Recent life at MRSM

Hi everyone!

Its Thursday morning here and I have an hour before my next class. Three of the English teachers are away today for various reasons so we have a crazy timetable and are having to combine 2 or 3 classes together for some periods! One of the teachers texted me at 5.45am this morning explaining how she wouldnt be in school today - so busy days always come when I am least expecting it.

This week has been great as I have my Mum and sister Naomi visiting. I met them in Singapore at the weekend and then brought them up to the project on Sunday. It was so lovely to see them again, they haven't changed much! :) I have been showing them around the school, they were surprised how big the compound is. The students were all extremely excited to see more 'orang-putih' (white people) and eager to shake their hands. They were especially impressed at Naomi's height - being fourteen and towering above most of the girls (who are all really short!). I asked one of my classes to ask Naomi some questions and the usual order was: How old are you? Do you have facebook? What is your relationship status?

On Tuesday we had 8 students over for pancakes after school. Mum cooked up a delicous batch and we filled the table with various toppings. They were all keen to have a try at frying them. After the pancakes they vacated into my room - always keen for a nose around at my photos and clothes!! This particular group of form 3s are so lovely and I will miss them so much.

The school now has a new principal, after our dear Salim left two weeks ago. All the teachers are having to get used to his new form of management, but I am sure it will settle down soon. Apparently he has lots of new ideas of how he wants to improve the school. To say goodbye to the old principal, we went out for dinner in Batu Pahat with all of the teachers/staff and ate rice (of course) with various meats. For pudding there was a delicous carrot cake which had been dyed red! It was a memorable cake, not only for its appearance but also for the fact that we never get cake out here! Malaysia doesnt really do puddings... here's a good opportunity to publicly thank Mum for the delicous box of flapjacks she carried out all the way from Devon!

We are beginning to start our community reports, which Projec Trust request of all volunteers before they leave their projects. For this I gave out a questionnaire, and I thought I would share some of the answers as they may interest you...

I started by asking the students about their school day. In my opinion it is far too long (up at 5.30 for prayer, and evening prep finishes at 10.30pm) but surprisingly the majority said they didnt find it too bad because their primary school day had been a similar length! They also said they they found doing their work in the evening the most effective, and often stayed up even later than midnight if they have exams near. The age at which the girls started wearing their hijap varied from 5-13...depending on how strict their parents were. Finally I asked about the school rules and if they agreed with them etc...and I found out some interesting ones such as 'pot noodles are banned in the hostel'. Apparently the artificial chemicals added are bad for digestion and prevent you from sleeping... Also some of the boys informed me of how they get out of prep in the evenings - some interesting accounts of climbing over a barbed wire fence! The no boyfriends/girlfriends rule is pretty much ignored..they all have secret relationships and meet up late at night in the academic blocks. I think its hilarious and am always interested to have a good gossip with the girls about their boyfriends.

The weeks really are flying by now. When Mum and Naomi leave next Tuesday, we have one night alone and then Fiona's parents are arriving! I want to take down my calendar just so that I cant see the days running away...really dont want to leave just yet - its going too fast... Two weeks today I will be 19 - so much has happened since my 18th birthday. It will be strange but also cool to have my birthday out here - not sure what I will do yet.

Well I must go - hopefully the jetlagged sleepy-heads will be up soon and we can hit the cafe for breakfast!

Back to the Maktab

Well.. we are back safe and sound - and here I am back in Batu Pahat sitting in the languages office. There is a new English teacher in our department which unfortunately means I have been kicked off my desk and me and Fiona are back to sharing! School has been quiet so far as there have been lots of talks and assemblies going on for the start of a new term.

It is so nice to be back in Malaysia again...I feel really safe here and I just missed the Malay food heaps! The first day we got back we celebrated by going for a roti canai... yumyum. I only have 8 more weeks at the project now, which is such a scary thought! Somehow I am struggling to feel motivated this week...when I really want to have home-straight 'energy' to get the very most out of the last 2 months. Hopefully once I get back into the routine of school my enthusiasm will pick up! It was great to see some of the students yesterday, especially when they said they missed me. The form ones are just so nice!

School is out for the day, and I am about to go home (with a bag of watermelon I stole form the dining hall!) to attempt to fix my bike. I know I am going to get oil everywhere...I would really hate to be a mechanic. It really needs fixing though because without my bike I feel like I have no freedom. The land is pretty flat around Johor so its not too straining to cycle everywhere...unlike Devon!

One month today I will be 19... it feels like such a long time ago that I was celebrating my 18th - so much has changed! Everything is set for starting at Manchester next year.. I think these last couple of months really are going to fly by - better get out there and make the most of the freedom whilst I've got it!

Hello from Chiang Mai!

Hello everyone... I am in Chiang Mai. Its so hot and I am currently sitting in our hostel making use of the free internet :-) Tonight we are heading back down to Bangkok, and I am not looking forward to the train back as apparently the carriages with fans are unbearably hot at night!

We have been travelling for 3 weeks now - 2 weeks in Cambodia, and we are a week into Thailand. I have been having such a good time, and its been really nice to have some freedom outside of the school! I do really miss Batu Pahat though, and will be ready to go back next weekend. I am not used to spending money at the project, so these past few weeks have seemed pretty expensive and Im looking forward to going back to the free food and accommodation! Funnily enough Malaysia is much cheaper than Cambodia and Thailand - we didnt realise how little food costs where we are.

This morning I got up pretty late and we went to this smoothie stall in a market, which was soo amazing. I had a coffee, banana and cinnamon shake - and it was amazing!! It cost 30 Baht which is like 60p. I asked her how many she sells on average...she said on a good day she sells around 600 smoothies - shes doing very well! Malaysia absolutely sucks for fruit juice...they just dont do it. I am tempted to start a fruit shake stall at school during break so the students can have some healthy drinks to wash down all their deep-fried snacks... All I need is some fruit, ice and a blender!

I have learnt alot travelling...from living out of a bag, to avoiding the many scams which South East Asia has to offer. Our trip has felt a little rushed...we would have loved to spend more time up here in the north but there is so much more we want to see, so we are having to squeeze alot in! Im treating this trip as a sort of taster...I will definitely come back with more time and explore smaller places which take longer to get to. We went to this amazing place called Pai which is 4 hours north of Chiang Mai...sorrounded by mountains and greenery. We rented scooters for a day and zoomed around the empty roads, stopping off at waterfalls and good viewing points. We also did an elephant treck, which was soo good... we rode for an hour or so and then 'played' in the river with our elephant - being thrown off and splashed etc. Ill put some photos up soon.

So its now nearly 4pm... think its time for some noodle soup before we head to the station. Its so hot right now... My back is literally dripping...nice. I just bought some extremely dodgy-looking hair dye from a market for 80p, as the sun has turned my hair a very strange colour and I'd like to return to brown...Lets hope the colour on the box is the colour of the dye and not some Asian trick! Anyway I must go - hope all is well with you all.

P.s I am sorry this blog has become so casual... whenever I blog I never seem in the right state of mind to write poetic lines in grammatically correct English that should be coming from a girl who got an A* at English A-level.... Sorry chaps.

P.p.s Happy June!