Home Away From Home

What's the longest time you've spent away from your home? Have you ever experienced life living in a hostel with fellow school mates? Puffyrazzi spent 5 years of her life, moving 5 to different rooms in a span of those years. Two years spent in Hua Zhong Hostel and 3 years in King Edward VII Hall. What are the perks and the downsides of being away from home?

1) You put up with bad food....constantly

The caterers in HZH loved to flood my plate with gravy, their food was decent but nowhere near what i can eat at home. No wonder i lost so much weight.

First 2 years in KEVII was bad. They serve all sorts of weird food during teatime (e.g. UFO - Unidentified Fried Object and sticky brown cakes one can recycle as blue tack). They changed caterer during my 3rd year and there was a vast improvement.

2) You learn new tools of the trade which may or may not come in handy someday

This is applicable during my uni days. Being in large groups of commitees, i was able to grasp some organizing and social skills. Not to mention i'd never imagined i would ever touch a Light Console or act in front of paying audience in my entire life, and i did just that!

Orientation Committee trying out our games before presenting it to the freshmen

Being a member of a Theatrical Production taught me artistic and technical skills

3) MSN Messenger and ICQ rule your life.

Me and my roommate used to MSN each other eventhough we're sitting next to each other in the same room. Downright lame, i know =P

4) No Mom and Dad to pamper you when you're sick

The only time i was really really sick was during one of my JC days and my roommate took care of me really well. She's my saviour, Hallelujah!

5) You have friends from all sorts of ethnicity

KEVII had a really vibrant group of hostellites. I had friends from Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, China, India, Hong Kong, Mauritius, Vietnam, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nepal, Thailand etc. This may not be that good at times, when there are cultural differences. For example, my hall used to have this Chinese guy who sang Chinese Opera on top of his lungs wherever he went. And those Mauritians, they love to booze but we also love to booze WITH them! They have good beer from Mauritius...

People of different nationality came together as one. I'm the one in white on the extreme right.

6) Getting to your room is often a good exercise

I'm not sure what's with those architects who design hostels. In HZH, i stayed on the fourth floor and in KEVII i stayed on the 6th storey. It was especially strenous in KEVII when i had to travel from E6 to find a friend living in B4. The journey probably took me just under 3 years. HAhaz...

7) The solution to your homework is always not far away

No matter how badly stuck i was doing an assignment, i could always find a way out within minutes. Cos your classmates/coursemates were everywhere around me! This was also beneficial when an exam or test was around the corner and we could organize group discussions.

8) You make close friends that last for life

I relied on my friends around me. We were always there for each other, during the good and bad times. We got to see each other during our bad hair days, bloated body days and we talked to each other all the time, hence we got to know each other inside out.

Photo taken in 1999, but still tight friends today.

9) You play sports like a maniac

Being in a hall of residence made me a sport nut for all 3 years i was there. I tried playing all sorts of different ball games, now i can boast to many what different sports i can play. The list :

i. Basketball ( thanks to Joyce who signed my name up)

ii. Handball ( also thanks to Joyce)

iii. Volleyball ( Joyce played better but we never failed to turn up to support the TH guys)

iv. Badminton

v. Tug-of-war ( Can't imagine me doing this, huh?)

vi. Netball (but i kept playing this basketball style)

vii. Squash ( Kenny taught me this)

viii. Snooker ( oh boy, i was lousy, very very lousy)

ix. Softball ( only occasional throwings in the weekend, i was a serious player back in sec school)

x. Soccer

xi. Hockey ( the most dangerous sport, EVER)

10) Danger lurks in every corner

I've had my shares of bizarre stories from those hostel days. There were peeping toms in toilets, and underwear thieves. I've had 2 brand new t-shirts stolen from my laundry line...sigh...

Me and my b-ball friends ( Joyce, Sook Fong and Mary) had a brush with a python during the wee hours one holiday and it scared the shit out of us.

One of my friends, Olivia, saw shadows when she was stationed at a Japanese Bunker during one of our Orientation programmes.

The best must be when all 16 KEWOC members were all sleeping together in the KEWOC room after a night of making starch for orientation. Ah Guan claimed he saw a long-haired female 'Ah Tiang' floating into the room and he forced himself back to sleep. Hahaz. . . such juicy stories.

11) Birthday celebrations are painful...for the birthday gal/guy

The normal would be getting freaking wet, pouring buckets of water over the birthday gal/guy, sometimes flour after that, or whipped cream. Guys will be pillared where it hurt the most ( the ritual best known as 'Tiang').

Chui Ying getting wet and dirty on her 19th birthday

12) You do some really stupid stuff collectively

Just some of the idiotic stuff i can think of on top of my head now :

Me and my friends dressing up and imitating poses from boybands in magazines and photographing ourselves. The photos are now kept in a safe with no immediate intention of showing itself.

OK, one secret exposed is as far as i can get!

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13) There will be massive gatherings all the time

There were always alot of people around you all the time, it made me much happier that way, as i tend to slump into depression if i'm alone too much. There were always BBQs, Hall suppers, birthdays, and many other reasons for gatherings.

I love this photo. Everyone looked so happy

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14) You and your friends have many secret codes that only those among you can understand

Examples of codes i had with different groups of friends,

Vinnie and Becky, Coconut tree, Toadie, Fellow-yellow-lover, TH number 12, Rumah Mayat and so on.

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15) You get a sense of attachment to the certain places you hang out in

For me, the first two years in KEVII was mostly spent in its MPC. Everyday after school, i would be heading there for sports training. During the holidays, i would be trying out orientation games there.

In my final year, almost half of my time was spent in the dance room. I loved it there, i have not danced since i graduated and i really miss it sorely.

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One of my favourite places in KEVII hall, The Dance Room

For those of you who had not experienced life away from home, it's a shame for you, cos it was one of the most memorable phase of my life. I love those times and i wouldn't have traded them for anything else!