Working in Malaysia

Our Office

Big, light, air-conditioned - not a bad place to spend the day. Of course, if that's all we do, then there will be no bonus. We need to be out there in the staffrooms and classrooms mentoring and assisting ... but there is a LOT of desk work and planning too.

The empty desk is / was Lloyd's - he has just transferred to an institute in the big smoke, Kuala Lumpur.

Peter's desk is over there with easy access to the printer and the coffee-desk!

The mat in the middle helps to reduce the echo. For Malysians who enter our office it presents a dilema because generally one removes shoes to walk on any mat, and they stand there on the edge hardly daring to believe that we are telling them it's ok to walk across in their shoes.

This charming lady is a lecturer who came in to ask if we could do a short workshop with her students - it's a bit different from regular teaching, we were ready for this change!

The First Week of a New Semester

The closing ceremony of the induction week for new students for this semester. We didn't have to attend (as it was all in the Malay language) but got the word from our Head of Department that it was desirable.

Then we got busy with what we were doing, forgetting all about it, and suddenly we realised we would have to walk over there and walk in late.

We hoped that we could just creep in at the back and stay a short while ... but as we tried to do so, the Rector - sitting on one of the thrones on the stage - caught sight of us and signalled to someone to guide us to a seat - it was right in amongst the students (rather than at the front with the lecturers).

As usual, the girls were all sitting together on one side, all wearing their white headscarfs (there are different colours for different occasions) which are reserved for formal and religious occasions. There are a few Indian and Chinese students without scarfs.

The boys on the other side are all in white shirts and the little black Muslim hats. The lecturers, on the other hand, are all wearing brightly-coloured batik shirts because it's Thursday and all government workers must express their Malaysian pride this way on Thursdays.

The Rector got up to give his speech. We always dread conversations with him because his English is very hard to understand - one day we both nodded and agreed to something (each presuming the other was getting it) without understanding a word ...

We knew he had seen us, and would want to welcome us. We wondered if he could remember our names - last time he welcomed "Mr Peter, and ... I'm sorry, I can't remember your name ..." But, he did himself proud, after a bit of a stumble, and actually welcomed us in English.

MBMMBI classes



The initials stand for something like 'strengthening the English language while supporting the Malaysian language' - you can understand the dilema the country has with wanting to encourage English while not losing their own identity.

There are in-service courses being held in the Institute for teachers who are out there in the schools teaching English without ever having been properly trained to do so, and so naturally we are involved in the teaching. Once of the good things about it is - food! Here I am sharing some little dried fish, white rice, and a coconut milky pumpkin concoction with a couple of the other MBI teachers. (There is also some 'nasi kerabu' - rice and vegetables dish - but laced with too many chilis for me.)

And, of course, I am wearing my 'baju kurung', traditional style dress, without the headscarf which only Muslim women wear.

Stuff you see about the place

Things you can eat



if you really want to!



Tempting!

Places to eat



if you need to bulk up maybe.

Keep to the footpath ...



or maybe not ...



I guess no one walks.

Dealing with those pesky mosquitoes.



We have heard this thing, even smelt it go past, and seen its vapour trail pluming up from behind trees and buildings, but this is the first time we have had a clear view of it. We don't know what kind of insecticide it is, but I guess it's not as bad as the diseases the mosquitoes carry. (No one has fly screens or mosquito nets.)

Laguna Redang - great place to relax

After the stress of the MELTA conference (!) we felt a weekend on the distant island we can just see from our apartment window would be just the trick.

While Kuala Terengganu has beautiful beaches, they are wild places with all kinds of rips and tows, and no one can swim there - kite-flying seems to be the only acceptable activity.

We did a practice run to make sure we could find the right jetty at Merang - about half an hour north of here - just as well because there were no signs as such and it would have been frustrating looking for it on the actual day. We were glad we arrived early because we scored a spot on the first ferry out, others had to wait several hours.



We arrived at the resort - Laguna Redang - and the first thing we wanted to do was get into that water! All the red life vests - people here wear floatation vests to go snorkelling and swimming! (Yeah, they are generally afraid of water, and nobody knows how to swim. Gotta love Oz!)



We had a lovely big room, cool and spacious.



In fact, between swimming outings it proved a great place to veg out with the iPad!

Meals were, of course, a buffet, and the food was mostly Chinese - the other guests were almost entirely Chinese - but we were allocated a nice table with a view of the beach at every meal and it was very pleasant.



The resort offers (everyone) a 3-days-2-nights package, which includes 3 boat outings for snorkelling. We went on the first one, but were so disappointed by the dead coral and minimal fish life that we then went snorkelling off the beach in front of the resort.

In the resort they sell a packet of frozen white bread (60c) for feeding the fish ... It was amazing! A huge cloud (school) of many varieties of fish - from small-fry to quite large (scary big in fact) instantly gather around, pecking eagerly at the bread - and fingers, toes, arms, anything that could resemble bread!

When we first arrived they served everyone with a (complementary) salty-plum drink, something we had never tasted before (although we have eaten salty plums before). It was milky looking, with limes as well. On the last day, waiting to catch the ferry back, we treated ourselves to another salty plum drink at the bar.

We have already booked a return trip for when Bea comes to visit at the end of June.

Soooo loooking forward to it!

International Conference

It's all about our "KPI"s. (Key Performance Indicators). These are the things we have to achieve in our job in order to receive our end-of-year bonus. It's a bit different from working for an Education Department in Australia. So, anyway, number 3 is:

"Prepare and present one professional paper related to improving English Language teaching and/or training in Malaysia at a conference, seminar or other appropriate professional forum."

So, there you have it.

The MELTA conference (Malaysian English Language Teachers Association) was being held right here in Kuala Terengganu this year, so of course we chose to present at MELTA.



Lots of big meetings, plenaries, that sort of stuff.

And then parallel sessions - 113 of them - by people like me.



My session was late in the day, last one before tea, and I expected there wouldn't be many there. But it was packed, extra chairs needed to be found. Music and Rhythm (in the English teaching classroom) make for a popular topic.

Peter's was well attended too, talking about changes in Education. Unfortunately I was unwell and didn't get to attend his.

Fluttering By

The season in Malaysia now is ... not the wet season, which doesn't seem to mean it's the 'dry' season.

Anyway, it seems to be butterfly season. (I guess the heavy monsoon wouldn't be a good time for them.)

We've seen all sorts of pretty fluttery things about, but this one appearing inside our apartment took us by surprise.



It's hard to demonstrate just how massive this thing is - I guess we should have had one of those little ruler things they have on CSI. It is bigger than a man's hand (that would be Peter's hand), but we didn't want to handle it and risk damaging its wings.

We encouraged it to think of itself as an outdoors butterfly

but it kept insisting that it had come inside of its own volition.


Eventually it did flutter away, going back and forth past our window several times before heading off into the jungly patch.

Long Weekend? Let's go to ... Cambodia!

Well, how long does it take to have a look at the famous Angkor Wat? (Especially as we are not so far away here)

First we had to fly to Kuala Lumpur ... and then fly back over Kuala Terengganu to get to Cambodia!

The flight times left us needing an overnight / a few hours in a KL hotel. The "Tune" hotel is right in the airport, next to the LCCT - Low Cost Carriers Terminal. As we were flying Air Asia for both legs of the trip, this made it much easier and we wouldn't even have to switch terminals to go International.

The rooms are small - you can just squeeze around the edge of the bed - and you can pay extra for 12 hours of air conditioning, towels etc ... but it's a comfy bed, there are a couple of reasonable restaurants nearby, and you can walk or take a RM1 (30c) bus to the departure/arrival lounges.

We had to get up in the wee-small hours to catch our flight to Cambodia ... It was only a 2-hour flight, and on the way we had to turn our watches back which made it only 1 hour later when we arrived.

So we found ourselves in this 5-star hotel at the beginning of Friday, and as soon as we were settled, with most of the day still ahead of us, we thought we should get on out to have a look at the "Wat".

We asked at the front desk, and booked ourselves a car and driver ($37 US) and a guide ($37 US), and then we had to buy a pass to get into the whole temple area ($20 US each) - which really didn't seem too bad all up.

The hotel people kept plying us with icy hand towels and drinks, and we couldn't really fathom why ... until we went out to see the sights. We definitely chose the better part - an air-conditioned car - as we realised when we saw people on bicycles trying to do it on the cheap. It was a viciously hot day, quite humid and with a biting sun.

There were of course various other modes of transport available too.

As we appproached the gates of Angkor Thom - one of the many temples in the area - we got out of the car to walk past this row of statues and through the gates.

These smiling chappies are demons - on the other side of the road is a similar row of 'gods', and they are all lined up holding onto a massive serpent (with a head at each end).

So this is Angkhor Thom, the first one we visited.

The lying Buddha was still being worshipped despite lacking some parts.

All around the outside of this temple are these remarkable carvings. If you just glance at them, they seem like nothing much.

But taking a little time, and with a knowledgeable guide, they tell so many stories. They are full of interesting little details, and there are historical tales relating to each scene and sequence of scenes.

And then everywhere there are faces - many of them very large ...

... and pointing in every which direction.

As we drove to the next place we noticed this bridge that had collapsed under the growth of this tree - and yet it was the tree that still held it together.

We went to look at the next site - this one being where they filmed parts of "Tomb Raider" with Angelina Jolie.

The trees at this place are the most amazing part. The guide tried to describe each one as "this looks like a ..."

but I thought they were just so beautiful regardless.

Each one was destroying the brickwork, and yet holding the remains of it together still.

This one is a bit eel-like, scary big eel!

Each of the major temples is surrounded by a moat - makes it all look lovely and cool, but walking across this bridge area was sizzling hot!

Now we went across to the actual "Angkhor Wat".



There are a great many temples and other structures of all sizes in the area.

Everywhere there were red-faced, sweat-soaked tourists shuffling along in groups behind their various guides who burbled on in their various languages.

I'd had enough, and plonked myself down in a coolish spot while Peter and Pheng (our guide) went on to explore the rest of the Wat.

There are always lots of stairs to climb, and rennovations are going on everywhere.

I gather the whole place is still a functioning monastery (Buddhist).



Obviously for some people the whole thing is a very tactile experience ...



Our "tour" was booked until 4.30pm, but we assured Pheng we had had enough and wanted to return to the hotel.

Aaaaahhhh yes! The pool!

And having done all our essential sightseeing on the first day of our trip, that gave us a whole day by the pool before returning to Malaysia!

Sucking on a cool coconut. Yeah, it was a great weekend.