Today was Hari Kokurikulum. This is an annual co-curricular programme carried out in most Malaysian schools - a day when we mobilize our clubs and societies to run food sales and other money-churning activities. Somewhat similar to our school funfairs of old but not quite so fun or fair anymore now that I am the teacher and have to do the bulk of the work!!! (LOL)

Anyway, I had my English Language Society do a jumble sale. The perfect idea to get my students to walk the talk after all those lessons in class about "Greening the Environment”. I could also kill many birds with NO stones :-) No competition, we had nothing to do with food, the major theme of almost every other stall. No need to buy ingredients and spend time on the preparation, set up the stall on the morning itself. No messy cooking, just need the students to sell the stuff and collect the coupons. The most wonderful part, of course, was no capital outlay, it was profit all the way since we would be getting the teachers and students to donate to us unwanted stuff from their homes.

Well, I wouldn't call the day a resounding success, maybe more of an eye-opener. Malaysians are still very "sticky" about second-hand stuff. Of course, those who live in the bigger cities or have been overseas (and are familiar with charity and thrift shops, car boot sales and flea markets) would beg to differ. Unfortunately, there are still many of us who have this misguided sense of pride and would rather be dead than to be caught shopping at second-hand shops! Can't blame them sometimes when most of these enterprises they walk into go by the same old uninteresting name and more often than not, are dingy-looking and smelly. Now, maybe if they have a better set-up, more attractive displays, an exciting and captivating name (Treasure Trove? Second Charm? Your Trash My Gem?)..... Then perhaps, it's also time for a paradigm shift for some of us too, especially in these days of inflation and souring prices.

On a lighter note, I won this hamper during the lucky draw at today’s event!

You can see the contents here. OK, so it’s all junk food. But, I won't be eating everything myself. I'll get my friends to share this guilty burden :-)

Labels: 2008, Hari Kokurikulum, Ramblings