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!