Holiday :)

So on Friday the 23rd of July, I then moved in to the Capitol Hotel and patiently awaited the arrival of my wonderful husband :)
I spent the day walking around as far as KL tower, Petronas Towers and the Malaysian Tourism center and trying to sus out what we could do over the next 5 days. Dan arrived at around 10pm and it was SO great to see him.

On Saturday the 24th we milled around the local area and went to Lao Yat Plaza which is about 7 floors of technical gadgets, and the Berjaya Times Square. What an Amazing mall!!! It has about 1000+ retailers, restaurants, cinemas and a theme park with a roller coaster. Crazy! We went navigated the trains and monorails to head over to the KLCC and walked around and saw the lake and towers etc. That night we were honoured with tickets to Yuna's Album launch, and it was fantastic!!!

On Sunday the 25th we decided to go and do the Hop on Hop off tour bus, but with a bit of a late start and some wonderings to try and find the start we decided to change our plans and we trained it out to the Batu Caves, which was again amazing and so nice to share with Dan! It is such a majestic place and after getting a little closer to the Monkey's there I'm not as afraid of them after one tried to eat me at Telok Chempade.
On the train back we decided to carry on down the line a little and go to the Pasar Seni, the central markets. These contained a range of items and sellers and we managed to pick up a few things (one being an umbrella to help us in the rain :).
I also experienced a 'Cute Fish Spa' 10 minutes of having little fish eat the dead skin off my feet. I seriously couldn't stop laughing!!!
We wrapped up the day with a movie and went to see Predator :)

On Monday the 26th we went for an earlier start and jumped on the Hop on Hop off tour bus. Our first stop was China town where we grabbed many a bargain and really enjoyed the haggling with the hawkers! We then went to the National Museum, which we really enjoyed learning about the History of Malaysia. We went to the Independence Square and the National Art Gallery for a late Lunch. We wrapped up our tour with the KL tower. That night we went to see Eclipse and experienced some of Malaysia's censorship and had a date with a mouse. Funny!!!

On Tuesday the 27th we started very early and by 7:00am we were on a train to KLCC and spent from 7:30 to 9:30 in a cue waiting for tickets to the Petronas Tower's Skybridge. We then jumped back on the Hop on Hop off (it is a 24 hours ticket we purchased at 10:30am yesterday) and went back to China town to shop for our family and friends ;) Had a great Chinese meal for lunch that was really nice! We also managed to find a couple of amazing Chinese Temples and looked around. The one Indian Temple we found was under renovations.
We then got to the Malaysia Tourism Centre by 3pm for a 45 minute amazing Dancing show. Then made our 4:30 appointment with the sky bridge at Petronas Towers. By 5:30 we meet with Brian (Dan's ex-colleague at westpac) and spent the evening dining and stumbled across a fridge opening... literally, Mitsubishi were launching a new fridge and had dancing and speeches. Funny!!! Action packed day!

Our last day was Wednesday 28th of July. We got up and had breakfast and then after packing our 40 kgs worth of stuff we checked out. We spent time between Berjaya Times Square (Movie Inception and shopping) and Lao Yat Plaza. Then by 5:30pm we were on our transfer heading to the airport...

So sad to leave Malaysia, it was such an amazing trip! But will be great to go home and try an join normality again...
Thanks for reading!!!

The end of the programme...

So, After I returned to KL from Penang I spent another two days staying with Fauziah. On the first night we went for Dinner at Dato' Mahadzir Lokman's who is an AFS volunteer in KL and a famous man in Malaysia who does MCing and working with a wide range of people. This was an AFS event which was a going away function for two volunteers from Germany.
On Thursday (the last official day of our programme) we all went to the New Zealand High Commissioner's office and had a meeting with the Commissioner. We all then went for Banana Leaf Rice for lunch and I ate with my hands for the first time :)
We then returned to AFS HO and had a end of stay orientation for a couple of hours just talking about our experiences. This was a great opportunity to learn more about what we saw.
We wrapped up the day by going to a movie while Fauziah was tutoring and then took a visit to a hill to get a great view of KL. While up there I my SD memory stick in the camera was no longer reading... so sad! So, I wasn't feeling the best and couldn't even find my appetite (that had grown exponentially while I was in Malaysia).

After a good night sleep I said a sad farewell to Fauziah who had hosted us for 6 days in 2 day blocks since the very first night.

Thanks to AFS and Asia:NZ Foundation for making this amazing experience possible!!!
I 100% recommend this to any educators who are considering this in the future. It was AMAZING!!!!

Reflections on my time in Malaysia

Malaysia, a land of many faces,
Many tastes and many races.
The cultures so strong, so clearly defined,
The cultures can merge and be realigned.

1 Malaysia is the idea - all people one nations,
Indians, Chinese, Malay and all other races.
Strongly connected, to unite as one,
Still celebrating differences, leaving out none.

The Muslims, the Buddhists, the Hindus, the Sikhs,
Also, the Christians if that's what you seek.
Religion so freely expressed in society,
All people appear to behave with such piety.

The schools are academic, the students are driven,
The schools are naughty if that's what their given.
Bright Green Palms cover the plains,
Due to the season where all it does is rains.

28 Million people in these tiny islands,
Of Makan, most of them are fans.
Work goes on 24 hours a day
Long hours are pulled, just to make their pay.

Sultans in palaces, beautified with gold,
Men selling burnt DVDs, oh so bold.
There's homeless, who just need to have a full meal,
And tourists looking for that best shopping deal.

The History of Malaysia takes a complex understanding,
From Colonisation, to Migration and work force importing.
The result is a country rich in culture,
Bringing from their homelands all that they were.

Malaysia, I'll never forget this country divine,
full of food, full of shopping, full of religion, full of time.

Fiona Crawford July 2010

Day 18 update

Wow, so much has happened since I last wrote...
I had a fantastic time at STAJ, they were all so nice. I had the most amazing last day there. It started with doing a kolem, which is a picture on the ground filled with coloured rice, and then there were a whole bunch of students in the library playing Congka and playing a Malay version of knuckle bones (I wans't too bad at this and I did win my first ever game of congka. :)
We then had lots of food all the teachers had brought in for breakfast.
Then I went down to their open air hall and they put on a concert for me with a Joget (Malay Dance) an Indian Folk dance and this amazing Chinese Yoyo. So cool. And then ended with school day with about a million photos.
It totally made me feel like someone special (such a strange concept).
The next day they held an assembly to say goodbye to me, gave me a gorgeous pewter box that was engraved and then I went off to a Muslim school, Sultan Hishamuddin Klang. This was such an interesting comparison!
I then ended the day by hanging out with another family (Sheila and Vijay) and heading out to see these amazing fireflies. Very cool.
After that I had to say a very sad good bye to the Sanggar family and Klang. It is pretty amazing how much of an emotional rollercoaster an experience like this is!!
Then I travelled back to KL to stay with Fauziah again for another 2 nights. Had a mellow first day and then a one day trip to Melaka.

Melaka is a historical town that was one of the early settlements during colonisation. This was a great experience to see a whole other area and to buy some great souvieniers and then we went to a place called little Malaysia which has the 13 examples of all the traditional housing from the 13 states. Very interesting! We were running around in the rain, so the hair frizz factor was increased :)

Then, yesterday I travelled to Penang Island, which is in the top west side of Malaysia. This has been an amazing opportunity to be a bit of a tourist.
Jimmy (the other teacher with me) and I took a tour this morning (kind of like rent a friend) where a guy with a car took us anywhere we wanted to go for 4 hours. It was cool. We went to the botanical gardens, but all the monkeys were hiding, and then we went to Kek Tok Si, The most amazing temple!!! It has 7 tirers and at the very top a Massive Buddha!! Amazing!!!
Then we went to see a Thai Buddist Temple with a sleeping buddha and the Burmese Buddist temple across the road.
I leave here tomorrow and not sure when I will have access to the net again. But keep an eye out for next postings, I will have about a million photos when I get back. Back to KL for 2 nights and then my wonderful husband Dan arrives and so will be on a bit of a holiday :)
Take care all!!!
Jumpa Lagi (see you again)

Klang is cool

Have been in Klang now for 3 days and it has been bagus (great)! The students are so funny and remind me so much of BVC students back home! They like to have a joke and try and get away with anything :) It has been so much fun working with them. One class today all gave me letters they had written to me, so nice!! I even filmed some students at the school playing rugby :)
Tomorrow is going to be great, seeing some traditional cultural dances put on especially for me (and I have to sing, yeek!!!) and also getting to see a Sepak Takraw match tomorrow (traditional Malaysia game I think) where it is a blend of Soccer (can only use feet) and Volley ball and aerobatics. It looks really cool!!! Will have video of it for sure!!Have also had some great times in the evenings, family dinners with Ommathy's family and pot luck last night with AQFS people.

I think people in Malaysia never sleep. I have had between 5 - 6 hours sleep most night, and people eat at all hours of the night and day :) It's such an amazing culture! Even little kids will be up till midnight if that's when their parents are up to.
I have learnt so much! Having a great time!
Will get some photos up asap :)
Missing everyone!

STAJ (my school) Haka

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WAMGh24Yv8&feature=related

Check this out!!!

Arrived in Klang Valley

Well after a very sad goodbye to Kuantan and the Swa family, a 4 hour bus, and 1 hour crazy full train ride I arrived in Klang valley to be taken out for another dinner by the wonderful Chandrika and her family and then off to my new host family. I am now staying with an Malaysian Indian Family with Ommathy who is a teacher at my new school.
My students are so much more like my BVC students!!! They are cheeky and funny, but again, they are way more interested in me and waving at me across the school 'Hello Teacher' than my our wee students are :)
It is going to be another amazing week in Malaysia!
:)