A Penang girl..from Chung Ling

Ok here is my chance to write finally, the plane was going through some turbulence as we were about to reach London and the passenger sitting next to me appeared to be praying hard that we will land safely while I was thinking about where to eat/shop this weekend.. Portobello Market? Satay at Islington?…oh no, I still havent written for the CL UK…

Thanks for the friend requests some 50+ of them on my facebook. Unfortunately, these days it becomes a huge task to recognise who’s who without any exchange of messages. I don’t know whether someone is adding me as friend just because they found me from the CL Alumni UK or from other past acquiantance. I wish I would get the pleasure of meeting you CL folks some day before adding new friends so I know more about you.

As I was thinking about what to write about myself, my head was humming 林琼珑的歌 - 多年以前，多年以后.. Well, my background is that I received tertiary education in Australia, was trained as a professional engineer in the USA and am now working in European projects as a Oracle consultant. On a personal note however, I’m just a simple Penang ‘lang’ like most of you. To talk about my journey will be 没完没了的故事 but for what it’s worth, maybe I should relate to how I came about knowing the Chung Ling Alumni..something we all share in common.

I was born in Georgetown, Penang and my first language is in fact English. I am the only one in my family/relatives who can read/write Chinese thanks to my parents who decided that I should learn Chinese at a young age. My primary school is 中华一校 and I went to CLBW 北海钟灵中学 （国中）from there on. During my time in Chung Ling, I was a Girl Guide and also part of the Chung Ling School Band. Those days, I have sometimes denied my identity as a Chung Ling student mainly because I was afraid that friends from other school will not mix with me (some of them think that Chung Lings are LCLY and it makes them feel inferior that we have such good exam results..but we all worked really hard for it, didn’t we?! LOL). From the Chung Ling School band, I was selected to play for the Penang Symphony Orchestra and also the Penang State Symphony. During one of the years playing music, the CL seniors sponsored us to perform for one of the CL Alumni Worldwide Gathering held in Genting Highlands. That was the first time I came about knowing that the CL Alumni really do exist “worldwide”. As a teenager, I truly had no sense of how big/far the world really is, except seeing it on the atlas book :-) but it was the first out-of-Penang school trip that I’ve had.

By the time I have completed Form 5, the existence of the CL Alumni Worldwide has slipped my mind and I was feeling very uncertain about my future. I didn’t get into the course that I have applied for at UTM. My family was just a poor 小康之家 and I had to keep trying the local university by continuing to Form 6 (by then we no longer need to go to CLHS Penang for Form 6 because CLBW was able to provide that). To risk it all so that I can study in my chosen field, my parents have decided to mortgage our only home so that I can get a chance to study in Australia. Back then, the Australian currency was 3x so my parents can only afford part of the course fees and I still need to support myself on the living cost overseas. I still remember my mother’s words vividly, she said “Ah girl, I’ve never been on the plane out of Malaysia but go spread your wings and do your best!” I feel so empowered by her simple words that I accepted the one way ticket to Melbourne, Australia and took on the challenges without knowing what lies ahead for me.

When I first arrived in Melbourne, I didn’t know anyone to cope with the culture shock and found a job at a food court with a Malaysian owner. My first job was AUD4.50/hour paid fortnightly (well below the minimum pay threshold by law). By the 4th week (the 2nd pay cycle), the owner decided not to pay for my work because I was said to be slow in serving food and he was not making enough money so I left. Eventually I found 4 jobs sufficient to support myself by roasting chestnuts on the streets of Melbourne, working in the University Info Centre, computer data entry in a property company and working as a waitress in a Thai restaurant. I couldn’t afford to fly home but life was livable with good summer jobs and I was also doing well in my engineering studies. However by the 4th final year, I was really homesick being away from my family for so long and my studies were degrading. I didn’t think I would make it back to Penang with an honours degree. Then on one of the cold winter days while I was roasting chestnuts, I met one of the senior CL alumni who came to buy a packet of chestnuts. He reminded me of family, the Chung Ling Alumni and Penang when he spoke Mandarin/Hokkien..especially when the words '爱吾钟灵' were said so strongly and of course, invited me to one of their gathering.

With some company from the CL alumni network, life was so much better from there onwards…although there is an age gap with the CL seniors and their family, I no longer feel that homesick. Sometimes they invited me to makan assam laksa or bak-kut-teh that they cooked at home and I also helped out when they celebrated 中秋节 etc. When I needed a JP to certify-true-copy of my certificates to apply to the Institute of Engineers, there was someone in the Alumni who is a JP and helped me with that. Sooo.. I supposed you could guess the story ending by now.. yes I completed university and received my B.Eng with honours. My final year engineering project was published in the university Engenius Journal and the university retained copyrights to the project. I also managed to save up enough to buy plane tickets for my parents to attend my graduation in Melbourne that year (my mum was a bit paranoid when she took the plane for the first time in her life haha!). Also, Agilent Technologies offered me an engineer position before my final exams. After my graduation ceremony they relocated me back to Penang and subsequently to the USA.

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading my story. Wherever you are, stay connected lah..you’ll never know who you’ll cross-path with, in the Chung Ling Alumni network. There are a lot of talented alumni around…多年以前，多年以后 we will all become the Chung Ling seniors too..but for now, we are the Chung Ling ‘kia’ and we are the movers and shakers of the future!

cheers!
Adeline