosh.............my grades!

And then, my sister is going to Taiwan for 4 YEARS to study.

Who's going to help me with the housework during my SPM?

The last year in high school is proving to be a pain in the ass, especially for the last four months where it's 100% studying and no play.

I study listening to Huayue. And everytime I listen to it, my heart aches.

I miss my Huayue. I miss my Dizi. I miss everyone in the band.

But with trails, I have to sacrifice everything I love.

Including SLEEP.

I'm aiming for 9A+ but that seems like a far far away dream.

This should be my first and last blog post until SPM is over.

Goodbye internet and Facebook. :(

And Hi to SPM.