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