A month already? A full month since my last post? Wow...well, what can I say. To try to write as much as I can is as hard as to try to eat as little as I can. Ha ha ha. See? They're both troubles to me. Eating and writing. But those trouble I adore, and adore will I be unto them.
Lots of things changed this month. No, between 9th July and 10th August. Firstly, I moved to a place closer to campus. I left my old house with a scar as big as the scratch on my fridge that those two movers did while lifting it. Damn I love my white fridge! Oh, sorry, I digress. Sometimes.
Secondly, living closer to the campus (or may I say, smacked right in the middle of KL city chaos), I feel a little different. Ok. No. Big major Big Ben Clock Tower different. THAT big, ok? Mostly, the azan sounds a bit farther in the distance here, even though we have two mosques. One attached to UM, the other one near TNB building.
I have to say this. The first thing that I look for when I move in to a new place is whether the call of prayer (azzan) is audible. Why? I hate having to turn on my laptop whenever I want to hear the muezzin calling us all to pray. So far, I have to like, really really pay attention, then only I will hear the azzan clearly. Never mind, at least it's audible.
What I like the most about this new place is that I can reach the campus in 15mins. 10 mins if I can find the taxi waiting in front of the building!
Whatever it is, I feel glad that I am now just a stone's throw from campus. Compared to the house in Kota Damansara, it takes exactly 1 hour to get to the campus, minus waiting time!
So yeah, I'm glad. And today I went to the faculty office with a heavy heart, only to return with giddy feelings! First of all, I manage to get a letter which is really important for my study leave. Next, the nice Kak Suri at the office gladly printed my PSD* form of which I thought I could never get it settled today! Then, while the Deputy Dean of Research Dr Jawakhir signing my form, she suddenly called out from her office (I was at a settee near her office door) "You're really good aren't you? You took three hardcore papers, and you managed to get As on all of them". I feel it's quite rude to speak without facing her, so I went to her office.
Me: Yes Dr?
DJ: I said your exam result is very good. Why don't you join us?
Me: Join you, Dr? But I'm bounded by the government scholarship.
DJ: That's what I'm saying. Why don't you leave the scholarship and come work with us. We could use a good generation of staffs like you.
Me: Well, to tell you the truth I have this oath I made a few years back, to give my service to UniSZA for 4-5 years, as a gift for changing my life when I did my diploma.
DJ: Well, I'm saying that you have a choice here. You can come and join us.
Now what do you say to that kind of offer? ME? I feel great. GREAT. I feel appreciated. I feel like those times I studied while having dizzy head because of the medication I ha d to swallow paid it all. I feel the effort of my mother spending a week sleeping on the floor of the UM Medical Centre was not wasted. I feel...calm.
I don't know where I get the will, but I do know that all the hardships will pay off someday. About the offer, well, I am still undecided. I want to stay loyal to my oath. Let's see. After 4 years paying off my duty for 2 years of study leave, I will take a leap, to see the world outside. To stay true to my profession.
Wish me well, dear friends.
* an academic performance form you must fill in for the purpose of tracking your performance while study leave, to be submitted to the Ministry of Higher Education
