Where did the first 5 go??

May 18, 2011

As we returned back to Terengganu last Saturday from our weekend in KL, it hit me that we are halfway through this trip. HALFWAY!?!?!?!! Whoa whoa whoa....that can't be right. I mean we got here January 2 and today is May 18; one, two, three, four months and some change have passed. We have been in Malaysia for 5 months already! This can't be real! Where did the time go As we near our 2 week midterm break, I think about the experiences that have led me to where I am now in my stay here. When I first arrived, I was introduced to Bahasa Malaysia in a quick 2 week course and then "thrown into the fire". We were unsure of our living arrangements and all had questions concerning Internet and phones. How would we get around? What if someone had fell ill and needed medical attention? What were going to be our biggest obstacles here in a new place? These were just some of the questions that we all had and discussed amongst each other. It seems that

Ahhhhh ok, let's see. The last time I wrote on the blog, I had discussed how Taman Negara at one point seemed like a scene from Jumanji(i'll probably show that for my next movie night). Well the last couple of weeks also proved to not disappoint. I have had a couple activities at school and was able to travel to Singapore and KL. As a part of my English Extravaganza Week #1 prize for the second place participant, I promised that I would have a BBQ Malaysian style.  Initially, when I said a BBQ I thought of the traditional BBQ where we cook some hot dogs, hamburgers, maybe some corn, and chips. Little did I know that this was not going to be the case. Now because I live in a Muslim state here there is no pork which means chicken hot dogs. Chicken hot dogs aren't bad but I was salivating for at least a beef hot dog. There is beef to make hamburgers BUT its not ground beef. Its minced meat which makes it soooooooo difficult for it to stick together. I tried everything to make them stick including adding a egg to the mix. Did....not....work...wait wait wait...I'm jumping the gun. FIRST, I decided to take the kids to Kuala Ibai, a local beach area with trees for shade.Once we arrived, we had to get the fire started. One of the groups that I took had members from the Bomba uniform body or fire brigade. You would think these guys could get a fire started with the materials we had. I think paint takes longer to dry lol. I let them continue to try until one of the students said "I'll get some gasoline!" Two things came to mine: Why can't they start a fire as members of the fire uniform body and was he serious about using gasoline to start the fire? Before this experiment turned into a scene from Die Hard I decided to step in and try. We got it working together after a while and had the meet cooking. As we were cooking I couldn't help but notice the different roles the kids were playing. The boys were all cooking the food and the girls were preparing the plates and buns. I stopped everybody and switched roles. I made the girls cook the hot dogs and the boys had to get the condiments and plates ready. You could tell the boys were not subjected to these tasks because many of them were making a mess. Interesting. We had a great rest of the afternoon playing games and eating.

 That week I also participated in a speech choir contest. My school and I traveled to Dungun to SMK Kuala Abang where Olivia is a ETA. There were about 8 other schools in competition. I was so surprised that students sang and talked in English on certain subjects. The teachers who accompanied the students were even more surprised that this did not happen in America. I told them that I had no account of this happening and wasn't sure where they came up with this idea. They told me they modeled it from the U.S. Guess you learn something new everyday.

As a part of my in-class activities I decided to show the students American commercials then instructed them to create their own. I THOUGHT I was very clear when I stated the criteria for this project including: groups of 3-5, everybody in the group must talk, must clearly indicate a theme or market a product, no more than 2 mins, and the most important, BE CREATIVE!! Now out of my 16 classes and about 50 groups only 8 of the groups were ready to present on the designated day. When I confronted the students about them not doing the task assigned the overwhelming response was "Sir, I did not understand the project" or "Sir, we were very busy with our extra classes(classes held after regular school hours and weekends) and didn't have time to prepare". I gave the student's two weeks two prepare a less than 2 minute skit and these were their excuses. At first, I told them this was not an excuse because they had ample time to complete this project. I was disappointed in them. Not so much for them not doing it but for the fact that I asked the classes numerous times "What questions do you have?" and "If you have any questions please come talk to me." This was suppose to be a fun activity. After hearing their reasons, I decided that I was going to tackle this a different way . I sat each class down separately and explained to them that I can't read their minds and that they need to talk to me to let me know things. I would have even been inclined to dismiss the project or postpone it to a later date if they had come and talked to me beforehand. "Communication is the key guys, we have to communicate with each other. Now I understand that you all are very busy but if you feel like it's too much TELL ME. I would rather you come and say "Sir, we have a lot going on at this time,may we not do it or do it at a later time?", than to show up unprepared." I explained that I wasn't mad at them just disappointed that they didn't tell me in advance. I could see that this really hit home because after I left the classes, groups of students came by my office and brought candy, cookies, cards, and small gifts to make up for them not being prepared. It was the sweetest thing as many students came and told me that they would start speaking up in class if they did not understand and that they would not do it again. NOW, this is very important because not only may this have been poor communication on their part but it very well could have been even poorer communication on my part. Many times in class, I find myself repeating myself and talking very slow so that the students will understand. Maybe I was talking to fast or just rambling and they didn't understand what had been said. I went back to the classes and apologized to them for my "lack of communication" and they all at once would say "ohhh no no no no sir, it's our fault. We won't do it again." We all laughed and smiled and promised to communicate more efficiently and frequently. Since that day there has definitely been a change for the positive in their communication in class and probably mine also. Improvement comes from learning and amending. We just got better!

Traveling is a wonderful thing...BUT....when you are stuck on a bus for over 12 hours because the bus driver takes leisure stops every couple of hours there's nothing else that you want to think about except getting off. The last weekend in April I traveled to Singapore. Ok, imagine all the futuristic movies that you've ever seen that take place in a city. The first one that comes to mind is Demolition Man(I know not the happy-go-lucky movie but...). Cars that fly, seashells in the bathroom(toilet paper), virtual reality platforms...all things that come to mind when I think of Singapore. Well it wasn't that futuristic(not yet anyway) but the city was not far from it. It definitely is a city of the future. Singapore has one of the best economies in the world and that is evident through all walks of life there. The city is blossoming with skyscrapers, innovative new designs, and state of the art technological advances. My favorite part of the trip actually happened by mistake on my part. I had a couple in the airport earlier in March and they told me that they lived in Singapore. We swapped contact information and I told them that I was coming to visit Singapore soon and would inform them. Once I arrived, we set up a lunch for myself, them and the other ETAs who had come on the trip. Well once we got to the "meet-up" location, we found out that the location was actually two stops back on the train. Crunched for time we decided that we should just stay where we were and eat lunch there. I would miss seeing him that time. This turned out to be the best decision of the whole trip. The area was called Marina and it hosted the Marina Bay Sands Casino and Resort and the Marina Bay Sands Shopping Gallery. First, we ate lunch in the gallery mall where there was a river running though it where they had small boats that would pick you up at various stops and take you around to other stores. Secondly, they had a food court that overlooked a ice  skating rink inside the mall. Thirdly, the building was constructed to look like a giant rippling wave so the architecture was one-of-a-kind. Leading out of the gallery mall was a "double helix" bridge that spiraled and wound about a 100m. Once out on the bridge and looking up to your left, you were struck by the Marina Bay Sands Casino and Resort. A SHIP ON TOP OF A BUILDING!! 197m tall, 2,561 rooms(57 floors),  340m long sky deck, the world's largest public cantilevered platform, 2 theatres, 2 floating pavilions, AND(if the construction bill was not high enough) a 150m infinity swimming pool that overlooks Singapore. When the elevator opened up its doors and that breeze from being that high up hit your face, your hear starts racing. IT...WAS...BEAUTIFUL!!! ohhh man let's not even talk about how it looks at night with it illuminating all of Singapore. The top of this grand hotel offered nothing but scenic and majestic views .THANK YOU GOD

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