Remodeling and "Talk More Slowly Please"

1/29/11

When I woke up I didn't think that I would be exhausted at the end of  the day. Saying our work was cut out for us was a major understatement. The three in this apt. started the morning off with a breakfast and decided to continue cleaning and organizing. Before we knew it, the sun was setting and we needed to eat and prepare for tomorrow. A couple of us went to the library and other's stayed in the apts. By the time we looked up it was 10 pm and we decided that we all needed to take it down because the next day was our first day! I don't think any of the guys were worried about it, just ready to get it started. The last month's preparation has been geared to the first day. IT was finally here. Goodnight!!

1/30/11

One thing that I see I will have to get used to is the Azan. The morning prayer goes off on the KT loud speakers every morning at approx. 5:45-6 and 6:15-6:30. Now this wouldn't be so bad but I set my alarm clock for 6 am so I'm not able to get my extra 15 mins of IMPERATIVE sleep. So it's something I'm going to have to get used to. Now since I don't have transportation yet, Madam Zalina, a teacher/co-curricular leader at SMAASZA, volunteered to pick me up until I got the wheels. I was told that I was to address the entire student and teacher/admin. body that morning so I needed to be ready.
"Selamat Pagiiiiiiiiiiii" I chanted as the kids looked at me in awe. The students answered faintly. "Selamat PAGIIIIIIIIIIIIIII" I repeated. " PAGI!!!" they responded. I continued to greet them in a upbeat manner and what I was sure to be met with laughs and cheers!
" Talk slower" I heard from Madam Zalina. " The children cannot understand you". It all made sense, surely my sense of humor and jokes wern't dull. I just needed to slow down. I slowed down to a pace of which I equated to a backwards walk pace of . When I slowed down I then started to see their reactions and they were all positive. One of my tasks at hand was to work with the kids on their conversational skills so throughout my first day I made it a point to greet everyone possible for two reasons: to get the students and teachers responding to me and to see what level of conversational skills they possesed. In all my classes I heard "Sir, talk more slowly please." I honestly believe that this will be good not only for the kids but for myself also. The kids are so friendly. Everyone smiles and even greets you as a class when you enter and exit. I asked one of the students why do you do that? Her response, "sir, we do it out of respect for the teacher." So polite and respectful. No matter what the class, I was never responded to with a "yes, yea, or no." Before I left, I decided to explore the school and its many different levels. One side of the third floor overlooked the beach and the other overlooked the front of the school. As I was walking around that side of the building, I looked down and saw a huge purple sign. It had my name on it and was a greeting from the school to me. THANK YOU SMAASZA!! I was brought home and prepared for the next day.

1/31/11

Waking up before 7 so far has not proven beneficial in my sleep time; however, it does require you to change your mindset. Upon arrival to school today I was still greeted by the students with the "hello sir, how are you?". This makes my job easy. Them demonstrating this type of initiation of contact and communication with a foreigner is a good sign. My classes today had all seen me at the assembly the morning before so they all knew what type of energy that I present. While in class, I first introduce myself then ask them to introduce themselves by stating there name, age/birthday, what they want to be in life, and what are some of their favorite things to do? This is also a measure of what level kids I will be working with. Most of the students while introducing themselves looked down or away while talking and barely above a whisper. I also noticed differences in the way they pronunce letters and words. Also, spelling in some words was a little different becuase they are under the British system. Words like favorite were turned into favourite. Not wrong, just different. The evening once the ETAs all arrived back at home was spent sharing our first day stories and experiences. What a blessing to be welcomed by such a wonderful group of people.

2/1/11

Once again, the Azan was right on time at 5:45 am. Today at school, I was assigned 4 classes. The classes were great. As with yesterday, I started off the class by introducing myself and then having the students introduce theirselves to me. I can see now that it is going to be hard learning all the students name because they all have similar names. Each student different in personality, I am learning so much about each and every one of them. The teachers at the school are always smiling and very friendly! That makes any job easier. I feel as if I have been put in the right place, SMAASZA, to influence and be influenced. I tell my students at the end of their introductions that I'm not the only teacher in the room. We all are teachers and the interactions that we conduct for the next 9 months will prove to be beneficial in our growth as people and as students/educators.

2/2/11

The last day of the week this week is Kejohanan Sukan Antara Rumah SMAASZA or Championship of the House SMAASZA day. The school's activities run in blocks throughout the year. So right now, this week is interhouse competition. The only thing I can equate it to would be Harry Potter. SMAASZA is composed of 4 different houses each represented by a color. Red(Merah), Blue(Biru), Yellow(Kuning), and Green(Hijau) represent the different houses and they compete against each other. The championship day contested Ping Pong, Soccer, Takraw, Jaring, Volleyball, Petang, and Badminton. I was chosen to referee the soccer matches. It was an honor because usually they get a outside referee or top school official to do the job. The game brought me back to my "glory days" of playing soccer when I was younger. As I blew the whistle to start the game, it didn't take me long to realize two things: how good these young players were( some represent the state of Terengganu on a national level) AND how much fun I was having with the kids. I also realized that even though the sport and competition level is competitive it still revolved around a team. There was no showboating, arguing calls, confrontations amongst athletes just FUN. I have been any many situations where I have witnessed a call become confrontational or two players start arguing or fighting at ALL levels of a sport. But not here; times when I was sure that after two players inadvertently ran into each other that there was definetely going to be some type of face-to-face meeting, the other rushed over along with the rest of the team to check on the other person regardless of team. Two great games were played and I was honored to be apart of them both. Congrats lower Green and upper Red. Now the sport that Malaysia is internationally known for is Badminton. I was not surprised to see the athleticism displayed by these student athletes of ALL-ages. A couple of them also represented the state of Terengganu on a national level. They were on hand to display their talent and won their respective games. They contested single and doubles matches. Both matches were a spectacle of what SMAASZA has represented to me: a complete event in which there is respect for all on a competitive level but also being competitive and great while doing it. Congrats to Ya Walad(Blue) and the Yellow team. At the end of the competition they held an awards ceremony in which they crowned a runner up and champion as well as individual sport champions for both boys and girls. Congrats to all participants!! In the midst of all the excitement, there was a special award for the Best Referee of the Day. I was asked to join the principal and the rest of the championships' organizers on stage and then was presented with a official SMAASZA shirt!! I was soooooo happy because I was going to ask for anyway so this def helped me out. I really feel apart of this network of family and friends here at SMAASZA. THANK YOU SMAASZA

2/3/11

Myself and 5 other ETAs decided that we didn't want to go to Penang so we stayed here in KT. We were going to go to the Chemerung Waterfalls in Dungun, Terengganu in the southern region of Terengganu. We were invited by Megan and some of her school officials. We met the official and about 30 kids from the school at the school early that morning. The trip was about an hour and a half on the bus but along the way I talked with ShaSha and Mariam, two Form 3 students from the school. We bounced ideas back and forth and asked each other questions concerning grammatical and sentence structure questions! This way of learning I found to be much more beneficial for myself because I can apply what Im learning right then and there. When we got there, I was expecting a walkway laid path up this mountain to the waterfall. NO SIR, for most of the walk I felt like this was Man vs Wild. There was no clear and distinct path except for the roots that had been uprooted to show some faint sense of direction to the waterfall. It was FUN! All I could think about was the "jungle" that Kuba refered to when Kadari and I were kids. He used to take us in the backyard behind the fence and have us all throughout the woods calling it the "jungle". The walk was over a mile and tiresome. The only thing that kept us going(well two things) were the fact that we were in a unfamiliar place so the quicker we arrived there the quicker we would get back and the fact that we were having fun regardless of how tired we were. Once we got there it was all worth it. It was breathtaking; the water was white and flowing down the jagged rock and forest walls. This waterfall is the tallest in Southeast Asia so it was a sense of accomplishment to have climbed that far safely to see this. One thing that baffled me was the fact that some of the students all under 17 went hiking in sandals. I mean this was no easy terrain and these kids were carrying backpacks and jumping, hopping, and climbing in SANDALS. On the way back to the apt. we stopped at Ani's mentor house because it was Chinese New Year and it is tradititon to have "open house" and welcome walk-ins. Her and her family were very nice people and we ate great. We learned some Chinese traditions and customs while there and had a great time. THANK YOU That night at about 12am as I was watching TV, I heard a knock on the door and answered it. Here stood the foreman and a couple of his workers to continue working on the apt. I was like......its midnight and their response was "but you don't want to get bit by mosquitoes in the night." Couldn't argue with them on that one. THANK YOU God for all that you have bestowed upon me, I pray that I will embrace it all in and learn as much as possible, goodnight

Handing Over Ceremony and Apts

1/27/11

LAST DAY of orientation!! It does not seem like it has been almost a month in Malaysia. THANK YOU God for all my opportunities! I thank you for allowing me to continue to wake up every morning and do this. I thank you for the people that I have met since embarking on this trip. I thank you for my family and friends. I thank you for everyone who has made this possible. I thank you for MACEE, the Terengganu State Govt. and all its officers and employees who continue to work hard EVERY day for our group and for the success of this program!

After our orientation meeting, we had the rest of the day to ourselves. Most of us tried to book these elaborate vacation packages to surrounding areas.  Some of these deals are amazing: Korea, Indonesia, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, India, and Australia. Sooooooooo I think I want to go to all of them.

That night the director at MACEE, Dr. Jim Coffman, arrived into town for our Handing-Over Ceremony the next day.  He treated us out to dinner and dessert at two very nice restaurants.  When we arrived back to the hotel, I think it hit everyone that it was our last night together and it was a very mellow mood. Goodnight

1/28/10

The DAY has arrived!!! What a beautiful spectical of outfits!! There were all sorts of traditional dressed individuals. The wide variety of colors were beautiful and stood out amongst one another.  I was happy to be there as it was a long time coming. This was the culmination of our orientation and we were now "given" to your schools to start our journey. The ceremony went smooth and we we all saw each other off until the next time we got together.

After the ceremony, my mentors drove me to my school and I arrived at the school at the tail end of there break. Now because it was Thursday it is customary for the males to wear Batik's. All the males wore a burgundy batik with a blue design on the side. BEAUTIFUL. The Form 6(Pre-university) students wore Sea blue Batik's and Baju Kurung's(traditional malay women's dress). The school is huge and beautiful. Many of the classrooms's offer a view of the beach that is less than a minute in walking distance from the school. This could be a problem due to my beach affinity.I met much of the staff and a lot of the students who warmly and welcomed me to the school. I am the first male ETA here so I was told that they were expecting big things from me and that they were happy to have me and for me to be the first. 

We received a call informing us that the apt was ready and that we could finally move in. Upon arrival, a brigade of mentors, officials, and other "friends" were in attendance to watch us make that move into our place.  FIRST IMPRESSION: this is going to be a work in progress but one that I welcome and could be fun. There were minor things that needed to be addressed but manageable....UNTIL I started cleaning the bathroom and one of the shower faucets sprung a MAJOR leak. I mean I looked for wood to build an ark. While the water continued to flow, we decided to go the the supermarkets to kick off our Home Makeover: KT edition. We ate in the supermarket, spent the rest of the night cleaning the apt and organizing our rooms and went to sleep.

New Alias: NBA basketball player

1/25/11

Woke up, briefing, then trip to Batu Rakit Integrated Boarding School in Marang. The trip was about 30 mins away so on the way I was able to see a lot of the more rural area of Terengganu that was surrounding the more developed area I would be living in. Once we arrived at the school, we were greeted by many administrators and teachers. As usual we were ushered into a room but this time the school had a powerpoint presentation. Presentation is half of the game because this carries over into how you are perceived amongst your peers and mentors. After the presentation we were brought to a room where there were a host of students waiting for us ALONG with a buffet meal of a variety of food. At my table I had a future, doctor, pilot, two engineers, and a teacher. We discussed life here at the school, favorite subjects, advice on being a great teacher, and then I was asked the question, "Are you a basketball player?".
"I play a little basketball here and there" I replied. That's one. As we traveled to different classrooms to hear the students in discussion and act out scenes of real life situations, "Do you play bball? You look like your in the NBA", the head official of the school said. LOL That's two.
"Well I played in high school and now i just play for fun." We continued to walk around the school and I noticed that by almost every door, there was a print out of a inspirational message and also specific subject tables(periodic, conversions, diagrams of human anatomy). What a positive and smart way of learning and retaining information. There were also big banners that lined the courtyard with the same type of messages, all that can be applied to everyday life and it's challenges. THANK YOU Batu Rakit Integrated Boarding School or BRIBS

We then traveled to the The Terengganu Resouce Center in Marang, Terengganu about 20 mins away. On the way we passed my school which is only 5 mins away from the hotel. It was a huge school with many different buildings spanning out and even had a water tower with the big bold letters SMAASZA! The technology center was nice and we were greeted by the director of the center who was very nice and informed us of our resources that we had access to at our respective schools. One thing that I am noticing is the emphasis that is put on students here. When we visited the school above, students are REQUIRED to take English, Arabic and either French or Japanese. Along with the other "core classes" and co-curricular activities. When I was in school, I def took for granted the OPTION to take a foreign language. It's just goes to show how different cultures are amongst different countries. Ok back to the technology center, the orientation went well. We were told that they had a surprise there for us and they we were to follow the director and his staff. The director fell back to where I was walking and asked "Were ever a basketball player in the NBA?". So this time I decided to take it and run with it.
"I used to play with the Chicago Bulls but I wanted to teach so I dropped out the league and applied for the ETA position." That's THREE!! in one day!! At first his face lit up and then I HOPE he realized that I was just joking and there was no possible way that I could've done that. We just laughed about it and kept walking. I think now I am just going to have a different response every time somebody asks me. THANK YOU Terengganu Technology and Resource Center

That evening we walked to Chinatown in KT and stopped at a shop to ask for some advice. There was a group older men outside the shop who looked like they were just shooting the breeze. Now because we had gone to the school and resource center I dressed up. "Obama" one of them yelled. So not knowing what was going on I turned around trying to see if the brotha was really behind me. Nope nope wasn't behind me. I saw that the guy was laughing so I assumed that he was talking about me. I laughed too, it must've been because I was looking sharp, carried myself in such a professional manner, and held intellectual and thought provoking conversations that he equated me to President Obama.
"I love Obama, he's a good man."
"He's a great man, watch the State of the Union tonight" I replied. I ended up talking to him about the program I was here on and he told me that he didn't understand why his government were hiring "teachers" with no teaching experience to teach "our" children and often pay them more than "our" teachers get paid now. Very good points and it was interesting to here his perspective on the subject. What a valuable learning experience. He and I thanked each other for that learning experience and went our separate ways. THANK YOU

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Those are WHAT?1?!?!?!?!? you sure??

1/23/11

 Today as a part of our Bahasa lessons we did a scavenger hunt in the Central Market. The Central Market is right down the street from our hotel which is in walking distance; however, they insisted that we "travel in style" so we have our own bus and driver(VVIP). On the way to the market, we stopped at a outdoor strip of shops which sold the traditional garb of Malaysia. This we needed for our Handing Over Ceremony. There were all types of beautiful materials and shirts/dresses that were presented to us. What they should've done was presented us a better price. I think since they knew we were foreigners they tried to get us with the okie-doke. It wasn't happening! The scavenger hunt went well and we found everything we needed and things that we didnt including eels and bats. Now, upon first sight they looked like snakes which as you can imagine was quite alarming to the foreigners who are not used to seeing live eels in a bucket. We all thought they were snakes. "Those are what?!!?! You sure??" we asked as if the guy who was selling them didn't know. "Yea man, I'm sure. They taste great with Nasi Goreng(fried rice)" he replied. "No suuuuuuuuuuuuh" I answered.

Once we arrived back at the hotel, we met our mentors!! FINALLY, some clarification on just what the heck was going on and more specific details. Mrs. Zurina or Teacher Zurina was very nice and sweet. We talked about everything that pertained to my school day, transportation, and living accommodations. I will be teaching in the oldest school in the whole state of Terengganu and I am the first male ETA in the school's 6 year history of ETA's so I am a pioneer in a respect. She told me of her expectations of me and my influence on the school and I did also. We were on the same page. I could tell right off back that we were going to get along well and work great together. She also informed me of a wedding that I was invited to. Get out the Batik(traditional shirt for Malaysian men)!! We had a very productive meeting and both walked away pleased with the other!!

1/24/11

Teacher Zurina came to visit and discuss missed topics yesterday today and we got some other important things clarified pertaining to my experience. I showed her some pics of family and friends for most of the time and we just laughed and shared experiences. It was mayhem in the conference room for a while because there needed to be clarification on our expenses and living arrangements BUT we got it straight. Teacher Zurina told me that she would take me to get a Batik for our ceremony  so I'm looking foward to that; it'll be good to hang out with her outside of a formal setting.
Afterwords, I decided to go look at our apartments where myself and a couple other ETAs will be staying and I was craving a pizza and Mckie D's. We stopped there and Pizza hut in the Giant supermarket and ate good. THANK YOU

Knowledge is not power, the sharing of knowledge is power

1/19-1/22

 EFL, EFL, EFL!!! The WHOLE day....EFL EFL EFL(English as a Foreign Language)!!! If there was one day that was drilled and drilled it was today. EFL...We are learning some valuable information and tips from our officers and advisers. One of our officers had mentioned to us that we are all able to change somebody life through this program and touch many indirectly.
"Knowledge is not power, the sharing of knowledge is power" he told us. This is a powerful statement with a lot of truth to it. He challenged us to challenge our students and get the best out of them. Now this is nothing I'm sure that teachers back home don't feel or have instilled in them but it's different when you are in that position to do so. The night ended with a ETA gathering at the beach where we met some local professional surfers and kids from the area. This was good because I got to ask questions to both groups about life here in KT and things that I should know. Good company, good conversation, great scenery...THANK YOU

Today was constructive for a many reasons: I woke up and productive orientation material and strategies We came up with different activities to present the kids with. Tasks included interactive activities along with field trips and collaboration projects. This just might have been one of the most productive days as of yet just because we organized the activities ourselves. This helped because its one thing to hear someone talk about it and it's a total different thing actually performing and experiencing it yourself. Our instructors are learning from us just as we are learning from them. This is how it should be for optimal learning and performance.

Friday=weekend!!! Went bowling today and had the highest score. Somebody tried to sign me to a contract to join the PBA circuit after my 164 score. We had a great time and it was a great change of pace. After coming back and relaxing for a little bit, a couple of us walked to the Jumaat Malam Payang or Friday Night Market. Now, since I was there last weekend I already knew the stopping points: the bbq chicken stand(8 wings), the donut stand(6 donuts), the fried rice and chicken with egg stand AND a nice cold laichi drink(all for about 4 dollars)!! I ate sooooooo good that I forgot that later in the night we were going to go play Futsal(indoor soccer with a smaller ball). Good fun and once again, a good change of pace from the work. THANK YOU Heman and Ms. Jaja!!!

Saturday started off with breakfast and then a trip to the State Library of Terengganu. This library was huge with many floors and sections. The staff was very nice and fed us "light refreshments" after our tour. I figured since I would be in KT that it would make since that I get a library card. The rest of the group also applied and received there library card as well. After that we came back to the hotel for a quick power nap before going to the State Museum of Terengganu and Taman Tamadum Islam. This was a beautiful collection of artwork which displayed the history of Terengganu including many theories of the origin of the name Terengganu( river that splits and then branches off in the region). Behind the museum were a series of showboats, rowhouses, and lush and vast gardens with fruit, flowers, spiders, and trees.
Once we left there, we were all pretty tired but went to the Taman Tamadum Islam. A park which was the home of 21 replicas of mosque's from around the world. We then traveled to the Crystal Mosque, which is the only floating mosque in KT. The mosque is partially constructed of mirrors on the outside which when illuminated with different color lights at night, reflect off the water and is a sight to see!! Goodnight!!!

THANK YOU

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!