"There would be no passion in this world if we never had to fight for what we love." -Susie Switzer

Week 3 of the 13-week teaching semester is officially over (since I have Fridays off), which means ...

THE WEEKEND HAS ARRIVED!!!

All hail The Weekend. With a capital "W".

Some of my friends at Monash have even shorter weeks: Mondays to Wednesdays only. But to fashion such a timetable, you would have to cram several classes into one school day! I don't think I could be very productive like that lor... so my timetable is a carefully designed one (haha *rolls eyes*) that puts me in 2 classes each day for 4 days in a week.

But it's not like Week 3 was an unbearably long one. Week 2 felt much longer, because of the 6-hour Course Transition Workshop all freshmen were *obligated* to attend last Friday. It was really fun, though! :D We played lots of games and wound up being as sweaty and giggly as a bunch of seven-year-olds at someone's birthday party.

And I learned a cool party trick thanks to Dr Julian - which I will save for parties and get-togethers! :) So, no spoilers here.

Besides that, the handful of us who actually bothered going for the workshop got to get to know our lecturers a wee bit better. The lecturers teaching me this semester are:

Feature Writing: Mr Wong Chin-Huat

Contemporary Worlds 2: Dr Julian Lee

Introduction to Communication Studies: Mr Kumar

Contemporary Television Studies: Mr Benjamin McKay

And it's inspiring how research-oriented the teaching staff at Monash are. Every teacher seems to have a whole detailed field of research interest that they work on: so not only do they have to teach, they do their own research, some are pursuing their PhD, and they even have the privilege of marking our papers. Hahaha! But anyway - to care so much about an academic area of study that you actually spend years and years researching and learning more about it, that's pretty incredible, isn't it? I can only hope that one day I will find a subject that I care so much about! :)

But this week, my perceptions have changed, and I do care about something I never cared about in the past - thanks to the NGO Fair held at Monash on Tuesday and Wednesday. This time last year, I wasn't keen on working for/in/with NGO's at all - I guess, like many other apathetic young people in Malaysia - I just didn't care enough.

That's all changed now. :D

I spent my two-hour break on Tuesday booth-hopping - NOT just collecting free brochures, flyers, and name cards - but to actually learn about what the organisation was all about, and what I could do to help. In the beginning, I was really shy (I know, me - shy!) because there were so few people at the booths, and some booth attendees weren't looking so welcoming. And I had also never heard of most of the organisations, so at first, I only visited the "popular" ones, like Malaysiakini. Unfortunately, I don't think I learnt anything at all about Malaysiakini from the fair, except that they are starting a "youth" version of it called Voize.com or something.

"Aliran" publications were there too, but the guy didn't offer its booth visitors much conversation - he just said that if you want to intern, contact them. "How do I contact you?" I heard one girl ask. And the man replied, "Take the free magazine and look at the back."

Hmm.

So you can understand that I was starting to feel disappointed with the fair. But then ...

I changed my tack, and started working my way from the smaller, less "popular" booths! :) The second-best decision I made all day (if you actually read on to the end, you'll find out what the best decision was). There was a consumer non-profit organisation affiliated with FOMCA - I was pretty enthusiastic about getting the experience working with a consumer organisation. I think it's really great what they do, educate people about their consumer rights and not let them get exploited by greedy businessmen.

Then there was Pink Triangle (PT Foundation). I had heard about this from Cheryl, so I already had in mind what I wanted to talk to them about. They talked about how they run 5 programs, and if you want to help with any of them, you can just go to their headquarters and speak with them. For those of you who don't know what Pink Triangle is about - I, for one, had no idea who they were until Cheryl told me! - it's partly about helping homosexuals and transsexuals, encouraging people not to discriminate them, promoting AIDS awareness (for example, PT Foundation provides FREE AIDS tests), and it's also about helping drug addicts rehabilitate themselves.

And let's not forget the infamous Women's Aid Organisation (WAO). I'm not planning to intern here, but volunteering sounds like a fruitful thing to do. :) I'll definitely blog about my experience there if and when I do follow-up on this.

There was also the booth set up by the Freedom Film Festival folks. I loved their short film about a story of a real-life "Mak Nyah". I think it's so liberating how there is a growing community of Malaysians who are finally accepting transsexuals and homosexuals. I understand that there are still a lot of you out there who think it is wrong, disgusting, etc - but while I won't impose my own opinions on you (my opinion is that they are just normal people like you and I, and they are just exercising their choice on how they want to live their lives - there is nothing wrong or bad about them), I will try to appeal to your better nature, and ask you not to be unnecessarily rude or harsh. There is only one way to say this: They. Are. Just. People. Too.

There was also a "Befrienders" booth - with nobody manning it. Hahahahaha. There were free brochures-lah. So people just took those. I called "Befrienders" about a year ago and asked about volunteering, but they told me to call back when I turn 21. Haha. I have another ... err... 16 months until 30 November 2009. Speaking of "Befrienders", let us have a moment of silence for the Monash University student who committed suicide two Sundays ago. That was the second Monashian suicide this year. :(

Please, if anyone out there is contemplating suicide (thinking of killing yourself), please think again. And if you've thought it through and are still determined on calling it quits on the world, please call the "Befrienders" hotline: 03-7956 8144 or 03-7956 8145.

On a final note, this is the NGO that I want to intern with next year: Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW) (click: http://www.arrow.org.my/). I befriended their Website Officer, she's really interesting and nice! :) I could really relate to her, and she's super helpful. :D Again, I will most certainly update my future endeavours with ARROW right here on this blog! The best decision I made on Tuesday was to drop by their booth before I went home. :D :D :D

I'm not planning on doing any internships this year because I'm taking Psychology 1A in the summer semester (December 2008 to Feburary 2009). Why am I sacrificing one glorious summer holiday? Because if I take 1 unit this summer, that means in a later semester (maybe one of my 3rd year semesters), I only need to take 3 units instead of 4! It's so worth it. Hahaha.

Okayyy on a really, really final note - I love my Feature Writing tutorials! It's so different from all my other tutorials (which are usually group discussions, talking, maybe mini-lectures). Feature Writing, on the other hand, is very, very hands-on. We actually apply what we learn in lectures and from readings! :D

Last week, for our first tutorial, Chin-Huat (previously known on this blog as Mr Wong) divided us into random pairs (really random, every one had to take a number, then count 29 minus that number, and the answer is the number of your "partner" - eg: My number was 15. 29 minus 15 = 14). Then, each pair was given 1 minute to sit in silence and "observe" each other. It may be a good time now to tell you that the topic we learnt that week was "Journalistic Observation and Selection of Details". Then, we were given 15 minutes to "interview" each other on an outstanding physical aspect, and then 30 minutes to write a 200-word feature story on it.

:D SO FUN yeah!

He even "graded" our essays with marks over ten. Hahaha!

And this week, we put our "Research" skills to use. We were divided into groups of 4 to 5 students, and given the topic "Inflation". We had to choose a theme, decide what our focus was going to be, and research and write a 500-word feature story -- all in the 2-hour tutorial! :) It was also really fun, and I made a new friend: a South Korean girl named Ai! She's so funny, she laughs at everything.

Our "feature story" turned out to be a bit of a joke, though, with not that much research put in at all - for one thing, it was soooo difficult to use the MAC computers (note-to-self: NEVER buy a Mac computer, so not worth the money!! for example the webpage kept closing on me! And there is NO WORD COUNT FUNCTION. And no tabs! I definitely prefer my average-looking, average-priced laptop any-day!) but at least we finished it in class. :D Of course, as mentioned earlier, we were late for our next class - but at least we don't have extra homework! Haha. Those groups which chose to complete the task at home now have to complete the task at home. :P

I think these "class exercises" (they're actually called that) are really, really fun and insightful - as long as you don't take yourself too seriously when you're doing them. I mean, sure, Chin-Huat will grade them - but it's about what you learn from the task and enjoy it that matters more than having a lousy time and producing a stellar story. :)

That's all for now - that's like 1000 words up there already. Hahaha. Here's to a good August! :)

And to leave you smiling: