Road tripping and Everything in Between

The girls!

Kuala Terangganu downtown Chinatown

I am starting to get into a cadence which is so nice. We finished our last bit of orientation in Kota Bharu which included a 40 minute time frame to plan ALL activities from a general level with our mentors for the year. This was a bit hectic however, so nice to get some ideas out there and a rough sketch of my yearly plans. I can now start to get into the nitty-gritty details of how thing work in the Malaysian school system and do some awesome things with my students. I am visiting more classes but also have a set schedule of which classes I will continuously work with so I can start making goals and units with the teachers for those classes. The students are beginning to visit me in my office to practice speaking English with me when they have recess… or the teacher is not in class since the students stay in the same room all day. I share an office with two other teachers who are some of the more popular, young teachers of the school. They get frequent visitors and I speak with them (usually making them speak in English with me which slightly embarrasses them and we laugh about them being “shy shy cats” a silly phrase they say in Malaysia for a shy person). However, Thursday… I finally had form 5A girls, who I have only met once, come to see ME! I felt so special and they could probably tell how lit up I was to have my own visitors.

Hostel girls in the apartment and friends visiting shananigans- We like throwing birthday parties!

I also took my first road trip to the neighboring state of Terangganu which was awesome! I reunited with other ETAs after being separated in KL on our departure day so it was nice to catch up and compare our current lives. It is also a fairly conservative state with its own unique dialect. Our friends on the border close to us were learning some Kelantanese, the Terangganu dialect, and BM since they live in an in between area. We saw lots of sand on their beaches which was nice since a lot of the Kelantan sand was eroded or washed away from the flooding. We had some awesome Western food (shamelessly). We took artsy photos since this arts group does a lot of alleyway work around town. We celebrated three birthdays and found a cat! Overall, successful first road trip! The capital city Kuala Terangganu is a cool town which we just got a taste of so I will be planning several weekend trips back. Also maybe getting scuba certified near our friends’ house on the border at these luxury islands called Redang and Perhentian Islands coming soon- I hope!

Reunion!

After another week or two has passed since my last blog yet since I was living things day by day and just getting settled is almost seems to be a blur. My brain is on full speed almost all the time as I try to adjust, learn my place, learn the language, pretend to learn all 500 student names at my school and the 150 names of the hostel girls where I live, remember the foods I have tried, and memorize directions since road signs and maps are not really a thing around here. Thank goodness for Google Maps on smartphones! As I take more vacations and vary my schedule more will begin to stand out to me. I did attempt to go to church on Sunday but got stuck in three hours of traffic because an opposition religious leader from Kelantan passed away the night before. I also discovered Tesco which is like a Wal-Mart equivalent in Malaysia. Those were highlights that stuck out this week. I leave for Penang a state on the West coast of Peninsular Malaysia on Tuesday for Chinese New Year break and I just booked a trip for our March break to Myanmar so lots of excitement to come!

Artsy alleyway

Things I look forward to for this year… Getting close with my community (school where I live, school where I live, and neighbors around us in our Melor area), building confidence in English skills in my students, meeting amazing people, seeing incredible sites in South East Asia (SEA), having growing experiences, slowing my pace of life down, finding more “me time,” staying active each week (more outdoorsy things if possible), jumping further outside my comfort zone, learning how to make some local foods to take back home to share with others, and creating memories that shape me as an emerging adult in the real world outside of educational life and my future career. I am now feeling slightly more settled so I feel that the growing pains and excitement will begin! #Malaysiaboleh

Friends’ cat we found and they “adopted”

Kelantanese word of the day: mangis = to cry (I was singing very dramatic BM karaoke music and had to fake cry at the end of a song which I did not understand at all but the hostel girls made me sing any way) A typical occurrence on a weekend afternoon.

Taking Time to Adjust: The Kelata Way

I am now in my placement in Kelantan Malaysia on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. I have not posted anything for a while due to internet complications (I apologize). I am now beginning to settle into my life for the year, hence this long post. In the very conservative and sugary sweet state of Kelantan, much is different from the big city of Kuala Lampur where I started. There has been an adjustment shift as we ETAs find our place in our communities and schools. My housemates and I also live on school grounds so we have constant contact with the hostel girls here which keeps things exciting and active yet not much time for rest.

Principal and other leaders at my school

Students awaiting results from cross-country day at my school SMK Selising!

After we were shuffled from place to place during our various orientations. We will head back to Kota Bharu for a couple days starting tomorrow to finish up orientation training for our state. We have been in the school for a week and a half after initial meetings and work in the community schools near Kota Bharu when we first arrived. My initial thoughts coming off of the plane arriving in Kelantan at 8am, when we were greeted by religious council members who instantly snapped photos and sent them to everyone in Kelantan, was “and so it begins!” Our mentors and teachers had the photos of us by the time we met them over the next couple of days. The adjustment started now. We were now on display as a role model and image of what Americans were really like. This is a huge honor but also huge responsibility, especially when you are extremely tired, wearing baju kurung (traditional female Malay dress), after leaving about 100 people you were just trying to establish Facebook Official (FBO) friendships with, and your breakfast was some mediocre chicken rice that you tried to shovel in as the plane was landing.

In new cars for the first time

leaving KB

Bride and groom of Malaysian wedding- so much happiness and pink!

Those of us placed in Kelantan proceeded to attend several briefings and meetings about the current flood situation. Then over the next few days, we visited schools and towns that were impacted by the flood, to be an encouragement during the recovery of this tragedy. The school I worked in specifically for two days was flooded throughout its entire first floor. Many tables and chairs had to be replaced, school opened over a week late, students lost uniforms pieces and wore what appropriate clothing they could muster for school each day, and even a month after the flood, staff estimated clean up to take another two weeks after our visits with them. We were treated very well by the school and we felt honored to be entertaining guests to lift up spirits for the school. We made our first Malaysian contacts who were willing to invite us to their homes and suggest good eats around town. It was a nice taste of the hospitality of Kelantan. Literally the budu as well as nasi kerabu were delicious and the staff was so kind to us to feed and show us around.

End of our visit in KB schools

Student pictures!

Selfie with students at SMK Dato’ Mahmud Paduka Raja 1 in Tenah Merah, Kelantan

Once we settled into our placements, domesticating the house took a bit longer than we expected but we were more than pleased with our teacher’s quarter accommodations! Today we got curtains as the final touch (aside from maybe some bedside tables we have yet to successfully find) to creating “our home” in the district of Bachok, in the city of Kelantan and on the border of Pasir Puteh where I teach (that took me almost a week to understand exactly where we ACTUALLY live). We have already eaten at a teacher’s home for an after prayer meal on Friday, attended a Malaysian wedding, received more than a dozen baju kurung from staff at our schools, had the privilege of being toured around town for the best places to shop, and even found some local favorite eating places. It feels so amazing to begin to settle in! My type-A super planning personality is exciting to “get the show on the road” for the year here.

My mentor and I

In school thus far, I have just followed my English teachers to and from their classes helping in any ways I can. That has consisted of some observation, some co-teaching, some teaching solely on my own, and everything in between. I am trying to absorb as much as I can to find a happy medium in this tracked education system. Somwhere between their textbook teaching and my whimsical, idealistic, creative teaching techniques. As I gain a positive reputation in the school, the teachers are becoming more and more excited about my methods, teaching tools I brought with me, and new ideas. The cultural exchange has already been so rich, I cannot imagine how much will come from this year. I am learning the local dialect of Bhasa Malay (BM) which they nickname “Kelantanese” and almost seems to be a different language from BM. I am eating with my hands (right hand only of course) and starting to fully embrace the abundance of rice (even when we eat it five times a day some days). This is shaping up to be an incredible year (as I expected from an amazing opportunity such as a Fulbright ETA).

Cikgus at SMK Selising where I teach

There will be some challenges as there already have been (anything related to technology so far has only been semi-successful). However, I will learn a lot, experience many new things, gain new perspectives as well as understandings about life, and have an enriching year. I like to think this will be somewhat of a pilgrimage for myself and my ideologies this year. I am coming in with an open mind (as much as my narrow-minded American mind can allow, as I recognize my weaknesses as well as perceptions to be cognizant of while living here). Sorry this was such a long post, I will try to be more brief in the future. Thanks for following along!

First Impressions: If you can, fight the fire

Arriving in Malaysia was a bit of a blur since it was almost 3am. It was too dark to scope out the scenery on the bus ride from the airport to our hotel. The next morning, waking up for breakfast was my first impression although until I could explore outside, all I could gather was the bed was comfy, there are tall buildings outside, and the continental breakfast had a lot of options. After sitting and eating for hours, I went back to my room to meet my roommate who had finally arrived since ETAs were still arriving in shifts. B, my roommate, and I decided to go on a 3 hour exploration (or what it ended up being) wandering around the city to pretend to remember where we went along the way to get the lay of the land around KL. We discovered lots of cool locations such as a Bank park with interesting benches and quotes, walked by the famous Petronas Twin Towers, stumbled upon a craft village, among many other things. We almost got lost but tall buildings were helpful landmarks to find your way back to your also tall hotel building.

I tried some local food after an extremely way too long nap. Chicken Rice. So good! They use chicken stock/broth to flavor and soften the rice then serve it with chicken. Very moist, flavorful- yum! The foot court before the Pavillion (mall) right near us is where I tried this treasure. They have an amazing selection of food with almost any Asian cuisine as well as some Western food (Italian).

Today was our first day of orientation which meant information overload and the inspiration for the title of this post. The hotel manager gave us safety instructions in case of an emergency during one segment of today’s informational sessions. This included many topics such as how to respond when alarms go off and if there is a fire to try to “fight the fire” yourself first before seeking other help. I feel like this is a great metaphor for this next year of experience to come. It will be better try to to battle out the tougher situations or social obstacles I might encounter before allowing defeat. There will be many, many exciting times also met with challenges. This is a year to grow and learn which I intend to do. We were told many times today that you will mess up, say something offensive accidentally, have a lesson flop, or meet other failures; it is all a part of the growing experience. Tomorrow we may find out our states and Thursday our placements. KL Malaysia adventure today, more surprises tomorrow!

(Christmas set up outside Pavillion, so festive here in KL).

Last day directly with the faucet

New year, new home

As I woke up this morning, realizing it was my last day in America for the next year, I wanted to appreciate tap water. The first thing I did after waking up was brush my teeth, even before putting my eyes on, and I enjoyed using that faucet. I was realizing this would be one of my last moments with certain luxuries even as small as using water directly from the faucet. Why that made me pause and stop at 8:30am, the morning after New Years Eve, not entirely sure, but I really enjoyed brushing my teeth. I guess my big journey starting tomorrow was sinking in another wave more.

There is no way to describe what is going on in my mind as I prepare to ship off to Malaysia tomorrow morning. I have had waves of realization that this is happening but mostly, it does not seem real yet. I am sure saying bye to my family at the airport will give me another wave of realization as well as arriving in KL at midnight, January 4th in Malaysian time after 30 hours of travel. For now most of my last days have been a haze of good times, American food, goodbyes, and packing. Not much about mental preparation. This is probably for the best so I am not overly obsessing with research and preconceived notions or watching movie musicals over and over balling my eyes out and wiping out several tissue boxes.

This next year will be the most life changing year of my young life thus far. Yes, freshman year of college was up there, same with landing my first leading role in a show, and many other monumental moments but as a year on a whole, no other year I have experienced was as drastically different or educational as this next year will be. There will be huge adjustments, struggles, pains, confusion, questions, even moments of regret at times I suppose. However, it will be the most amazing roller coaster ride of my life. I hope to share my adventures with you over this next year. I will be honest, most likely way too excited, and hope to capture some amazing moments. Thank you for taking the time to stay connected with me and read my silly inner thoughts and interpretations. America today. Malaysia tomorrow!