Aches and Pains today..

I am sooo sore today... good reason though.. I played indoor soccer last night for 2 hours! Aaah - showed me how unfit I am! But it was so much fun:) One of the young athletic teachers has started an informal indoor soccer club for ladies only - yay:) So there are a bunch of high school girls, few staff, and some parents that come. It was a blast - not too serious, but there were enough serious gals that made it exciting and competitive! It's going to be a great way to stay in shape and have fun at the same time:)

Party Time!

This weekend was full of social events.. I am thoroughly exhausted today! We celebrated a bunch of birthdays together which was a lot of fun. First a group of us went to a Thai restaurant for the best Thai food, then went onto another place for drinks and then a bit of dancing til 2am! Church was a little hard to get up for Sunday morning, but I did! Then after church some friends had a barbeque at their gorgeous pool in their apartment complex. To finish it off, we watched the Australian Open men's final with Baskin Robbins ice cream:)
Below are a few pics of our "wild" night out!

Chinese New Year, here we come...

Well, it was back to school this week... quite a shock to the system after sleeping til 9am every morning! But it felt good to get back into a routine, though I had to take a nap when I got home most afternoons this week!
Chinese New Year is approaching... well, not for another few weeks still, but it everywhere you go, you see decorations - it's like our Christmas for them. Oh, and it's not only the decorations you have to put up with.. Every store you go into there is Chinese music.. now, I'm not a huge fan of that kind of music - I mean, I can put up with it for a while, but we're talking a month of this!! I have never done my grocery shopping so fast as I do these days - aaahhh! Another 3 weeks of it.. And the traffic is just going to get worser and worser!! The ONLY good thing about Chinese New Year is that we have a long weekend - yay! We get Mon and Tues off in mid February. And it's unlikely I'll be going very far that weekend since everywhere will be soooo busy:( But I'm not complaining... time to chill :))

Pics from KL trip

Thought I would post a few pics of my trip to Kuala Lumpur (from now on, referred to as KL!) I went with 3 other friends, and not only did we do the Ikea thing (our main reason for going of course!), but we went to KL CC and went up the twin towers to the sky bridge! Very cool! These pics are of the twin towers, on the sky bridge, and dinner that evening.

from one island to another..

Well, it's almost that time again... back to school next week:(
Though part of this week was spent with school staff anyway - in a more relaxed setting! We were on a staff retreat at Jerajak - a beautiful little island just off Penang (15 min passenger ferry ride away). We had 6 sessions with an excellent speaker who spoke on "passing the baton" onto the next generation. (all about mentoring, ect.) We had quite a bit of free time too, which was nice to lay around the pool at the resort, go hiking, paintballing, or go on the flying fox - which was my choice! I was again just in awe of God's creation at this place - so green and lush and beautiful! I was also again reminded of how blessed I am being at this school that provides for just the little extra things like this; they are not only interested in what you can give to the school, but they also want to provide opportunities for you to be filled spiritually, socially and physically!

Below are a few pictures of me on the flying fox (like a zipper line)! We had to cross a cool suspension bridge to get to it! That was half the fun:)

Happiness is...

Living here day to day, I have become more accustomed to the Malaysian way of life.. Some things are not as pleasant, but you just learn to live with, and don't think twice about anymore... But, there are a few little things that come as good surprises, and brings a smile to my face. I have made a list of some of these things...

Happiness is...
*Going to a public toilet, and finding a NORMAL western toilet instead of an Asian squat pot:)
*Going to a pulic toilet and not only finding a western toilet, but also finding toilet paper.. you normally keep a stash of tissues in your purse. :)
*Getting a ride with friends to KL so you can buy lots at Ikea, instead of taking a bus that takes 5-6 hours.. :)
*Borrowing a car to go grocery shopping instead of taking a bus and taxi back, and arriving home in a pool of sweat.. :)
*Finding Marks and Spencer (not often found) in a Malaysian shopping centre :)
*Watching day time TV in the holidays, and discovering that Oprah is on at 9am :)
*Getting international mail in my school mail box.. (hint hint...;))

Hiking!

This morning, two friends and I went on a hike across the island to the west side to a beach... It was quite an uphill in some places, but it was worth it once we go there! The beach was beautiful, with hardly any people. Unfortunately, it was full of jellyfish, so swimming was out of the question! But it was great just to catch some rays on the beach! We treated ourselves to the famous "sizzling chicken" you get in Batu - thought we deserved it after a good 2 hour hike and all the calories we burned and sweated!! (we were literally soaking with sweat..mmm a pretty thought, eh?!!)

Below are some pics of our hike, and then lunch afterwards. (Julia and Ruth are the gals in the pics!)

A fab Christmas down under..

I have just arrived back from 2 fabulous weeks in Australia... It was a blast... I stayed with my cousins in Bondi Beach, Sydney for the first 4 days, (went sightseeing around the city of Sydney - gorgeous city!!) then went up the coast to where my folks were staying in a timeshare resort. It was right on one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever swam/laid out on!! The place was just outside of a town called Forster, and the beach was called Elizabeth Beach. I also got to have a surfing lesson on Boomerang Beach! (see photo:)) Then our family drove inland for the week over Christmas to spend some time with my aunt and uncle in Forbes. (my cousins met up with us there too.) Some highlights of my trip?? Getting to go to Hillsong Church in Sydney (fantastic service!), eating, swimming, sleeping, reading, hanging out with family at my aunt's place! It was so relaxing there - really got in the holiday mode! I got back to Malaysia in time for New Year's. And I still have a few weeks holiday until school opens again on the 23rd. Then it will be about 17 weeks of straight school!! I'm enjoying just chilling out here, doing some day trips with friends, ect.. Going to KL for the weekend with some friends - IKEA shopping..;))

I've created a slide show with some pics from Oz.. It takes a little while sometimes for the pictures to load - so please be a bit patient! (there are about 20 pics in all..)