I joined the Taekwondo-GTF of Penang Free School during my Form 1 moments, and remained till Form 5. Its not like I wanted to learn martial arts, its just because the time slot for the activities fit my schedule perfectly... However, last year after entering Form 6, I've decided to switch to Red Crescent instead. I guess I made the right choice... Being a member of the Red Crescent Uniform Body means my attendance for Flag Day is compulsory...
Woke up at 5.50 a.m., prepare, and head to the headquarters of Red Crescent. Reached at 6.35 a.m. The notice board of the Red Crescent states that all members must arrive by 6.30 a.m., but my Section Leader, Thina, states 7.00 a.m. Boy I should have listened to him... At a glimpse, not a single soul I knew were there... All were complete strangers! Waited in my car for about 10 minutes, and finally I saw 2 person whom I knew.
Waited till 7, and more of my friends started coming. Went to collect our cans for donation. Each can was labelled with a certain code number to prevent switch of cans, since rumour has it that those with donations of RM10 above gets an allowance of RM5. No matter its RM1000 or RM10, your allowance would still be RM5...
The original plan was to go places with Gahjen and Linges, but Linges went home after collecting the cans, and Jonathan agreed to follow us. Now its time to hunt for $$$!
My can...
1st stop, Terengganu Road Morning Market.
Even though I drove there, some Red Crescent members who walk beat me! How could they walk so fast! Most of the place were conquered by other members, could only collect RM2 here... Took about 15 minutes and we were off to another place.
2nd stop, Pulau Tikus Morning Market.
Again, those two-feet beat my four-wheels... Pulau Tikus Market is again conquered by other people, mostly Convent Datuk Kramat girls... collected about RM4 here, but Gahjen was lucky to find a single RM5 donor... walked to the Burmese Temple hoping for tourists to arrive, but there weren't any at this early hour... walked to Gurney Drive, and again, it was conquered by other people...
Though, there is one person who is a must-mention. I met a guy, Arabian-American lookalike, sitting on the cemented fence, reading newspaper. When I was discussing about other locations to find donation, he kept staring at us... Well, desperate for more donations, I approached him. After asking, he spoke in a manner I couldn't understand at all... Afterwards, I finally grasp what he says.
Me : Care for donation for Flag Day?
Him : *mumble* *mumble* *mumble* Nowadays the country politics are all corrupted! The air is so polluted and there are so many misleadings about your country! This place is terrible and I won't donate unless you fix this country for me! This place is so terrible compared to China, China is so much better than this place! Do you wanna know more, I can tell you, sit over here.
Me : *already 4~5 meters away from him*
Gahjen: No thank you, sir...
........ Conclusion? CRAZY! Dear readers, if you ever stumble upon that person, AVOID HIM! He also looked like a permanent resident judging by his possession and clothing on the side note.
I had enough of this nonsense, decided to go Botanical Gardens for more donation.
3rd stop, Youth Park.
I drove to Botanical Gardens, but there were no parking slots, and the car park near the entrance seems to have an MPPP worker giving tickets already, so I'm guessing its a paid car park now. U-turn back, decided to go to Youth Park.
Youth Park is the place I finally get more donations. But Arvind and ChuanWay joined us there. Its not such a good idea to go in groups of 5, since most people will only insert money to 1 can... I got about up to RM15 there... The people in Youth Park were seriously friendly. Some of them even approached us to donate. The amount might not be big, but its the thought that counts, seriously. Why can't there be more people like that in this world? Later, 2 people among our group got bored and decided to take a walk, ended up in a 'romantic' scene...
Aww....
They would sooooo kill me if they see this picture...
Theres a skating competition going on, but it hasn't started yet, so we move on to our next stop.
4th stop, Jelutong Morning Market.
Boy, this place is crowded... Not to mention most people there don't even bother our existence, simply ignoring us when we ask donations... I would even say thank you and accept it if you decline the need for donation, or saying no money left, but to snub us is just plain idiotic. Linges joined us here, and theres 6 of us now. Yippie, not! More people = less $ in my can! Too crowded, so we went to Sunshine Farlim now.
5th stop, Sunshine Farlim New Wing.
When we went there, there were 3 or 4 groups of Red Crescent members, one at each entrance, and the rest in the mall. The weird thing is, we are not suppose to enter the mall to seek for donations, but it is okay if its only for our leisure. Some of them still went in and ask for donation, and worse, some offered to take care of carts or carry items FOR donation... This is actually going too far...
Went to have our lunch at Xiao Er Kopitiam, which is also in Sunshine Farlim. Had my 'battle' with the spicy food, since my drink came in very LATE!
After lunch, we decided to go to Penang Hill.
6th stop, Penang Hill.
After about 15 minutes drive, we reached, only to know its closed... I do know there is a renovation on the cable car going on (which they seriously need it), but I didn't expect them to close everything completely... Rested below a tree for a while, and went to have a drink in Lye Lye coffee shop.
About 3.00 p.m., we turned in our cans. I think I only made RM20 grand total, since most people gave 10 cents to 50 cents. Ah well, its the gesture that counts, so no complaints. Not to mention I go in a group of 6 and of course, people tend to make donation to one person only, economy is not so good now...
I gotta admit, Flag Day really opened my eyes. It was considered an adventure for me. I met so many different people on my journey. Some were pure innocent, some were humble and generous, some were straight-forward, some were snobs (hate them), some were really committed to their family, some were even helpful, and some were... well... CRAZY!
Signed off,
Teng Aun.
0 comments:
Post a Comment