Vietnam

Well I've been back at school for a whole week now.. and only now catching up on my blog! Over spring break I went to Hanoi, Vietnam with some friends. We had an awesome time... walking the streets of Hanoi, doing some shopping, doing lots of eating...! We also took a boat trip on Ha Long Bay. It was a fantastic experience... wow. We spent the night on the boat, and got off on different islands to hike up them, or to see caves. It was truly amazing. The weather was quite chilly, and we weren't expecting it to be so cool, but it was refreshing and the rain didn't stand in the way of us having a fab time! These are just a few pictures of my trip.. Enjoy!

Visitors to Penang

A couple of weeks ago, I had some gals stay with me from the UK. I knew Cat in England when I lived there and she was traveling through Asia with two other friends. It was great to catch up and hang out together, show them around, and take them to my favourite eating spots!


Well it's quite hectic at the moment with report cards to write and so many other things at school going on! I've also volunteered to teach ESL to some Nepali migrant workers.. There's a group of us from church who are doing this on a Sunday night as a sort of an outreach. We are helping them gain skills (like English)so they can go back to Nepal to work and gain a better life for themselves. They come to Penang to work on a 2 or 3 year contract - away from their families - so they can make some money. They mostly work in factories and other custodian-type jobs. I teach the beginner ESL group - there are four guys and they are just so eager to learn! It's a very rewarding experience and has opened up my world to something outside of my "bubble" community!

Good times with good friends...

I keep thinking of how so blessed I am here in Malaysia to be surrounded by wonderful friends. Never want to take that for granted.
Here are some pics from the weekend.. We had a braai/bbq at Jasmane's place with a little swim while the meat was cookin'!


Lana, me and Annami(with little Daniel)

Thailand

I've been back in Penang now for a couple of weeks... back into the routine of work, ect..
Thailand was awesome. It's the second time I've visited there, but first time I've been to Bangkok and Chaing Mai. (Last time I hit the beaches:) As well as doing some great shopping and elephant riding in Chaing Mai, we also went to hear Joyce Meyer speak at the local stadium there, along with the Hillsong band from Australia who was doing the worship. It was fantastic. Wow. Check out the slide show below.. Most of the pics are explained and shows you what all we did and experienced!

Merry Christmas!!

My first Christmas in Malaysia... no snow, no fireplace, but still a fabulous time! I spent Christmas day with some good friends here... We had way too much to eat, (as you do...) played games, and had some good fellowship with each other. Boxing day came, and worked off all those extra calories by helping Jasmane move house! Today we did some more moving, and unpacking.. it was fun - amazing what a few women together can accomplish in only a few hours! (We used the guys for their muscles:))

Now it's time for just chilling, staying up late, sleeping in all morning, napping in the afternoon... aaahh.. the life! I'm going to Kuala Lumpur with some girlfriends for the day - a quick Ikea run - 4 hours driving there then 4 hours back - the same day!! (I'll be sleeping in the back.. not driving!) It will be a fun shopping day:) Then next week I head off to Bangkok and Chaing Mai in Thailand for a week. I'll be heading to Bangkok with Lana for 2 nights then meeting up with Jasmane and Shauna in ChaingMai - there's a Joyce Meyer conference up there we're going to check out, as well as the Hillsong band! Plus we'll be riding elephants and doing lots of shopping of course! Really looking forward to it!

Lana and I Christmas day

What a spread!

King of Thailand's birthday reception

On Friday night, I went to this birthday reception for the king of Thailand... His great grandson goes to our school (He's in Jasmane's class) and this child's father is the consular general for Thailand - here in Penang. So.. a few of us went to this "do" the other night! A few speeches, a toast to the king (he wasn't there - he was celebrating in Bangkok) and after we all said "long live the king", we were able to indulge at a buffet full of amazing Thai food - Pad thai, green curry, mango sticky rice - a few of my personal favourites!

Hong Kong

I just got back on Sunday from a quick trip to Hong Kong. I attended a conference for school - ICEC - a conference for international Christian school teachers. It was a great conference and I learned a lot of new stuff that I can implement in my classroom. But the more exciting part of the trip was the sightseeing ;) There were 8 of us from Dalat that went, and we enjoyed being taken out on a boat around Hong Kong harbour, as well as a wonderful dinner at Jumbo restaurant - a famous floating restaurant in Aberdeen harbour, by a guy who used to attend Dalat and is well known in the community. He works and has lived in Hong Kong for a long time, and showed great generosity toward us!
I also got to go up the Peak - a famous look out point in the city, as well as do some great shopping!! It was surprisingly VERY cold (for us Malaysians anyway!)there, and I had to go out and buy a fleece the second day so I didn't freeze! I think it got down to about 10 or 12 degrees(?)
Anyway, this week I was brought back to reality and hit the deck running with work... Lots to do these last few weeks of school!

Out group from school at the conference

On the boat on the way to dinner...

The floating restaurant