The Party, by Elizabeth

We had a party and it was fun. It was yesterday,on Thursday, the last day of school before Christmas. I had a lot of food.  It was a class party with my teacher, Ms. Frans. We ate jelly and cake and cookies. My favourite food was the cake. It was chocolate cake with icing.  We got our stockings and some of the presents I got were molding clay and a card from the school in Butterworth (mainland Malaysia).  My favourite thing in the stocking was the mechanical pencil and the pencil case.  The mechanical pencil had a giraffe on it and the pencil case was pink.  We got a goodie bag.  Overall, I liked the food the best.

Wet Market

About twice a week we go to the Wet Market to buy our fruit, vegetables, meat, and eggs. The Wet Market is about a 10 minute walk from our house. It is usually very busy on Saturdays.  When we first arrived, our host, Jasmane, took us to the Wet Market to show us some of the better vendors to deal with and so we remain loyal to those ones.  We use a certain vendor for our vegetables, a different vendor for our fruits, etc.

The entrance to the Wet Market

Here is the vegetable vendor we use at the Wet Market.  It seems like a husband and wife team.

This is where we buy our fruit.  Kate (in the foreground) was helping that day. This is operated by a mom, dad, and daughter working together, I think.

They also sell a lot of fish and seafood at the Wet Market.

Sometimes there are other stalls selling miscellaneous things that are set up around the Wet Market.

Stall selling dresses

"La Senza" at the Wet Market

Tuesday nights they also have a night market from 6:30 p.m. to quite late.  The Wet Market is closed but there are many other stalls set up outside the Wet Market selling food, clothes, and other miscellaneous things. There is even a stall selling pets like goldfish and mice.

How I Spent My Birthday - By Garth

December 4th was my birthday. Being in Malaysia, my birthday was a lot different than it usually is in Canada. The biggest difference was the weather. Growing up in Winnipeg and living in Vancouver, my birthdays were usually very cold (Winnipeg) or very cool and rainy (Vancouver). This was the first birthday that I wore shorts and a short sleeve shirt. My highlight from the day was spending my lunch drinking coffee and looking out to the Andaman Sea from upper campus of the school.

View of the Andaman Sea from upper campus of Dalat

For supper we went to Sri Ananda Bahwan, known here as SAB [sob], an Indian restaurant across the street.

The restaurant is across the street from the school

For supper we had tandoori chicken, curd rice, lemon rice, and a mixed vegetable dish. For dessert / birthday cake we had a roti canai cone.

Crispy wafer covered with syrup

The Philippines

            On November 8th , I went on an honour band trip to the Philippines.  It was a very busy week in which I did that.  On the Monday and Tuesday, I tried out for basketball and I made the team on Wednesday.  Then very early in the morning (way too early), I got on a bus to the Penang International Airport.  It was quite a long flight but I got a beautiful view of Malaysia and the rising sun.

        The flights to Manilla were about 5 hours with a 2 hour layover in between.   When we got to the Manilla International Airport we had to pay a tax because we were not with our guardians and we were under the age of fifteen.  It was about 3000 pesos.  Which is about 80 USD, we paid the tax and continued through customs.  We had to go on a 1 and a half hour long ride through Manilla and I had to try not to throw up because the roads are awful and very busy.  People would come out in the middle of traffic and try to sell you stuff while you are in your car.  After the hour and a half ride we got to the Faith Academy School and met our host parents.  Our host family had three little kids all under the age of four. They were all really cute.  

I was staying with another girl from my school

         

           Our honor band practices were at the school-Faith Academy- and they were all day Friday and all day Saturday and then we had a concert on Saturday evening

Honor band practice on Saturday.

     

   

   Honor Band final rehearsal.

The people from Dalat with the conductor on the right

         

         After the concert we went to the mall for about an hour and instead of going back to our host parents we went to the guesthouse where the high schoolers were staying and we where asleep by 11:00.  We had to get up at 2:00 to go to the airport.  So I was quite tired.  And at two in the morning there where many interesting creatures out at the time outside the guesthouse and I saw a huge toad hopping around.  It was quite a shock because I was half sleep walking around and then we see this huge toad hopping around.

                                              

Chiang Mai Thailand-ICEC and Cultural Show By Garth

Last week I had the opportunity to attend an Christian Educator's Conference from November 22 to 24th. There were two highlights from that Conference. The first one was Dr. Tim Stuart, who is a Principal of the Singapore American School. I found his story very interesting because of my background in Special Education. Tim for the first 12 years of his life did not speak English and was educated in France,  where he lived with his parents. In his Grade 8 year, his parents moved back to the United States. At his new school in the United States, Tim was given an IQ test, but it was English. The results showed that he was categorized as Educationally Mentally Retarded. Presently we say the more politically correct term Mild Intellectual Disability. Tim talked about the stigma and also over coming the adversity of being in Special Education for his Grade 8 year, while he tried to learn the English language. The main point of his talk was how adversity can build character in us. The second highlight was Tom Thompson, who attended Dalat International School. He talked about his life story. His parents were missionaries in Vietnam, and were killed during the Tet Offensive. At that time, Tom was a boarding student at Dalat. Not surprisingly,  his parents' death had a profound impact on his life. After he finished school, he ending up abusing drugs and alcohol. After he went through rehab, he then tried to make enough money so he could have "everything". But his life still felt empty and he became a Christian in 2004. The rest of his story was him and his siblings trying to convince the Vietnam government to visit the grave site of his parents. Finally, in 2009 the Vietnam government gave permission for him and his family to visit the grave site. While in Vietnam, Tom was also able to visit many churches that were started as a result of his parents reaching out to the Hmong tribes in Vietnam.

I also had the opportunity to go to a cultural show one evening at the Old Chiangmai Cultural Center. I ended up going with Scott Jones the Director of Black Forest Academy in Germany. It was an excellent show.

Sitting on the Floor next to our meal

Finger Nail Dance

Sword Dance

Fire-Sword Dance

Hill Tribe Dance. Very similar to our aboriginal dances

10 Scary Things About Malaysia by Elizabeth

1. Scary thing in Malaysia is I got a jellyfish BITE.  Hurt so I cried.
2. I saw a big bee at Dalat.
3.Some one in my class is mean.
4.You have to know what weather it is or you may feel hot or cold.
5.Some times there are so much aunts in our house.  Some times there is a cockroach.
6.Their is something nere chapel .At night it is black there.
7.People get hurt more.
8.when we went to a movie theater their were scary ads.
9.The van breaks down.
10.People smoke a lot.

Recent Newsletters

This first newsletter shows pictures of Grade 2 students after our field trip to the USM University.  Both classes of Grade 2's went at the end of October to learn about rocket-making, to start off our Astronomy unit.  Students made rockets from empty Coke and Sprite bottles, then launched them by using air and water pressure.  Most went about 150 metres into the air (the record in the world is 213 metres, held by students in the Philipines).  By the end of our day there, we had also experienced an experiment on what happens when you combine Coke and Mentos (a Coke explosion) and the demonstration of large bubbles.

Newsletter #11

This second newsletter is from this last week when, to finish off our Astronomy unit, students from both classes made a candy and dried fruit solar system.  Coconut dyed with yellow food colouring, Saturn made from dried apricots and fruit leather, Pluto made from red and orange M & M's, and an asteroid belt made from light and dark raisins are some examples of the students' creativity.  Good thing the eating of it happened at the end of the day because students were very excited just making it let alone eating it.  We did share it with the rest of the elementary school students though, including Kate's class.

Newsletter #14

My worst fear come true :)

     Well, it can't get much worse than this :)  You may know how scared I am of cockroaches.  I told Aimee yesterday I can take pretty much anything (a poisonous snake hiding behind lockers outside my classroom, snails the size of Kate's palm, a large spider a student brought to school and stored accidently - in a jar thankfully at least - in my classroom over the weekend that succumbed to its neglect, even a rat in my classroom ceiling) but cockroaches I can not abide.  While doing my worst chore yesterday - laundry - I accidently stepped on a cockroach.  Now those critters are really hard to catch as they move fast so how it happened that I put my heel directly on one without even know it was there, I'll never know!  Garth was the true gentleman.  He cleaned off my heel, disposed of the flattened carcas, and took a picture of the critter with its body juices spread on our laundry room floor.

Life Bridge Learning Centre

I will add to this blog as I hear more.

  Yesterday (Saturday) I had to go on a scouting day for an upcoming field trip for my class.  Three weeks from now all the Grade 2's will be bringing money they have raised to a Rohingya school (called Spring Learning Centre) in Butterworth (about a 45 - 60 minute ride from here).  I will write more about the field trip and fundraising in another blog but wanted to write today about another school that we visited yesterday, a sister school (what I would call it) called Life Bridge Learning Centre.  Life Bridge is a school established by the Rohingya community who are refugees from Myanmar.  They are a group with no land to call their own in Myanmar and thus many have moved elsewhere, working as undocumented people, ie illegal immigrants.  They have no rights here or in Myanmar for that matter, including the right to access medical care or education for children or even protection by the law as they could be deported if they try to access any of this.  This community group has started therefore its own schools; there are three of them now in Butterworth (which is on the mainland of Malaysia, also a cheaper area to live than on the island of Penang).  They are all Muslim schools, but Christian individuals and missions (especially YWAM) have started to get involved in supporting them in different ways, ex. some teaching or tutoring, physical help like painting or providing some administrative direction, and finances.  Life Bridge Learning Centre has grown and they have had to look for a new location.  The two ladies I went with yesterday had me take pictures and I did some sketching of how the new school will be renovated inside as they measured and gave details of where things should go.  The new location for the school will open in January.

This is the outside of the school from the back.  Most students will enter the school from this side.  It is a four storey "shoplot" with migrant workers who live on the right of it (one of them is washing his clothes by an outside tap in front).  The rent for it is RM3000 (about $1000 / month.)

This is the front, bottom floor, of the school, where the Kindy (Kindergarten) students will enter.

This is a view from where the reception / front area of the school will be to the outside courtyard where the children will play during their breaks.  They will have to watch out for the laundry and laundry lines hanging up.



This is the top floor (all the floors look pretty much like this) where the Grade 4's and 5's will have their classrooms.


This will probably be the Kindy girls' bathroom.  (I could barely look at it to take a picture because it was so dirty and nasty.)

Thailand by Eileen

     I thought I would add my two bits in as well, to add a different perspective from Garth's perspective on our visit to Thailand.  First though, I want to thank everyone for praying for us during that time!  Thank you!!!  It went well; God was with our children back in Malyasia and God was with Garth and I (and the other couple we were traveling with).  We definitely felt that, and the visa application went very smoothly.  To explain why we had to go to Thailand is as follows.  When we entered Malaysia back on July 10th we got a visitor's visa which was good for three months.  That allows time for the processing of a work visa.  Unfortunately through no fault of our own and even with a one month extension, the paperwork was not completed in time.  The only choice then is to leave the country and then come back into Malaysia and hope as we enter again that the border guards will grant another three month visitor's visa to buy us more time for the working visa to be processed.  Hopefully this time the  paperwork will be done in time, otherwise we have to keep doing this every three months, which has been the situation for others, though usually they are people working for mission groups who have to be creative about explaining what they are doing in the country.  This is the case for our neighbours across the street who are Australians who came about a month after us with YWAM.  They had to go to Singapore the same weekend we went to Thailand to renew their visitor visas.  The difference is that as immigration has looked over their application for staying here, they are questioning them much more directly about their finances because unlike us this family is getting support from individuals and churches in small amounts from Australia which gives red flags, ie the government questions whether they can financially support themselves here and also about getting support from churches.  We have it easier because we have an employer here.

     When we were away, I slept a lot, we did some shopping (mostly just window shopping), we went to one "touristy" spot (a market), and just were glad to have talk time with just the two of us.  The pictures below will tell a more complete story.

This is a close up of a sidewalk area.  On the right are the stores and on the left are the vendors who have set up semi-permanent stalls selling everything from cashews that Hat Yai is known for to combs to soccer shirts.  Garth is in the background looking for a t-shirt.

This is another street scene right across the street from the McDonalds where we had breakfast.  These soldiers were here for quite a while getting their orders.  This McDonalds happened to be where there was a bombing this last April.  (Is it a coincidence that the soldiers meet here???)  There was also a security guard close to the door of the McDonalds. 

This is a very common sight in Malaysia and Thailand - multiple people on motorcycles, whether that is up to 3 adults or even a family of four (mom, dad, two children).  I guess Mom was at home that day for this family.

There are many religious references.  This Buddha was very large, about half my height, sitting in a restaurant window with what looked like a fresh cup of tea in front of him.

This was a shrine in our hotel, right outside the elevator, fresh food as an offering.

A typical Buddhist temple.

This was a typical street scene in Hat Yai, Thailand - signs you can't read, some women with head coverings, a street vendor, even a songthaew (open air taxi bus).

For sale on the side of the street.  Hungry?

Thanks again for praying for us!

From Coupeville Washington to Hat Yai Thailand by Garth

We like to go away for a couple of nights without children at least once every two years. The last time we went away, we went to Coupeville Washington. It was at Coupeville that we decided to pursue overseas opportunities. We went to Coupeville during the November 11th weekend last year (2011). We did not think that our next trip alone as a couple would happen less than a year later. In the middle of last week (October 31) we found out that they still did not have our work visa from the government. The 3 month tourist visa that we received when we arrived was running out. We had to go to Hat Yai Thailand. About 290 Kilometers north of Penang, in order to do a "visa run". The school did not need our children to go, because they already had valid student visas. We needed to go to Hat Yai alone, and have someone look after our children. A teaching couple at Dalat agreed to look after the girls, so we could go up to Thailand to get our visas renewed. The school arranged our transportation (leaving at 5:00 am Sunday morning-November 4) and our hotel in Hat Yai. This was our first time away from the children overnight since we had decided to pursue overseas opportunities when we stayed in Coupeville Washington. It was almost a year later that we went away again as a couple.

There was a bit of fear and trepidation about going to Hat Yai. This was the first time the girls would be alone in a foreign country. Hat Yai has also had some problems with Muslim extremists that want an independant Muslim state. The group had set off some car bombs in  Hat Yai earlier this past April.

See Article:  Hat Yai Bombing

But we enjoyed our time in Hat Yai without any incidents. The girls did very well back in Penang. We had an excellent time walking around the streets of Hat Yai.

Railway station in Hat Yai

 In the evening we took a 15 minute Songthaew drive to the Floating Market

Sitting in the back of the Songthaew. Basically two benches in the back of a pick-up

Klong Hae Floating Market

 People sell a variety of food, drinks, and ice cream from their boats. They cook the food right on the boats. The food and drinks were priced between 20 and 30 Baht, which would be about 66 cents to one dollar Canadian

Different foods and drinks sold from the boats

Food was placed in a basket and given to you when ordered. Money was then placed in the basket

You could purchase your beverage in a claypot or bamboo cup

The next day we went to McDonald's for breakfast, close to where the bombing took place last April. The prices in McDonald's were very expensive compared to food prices in Thailand. We joked around that maybe the incident happened in April because the prices were so high at McDonald's.

Picture from inside McDonald's notice the Sizzler and Swensen's sign in the background

Same place but different angle right after the bombing

Overall we enjoyed our time there. We felt safe. There are some seedier aspects of Hat Yai (Prostitution etc.) but we had a great time there.

Friday By Aimee

Yesterday was Friday.  It was a really exciting day.  First off I played soccer. Kate was on my team.  Elizabeth played on a different team for younger girls. The game was at Uplands. Uplands is a really nice British school in Penang.  There were two games.  The first game was O.K.  The score was 0 to 0. In the beginning of the second game we prayed as a team and my coach told me that I could score.  The reason the coach told me this was because I was discouraged.  She even said that if anyone scored she would give a candy bar and if someone scored two goals she would give a long candy bar.    I felt like I couldn't score because in Canada I could never score and in all the games so far here in Malaysia I also could not score.  So the second game began.  The second game was the best though because my team won 2 to 0.  I scored two goals.  I was so happy.   The grade five boys did not win though.  After the game I went to Freaky Friday at Dalat for all the kids in Grade 5 to Grade 8. Hannah went too. We played lots of fun games like there was this one game where you threw flour balls.  Flour balls are flour inside thin napkins.  They explode when they hit something.  Your team tried to defend your flag and if you hit someone they would go in jail.  We also played dodge-ball. We played this game where we had to find different cards that were the colours of our team but juniors with freaky masks would pop out and try and get you.  If they got you you would have to go to jail.  Friday was really fun.

(This is a picture from the Internet.)


This is my favourite candy bar!
 

Turtle Beach by Aimee



The day at Turtle Beach was really fun.  It is about a 25 minute car ride and then a 15 minute boat ride from where we live.  We went with the Millers who are people from Dalat.  The boat ride was really fun and fast.  When we got to the beach we started swimming.  The water was really relaxing and warm!  We also climbed on huge rocks and that gave us a really good view.  There was no one else there except us.  But later on in the afternoon people started passing by on the boats.  After a little while swimming I felt a stinging pain on my leg.  I got out of the water and that's when I saw a HUGE jellyfish!  It had died and it had drifted to shore.  I don't know if that dead jellyfish had stung me (Mrs. Miller thought dead ones can still sting) or if it was another jellyfish.  My mom and Mrs. Miller dragged it to shore with two sticks.  It was really gross.  I put some cream on the stinging.  Then we started to be more cautious in the water. But we weren't cautious enough because Elizabeth and Hannah got stung also.  Elizabeth saw the jelly fish that stung her but no one else saw any other jellyfish other than the dead one.  Right after that the boat came and we left. We were lucky because right when we stepped off the pier to go to our car it started to rain!  It was a very exciting and amazing day at Turtle Beach.

Just after I got stung.  Was it this huge dead jellyfish that did it?



This is Turtle Beach. That might be my dad down below.





One of the turtles we saw at the Turtle Sanctuary farther down the beach.

Lizzie got stung the most.  This is taken two days after she got stung on her leg.  She also got stung on her thumb.



Rainy Season by Hannah

Rainy Season

 

In Malaysia, when it rains, it rains really hard.  Right now, we are in the middle of rainy season and it seems like the thunder and lightning and storms will never stop.  Sometimes there can be a storm for the entire day.  It can be fun but at the same time it gets to be a disruption because first of all, in certain places at school there are no umbrellas so we usually end up getting soaking wet.  (The school has a lot of umbrellas but people will be coming and going to certain places and using up all the umbrellas at that place so sometimes there are none left where you want them.)  Also, if you wear nice shoes they get ruined really easily in the rain.  Another thing is that every time it rains the boys go out and play barefoot soccer in the mud and rain so for Social Studies and English, our classes after PE and Lunch, the classrooms smell awful!  Although barefoot soccer does sound fun.

I am pointing to an upside down cockroach.  Come to think of it, we have seen fewer of these bugs since the rainy season started!