My alma mater

I heard that the new shopping centre, Pavillion KL (situated at Bukit Bintang area) is now open to the public. Shopper lovers may find the news exciting because there's a new shopping mall and thus more places to shop but I can’t help feeling a bit sad and nostalgic about it because what is now the Pavillion was once a school and its not just any school, it was MY SCHOOL.

Bukit Bintang Girls School. Primary and Secondary. Yep, that was my school. I started from Standard 3 up until a few weeks of Form Six. If the school was still around, I think it should have been about 114 years old. I guessed it must have been the oldest school in KL. The school is now relocated at Taman Shamelin, Cheras and known as Sekolah Sri Bintang Utara. *sigh* Its not the same anymore :(

I remembered all of us, BBGSians were so upset when we heard the school was going to be demolished. This was back in 1993. We made protests but of course they had better reasons. Apparently the school causes traffic jams as it is situated near to shopping areas (at the time it was KL Plaza, Lot 10, Sg. Wang Plaza, Bukit Bintang Plaza). But I think even without the school now, the area is still packed with cars on the road. They also said we might get distracted and sneak into the shopping malls but that can happen to any school kids, even if their school is outside of KL. I remembered during my time, even though we knew our school was near to shopping malls, it wasn’t as if we could easily drop by. We needed permission slips and if you get caught, then its big trouble for you.

The school brings back a lot of memories. We had school traditions and some that I remember are:

• We washed our own toilets.
  -This was during the secondary years. Each class had their own toilet and we take turns washing depending on the duty roster in class. Every Monday we had a school assembly and the Headmistress would announce the Best Class Cleanliness, Best Floral Arrangement and Best Toilet Cleanliness. The class who wins will get to keep the Cleanliness/Floral arrangement trophy for a week. I remembered every time my class won, we would be screaming like crazy as if it were some Grammy Award. Haha..So funny..
  
  
• Inter-class and Inter-school Choral Speaking
  - I loved Choral Speaking. It was a must for each class and we held it during a certain month of the year. My class took it pretty seriously and we always aimed to win. I remember being in the finals and semi-finals during form 1 and form 4. It was especially great when it was our turn to host the Inter-School Competition. Why? Because this was the time when boys (i.e: from Royal Military College and Victoria Institution) would come to our school and being in an all-girls school, we get a tad bit excited. Hehehe…Gatal hormones working laaaaaa…..We also held inter-school drama, choir and cheerleading competitions which was a great way to meet new friends.
  


• English and Bahasa Malaysia Day
  - There were days when we were only allowed to speak English or Bahasa Malaysia. If on an English day, we spoke in Bahasa Malaysia, the prefects would tell us off and say “Speak English, please” and vice versa. I think this was a way to help us practice both languages.

I remember also:

i. Queuing before we entered our class because the prefects would have to check on things like our nails, the way we tied ribbons on our ponytails (the ribbons had to be either black or white and of a certain width), whether we wore our house badge (sports house: either blue, green, yellow, red or purple-and I still don’t know why this was so important) and whether our pockets had buttons on it (so that our wallets won’t fall off!). I remember one time my classmate was so annoyed with all the checking and asked the prefect “Bila nak check gigi pulak?”

ii. The 7/11 nearby where we used to get our Big Gulp and Slurpees especially after any sports practice (after school hours)

iii. Hanging out at McDonalds Bukit Bintang during form 4 and 5 (after school, of course!). My friends and I even did our homework there. We would order fries and 10 sky juices!

iv. My dikir barat practices. I was in the school team. We would practice behind the school hall, school gym and even on the field (not right in the middle but at some corner under the shade of the trees)

v. One particular teacher (when I was in form 3) got so mad because her high heels always got stuck in the cracks/holes of the classroom floor (sekolah lamalah katakan). We were so terrified of her to the point that one classmate actually brought cement/plaster the next day to cover the holes!

vi. The hawkers outside the school compound. I would get junk foods like the 20sen Cadbury chocolate, chickadees and sengkuang

vii. There were a few times when we saw flashers after school while waiting for our bus. Of course this freaked us out and we’d be running to tell our teachers!

Gosh..there are a million things to share!! I miss everything about the school. I miss the teachers and I miss my old friends. I wasn't one of the naughty girls but not exactly a goody two shoes either. And even though I wasn't known as most promising student, I like to think I played a part in building up the school's name. I also believe whatever values I learned from school has helped me become the person I am today. Obviously not someone rich and famous but I think I turned out alrightlah :)

If I stand in front of Pavillion KL now, I know I can still picture my alma mater there. There are too many memories and its not that easy to forget.

Nisi Dominus Frustra. That is the school motto which in Latin means Without God, All is in Vain. I believe all BBGS students’ holds this motto close to their hearts.




Note: I’ve been sneezing since Sunday. Think I might get the sniffles! :(