COAMS #40 - Semenyih blues.........

Dear all,

I am typing from my hostel room, in Semenyih… I haven’t figure out who to address this letter to, I am, well, just typing… 3 weeks here, I have lived such a boring meaningless life. Meaningless, perhaps because I do not really enjoy what I am doing, research. And perhaps, I do not like this place either. And maybe because I have to share my room with 10 other people, being stripped off the luxury of having a single room which I had since 10 years old.

Perhaps I should elaborate more on what I do here. And why I hate what I am doing here. For the first week, I had the room lights waking me up as early as 5am, with my friends performing their prayers, while I tried to steal extra sleep under my covers. Not to forget people chattering at the background, when I decide to sleep early. Eventually, I got used to sleeping with the lights on, sharing a common bathroom, and sharing the same speed of fan.

I am allergic to the kampong.

And I mean it quite literally.

You see, our research area is in Kampong Kuala Pajam, which is at the border of Selangor and Negeri Sembilan. My home is just a 40minutes drive away. Many times, I have the urge to just drive myself home and forget everything. Anyway, back to the kampong. Like I have said, I am allergic to the kampong. I would end up with red rashes at my limbs. I am not sure whether it is the grass, the sand, or just the air. Allergens seemed to be everywhere. Avoiding grassy areas did not help much.

And guess what? The villages in Kampung Kuala Pajam does not have the luxury of the Town Council (Majlis Perbandaran) workers coming to empty their rubbish bins. In fact, they had to burn all their rubbish! And I seriously mean ALL, yes, the smoky-open-burning thingy…. Which I hate it, a lot! My lungs practically rejected it by giving me an asthmatic attack! Oh well..

Anyway, I am still recovering from the sun-burn from the beach 2 weeks back and the sun in semenyih which somehow seemed to be much hotter than other parts of Malaysia. Perhaps also recovering from even more things. The scorching sun cut through my skin, dehydrating it as I resist from scratching my skin. I did as many as 3 face masks that week, my friends thought I was obsessed.

I guess what made me hate this place most is because I believe this place made me sick. Well, it could all be a co-incident, the upper respiratory tract infection, my wisdom teeth growing and the intense menstrual pain, all hitting me at a go. It’s like the whole world is going on a strike against me. I have been abusing antibiotics and pain killers for the past week.

I am back to the hospital. And I realise how much I missed the hospital. Not so much of the clerking and educational part, I simply missed the smell of HUKM, the clean walls, the people… oh well….

p/s: My posting mates turned out to be pretty fun people,... but semenyih, the place is just not for me............

(Written on December 14, 2007 at 06:29 AM)

LINK: i found another old post of mine, on another Kampong experience in Kedah, back in 2006... surprisingly, my opinions of the kampong was totally different from this!! perhaps, it's the shorter duration, or perhaps it was 1st time syndrome... click to read it here..