I left my heart in Melaka

Was browsing through my favourite food blog, Eating Asia. Two foreigners who loved South East Asian cuisine so much, their writing and photos on their blog are sheer poetry. Lo and behold, they posted about Melaka's famous Chicken Rice Balls. I haven't seen these for years! Coincidentally, was chatting with KC the other day and both of us were torturing each other with googled Chicken Rice Balls pics.

Back in the hall days, we sometimes do makan trips up to Melaka and none will be complete without partaking some of these Chicken Rice balls.

Once, there must be 10-12 of us who made the trip up to Melaka for a huge makan trip. Days passed in a haze of roti canai breakfast, mid-morning break, lunch, tea-time culminating in dinner. Of course, durians must be consumed.

Highlights includes a delectable Peranakan meal at Mako, with it's crispy fried fish slattered in moreish sambal, satay celup where we were almost frightened to touch the sides of the pot and of course, those chicken rice balls.

After Melaka, it was off to Genting Highlands for the few of us and for me, a stopover alone in KL, which is another story altogether.....

KE VII as I remember it

Was browsing through the KE VII website when lo and behold, there is a gallery of the facilities available onsite. Ahhhh a picture says a thousand words. Nothing like a photograph to bring a rush of memories. Like this shot of the communal hall......



....where hostellites are initiated to the family during Orientation week. The place where I fell asleep while sewing that stupid dragon for the Float, where we celebrated Malaysian Night, Deepavali Night and other what nots, where we painted scenes for Faust and other Hall productions. Scenes of comedies and tragedies for actors and dancers alike. Wushu, badminton, choir, they all congregate here after dinner.



The dance club has the other option of practicing here, the Dance Room with mirrors. This was also the room where we made up and transform plain hostelites to gorgoeus mythical beings for the annual Float. I had the distinct memory of painting one of the freshies' body with blue food dye for his role as Genie. Sigh... sadly, he did not have a fab body and has hairy armpits to boot. What luck...

Of course, there are sports facilities, like tennis courts beside F and G block...



where after 5pm, you can make out the pok! pok! pok! of the tennis ball being served back and forth. Incidentally, years ago the Astronomers Club met here regularly, late nights equipped with their huge telescope. SC, CY and I went down out of curiousity one night. In the hush surroundings with the trees blocking any light pollution, we spent the night, peering at Jupiter through the telescope and lying on our backs with the night sky spread before us, trying to spot satellites. Apparently, they move really fast in an arc like a shooting star.



The basketball/handball/netball courts behind Block H. There were no bleachers when I was there and the surface certainly did not look as nice as this. Not being remotely interested in either of the games, I would only remember this as the place of final humiliation from the seniors before the end of Orientation. And the rather good satay and chicken curry party we had for Kwang Hsien and Fook Wei before they left for Australia.



The squash courts were placed in a funny corner. You have to climb a short flight of stairs to get to them. Again, not being a sports person, I never had any dealing with this obscure corner of KE. Just the incident where YF was smashed in the face with Karen's racquet. He was wearing glasses which neccessitate a trip to the A&E (down those 127 steps again) and wearing an eye patch afterwards.

Ahhh here's the creme de la creme... the TV Lounge



where everynight at 8pm we have the Channel 5 "The Simpsons" and the Channel 8 drama competing against one another. Thankfully with two tv sets, no bloody fistfights broke out. Also the place where bootleg, pirate VCDs were shown and karaoke contests were sung. Yes, there will always be someone who wants to sing the latest Cantopop or "My Way" everytime.

Besides the canteen, the lounge has the nicest view to the sea. Airconditioned with comfy seats (although then the sofa sets were not as nice), this was where we retire just after tea to read the papers or just to chill out before heading back to our rooms.

Of Maggi Mee and Nasi Lemak

picture courtesy of KEVII website

Was chatting to YF, an old KE mate on MSN. He's going to Harvard in August and lamenting it's back to hostel life for him.

Oh fond memories! Communal showers and toilets, where you can be "serenaded" by popstars wannabes. Queueing up for mediocre food at the canteen while trying to work out what kind of suspicious meat was used. Queueing up for a turn at the washing machines and dryers. There is no funnier sight than a row of plastic buckets with wet clothes and it is an understanding that the person who empty the dryers would courteously put the next bucket into the dryer. Woe betide the ones who "jump" queue!

I have no idea how hostel living is like at Harvard. At the prices they are charging, obviously it would be of better quality than dingy dear ol' KE hall and I'll bet it is more scenic and atmospheric than the concrete monster that I called home for a good 4 years!

Well, one thing that KE hall has that Harvard won't have. Fong Seng Nasi Lemak! Mention that to any true-blue hostellite and you can see how misty eye they get (plus possible dribbling and drooling).

Come 11.30, a series of knocking on doors and "Oi fong seng! want or not?" A list of orders later and the hostellite lucky enough to have a car will make the journey to Pasir Panjang, next to the bus terminus. Hot from the back kitchen, lovely fluffy fragrant nasi lemak wrapped in banana leaves. Want something more substantial? Just add anything from the spread available - from chicken wings and otak-otak to sotong balls. I once had stir fry green beans so fresh and sweet it has to be plucked fresh 3 seconds ago.

One of my fondest memory is a whole big group of us walking all the way from KEVII to Fong Seng just to eat the nasi lemak in the middle of the night, with the would-be doctors and dentists in their blue scrubs and the rest of us in shorts and t-shirts. An 30min stroll there and back but what fun!

Well, it is not every night we go for Fong Seng. Most of the time, it is the trusted maggi mee embellished with fishballs and seafood sticks. If feeling a bit flush, it would be the cafe down at NUH (with all that 127 steps there and back) or Pasir Panjang Hawker Centre where my Chinese friends will partake in the Teochew Muay there. Once we saw Channel 8 artistes gulping down supper dressed up in Chinese period costumes - they must have done some flying- in-the-air kungfu style filming nearby.

Fuelled with supper, it is usually time to hit the books but most of the time (well, for me at least), supper continues with chatting to the early hours of the morning.

Of sex and shenanigans

Was browsing Google for kevii hall and came across this keviian entry. While deep in his study, the poor guy was disturbed by strange wailing noises "Ahhhhh....ahhhhh", climaxing in an orgasmic crescendo. The entreprising young man set to investigate the origin of the moaning and in part 2 of investigation, narrowed it down to Block G. And at last the moaners were caught.

Hahaha... some things never change. What do you expect? Throw girls and boys together, at the peak of their sexual urges, first time away from home, coupled with late nights bonding over the latest assignments and maggie mee, private rooms with comfy beds and what do you get?

What made finding that blog so funny is that KBL and I were just reminiscing about our Hall days at KEvii. Iinevitably, the topic turned to the infamous moaning incident in Block D. We all knew who the guy was. The moaning was on day and night. Give us and that girl a break! Good old S, ballsy as ever actually taped the moaning, knocked on their door and replayed the moaning to them.

Of course, over over-oily eggs at breakfast, we gossiped with hushed tones on who is going out with who and who was seen sneaking out of whose rooms in the early hours of the morning. Other tales of shenanigans from other halls include the couple who infamously forgot to close their blinds tight and did the act in full view of any passer-by from a higher floor. They were given a standing ovation. And I will always remember that guy who when highly stressed doing his assignments will shout "I need sex! I need a woman!"

Halls are a hotbed of sex and shenanigans. The theory is that hall mates can face expulsion if they were to have members of the opposite sex in their rooms way past the decent sociable hour. Hall master and residents are supposed to carry out surprise room checks to make sure residents are on this side of being virginal but the checks are so few and far between as to make it non-existent.

SDU got it so wrong! They should have just subsidised more undergrads to stay in campus halls instead of spending the money on cheesy ads. Quite a number of my hall mates found their wife/husband from the hall and since had children. Yes, including that famous moaner from Block D.

Good old KE Hall

Good Old KE Haall

Good Old KE Hall

KE is the bestest Hall

the greatest of them all......

Run that by me again. Bestest? Greatest? wahahahahaha.... Poor old King Edward VII Hall (KE for short), who in my time would come last or second last in IHG (Inter-Hall Games) and the butt of jokes during Orientation Float competition. But what do I care? To me, it is still good old KE hall and yes, I had some of my best times in Uni there.

On hindsight, maybe I should have done more research before choosing a Hall of Residence. Not only did I chose a hostel which was the furthest you can get to the Arts Faculty, it was crammed with Science and Medic students and only a very light sprinkling of Arts students and seniors. But I was seduced by a well put together brochure, you see... a beautiful pic of the buildings at dusk with twinkling lights and a harlot tagline of "All rooms faces the sea".

Little did I know that the nearest bus stop is a good 20 minutes walk down a secluded road, another 20 minutes walk the other way to the Arts Faculty down a scary secluded road and if you want to get to BizAd Faculty, it's a good half hour with a trek through a bit of jungle. There are 127 steps down and up to reach NUH for the internal bus.Yes, all rooms did face the sea but that does not guarantee that all rooms HAVE a sea view! More likely than not, you'll get a lovely view of the weird guy in the next block, scratching his bum on his way to the toilet.

Nevertheless, you don't spend years living at close proximity with other people without forming bonds and harbouring countless memories so I'm going to do some postings on my hall life starting with.....

Freshie Orientation

My introduction to Hall Life was the Orientation Programme; three weeks of relentless planned activities from gotong-royong sessions to 5km. runs to preparing for the Float competition. It was like Army boot camp. Fall in at 7.30am, dismiss for classes, fall in back again at 5pm, more activities, dismiss for dinner, fall back in, more activities, exercises, talk to seniors sessions where they made you do ridiculous things; ending in the wee hours of the night before you can collapse to bed only to wake up again a couple of hours later. They can always tell which ones are hostel students during the first few weeks- we were the ones who were falling asleep at the back of the lecture theatres.

Talk to Senior sessions can either be great bonding/advice sessions or pointless ones if you are unlucky enough to get seniors hell-bent on a power-trip. Not only you have to talk to seniors on allocated evening sessions but during breakfast, tea and dinner and woe betide those who tried to "siam".

The trick is of course, to know which ones are the "good" seniors and to head to them quickly once you are dismissed. Get a garang senior and good luck to you... more than once a poor, too-tired, overwhelmed freshie was reduced to tears. On the other end of the scale is the gatal senior who were keen to check out the "talent"; good-looking freshettes were often singled out and some of these seniors tend to be the good tah-kor (big brother) in order to worm themselves into their affections.

One of the hardest challenge in Orientation is keeping a straight serious face. Points (which later you have to work off during Physical Training sessions) are given to those who laugh or even crack a smile. So seniors will fool around with ridiculous jokes just to make sure you earn bad points. Sadistic right? Who can forget Kuan Chee Keong, dentist senior, coming in full dental regalia which will not look out of place in a Hannibal Lecter movie? You just had to separate yourself from your earthly body to deal with stuff like that.

Points were awarded for latecomers and also if you fail to come back to the hall in PE attire within a sadistic 7 minutes. Woe betide those who leave on the 6th floor (no lift) Block E which is the furthest away. Points were awarded for not being a teamplayer; for putting up your hand to answer a question which no one else know. Better fail as a team rather than being a smart alec. Points are deducted for good team behaviour, of course.

PT sessions run the gamut from calisthentics to runs to Kent Ridge Park cumulating in the final 5km. run from our hall to West Coast Park and back. It was punishing but now recalling it, it was rather funny. The lovebirds making out (some already on top of each other) at West Coast Park didn't know what hit them. There they were canoodling and then some, in the dark when suddenly this mass of 80 joggers ran past, with torchlights and seniors screaming like banshees. Sure mood killer.

An activity they no longer have in Orientation nowadays is the Song Fight. Each hall will have a proud tradition of Hall songs or cheers which any true-blue hall resident would know by heart. Song fights are basically halls shouting these songs to each other until one concede defeat. Sounds easy but it is murder to keep on track as a group with the other hall screaming discordant tunes at you and trying not to faint as you were squashed in a tight mass of sweaty bodies. Once in my year, we had another hall coming stealthily at something like 12am challenging us to a Song Fight but the real event was at the Science Faculty Sports Stadium. Kwang Hsien were hoisted on the shoulders of two tallest freshies as the Time Keeper and we yelled and sang to a respectable second place.

What is Orientation without the Float Competition? Every Hall are required to present a Float and intrepretive dance to the VIP which is usually the President of Singapore. So during my year, it was President Wee Kim Wee. Since Kitaro was so hot that time, we had a dance based on his music. I cannot remember much about the float in our year except that there was a dragon.

Why did I remember the dragon? Because I had to freaking sew that stupid thing night after night. It was not too bad on some nights because we got to chat and most importantly, sit down but running up to the day, our nights were getting later and later. Yoke Yeen and I were yet again sewing countless sequins onto that dastard dragon in the Hall. It was dark and cool and I could not help but fell asleep. I remember being woken up by a sympathetic senior, who dismissed me to bed. Yoke Yeen was also curled up next to the dragon fast asleep.

Harsh though it was, Orientation was a great bonding exercise. Nothing bonds a group faster than a common enemy : the dreaded senior. And we were dying to get to the finishing line because there was going to be a role reversal! For one night and one night only, we will get to be the bullying senior and they will have to take the crap from us. We had secret freshie meetings to think up gleeful reprisal punishments. Oooo..the excitement!

On the last night, after the Backwards Change (you have to put your clothes on inside out and backwards, including tying your ponytail the other way round) and the dreaded Square Meal (you have to time your feeding movements into a square and gobbled up your meal in seconds), we were finally ready.

Dressed in our best, as instructed, we trooped to the Basketball court ready to mete our punishment. The seniors were not listening, however much we shout and then out of nowhere, water bombs started flying. It was nothing but a sham and we had to walk through a tunnel of interlinking arms with well aimed kicks to our rears; just to complete the humiliation. After that, they shook our hands and welcomed us as true blue KEVIIans.