Busy busy week!

Hi everyone :-) Today is our last day in school before our holidays. We are going travelling in Cambodia in Thailand, to get a feel for a bit more of SE Asia. I always get a pre-trip 'argggh to much to get organised'... and there also happens to be alot going on in school this week. Fiona and I were put in charge of making the schools newletter. We came up with the articles quickly, with help from some students. I happen to be extremely fussy with visual layout, so I spent a good few hours editing the format! I am now happy to say though that the newsletter is finished (with a few hours to spare). Now we must print and distribute them before the school day ends!!

Tomorrow we have been asked to run a session at an English public speaking course in Batu Pahat, so we have also been busy preparing presentations/workshops for that. I have a mountain of washing waiting for me at home, along with various admin things that needs to be done before I can relax and leave for the airport... Our flight leaves at 6.45am on Sunday morning.

It will be lovely to have a break from school, sometimes my motivation does run out towards the end of term. I know however, that I will look forward to coming back - I really am enjoying myself now. I hope I will be able to swim/run at some points during our  travels, as I am really into exercising at the moment. I've heard running on sand is supposed to be amazing for developping leg tone!!

Anyway I must dash - I have a long list of things to do in front of me... Here's a few photos for you. I will try and keep in touch whilst I am away - if I can spare any money to fork out for internet cafes!

Fiona, Megawati (form 4 student) and I at her sisters wedding in a nearby Kampung.

With some students on an outing into Batu Pahat.

Eating oranges outside our chalet in Tioman!

A local man teaching me how to make roti at his stall...:) much to all the customers delight...

with the EMC in the school foyer.

Half way.. arrgghhh!

Last Thursday marked half way through my time here in Malaysia! It doesn’t feel like we have been here that long, but when I look back at the amount that has happened it easily fills out 4 months. It feels as though we are on ‘countdown’ now which is a scary thought... At the start I was longing for this point, but now I don’t like the idea of leaving Batu Pahat and coming back home to study!

We spent the weekend before last in Singapore. After a relatively dull week at school (students had exams) we thought it would be nice to have a weekend away. I met the others on Saturday afternoon, after spending a night in JB with some friends from England. We decided to splash out and go on the ‘Night Safari’ at Singapore Zoo, which we had heard good reviews about. Entry cost $32 which is roughly Rm75! After a long queue we took our seats on the safari tram (suitably painted in leopard print).The animals are kept on islands surrounded by small rivers - so you can see them really well. In some areas the animals are just walking right next to the tram – we had many furry friends coming up close to say hello! The best animals I saw would probably be the crocodiles, lions and tigers. The otters were also extremely cute...

We stayed in a hostel in Little India. It was the first time I have stayed in a dormitory style hostel, so before bed I had made friends with a man from Afghanistan, and another one from Estonia! It was a cool place, with relatively cheap drinks. Breakfast was make-your-own eggs and toast, good to refuel in the morning so we didn’t have to buy any food in (expensive) Singapore! The next day we went for a wander and ended up on ‘Arab Street’, with many shops selling materials and various rugs/carpets. I bought a silk scarf :-)

Fiona and I are in charge of making the schools newsletter for this semester, along with the EMC (English Motivational Committee). The newsletter will celebrate a successful sports season, and reports what has been going on around the college – languages week, planting trees on Earth Day, recent building work etc. The other night we also held auditions for the school drama group. The students were given a situation to improvise from in pairs. One of the situations involved a running criminal and policeman, which the boys obviously loved, as they could turn drama into very physical theatre!

The weather has been so stormy recently, pretty much every night there is thunder and lightning. Sometimes the thunder is so close that it makes the whole house shake! The amount of rain has filled up the ‘parits’, much to the delight of its resident fish.  I have seen many iguanas around recently, sometimes they casually amble across the road and you have to beep at them at least 5 times before they twig they’re about to die and run off! Seeing as we’re on the wildlife topic, I saw some beautiful birds in the palm oil plantations – electric yellow and bright blue.

I wonder how things are back home. I really like May as I used to get all my summer gear down from the loft. I am sure the daffodils are all out, and the lambs are as cute as ever. I promise I will blog again soon, I realise how rubbish I have been at updating this blog!