SAC vs Midsem

“The topic of your PowerPoint will be on the festivals in Malaysia.”

I calculated the time that I need to prepare my presentation. It was already Tuesday. I was to have my midsem exams on the coming Friday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Lots of reading to do. And heck, I still need time to search for materials online to be used for the presentation. And SAC was scheduled to be on Saturday.

I may have just enough time to prepare the slides. But how on earth am I going to read 5 chapters for each paper due the following week?! To make things worse, my VP insisted that I should not delay my SAC and to get it done that Saturday. *sigh*

Die also die-la.

I was informed who were the panelists. Right…. knowing who they are, I wondered if it was to my advantage or disadvantage.

Leaving college on Saturday afternoon, I arrived at the Pusat Mahasiswa pretty early. As the AIESEC room was shifted a week before from the previous place, Faculty of Economics and Management, it’s really interesting to know how the SAC is going to be conducted in a building where most clubrooms are.

Everyone soon arrived, with the VP as the last arrival by the time the panelists and 3 potential SNs did our so-called Round Table Discussion. Without wasting anymore time, we started off with the actual discussion in the student lounge. Quite comfortable with the couch and the informal atmosphere. Less tension.

Once again, AIESECers showed to be something that human have a hard time to avoid – making an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me’ – assumptions. Accurate facts are essential and boy, we definitely need to read more on general issues. And if possible, keep them in mind!

Next were the PowerPoint presentation and personal interview in the AIESEC room itself. The VPHR was wondering how we managed to conduct the session in a room which is in a mess when she found out. Anyway, the interview was not of something I expected, to be pretty much informal and somewhat a chit-chat-get-to-know-your-views kind of thing. IMHO, sitting in front of Jason Wong and Ah Beng… anything can happen =p but they did once again corrected the mistakes each of us did and informed us on things we need to know about the internship.

Anyway, we passed the SAC (banzai!) and proceeding on to the rest of payment and keying in the forms. Hey, I AM a step nearer for an exchange and to see the world out there.

Keeping my fingers crossed for a match.
More importantly, scrape a pass for my midsem exams!

Family Day Out

LC USM had a Family Day Out on Tuesday, the last day of the mid-semester break. We went for a hike at the Tropical Spice Garden in Teluk Bahang, and then adjourned to the beach near Crowl Jewel Hotel for games and a BBQ. It was a fun day out, even though it raied - we square danced in the rain, and they threw me into the sea. *sigh* Even LCPs do get bullied sometimes... :D

My members and me!

A Tsunami Memorial

Really lah...

A giant swing (and giants ;p)

Ssome cool plant

Budak bandar like me... seldom see these kind of things

The VPs can do almost everything...

Setting up the bbq (check out David's new look)

The beach at Crown Jewel Hotel, Batu Feringghi

Sorry no photos of what happened after that... all too busy eating. :D

Larry in Thailand

This is our SN Larry Tan who is currently in Phang Nga, Thailand on his Development Traineeship. His job is primarily to help rebuild the lives of the villagers who were affected by the 2004 Tsunami. Among the tasks he does is to teach the village children, as well as to help build the physical amenities and buildings which were destroyed in the disaster. Here are some photos which he has sent us.

Larry and one of his many 'wives' :D

The living conditions

Some of Larry's fellow trainees

Occupational hazards :D

MC Team Days

Besides working in the AIESEC Malaysia office in PJ, the MC team also have go out to relax. After the MC Elections recently, we hang out at a Karaoke lounge in Subang. Catch your MCs in karaoke action.

A Very SNRD Story

I paused as I scanned the crowd. There she was. She caught my eyes in an instant. Like a living goddess, she stood out from the crowd.

Instantly, my palms became sweaty. Butterflies flew in my stomach, and I was cold all over.

What are you waiting for? Go!

I nodded to my inner self before I started to walk towards her. As I made my way against the crowd, my eyes examined her even more. She looked young, beautiful, and amazingly fresh although it was so hot outside.

How do I start? What do I say?

"Excuse me," I said softly, trying to get her attention. It managed to do so. She turned towards me, her hair whipping as though it was in a Ginvera commercial. I could have swore white doves flew behind her as she turned to me. I managed to get a better look at her facial features. Beautiful black eyes and a small, pointed nose. Her cherry red lips parted slightly as she stared into my eyes.

"Yes?"

My heart pounded faster.

"Hi. My name is William."

I paused, my brain suddenly not working.

Snap out of it, you fool!

Shaking my head slightly as I mentally slapped myself, my focus returned as I looked directly into her eyes.

"I'm from AIESEC and we're running this program for..."

"Sorry," she smiles apologetically as she took several steps away from me. "I have classes now." And with that, she was gone.

I shook my head as I turned my gaze from her fleeing figure to the two others with me. Nicole could only shrug emphatically, the kind of shrug that said 'Hey, you tried your best. What else could you do?'. Moses, on the other hand, was already scanning the horizon for a target of his own.

I slouched as I walked back to the AIESEC booth.

Damn it. I was so close.

I turned around, and from the crowd a beacon of light appeared. It was as though the crowd parted, and I saw her.

Like a living goddess, she stood out from the crowd.

Instantly, my palms became sweaty. Butterflies flew in my stom......

There we go again....

1st Induction Conference

On the 22nd of Jan 2006, Malaysia had its 1st ever Induction Conference. It was a 1 day conference for SNs-to-be to learn more about AIESEC & their traineeship. We had Jessie as chair, Anisha as MCX, Alp (Turkey) + Hannu (Finland) + Christian (Colombia) + Michelin (Phillipines) as trainees in Malaysia, and me as the returned trainee...all as facis. Later, we also had a few more guest (trainees) from countries such as Poland, France, US...etc.

We had a some ice-breaking games, introduction of AIESEC, lunch-break, sharing sessions, tea-break, as well as a Malaysian quiz session which included questions about Malaysia's history, sports, culture, and general knowledge.

At the end of the day, we had a 'farewell' party for Alp whom has left for Turkey recently right after Chinese New Year. The funny thing was since we didn't want Alp to know we were planning a party, we all communicated in bahasa Melayu for a short while so that all of us would know our roles. It was like decoding messages :) You can see Alp's face in the photo above, the one that has chocolate smudged all over his face!

Would you like to take part in an AIESEC internship?

by Cheok San San

Festival B.U.D.A.Y.A. 2006

AIESEC USM welcomes Kai Yan Ng who arrived on the 4th of February from the Netherlands to help out with Festival B.U.D.A.Y.A. 2006. Festival B.U.D.A.Y.A. Originally from Malaysia, her family migrated to the Netherlands when she was just two months old, so understandably she is very excited to be here to experience for herself the true Malaysian culture. B.U.D.A.Y.A. is an acronym for Building Unity and Developing Awareness through Youths of AIESEC and is the second time LC USM is running this project.

Below are the details of Festival B.U.D.A.Y.A. 2006 :
Cultural Exhibition - 27th February – 3rd March 2006
Cultural Night - 4th March 2006

For enquiries or more details, please contact Project Director Angeline Leow (012 970 8621), OCP Cindy Wong (012 659 0386) or Publicity Director Tan Sze Ern (016 565 0931). Alternatively, look out for the promo emails on My Suara or check out the dotWrite blog (dotwrite.blogspot.com). LC USM looks forwards to hosting you at Festival B.U.D.A.Y.A. 2006!

(L-R) : TD Director Peter Neoh, Junior member Stefan Dawson, and trainee Kai Yan