A Happier New Year

Some of you may know that I have a serious problem with New Year's Eve. I just plain don't like it. It's just a chance to end each year with an over-hyped night of disillusionment and sparkly clothing. Perhaps it was designed to leave you desperate for a fresh start. I will say that this year in Philadelphia I  enjoyed a vast improvement on any other New Year's Eves I've had, but it will take more than one fluke year to change my opinion of this terrible excuse for a holiday.

Chinese New Year, on the other hand, is quickly entering the running for "Liz's Favorite Holiday." It goes on for 15 days, so there's not so much pressure on just one night. It involves a lot of free money for unmarried people. It's a time for families to come together and school teachers to have time off to scuba dive. It also involves huge amounts of homemade Chinese food.

Since today is the last day of Chinese New Year, it's only fitting to provide a recap of how I've been celebrating since the last post:

-After my final line dancing practice, one of the aunties invited us all to her house to sample a lazy susan full of homemade Chinese kuih. Kuih is a very popular word here, which means something akin to snack or finger food. I have trouble pinning down what exactly it means, since it can be sweet or savory. There were sweet things and savory things and cakey things and crunchy things and plenty of camaraderie to go around.

-I attended the Chinese New Year celebration at my mentor's church, which happened to be hosting the party for all the Catholic churches in the state of Pahang this year. There was very dramatic, heart-pounding drumming on 24 drums. There were adorable children in traditional Chinese dress singing special New Year songs. Of course, there was also an epic line dance only somewhat marred by the clumsy participation of yours truly. At one point, the children who were performing onstage invited everyone to join them for a rendition of the "Gangnam Style" dance, and my mentor pulled me up along with the other line dancers. For the record, I don't really know this dance. But I followed along with a smile on my face and yet another sweet farewell to dignity in my heart.

The Golden Flamingoes. Yes, this is what the line dancing group is called. I couldn't make that up if I tried.  The teacher is to my left. She's very glamorous and quite a good dancer. 

Me with my mentor, Lynette, and her daughter, Vanessa, at the celebration. They lent me the shirt :)

Of course there was a buffet of homemade food, in true church luncheon style--except this time there were also juice boxes of sweet chrysanthemum tea.

-Immediately after the extravaganza at my mentor's church, I went to spend the night at the home of another Chinese Malaysian teacher at my school. She lives with her husband, 20-month-old son, and maid in a huge modern home that's part of a compound where her husband's parents and most of his siblings live in houses with their families. When I walked in, the first thing I noticed, besides how beautiful the house was, was a small Buddhist altar and the Buddhist chant music playing. Later, we took a walk around the compound, where various nieces and nephews were out playing. We ran into some brothers-in-law (she has 7) who were cleaning out bird's nests that they had harvested from a big building next door where they keep sparrows for this purpose. After a lengthy explanation of the health benefits of eating spoonfuls of boiled bird's nests daily, we stepped into a house to watch her sister-in-law cook for a bit. Then, back home to the teacher's house to watch her prepare red plates full of pyramids of sumptuous fruits and candies, all decorated with red ribbons and intended to be offered during the prayers at midnight. 

A few hours later, I had a Chinese feast the likes of which I've never tasted before. Roast pork and chicken with delicious red and green chili sauces (honestly, the sauces kind of reminded me of Mexican food), whole fish with a delicious garlic sauce, rice, and a dish made with sea cucumber. It was pretty surreal to dig into a gooey, fatty piece of surprisingly tasty sea cucumber after I'd just seen them alive on the ocean floor during a dive. 

I spent the rest of the night waiting for midnight prayers and learning and teaching hand-clapping games with a roomful of adorable and rambunctious young nieces and nephews. It very much reminded me of my own family parties, where the young cousins end up in one room running around while the adults chat at the table. 

When it finally struck midnight, we went outside to a temporary altar with a statue of Buddha. In front of that was a table heaped with plates of fruit and baked goods. Many of the baked goods were red for good luck. Proceeding roughly in age order, each member of the family knelt, waved lighted incense in front of the altar, and silently invoked his or her wishes for the coming year. At the end, they asked if I wanted to take a turn. At first I refused, but after they coaxed me, telling me that the idea was to ask wishes of a universal heaven, "not anything specific," I decided to do it. It felt very much as if I was back to the conundrums of the early church that Paul writes about--"Do you eat food sacrificed to idols?"and all that. I saw more harm in saying, "Um, it would be wrong for me to do this as a Christian" to a family of expectant and hospitable hosts (who are a religious minority in Malaysia) than to kneel down and say a prayer for them to the God of my choosing at the altar of their making. Tack that on to the list of unexpected ethical conundrums faced here. At the end of the prayers, the family all helped to unfold gold-colored papers that they burned to represent a sacrifice of money and a request for prosperity in the coming year. Next, they set off some spectacular fireworks and firecrackers. Then everyone went inside to feast on the fruits and sweets that had just been offered up. 

-Last night my mentor invited me to an open house in her family friends' backyard. I sat down with a plate full of food, thinking that I would pace myself. I was especially impressed with the "prosperity noodles," the hostess's specialty. They were spaghetti noodles with chicken and mushrooms in a delicious brown broth. Just when I thought I would be able to get away without gorging myself too much, the hosts' nephew personally delivered a plate of satay chicken. Then the host came around with a plate of special curry puff made with fish. Next he stopped by with two different kinds of delicious cakes, watching me expectantly as I bit into them. Of course, by the end of the night I was stuffed, despite my attempts to be more prudent. The family had lived in Lambertville, NJ, of all places, for a while, so they spoke excellent English. Everyone was super friendly and hospitable, and I had a nice conversation with some Swiss expats who have retired here. Once again, there were firecrackers. I also got to use the most westernized bathroom I've found in Malaysia. Readers, don't underestimate the power of encountering a bathroom that feels like home. I'll explain more about Malaysian bathrooms in a later post.

-Today I had my final Chinese New Year bonanza (I think). I went with the Golden Flamingoes to a big lunch at a restaurant and had some of the best roast duck I've ever had. (Sorry, Sang Ke Duck House, but I think it may have been a little better.)

Traditional Chinese New Year dish. It's a plate of crispy fried noodles, pickled carrots, and other multicolored delicious things in a sesame sauce that comes with all the ingredients in separate little piles. Then all the guests reach in with chopsticks all together and mix it up. They higher they lift the ingredients in the air, the better luck it is. 

Me trying it out. Scandalous shoulder shot. 

Duck and chicken.

I took this photo because I thought there couldn't possibly be any more food, but actually several more plates arrived afterwards. Mom, Dad--on the left are pig trotters. They were actually really tasty this time! Very tender.

I guess all good things must come to an end, and tomorrow I will be back to a life with fewer Chinese feasts. I've looked at enough paper placemats in Chinese restaurants at home to learn that this year is my year--the Year of the Snake--so here's hoping it's a good one for all of us. 

This is what caring looks like

Two of my friends from home, Bridget and Joeie, sent me the world's most amazing care package this week. I've known these two caring ladies since kindergarten and first grade, respectively, and I don't know what I would do without them around to watch Rat Race with me many more times than is probably appropriate for a normally-developing young person.

The care package arrived at my school, and everyone was very interested in the large box with glitter peeking through the taped seams. I think the students hoped it held presents for them, poor little rascals. It was actually mine, all mine. There was a message scrawled in sharpie on the outside of the box: "Liz, you'll want to open this outside." I knew this would be the latest in a succession of glitter filled packages that at once overwhelm you with love and attack you with an infestation of glitter that your room won't be rid of for months. Bridget and Joeie have really mastered the art of the care package glitter bomb. When I got the package home, I opened it outside my door without even going through my daily routine of ripping off my baju kurung, changing into shorts and tank top, and pouring myself a cold glass of water--the suspense was that overwhelming.

I'd describe what was inside, but photos say it better. This is just a selection of the goodies I got:

Remember when Lisa Frank stickers made you feel like this? I now own 1, 885 of them, which should be enough to give all my students fabulous stickers as prizes, whether they like it or not.

Practical.

Teaching and Island Hopping

It's been a while since I last posted. So sorry, my little blog, but I too busy arriving on monsoon-drenched Tioman Island last Sunday to update you.

1. Teaching
-I'm teaching 18 classes a week, so that I see each and every one of the 500 or so students at my school. Thankfully, I can use similar lesson plans for all different classes. Classes are intensively tracked (or, as they say, "streamed) from an early age here, so each grade ("form") has 4 classes based on academic performance (ie, standardized test performance). My first week, I did an introductory lesson. The most humorous highlights:
-Explaining that "Teacher have boyfriend?" is not actually a polite, getting-to-know you question appropriate for class.
-Teaching my students "two truths and a lie." Fun fact: Inappropriate American party games are great English teaching tools! Try it at home!

-Learning that, if I ask my students what their favorite Western food is, approximately 98.9% will respond, "chicken chop." My friend actually ordered this at a restaurant yesterday. It's chicken bathed in brown gravy and mushrooms, with a heavy dose of black pepper. It's listed on the menu just under "lamb chop," you see. When I tried to tell students that this menu item does not, in fact, exist as such in the western world, they were bewildered.
-NOT tripping in my baju kurung. Yet. My mentor told me the literal translation of baju kurung, the traditional outfit I'm semi-expected to wear while teaching is, "trapping clothes." As in, trapping you in. Greaaaat.





Me in a baju holding a mysterious ceramic giraffe that for some reason is in my apartment. See Apartment section below. 



-My students have all been really friendly. I am quite the spectacle at school. Whenever I walk by a classroom, students hang out the window to say, "Hello, teacher." By the way, when you start a class here, the students, led by the head student in each class, all rise and say, "Good morning, teacher" in unison. Then you have to say, "Good morning, class" and allow them to sit. It's pretty funny. At the end of class, they say, "Thank you, teacher." I learned that it's best to say, "Thank you, class" FIRST, or else they repeat "Thank you, teacher" again after you thank them, and then you're caught in an endless cycle.
-Teachers have been friendly, too, always trying to buy me things in the school canteen. One teacher even took me to dinner at his cousin's Indian restaurant. Yum. Must, must, must learn Malay to be able to jump in to more conversations in the teachers' lounge.


2. Chinese New Year
-We had a lovely Chinese New Year celebration at my school, with yummy vegetarian food donated by a local restaurant. The kids put on a drama that I found very amusing, despite the fact that it was in Mandarin. I acquired a huge stack of celebratory Mandarin oranges at my desk in the teachers' room. One very kind Chinese Malaysian teacher even gave me a little red envelope of good-luck money called an hóngbāo (spelling from Wikipedia), along with this wish, delivered with her arm around my shoulders, "Liz, I hope you find the right person." Apparently it's traditional for married people to give these presents to the unmarried, though I was at first bewildered by her unexpectedly fervent well-wishing for my romantic life. 
-MOST IMPORTANT FACT OF THIS POST: I won a chopstick competition. Yes. I beat Chinese Malaysian teachers, even. We had to use chopsticks to pick up as many plastic folded stars as we could in 2 minutes and drop them into a glass jar. 39 for me, readers!!! I couldn't believe it--for once I had proven myself not to be totally inept at all things requiring coordination! (Maybe it's because chopsticks are so essential to eating good food that I was able to master them. I credit many Friday night dinners at a Korean restaurant with my dad, using chopsticks to pick up ice cubes from our water to drop into our hot tea. Thanks, Dad!) Anyway, I won something on stage (another hongbao, actually, score) and showed my students I'm not a total klutz, even if I am. BIG MOMENT, EVERYONE. BIG MOMENT.
-Two Sundays ago, I took my mentor up on her offer to join her for badminton and line dancing at her church's social hall and found myself roped into a line dancing performance this Sunday at the church's Chinese New Year celebration. I'm sure you all remember my mad line dancing skills, so obviously I have nothing to worry about. 

3. Tioman Island
Thanks to Chinese New Year, I had the past week off from school. I took this opportunity to visit friends in Mersing and go to Tioman Island (aka, tropical paradise). While on Tioman, I earned my scuba certification in what was basically a two-person class with another ETA and two instructors. I know this will sound gushy, but diving is a wonderful (if initially terrifying) experience. The coral reef at Tioman is beautiful, and I couldn't get over the idea of entering a new world and seeing all new sights. I got to see a cuttlefish changing color to camouflage itself, so my life is basically complete. The island was beautiful, all palm trees and beautiful ocean views, and misleadingly named "chalets" with mosquito nets and no hot water. The scuba course took up most of my time, but there was still time to read on a balcony by the beach at a reggae bar (the affinity of Tioman inhabitants for all things Bob Marley was pretty humorous to me), scarf down surprisingly authentic American-style pizza,  and hang out with my awesome scuba instructors on our last night. They are a 20-something couple who up and moved to Tioman from Newcastle, England. It made me think about the idea of uprooting myself to live an island life and just relax. It doesn't much appeal to me at this point, since I think I'd get bored. Nonetheless, would doing that be ethical? Unethical? Consider, gentle readers, and tell me your thoughts. We stayed at a pretty undeveloped part of Tioman called ABC, which was home to many friendly stray cats and one particularly friendly stray frog that found its way into the chalet. There was just one road to walk along, which we had to jump off of whenever motorbikes with little wooden side wagons chugged by. It was lovely in every way, even if our first day consisted of unbroken torrential rain. 

The chalet, outside view. 

Inside view. Check out that mosquito net! I always wanted a princess canopy bed, and I finally got it. 

View from the chalet. Hard to see in the photo, but that is indeed the ocean. 

Eco Divers dive center. Scuba HQ. 

Picturesque Shipwrecks! Coincidentally, this is the name of my new emo band. 

View from our restaurant one night. 

Cool. 

View from scuba HQ at low tide. 

The cat that tried to sleep in our chalet. He was unsuccessful, but cute. 

Why does everything here look like Jurassic Park?

Just outside our place. 

View from lunch on day 1. 

4. Mersing
I got to stay with friends in Mersing, the ferry departure point for Tioman. It was very refreshing to see other ETAs again, and my hostesses were great. We even had heart-shaped pancakes on Valentine's Day. I had some of the best Thai food I've ever tasted at a restaurant in town. 

View from my walk in Mersing. Why does the water look brown here but so beautifully-colored a ferry ride away on Tioman Island? Scientists, weigh in. (Apparently it starts looking pretty in Mersing, too, after monsoon season is over.)

Thanks, Katie!

5. Wedding!
Not mine, of course. I got to go to a Malay wedding in Mersing, thanks to my friends' connections. Unusually, we were invited to the first day of events, which is the religious ceremony. Most of the time, this is reserved for family, and everyone else comes to the more reception-like events of the second day. It was held at a family home, and everyone was extremely gracious to us interlopers. We even got to eat a lot of delicious curry mee and some mysterious coconut dessert wrapped in a banana leaf. Here are some interesting facts I learned about the ceremony:

-The groom is supposed to say his vow in one breath, including his full name and the bride's, which can be quite long. Grooms are often too nervous to get this right on the first try, so they get to repeat it until they get it right. The imam presiding at this wedding joked, "I'll give you ten tries," but our gallant groom needed only one.

You can do it! 

See all those hanging eggs? This is some kind of traditional thing. ETAs have gotten these egg sticks as presents. I will research if/when I get one myself. Till then, I'm too overcome with jealousy to investigate. 

-The bride and groom exchange showy, expensive gifts on trays. They must be in odd-numbers, and the bride gives more than the groom (so if he gives 7, for example, she should give 9). Nowadays, they usually go shopping together and agree on things to buy each other. 

The photo on the left looks like they're about to kiss, but that's not done here. He just puts his face really close as if he were kissing her forehead. The gifts are on the right. 

-There was a really nice moment when the imam reminded bride and groom to always remember their parents, and they each hugged their parents
and new in-laws, seated around them on the floor. Apparently, brides looking beautiful and mothers of the bride crying are pretty universal customs.

My photos aren't great, but I've been tagged in a lot on Facebook that you should check out.


6. My apartment
It's taking Kara and I awhile to get settled in. Our apartment is in a convenient location in town, close to lots of shops and restaurants. We have plenty of room, with 4 bedrooms to share between 2 people. We even have a nice rooftop area, which will be even nicer when cleared of trash. There are a lot of belongings from the previous inhabitant here, which has made for some surprises. For instance, we have a sea turtle shell--ok, more like a full taxidermied turtle, limbs, head, and all--in our living room. On the plus side, plenty of good fans mean I'm resting easy. Without our own means of transport for grocery shopping, Kara and I have been eating at restaurants a lot. Today I finally got to try the elusive roti canai place on our block, whose hours seem to be determined by some interaction between the lunar calendar, durian harvests, Shark Week, and the owners' whims. The cheese and onion roti bore a mysterious flavor resemblance to a cheese steak with fried onions, so I was in heaven. 


Reading:
Finished Within a Budding Grove. The Sign of the Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. One Day by David Nicholls (shamelessly cheesy Valentine's Day bus ride reading--I'd highly recommend it). 

Brain Vomit

It has been such an eventful week that I hardly know what to write about. First, here are some major thoughts I've been having:
1. I knew Malaysia would help me get over my hyper-planning nature. At home I like to have some sense of control/planning things out, even though I like to think I can be laid back and flexible when plans change. Here, especially for now while I still don't have a moped or car of my own, I basically never know what I'll be doing when, or how long things will take. The biggest instance of that this week was the fact that the apartment I'll be sharing with my roommate, Kara, wasn't ready for us to move in on Thursday, when all the other Pahang ETAs moved into their new digs. For the past few days we've been staying at a rather surreal guest house called the Kim Kee Hotel. When our mentors (the teachers from our schools who are assigned to help us out) first drove us to the place, we stopped to do some essential provision shopping (read: to buy ingredients for PB&J, apples, etc. for breakfasts or lunches when we just can't stomach any more fried rice or fried noodle) to kill time until the 2 pm check-in. It's surprisingly hard to food shop in a foreign country when you know you won't have access to a fridge or any kitchen supplies for several days. With that under our belts, we headed for our guest house and pulled up to a lovely, sparkling clean place with brightly colored walls. My mentor talked to the receptionist in Bahasa Malaysia. She seemed concerned. He flipped through the reservation book. He seemed concerned. She stepped outside to call our landlady, who had booked the guest house for us as an apology for not having the apartment ready.  Moments later, she returned to say that we were at the wrong guest house, and we sped down the street to the Kim Kee. It is less sparkling in appearance, to the say the least.

As I write this I'm seated on a worn, burgundy leather couch in the lobby, surrounded by cheap-looking wall-hangings with Chinese characters. According to my mentor, the place caters to Chinese and Chinese Malaysian salesmen who are here on business. This is confirmed by the mysterious emptiness of the lobby, save for the occasional guest who walks in and looks, frankly, terrified to see two white girls sprawled across the lobby furniture. The whole time that we've been here, we've seen a maximum of 4 other guests. Nonetheless, the parking lot gets oddly full at night, so someone must be staying here. As I said, Kara and I basically act as if we own the place, making the front lobby our hangout space--it's the only place you can get wifi. Our first day here, we were so exhausted that we just sat in the lobby watching the National Geographic channel, which appears to be the only English-language channel we get here. We watched a show called "Animal Autopsy: Elephant" and another one about animal attacks. Did you know that, besides humans, chimpanzees are supposedly the only animals that arrange organized, violent raids against other groups of their own species? Gentle reader, please don't ever have a pet chimp. The upshot of all this is that I ended up being a lot less settled and a lot less well-rested than I had hoped to be at my first day of school on Friday, but you win some, you lose some.

I found out today that we'll move into our real apartment tomorrow (Monday) night, so I'll have to say goodbye to the Kim Kee, keeping only my precious memories of its cold shower and odd decor.

Kim Kee lobby. Getting meta. There's my computer, which I'm currently using to write this blog, and the tea I finished long ago in the course of this monster post.

2. Throwing chronological order to the wind, I will now talk about my first day at school. It started around 7:15 am with a quick tour of the grounds. Malaysian schools have a very open set-up, thanks to the hot weather. Classroom doors and windows are always open, and the school is built around courtyards with gardens and fountains and very cheerful purple and green paint (a color combo that always makes me think of my dear friend Bridget, who had best be reading this). I met a ton of teachers, who thankfully all wear nametags so I can keep them straight, and found my desk in the teachers' lounge. Everyone was extremely warm and friendly. The principal is a rather intimidating-looking man, who would remind you of a retired boxer, but he was also very nice and very dedicated to the students. He seems to have a good sense of humor. When I first met him, I told him what a beautiful school it was. "Is it?" he replied, as if shocked. At 7:30, I stood up and gave my introductory speech to the whole school--about 500 students. I promised to teach them how to order a cheesesteak, who Ben Franklin is, and the Rocky theme song. I got mostly blank stares, but some boys later mentioned Rocky to me, and the principal later told me he'd heard of cheesesteak. So I'm going to count that as a victory. Then I had a free period, which I spent looking at materials the previous ETA left. She's pretty amazing, so having her old activities on file is going to be very helpful. After that, I observed some English classes that my mentor was holding and also a math class. The math class was in Bahasa, but it was still interesting to see how it was run. During the morning recess time, the teachers held a potluck, which was jointly for my arrival and for the departure of another teacher, who is going to a new school. (Mostly for her, I think, which is the way it should be.) The food was delicious and homemade.

Observing classes inspired a few thoughts, which are still in embryonic form:
--When students were doing exercises in the math class, they automatically seemed to work on them together and to talk across tables to each other, etc. Very different from US math classes I've been in, in which students would work quietly on individual exercises, etc. There's also much more of a tendency for students to shout out answers all at once, rather than raising their hand and waiting to be called on. As I've been told in advance, students are much more inclined to collaborate. Are we too obsessed in America with individual achievement and getting credit for our individual contributions? I, for one, always dreaded group work in school, and still kind of hate it. There you go, I've just blown my chances of ever getting a job. Not only am I not detail-oriented, but I am also a team-player only begrudgingly. Maybe I will have to go into academia after all.
--The school is mostly boys, since many girls go to nearby all-girls schools. How does that change my teaching dynamic as a female teacher? I expected to have a more even gender ratio. Also, the girls seem pretty quiet and reluctant to speak up, which of course made me want to encourage them.
--In one class, students worked on writing paragraphs based on an outline given to them in the textbook. It seemed really simple, but they had a lot of trouble with grammar and syntax. Big, recurring question in my life: How do you teach writing without nitpicking, going red-pen wild, or just rewriting students' sentences yourself? I had that problem at the prison education program, too.
--I need to learn Bahasa Malaysia, but on the sly so students don't try to speak to me in the language. They kept asking me if I spoke it, and seemed skeptical when I said that I don't understand anything. It's very disorienting not to know what's going on, so I want to put my nose to the grindstone and learn. I hope I can. I've always thought I was good at languages, and it's a relatively simple one, so I think I can do it. I think it will really help me interact with other teachers and know what's going on at school.

I'm going to observe one more day of classes on Monday and then start teaching on Tuesday. My idea of having a cooking club was vetoed due to a termite infestation in the roof of the home ec room. Oh. So now I'm supposed to run a drama club and a writing workshop and help with English society as my "cocurriculars" (or "coco," their word for extracurriculars).

3. State orientation. I almost forgot to write about this, because it feels as if it was so long ago. We stayed at a hotel that offered 6 free meals a day, which I took ample advantage of. I never did make it to the 10 pm "supper," though. Activities were great. We took some more language classes, and learned this super-infectious song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQnSM7_kssM. Seriously, it is the avian flu of children's songs. The chorus means "I love you." We did some fun bonding activities, like a scavenger hunt around the neighborhood where we had to speak Bahasa and a mini-Olympics with our mentors. The best part was coconut bowling, where we hurled coconuts at full water bottles in the hotel parking garage. Coconuts are heavy. It was satisfying. We also learned a traditional Malay dance called joget, a game like mancala, and another game that's basically a variant of jacks that you play with pebbles. As my mentor explained, "In the kampung (rural village), there's really nothing to do and no toys, so you get good at this game." Of course, for little old clumsy me, many of these activities felt like a chance for me to display my utter ineptitude at all things requiring coordination. My poor mentor was stuck with me as I muddled through games and dragged down my team's Olympics score, but thankfully she's a very sweet and patient woman. I did feel a little as if I'm a boring person throughout this process, because I don't have any fun hobbies to share with the students.
Mentor: "So what do you like to do? Do you play any instruments?"
Me: "Um, I like to read. And swim. I don't play any instruments."
Mentor: "Do you sing? Dance?"
Me: "Nope."
Mentor: "Any sports?"
Me: "No, I'm not very athletic."
Mentor: "Do you cook?"
Me: "I'd like to learn."
Mentor: "What about arts and crafts?"
Me: "Um, I'm all thumbs."
Repeat that conversation over and over, between me and different people, and you'll get the gist of why I started to feel so dull. I'm thinking I could pick up a hobby here that would help me get outside my head a little bit, OR I could just get over myself and accept that I'm not the hobbying-est, coordinated-est girl in the world, and that's the way it is. Time will tell what I decide. I've also been feeling really tired and been sleeping a lot during the day these past few days, which has contributed to my sense of being a dull girl. In my defense, I haven't slept that well at night, and, as a Southern belle would say, "Darlin', this heat is so enervatin'."Plus, without our own transportation in a city with very limited public transportation and nearly nonexistent sidewalks, Kara and I don't have much to do besides lesson plan.

4. Cross-country run
When your mentor asks if you want to get up at 7 am on Saturday to go to a cross-country run with the school, I guess you're supposed to say yes. So I did. It ended up being a lovely event at a nice park outside the city, complete with the requisite groves of tropical fruit trees, palm trees, vibrant flowers, and ponds. We started the morning with a decidedly un-strenuous warm-up exercise, which I did with a group of female students who must have been really over-heated in their tudongs (Malaysian version of the hijab), because I was sweating up a storm. It was fun talking to the girls, who mostly seemed excited to meet me, if a little bit shy of using their English at times. I then completed the run in the "teachers and parents" bracket. By completed the run, I mean jogged and then walked to take in the scenery. I'm not in shape, and of course I got so red in the face, as I always do, that all the teachers were concerned for my survival. It was a nice chance to chat with other teachers along the way, and I came in 6th out of 10 female teachers/parents. Everyone got a prize basket of snack food, which seems to defeat the purpose of running. At lunch, I sat with a group of cheeky 17-year old boys who invited me to sit down with them. Their English was excellent. Good enough to ask if I have a boyfriend and to respond to my question of, "Where would you like to go if you could visit the US?" with "Your house, teacher!"

5.  General life and food things
Kimkee is near a lot of Chinese and Indian places, so Kara and I have been eating well. My mentor took us to a really cool outdoor Chinese food court with all different stalls of delicious, cheap food that is right near our apartment. Yesterday our state coordinator and her lovely daughter took us to a restaurant called Lila Wadi, which I would highly recommend to any Kuantan visitors. There's beautiful outdoor seating near the ocean and you get to barbecue your own meat on a grill at your table. They come to the table and pour chicken soup or tom yam (an unbelievably good Thai spicy broth with lemongrass) into the ridge around the little raised tabletop grill, so you can spoon it out onto your bowl and/or let the meat or seafood you're cooking cook in the soup and soak up the flavor. And to top it all off, they had mango cheesecake, which I'm going to go out on a limb and say is the best cheesecake I've ever had. I normally find cheesecake too heavy, but this was light and fluffy and heavenly. I think it was made by some sort of cheesecake angel. Ok, end of food rant. Too many superlatives.

6. Oh my gosh I almost forgot the funniest thing.

Kara hates me for putting up this photo. I didn't get any good ones at the event, though, and you need to see the set-up at this event.

We went to a super nice event at a state official's mansion. It was set up as if it were a wedding, with tables under a pavilion outside, buffet tables, and a stage at the front. The official walked in and everyone stood up in his honor. He worked the crowd, shaking everyone's hands, trailed by a 5-year-old boy I presume was his son or grandson. The kid, sporting a bright yellow Batman T-shirt, was holding onto his dad's belt loops and walking around. Then, the official invited us to eat and personally served the ETAs some veggies from the buffet. (Photo-op for his official photographer, says cynical me.) Then, we all sat down to eat while the performances began. The cutest part was that the 5-year-old and some of his little friends were standing up by (and sometimes on) the stage dancing the whole time. They seemed very used to functions like this. I wonder what their lives will be like as they grow up. The real highlight was a group of male dancers with leopard-print bandanas around their necks performing a very enthusiastic version of Gangnam Style. I had a really hard time not just bursting into hysterical laughter. Oh, I also spent the evening being a klutz, forking satay chicken off the skewer and accidentally shooting it across at my mentor and nearly dropping a knife on my friend's head. Can't take me anywhere. Sorry, Mom. There were also traditional Malaysian dances. One involved flapping your arms like a bird, and the ETAs were forced to go up to the front and dance it. As I flapped, the little Batman boy grabbed one of my hands and wouldn't let go for the whole dance. I guess I ended up dancing with one of Malaysia's most eligible young bachelors. At the end of the night, we all had to get up on stage to dance joget, which thankfully we'd learned a bit in orientation. It was a good lesson in leaving your pride behind, because once I got over the fact that I was tripping over my feet in front of hundreds of people at a formal event in an outfit that was not my finest, I actually had fun. As my mentor said when I came back to the table, "The caterpillar has changed into the butterfly." Lawl.

Spotted on a walk around the neighborhood. I like the colors. Looks so tropical.

Reading: Last week I read The Plague by Camus. Now I'm back into the never-ending labyrinth of Remembrance of Things Past. I'm up to book 2.