Teaching, teaching, teaching!

This week has been intense in terms of planning and teaching because we are all exhausted from our tourist weekend! Observations are coming thick and fast, and because the weather is so bad, as well as the internet being down almost 24/7, we have so much time to just work!!

Trying hard to spent the rest of my money to...successful so far! My only problem is the weight restrictions...going to be leaving plenty of old things behind!

Few more disasters – my memory pen is corrupted and I don’t know whether or not it can be restored – all of my most recent work is saved to it and not my computer as I can print and send nothing from it – it must all be transferred to another school computer by pen! Already begun the task of re-doing some of the work – technology over here is really getting us all down – we will never take the internet for granted again!

Also had my second trip to the doctor. I was meant to get jabs this time but it wouldn’t stop me getting bitten. Got more tablets so hopefully that will help! They worked before, but now that they are done, they are getting bad again and I’m getting bitten a lot. I genuinely look like Mr Blobby with my pink dots....

Looking forward to the weekend though – we are planning a quiet weekend in the house –a lie in and a lot of sleep! We are going out for tea on Thursday/Friday and on Saturday we are doing the Ipoh heritage walk to get to know the place we have been staying in. It’s led by a Scottish man – how ironic! Sunday we are going white water rafting ...that could be interesting! 14 rapids, 7 km of river in the jungle and 3 hours later we will be ready for home!

Taught 2 classes “I’ll tell me Ma when I get home, the boys won’t leave the girls alone” as a dance and they loved it! We were due to perform it in assembly today, but guess what… it was rained off!! Hopefully we will be doing it next week…!!! The school is a buzz of colour and music as each class prepares for the school concert – we are so sad we will be missing it as we are so involved with helping get the children ready! Perhaps some will do our dance, who knows! We will be sent the school dvd hopefully.

Now down to single figures in terms of days until I’m home....who would believe it!

Week 2 rundown...

It’s been a fantastic week teaching, but this weekend is what we have all be waiting for since we found out we were coming to Malaysia! Early Friday morning saw us set off for the Island of Penang to see the Tenby International school there, sample the culture...and top up our tans! The school was much smaller and older than Ipoh, but what really struck us was the lack of air-con. We couldn’t breathe it was so hot so to be teaching there would have been a real struggle. We then headed to a hotel which we had been told was small with no air-con either....but when we arrived, we realised the staff were just keeping us going – It was palatial! It was called Paradise and lived up to its name. We didn’t take long to check in, have some lunch and get out on the beach loungers...yet for all our efforts we are NOT that brown! We were treated to a beautiful Western meal (potatoes and veg, chicken and peppered sauce!) in one of the most beautiful outdoor restaurants I’ve ever seen. It was surrounded with beautiful flowers and trees, waterfalls and features. We then got to bargain and barter at the night market and got a few little souvenirs. They then whisked us off to another beautiful hotel where we relaxed and listened to “music company” – another very comical evening...Rachel got up to give us a few songs – we really did have a good laugh!

We went back to our own hotel and poured ourselves into bed because we wanted to get up early to get as much sunbathing done as possible...half 7 came quickly! We took it easy all morning and Laura and Michelle went paragliding. We then took a quick dip in the pool, got photos with the staff and went up to our rooms to get ready to check out. From there, we headed to Starbucks for lunch and went straight to a tropical fruit farm, learning things like “pineapple is bad for you if taken too often (in a lot of ways!), pineapples take 8 months to grow and each plant can only produce 1, and cashews are actually a fruit – again only 1 per plant! We got to try a fruit platter and a smoothie freshly made – delicious...some more than others!!

We headed straight home to Ipoh were we did an overnight and then on Sunday morning we headed for the capital KL. Did most of our shopping there in the PETRONAS towers and then went to the top of the KL tower to see the city. It was the perfect time as we saw it in daylight as well as all light up by night. We got a pony ride on exit, a visit to the small zoo (tarantulas, snakes and birds – all my family’s favourite animals!) and then a ride in an F1 simulator – such a random bunch of events to do in such a short amount of time!!

Again, we headed to another hotel and I had the worst night’s sleep sp far – typical when you are exhausted! We got a day in KL Tenby school and it is so full of ‘mod cons’, but we still feel Ipoh is where we were meant to be to teach. We sat in with classes and helped out and then headed straight for home. After some frantic preparation for lessons this week, we quite literally all fell into bed and got a great night’s sleep. We’ve thrown away our tourist caps and are now firmly back to teacher mode! Here’s to another great week in the classroom!

More firsts....

Teaching is going so well, really enjoying the class and they are really responding to me which is encouraging. Tavel Ted (my teddy that I brought with me wearing the Ireland Rugby Kit) has been sitting in on all my classes and the children are more eager to please him than me!!

Also had my first trip to the Malaysian Doctor's Surgery - I'm allergic to whatever bug finds me so tasty over here! All is well though, just some tablets and cream for the next few days!

I have got the sun now also and my red is beginning to go brown which pleases me immensely!! there will be no sunbathing fo me before the weekend...the weather is taking care of that anyway as when we return from school it generally begins to rain. We had such a huge storm last night that the electricity went out and we sang "raindrops on roses" to cheer ourselves up! Just a case of a tripped switch, no problem if only we had known what to do! It was sorted in a matter of minutes however.

Anyway, it's lunchtime now and time to join my class once more!

Week 1...

Well, what a turbulent week! We visited the caves of ultimate happiness, a Chinese cave temple which was beautiful. We also got our work for school and lesson planning has begun. We’ve done a lot of grocery shopping and swimming, tanning and dining, but I have also done a bit of crying unfortunately. Homesickness has hit me which is such a surprise. I’m feeling better than I was and looking forward to teaching though – I’m called Miss Ruth in class and hopefully when I am in a regular teaching routine the feeling will completely pass.
My blogs have been short and infrequent because the internet is so bad here...trying to get photographs up has been difficult so keep looking at my face book if you can or hang in there until I get home to the sunny Isle!
We had our first torrential downpour this week as well – put NI to shame! So warm though and it turned our swimming pool green...what hard lives we live!!
I took part in the school assembly on Friday ...wait for it....I did the birdie song in front of the whole school with my Year 2’s (P3). I also learnt a Hindi dance and was exhausted in the heat! Really looking forward to starting teaching – the class is full of personality. The lack of resources is also going to be a challenge but I hope this makes me appreciate what I will have back home.
We went to Cameron Highlands on Saturday which is the main tea plantation in Malaysia. I tried some of the local tea and got a lot of photographs. We had to drive through almost continuous jungle to get there and there are Indigenous people living within it. The locals found it cold but it was a perfect day for us – a good NI Summer’s Day!!
Visited a local church on Sunday and it was such a nice experience. 1 week gone, only 3 to go! Next weekend we are for Parang and Kuala Lumpur – how exciting!! Hope I get to post between now and then...
Thanks to everyone who is reading this and thinking about me – it’s very much appreciated. Talk soon!

little firsts....

Ok, so I won't be posting everyday but today was quite an epic day. first shopping trip in "Jusco" which was nice and first proper dinner cooking at home. The school was a real culture shock - no shoes in the classroom, covered arms, high tops and no shorts or 3/4 lengths as this is what the boys wear...I am going to have to shop for some more clothes to feel comfortable. I felt faint with the heat today, so throwing on a cardy over what I've got here is just not going to wash!

Anyway, just a quick update, talk soon. x

Disney Princesses have nothing on us!

We're here! Wanted to blog last night but the internet was down - only bad thing so far! Well that and the travel - I wasn't able to sleep so exhaustion made me a bit home-sick...it passed when my head hit the pillow though!

we've just had a late breakfast and are getting ready to go out the pool - AMAZING!! We are quite literally in a palace and the teachers have been nothing but fantastic...they have treated us like royalty and want us out here full time in a few years!

Our first Malaysian meal was Burger King...and well worth it!! Milk is interesting...so no tea or coffee for me for a month - natural detox!!

It's so nice to be in contact with the outside world, missing you all!! Talk soon, xxx

"I'm on my way..."

This is it, I'm finally ready to go - think I've managed to get my luggage down to a suitable weight (",) Just going out for one last typical NI lunch and then its off to the airport.

Speak to you from Malaysia...!