First week in Malaysia...

Well, where do I begin with my adventure..!! So much I have experienced in only one week! Maybe I'll take you back to the very beginning... Heathrow airport...
So, Yolande dropped me at the airport on Saturday - I was all ready to go, just a little nervous of how much it was going to cost for my excess luggage! (I was 10kg over, and Cathay Pacific was going to charge me 10 pounds per extra kilogram! Yikes!! But I prepared myself. Well, I got to the checkout, and the guy said the flight was overbooked, and was I willing to take the next flight the following day.. He said the airline would give me 300 pounds cash, a night in a hotel (with dinner and breakfast), PLUS they wouldn't charge me anything for my excess baggage!! Wow - what a blessing! My only concern was contacting the school to pick me up a day later... Thankfully, the director got my email I sent at the hotel in time, and another family was a day late too, so we both ended up on the same flight to Penang a day later. I knew this was a great start to my adventure and a sign that God was definetely looking after me!

Arriving in Penang....
Karl (the director) and Mike (another teacher) picked me (and the Sasse family) up at the airport - the flight was long (11hours to Hong Kong, 3 hours to Penang) and I didn't sleep much at all! I found that my shipping boxes had arrived a couple of days before, so when I was dropped at my apartment, I got a second wind of energy and started unpacking my boxes!! I should have gone straight to bed! But it was just too exciting...!
The rest of the week was new staff orientation. I got to meet the rest of the new staff - there are about 25 of us in all. They are all wonderful people! So it's been really great to hang out with them and do some "bonding" before school begins! Reason for so many new staff: the middle school has dramatically increased in size, so lots of new positions there, plus more ESL teachers, ect. Plus some people that left only had a short term stay in mind and only stayed for 2 years.

The School...
Dalat International School is fantastic... I know I haven't officially started "working" yet, but the staff I have met are amazing, and from all the orientation this week, I have learnt a lot about the school, and I just know it's going to be great...! I will take some pics of the school soon, and post them. My classroom is BRAND NEW! They have renovated an old dorm into the new elementary wing. It's going to be awesome! Except.. they have only just finished it, and there is nothing in the rooms yet! All the equipment is going to be moved over tomorrow (Monday) and then the fun begins... setting everything up! We have this next week to set up (plus staff conference Thurs and Fri) and then the following Tuesday is when we start! There are two of us grade 3 teachers (we are both new) and it's going to be so great to work together. Karen is wonderful - she has 3 kids and husband that is teaching high school History. I won't go on about school life, since there is so much else to talk about!

My apartment...
Aaahhh.... sea views, sea breeze, what more could I ask for?! The pics I have posted are of my place - my beach in front, the hill going down to the apartment block. I will take some pics inside my place too - I have just bought a new rug for the living room area and it looks so much better than it was! So those pics will be coming soon. I have a different housemate... she's black and furry... her name is Biscuit and she purrrrs a lot!! Great company for me! My place is slowly coming together... they took a bunch of us to Tescos the other day (yes! They have Tesco here! ) Except this one was huge, and had lots of household appliances, clothes, ect in it. The wonderful thing about this country is that it's so cheap!!! My pounds have definetely gone far over here!

I have quite a few people from school living in the same block as me - out of the 6 apartments, 4 of them are Dalat staff. It's really great - I feel so safe living on my own, and there's always someone around to talk to! My next door neighbour, Wendi, is great - we're the same age, and get along really well. She's been here a year, and so is able to answer a lot of my questions, give me some good suggestions, advice on shopping... !

Food..

All I can say is, I must start jogging on the beach! The food is excellent - I've tried a lot of the local food - we have gone up to the stalls almost every night for dinner. The stalls is like a outdoor Malaysian "foodcourt" type thing - with concrete "picnic" tables in the centre. I've had Wonton Mee, Nasi Goreng, and this amazing chicken burger,... mmmm and tonnes of fresh fruit juices (watermelon is tending to be my favorite at the moment!) And the best thing is... it is SOOO CHEAP!! My average meal costs about 4 Malaysian Ringett (about 70 pence in the UK, or just over a dollar in Canada). And the juices are about 1 Ringett (about 20p!) I've had a bit of Indian food too, which is great. Malaysia has 3 different cultures living here - the Indian-Malay, the Chinese-Malay, and the local Malay people. So, there is a lot of good food around! Also, lots of Thai food. mmmmm!

So, I'm not going to ramble on anymore... I will be sure to keep you posted; please do add your comments, and keep emailing me! I love to get email!!