I had a very long week.

21 March 2012.
I mean, who didn't know what that date meant to us SPM leavers?

Sejak pagi (by pagi, I mean starting 12 a.m.), rasa tak keruan. Nak tidur tak boleh. Dalam perut rasa macam ada orang buat sommersault sebab nervous punya pasal. Pagi2, lepas siap, pergi breakfast. Roti canai yang biasanya aku makan dua, tapi pagi tu aku makan satu je. Hilang selera? Not really. It's just that eating didn't really register in my mind. I could only think that I wanted to pull my ass at Al-Faizal and crack up with my friends before I put my brain on the results later.

And so, I met them, left Al-Faizal around 10, went to school, strolled around, recalling memory-by-memory as we walked pass each classes, blocks and corridors, and acting like we owned the place, didn't care the slightest bit when our dear "juniors" gawked at us, yelling "Kak Syu!" and "Kak Gwen!" along the way. Really, since when did we became so famous anyway?

My face =____='' Well anyway, after months---- Pintu Gerbang SMK DMS!

Our tapak perhimpunan... And one of the students who skipped perhimpunan pagi with me, hehe xD

The two hamsap friends xD

Len & Ain :)

Anxiousness builds up as each hour passed by. 10 a.m. 11 a.m. 12 p.m. Gosh, I thought, what time were they going to release the results and let us torture ourselves anyway? Better yet, some of them even already knew their results through SMS. 8A's, 6A's. Man. What about ME? ME? ME? I admit I chickened out, but either way I'm not going to check my results until that fateful results slip reached my hand, safe and sound.

12.30 p.m. It was madness. The hall was chaotic. After they annouced the 3 geniuses who obtained straight A's, everything I felt that time was moving fast forward. Was I feeling a bit sad that I wasn't on the straight A's list? Anyone who worked hard would have felt like me that time, but I'm not there to sit down in grief. In front of the stage, nearby the hall entrance, was a table set up of 5 Elit's ex-students to get their results. My mind went like a rush; where's my name? Was the results given according to namelist? Or..... A sentence I didn't want to finish, as I waited for my name to be called out.

Blurry, busy hall.

Oh, and yeah, it was given according to the namelist, but backwards. The last name came first. After our dear Encik Azlan cried out "Nur Aissyah", I streched out my sweaty, cold hands for my results without waiting for him to call my name. And, it was probably the cruelest thing he could've done to me that time: he smiled. I smiled back, while praying silently in my heart. "Syuhada. Sayang, sikit aje lagi. Subject saya pula tu," he said, while an idiotic Nabil KP was smiling and shaking his head at the same time behind Encik Azlan's back. What kind of hint was that?

The slip. In my hands. I held my breath as I peered over my results. I could only see A and B. No C's, no D's. And that was much more than enough for me. I didn't hear my friends congratulating me. I think, after that, I didn't see nor hear much of anything. Amidst the wild crowd, I ran towards my Dad who was coming for me when he spotted me holding my results. He was trying to put on his spects, but I didn't wait for him to read the slip. I pushed it into his hands, and drowned myself hugging him and crying.

Alhamdulillah :")

A second after that I saw my mom at the hall entrance too, so I went to hug her. My legs felt weak. I had to sit down at the stairs to the stage for a while to maintain my stability, but I'm happy, and much more relieved than I could ever be. The look on my parents' face as they looked over my results was something that I'm sure I'm going to remember for a very long time. It made everything worth it. If that 9A's and 1B was a trophy, it would be theirs.

My Dad, yang setia menunggu kat sekolah dari pagi :D

After that happy, blurry moment, I got back on my feet and started to roam around the hall and the teachers' office with Gwen to thank our teachers that we forgot that the teachers in the hall had told us to stay for a photo session. We missed it, but we neither cared nor minded. Gwen got 5 A's, but she's said she's okay with it. I don't know if she was being honest. I couldn't really read her mind, for I'm the worst nitwit when it comes to phsycic, but I'm happy, she did work for it. In my heart, I said: "Cheers, Gwen---- To your determination. To your hallyu dreams. To your road to success."

Cikgu Mazilah yang terpacak kat dewan since morning sebab nak tunggu results kitorang. We love you, cikgu! :)

Aww, I loveyouu Gwen <3

I thought after that, I could happily head home, and maybe stop by McD's for lunch, but I had to stay there for more than an hour, saying thanks, meeting friend, being dragged here and there by the teachers for pictures and written interview. Heck I felt so embarrassed. On the written interview, I still remember how hilarious I found the questionarre actually was:

Pencapaian :
UPSR: 4A 2B 1C (A "C" I tell you! Haha!)
PMR: 8A
SPM: 9A 1B (I'm no genius... But I'm grateful, Alhamdulillah ^^)

Rahsia kejayaan and kata-kata hikmat: "Jangan kalah sebelum rebah" (Yeah, I know it's cheesy. I actually got this from a malay novel, but kinda I got stuck with the tagline. And really, what the heck with the whats-the-secret-to-success-thing anyway???)

Idola: Fatin Munirah
I know it's surprising. I also know that she's younger than me. But I guess it's true. She's young, yet she seemed so matured ever since I knew her. I envy her. And from envy, it changed to admiration. Her spirit, her love for study. If we were of the same age and competing in class, she would win hands down against me in everything. I could never be like her. We're so different from one another. But seeing her almost crying when she saw my results had made me so glad... And so fired up. Cikgu Azizul and his family seems to amaze me day by day.  So, Fatin... this is for you. And your family. Sharing a bond with you lot gave me more that what I bargained for. Thank you. Sincerely from my heart :)

And by the time I finished writing, I thought..... Man, I sucked at these kind of stuff.

Days after that felt very long indeed. Online, looking for scholarships and university offers. Educational fairs. I'm exhausted. Hopefully, this success will motivate me to work for more success in life. After all those, I redeemed my reward by forcing my mum (HAHA) for a shopping spree. This week, I bought 2 Elianto lipsticks and a blusher, a cute, retro green polka dots blouse and a black-and-white striped long tee, and 3 books: Malay, English and Chinese. And still waiting for my dad's salary to redeem by reward--- 2 pairs of jeans maybe? Haha. Yeah, don't get me started on shopping. I can go crazy. But most of the time, I'm just plain stingy ;P

Times Square.

Shopping time, yeahh ^^

Buku yang agak2 paling colourful and buku cina tu aku punya. Next to it, my mom's. Yeah, we're nerds ;P

Kenny Rogers. Fudge + ice cream yang aku makan ni is super awesome <3 but aku tak ingat apa ke nama entah benda alah ni, haha =___=''

Do I look different to you? Haha. Hi everyone, I'm Syuhada by the way ;)

Oh well, this is too long. I should probably sign off. Byebye! I'll continue with the Travelogue Korea in the next post. :)

Travelogue Korea: Korean Folk Village.

We slept in that morning. Really tired from all the shopping the night before. Wow. Day 4 already. So as the plan goes, we went to Korean Folk Village (KFV). Korean Folk Village is a living museum recreating the traditional lifestyle of Koreans. It has 270 traditional houses (goodness we didn't see all of it) and an ampitheather where folk music and dances are performed. Now this is something that we like <3

How to get there:

From Geomam Station, We took off on the A' Rex and transferred to Line 2 at Hongik University Station (that is, after a very long walk!). From Hongik, we transferred again to Line 1 at Sindorim Station. And finally, reached our station: Suwon Station. Get out of the station at exit 4, walk a little further, and you'll find a tourist information center next to a bus stop around your left. There, you can get a free shuttle bus to KFV (operates from 1030 to 1600 hours only), and the journey is only around 30 minutes (enough for us to sleep anyway. We're so drained out). For other options, there are other buses to KFV from Suwon Station, Bus No. 37 or No. 10-5 (but then you have to pay for it) which took around 40+ minutes journey, but it's okay if you're not in a big time rush like us.

Suwon Station.

Busy Suwon.

Photowhoring.

Annyeonghasaeyo ^^

Tourist Map.

Tourist Information Center.

These things are everywhere =__=''

Funkytown.

My parents.

We arrived a bit late and missed the 1.30 p.m. bus, so we had to wait for another bus around 2.30 p.m. (I think), so we walked around and photowhored until the bus came for us. And we just can't control our excitement as we arrived KFV. FYI, KFV is also a shooting scene for quite a few famous old-time dramas, like "Sungkyungkwan Scandal",  "Warrior Baek Dong Soo" and "Deep Rooted Tree". The entrance fees are 15, 000 KRW per person (RM 45). And the scene is just like what we dreamed of <3 

Arrived KFV.

Waiting for Dad and the tickets.

Entrance.

Kenapa abang guard kat sini comel2? Hehe. ^^

Sungkyungkwan Scandal <3

KFV.

We <3 it traditional ^^

The heater at the souvenir shop saved us.

As we enter, there were shops selling snacks: we even tried one! And we're pretty sure it's halal, as it was made of rice cake wrapped with fish, there's no mixture of any other ingredients and the oil wasn't animal extract. I was being very particular about the food, but as long as it's halal, there's no harm in trying. And there's also bare trees at the other side of the path, got a very winter feel to it!  As you walk, you might come across a junction, and there you'll find a bridge that will take you to the amusement park (I think it's called Docco Land) in KFV, that is, if you're not into the traditional treats. 

After a few minutes of leisure walk, we rushed for a folk music and dance performance (there are timings to it) at the ampitheater: and it was awesome! And few guys who performed show looked young too, like mid-twenties or so. And one of them looked like Siwon from Super Junior <3 We were allowed to take pictures with them performers after the show, but the Siwon look-alike disappeared so quickly =___= After the fancy performance there was a tightrope acrobatics show too (that acrobatics old man must be an eunuch), but we didn't stay to watch for long because we're on a tight schedule.

Bridge to Docco Land.

Folk music and dance performance.

Cool ^^

Doesn't his head hurts? =___=

Acrobatics.

His stunt surprised me; I mean, didn't his balls hurt? (He was sitting and jumping at the same time on the tighrope back then!)

After that, we just walked around looking at the traditonal houses and mansions of different classes of people way back when: nobleman, royalties, farmers, blacksmiths and etc. And the best part is trying on the hanbok too <3 I tried it on at a traditional house somewhere inside the shooting location site instead of a picture booth nearby the entrance, because it's free (I told you we like free stuff).

Traditional cooking methods. It looked like the scene from "Daejanggeum"

Blacksmith.

I don't remember what was this =___=

Nobleman's Mansion.

Gateway to jail.

This scene looks natural? Hahaha xD

Hanbok ^^

Yeah, I noticed how visible my sneakers were.

I don't know what drama was this, but I took a picture of it anyway.

Heading back.

Rushing, but can't risk missing out the scenery.

Byebye KFV.

Okay, it's obvious that behind me is just a mere picture.

After a short while, we really rushed to get out of KFV, because we need to catch that last free shuttle bus heading back to Suwon Station. And after a whole lot of rushing here and there at the KFV, we were so exhausted that we had another nap inside the bus.

Well, we had to save all the energy we had for our next destination anyway.

On our way back.

To be continued---- N Seoul Tower.