Wednesday, February 18, 2009

St Nicholas Convent

'Listen to our motto, guiding us as we go...'

This is my first visit after maybe 15 years or more I left this place. The changes are dramatic and an eye sore, this is the worst thing that could ever happen.

................


Primary school..the excitement of everything new and a dream of going to England (En Haffis---> jgn kata i perasan..)



This is current entrance from main road to Kopitiam parking, this is the exact spot where school chapel used to be and where sisters stayed. The chapel has a white trellis with purple flower and used to be our background during photo shoot at year end with kakak and adik angkat :-P

There was a long covered corridor with timber bench connecting the school canteen and primary school, but it has been demolished. I remember while waiting for my beca to come, I will watched and amazed by looking at the secondary student, they were tall and pretty with long hair and speak very fluent English. There was one Chinese girl who have a long thick hair like Rapunzel and her face is round and fair...


Former site of the chapel and access to the secondary school. On the left was a garden full of carnation and some vegetables and beans were crawling up the chainlink fencing.


Primary school block with school office and headmistress office, I was in Kelas Satu Kuning in 1982, the class was at the corner adjacent to the toilet..a girl next to me said 'don't cry baby, don't cry'...but I did not cry at that time, but I like the way she talked...

At standard one I already freak out thinking what will happen to me when I grew up and became a teacher and I can't speak English with other teacher in the staff room :-P...you know la at that age, dalam kad 001, ambition no.1 = cikgu, no.2=doktor....bla bla..one day during P.E I overhead this one girl said..'nineteen eighty..something..'..and I was like ..'oo okay that is how we pronounced 1982 or 1984..)..I learned anywhere and from everyone because I was afraid that could be ketinggalan zaman

One lucky day, my drawing of ketupat were hang at our classroom notice board, I was so proud of it and kept on looking at that drawing many many times. And one unlucky day, I asked Chan Suey Hey a talented girl in my class to draw anything and everything in my exercise book..the whole book for me to later enjoy colouring it..when my mom did her spot check..apalagi I hide behind the door and waited for her to come with rotan... :-P

Anyway, the original colour of the wall were white and after few years, few talented pupils were selected to paint them with characters from Snow White, Cinderella etc..as a small girl, I did envy them...I wish I had the same chance to paint the wall..I watched them with their brush and happily painting the wall with various colours...can't the back the clock though..

On the left of this photo, nearer to the office were where a small pond with waterfall made of cement ferro and decorated with bangau putih stood . I like the sound of the water running down the rock on hot afternoon.


This is the spot where I stood on the day Miss Sibert left our school compound where she seat on a trishaw and everybody wave goodbye to her. It used to be green with cow grass and primary school sports days were held here...there were kemboja tree at three corner of this school field and various colour of hibisbus line the green grass

In 1986, my classroom was on the left block in this photo, next to the staircase leading to secondary classroom. There were so many memories in this class, one day we were asked to draw below our poetry..draw something that is related to the poem, it was about a robbery, but me with my poor English, confidently draw a robot..what the heck...

Notice that last palm tree..? One day at around 4pm after heavy rain we saw a fire ball around that tree...I don't know what it is, but it fell down from the tree..

Back then Enid Blyton was a must in our reading list..I had so much fun reading them but not enough time to finish all book, therefore on the last day of that school year, I hide the book in our classroom's cabinet so that I could continue my adventure the following year..and in January 1987 when the new term came, I managed to finished it..


...............

Secondary school...where more fun and adventure began




Secondary school pavillion...a place where we held a discussion after school period and it used to be seating area for parents and teachers during Sports Day.



My Oh my...I fell down at this left corner masa saringan untuk sports day..every year few days before the big day, they will paint black lines and it smells of minyak gaih.





We also had a small two days gathering for Girl Guide and Scouts at this field. Guides from Sultanah Asma, Bahiyah and Scouts from KSAH were invited..that was the time where we had the opportunity to cuci mata..especially the Sea Scout in their white uniform... :-P.. but they were a good cheater..during of the cooking contest, they bought outside food insted of cooking it themselves...and they won...hampeh !!




Corridor towards school hall where we girl guides line up during Hari Penyampaian Hadiah. Next to SRT Lab were two science lab.


That orange wall hurt my eyes...

The wall were once plain white and an important background for photo session as well. That is the domestic science lab where we learn to cook properly using the right knife, the right measurement and separate our fork and pan in the wash basin. There were six main working table with cabinet underneath and one big wash basin. We have a recipe books wth hard cover decorated with photo's of pastries and cakes and delicacies cut from magazines and newspaper.

This door is new addition where else previously there were all adjustable louvered window.

There are so many things that has disappeared but the memories still remained in our heart

14 comments:

Queen Of The House said...

Sue, I appreciate the photos but sedih bila tengok. The school was once a beautiful place with the msiisonary-school buildings. green fields etc. We shared some of the same classrooms. When I was in Std 3 (3 kuning) I was in the same classroom you mentioned, next to the teachers' room. Std 2 Yellow, last class in the middle block, next to the toilets, and near the little bookshop under the stairs.

Naz in Norway said...

Salam persahabatan Sue,
I'm a former ST NICK's. Class of 85. Thanks for these lovely pictures. This is the first time I see pictures of our school as it is today. It is very sad to see our school left in this condition.

I have fond memories of arriving every morning...green grass, white buildings, tall palm trees. Nostalgia nya.

sue said...

Dear Queen,
memang sedih, masa nak ambik gambar ni i ada one kind of feeling, tak tau nak describe, 11 long years kat sana has taught me a lot

ingat tak dlm classroom wall cross dah takde tapi still nampak mcm ada coz habuk2 still kat wall tu..bila sister came and visit the class, semua kena bangun ..'good morning sister..' (i bukan nak banggakan apa)--> takut org salah faham pulak :-)

sue said...

Kak Naz,
i nak lari tutup muka...have been reading your blog for almost two months...hari2 log in..love your vivid story of aloq staq :-) and your lovely childrens, tapi malu2 nak tinggal comment..

i dah khatam all your entry including your st nicks story..so salam persahabatan juga

Naz in Norway said...

Sue,
So THAT was YOU!....I was wondering siapa la budak ni yang asyik lari lari tutup muka...haha!

I tengok your face, nampak macam familiar. You orang mana?

Kak Naz dah link Sue. I hope it's ok :)

sue said...

Kak Naz,
kalau kat blog u punya stat tracking tu tgk dr putrajaya ..i la tu

I orang seberang perak, tak jauh dr restoran bunga tanjung

thanx kak naz, i pun nak link u

KG said...

Sue,

Salam, I pun from St Nicks Class 1985, even though I left in 1984 to go to SMTSP, I still consider myself a St Nicks...keluarq ayaq mata tengok all these pictures...after close to 20 years, I last went back to AS last year, tak sempat nak masuk round sekolah, only saw from outside...the deplorable condition, i dok kutuk the local authorities of waht hv they done and what they are going to do next!!???

sue said...

KC,
Before this visit i dah bergenang air mata juga..tapi kalau bukan sebab bawa anak2 yg kecik hari tu, i sanggup walk into the classroom and hall and wherever I want..(tapi kena ada teman lerr..:)

they were talking abut making aloq staq as bandar diraja, when it comes to conservation, depa ingat bangunan mcm istana saja..they should 've have open up their mind

oldtown~Smell the Roses said...

Alamak...rasa sedih, pilu bila baca ur entry this time coz the pics tak menggambarkan yg dibayangkan. Semua hanya tinggal kenangan...

sue said...

Nani,
memang sedih, tapi kalau u ada kenangan kat sana lagi double extra sedih...nanti balik kampung i akan post kat sini gambar2 kenangan...walk down the memory lane..

Anonymous said...

Salam Kak Sue,

At last jadi juga upload cerita tentang SNC. Walaupun I bukan dr SNC tp I memang benci tengok bangunan bersejarah yang ditinggalkan macam kena bom Israel. At least the authority should do something that worth it than now. I pun tak tau nak describe the old SNC as what, Brownfield maybe ?

Anonymous said...

Salam

I am one of the girls who painted the walls with the cartoon characters. My fren and i painted the Smurfs..hahaha tak talented pun..just needed an excuse to be out of the class after ujian penilaian hahaha...anyway i left the school in 1986, i was in 6 putih to come to kl. went back last year and felt very sad to see the school in that condition. Even went for breakfast at the kopitiam there..the standard two block was turned into a kedai makan..sad sad..but still proud of that school. Keep on ur journey down memory lane..brings back my memory of the good old days..

Anonymous said...

Dear Sue,

Thanks for the memory. I left SNC in 1978 after my Form 5. I'm an old aunty compared to your age group. My daughter had the opportunity to study at the old school before they closed down. It was really sad to see it left to rot. The Convent now is not like those days. Those were good days. I still meet up with Ms Mak and some other teachers.

cik aini said...

Hi all,

I was shocked and sad to see all those pictures. Never thought that's the end story of SNC. I left SNC in 1989 after SPM. Anyway, the chinese girl with the long hair was my class mate Susan. She had very long hair until her knee, but she cut her short after that cannot remember when. How's Ms Mak and other teachers?