SITI HUMAIRA BINTI AHMAD KAMAL

TESOL 2

Days go by very quickly and I just could not believe that I have been in Sydney,
Australia for the past two years. And now I have already come back for good and
another couple of months from now I will become as an English teacher. There are
so many things that I have gone through as well as learnt while I was there. On the
10th February 2010, that was the date for the first time in my life, I was on the plane
heading to Sydney. Until now I just could not believe that I have got a chance to go
to Australia. As soon as the plane touched down the Kingsford Smith International
Airport at 9.40 in the morning Sydney time, it was summer. Honestly I could feel the
heat burning on my skin.
As usual, first thing that we did after we have reached Sydney was we went to
Macquarie University Village (MUV) to see how our accommodation was looked like
and we were accompanied by Dr Pamela who was our course co-ordinator at
Macquarie University. Basically each of us was allocated with 5 bedrooms apartment
and since we were 57 of us, so that there would be 4 to 5 people staying in a same
house. The house consisted of kitchen, dining room, living room as well as 5
bedrooms which each of it with ensuite bathroom and the house was fully furnished.
I took a look at my own bedroom which was upstairs and I would say that the room
was perfectly arranged with mirrored sliding cupboard, the windows were furnished
with the blinds and I had my own table for my study purposes with a comfy chair. I
felt so blessed as I had a chance to get to Sydney as well as I had a great place to
stay here. However when it came to the rental fees, I was so shock as it nearly
costed me 800 AUD per month and if we converted it to Malaysian Ringgit at that
time, it was RM2400 just for the single bedroom. Oh Gosh! That was too much for
me and at that time even though that was my first day in Sydney I started to think of
to find another house to stay which was cheaper than this so that I could save some
money for my future savings. People might see me as a materialistic person but for
me it is not easy to get a chance to come to Sydney which is fully supported by our
government so that it is better to spend the money wisely for food, vacations or
activities that being done by our university instead of paying a lot just for the house
rent payment. At that time I really assured that I might be able to find another house
which was less expensive than residing at MUV and I managed to survive even
though I needed to move from one house to another for a few times during the 2
years of staying in Sydney. I used to live in Parramatta for about a year and then
headed back to Marsfield for 11 months of staying and finally I moved in to my
friends house in Eastwood just for a couple of week before I went back to Malaysia
for good. Not to forget, Parramatta was the most far distance place that I have
resided which was 20 km from my University and luckily there was a shuttle provided
for Macquarie students and it operated 6 times a day, so that I had not worried about
transportation any longer.
My course at Macquarie University started in the middle of February, 2010 which
was on the 20th if I was not mistaken and the first thing to do was as usual to enrol in
subjects in order to fulfil my credit hours. The enrolment was completed few days

SITI HUMAIRA BINTI AHMAD KAMAL

TESOL 2

earlier so that we had time to prepare ourselves for the new environment of teaching
and learning over the next 2 years. Since we had couple of days before the class
resume, Dr Pamela introduced us with our seniors who were Cohort 5 from IPBA and
they had a same course with us however later on they will teach secondary school
students after they have finished their studies. During the meet and greet session,
even though our cohort members have not met them before, but we could feel the
aura of a warm and good relationship between our seniors and us as we had a great
conversation chatting on places that we should go and activities that we should do
before we go back to Malaysia, some advices regarding on time management so
that we are able to perform well in studies as well as having a good and prosperous
time to explore and experience new things around us while we are in Sydney. Since
the class had not started yet, as the meet and greet session ended, we were divided
into groups and every group would have 2 or 3 seniors and at this time we had a tour
to our university locale, the library as well as the nearest shopping centre known as
Macquarie Shopping Centre which was only 1km from our university central
courtyard.
The best place in the campus that I loved the most was the food court. It has a huge
dining space that looked very pleasant and cosy and several of food that came from
different part of the world was sold here such as sushi (my favourite food), pide and
kebabs, crepes and other Mexican food as well as other Asean food likes Thai Tom
Yum, noodles and fried rice. Not to forget fast food was also available here. Even
though there were lots of choices here, but not all food are certified Halal so mostly I
used to order kebabs or pide since these were certified Halal as well as vegetarian
food such egg and tuna sandwich but if I have time to prepare my own meal in the
morning, therefore I used to bring my own food to the campus so that I could save
some money. For me the food here is quite expensive as in Malaysia we can get a
plate of chicken rice that only cost us RM4-5 but there is no food that cost you below
than 8 AUD in Sydney. This is the reason why some of my friends who come from
the other countries such as United Arab Emirates, Jordan as well as some Australian
use to call our country as heaven of food as the food is delicious and it has a
reasonable price. Some of my Arabian friends use to come to Malaysia quite
frequent as they love to go for shopping as well as for vacations during the holidays.
They always tell me that Malaysia is a peaceful country and the citizens are very
friendly and treat them well. I felt so proud of my country as people has good
perspectives towards her sovereignty. Besides that, another place that I loved to go
at Macquarie University was the library. There were 2 libraries, one was the one
situated near to the Lincoln Building and the new one was situated near to the
International Building and I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to experience
both environments. Some differences that I noticed between the new library and the
old one were firstly it has a bigger space so that more students would be able to
enter to the library without getting worried of limited space which happened at the old
library. Furthermore, there were ample of different spaces characterized with the
modern and sophisticated architecture as well as fully furnished with the trendy

SITI HUMAIRA BINTI AHMAD KAMAL

TESOL 2

looked furniture for different purposes provided at the new library such as group
discussion area which equipped with smartboard, television and DVD player. Not
only that, the library also comprised individual cubicles which was a better place for
students to have individual studies. In addition, lots of books have been added by the
librarians in order to improve the quality of resources for a better referencing
purpose.
In addition, at Macquarie University I could see that there is so much freedom given
to the lecturers, staff and students such as in term of the dressing code, all of them
are able to wear anything that they like as long as they comfortable with it. For
instance, if a person use his or her bare feet to go to the university, as long as he or
she comfortable with it, I do not think people will bother about it. I believe the lack of
restrictions in code of dressing is also implemented at most of universities in
Malaysia however I do not think that wearing jeans, sleeveless as well as short pants
are allowed in the university locale. Not only that, there are no restrictions for
students to do anything that they like while being around in the campus such as
students are able to write their manifesto on the road in order to gain votes from
other students, then most of the students are taking their nap, having their
discussion as well as reading books by lying on the grass and no one having any
problem with it and students are allowed to be around in the campus area anytime
that they want as long as they can stand the cold chilly wind if they stay until late
night. I used to stay at the university with my friends until 3 in the morning but I tend
to get back home after that since I just could not stand the cold even though I worn
some thick clothes. Furthermore, the freedom to everyone is not only given in terms
of dressing code or having opportunities to do anything in the campus area but the
most important aspect is offering freedom particularly for students to speak their
opinions or ideas in front of the lecturers with full sense of respect instead of being
demoralized if the ideas are a little bit distorted. For instance, the lecturer tend to be
a good listener while the students are presenting their ideas and he or she is trying
his or her best to reconstruct the ideas so that they can be presented well and can
be understood by other students. However it is quite different with our teaching and
learning styles as I would say some of the lecturers are not even listening attentively
to ideas presented by the students and blatantly eliminate the ideas even though
they seem to be relevant and make sense if we tend to listen to them carefully. Here,
I am not trying to be judgemental towards our lecturers in Malaysia but I faced this
situation for many times until sometimes I am always in hesitation whether I should
give my own opinions or just keeping in silent as I am afraid of facing the same
situation once again.
On the other hand, in term of surviving in Sydney I used to do part time work which
was a cleaner for my employers house as well as cleaning the office and basically I
used to work every day except on every Friday and on the weekends. Honestly I got
to work after I have finished my classes on that day and students were allowed to
work as long as the working time did not exceed 20 hours per week. I gained lots of

SITI HUMAIRA BINTI AHMAD KAMAL

TESOL 2

experiences during my working period. Firstly, in my opinion, it is not easy to find

money and I need to work hard in order to get paid by my employers. I could feel the
pain, the sweat and the sense of hardships while I was working there. From that, I
started to realise that these might be some hardships that my father used to deal
with in order to feed my mother, my siblings and I. From my working experience, I
learnt some of good values such as manage my time wisely as I need to allocate
time for my studies as well as my working hours. Then, I learnt to be committed in
everything that I need to do as if I did not show a can-do attitude I could not get paid
and I would get lots of unpleasant comments from my employers. In addition, I used
to practice this attitude for my studies as well since this is the positive value that
needs to be instilled by everyone.
Not to forget, I felt so much blessed as based on the money that I received from the
government as well as my salary, I was able to travel to some places in Australia
such as Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney (most of the time) as well as some places
in New Zealand (both islands). The best part was I overcome my fear to do bungy
jumping at Queenstown and I should be grateful that I am still alive. It was so
awesome yet so much adrenaline being pumped up during the activity was done.
In conclusion these may be some of my experiences as well as my thoughts and my
views on things that I learnt while I was in overseas or specifically in Sydney. I do not
think 4 pages of writing will be enough for me to write all of my experiences while I
was there but these may be some bits of what I have gone through while I was there
for 2 years. Now, here I am in IPG Kampus Pulau Pinang, serving as a teacher
trainee for another few months, and next year will be a year for me to serve the
communities and the nation as I will be a teacher in school in order to educate our
future generations.