McDonalds

     We have noticed some ways that McDonalds is different here.  First, there is usually, though not always, a separate counter for dairy items away from where you order the rest of the food.  This was true at two locations.  The other location where there is a McDonalds did not have a separate dairy counter, but it is in a more tourist-y location.  We think the reason for this (although really we are just guessing) is because with those who follow the Muslim religion, they cannot have any dairy and beef in proximity to each other.  So if the restaurant wants to be able to hire Muslims, they have to provide two separate locations for those two food items.  I guess that the McDonalds in the more tourist location does not have any strict Muslims working there.

To the left is the main counter where you order your food.  This McDonalds is on the ground floor below Tesco which is where we do our grocery shopping most of the time.  We have 'Tesco Tuesdays' most weeks where we eat downstairs in a kind of food court (not usually at McDonalds though) and then get our groceries upstairs.

The other difference is that there is special pricing at McDonalds if you come at certain times, for example, between noon and three and then again after 6pm.  You can get a much better deal (ie almost half price) if you order a McChicken meal during those times.  We waited 7 minutes the other day to get our "good deal" for one of our daughters.  Sure enough, right at 6pm, a big line-up began.  They just flipped the red signs below.

These girls are dressed in their school uniforms (not Dalat's).    On the sign on the far left is a picture of Coca Cola cups in different colours that you get for free if you order a certain meal deal.  We had those cups stocked up in our kitchen when we first arrived here and those are what we use.

Another difference is that at least at one of the McDonalds they have really long tables where there is seating for maybe 12 to 16 people at these tables.  No one joined us at our table though the one time we sat there.

The picture is blurry but you get the idea.

They don't have vinegar and didn't even seem to know what that was when I asked for it.

You can get crushed corn flakes on top of your McFlurry if you like.

It seems that lime is a really popular choice for McFlurry's.  They advertise it a lot.  The prices are in Ringgits, the local currency.  Divide by 3 to get the Canadian dollar equivalent.

A Critter in my Classroom

About two weeks ago, while working late one night, I heard a scurrying sound in the ceiling of my classroom.  It was thankfully across the room from where I was sitting but it was enough to freak me out a little but not to really think about it too much.  It was definitely not a bird as it was like scurrying feet and not so small of a sound that a mouse might make but I couldn't be sure.  My imagination and Canadian background prompted me to think it was a raccoon.  I did not do anything about it.

I happened to mention it a few days later to my Grade Two teaching partner as just a kind of light-hearted story telling, but she turned serious right away.  She told me a shortened version of a story that had happened at Dalat a few years ago.  There was a fire that destroyed one of the classrooms at the school; it was a big deal.  It turned out the cause of the fire was an animal chewing through some wiring in the ceiling of a classroom.

I immediately put a request to have maintenance check out what was happening in my classroom and they put a metal trap up there.  A couple of days later I heard the same scurrying sound and knew the little animal was still up there and hadn't been caught in the trap yet.  About a week after that the maintenance men came back one morning before school; I happened to be there at the time and was very excited to see if anything had been caught.  Sure enough, inside the metal trap was a rat (see picture).  No more exciting sounds since then.

Orang Asli

Last Sunday was a day - a full day - that I won't soon forget. My day started by my alarm clock waking me up at 4:30 am so as a family we could be at the school by 5:30. There we met a small group, followed them in our vehicle to a local Methodist Church, loaded up with supplies, prayed together, and set out for a small village three hours away called Orang Asli. There we helped to lead a Sunday School lesson and also an English class for the local children, ranging in age from about 5 to about Hannah's age. Our family was brought along to be props for the English lesson which followed the format below:

Subject: English Lesson

I am_____. I am a girl/ boy. I am ______
you are_____. You are a girl/boy.
You are my friend/teacher......etc.
He is ______. he is my father/........etc.
Bah Firus is a boy. He is...... Mr Lee is a man. He is......
She is______. she is my mother/.......etc.
Wah Fifi is a girl. She is .........
Mrs Lee is a woman. She is ......
Miss Tan is a woman. She is ......
We are Orang Asli. We are good people.
Mrs Lee and I are friends. We are good friends.
They are small boys. They are happy.
Mrs Lee and Miss Lee are friends. They are teachers.
My mother and father are good.They are good to me.
The trees are big. They are very old.
The cat is big. It is a big cat.
he table is small. It is a very small table.
I am
You are, We are, They are
He is, She is, It is

Our family has a "father", "mother", etc. and thus we could be pointed to and introduced to help with the lesson. In all seriousness though, this group of people who serve in Orang Asli on a monthly basis were short on numbers, and were also expecting a larger group of children than usual, and we were able to help in a number of ways, eg set-up of the service, crowd control, lead small groups in their English lesson, etc. We were given some breakfast (noodles in a soy type sauce) and lunch (fish, beans, bamboo shoots, rice, and a spicy dish which none of us had). On the way back to Tanjung Bunga we hit a huge rainstorm and that was the moment our own van konked out on us. It involved two tows for about two hours, a delay of a couple of hours getting back to town (the people in the other van were an incredible support and help to us, translating and transporting some of us), and a very large fix-up bill for our van (it took about half a month's salary and a week later we still don't have it back yet). Any regrets? None! Would we go again? Absolutely! Would we take our 4 cylinder van across those hills again? That would probably be a 'no' :) Below are pictures that will say more than my words.

This is the church where the Sunday School and English lesson was held.  Everywhere in Malaysia it is customary to take your shoes off outside the door.  Nobody seems to lose their shoes though.  The picture on the right is the van we were following.

This is a picture of a house right next to the Church.  Most houses were set off the ground but for some reason the church was not.  There were definite spaces between the boards that you could peek in if you wanted to (we didn't :).

This is a close up of the above house, taken to show the little separate meeting room where some men are gathered presumably to chat.  No walls, grass roof, off the ground.  This little "room", just at the entrance to their village, was where quite a few people gathered to wave good-bye to us when we left.

Looking inside the Church which is where the Sunday School met and where some of the English classes were held. About 10 - 15 more children came later, bussed in from another village.  The two ladies sitting on the stairs are from Dalat.  The lady in pink is a Kindergarten teacher and the one on the left is in charge of the Care and Share program which oversees community outreach programs.  The lady standing up at the front is also one of the organizers of this particular outreach.  She is the one who invited us, and also happens to be the girls' piano teacher. 

When we first arrived at the village we were served a meal that was like a spaghetti with a soy sauce type look to it and with bok choy in it.  It was a bit unusual for us as it is about breakfast time.

Two girls in the class about the same age as Hannah and Aimee. They probably knew English the best.

A cute little girl.

Telling a Bible story using a felt board and felt figures.  Aimee is helping with holding the figures. The lady behind the felt board translated for us.

Hannah helping some of the girls with their English.

Cooking lunch over an open fire.

Drainage from the washing up area that drained down below by Garth's feet. The water didn't really follow the metal sheeting but just ran off into the grass.  There were chickens scrabbling around this area.  It also happened to be right beside the communal toilet (a hole in the ground - a "squatty potty").  I did not look too closely at the mud right there.

Singing songs with the children in an open multi-purpose room. This particular song was a different version of 'Jesus Loves Me' with actions.

Kate sitting around with some of the children in front of the fan. It was very hot! This is at the front of the church.

This seemed to be an outdoor shower room that looked like it was shared by many families.

A water source for the village.

Moms looking into the Church during the final part of the program.

Another house close to the entrance of the village

Shoots sprouting from coconuts that had fallen to the ground. This was symbolic to me of new life springing out of ugly dead seeds.

Hillside Stalls

In Penang, we find that we are eating out more often. Part of the reason for this is because we work very long hours (from about 7:30 to about 5:30 or 6:00).  Also, the food is very cheap, perhaps cheaper than we could make ourselves and certainly less time and effort - consuming.  Most of the time we eat at Hillside Stalls which is about a 5 to 10 minute walk from the school. Penang is famous for its stall food (rated by CNNGo  as one of the 10 greatest cities in Asia for street food). Supposedly people travel a long way, even from overseas, just to eat at the different stalls in Penang.

Char kway teow with watermelon juice

So far, my (Garth) favourite dish in Penang is Char kway teow. It is medium width rice noodles stir fried with egg, vegetables, shrimp and Chinese sausage in a dark soy sauce. My favourite drink at the stalls is watermelon juice. Together I can get both for about 5 RM or the equivalent of $1.66 Canadian.

Rudy's is where I buy my char kway teow at the Hillside Stalls.

Mutiara Cafe where I buy my watermelon juice.  They also sell pineapple juice, ice tea, apple and orange juice,  and other drinks including a favorite of the girls' - Milo which comes either hot or cold and tastes like hot chocolate / chocolate milk.

At Hillside, which is also true for other groups of stalls, they will have stalls that sell only Malaysian food, ones that only sell Western food, and ones that only sell beverages. You order from the stalls you want, and then they come and serve it to your table.

Eileen and the girls eating at one of the tables at the stalls.  Aimee's friend is the one with blond hair with her back to the camera.  The pizza place is behind where we are sitting and to the right.  Aimee and Elizabeth will sometimes split a pizza from there.

We usually go for supper at 6:15 p.m. The Hillside stalls are just opening at that time. Some stalls are more for lunch and open around 11:00 a.m. and close around 6:00 p.m. Other stalls are more for supper and will open at 6:00 p.m. and stay open quite late, even past midnight. People in Penang usually eat their supper late. At 6:00 p.m. when we go for supper, the stalls are not that busy but if you drive by the stalls at 10:00 p.m., it is very busy.

Garth and the girls at the stall. The extra girl is a friend of Aimee's. The dark drinks are Milo. We have reserved having Milos usually for Wednesdays as a treat for the middle of the week.  Elizabeth usually likes hers hot (even in the hot weather) while the others like theirs cold.

On Thursdays, we do takeaway because Hannah has to be at Girls Scouts for 7:00 p.m, so we usually eat the food in Eileen's classroom. People here don't call it take-out. They call it take-away. I can still get my favourite dish with watermelon juice, but the watermelon juice is in a plastic bag tied up with a string. You loosen the string just enough to put your straw through.

Takeaway Thursday with our beverages in a plastic bag.  Hannah was too shy to be in the picture.  Looks like most are drinking either lemonade or pineapple juice.

September Notes . . . Keep Checking Back

September 30th
     Some of us get a lot more stomach aches here than in Canada; not bad ones, just uncomfortable after eating a meal.    

September 29th
     I think we have now entered the rainy season.  Since about the last two weeks or so, it is cooler (average temperature about 25 - 27 degrees) and it rains at least once a day.  It rains really hard, often just as children are starting their lunch time coincidentally, but it won't last too long usually, less than an hour. Often it will rain during the night but it will usually stop raining by the time the sun comes up.  There will be large puddles or even flooding in the middle of the fields because the water just can't be absorbed that quickly.  Then it will turn bright and sunny and except for the wet grass or roads, you would never know it rained.

September 22nd
     Garth and I have figured out that just like in Canada where the Chinese food is OK but not great, but delicious here in Malaysia, the Canadian food here is OK but not great as it is in Canada.  An example is any kind of hamburger or chicken burger that you can get here, including at McDonalds or Burger King.

September 21st
     I figured out how to time having a bath so the water temperature is just right.  First, I turn on the hot water light which is right outside the bathroom door so the water can start heating up.  Then  I clean up my clothes from the day before and make the bed (approximately 7 minutes).  After laying out the bathmat, the water should be warm enough for a temperate bath which is good enough for this hot weather.  If I want a hot bath, I would have to wait about 12 - 15 minutes.

September 8th
     Wow, another month has finished!  So many things come to mind about what to write about but        
sometimes they just don't stay in my mind long enough to get to a computer and record them for "posterity".  Thus, here we are in September and my last month's notes seem a bit scanty; I'll just have to try to be more diligent about "September's Notes" :)

- Unusual things to carry on a motorcycle in Penang #4:  A lawnmower

- Unusual things to carry on a motorcycle in Penang #5:  A weedwacker (thankfully a different guy than the one carrying the lawnmower)

- Injuries like scrapes and cuts take longer to heal here because the temperature is so much warmer and more humid.  (I am not quite sure how to explain why that is but we have been told that and have experienced it too.)  You have to be really careful to check if they get infected too because of the quick growth of ?bacteria ?germs

- The food stall where we ate dinner last night charged us for ice (no water, just ice):  20 sen.  Thankfully, it did not break our budget.  That equates to Canadian:  6.66 cents!

- There are no 1 sen.  All bills are either rounded up or rounded down to the nearest 5 sen.  We get advance practice here with what is coming to Canada.  I was happy on a walk this morning to find a 1 sen coin though lying on the ground.

- We have experienced (and were also told this in our Staff Orientation) that if you want to know where some place is, you can ask for directions but it doesn't mean that the directions will be accurate.   People are very polite here and won't say that they don't know where something is (like a restaurant or a store or a street).  They don't want to "lose face".  Instead they will just say their best guess or just vaguely say something and you could very well be sent in the opposite direction from where your destination is.     That happened to us last weekend when we were asking where a certain restaurant was and the fellow we asked pointed us to go straight even though we knew that it was somewhere to the left.  That wasn't the first example and I'm sure it won't be the last one.

Eileen's 3rd Class Newsletter

Newsletter #3 - Roman Days

Note:  You can see Elizabeth in one of the pictures.  The lady by the fire is my teaching partner, Jasmane Frans.

School by Elizabeth

I have four friends.  Dalat is fun.  I like playing with my friends.  We pretend that we are the mystery mix.  When we pretend we're the mystery mix, we solve mysteries.  We already solved one mystery.  The best part about Dalat is making friends.  I am already having a lot of fun.  There is a little snack store that you can get snacks after school.  The people at Dalat are fun to play with and there is a cafeteria.  There are lots of Dalat people in our neighborhood.  

Typed by Aimee

School by Kate

Things have been good.  I have made some friends.  There are really nice.  I have a nice teacher.   I have learned how to do Malay like nama [name], lapan [8], hi [hi], and apa [what].  After school I have clubs.  The clubs are community garden, spanish, and girl scouts.  My favorite is community garden.  My mom is a teacher.  I think my mom is a good teacher.                                                                                          

What I Do After School by Aimee

This is what I do after school:

Straight after school we go to eurekas.  Eurekas are after school clubs.  Some of the clubs that I have are study hall, soccer skills and girl scouts.  Some other clubs are mi vida loca (spanish) and swimming.  The after school clubs are really fun because you get to do lots of awesome things. After eurekas I get to play with my friends.  We run around the school or play soccer.  We have lots of fun.  But then I have to do my homework.  After I'm done we have a yummy dinner.

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Merdeka Day by Hannah

      Yesterday (August 31st) was Hari Merdeka.  It is the national holiday so we had no school.  Malaysia became a country in 1959 and then separated from the British.  Merdeka means Independence and Hari means Day.  Yesterday since there was no school my friends and I watched a movie together.  Afterwards we played night tag around the block.  Today we are going into Georgetown to go shopping.

In our living room watching a movie on the laptop.
Kate, Elizabeth, Karis, Aimee, Hannah, Kayla, and Carli

Georgetown

One Rolex Watch = Four Starbucks Coffees

     Last week, I(Garth) bought my first Starbucks coffee in Malaysia. This was my second Starbucks Coffee, because our host bought one for me within a few days after we arrived. I was shocked at the price for a large Starbucks coffee. It is even more expensive than in North America. I paid about 10 RM (Malaysian money), which would equal about $3.30 Canadian for a large coffee. (For non-Starbucks drinkers, an equivalent coffee in Abbotsford would cost about $2.30.)  To buy coffee anywhere else around here would cost at most 3 RM (about a $1.00). The coffee at Starbucks tastes the same as in North America.

Yesterday (Friday, September 7th), we went to Batu Ferrenghi for supper. It is the tourist area of Penang with a lot of hotels and some more tourist-y things to do. We decided to go through the night market which is like open air shopping along the sidewalk. One thing I have always wanted to buy was a "Rolex" at the night market - I am sure they are the real thing :). I think the orginal asking price was about 135 RM (about $45), but I was able to talk him down to 40 RM (about $13). I was glad it was still working this morning when I woke up and had the correct date on it.

This is a similar image to what the watch looks like. The date is not magnified on my watch.