Myself - Part 1
I browsed my blog these past years and noticed that I have never actually written anything about myself. These past couple of months, I realized that there are things about me that had remained the same and some others that may have changed. Getting to know others in the pre-election climate had also made me realised a few other things that I may have simply taken for granted before. Besides, my PhD journey had also graced me the experience of knowing people from various backgrounds. And I thought, in the midst of them all, who is this Nor Fadzlina Nawi. Perhaps, the time has come to pen some of 'me' down :)
I was born in KL 35 years ago. My name carries the meaning 'Cahaya Kelebihan Kami' (Please google translate hehe). I have also thought that perhaps it was a combination of my mother and father's name - Fa from Faridah & Na from Nawi, hehe but I have never asked them. Might be an illusion ;) I am the first child/daughter of 6 (3 girls & 3 boys) All 6 of us was born, bred and buttered right smack in the middle of the city centre. We used to live in an old semi-detached single storey quarters lot in Bukit Petaling near the old Istana Negara, since I was around 5. The house was an only lot with a single gate and yards as big as two football fields. Surely, we had the most fun as we spent our childhood there. Our neighbour for most of our lives there was an old Chinese couple, my father's colleague. Compared to us noisy lots, they led a quiet life with their daughter. But they were very nice. In 2010, while collecting data for my thesis I detoured to the old neighbourhood. The remains of the house is still there, but won't be there for long. They have now turned the whole area into a beautiful ecopark with lots of water features and all.
I spent my younger days schooling in MGS in Brickfields, the area where all the 'Sentrals' are now. I used to walk around 1.5 km to school using a shortcut, crossing a bridge on the Federal Highway nearby Kuen Cheng Chinese school. I did that almost every day for 6 years, regardless of whether it was the morning or afternoon session. I will be picked up only if it rained cats and dogs. I doubt my father will let me walk to school in today's 'environment'. I loved my school. I thought it was the best and beautiful school in the lane. Mind you, during the 80s, there were 5-6 schools on the same stretch of road. Mine being the first in the row. I visited the school sometime in 2010. The school had really been affected by the development around it. It used to be a grade A school with almost a thousand student. I talked to the current headmistress and she noted that it's no longer the case, since more schools are now developed nearby new housing areas & parents would rather not send their children to a school in the middle of the city centre. Kinda sad actually. I learnt a lot there, being 1 of the 6 malay girls in the class of 42 students throughout my 6 years there. It was also there, I started to polish my english. Well, partly ;).
English is a problematic equation for me. I don't remember the time, but I started to think in English by the time I was 10. Unlike some families that spoke English at home, mine didn't. My father is very good in English and Mathematics, but we never converse in English with each other. I guess it was all the English books I was interested in reading that made me good at it. Simon, my PhD supervisor used to say 'I have the ear'. I was also very keen on watching English movies. I think I watched hundreds of them by the time I was 12. Even listed the movies :) I remembered standing really close in front of the TV set at night in the dark so I can hear the actors/actions because I had to reduce the volume, fearing being caught watching the TV during school nights ;) Go figure why I was with glasses by the time I was 10 :) School helped improved my skills because almost everybody spoke English in class, the very least broken ones. By the time I was 12, the foundation was strengthened through a weekly home tutoring in Bangsar by one of my teacher before the UPSR exam in 1989.
I was born in KL 35 years ago. My name carries the meaning 'Cahaya Kelebihan Kami' (Please google translate hehe). I have also thought that perhaps it was a combination of my mother and father's name - Fa from Faridah & Na from Nawi, hehe but I have never asked them. Might be an illusion ;) I am the first child/daughter of 6 (3 girls & 3 boys) All 6 of us was born, bred and buttered right smack in the middle of the city centre. We used to live in an old semi-detached single storey quarters lot in Bukit Petaling near the old Istana Negara, since I was around 5. The house was an only lot with a single gate and yards as big as two football fields. Surely, we had the most fun as we spent our childhood there. Our neighbour for most of our lives there was an old Chinese couple, my father's colleague. Compared to us noisy lots, they led a quiet life with their daughter. But they were very nice. In 2010, while collecting data for my thesis I detoured to the old neighbourhood. The remains of the house is still there, but won't be there for long. They have now turned the whole area into a beautiful ecopark with lots of water features and all.
I spent my younger days schooling in MGS in Brickfields, the area where all the 'Sentrals' are now. I used to walk around 1.5 km to school using a shortcut, crossing a bridge on the Federal Highway nearby Kuen Cheng Chinese school. I did that almost every day for 6 years, regardless of whether it was the morning or afternoon session. I will be picked up only if it rained cats and dogs. I doubt my father will let me walk to school in today's 'environment'. I loved my school. I thought it was the best and beautiful school in the lane. Mind you, during the 80s, there were 5-6 schools on the same stretch of road. Mine being the first in the row. I visited the school sometime in 2010. The school had really been affected by the development around it. It used to be a grade A school with almost a thousand student. I talked to the current headmistress and she noted that it's no longer the case, since more schools are now developed nearby new housing areas & parents would rather not send their children to a school in the middle of the city centre. Kinda sad actually. I learnt a lot there, being 1 of the 6 malay girls in the class of 42 students throughout my 6 years there. It was also there, I started to polish my english. Well, partly ;).
English is a problematic equation for me. I don't remember the time, but I started to think in English by the time I was 10. Unlike some families that spoke English at home, mine didn't. My father is very good in English and Mathematics, but we never converse in English with each other. I guess it was all the English books I was interested in reading that made me good at it. Simon, my PhD supervisor used to say 'I have the ear'. I was also very keen on watching English movies. I think I watched hundreds of them by the time I was 12. Even listed the movies :) I remembered standing really close in front of the TV set at night in the dark so I can hear the actors/actions because I had to reduce the volume, fearing being caught watching the TV during school nights ;) Go figure why I was with glasses by the time I was 10 :) School helped improved my skills because almost everybody spoke English in class, the very least broken ones. By the time I was 12, the foundation was strengthened through a weekly home tutoring in Bangsar by one of my teacher before the UPSR exam in 1989.
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