Relaxing Sundays...

Thought I would post a few pics of what I do on a Sunday afternoon... (prep for school?? What's that...??!!) Julia and I hit the hotel pool next door to the school (the hotel lets us school staff use their pool and deck chairs). I thought it was about time I actually lay in the sun... Everyone thinks I'm so tanned, since I am living on a tropical island.. But no, I don't really have time to lay in the sun every day!! Got a few rays in though this afternoon. It was a gorgeous day after the rain last night (the rain always clears the haze). Then about an hour after we went inside, the rain started down again! The hotel is right on the beach, so the first pic is of the hotel pool, then the other pic is the beach the hotel is on.

The Best Part...

I know I have gone on about how this place is so great (ie cheap pedicures, massages, ahmas to clean your place, cheap texting internationally, sea views, the list goes on...) , but there are the cons too.. may I enlighten you... Rats... no, thank goodness, not in my apartment, but you see lots of them scurrying around in the open gutters around town. Mmmm pleasing sight.. The mosquitos are not the most pleasant things around either.. And then you get these huge lizards called monitaurs (sp??). They are a couple feet long. Next time I see one, I hope I have my camera on me.. They creep me right out! Thank goodness my first sighting of one of these was at a distance. And then there's the ocean. Yes, it's beautiful, to look at, to listen to.. but not to swim in... It's quite polluted around here with the local pollution flowing into it.. And it's loaded with jellyfish too.. But, still, it is amazing to walk to school on the beach every morning... There's nothing like starting the day, watching the sunrise as you walk along the white sand to the beach entrance of the school. (literally a 5 min walk door to door) That's just the best part about living here...

This pic is my way to school every morning. (The black fence on the left is the school property)

The other pic is the sunrise I see behind me in the morning. (It only gets light around 7am!)

Another week gone by..

Well, it's FRIDAY!! This week has actually flown by - I'm getting into a good routine now, which is keeping me busy... Going walking with a friend (she lives below me) every Mon and Thurs after school up Pearl Hill. It's great exercise, and the hill is... steep! But we keep each other motivated which helps! And Tuesdays I'm going to a Pilates class (offered as an after school club, but lots of staff go!). So, yes.. it's a start to getting into shape!
I went for a pedicure with Wendi last night - oh the life!! I LOVE being pampered!

Last weekend a bunch of us female staff took a school van and went off the island to a Mikasa outlet store. You can imagine the fun we had there... dish heaven! And I won't go on about the prices... but they were amazing... (10 pounds for 4 mugs, 4 square plates, 4 round plates, and 4 bowls!) - And this is Mikasa stuff...mmmm! Here are some pics of some of the Americans in their element... (And one of us crossing the bridge to mainland Malaysia) We went to Carrefour to do grocery shopping and eat lunch too. (Carrefour is European - I've been to it in France!) I had a clay pot for lunch (see the pic..) It's basically chicken and rice and egg, and LOTS of soya sauce cooked in the clay pot. Tasty!

I'm in Heaven..

I came home from school on Friday, walked into my apartment, and thought I had died and gone to Heaven...
My floors were spotless, my bathroom and bedrooms were clean... (not that the place was an absolute pigsty! Don't get me wrong here!) My ahma had come and had done all my housework! It is just the best thing, when you are totally exhausted on a Friday afternoon! My ahma comes every 2 weeks for 4 hours... I think it will be the only time in my life I will be able to afford hired help! It's really very reasonable - works out to be about $12 for 4 hours work! (that's about 6 UK pounds!) I felt bad at first, but then people said that we are actually helping the locals by giving them work, and they appreciate it.. and that's what the going rate is at the moment. (10 malaysian ringett an hour)
It's well worth it, since I have so many floors to mop (no carpet at all) and by the end of mopping I'm sweating my heart out! (not something I really want to do on the weekend!) The place gets dirty naturally from all the sea air that comes in with the salt, ect.. my windows are so rusted from the salt, I can't even close the slats! My apartment may be a bit old, but hey, wouldn't trade it for the ocean view!!

Its Raining Men

Well, no, it's not actually raining men... That song just popped into my head when it started to downpour here!! Yes, rainy season is on it's way... We're getting a taste of it right now! I guess they would call this a flood in other countries, but it's quite normal here... Now I know why the gutters are so huge here!!
So here I am... stuck at school.. long gone 5pm, waiting for the rain to let up just a little so I can get home semi-dry... I just took a picture of it coming down - don't think you'll get the full effect from the picture... but an idea anyway! No little drizzles like England or Canada.. the drops are just huge! Refreshing though.. It cools down the air a lot, and the smell is wonderful! (Now that I've uploaded it, it doesn't look like much rain... oh well... it's the thought that counts:))

My thoughts thus far...

I feel so blessed here, and I know God has placed me here for a purpose, for however long that is, I really don't know. I can't really say after only being here for 3 weeks. So far, so good. It is a lot to take in, though - everything is different. I found this week at school quite challenging, not that the kids are at all challenging, but I guess it's getting used to a new school routine with different kids, ect. It does take a while to adjust. I have really missed my old surroundings, and Gad's... England was a very special part of my life, and all who were a part of that chapter... I do miss you all so much!
I remember when I first arrived in England, I had these same kind of feelings too. It's not until about a few months in, that you really feel like you "belong"! The waves of homesickess come and go... And I do feel like England was my "home". But I look on ahead, pressing on toward the goal... and embrace the adventure that waits ahead!


Below are more pics of the school. The main road the school is on, the entrance, and the new elementary wing. (the yard is still getting landscaped!)

Church Hopping

Some people have been asking about church over here, so I'll quickly explain what I have experienced..
The first two Sundays I went to Penang International Church. It's inter-denomination church, full of ex-pats (mostly Dalat School staff!) The pastor is a Canadian guy. It meets in one of the large banquet rooms in a hotel. I enjoyed it, but wanted to see what else was out there..

So this morning I went with another collegue to FGA (Full Gospel Assembly). It was very different than PIC (Penang International Church) in that it was more of a local church, predominantly made up of Chinese people, and a few Indian. (Though it is an English service, and everything is conducted in English) The worship was more lively, and the preaching was very lively too! (More of what I'm used to I guess!) But I'm going to "hop" around a little more, since there are many "English" /western churches around. I really enjoyed this morning, just being part of a different cultural group was great. I really enjoy hanging out and being with Dalat school staff, but I also want to branch out a little and meet other people, whether that be Chinese, Indian, Malay or even other westerners!

Shopping!

My first weekend at the end of what seemed to be a long first week of school! The weekend kicked off with dinner at Nandos!! A few collegues and I decided to eat and shop after school - and that's exactly what we did! Ahhhh it was good to have my chicken burger again.. Made me a bit homesick eating it, remembering all the times I went to Nandos at Bluewater!! Difference in Malaysian Nandos? I got to have a mango smoothie... yumm... And the price of course! (about 3 pounds for meal and drink!) It seemed so expensive, since I was used to spending only about a pound for a local meal! Well, we hit the mall, and boy was that an experience... Yes, it was like any other mall (with some of the same stores, ie Body Shop) , but the difference? The clothes are sooo tiny!! Never in my life have I had to buy a large or extra large top before! And you can just forget about fitting into any pants (I mean trousers!!) I'm going to have to get some made.. It was so funny, cus there are two stores that sell more western sizes, and we saw half of the school staff shopping there too! They get in a bunch of brand names from all over the world! I would suddenly come across an Old Navy top, or H&M, ect. But not a wide selection at all! I ended up in the more "posh" designer stores (which were still reasonably priced, at least for me, who was still shopping in pounds and dividing everything almost by 7! Think it will be a bit different once those pounds run out and I'm bugeting out of my local Malaysian salary!)

On Saturday, Heather (grade 1 teacher, also new) and I went back to the mall by bus... Experience in itself! The local bus into town is a great, cheap way of getting around, but is by no means a luxury form of transportation! We were squished on there, standing on the steps (reminded me of the London underground) the door not closing on this rickety old thing - which was kind of nice since we got some air... But heaven forbid if that bus had made a sharp turn... we would have easily been flung out of there! But hey, all part of the fun and learning the local ways!!

Saturday evening I went up to Batu Ferrengui (just 5km north from here) with Wendi and Julia (both American gals - on staff too). Batu is a more touristy place with loads of great local market stalls that open up in the evening. Best thing about it is you can barter with them for a better price! Our first stop was DVDs... now you must understand how big the market here is for pirated copies ... (illegal in other words...) They are all over the place! But a very common thing and most people get DVDs that way! For 4 ringett a copy.. (about $1 or 50p) you can't really go wrong.. So we ended up getting about 10 DVDs each... You should see Wendi and Julia's collection... they have hundreds!! (They say it's an addiction...;) We had dinner (Indian....yumm..) and did a little more local shopping/haggling!
The pics are of Wendi (left) and Julia(right) up at Batu - eating and shopping!

First Days of School

Well, I have made it through the first two days! I have a wonderful class - only 11 students!! They are all great - about half are Korean/Taiwanese and the other half American kids. It's going to take a while to get used to the small class size! But I know we'll have a lot of fun... The new elementary wing is great - at times I actually freeze with the air conditioning on! Need to go outside to get warm!
I have to keep this entry short, as I have loads of work to do! (new curriculum, ect to get my head around!!)
Anyway here is a picture of just the entrance to the elementary part of the school. I'll take some better pics soon!

Pics of my place...

As requested, some pics of my place inside, and of my furry housemate:)
The first one is kind of dark, I couldn't get the lighting right; usually it's much brighter than this!! (Sea views are out the front of my living room:))
I will be getting some curtains made (very cheap here to do!) instead of those brightly coloured ones:(

Goodbye Straight Hair!!

Well, I have to sadly say goodbye to any thought of having straight hair in this country... I am all curls here in Malaysia! The humidity naturally puts wonderful frizzes in my hair, and it starts to flip up about, oh, 10 minutes after straightening it!! So, I have just decided to go with the flow, and not have a fight with the hair situation every morning!!
Yes, it is very humid here, but I haven't found it overwhelmingly difficult to get used to.. Maybe it's the South African blood in me that's kicking in..! I think you just naturally get used to the feeling of being "wet" all the time!! And of course, more showers are taken (one in the morning, one in the evening!) But everywhere you go is air conditioning, so it's not all that bad. My classroom is so nice and cool, so good working environment.... and I sleep with the air con on low in my bedroom at night.
Weather has been great - sunny skies for the most part, but I've heard we are about to head into rainy season... umbrellas, here we come...;)