This is the town square at Fraser Hill. Fraser's Hill is at 1500m and hence a lot cooler than KL.
The title was the name of the drama production put on at the school this week. The Lah is a Malaysian thing. Sentences in English are usually ended with lah or can lah. I guess the way Canadians say, eh. I tried to include a movie clip of the finale but had problems. Instead I put a short clip from the play from the Annie section. A lot of my Grade 5 munchkins were involved in this. The scale of the production of the production was something else to behold. About 250 kids from Grades 2 to 12 were involved. The level of talent is very high. A lot of parents, I'm sure, have had their kids take voice and drama lessons. Maureen and I worked at all three performances as 'head of the house'. I'm not really sure what our duties were other than supervising the ushers and making sure the audience behaved itself during the performances (no flash photography, no crying kids etc.). The director is a cute little Filipino gal, who has studied drama all over the world including some famous school in New York. She is married to a Canadian fellow and just completed her Master's last year at Simon Fraser. We thought the production was an unbelievable undertaking but found out the 'big one' is in the spring. The extra-curricular expectations here are pretty high. I guess when parents (well their companies in 99% of the cases) pay $22500US in tuition a year they can expect a lot in return.
Maureen has been bagged all week after her adventure in Singapore. She went with 7 other teachers, 5 from our school and 2 from another international school. They decided to fly because the price difference between the bus and plane was negligible. The problem arose when there flight was delayed in the return by 5 hours. She didn't arrive in our condo until 3:15am Monday morning. Needless to say this kind of slowed her down for the week and has left her fighting a cold. Other than that she really enjoyed Singapore.
Singapore was part of Malaysia for a short time in the early 60's. Singaporeans are mainly of Chinese decent and after a series of squabbles with the Malaysians they were booted out of the union of Malay states in 1965. From 1959 to 1990 Singapore was ruled by Lee Kuan Yew. He pushed through an ambitious plan of modernization and industrialization that has created one of the most prosperous cities in the world. He and his political allies have also created one of the most controlled states in the world. Maureen was scared to death of dropping a kleenex out of her purse or some other such offense as there is an immediate $500 fine. There seem to be rules and fines for everything including gum chewing. The other side of this of course is that everything is very well organized and run. There are no traffic jams in Singapore. People actually signal and shoulder check when they change lanes there. Crime is non-existent. Those in possession of drugs are executed. There is no defense or excuse.
The other downside of being in such a prosperous city is that everything is extremely expensive and believe it or not Maureen didn't shop. She really does like bargains. She did have a Singapore Sling at Raffles though and checked out the city thoroughly.
Saturday night the Parent Association hosted a dinner for teachers. The theme was western. The group was rather small but we managed to have fun. Maureen taught a group of keeners a five or six line dances. As the event was outside this was enough. They all needed to wring out their clothes after. All this is still a bit hard to comprehend. It's turned December, the Christmas decorations are up but it is so hot and humid outside.
Today we drove up to the hill resort of Fraser Hill. We managed to get in a little hike. There are lots of birds up there. We were looking for exotic types like hornbills etc. but only managed to run into a large owl. There were a number of Malaysian bird watchers on the trail when we told them of the owl they were unbelievably excited about this and we had to show them where we saw it. I guess owl are rarer than hornbills in Malaysia. The cameras and lenses these guys had were very large and expensive. We did have to pull off a few leaches after our walk. They like to crawl inside your socks.
Broadway Lah video.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Carpets
Carpets have been sort of theme over the past two weekends. Last Sunday we accompanied Chris and Cindy to a Persian carpet auction. They had been there the day before, bought 5 carpets and were going to show us the ropes. Apparently Chris has done considerable research on carpets so he was going to give us expert advice. Another teacher, Laura (from Regina via Laos), also joined us. The Iranian carpet fellow was having a 4 day auction, Sat/Sun last weekend and this weekend, selling 104 carpets each day. Well, when the auction started Maureen started to bid on the first carpet but Cindy outbid her and got it. Our group bought the first 6 carpets brought out to auction. We ended up with two rather nice ones, a runner and the one pictured above. I kind of dragged Maureen out, kicking and screaming, after we bought these two. Good thing because Chris and Cindy bought 8 more and Laura bought 5. They do go really cheap and they are beautiful handwoven carpets. (There are some advantages living in a Muslim country as trade between Iran and Malaysia is free and open.) This weekend Maureen is in Singapore with some of her primary teaching buddies. My job was to go back to the auction and look and see if there were some that were going really cheap and pick up a few as gifts to take home. Well ,I went but I failed in my task. I ended up buying a rather nice larger carpet and then I hightailed it out of there. It is so beautiful and went for such a good price.
Report cards are over and done with. I got to spend my birthday doing parent teacher interviews. 100% of the parents turned up for their interview. They are all very keen and concerned about their child's education. Now Maureen and I in the middle of our teaching assessments. Maureen had her first visitation by the principal last Friday, fortunately no one drowned (her station is the pool now). Mine is next week.
I had the weekend to myself with Maureen in Singapore (except for a couple of hours at the carpet thing, but they feed you an Iranian lunch, so it was ok) I went biking up Genting Highlands again. I really love that ride. It is so lush and green and virtually no traffic on the road. It is about a 18 km ride to the top which takes a little over an hour and a half. The ride down is fast and wild. I was on my own and I guess the monkeys think you are an easier target. I had two of them charge at me. It is a bit freaky as you know they can leap about 30 ft if they want to. Last thing I want is some monkey putting his fangs into my neck. I need pepper spray!!
I knew I was going for an even longer ride today so I went for a massage last night. The only massage I've been able to find is of the Thai massage variety. The women who do the massage are all pretty stocky and very strong. With a Thai massage, the masseuse digs her elbows or feet between each muscle fiber in your body. They stand and lean into the massage with as much force as possible. The more you call out in pain the harder they seem to push. After the massage they then wrap your body up into unbelievable contortions. It feels good at the end but I think I'm going to find a gentler variety of massage.
Today, Malcolm (a teacher from Manitoba who retired, moved to BC and then figured he wasn't quite ready for retirement) and I did a 65 km ride to and from Fraser Hill. Fraser Hill is another old tea plantation and ex-get-away for the expats to a cooler climate. This is another curvy road up the mountain. This is the main road to Fraser Hill but still had very little traffic on it. The ride was great even though we got caught in a tropical rain storm on the way home.
Old fart on the road up to Fraser Hill. After the parent teacher interviews we went out to dinner with another teaching couple from the school (Australian). The guy shares the same birthday as me, only two decades earlier. This is a large reservoir of drinking water for KL.A sample of the jungle views on the ride up. Looks like BC except that the vegetation is all tropical: palms, bamboo, etc. And when we got soaked by the rain, we were warm. While we were stopped here we could hear the monkeys jabbering away in the trees around us.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Week 16
That is hard to believe. We've been here for 16 weeks and it still feels like we are just beginning to settle in. As we listen to report of snow and the onset of winter back home it seems even more strange. The weather is the same now as it was when we arrived. 32 degrees and humid. On the way up the elevator today, a little girl and her dad got on with us. The girl was in a school uniform and we started talking to her about school. Her dad said that at the end of this week, a seven week holiday would start. Maureen asked if it was their summer holiday. They kind of gave us a funny look and said, "No it is just holidays." I guess it is always summer here. Sunrise and sunset has also been consistent. The sun has risen at 7:00 am and sets about 7:00 pm everyday.
Well, for those of you following the blog you'll be happy to know that no shame was brought to the Bukit Utama Line Dancing Club on account of Maureen. She enjoyed herself last week but has decided that 3 days per week are a little too much of line dancing even for her. She will back off to one apparently. I've included a picture of some members of the club and one of the whole group preparing to strut their stuff.
On Wednesday (Tuesday back in NA remember) we were invited to one of the American teachers condos for an election party. There are a number of Americans at the school and they were ecstatic with Obama's win. I think we were invited to accept an apology on behalf of the group, who had for the last 8 years been claiming to be Canadians when traveling around, as they were embarrassed about their leadership and foreign policies. Here is a photo of them smiling and flashing the V sign.
Last week was an awful week at school. On Tuesday, one of Maureen's Grade 2 PE students, asked to go see the school nurse part way the morning. She was complaining of being dizzy and nauseous. The nurse called her mom to come and get her. Her condition rapidly got worse and by the time the mom arrived the nurses had already made arrangements for her to be transported to a doctor's office about a 1/2 block away. They immediately called for an ambulance and rushed her to the hospital. She was put on life support right away but did not make it. The whole school is still reeling from the shock and speed of her death. Tomorrow evening her memorial service will be held at the school.
The school really is a center in the lives of the students and parents whose children attend there. Yesterday(Sunday) I was at school doing some work and about 30 families(all Swedes, if I can judge by the blond hair) showed up to play game on the sports field. It was neat watching the families all have fun together. The school is the expat families focal point. Hence the reason for the memorial service at the school.
Friday night about 50 of us hopped on a bus and rode to the Heineken brewery for a tour. One of the parents from the school is the master brewer and he invited us for a tour. It was rather interesting. We got to see the production end of things which was rather fascinating considering the volume they put through. 70000 cans and 50000 bottles and a bunch of kegs every hour. What most enjoyed, of course, was the opportunity to sample their products in pub that they have. They also fed us and gave us a goodie bag at the end of the night. I've included a photo of some of the revellers.
The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet. We did manage a bike ride ourselves out to the rubber plantation. It is actually quite close to us and provides a bit of a respite from the city. I've included a photo of the planation itself and one of a tree being tapped.
Well, for those of you following the blog you'll be happy to know that no shame was brought to the Bukit Utama Line Dancing Club on account of Maureen. She enjoyed herself last week but has decided that 3 days per week are a little too much of line dancing even for her. She will back off to one apparently. I've included a picture of some members of the club and one of the whole group preparing to strut their stuff.
On Wednesday (Tuesday back in NA remember) we were invited to one of the American teachers condos for an election party. There are a number of Americans at the school and they were ecstatic with Obama's win. I think we were invited to accept an apology on behalf of the group, who had for the last 8 years been claiming to be Canadians when traveling around, as they were embarrassed about their leadership and foreign policies. Here is a photo of them smiling and flashing the V sign.
Last week was an awful week at school. On Tuesday, one of Maureen's Grade 2 PE students, asked to go see the school nurse part way the morning. She was complaining of being dizzy and nauseous. The nurse called her mom to come and get her. Her condition rapidly got worse and by the time the mom arrived the nurses had already made arrangements for her to be transported to a doctor's office about a 1/2 block away. They immediately called for an ambulance and rushed her to the hospital. She was put on life support right away but did not make it. The whole school is still reeling from the shock and speed of her death. Tomorrow evening her memorial service will be held at the school.
The school really is a center in the lives of the students and parents whose children attend there. Yesterday(Sunday) I was at school doing some work and about 30 families(all Swedes, if I can judge by the blond hair) showed up to play game on the sports field. It was neat watching the families all have fun together. The school is the expat families focal point. Hence the reason for the memorial service at the school.
Friday night about 50 of us hopped on a bus and rode to the Heineken brewery for a tour. One of the parents from the school is the master brewer and he invited us for a tour. It was rather interesting. We got to see the production end of things which was rather fascinating considering the volume they put through. 70000 cans and 50000 bottles and a bunch of kegs every hour. What most enjoyed, of course, was the opportunity to sample their products in pub that they have. They also fed us and gave us a goodie bag at the end of the night. I've included a photo of some of the revellers.
The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet. We did manage a bike ride ourselves out to the rubber plantation. It is actually quite close to us and provides a bit of a respite from the city. I've included a photo of the planation itself and one of a tree being tapped.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Halloween, River Rafting, and Terry Fox Run
Another eventful and hectic week and weekend has come and gone. I think the highlight was the river rafting trip we did on Saturday. (I say I think, because it was all pretty good.) We traveled about an hour and half out of KL to Sungai(river) Selangor. It is actually hard to believe but we haven't had rain for about a week now, so the river was a little low. Just high enough to be navigable for rafting. We spent a lot of time leaning to the left, leaning to the right, charging to the front of the raft and then to the back to get over and around the rocks in the river. It was quite exhausting actually. There about 12 of us from the school who went and we were joined at the river by about 15 Malays. The whole trip took about 4 hours to complete. The first part was pretty rough but the last was fairly calm although the river moved fast. Most of us spent the last kilometer or so lying back in the water and floating downstream. It was great fun although we came out of the water looking rather like shriveled prunes. At the end of the trip we were treated to a rather delicious Malay lunch of Nasi Lemak. I've included a little video clip of my raft crashing down one little rapid.
Friday was Halloween, of course. I love how they do it at this school. Nothing, except for the K and pre-schooler classes, happens during the school day.(The pre-schoolers, by the way, attend school from 8:30 to 1:30. The K students go all day) The parents arrive at the school right at 3 o'clock and get to work. Because most of the kids live in condos, making trick-or-treating problematic, the school event is the main thing for them to do. The kids come to school at 7 pm and wind their way through the hallways and get treats at each floor or area of the school. Between 3 and 7 the parents have transformed the school into a Halloween heaven for kids. Each grade level is located in a different floor or wing of the school. The grades go from Pre-school 1 (3 year olds) to Grade 5. There is quite the competition among the moms to create the best Halloween hallway and so the decorations are something else. Most of the moms are well-educated with professional backgrounds who are now stay-at-home moms while their husbands work for multi-national corporations based in Malaysia. They're bright and energetic and know how to get things done. After the kids were through with the trick-or-treating they could then go to the breezeway (best way to describe this is the big open area inside the school entrance where parents drop-off and pick up kids) for games the parents had set up or go to the courtyard where they had a hip-hop artist doing his thing. Maureen and I dressed up. She was a gypsy and I was a pirate. Our only duty was to wonder around and talk to the kids and their parents. The middle school was having a dance so we checked that out also.
Twister was one of the games the parents had. Kids and parents get involved in it all.
Today was the Terry Fox Run. Maureen had spent all week showing the Terry Fox videos to her students, having them do a mini-run in class (at 32 degrees and 85% humidity they don't run for long) and encouraging them to come out to the TF Run at Lake Garden Park in KL. Lots of them showed up to run with their PE teacher. Last year there were over 5000 participants in the run and there were at least that number again this year. It is very well organized and lots of fun.
The rest of today, Sunday, I am spending doing report cards. I suppose that explains why I'm filling in the blog earlier than usual. Maureen is off to some kind of line dancing event. There is a group of women, about 25 I think, who practice line dancing at our condo 3 days a week. Maureen joined up with them. There is some kind of big extravaganza event today with all the line dancing clubs in KL. Line dancing is a big thing here for some reason, along with karaoke. I'll probably take a miss on both of those experiences. Anyway the local dancers have been after Maureen to make it to practice regularly so she doesn't bring shame to the club. I'll let you know what happened with that next time.
This raft didn't quite follow the chute. Believe it or not they survived the landing.
Maureen the Gypsy queen.The MKIS Sr. girls Basketball team at the Terry Fox Run.
Friday was Halloween, of course. I love how they do it at this school. Nothing, except for the K and pre-schooler classes, happens during the school day.(The pre-schoolers, by the way, attend school from 8:30 to 1:30. The K students go all day) The parents arrive at the school right at 3 o'clock and get to work. Because most of the kids live in condos, making trick-or-treating problematic, the school event is the main thing for them to do. The kids come to school at 7 pm and wind their way through the hallways and get treats at each floor or area of the school. Between 3 and 7 the parents have transformed the school into a Halloween heaven for kids. Each grade level is located in a different floor or wing of the school. The grades go from Pre-school 1 (3 year olds) to Grade 5. There is quite the competition among the moms to create the best Halloween hallway and so the decorations are something else. Most of the moms are well-educated with professional backgrounds who are now stay-at-home moms while their husbands work for multi-national corporations based in Malaysia. They're bright and energetic and know how to get things done. After the kids were through with the trick-or-treating they could then go to the breezeway (best way to describe this is the big open area inside the school entrance where parents drop-off and pick up kids) for games the parents had set up or go to the courtyard where they had a hip-hop artist doing his thing. Maureen and I dressed up. She was a gypsy and I was a pirate. Our only duty was to wonder around and talk to the kids and their parents. The middle school was having a dance so we checked that out also.
Twister was one of the games the parents had. Kids and parents get involved in it all.
Today was the Terry Fox Run. Maureen had spent all week showing the Terry Fox videos to her students, having them do a mini-run in class (at 32 degrees and 85% humidity they don't run for long) and encouraging them to come out to the TF Run at Lake Garden Park in KL. Lots of them showed up to run with their PE teacher. Last year there were over 5000 participants in the run and there were at least that number again this year. It is very well organized and lots of fun.
The rest of today, Sunday, I am spending doing report cards. I suppose that explains why I'm filling in the blog earlier than usual. Maureen is off to some kind of line dancing event. There is a group of women, about 25 I think, who practice line dancing at our condo 3 days a week. Maureen joined up with them. There is some kind of big extravaganza event today with all the line dancing clubs in KL. Line dancing is a big thing here for some reason, along with karaoke. I'll probably take a miss on both of those experiences. Anyway the local dancers have been after Maureen to make it to practice regularly so she doesn't bring shame to the club. I'll let you know what happened with that next time.
This raft didn't quite follow the chute. Believe it or not they survived the landing.
Maureen the Gypsy queen.The MKIS Sr. girls Basketball team at the Terry Fox Run.
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