Thursday, July 06, 2006

How things has changed......

The best moment in life beside getting married and having lovely kids must be during our childhood time. Spending time studying and playing and make friend and being scold. I spend eleven long years in SNC - St Nicholas Convent (Alor Setar), a school where parents were dying to send their child in because of the system of maybe it was considered English school.

I entered SNC in the early 80's where the school church with pale looking nun were still around and we have to greet them whenever they passed by...'Good Morning sister..At those time they were many Serani student and most of them are good looking with long nice hair, properly dressed up with good command of English. I always fancy their English name : Elizabeth, Grace, Ann, Stephanie, Cheryl..and there were also Indian Christian with beautiful names like: Felomina, True Indian normally have these name : Nagarani, Telagawati, Bawani and a must have: Hemamalini, after famous Indian actress.

Those were the days when I always pretend that I was in English school in England !!(kecik-kecik dah perasan tu..)

We had a small school office for both primary and secondary, few small toilet cubicle for primary school with green field surrounded by palm trees and hibiscus, for secondary we had double storey building, pavilion, assembly hall, five nos. of food stall with 10sen drinks..and sister's house plus the church. There were lovely bell like purple flower blooming on a white trellis infront of their carporch. They also planted colourful carnation and few vege plants. It wasn't a Grade A school but it holds memory of thousands student.
It was the moment when Cindy Lauper, Bross, Alleycats rised to fame..and Abba and Carpenter song were recomposed by music teacher to suit us during music class.

Most of the system and orientation were into Western even though we follow Malaysian syllabus. English were compulsory, we even had an English Week, one will be find if she used even one Malay word and we had a class 'tulisan sambung' during primary maybe at standard 4..where you have to write an essay with proper italic font instead of one independent alphabet to construct a word.

that was then.....

this is the reality..a reality that hard to swallow..SNC is just a name, it is now Sek Kebangsaan and they have moved to other place with new modern standard design building, no more English style classroom with big doors. Things has changed to suit current demand and the old school is now just a abandoned building. Not really abandoned but taken over by some operator selling those cheap stuff..if you look at this picture from Google Earth: the green school field has turn into a pasar with blue tent..what a sad sight..the church is no longer there..no more purple flower..I did once comment in QOTH blog on related entry that 'i hate looking at the school now, it feels like looking at your ex..'
One day I passed by the road going to the roundabout and I notice that there were still few abstract painting at the corridor..the same old painting..I almost cried..

10 comments:

Alinlai said...

alahai so sad la...best kan zaman sekolah dulu2...relax & enjoy je :)

sue said...

thanx for coming here..memang best, sedih pun ada bercampur-campur

simah said...

memories zaman masa sekolah memang bestkan.. things changes..as we do..

Queen Of The House said...

alamak traveler ... I almost cried too. Sedih sungguh kalau lalu kat situ, the kedai ekonomi has reduced the magnificent school to shambles! Just imagine if the school is still there, with the Menara Alor Setar beside it, kan ke seronok?

You remember the school bell tak? Don't know lah masa your time dah pakai loceng letric or did they still use the old ting-tong bell yang kena tarik dengan tali/chain tu. I loved that bell tapi tak ada chance nak bunyikannya. Kalau buat juga masa dulu alamat kena rotan dengan Miss Sibert lah kot!

Nong said...

Kak nong pun kalau lalu sekolah lama rasa nak menitik air mata... Dah tak macam dulu lagi, dah modern..

sue said...

simah,
memang best , masa tu kan baru nak kenal dunia..sekolah mahsuri u still remain the same kan?

QOTH,
sedih sgt, if i just spend 2 years at that school maybe my reaction is different..can't they just preserved it along with the istana next to the school?

during my time we have this ice cream bell at the canteen..i didn't remember about the ting-tong bell..:-)
but it was a great moment.

sue said...

kak nong,
banyak kenangan masa dulu-dulu yg tak boleh dilupakan..kak nong sekolah kat mana dulu?

Queen Of The House said...

Traveler ... that bell was the one just outside the (primary school) headmistress' office.

sue said...

oo,..masa i dah guna elektrik, tapi bising sikit..because of this entry i asyik termimpi2 pasal SNC..:-)

My tutor and english friends call me Nurul since they can't pronouce my other name said...

I really agree...so sad.
Passing by the school and I dont even dare to turn my head behind, I afraid I will cry. So much memories remain there but when I go back it turn into kopitiam. Worse nightmare but that reality.
But hey masa my year 2000 ada lagi loceng traditional at school canteen tu. Even have oppurtunities to knock it during recess time since I was Prefect. What an honour and now I miss it so much.