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