So today was not the best day of my experience since being in Malaysia. I received some unfortunate news that was out of my control, unfair in my opinion, but could do nothing to change the results. The drama club I have been pouring my heart and energy into for over 5 hours a week (plus 3 hours of driving a week) was no longer going to be a part of my weekly schedule. The mentor at my friend’s school (which I was volunteering my time to help out with, yet pretty much lead the program) decided he wanted me out. Competition is in just over three weeks. We were planning to finish blocking the show today (meaning explain where the students will go and basic delivery of lines), yet the mentor wants to write a new script tonight and start over since “we do not have enough time” for the script I have been using with them. This makes absolutely no sense to me and I feel completely disrespected as well as disappointed with how this was dealt with behind my back and relayed to me through my poor friend put in a very uncomfortable position this afternoon.
Flash back to our rehearsal yesterday, things were going fine (in my opinion). Four administrators from the district, invited by this mentor were there to watch. I was the only ETA present and working on the rehearsal at the time. I was planning to cut out some lines since there were multiple complaints that the script was too long (which I cut out about two pages) and spent 20 minutes updating students with the new script. I warmed up the students using words that they were struggling to pronounce as well as have them practice projecting their voices which this mentor complained I was not doing enough of during rehearsals as well as expressed his extreme worry about the students’ progress in those areas. Then I proceeded to review blocking for the last five pages we learned last rehearsal to show our visitors our progress as well as teach six new pages of blocking with the goal to get through the last nine the next day, difficult but totally doable. Unfortunately, 15 minutes of rehearsal was me trying to explain my script, reasoning behind practice, and ideology behind preparation for the competition (mainly them expressing their complaints and worries over and over again without truly listening to my words) which wasted time. Ironically, time being the main factor of concern, time during rehearsal was taken to express this. Additionally, the administrators were talking loudly during the majority of the rehearsal which made it hard to be productive but nonetheless, “the show must go on” and so we did. I left the conversation early in hopes to return to rehearsal and be more productive with the students, which I was for the last ten minutes. At the end of rehearsal, I checked back in with the mentor to make sure concerns were covered or answered and that sentiments still remained positive towards the drama process. He expressed that everything was fine. He thanked me for all of my hard work and dedication, seeming to be sincere and looking forward to the next day. We discussed the positive progress that happened as well as my motivational speech I gave to the students about practicing their lines every night and getting ready for the upcoming competition, in which he seemed responsive in more positive ways than I had seen in the past two weeks. I left for the night, both of us with the expectation of me returning tomorrow (today, Monday April 20th) for another day of rehearsal. Or so I thought.
I cannot say what his exact intentions were however, the events that unfolded today, makes it seem as though there was an underlying agenda or change of thought (either way in which I was not regarded) to take a different path. I was put in charge of this program solely with the verbal expectations that this mentor, my friend (his ETA), and my other ETA friend (his housemate) would assist me during this process. I asked and reconfirmed with the mentor what he wanted to be in charge of which was nothing and his role in this process which was to just assist when needed. Each time we discussed this, he confirmed that he wanted me to be in charge of everything. I took his concerns into consideration. I took his advice although he and I both knew his knowledge of drama was minimal compared to mine, but nonetheless I wanted to respect him and his concerns and still have room for learning myself, especially in a foreign competition. I tried to be as accommodating for him in this experience as best I could. Yet, when the panic set in for him and something switched today, my time, effort, expertise, opinion, nor consideration came into play. Nor did the betterment of the students, in my opinion.
I am personally frustrated about this situation however I am more hurting for the students. They have put in a lot of hard work over the past month and now it is all being wiped away. I am not really sure what my next appropriate step should or will be at this point. I am meeting with the mentor and said ETAs next Sunday. I want to support these students. I want to express my feelings about how things were handled. Yet, it is not my school, these are not my students, I was volunteering my time, there was no contract, just verbal agreement for the terms, and I am busy as it is with my other commitments. This was just one of those extraordinary disappointments that are harder to bounce back from than a hot and rainy day.
There have been challenging times during this experience in Malaysia. I have tried to gain perspective and look at the positives through every negative situation. From flat tires to flus to classes or after-school activities being cancelled. This was a push just a bit too far from what I am able to just “bounce back from” without standing up for these students and what I think is right. From a human standpoint, I was disregarded as a dedicated person, pushed out for no fault of my own, and deceived during this process. I hurt for the students. I am disappointed in the leadership. I am not sure how much of this is a cultural miscommunication, misunderstanding, barrier, or otherwise versus a pure act of authority being exercised for reasons unknown to me. The pictures throughout this post are great moments I shared with these students.
There English was progressing. They were quick learning. They were new to drama yet their confidence was rising. The students were so eager to work hard and do well! We were so far into the script and they were just getting comfortable with the ideas and the story. We shared passionate, powerful emotions together through various moments from the warm-up to the reflection talk at the end of rehearsals. My design team was even coming together with ideas.
I am supposed to sit back, allow this to happen, and resume after May with this drama. Our work is basically being excused, for a new play written over night, and supposedly put together in four rehearsals. It is assumed I am supposed to hear about the students cramming this play in, support them, and return to mine for the leftovers of drama after competition is over. I am not upset about not going to competition with “my” work as the “director” but I believed in the play and in the students. We were making something powerful together about secondary students’ identity issues with real problems teens face today all around the world.
We were taking the inner-thoughts of teenagers and personifying them through “selfie” characters who mirrored the named characters throughout the show both showing the projected, vulnerable, and facade images of these caricatures of secondary students wanting what every teen at that age does: to be accepted and feel good about themselves. All in a second language for these students in less than two months- it was incredible! We presented these issues but also turned them on their head and made the audience question the real issues at hand: how serious some of these problems are for teens, as well as how to conquer them. It also addressed the universal idea of these issues across cultures (being that there were references both to America and Malaysia). Their collective deepest fear is suggested by Nicole in a moment of defending the “new and improved” her that her friend Sam is warning her is not the true Nicole that made her so wonderful originally. “But [people are] noticing. Besides, when it comes right down to it, don’t we all end up alone?” Then she grows into realizing the importance of making a positive and true image of yourself as well as embracing who you really are despite your bruises and blemishes “I can’t take back the things I’ve done, but I can change the things I’m going to do. Or at least I can try.” As one of the other characters is suffering from battling cancer this quote is shared “The last selfie [Tony] took was beautiful. [His] eyes winkled. The corners of [his] mouth were turned up. [He] was alive. And best of all, [he] wasn’t alone.” These friends journey together to find out what is really important in life, for themselves, and how to fit into their true skin. “It’s better to be yourself to risk being alone and find those who can truly like you. Live in the moment and keep the pictures for your memory.” This is such an important message we were ready to share at the state level of competition. I hope this message can be heard again through our play #Selfie in another way. Even if it just reached the students and stays there- it still was heard.
Things that happened today at my school that would not happen in America:
1. Students just leaving during the day since there were no classes in order to decorate and prepare tents for a sports day to follow the next two days.
2. Students running errands for teachers on their motorcycles, expected to come back and actually come back with the task completed.
3. Multiple students leaving on the same motorcycle sent to cut down bamboo in the neighborhood down the road. Then students leaving with teachers without notice to fetch said students who went to get the bamboo (the students were already back by the time we tried to find them)
4. Students using machetes… multiple… all day
5. Students using multiple tools and weapons on school grounds
6. Students drinking rose sugar-water including a gallon of water, 10 pounds of sugar, and half a bottle of syrup water (these type of drinks do not exist or would probably not be permitted anymore after all of the health conscious kicks in school cafeteria food- thank you Michelle Obama and many others who fought for the cause of healthy habits in schools!)
7. Students marching or running around campus instead of going to school that day
8. Teachers neglecting class all day to prepare for sports day
9. Students taking off their uniform (still layers underneath but uniform is usually mandatory and they are corrected down to the type of socks they wear) because of being a little sweaty
10. Students and teachers using a day for competitive crafting during a school day rather than a weekend day with no prior note sent home to parents, permission slips signed, parent volunteers, items brought from home, or any similar tasks exercised
Reasons why all of this is AWESOME!
1. Malaysians treasure family time and would rather use their school day to prepare for fun sporting or competitive school events such as “sports day” rather than after school or on a weekend
2. Malaysians trust their students to complete some of these tasks
3. Malaysian students love competition so much that they are willing to stay and decorate their tent even when they have the freedom to go (mind you an hour before school let out, a large chunk of students left BUT still impressive they lasted that long)
4. Malaysian schools schedule fun things during the school day to change things up
5. Malaysian schools are taking pride in competitive exercise events (which is great especially in the state where I live, even if it is just 2 days since they have the highest diabetes rate in Malaysia)
6. Malaysian students practiced a lot of English with me today
7. I was feeling tired and needed a brain break (perfect timing to craft and build things all day)
8. I bonded with more students always a yay!
9. Competitive spirit is a great way to incentivize students as I knew but saw as further evidence today
10. Students were super helpful, teachers were just as involved (most of the time), and it was a fun day!
What proceeded to follow are two days of sports (different running activities), competitive spirit, team building, camaraderie, student recognition, and fun! I even managed to get a run it- ran an extra lap and still got first place in the girls category I ran with… should I be impressed or scared, not sure. I was definitely tired afterwards. Malaysia boleh! I approve of sports day and all of its festivities!
So I live in Kelantan which is a fairly rural state in Malaysia close to the Thailand border and fairly undeveloped in relation to the other Malaysian states. As a result of some of these cultural factors, Kelantan has its own dialect, Kelate as I have mentioned in previous posts before. When I first arrived to Malaysia, I did not know where I was placed and as a program, we were taking Bahasa Malay classes (the standard language) during orientation as a way to get acquainted with some of the linguistic basics of Malaysia. However, once finding out about my placement in Kelantan, I found out that these lessons would not be of much use since the dialect in Kelantan is much different from the standard dialect. Sure most people would understand the standard language but, I would not understand or know how to communicate with the local dialect so I realized I had to change my linguistic focus.
Dialect is used as a loose term here, in my opinion. To me I think different accent with slightly different vernacular maybe as I think of dialect differences in the US. Here however, the Kelate dialect has different spellings, pronunciation, and different words all-together for certain phrases in many parts of the language, especially in every day conversation, which almost makes it feel as if it is a totally separate language all-together. This makes getting around in Kelantan as well as teaching English to the local students very challenging as I am trying to re-learn the basics of the language from an unconventional way of hearsay from students or teachers and trying to scratch down things when I can. In school many of my students are not literate or proficient even in the standard Bahasa Malay (BM) so Kelate is the primary language classes are taught in at my school. I try to learn the language to both help myself get around town to those who do not speak English and understand my students better. I want to work with some of my lower performing students as well, so they get exposure to English and American culture even when they barely know how to properly spell their name or introduce themselves as of now. Although I hope some of my initiatives and roles in the school are changing those things.
For travelling elsewhere in Malaysia though, I have to switch back to the basics of BM that I remember from orientation and minimally practicing since leaving KL from orientation. I have visited several places in Terangganu (which has its own dialect), Penang, Kedah, and so forth yet, find myself falling into the Kelate dialect which very few people understand outside of Kelantan. This experience of switching linguistic dialects within the same language is a challenging yet intriguing experience as I try to further blend myself into the culture and environment around me in Malaysia, being a Bahasa Melay as a Second Language (BMSL) foreigner (not sure if that is a thing but I find it an appropriate label for where I stand linguistically here). I am fascinated by languages and cultures in general so I try to pick up phrases and local sayings as I go, where I go.
In Myanmar when I travelled over this past holiday, I picked up how to say hello (as a foreigner specifically, Mingalarbar) and thank you (che zu tin bah deh or che zu bah for short). A nice man gave me a 10 minute overview lesson of the language on the plane over there, in which I picked up tricks and methods of the language quickly and was excited to learn about. When I have traveled previously to Europe or Central America I picked up phrases from locals and practiced them down to the exact accent, intonation, presentation, and sometimes mannerisms if I could, without being offensive. It is a fun challenge for me as well as a curiosity I have of stepping into the lives of another person in some sort of way, even if momentarily. The theatre side of me coming out once again.
My linguistic-side of my brain has never had to work this hard before, especially in figuring out how well my audience that I am conversing with, knows English, what accent I take on, how much body language I should use, and what broken foreign language I should try to speak with them. On my way home from an English camp today, one of my housemates and I casually stopped into a Buddhist temple in Bachok, Kelantan to see a famous statue we had yet to visit. We met a very nice man who gave us a tour and showed us this medicine sauna where we took a nice afternoon break in to cleanse ourselves for RM 8 for about 30 minutes of steam time. When leaving the temple grounds, a women with very little acknowledgement of English, who was either Chinese or Thai, was trying to send us off with kind gestures as she assumed we did not know the language she spoke or much of the local language (if they were not the same thing). I tried to fish for the right words to return to her assumed “goodbye” head nod as she paused from washing a dish in the sink and faced our way. I thought back to when a student was spewing Thai words at me one day, but I could not remember them for the life of me. I knew how to say thank you in Chinese (both Mandarin and Cantonese) but did not want to assume either so I stuck with my gut and said thank you in BM to play it safe (still being in Malaysia). Talk about a brain buster! She returned with the appropriate “sama-sama” meaning the equivalent to you’re welcome in BM and we parted our ways.
This experience has occurred several times as I am encountering various types of people as well as becoming more aware of the diversity of Malaysia, how to identify ethnicities versus races of people where I go in South East Asia, and try to be as culturally sensitive as a foreigner possibly can. I stick out like a sore thumb typically when I travel through Asia, which can be an advantage since trying at all can look like a huge compliment and gesture of gratitude in this part of the world, as I have experienced. However, I also feel more pressured in some ways to prove myself as a “local tourist” someone who is more stationary than a backpacker passing through (which is nothing to be scoffed at either). My identity culturally, linguistically, and otherwise has been flipped upside down, turned inside out, challenged, confirmed, questioned, and everything in between. Another part of this priceless experience I hope to always hold onto and cherish after it is all over.
I took off for the Western Malaysian island for the week on Tuesday April 7th at 9:30 pm with students and teachers from my school SMK Selising on a bus not sure what to expect. An overnight bus when I am sleep-deprived with excited students from my school. Not sure what I was getting myself into but was excited for the opportunity to go. I have heard the most wonderful things about this island, claiming to be better than Perhenthian Islands even, with more of a tourist attraction. A lot of anticipation on my part after hearing that there are beaches and lots of chocolate- you have me sold. I have no idea what is even on the agenda except for something “educational” and shopping! Okay-lah, jom!
We piled onto a bus after 9pm leaving for the West coast. Students were dropped off in various means. One of my housemates drove me to school and wished me luck for the unknown week that was about to unfold before me in the form of a Malaysian school field trip. The week was full of surprises and other semi-expected events. There was in fact a lot of shopping as was I forewarned would happen by fellow teachers and other Malaysians in my community. We went to over 8 different shopping venues and one time left the students in the hotel while us teachers shopped for dishware for over four hours. A very different-style vacation from my tastes but Malaysia boleh (can) as we say in Malaysia. Interspersed with shopping were also fun excursions including riding the steepest cable car in the world (as it claimed), taking many selfies of course (both with students and teachers), taking a boat tour of a geo-forest park to see wildlife (eagles feeding on fish naturally and some unnatural animal farms including sting rays, crocodiles, and various fish), Langkawi museum, and visiting Eagle Point where there is a famous giant eagle statue. It was a very pleasant trip although difficult to figure out my role, place, and how to behave as my lifestyle and culture is very different from my school community’s.
I found a way to blend in yet still stood out as the foreigner the entire trip. I was an advocate for my students and fought to focus the trip on things they might want to do since this was a unique opportunity for them to travel which many of them do not have the usual chance to do. A night where there was nothing planned after 7pm my students were complaining that they came all this way and are staying in a hotel for most of the trip so, I asked if I and another teacher could take them to the night market. We set parameters and rules which the students completely followed and were grateful for the adventure. Overall a huge success on the trip. It was also a way to show my students my care for them as this was still fairly early on in the year and one of the first intimate experiences outside of the classroom they had experienced with/ of me. I also was not wearing the typical baju kurung as they usually saw me in everyday (although still had to be Kelantan-level conservative appropriately dressed but good change of pace for them I think.)
It was a great way to see more of the cadence of a Muslim Malaysian lifestyle. The impact of call to prayer and stopping five times a day at a surau (place for prayer) even when taking an overnight bus. In addition to doing active things more so than I expected. Witnessing the expectations of students having to be up early for prayer and such but also wearing school uniform, which is a part of public education in Malaysia, when they are travelling place-to-place. Overall, it was a great experience which brought me closer to my school and community.
This past weekend in April, I was lucky enough to participate in the first 2015 YES camp in Setiu, Terangganu. One of my housemates and I were the two representing ETAs working with YES exchange alumni to build confidence in students from 13 schools in the Setiu district. The students were so eager and bright. They were a joy to work with and the camp was full of silly, educational fun which is always my favorite. From obstacle courses throwing flour on each other to painting abstract art to music to writing love letters, it was a quick and rich bonding experience between us all. It was a neat experience to meet with local university students who were alumni of the YES exchange program travelling on scholarship to America and now able to share their unique stories and swap ideas about American culture with us during the down times of camp. We talked about high school life, highlighting the major event of a high school student living in America: prom from their perspective as Malaysians who do not have school dances as a part of their secondary schooling experience. We also talked about their different placements, food they ate, things they miss, and how their lives have been as they adjust back to the Malay style of things.
Not only was it awesome to meet the YES alumni and other fellow young adults from different parts of Malaysia but, we worked with some super smart kids who were excited and motivated to learn English from various schools throughout the state of Terangganu. These students were primarily science-track students (meaning top in their class) so we got to engage in deeper conversations with more complex levels of English than we were used to or usually able to do with our home students. The weekend was filled with fun, scavenger hunts, bonding, and creative activities. The goal was to let these kids experiment with using English in various ways, meet other like-minded students, see other young people from Malaysia as well as elsewhere using English in their professional lives successfully, and learn about future opportunities available to them after they finish secondary school. We wanted students to test their comfort level of English, culture, and life perspectives.
It was interesting to plan a camp with other Malaysians around our age. Typically when us ETAs plan our camps as part of our Fulbright ETA program, it is by ourselves or with other ETAs with the potentially help from our English teachers. Most of the planning comes from us and our Western way of thinking. This was a different experience. Most of the camp was simply outlined when we arrived so both nights of the three-day camp experience us leaders stayed up until 2am or so planning as well as prepping for the camp activities and programming to happen the following day. This was an unexpected piece of the weekend however, collaborating with these other young people helped us bond and was a great people-skill learning experience. We all had very different ways of thinking as well as backgrounds but were flexible enough to find compromises between all of us. My ETA friend and I has teaching experience, east coast Malaysian education experience, and were native English speakers. Some of them had traveled to America and used English extensively, others brought various professional and academic aspects of Malaysia to the table. It was a well-rounded group to bounce many ideas off of (hence why we stayed up so long but had a very successful camp!)
The programming started with us coming the night before for a meet-and-greet dinner then mini-tour of the campus before students were to arrive the following morning. We started discussing the goals and activities for the following day then took over this room to spread out and map out the supplies for each part of the day. We each had a session to lead or co-lead as well as a scavenger hunt station to logistically figure out. We went to bed and woke up the next morning exhausted but ready for the hundreds of students to pour into SMK Pelong, Setiu, Terangganu, Malaysia! We played ice breakers to get the kids ready to go, which did not take much since they were so eager to have an experience like this. Then we got down to business! The student helper staff was amazing! They helped us set up and take down everything, MVPS for the weekend!
The theme also explored identity as a Malaysian to build confidence, understand how they can use English in their lives now and in the future. Students by the end of the weekend were writing love notes and trading contact information to stay in touch. Not only that but of course a million selfies also ensued before we all parted our ways. Many fun games were played, many laughs were shared, talents displayed, notes given, a scavenger conquered, friendships started, stories swapped, memories made and much more. These pictures give a small snapshot of this incredible weekend, giving yet another dimension of life and education in Malaysia.
As I sat through formal assembly today I was looking out into the crowd of children. Girls are standing or seated during different parts of the assembly to my left and boys are on my right. As I turned back to the girls, I started to truly see individual faces that I recognized and have grown to love. Not that I did not notice them before, but I couldn’t help but notice their uniforms and tudungs first when I scanned the crowd before, yet now their shining faces stand out to me first and foremost. As I am getting to know the school and students more hearing the new names, seeing the uniformed bodies, and staring back at the somewhat expressionless faces all seem more normal than when I first arrived. At first I felt overwhelmed by my 500 student body with students who all looked like identical twins at first glace. Sadly, I have a smaller sized secondary school placement, yet I still felt overwhelemed during my first assembly thinking “how will I ever get to know these students individually?” Finally over two months into my placement, things are really starting to click!
So I would like to walk through a typical day in my life in Malaysia for you but… there is no typical day. So instead I will go through a couple atypical days in school through my experiences….
I wake up sometime between 5:40-6:30am since I have to arrive some time between 7:15-8:00am to school depending on the day of the week. I was eating breakfast at the school canteen on the school campus where I live in the teachers quarters but after a while, rice at 6:45am just was not cutting it for me. Breakfast is my time to have an American meal: yogurt, fruit cereal, eggs, toast… something like that along with coffee that I buy from one large grocery store over 40 minutes away since there is no sugar in this brand. This gets me pumped and ready (usually) for whatever is about to me thrown at me when I get to school.
Oh I do have a “timetable” or set schedule on a weekly basis however as I have learned in Malaysia, things seem to change or come up constantly. Somehow everyone else knows about it and I find out at the last minute. My theater side of my brain says sure go with the flow, improvise! My teacher side asks “where is normalcy anymore?” I will walk through an example of a week of events to explain what I mean…
Myanmar or previously known as Burma which recently opened up in 2011 to tourism for Westerners is where I spent my Malaysian spring break in March this year. I ventured with two others from my program and we went to four cities in Myanmar in our one week. We really wanted to get a feel for a majority of the country with the limited time we had, as much as we possibly could. This was an exhausting but extremely rewarding experience since we came back with years of stories, even after just one week. We had so many strange and wonderful adventures as well as quickly made friends each place we went. This was our first big trip outside of Malaysia since being here, and if this is what travelling in S.E. Asia is always like, sign me up for 100 more trips! From Elephants to temple climbing to walking on water, we were able to have extremely full days for a somewhat costly price. But… regardless of how much we spent (which was more than we were ever expecting but) you cannot truly put a price on the moments we had on this vacation!
Our first stop was the mid-south larger city called Yangon which was recognized as the capital for some time when the country was still colonized from about the 1840s to 2005. This was a crowded town with a lot of color and street food spilled into the alleyways, large buildings along the main roads, and close proximity for most of the major touristy places to see. I came in the evening and was picked up by my brother’s friend of a friend which was nice to get escorted for the first time visiting a new country without a program support or family coming alongside me. I was happy to also have a local to give me some tips to take with me for the week. We spent two weeks orienting ourselves to Malaysia when we first arrived but there would be no orienting here. I met a man on the plane who said he could teach me the basics of Burmese now also known as Myanmar language in 10 minutes. I took notes ferverously as I tried to absorb as much as I could. As I was already getting a bit comfortable and learning basic vocabulary for Malaysia, it was slightly daunting to go into another country knowing nothing. Learning a few basic greetings and such has seemed to make a difference in my travels elsewhere in terms of how people interact with you, are willing to help you, or how open they are to give you information about something. Once I was picked up by this unknown person who I connected with through trusted sources, I was ready to find a way to orient myself for the week. He treated us to dinner showing a glimpse of the Myanmar hospitality similar to that of Malaysia which already made me feel a bit more comfortable in this new place. Also being a young person the three of us and the two of them (him and his cousin) were able to connect and talk naturally about things over dinner. We got tips about the people, places to see, food to try, and he even offered to show us around the large famous Shwe Dagon Pagoda the next day. We parted our ways that night feeling much more rest assured, even getting help checking into our hostel.
The next day one friend and I decided to talking our own self-guided walking tour of the city. We practiced our greetings to buy things and interact with people as we clearly stood out as foreigners. Somehow I felt I stood out a bit less in Yangon though then in my town in Malaysia. Of course my town is much smaller than this larger city of Yangon so that was something to consider. People still stared and were shocked when I could utter something in their local language but I still felt I could walk among the city with a bit more privacy. We walked from 9th- 40th street and back to really get a lay of the land in the city. We ate good food we splurged on since Western food seems hard to come by in our area and toured a lot of the buildings in the area, even running into other ETAs also travelling through. Finally the evening to tour the Shwe Dagon Pagoda came. Our new friend gave us some context and background of the religious aspects of the pagoda as we circled around the overwhelmingly intricate gold structures of the pagoda grounds. We even got stuck in a jam of children training to be monks and got to experience their rituals coming in and out of the pagoda. It was a breathtaking view and a meaningful tour with the information our friend gave us. We learned about the Buddhist ideas about the significance of one’s birthday, the animal that represents that day as well as the meaning, and how to bless our own day of the year statue at the pagoda. Afterwards we got to treat them to dinner to return the favor before meeting our third friend afterwards with his international teacher friends.
On our last morning in Yangon my friend and I attempted to find a church service in which we went to an Anglican Church in the city which was an interesting cultural experience for both of us but very different from any services from home since Anglican services are rarely practiced anymore in the west. Ate more good food, attempted to visit the museum and instead stumbled upon Natural World where we walked on water in a giant inflatable ball, went on a merry-go-round, took several selfies, then headed to the airport for our next destination: Ngapali beach on the west coast of Myanmar.
Upon our arrival we took a similar tactic to explore the town, though it was much more spread out and practically a singular road along the beach with resorts, restaurants, and shops along the way. Things were much harder to walk from place to place here but we did find a resort where we could enjoy drinks and appetizers as well as beautiful beach and pool relaxation time. On our second (only full day) we packed in several adventures which became one of the most memorable days of the year for me. First we rented bikes early in the morning to ride along the road, one of my friends almost got hit by a truck which was just the beginning of our excitement. Then we all took the most bittersweet excursion I have ever taken which was riding on elephants. We all rode on the same young female elephant, fed her, rode through this dry jungle area, and saw the sad reality of how these elephants are treated and worked everyday. Chunks of her ear were missing due to harassment and forced riding despite her resistance. We tried to love on her as much as possible but there was sadness and fear during our whole interaction with her. Needless to say, her trainer also owned a restaurant and he offered to pick us up from our hotel to dine at his place that evening. We agreed and were happy to already be making new friends in this new part of Myanmar.
We took a boat out in the afternoon for island-hopping to the small sight-seeing locations which turned into fake snorkeling, endless jokes and laughter, along with a pit stop at a fishing boat where we were thrown into taking pictures with them and their catch of the day then asked to give $1 for probably $200 USD worth back in America (depending on where you live) of seafood or so. We got 20 large prawns, five huge 2 ft long fish, and a smaller fish to take with us for the evening. As we already had dinner plans, we asked the hotel to put our seafood on ice as we prepared for our dinner pick up, hoping he could cook us a feast with our gifted catch. Our boat friends said they also wanted to meet up with us later and show us around their village as well as meet their English teacher. We wanted to embrace it all so we agreed with laughter and excitement in our voices.
Then dinner came. We were picked up on time, the chef, our friend agreed to use the fish for us and we took off so excited for how the end was to unfold. We arrive and get a nice table overlooking the night view of the water. We order some appetizers and drinks then… our boating brother friends show up… This was unexpected since we said we would meet them afterwards but we went with the flow. We were then given a tour of the restaurant kitchen and got to see him work his magic on our fish feast for dinner. There seemed to be tension between him and our boating friends but we over-looked it for the time being since we could not really understand their strange interactions and conversations as it was in the Myanmar language and we were still getting to know the culture. Our food came clearly only prepared for the three of us, which was awkward for our boating friends although they said they didn’t mind. As dinner went on the younger brother kept asking “so… you promise you will come with us?” And we replied with the same enthusiasm “Sure!” Then we would cheers and continue our conversation until things took as turn for the weird. We are not really sure where the miscommunication happened even after looking back but somehow they got onto the idea that we would stay the night with them which we re-assured them that we already had a place to stay and we did not want to do that as well as our ride back would cost a significant amount of money we were not counting on from unknown friends of theirs.
All-of-the-sudden the tables’ cheer and excitement started to fade as we were trying to finish our meal and see our way of this progressively growing sketchy situation. Finally the dinner ended with us paying for their drinks, them in tears, us confused, and the chef of the restaurant’s brother sneaking us back to our hotel without the boating brothers knowing. As we were leaving they asked if not tonight, when tomorrow they could pick us up since we owed it to them after breaking our promise. Since they were not taking no for an answer we threw out 9am and vowed to each other as ETAs to be out the door by that time so hopefully we would avoid anymore confusion or heartbreak for them. The next morning we did run into them on our way out which caused slight panic but ended in an okay mutual understanding of misunderstanding on both parts. We got messages on the beach to relieve our tension which was a perfect way to end this pit stop in Ngapali, freshened up, and headed for our next destination in Bagan; the temple town.
We arrived in time for sunset and to plan out our day at the temples for the next day, walked around a bit, bought souvenirs, then had more great food. The next day we rented e-bikes to motor through the temples all day since there were 100s to see (of course knowing we had to prioritize and that we would not make it to all of them). From running into two more ETAs whom we shared dinner with the night before, one of our friends got to go up in a hot air balloon to see the temples so it was just two of us on bikes watching sunrise together. This was incredible to sit atop a temple and just watch the sun come up over the horizon above miles and miles of temple tops surrounding us. Once we broke for breakfast to meet up with our other friend and hear about her experience another guy we met in the hostel joined us for temple cruising the rest of the day. As I fell off my bike in the morning, I was a bit hesitant to ride again but told myself it’s better to “get back on the horse and ride” even when we don’t want to (and since I was not severely hurt, it was not a huge deal).
At one of the temples we met this incredible family of children who were the temple’s security and offered to let us inside, getting a secret tour and view from atop the temple. Most temples in Bagan are only accessible on the ground level to see the Buddhas or you cannot access the inside much at all so climbing up for a view is uncommon aside from some larger ones monitored by security and open to tourists as select times. So, this was a special treat since we got to see this unique view and get to know these sweet girls who loved taking pictures and playing with our sunglasses. We were then invited to sit inside the temple worship area with the buddha to get our faces painted with a traditional skin care local product called Hla Hmwe Thankatkha (do not ask me how to pronounce that). The mother of the family painted leaves on our faces, the girls did our hair, and we wasted the day away with lovely company for over three hours. We left hoping to see them again before leaving Bagan but with the realistic view of keeping this regarded as a special moment in time that would most likely never be repeated again yet, always remembered. Spending the afternoon with that family was incredible to connect so quickly and appreciate each other even coming from such different backgrounds. These are the types of experiences I like to stumble upon authentically when I travel. It was completely accidentally and unforced but turned into a beautiful way to get out of the heat and spend the afternoon. We finished watching the temples and returned the bikes at sunset. The next morning we barely got up in time, thanks to our MVP friend for jumping out of bed and rallying us for our 4:30am bus and my tennis shoe which was misplaced from the day before (we think by some animal) was not found until after we already left. Although the casualty of losing my tennis shoes was worth all the experiences we had on the trip.
We then went to Mandalay where we would be flying out, originally hoping to have a half day or full day there but did not count on certain aspects of transportation to be as they were in Myanmar so we just looked outside the bus window and airplane windows as we flew out. Our layover was in Bangkok which we tried to maximize our travels by getting the longest layover possible without having to stay a day in an attempt to leave the airport and just grab dinner in the city but to no avail. The airport would not let us leave, we did not really do our research thoroughly enough so instead we had a six-hour party in the airport with the three of us. We ran into our friend from Yangon which was crazy and a great way to end our crazy adventurous trip, then spent the night back in KL before our returning flights the next day. A great first adventure outside of Malaysia for the year. Myanmar was quite a unique experience I will fondly look back upon this year and after.
Perhenthian Islands; the Peninsular east coast paradise destination of Malaysia in the state of Terangganu. A group of fellow ETAs in the program and I decided to final pay a visit to this beautiful destination and see what all the rave was about. Our teachers at our schools both in the state of Kelantan and Terangganu always boast about how beautiful and famous the Islands are, even if they have not been there before (word of mouth is a common form of passing gossip and factual information such as sharing the awesomeness of Perhenthian Islands). When we arrived the stories were absolutely true. Unfortunately, we got into a predicament unexpectedly hence the name of this post “a series of unfortunate events.”
We first arrived after parking our cars at a friend’s student’s house, riding over to the ferry which was actually a water taxi type of boat (which luckily had life jackets), and arrived in the mid morning at the Islands. We were instantly gawking at the beauty around us wondering why we had not made it over here to enjoy this sooner. We then proceeded to plant ourselves at a beach cafe for lunch and walked around the smaller island called Kecil afterwards to find a place to stay that night. Many places were full, mahal-la (expensive in Kelate), or no one was around to tell us otherwise. So then we divided and conquered. Two of us seven went to check out tents on the beach and the rest went place to place just to find a room. The timing of when we went was the beginning of tourist season and although we expected it to still be slow on the Islands almost every place was full. Luckily we found accommodations and met a very nice woman who ran the tent grounds which gave us suggestions for activities to do for our short two-day trip there for a nice introduction or overview of the Kecil Island.
So we set off for our regular day on a regular afternoon enjoying the beauty unfolding before us as we trekked around the island through the jungle. We stopped off for a swim after about an hour. Two friends brought goggles so we got a sneak-peak view of the beautiful coral below, including some sea life. We found a sea cucumber and played with it briefly before it excreted waste upon us and we decided it was probably unhappy and should go back home. Then we trekked another hour or so and stopped for a late afternoon snack before reaching the Fisherman’s Village with boats and a small town and where one of our friends students supposedly lived. We did not run into any of his students but we asked several locals about getting back to Coral Bay where we were staying that night.
The plan was to hike during the day, grab dinner on the beach near Coral Bay where we were staying that night and maybe sneak over to the other side of the island called Long Beach to check out the evening scene. It sounded like a solid plan. Locals told us we could trek for about 30 minutes or so from the village where we currently were, over to Long Beach for a “short cut”. We talked to several people who then cut it down to 20 minutes… 15 minutes… then 10. We thought okay it must be close, sounds easy. Jom! (Let’s go!)
And so… off we were. On our seemingly easy trek back. Now mind you… some of us were wanting to just take the speed boat back. Some of us were not fans of trekking or climbing through rocks or even comfortable swimmers. But we followed a normal-looking path along the coast, thinking we would run into the beach in no time and enjoy our evening of paradise. Well… we had too many high hopes too soon apparently. And also trusted too many locals which probably had more of a language barrier between them and us than we wanted to admit. There was ONE crazy older man who tried to stop us and tell us the path was broken, difficult, and that it would take over two hours to hike but, we thought “hey only one person out of so many who told us not to go.” We went with our chances. It seemed reasonable.
As it turns out… the crazy man was crazy right! Once we started about 20 minutes into our trek, we still held out hope and had two hours worth of daylight but the path started becoming sketchier and sketchier. We continued to keep hope and thinking positively though. “We have got to be close…” “The beach is probably right around the corner.” “Yeah, we gotta be getting there soon…” Well after an hour and a half of trying to keep positive, the sun was starting to set. It was well into 6:00pm and we knew sundown was some time between 7:00-7:30pm and usually happened within minutes in a flash before your eyes. Up to this point, we are far into our trek on a broken path in an unknown island jungle. We have climbed in and over large boulders several times. We have climbed up and slid down several slippery dirt hills along the way, trying to pretend open space in the trees was the continued path. We had no idea how close or far we were from either side of the island and then there was a slight shift in the group dynamics as the sun was becoming dimmer than we hoped it to be and evening crept in. This was the slight beginnings of panic setting in.
We were split into three small groups and decided to try to merge together to begin brainstorming plan B. One person volunteered to run ahead and scope out the view around the bend we saw up ahead. This was slightly helpful and discouraging at the same time since phones were starting to die, cell service was sketchy, and the sky around us was beginning to fade from bright blue to darker hues of unwelcoming blues. Another friend suggested we call our contact from the tent ground that we met earlier whose husband ran snorkeling trips and we knew would have a boat they could hopefully send out to us (if they could find us in the random location on the island where we happened to be.) I tried to pull out my GPS and actually track our location…. you can imagine how unsuccessful that was if cell service was even difficult to manage. Our friend got ahold of our woman friend from the camp grounds and briefly explained the situation “Hi… yes so… we took the broken path from Fisherman’s Village to Long Beach.” She did not need to say anything further for the woman or us to realize how much trouble we were in. The sun was sinking more and more as we approached 7:00pm and anxiously awaited her response. The woman replied “where are you now? I am sending my husband in his boat to find you right away.” We explained how we were completely unsure about where we were and how long we had been trekking. So, he was sent on a wild goose chase around the island to come find us.
The rocks we climbed over were much bigger than this but due to all the commotion, I did not capture a good image of them.
We suggested climbing down to the rocks closest to the water, some of which were about 20 feet above sea level at the time. But then the tide started to rise as the sun was setting and we were trying to safely make it as close to the water as possible, so the few of us who still had phones with battery, would wave them out into the ocean in hopes to find our fisherman rescurer; the tent ground woman’s husband who was sent out 20 minutes ago. At this point our friend who went to scope out the view around the bend was not back. His roommate began to shout for him in hopes that his voice would carry through the rough terrain and insect sounds of the jungle to reach wherever our dear friend might be. He was our brave warrior, sent out to battle who may or may not come back, as we believed at this point.
As we were climbing down, our friend who I mentioned was not the biggest fan of climbing through rocks was starting to have a rough time. A few of us stayed back to encourage her and give her HOPE while the rest traversed down to the lowest rocks. We finally got her down and started looking for any light we could catch a glimpse of on the water, now that is was almost dark ,just passed 7:30pm. We see a tiny boat with a small, blue, hazy light. I assume, “it’s a boat… that’s our guy.” Others were convinced otherwise. I shouted out to the boat asking who he was and what his purpose was in a mixture broken Bahasa Melayu and Kelate (the standard language of Malaysia as well as the local dialect from my area) that I knew. He finally stated he was our guy after we almost had a miscommunication and sent him away saying “selemat tinggal” meaning goodbye.
“You have to swim” he exclaimed as he tried to keep his boat steady in the crashing waves about 5 km from the rocks where we stood. “Tak boleh” I shouted back meaning “cannot.” “We have phones, cameras, and other electronics with us.” We proceeded to shout half-nothings back and forth for a while. Then he suggested he would look for another spot to pick us up and proceeded to circle the island. Meanwhile, a couple of us start to trek towards the direction he is going, our friend finally returns from his scavenger hunt explaining we would have to cross a cove in order to get close to the other side of the beach, and once again it is getting darker meaning that is not an option at this point. I see that chaos is about to erupt if it has not already (depending on the person’s view you ask, who was in attendance during this traumatic experience.) For several moments after that I thought the fisherman was ditching us and started to talk with an… elevated tone in my voice, some slight profanities… But he returned after circling for about 20 minutes, when darkness finally settled in. When I saw him circling back towards us, the significantly large walking stick that I was puppy-guarding in my hand for the last 20-30 minutes and had managed to make it the whole day with us after we borrowed it from one of the locals to chase off monkeys during our hike which may attack us, and who made us promise to bring it back, all of the sudden, became less important to me. I did a dramatic gesture to change the tone of the scene and make a statement (as per usual for me) and I chucked the stick into the ocean claiming “We do not need this anymore. Everyone stay here! Do not start trekking away!” I told everyone to stay where we were since it was easier for our fisherman friend to come closer to us then for us to trek through boulders in the pitch black with maybe one phone left with battery. He proceeded to say again “you must swim… or I will go back and you will have to trek back to Coral Bay.” What a joke.. that was HOURS away from where we were. Again I said “Tak boleh!” “Then you MUST swim” he shouted impatiently. I said again “How, we have some who are not good swimmers and electronics with us.” I am now shouting nearly at the top of my lungs at this point since the massive waves, increasingly growing in size by the minute, are crashing just a couple feet below us. Then the most useful information finally comes out as we are trying to beg him to come closer yet he is arguing that his boat (which to be fair is a small water taxi expected to fit all seven of us though it appears it may fit only three more people was what he brought with him- no life jackets mind you) would break if he attempted to come any closer. But… He had a water proof bag! As did another one of our friends who finally took a break from comforting our anti-rock climbing friend and pulled it out of her drawstring. We are getting somewhere! We thought.
Another beautiful daytime image for some comic relief
All of us luckily, were in such panic and survival modes, instead of clashing our varying strong personalities, we worked together to use our strengths for the benefit of the group. We were determined not to leave anyone behind on the rocks. Our friend who had finally returned, already gave his input to the group, and he began to slightly shutdown a little bit, being one of the more timid swimmers and not excited about us plunging into the large ocean waves. Our friend who called had taken the initiative and made a game plan for us to carry out through the evening. I was using my loud mouth to be helpful which for the most part, came in handy. Then the other four friends started to find their significant roles in this dire situation. One friend continued to comfort our anti-rock friend who was in and out of states of fear and panic. Another friend decided to be the first in the water. He swam out to grab the waterproof bag, tossed it back, and found a path of rocks for us to float over when heading to the boat, which was now about 2km away from the rocks.
Our planning friend takes the second dive in, following the path of rocks our first swimming friend pointed out. Then I jump in thirdly to a rising tide and increasingly dangerous body of water. I try to stop at the rocks (though also idiotically tried to swim with my bag above my head since a passport, book, and other things still remained in my bag) but start getting tossed in the waves. I try to come back up to the surface to warn the others that it is too dangerous to stop. That they just need to keep going once they got in. However, I am hard to understand since the water keeps pulling me under so the others still on the rocks assume I am now drowning. The fisherman finally urges me to quickly hop into the boat and then attempt to relay my message to those still on shore. I shout “Do not stop! Just keep swimming until you reach the boat. The water is too dangerous!”
The friend who played the comforter was closest to the water so I shouted for her to quickly jump in since I can see the water is not getting any slower, lower, or safer from here on out. I also started having sequences of crazy hypothetical rescue situations running in my head that I may face in the coming moments… “I may have to piggyback people to the boat…” “Maybe I have to climb through the jungle in the dark.” Someone earlier suggested sleeping on the rocks that night ,which we luckily turned down since the fisherman later explained that the tides would rise above the rocks where we were standing. The next friend jumps in and I can break away from my imaginative racing mind of horrific fortunes to come. She makes it safely to the boat with a couple of waves slowing her down but not stopping her. Then the three weakest swimmers were last. Do not ask how this happened. In moments of panic and quick-thinking we all just started swimming hoping to motivate the others to conquer their fears and join us.
The two girls (anti-rock girl and my housemate who is nearly silent in shock during this whole experience) decide to swim together for support. Leaving our last friend who had returned slightly scrapped up mind you, from his scoping trek from earlier, with a backpack full of many of our belongings and a nervous conscience. The two girls finally approached the boat too. As we lift the first one up with slight-to-no struggle the other started to freeze up. She timidly, yet with fierce effort, tries to hop on a few times and is not successful. Then she starts shutting down on us, as we are so close to escaping the rocks and heading back. “I can’t… I can’t do it. Just leave me here… You will have to go without me.” Many thoughts run through our minds though none of us plan to leave her behind. We had a hard time trying to lift her so some of us thought…”will we just drag her along the boat… could we actually get her in… will she leave the boat and swim back to the rocks despite our protest?”
There was so much unknown even during the last moments of our rescue. We all try to send motivating words of encouragement and prayer her way. That seems to calm the storm of doubt building inside of her. Then the fisherman plainly said “do you want to be in or out of the boat?” She screamed through her tears “I want to be in…I want to be in.” Then calmly he said, as he took a drag of his cigarette, “okay, then get it.” He proceeded to lift her up nearly one-handedly into the boat to safety with his cigarette remaining in his hand, unharmed. She sank to the bottom of the boat and curled into a ball to find security and balance now that she was finally out of the water and not wanting to risk falling back in or capsizing the boat as she explained she feared.
Finally, we turn to see our last friend still on the rocks. We plead and plead for him to quickly jump and swim to the boat. He finally did although we barely recognize that he came without his backpack on him. He jumped in, we cheered, we all thought “land-ho” we are so close to safety… When he turns to us with a slight worry and hesitation in his voice. “Um guys… I left my backpack on the rocks because it had my work Chromebook in it… so I will just have to get up at first light or come back tonight to get it.” (Flashback clarification… Google and YTL gave us a last-minute grant for our Malaysia ETA program to have sponsored Chromebook laptops with 3-4 gigs of 4G internet monthly on it…casual… but that is what he did not want to bring into the water). Faced with a moral dilemma, out of fear, he left it on the rocks thinking it would be safer. However, that is when our fisherman friend explained that the waves will consume anything left on those rocks and that they would have to go back tonight to rescue his bag.
So the rest of us convinced them that our friend should not swim into the very scary waters for the remainder of the night. We also pleaded with the fisherman to bring a friend so IF he chooses to swim back to the rocks to rescue our friend’s bag that he bring another friend so our slightly less-excited-about-swimming friend was not left alone in the boat at all during this second excursion back to the untamed ocean. As we were quickly negotiating this, the fisherman started the tiny, tiny motor of the boat again, took another drag of his cigarette, nodded at all of our suggestions as if he could not be phased, and started us back in the direction of Coral Bay. “Anyone want a cigarette?” He casually proceeded to ask. Somehow, though several of us had never smoked before, all of us shouted “yes!”
We all solemnly rode back nearly in silence. We each took a drag of the cigarette before one friend broke it (probably way too excited about his turn), and slowly started to process the unexpected disaster that we just escaped. We made it ashore and paid RM 50 each though he asked for about RM 40 per person. We figuring tipping RM 10 each was worth our lives… at least. He then hopped back into the boat and whisked our friend back into the open water. The rest of us trudged to the original place we wanted to have dinner that night (from our original safe, tame plans from this afternoon) after swinging by the tent to grab my travel first-aid kit in order to bandage up all the scraps we acquired along our rescue mission.
Surprisingly, we handled the debriefing very well. We talked about what we were thankful for, what epic roles each of us played, and recapped somewhat reasonably all of the series of unfortunate events that unfolded before us that night. Of course we were starving and not being subtle nor quiet where we had planted ourselves for the evening. As we bandaged people up, ordered a feast, spoke loudly with excitement, and recounted our evening of events, the whole restaurant was slowly scared off as we made somewhat of a scene. After we talked, got cleaned up to some extent, asked the restaurant to turn off all of their fans near us since we were freezing and soaking wet, then stuffed our faces full of food for about an hour, our other friend finally returned from the second part of the mission.
Finding a way to smile through all of the fear and tears 🙂
He explains how several Malaysian men hopped on and off at various points of the ride and that he may have witnessed a serious drug deal… But… the backpack and its belongings inside of it were dry and safe, including the Chromebook. The fisherman swam back to the rocks, and miraculously swam back to the boat with the bag remaining above his head despite being in the throes of large waves. He was safe, our friend was safe. We were all safe. It was time to crash!
Most of our friends took off early the next morning. Four of us stayed behind for half a day of snorkeling which we continued to do, despite our fearful water adventures from the night before. As we had a quiet moment before we caught our boat, I went to thank the woman who ran the tent grounds for all that her and her husband did for us the night before. We laughed and gave both perspectives of the story before our boat started to head out for snorkeling. “Thanks again…” I threw back over my shoulder as we were heading back out to the water. “And hey… no adventures for us today. Okay? I promise” I said as a shot a snarky smile to her. “Yeah you morons… stay safe” she said as she smirked back with hushed low tones as if still keeping slight fear held back and trying not to show how truly worried she was about us the night before. A super chill Canadian who lived out west in Minnesota at some point of her life, near where one of our friend’s was from, who married a local after teaching for years in Malaysia, and never looked back to home. It is the unexpected type of people you meet and the important role they might happen to play when you are travelling around the world that make the best stories.
Our trip snorkeling was great. One of the friends from the day before who was not the strongest swimmer tried to back out halfway through the trip as we stopped again in the Fisherman’s Village for lunch but we convinced her to stay along despite her slight sea-sickness in order to prevent separating or having her walk back alone and repeat last night over again. We saw lots of cool fish, turtles, a shark, beautiful coral, and our crazy fisherman friend jump off of a lighthouse into the water. We also stayed safe aside from epic sunburn and some sun poisoning that hit us later. We were just happy to be alive and proceeded to remain in shock about all that we went through the night before until we went our separate ways back to our placements.
I may not ever forget this small two-day trip which was meant to be the relaxing weekend for the month yet turned into the nightmarish adventure of a lifetime, especially now that I blogged about it. Note to self and others travelling… Double check maps before merely trusting locals. Do not go jungle trekking close to sundown. Also… have a plan B… it doesn’t hurt. I have had many successful trips since then without scrapes or blemishes but it took this experience to remind me of several perspectives or things I was taking advantage of while vacationing. Until my next adventure… Travelling in Malaysia-boleh! (can!)
This blog post is coming late. Things have been busy and actually starting so I apologize. A couple of weeks ago, was our first big vacation that many of us in the Malaysia Fulbright ETA program were able to take and many of us met up in Penang. Penang is a primarily Chinese populated island state on the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Many of us Americans-trying-to-connect-with-Malaysia agreed that it is the San Francisco west coast equivalent in Malaysia.
It was so nice to reunite with the people we had spent so much time with and grown close to over orientation. We had this we-are-all-in-this-together mentality of being glad to hear that we were all in the same boat of trying to navigate through the very different cultural environments in which we now lived as well as hearing how our situations are different. “Oh I am starting a women’s empowerment club….” “Wow good for you!” [Internal monologue, what am I doing yet at my school?] “Oh yeah so I go rock climbing and I am playing in ultimate Frisbee tournaments this coming weekend after break” “How exciting?” [Internal monologue, maybe I should get more involved in a community thing but when is there time?] ” Yeah I am really excited that my speaking workshops have started… I had a lot of students show up and take lots of selfies of course…” “That’s so great. I am happy for you.” [Internal monologue, nothing has started at my school yet. I wonder if it ever will. Everyone else is already doing amazing things..} This was a lot of the story swapping in Penang. Of course everyone is bragging about how well things are going and not sharing a lot about the things that failed. Sure some shared how strict their school was with dress code, male and female relations along with other societal and cultural factors yet that became somewhat of a comparison game too. “At my school, I have been asked to wear a tudung.” “Well I have to wear a scarf over my baju kurung.” “We have separate eating rooms for male and female teachers.” “Oh same, and we have separate eating lines.” This was not meant in a negative competitive spirit but it just happened that way. We were excited to compare, reflect, and see where we stood against everyone else’s experience. This is just the point. We all were discovering that though we can bond over some similarities (mind you all were Peninsular Malaysia ETAs not including Eastern Malaysian experiences), each of our experiences were different.
This gave me comfort to know that even though my school legacy or the bulk of my planning had not started at the same time as everyone else, my experience would happen at its own pace. At a Malaysian pace in a way that does not push my school or its staff too quickly. Everyone is working with a different school with different dynamics and with different tools, activities, classes, students, etc. There is no generic “Malaysian school” each has its own character. After we could come to this point, I think it took the pressure off of who had it the hardest or best and rather share our school’s uniqueness and curiosity for others’ experiences. Again this was all my perception of how the week was unfolding with the epic reunion . Maybe no one shared the same pressure of feeling like their stories all-of-the-sudden had to top everyone elses’. I know that at first I personally felt the pressure to be amazing and then I got to a point of simply enjoying the storytelling as we got to know the beautiful city of Georgetown. Our whole week was a nice reset button. We got outside of our town to start processing some things as well as see who had it similar, who didn’t, and seeing a new part of Malaysia.
Some of us during our first full day went to the Georgetown National Park to go jungle trekking for the day. It was such a nice brain drainer. I was able to get my mind off of anything stressing me out over the past couple weeks of settling in and felt more relaxed than I had felt since arriving in Malaysia. I connected with the beautiful sights and smells of nature and purely enjoyed the whole day! We saw a mono lizard, some monkeys, swam and enjoyed some beach saw a baby turtle or two in their turtle sanctuary, got sweaty on the trek, and made we made it back in time to join everyone else going out around town in the evening. Then met up with folks for Indian food and onto the Kek Lok Si temple. It was rainy so our taxi driver agreed to wait as we took a quick tour, deciding to come back the next day. So we bought and placed a wishing ribbon on the wishing tree, took a couple of pictures and retired for the night.
The next day we did a walking tour of the city to check out the famous street art and Clan houses or Jetis. We really got a great feel of the city in terms of the cultural vibe the city gives off, even as the second largest city in Malaysia behind KL, which felt very modernized and lacking a culture of its own. We also did a self-guided tour of the street art around town. We only saw about 3/4th of it by the time we wanted to head back to the big temple for a more thorough tour. It was incredible! The statues were large, the temple area was vast with so many things to see. It was overwhelming in a great way. We spent hours there taking the tram up to the larger statue, touring the pagoda, going in and out of the various temple shrine rooms, and watching the temple light up into a brightly colored light show when the sun set. A group of us then went out on the town for evening shenanigans and saw both a Dragon as well as a Lion Dance. Very cool experience as we caught some of the few traditional cultural happenings during this week of Chinese New Year (apparently Penang celebrates a majority of it the following week so we came at the wrong time).
The next day was relaxing and we hung out on the beach for the afternoon. Our hostel manager friend asked if we wanted to throw a party on our last night which we of course agreed to so we planned our day around that. After lounging around and watching one of our friends parachute into the sky, we headed back to prepare for our party! Apparently a grandmother in the neighborhood had recently passed away so there was a private dedication dance happening outside of our hostel in her honor. We learned a few Chinese night-time games, watched the amazing feats of the dancing performers and had a great last night. A great sha-bang to close out the trip. I did not capture pictures of the dance because I was so in awe and in the moment, I wanted to enjoy it away from my lens. Sometimes my camera controls my view and I decided living in the moment was more important to enjoy and remember our last night in a special way. This trip was a great first vacation! I look forward to many more adventures to come.
Penang, check off the list of places to visit. I may come back this year, who knows. And so the journey continues…
We arrived in time for sunset and to plan out our day at the temples for the next day, walked around a bit, bought souvenirs, then had more great food. The next day we rented e-bikes to motor through the temples all day since there were 100s to see (of course knowing we had to prioritize and that we would not make it to all of them). From running into two more ETAs whom we shared dinner with the night before, one of our friends got to go up in a hot air balloon to see the temples so it was just two of us on bikes watching sunrise together. This was incredible to sit atop a temple and just watch the sun come up over the horizon above miles and miles of temple tops surrounding us. Once we broke for breakfast to meet up with our other friend and hear about her experience another guy we met in the hostel joined us for temple cruising the rest of the day. As I fell off my bike in the morning, I was a bit hesitant to ride again but told myself it’s better to “get back on the horse and ride” even when we don’t want to (and since I was not severely hurt, it was not a huge deal).
On My Malay Way 