On My Way To School Today #6

Why is the road like this?
Because when the paving machines came by, a car was parked here and nobody bothered to move it

On My Way To School Today #5

Four foot dead monitor lizard (someone obviously put it on a piece of cardboard for some reason)

Bad photo but you get the idea - and maybe that's a good thing (tongue is sticking out)

College Applications, by Hannah

Right now is the main time for college applications. Colleges want to know my S.A.T. score, my cummulative Grade Point Average, the classes that I have taken, and basically my whole life story. Despite the fact that I am only applying to 3 universities, I have written 5 essays and I have spent many hours navigating complicated processes.

I am enjoying the possibilities that applying to these universities will bring. I am looking forward to college, even though I know that it will be a challenge. I am applying for U.B.C., U.F.V., and possibly Kwantlen or Douglas College.

I am looking for good science programs.  However, these days I am focusing on not failing physics :)

Super Moon Viewed in Malaysia, Nov. 14, 2016

Taken right outside our townhouse on the street, about 10:15 p.m.

Shoe Line-up

Here is a different view of my students in their P.E. uniform ready to go to lunch:

On My Way To School Today #4

Walking to school today, this is what I saw:

I walk to the wet market sometimes on the way to work and there was a crowd gathered there this morning all looking the same direction.  Of course that attracted my curiosity about what they were looking at.  This view reminded me vaguely of 9/11

This picture is taken standing right outside Dalat (the guardhouse of the school is the little building on the bottom left of the picture).  The towers are about a block up the street from Dalat.  They are beautiful residences.  I never found out what happened, though by about lunch time the fire looked to be under control

Aimee's Video

Here is a video that Aimee made with her friends for Bible class.  It is a modern take on the story of Joseph' dream in Egypt.

Aimee Portraying Joseph

A Sad Animal Story, by Hannah

In the past 2 months or so our family has seen a sad and horrifying example of animal cruelty. Two dogs have been trapped in tiny cages and appear to have a lack of nutritious food. They are fed only rice. The reason for this cruelty is the construction that is going on at their owner's home which is around the corner from our home. Thus, the dogs have been shut out from the construction site and have not been let to roam around since about a month and a half ago. We pass this house every day on the way to school.  The home owners have decided to drastically expand their home, just about doubling the square footage from the looks of things. These owners have moved into a rental home that is directly across the street from our house.  A few weeks ago, we saw an SPCA truck outside the home, and one of the dogs was taken away, we presume because it wasn't doing very well. We have not seen him since.  Now we watch sadly as the remaining dog is left in the cage. He has ceased barking, seldom raises his head, and won't even stand up as far as I have seen. It is upsetting for me to see as I run past, and my mom is sad to see that this situation continues (she can't bear to look at the dog as she walks past every day to school). We hope to see that some solution comes of this sad story.

The house under construction

My Job, by Hannah

This past summer I spent about a month working as a teacher assistant at a school near to where I live. This job, though hard, has been very rewarding. I have learned so much (maybe even more than the kids I taught).

Some of the things that I have had to do for my job are plan lessons, teach lessons, prepare materials, and even write "report card" comments. I also had to accompany the students on different trips around Penang. This has given me a good opportunity to gain experience as a teacher and also explore the area where I live.

I learned that having a good attitude is an important key to learning. Many of the students in my class did not actually want to be in class. Most of my students were exchange students from China who had little to no knowledge of English, and did not necessarily wish to learn English. Their parents made them come.  Thus, many of the students were unmotivated and were a challenge to engage. I learned that motivation has a lot to do with learning.

Something else that I learned is that so much of communication is nonverbal. When I would be with the students or with a parent, many of the students or parents would speak in Chinese, even to me. Despite that, I was able to infer much of what they were saying based on the context and their tone of voice.

Having done all this, I am not sure that I would want to be a teacher. I do not think that I can handle the pressure of being around emotional little humans all day. I am not sure I would want to do that. Besides, I have found myself more than once this past month muttering under my breath, "When I'm older, I shall work with inanimate objects."

More than just learning, I had a lot of fun as well. I was able to take the kids I taught on a lot of outings. I was able to explore Penang. I was able to go to Escape (an outdoor adventure park), Entopia (a butterfly farm), do batik, as well as hike to Turtle Beach (where there are turtles). I really enjoyed exploring Penang and would love to do my job all over again if I could.

Outside the school where I worked; this is my first day of work 

The classroom where I was an assistant teacher

Dinuguan a.k.a. Pork Blood Stew, by Elizabeth

In Asia it is sometimes better not to ask what you are eating. You never know what it will be or what it will taste like.

When we went to Cebu, Philippines, my mom tried Dinuguan. She did not know what it was until afterwards.  Dinuguan is pork blood stew. Most people actually like it. Click here to watch someone trying it. 

Interviewing Mom:

What did it taste like?

It tasted like a beef stew with no vegetables and a thicker sauce.

Did you like it?

I did before I knew what was in it.

If you didn't know what it was would you have it again?

Before I knew what it was I liked it so much I had seconds.  But now I would not have it!

How we found out about what this food was made of was when we went to a Philippines market a few days later with a guide who was taking us on a slum tour and she pointed out some bags of pork blood for sale in clear plastic bags and explained how it was an ingredient in a stew that was very dark in colour.  That started to 'ring some bells' in my mom's mind because the stew she had eaten was an unusually dark colour.  Later in the market my mom saw some of the same stew for sale that she had eaten a few days before and sure enough our guide said it was the kind made from pork's blood.

Recipe for Dinuguan:

1½ lbs. of pork belly (pork butt is fine)

10 oz. of edible pork blood (orientex)

2 cups of chicken stock (water is fine)

1 cup of vinegar (datu-puti)

3 Tbs. fish sauce (rufina)

4 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed

1 medium onion sliced thinly

1 bay leaf (laurel leaf)

4 pcs. finger peppers

½ Tbs. ground black pepper

1 tsp. msg 

½ Tbs. kosher salt

oil for sauteing

Directions:

Prepare pork blood by straining it and separating the blood that is in a jelly form in a separate bowl.

Next add ¼ cup of water and break up the jellied blood with your hands and set aside.

Slice pork into small bite-sized pieces and set aside.

Using a casserole dish, heat 1 Tbs. of corn oil, add the pork, and spread it evenly on the bottom of the casserole dish.

Cover and let it cook on medium low heat for three minutes without stirring it.

Remove cover, stir the pork, and drain the liquid accumulated.

Add garlic and saute for one minute, then add the onions, stir, and cover.

Let it cook for another minute.

Next add fish sauce and bay leaf and saute for 3 minutes.

Then add ½ cup of vinegar, cover, and bring to a boil.

Lower the heat and let it simmer for 3 minutes.

Add the chicken stock and salt and let it simmer for five minutes.

Add the jelly formed pork blood first, stir for about a minute, then add the rest of the pork blood and the finger peppers.

Continue to stir for about two minutes, cover, and let simmer for another five minutes. Add another ½ cup of vinegar.

Again cover and let it simmer for an additional 5 minutes.

Adjust the taste by adding salt & pepper if needed.

That’s it, you’re done. Serve with white rice. Enjoy!

While They Were "Dying" We Were Dining, by Elizabeth

We recently went to Cebu in the Philippines. For one day, we had the choice of swimming with whale sharks or going on a city tour. I went on the city tour with Aimee and Mom. Kate, Hannah, and Dad went to swim with whale sharks. So I am going to tell you what happened from everybody's perspective and each person will tell about a part of the day

Elizabeth's perspective in the first part of the day on the city tour:

First, we went to a park were there was a huge statue of Lapu Lapu. Lapu Lapu is a guy who killed Magellan. Magellan was a Portuguese explorer who discovered the Phillipines.  Also at the park there was a boardwalk leading to the beach where the fight between the two of them broke out. There were a lot of crabs. It also showed the place where Lapu Lapu killed Magellan. Afterwards, we went to a guitar factory. There were a whole bunch of sound boards and guitar shells. Some of the sound boards were made with Canadian wood.  The actual shop had so many different types of guitars. I really enjoyed it.

Kate's perspective on the first part of the day for whale sharks:

We woke up at 3:00 a.m. and we picked up breakfast at the front desk of the hotel and the front desk called a taxi. The taxi took us to a bus station which took us to the whale watching place.When we got there we put our stuff in lockers and we got ready to go for the whale watching. Then this lady told us to follow her and with some other people we walked down the street to where the boats were.

Aimee's perspective on the second part on the city tour:

We went to a Taoist temple. We looked around and kind of relaxed. Then we went for a really good lunch.  At the lunch we had chocolate eh. Chocolate eh is this amazing warm drink that tastes like heaven in a sip.

Hannah's perspective on the second part of the day with whale sharks:

They gave us instructions and we went to the boat. We took a brief boat ride to where the whale sharks were. They were really big and they had large wide mouths. They eat lots of shrimp. I was fascinated.

Mom's perspective on the third part of the day on the city tour:

We went to the Yap family ancestral San Diego home and saw many interesting things. It was like an antiques museum but we could touch everything (which was surprising because things were fragile and perhaps valuable and there were no security guards or cameras). After the San Diego home we drove through the market but we didn't get out because it was unsafe and our tour guide's vehicle might have gotten vandalized. After, we went to the place where Magellan planted the cross for Spain. It was a very large cross but Magellan's real cross was inside the large cross.  Then we visited the Catholic church where many people were praying. There was a fake statue of Augustine and Mary, Jesus' mother.

Dad's perspective on the last part of the day with the whale sharks:

After the whale sharks we got changed and looked for someone to drive us to some waterfalls. We got someone to drive us to Aguinid Falls. We spent about an hour at the waterfalls and then drove back to where the briefing center was for the whale sharks. We then took our bus back to Cebu City which was about a 4 hour ride going back because there was more traffic on the road than in the morning.

Elizabeth's perspective on the last part of the day on the city tour:

Then we went to a fort called San Pedro. The fort was really cool and we got lots of cool pictures.

Guitar factory - you could choose the sound board according to its style and kind of wood

Taoist temple

Lunch during the city tour.  Mom ate a meat dish (and tried to get us to try it too) that she said was very good, that is until she found out later it was made of blood from a pig (see the post about Dinuguan)

Chocolate eh

Inside the Yap family ancestral home wearing some crowns

Explanation abouy the Yap home

The place supposedly where Magellan planted a cross.  The real cross is inside this larger cross to protect it

The fort

The End

Kate Getting Her Ears Pierced

As a rite of passage for our family, turning 13 years old, Kate got her ears pierced.

Choosing the earrings

Excited

X marks the spot

Here comes the (earring) gun

A little bit of "freezing"

All done!

At the Mall Yesterday

Eating cotton candy with trolls

Church Today

This morning at church it was Children's Sunday.  Kate and Elizabeth helped to lead worship.

Kate chose the songs too

The kids in the church

Hannah and Aimee happy for their sisters

Coaching and Reffing Soccer Games

Yesterday Hannah was a soccer referee and Aimee was a soccer coach for some younger Dalat students in their games.  They both enjoyed the experience.  I think they came to realize that those positions are harder to do than they seem.

Some of these Dalat boys in blue are my Grade 2 students

Senior Sneak: Koh Samui

This past week I spent five days with my classmates in Koh Samui, Thailand. At Dalat, seniors take a class trip at the beginning of the year. We call this trip sneak because the location and the dates are supposed to remain a secret from the rest of the school. My dad was able to come with us because he is one of the sponsors,

On Monday, we had to go to school for a regular school day. That school day felt very long and drawn out as our entire class was anticipating the upcoming senior sneak.

The next morning, at 5:40 in the morning we had to meet at school to get on the buses. From there we had a two or three hour drive to the Malaysian-Thai border. We then had to wait for about an hour and a half to go through the border. We then had to drive another six hours to the area from which we could take a ferry to the island. Then we had to take a two hour ferry. It was a long trip, but it was a great opportunity to sleep, hang out with classmates, listen to music, and play stupid games.

Eventually we got to the island and got to hotel. From there we went to dinner, which unfortunately, due to the tardy nature of the restaurant we choose, took two hours. By this time it was very late so I just chose to crash.

The next morning was our service project. In order to get to the school that we were doing our service project at we needed to ride in the back of pickup trucks. When we got to the school we were introduced to the first of five groups of students. We then sang a song with them, played amoeba tag, then ran through English skits together. We went through five of these groups. Each time the Thai students were so excited to see us and insisted on taking billions of pictures with some of my classmates.

After this tiring service project we went to the beach and had lunch on the beach. Some of my friends and I decided that we were also going to go find a coconut tree and try to get coconuts. So we got someone to climb a coconut and get a whole bunch of coconuts, then we proceeded to eat them. The coconuts were very good, and surprisingly enough, none of us got sick.

We then went back to our hotel and had free time. I played games with my classmates and most of the games we played had some form of violence. I shockingly did not get hurt (that comes later).

The next day we had a tour involving zip lines, waterfalls, and water slides. Again, much of the day had some crazy stuff that we could do. We got a ride to the tour by these jeeps and the jeep drivers were crazy. They would speed up and down hills, speed through potholes, and race over bumps. We eventually got to the first waterfall and my friends and I were able to climb through the forest to the top of the waterfall and sit on top of the large waterfall. We also got to feed some elephants, go down some really dangerous water slides, and go on a zip line course. It was a ton of fun.

On our final full day in Koh Samui we spent a day on a yacht. It was really fun. We took a two hour ride on the yacht out to the national park. During the two hour boat ride, we were able to blast our music over the yachts speakers. We had a great time. We then got to the national park and snorkeled for a while. After we were finished snorkeling we were able to jump off of the yacht. I was able to jump of the yacht into the water multiple times. On the final time I jumped of the yacht, just before I was about to surface, one of my classmates jumped off of the yacht onto me. So I tore my hamstring.

After that, we went to another island in the national park and went on a hike to a natural salt water pool. The salt water pool was really beautiful. After we got back from the hike we got back on the yacht and took our two hour ride back to the hotel. It was so sad to get back to the hotel and realise that it was our last night in Koh Samui.

The next day we had to get up early to take the trip out. We took the ferry once again. We then took the bus to the border. By the time we reached the border it was about 8:00 Malaysian time. But then my dad, my friend who happens to be Canadian, and me got held up at the Canadian border. We had to get special passes to get back into Malaysia. All in all, it was an amazing trip that I will never forget.

Some pictures:

Me on the ferry

Me jumping off the yacht

Me in the truck with some classmates. I am in the second truck facing away from the camera.

Incredible scenery on the bus ride back.

Me with some other students riding on top of the jeep during the waterfalls and zipline tour