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 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).
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