It has been such an eventful week, last week.

I volunteered to help in the Vegetarian Stall belonged to the USM
Buddhist Society last Friday and Saturday. Fun and lots of fun was all
I can say during these 2 days. The members and volunteers were
hand-in-hand in cooking and preparing the various dishes sold at the
stall and the whole atmosphere was buzzing with activities. My friend
and I (and lots more others) weren’t a member of the Buddhist Society
but the other members welcomed us with open arms and warm hearts. They
would engaged us in small talks, get to know us personally and in a
way, that made all the sweats and hard work seemed worthwhile.

On Saturday evening, I accompanied one of my course mate to the 29th
Annual Japanese Speech Contest held at the Kompleks Masyarakat
Penyayang. There were a few major mishaps happened prior to the speech
contest but in the end, all’s well ends well. My course mate received
the consolation award and after attending the contest and listend to
all the other contestants’ speeches, I was amazed by the depth of the
speech’s topics and fluency of the Japanese language.

I wonder whether when will I be able to speak like that?

Yesterday was the last day of the Convocation and also the start of
the 1 week mid-semester break. Many of the students had returned home
and only a handful were left behind. When one were to walk in any
corner or place in the campus or in the hostel, one would be able to
hear clearly the sound of a pin drop. The silence was both welcoming
and a little disturbing.

Although the whole campus might seemed deserted, the situation was
different yesterday night. I joined the handful of students who stayed
on in hostel during this break to watch the live telecast of the
Olympics Badminton Men Singles Finals between Lin Dan (China) and Lee
Chong Wei (Malaysia) at the tv room and it was a great experience.
Truly the one and only time when all Malaysians come together, sit down
and join in the celebration is whenever a Malaysian athlete competes on
the international stage. Yesterday night was a prove that when it comes
to sporting events shown live on the telly, we are Malaysians.

Yes, Chong Wei did not manage to receive the RM1million reward for
an Olympic Gold Medal but nonetheless he did won a Silver Medal and he
gave his best so just like what any other Malaysians will say,

“We are proud of him for being able to reach the finals and the
feeling of watching the Malaysian flag being raised in the stadium
during the prize giving ceremony alongside the 2 China flags was
priceless.”

(For more story on the match, please read it here)