People are so Kind

1/18/11
As we get closer to our Handing Over Ceremony to our respective schools, the anticipation builds as I don't really know what to expect. I think that this is going to be a good thing in the long run because I have heard so many different experiences amongst the officers and advisors. Once I am able to meet with my personal advisor and school officials, I belive that a lot of the questions will be answered. The biggest thing for me is to meet with the person who I will be doing the most interacting and consulting with before I start. This won't happen for another week when our ceremony commences. As a group I think we've reached a consensus. Most of the other ETA's feel the same way and just want to get started. It's so much positive hype around the ETA program and us that we are ready to do it. Our advisors and instructors have all been very nice. I expected nothing less but it's a good feeling knowing that your needed and met with such a supportive network of individuals.

While being instructed on some of the finer points of "TEFL" by one of the advisors, we got a surprise from T-Best Events. T-Best Events is a organization who works primarily with the Monsoon Cup from a sponsorship platform. While introducing themselves, the questioned was asked jokingly, "Can we go out on the boat with you all and sail?" Not expecting a group of experienced sailors to take a group of ETA's out on the mean water's of the Terengganu waterways, the reply was much to my disbelief.
"We actually have an event planned in May where we'll be coming back and that was something that we had planned for you all!" Well.....guess I better get the ol' Skipper hat out the closet! lol

 Our scheduled was changed earlier in the week to accomodate some of the presenters or hosts. One of the events planned was a trip to the science museum here in Terengganu. The time it was switched to was 8 pm. I dont think anybody in the group wanted to go at that time of the night, but.....we all went and ended up having a great time. The museum director and his staff showed us a discovery film about space in the Planetarium and afterwords as if we wern't full enough, fed us a big dinner! Now, im NEVER one to turn down any food but I was full. I mean that dinner at the hotel was spectacular: baked lemon fish, home fries, mixed vegetables, curry chicken, rice, salad, and dessert. One of the best meals I've had in a while! So when presented with the food that was served, I was a little reluctant to mix that with what I had earlier. BUT when I saw that satay on the buffet line, I would've felt bad leaving that up there. Little did I know, everyone else in the room felt the same way. LOL THANK YOU Science Museum of Terengganu

1/19/11

It's getting harder and harder to roll out of the bed in the morning. I find myself waking up, watching the sunrise of the water, and going back to sleep. But hey, "somebody has to make the donuts!" After breakfast we had another briefing from the State Dept of Terengganu about classroom expectations. We then boarded a bus and got to see first-hand a primary and secondary school. The school was not very far away and we very well could've walked. THANK YOU State Dept for facilitating our program. Half the group went to the primary school and the other half went to the secondary school. If I ever felt like a star, today was that day. As soon as we arrived to the secondary school we were greeted by teachers, administrators and students. The 10 of us were ushered into the room where we were met with ANOTHER buffet line. We eat here like meals will dissapear if not eaten. After the meal, split into groups and walked into some classrooms. The students were on their break so we mingled. Somehow we got on the subject of singing(no I didn't start singing) and the song Hotel California by The Eagles was brought up. Before I knew it, a teacher had gotten his guitar and tuning it. He soon picked 5 boys(all boy's school) to accompany him in the singing. When I tell you that he sounded better than Joe Walsh and the rest of the Eagles your going to have to believe me. I'm not lying!!! He sounded GREAT!! After the performance, we walked around some more and met some of the other students, all quite impressive in their English language skills. When it was time to go we walked back to the primary school to meet up with the other group. Once there, we heard a lot of noise and figured the Americans wern't too far away from it. We walked in on a Form 1(6-7 yr old) class, excited and curious about just who these 17 odd looking people were. They were just the cutest little kids,so smart and innocent. So THEN we left the classroom and were directed down the stairs, through the courtyard and up the stairs again to ANOTHER ROOM FILLED WITH FOOD!! (I can't thank you enough) I'm NOT WASTING NO FOOD! So with that being said I grabbed a plate and shuffled down the line! We had a great time at BOTH schools and it was good to finally see what we were to face.  THANK YOU SMA Sultan Zainal Abidin Ladang and primary school!