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Home Is Where the Heart Is

"Happy tak duduk sini?" asked Pak Cik Mokhtar.

No word can express how grateful I am that our lines crossed one year ago, and for the fact that God has written this place as one of the destiny of my long journey.



"Happy hehe" Too happy to describe my feeling that I actually lost my word. If it's really up to me, I would choose not to leave.

"Jadi, inilah keluarga arkeologi kami. Very small. Kita buat semua daripada A sampai Z."

I smiled at him. The fact that we are a small group of Malaysians who are passionate in working on this underrated field is the reason why we are a very close-knit family. Who would have guessed, this small family that I have got to know for barely a month could have made me cry on my last day of internship at the office.

Ehem, I am not a good storyteller, so bear with me as I share with you the things I did during my four weeks of internship.

During the first week, we were organising an international archaeology conference: 23rd Suyanggae International Symposium in Penang. It was a huge challenge to be a rapporteur for the lecture presentations; especially when you're listening to non-native English speakers, and a Russian researcher who insisted on speaking Russian and got himself a translator huhu. But it was a reaaaaally great insight to World Archaeology, especially the archaeology of Southeast Asia. I got the chance to visit archaeological sites in Lenggong, having to find out that the settlement sites dated back to 1.83 million years ago. If you have ever heard about the 'Out-of-Africa' theory before (I learnt this in my Biological Anthropology class), the evidence of the discovery of suevite rocks in a plantation in Lenggong will definitely blow your mind, which is also the foundation of the 'Out-of-Malaysia' theory.



Prof Mokhtar giving out an explanation on meteorite impact that might have happened in Bukit Bunuh, Lenggong 1.83 million years ago
Encik Shaiful giving out a briefing to our international symposium participants in the USM Archaeology Gallery at PPAG

On my second week, I started to work in the lab. I got the chance to learn on how to do sample prep for scientific analysis. Together with a few USM Chemistry students who were doing their internship at that time as well, I learnt how to carry out XRF (X-ray fluorescent) and XRD (X-ray diffraction) analysis. In the middle of the week, I luckily got the chance to join a grave relocation project in Penang. I learnt how to read results from the geophysics survey using GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar)! But of course, getting myself dirty is always the best part of archaeology :D

En Shaiful allowed me to do the stratigraphy yeay 

From Penang, I traveled north for my next agenda for the third week. I joined USM students who are doing archaeology as their minor degree in Sungai Batu, Kedah. Instead of just being one of the participants of the excavation, I occasionally spent my time 'tutoring' my group members despite having only one fieldwork experience before (haiya you guys ah, always put high expectation on me ish) Excavation was fun, as it has always been :) but time is not always on my side, I was only able to join them for only a week instead of the whole two weeks of the programme. But, I had a good time :)

I just found an article about the site and it's in Malay! Feel free to click the link: http://www.sinarharian.com.my/edisi/utara/kebun-sawit-tertanam-rahsia-1.873751

With Group 3 members; USM students who take archaeology as their minor course, during our excavation week in Sungai Batu, Kedah. (also with Kak Siha, our group tutor on the most left, Kak Anis; three from left, a Master degree student in PPAG and Encik Shaiful in the middle) 

Finally, it was coming to an end. I spent the last week of my internship finishing my scientific analysis, exploring the culture of Penang, and trying to gain knowledge and insights of archaeology, heritage and conservation in Penang and Malaysia in general as much as possible.

My SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) analysis on the last week.

I stayed longer than I used to on the last night I worked there. It was quarter to 11 when I was still cataloguing the artefacts from Fort Cornwallis, then Kak Su and Kak Ayu persuaded me to go back since it was almost midnight. Haih, can't you see how hard it is for me to leave? I looked at them and reluctantly agreed to go back to my hostel. I stared sadly at the signboard 'Pusat Penyelidikan Arkeologi Global' in front of our office (I can even cry again while writing now isk isk). I adore everything about this place. The work, the people, their dedication, the environment, every inch of it. Everyday it keeps telling me that this is exactly where I belong.

I am not sure if it's me who's not being careful with what I wish for. But I'm truly in love with this field. I am so eager to see what is going on, what has been done, and what will be carried out in the future. I am keen to learn everything. Pak Cik Mokhtar was so nice to give me the chance to learn about a lot of things; from handling an international archaeology conference, to doing lab analysis, to carrying out excavation on prehistoric sites and getting involved with public archaeology. Yet I still feel like there are much more things for me to learn. Nobody looked at me as a first-year student who doesn't know how to do things. They answered all my silly questions and allowed me to do anything I am curious about. I got excited whenever Encik Shaiful wanted to bring me here, or there, showed me this, or that. One month wasn't enough, even a year wouldn't be! hahaha

Helping Ammar with his artefacts analysis during a Public Archaeology Programme at Fort Cornwallis, Penang

A month of working has been able to show me the rough picture of how a career life is going to be. We do, sometimes, work on weekends. On weekdays, our working hours is flexible, but I have always been at the office from 8 am to 5.30 pm, and every time I got home I was extremely exhausted that at times I fell asleep as early as at 8 pm. No wonder Ummi always fall asleep before Isyak hahaha now I know working life is so tiring! However, that only applies when I am working in the office.

Around 50% of my internship was actually spent outdoor. Out of 4 weeks of my internship last time, I spent less than 2 weeks in the lab/office. The rest? I was 'outstation' hahaha

To be fair, I honestly don't want to conclude about my life in PPAG just yet because I personally don't want the story to end here. 27th July 2018 isn't going to be the last time I stepped into PPAG. Like what I have told everyone that I met before I left the office,

"Kalau ada masa dan kereta, I'll definitely pay this place a visit!"



p/s: If you guys are curious about archaeology in Malaysia, follow 'Sahabat Arkeologi USM' Facebook page for more info. Please help me spread the word! Thank you in advance :D
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