The Adorable Eccentrics

I love my cluster!

3B is my hostel cluster, though it is not the place where I originally live in. My first night on 5th November 2007 was spent in 2B Room 2 Bed 1. Then two days later we moved up to 7B (07-06, Bed 1)and lived next to our Boarding Assistant of Level Seven, Tang Yang, a Chinese lady studying Economics in NUS. She is a tough person, always reminding us to clear those errant strands of hair either in the washroom sink or on the bathroom floor. Yet as our co-roommate, she is always linient to us during weekly room check, whereas I could always hear her incessant tirades when she carried out the unwelcome weekly routine in other rooms. There is a little door seperating her room and ours to protect Boarding Assistants' privacy, so whenever the door opens with a freaky creak, my nerves would be tuned up and my ears pricked up.

She is a nice person despite of her rigorosity. I remember the first time I went beyond the door and into her room, I was made to sit on her bloody red sofa and was treated with a cup of hot and extremely concentrated MELO. Music was blasting in her nest and she was busy putting up a movie poster. She is a hardcore movie-goer, and I was dazzled at her supernatural ability of memorising the lines in the movies, not a word more, not a word less. Later our former cluster 7B went through many memorable events, like Lisa's birthday party, crazy cluster performance in the canteen and a movie outing to the Golden Village to watch "Golden Compass".

One thing to add on, the laundry room for female creatures is at 7B, thus at that time going to the laundry room was like strolling to the next-door room. However, this privilege was deprived of when we moved down to Level 3 (03-02,Bed 1)at the beginning of the new term.

The change of altitude was proved to be unadaptable at the very beginning. As we were going to mix with scholars from different schools, we were supposed to live with people of different coutries and races, that is, to live with those people whom I later recognise as "adorable eccentrics".

The first 3B-er I met was Alfathi Arzaini (Alfa), I encountered her on the lift when I was transferring piles of my books from Level 7 to Level 3 using a trailer. She is very mused and reticent Indonesian who later lived with Victoria. Then I began my secret observation of my new neighbours. Since I no longer lived with BA, the door separating two compartments no longer exists. To my great relief, both my co-roommates are very friendly. Nitcharee Nitinavakorn( I pity her for having to write such a long name every time she takes an exam) is a Thai(she is called as Nani) and Ha Ngoc Huong Lien( known for short as Lien) is a Vietnamese. They proved to be my very joy of living in 3B!

"Nani" means "What" in Japanese. So every time we want to utter out an exclamation we shout out "Nani the hell is....", followed by an explosion of gaffaw. Nani can remind you of the well-advertised slogan of Thai Airline. "Smooth as silk." She has a Filipino look with an India complexion and wears a Mexican hairstyle. Her low and hoarse voice has certain charisma that is irresistable, I gazed at her eyelash in awe every time she deliveries a speech. She is a tomboy yet when she recently changed her dressing style I could not deny that she is actually very sweet and lady-like. One night before Mid-Year Examination, she stood on the chair in the pantry and waved a broom shouting, "I am a superwoman!" I ran out of my room like a lightening to see what the accident was about and resulted in laughing to half-death. The aftermath of the laugh, which was a spasmic stomach disposition, plagued me the next day when I was sitting for my SS Paper. However I did not blame this adorable eccentric at all.

Lien is another loveable person, though she is not as dramatic as Nani(the hell:). She is very hard-working so we share some mutual hobbies, that is, reading and writing. When I used to occupy the pantry as my personal reading place, she took over the outdoor bench and transformed it into her own Eden. (The bench then served as a superb place for me to practice elementary Yoga). She has a lovely handwriting known as "Modern round character" and once I even longed to learn Vietnamese. She is our dutiful cluster IC and is indeed exceeding responsible. I secretly admire her as a role model. A very amusing thing happened today was that I went into the pantry and was struck by the sketch on the whiteboard, it was a----------well-labelled TRANSVERSE VIEW OF ARTERY. It did not take time for me to make out who drew this as soon as I saw the "Modern round character".

I love 3B!