Australia! Australia!

My Graduating Photo

There was a huge section on Education Australia in today's Star Sunday. I guess its time again to feature Australia as a study destination and of which I'm sure its a very popular one. IDP Education is a global organisation owned by the Australian education sector to specially aid students in their preparation to study in Australia. They represent over 300 government universities, schools, colleges, TAFE colleges and a number of private education institutions. They give unbiased professional advice on a students needs. But I didn't go through all that. Students today got a lot more headaches to go through before deciding because the choices they have is like infinite! Reminds me of my school days...

My School Days

I studied in Australia! I left in 1986 for year 9 (Form 3 la) to a private school in Sydney called Northholm Grammar. Those days it was hard to get accepted in schools but I am truly grateful to my neighbor, the Wan's, who migrated to Sydney to start afresh in the 80's. I still remember my dad asking me if I wanted to study overseas with Stanley and Serena! After all, most of my childhood was spent with Stanley and it was only natural I had wanted to be with my 'buddy'! It took almost 2 years before they found a school for me. Unc Johnny had gone through more than 30 schools before Northholm accepted me and it was like miles away. I could not go to a public school because I was not a PR so the only option was a private school. And boy it was not cheap, even for today's standards! It took 3 hrs of travelling back and forth each day. I wonder how many of you would endure that just to go to school ah? A bus to Epping Station, a train to Pennant Hills and a school bus to Arcadia. Everyday la dey! Good thing about schooling is when you travel in uniforms, you just need to flash your pass and that's it! Even if you need to pay, it wouldn't be the full fare cos that's the way the system works. It was a good system and I'm sure its still the same today.

My First Day

At 14, Australia was an eye opener for me! I remember the first, first day of school in year 9. Even after going through the plans over and over again, something had to go wrong and it had to be the first day! I woke up all excited! I'm goin da school .. I'm goin da school .. (doing that shit stirring thingy!) Got ready and doing last minute preparations. Then time to go! I walked out of my foster house to the bus stop just outside and waited. And waited.. and waited .. It was a long wait before the bus finally arrived! As the bus appoached, it was travelling quite fast but could see that it was slowing down! I took a step back! That was a big mistake! It was a sign that you are not interested in taking that bus. It accelerated and zoomed by me like the bullet train in Tokyo blowing my hair all over the place. I was in disgust! In KL, we start cursing already! But in Australia, I thought maybe racist bus driver or something! I managed to catch a bus after that, but never learnt the one step back till a while later on. Hence, I missed a few busses still. Late oredy la! I would take the later train and as a result, I missed the school bus. Darn! My first day of school somemore! Taxis were very expensive in Sydney those days and the meter would jump by 5 cents every like 5 seconds! I was told to avoid taxis at all costs! I asked around for other busses if they headed out to Northholm Grammar, Arcadia, they said "WHERE"? Thats when I thought, this school so far away, the locals don't even know where it is! Shucks! Bad dream! Bad dream!

I grabbed a taxi! Don't care la! Had some money with me but had no idea how much it would come up to after all the horror stories! I said to the taxi driver "I need to go to Northholm Grammar in Arcadia" and he looked at me and replied something to the effect of "I dunno where it is but if you have the address we can get there with the directory?". That was comforting! Still we took a long time and when we finally got there, I couldn't pay with what I had in my pocket. I got down and went into the office to borrow money! All this on the first day ya! They found out I was a student there and they just billed it to my uncle. The lady said "they are having a school assembly now. Why don't you go around the block and sit in with them?" I said "ok" and left. I looked around the building blocks following the voice of the headmaster. The voice grew louder and louder and I could hear it was just round this corner...I turned.. and was facing the whole school!! I had stood on the very podium the headmaster was standing on addressing the whole school on MY FIRST DAY! What a wonderful experience, NOT!! Can there be anything more embarassing??? I could never forget that! Stories that you will pass on to your grandkids for sure!

My First Teacher

I met my role teacher for the year. I couldn't believe it! She was the mystical blonde hair , blue eyed, single, beach going, tanned and slim model like women that we only see on tele. (not kidding here!) Now, I get to see her everyday! Woohooo! Later on I found out 'the hard way' she bathes topless and often doesn't wear bra to school! hmm that'll be another story another time! After the 1st year, I saw her around for another 3 years before she got hitched , married and disappeared into the sunset forever. My first blonde hair and blue eyed experience! Ah Ms Rowland...