Thursday, September 13, 2007

Ramadhan at Desa Tun

We all loved Ramadhan at Desa Tun because of so many reasons. The wardens and teachers were nicer than usual, minimum Detention Classes (because everybody behaved??), no morning ‘riadhah’, no house games, no PE, accelerated time tables and the list went on and on.

The funny thing is I can’t remember what was served during ‘sahur’. Can you? Maybe it’s because we all had ‘sahur’ half awake. I usually just shoved whatever food was put on my tray into my mouth. We rarely had any conversation going on at the dining hall. The only objective was, ‘eat fast, so that can go back to my beloved pillow A.S.A.P’. Usually I couldn’t recognize most people during ‘sahur’. Yeah, all STFians looked different during the wee hours. Maybe they’re all like me, never really bothered to comb my hair or splash water on my face, hence the half shut eyes.

The sleep after ‘sahur’ was usually really deep that chances of missing the first morning period were high. Thanks to all the school prefects who would make rounds at the hostel blocks to ensure nobody was getting less education. Hehe. However, there were cases of sudden migraine that forced some of us to drag our feet to the sick bay (and continued sleeping – if there were beds available, lah), only to be awakened by the fierce Kak Normah who would usually ask, ‘Ni apa kena ni?’ Her thundering voice was enough to inspire us to hurry back to the dorm, showered, get dressed and rushed to class. Forget psychological approach and diplomacy, Kak Normah’s voice was more effective.

The accelerated time table was to allow us to take longer naps in the afternoon. Bedtime again, baby! At least that’s what I thought back then. Only recently I realized that when we fast, our concentration period shortens but gets more intense. This is based on my own unofficial research done on myself when I was in Uni. Remind me to elaborate on this in another posting.

The afternoon prep hours during Ramadhan were meaningless (to me, lah). Who could concentrate on the books and finish homeworks when your tummy was busy singing ‘Keronchong Untuk Ana’? Those were my least productive hours during the day.

Surprisingly, there would be surge of energy when it came to ‘round compound’ time! This was when you could see all the happy, pale (hungry) faces walking around the school compound in groups, waiting for ‘break-fast’ time; definitely not discussing school work and exam questions. Haha. What we discussed, I couldn’t really remember but we didn’t do any gossiping or bitching back then. Ah, such pure hearted young ladies. Yes, STF is filled with Gadis Melayu Ayu Pemalu. :)

I could remember ‘break-fast’ menu quite well. There’ll be the dessert: either bubur cha-cha, bubur pulut hitam or bubur kacang; then there were dates; sirap selasih or cincau as the thirst quencher; steamed rice served with the usual ‘lauk pauk’. Thanks to our ever creative ‘AJK Makanan’ from each class and of course, Makcik Dining Hall.

Maghrib prayers were performed at the hostel blocks’ praying rooms, usually late, as we’d take really long time at the dining table to ‘lick-clean’ all the bowls. We all loved the Makcik Dining Hall so much; we helped to ease the ‘doing the dishes’ part.

The highlight of a Ramadhan day had to be racing in our white ‘telekung’ to the gym to get the best ‘saf’ during Isya’ and Tarawikh prayers. Yes dears, those were the times when we performed our ‘solat jemaah’ in the gym. That was before the beautiful surau was built. We usually lost about 5-8 kgs during Ramadhan because of the fasting and the nightly ‘sauna’. The gym was hot, okay… and the fact that the Dewan Besar was so ‘besar’, it blocked all the night breeze from entering the school gym. However it didn’t deter the Ramadhan spirit in us to complete the 8-rakaat of tarawikh plus 3 witir. The spirit would soar even higher if our ‘toings’ were in the nearest saf or better still, if they’re next to us. Waaaa weeeee….. ‘tak larat’, okay. Tengah rukuk pun boleh sengih sorang-sorang.

The second race for the night (this happened during weekends only) will be from the gym to the school canteen. Back then, the Pakcik Kantin sold fish cakes, fish balls, kupang…. You know… all the ‘cucuk-cucuk kat lidi’ stuffs dipped in chili sauce. So, we’d sit at the canteen benches, enjoying the food and chit-chatting until Pakcik Kantin ‘tutup kantin’. Can’t really remember what time the lights went out during Ramadhan, but we usually ended the nights with another round of supper at the dining hall. Buruk lantak or what? Hahahaha. Hungry, what to do….

Oh yeah, during my senior years, we stayed up even on Ramadhan nights. I can’t remember what we were doing. We were either finishing our homeworks (that were supposed to be done during those unproductive afternoon prep hours) or studying for test (only if the test was on the next day, lah…) If the warden was in a really good mood, we’d watch movies on Singapore TV. (To current students, please don’t tell your warden we used to watch late night movies, okay. Hehehe.)

So, obviously the reason why the nap after ‘sahur’ was so deep was …. (please fill in the blanks. I’m sure you know the answer by now.)

Ramadhan Al Mubarak to all Srikandis – wherever you are.


SK Dayang '91

15 comments:

Unknown said...

sahur? saya cuma ingat satu je menu waktu sahur - ayam goreng berempah. ahhh... sedapnyaa... hingga menjilat jari...

Idlan said...

I was going to write a piece on Ramadhan at Desa Tun too, but it looks like you beat me to it :)

What I recall with most fondness are the terawih prayers. When I started form 1 the Pusat Ibadat was already up and running; and the rule was that if you had your period you had to go to prep; otherwise you were to be at the Pusat Ibadat. Since those attending terawih did not have to go to prep, during my upper form years, even if I had my period I would don the telekung and march off to the Pusat Ibadat with my homework - because I couldn't be bothered to change into baju kurung, and going to the surau meant one could wear t-shirt and shorts (or track bottoms) under the telekung. This fascination and preference with dressing down, I fear, has stuck to this very day.

But of course, most importantly, we would always prefer to go to the surau regardless because terawih would end approximately 10 minutes earlier than prep.. which meant more roti krim (or biskut gula!). I blame my voracious appetite on being underfed at STF!

D.N.A.S said...

Azq,
ada ayam goreng rempah? Isy, ruginya I tak ingat.

Idlan,
write lah jugak. I'm sure everyone's experience is unique.

Anonymous said...

selamat menjalani ibadah puasa..

Spena said...

dnas-the one which I cannot forget till now is, eventhough the bell rings at about 3.30am, tgh everybody betul nyenyak tidur, some people can still run to the toilet to wash up, and run to the dining hall to make sure they don't have to queue long! 3.30am tau!

Leymah Giggs said...

i dun recall going to sahur.. rasenye byk tido dr bgn sahur.. kalau pegi sure termenung jek.. hehehe

rose said...

one of the years in Desa Tun (can't remember which year oredi coz dah 21 tahun tinggalkan Desa Tun, hehehe) we had this delicious nasi goreng for sahur. I rarely woke up for sahur but because of that nasi goreng, i'll make sure i got up once a week :) Nak jadikan cerita, i slept thru sahur on that nasi goreng day. Frust menonggeng la seharian kat dalam class. So, tengahari tu apa lagi, menonong la saya ke dining hall sebab nak makan nasi goreng punya pasal, hehehe. Ingatkan balik, jahil sungguh masa tu, hehehe

hanazita said...

azq.. sangat setuju. However malas nak bangun sahur pun, but on ayam goreng berempah day mesti tak miss. Kalau bejot pun kgd2 pegi sahur jugak, sbb kalau time lunch mesti dah takde ayam dah..

sape la yg tau recipe ayam berempah tu.. dah try masak but still rasa tak sama.. :(

Anonymous said...

Hmmm I find the part of toing-toing very salacious.. would you say that lesbianism is alive in all our residential girls only hostel..How about Tunku Kursiah..are the toings there just as sexy and beautiful...

do you get wet even when you rukuk... :)

"The spirit would soar even higher if our ‘toings’ were in the nearest saf or better still, if they’re next to us. Waaaa weeeee….. ‘tak larat’, okay. Tengah rukuk pun boleh sengih sorang-sorang."

D.N.A.S said...

toings,
your mind is so twisted. 'Tak larat' means thrilled. I don't get wet when I'm thrilled, but I don't know about you, lah. Hahaha.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm :) just wondering...how far is the toings things taken to in girls hostel.. unlike boys hostel where it would be taken seriously...you know like in MCKK or RMC when they took in 12 year old boys...thankfully they have stopped it..

I suppose girls can do it discretely.. or with less damage. Some one have to admit it, fully girls hostel promote lesbianism while fully boys hostel promote homosexualism... jangan pula mak bapa ingat tak campur lelaki perempuan itu natural..

They should do like MRSM...more natural..

So how many lesbians/penkid have TKC and Tun Fatimah produce over the years? Any famous ones..?

Leymah Giggs said...

TOINGS, leave ur email address. U want to know so much abt girls' hostels don't u? Come on! Jgn la takut.

toing said...

leymah giggs jangan lah mare...

Just curious that tengah ibadat pun ada toing-toing kat Tun Fatimah. Agaknya apa lagi you all buat kat bilik tidur..hehehe.

All these years...tak tahu berapa ramai lesbian dah TKC dan Sri Kandi Fatimah produce heh..

This just depending on this one honest admission...hehehe..

It never cross my mind until I read this blog... share lah dengan kita orang... siapa lagi pernah jadi toing..siapa kena toing..

Macam accepted practice je simpan toing. You all screen ke budak2 form one yang baru masuk groom yang cun2 jadi sexual toing... why the high.. mula2 kakak angkat..

Maklongnya Bedah said...

during my 5 ramadhans in stf, i only remember one thing.. how this one macik dining hall pensan when she saw this huge make shift pocong of sort, courtesy of april fool's joke. it happened in block C, near the huge mango tree. hehehe

suffice to say, Ms Haliban lectured the whole school for it and put a damper to april fool's spirit. d-uh

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