tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599498440085229712024-03-04T21:31:27.491-08:00Updates from MalaysiaWhen you come to this country, you enter a strange and wonderful land. When you teach English in this country, you become a strange and wonderful part of it.Elisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507547141264493494noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-459949844008522971.post-6279592499136330462011-10-31T21:31:00.000-07:002011-10-31T21:31:17.173-07:00Last Days And Memories
Here are a few more stories to keep you all up to date!
This last weekend was a long break - we had an extra day off of school for the Indian festival of lights, Deepavali. I took the chance to go to Kuala Lumpur for a few days and say goodbye to swing dancers and hostel owners that I'd gotten to know. My last dance with KL Swing was fantastic, of course, and my third (or Elisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507547141264493494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-459949844008522971.post-4650869128907533242011-10-04T23:24:00.000-07:002011-10-04T23:24:41.513-07:00A Collection of Illustrated AnecdotesI have all sorts of excuses for not writing for so long, but it all boils down to that feeling that you get when you see the dirty dishes in the sink.
And you think, "Not now. I want to eat some more ice cream now. I'll wash the dishes when I'm done eating." And then after that, there's just too many dishes to be bothered with until after your next meal. And by then,Elisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507547141264493494noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-459949844008522971.post-1832127387536072072011-07-18T03:22:00.000-07:002011-07-18T03:22:29.924-07:00The Speech Choir, Part TwoHere it is, the unexpected continuation of the story of our speech choir!
Two months after the district-level speech choir competition, the Bright Stars celebrated their accomplishment with an awesome beach barbecue. We distributed certificates, took pictures, stuffed ourselves with good food, and enjoyed each other's company. We even chatted about how much we missed having Elisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507547141264493494noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-459949844008522971.post-67080444497773989302011-06-27T20:13:00.000-07:002011-07-11T00:29:12.119-07:00I'm Back!Okay, I was actually back over two weeks ago. But there are a lot of things that I've been really busy procrastinating since then, so putting off writing this blog post just had to wait.
I can't write in detail about me and Nou's amazing trip to Laos and Cambodia, because just thinking about the amount of detail involved makes me want to go bury my head in a bag of cookies. So here Elisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507547141264493494noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-459949844008522971.post-65015892306632621362011-05-24T20:26:00.000-07:002011-05-24T22:17:04.730-07:00The Eve of AdventureThis post will be quick - I'm leaving for Laos and Cambodia tomorrow! It's gonna be amazing, but that does mean one more awesome trip that I have to procrastinate posting about.
Meanwhile, let me tell you about Teacher's Day, which was this day two weeks ago that was basically set aside for nothing but fun. Instead of work and classes, the students and teachers spent the whole day Elisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507547141264493494noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-459949844008522971.post-82318241145085249702011-05-08T23:37:00.000-07:002011-05-08T23:37:17.360-07:00In which Elise and Caitlin visit KL and SingaporeWow, so, I just discovered the "Stats" portion of my blogger account, and I gotta say, I'm super flattered that there are people from places like India and the Philippines looking at this thing. Hi guys! :-D
I'm posting late now because I just spent the last ten days in a whirlwind of exhausted traveling. I almost forgot what it's like not to be in sleep-debt. My awesome Elisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507547141264493494noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-459949844008522971.post-92197008421123770512011-04-26T19:39:00.000-07:002011-07-18T03:25:21.780-07:00The Speech Choir"Wait… What exactly is a speech choir?" I must have asked this same question at least three different ways when I was first told that I would be in charge of one.
Various people went to a lot of trouble to explain. The head English teacher, Madam Azimah, showed me video clips, competition rules, and a sample script or two, and the students who had been in previous years' speech Elisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507547141264493494noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-459949844008522971.post-8352488625581904212011-04-19T23:39:00.000-07:002011-04-26T00:26:13.379-07:00Eating With Your Hands 101There is a lot of hand-vs-food-phobia among Americans, and although I understand why, I'm of the opinion that it is totally unfounded. Therefore, I've decided to draw on my experiences in Kenya and Malaysia and provide this simple introductory guide to eating with one's hands. Don't worry, guys, people do this all over the world! They're not dead yet!
Step One: Wash your hands.Elisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507547141264493494noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-459949844008522971.post-10944170574218678112011-04-13T07:49:00.000-07:002011-04-13T21:59:57.715-07:00That Was TodayOkay, I promised myself I wasn't going to let another two weeks go by without posting. This one's gonna be a quickie though. [Okay, I lied. I guess I couldn't resist writing until way past my bedtime.]
I accomplished three things today, with a great deal of trial-and-error: a) teaching two classes, b) supervising speech choir practice, c) pulling off a massive Treasure Elisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507547141264493494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-459949844008522971.post-86651552044452259042011-04-03T18:12:00.000-07:002011-04-04T23:06:20.901-07:00Post Quick, Before Everyone Goes Away!Hey guys, sorry I haven't posted in so long. I was trying to write a really epic blog post about Vietnam, and then I realized that the longer it took me to write this epic post, the less I would want to keep writing it and the less anyone would actually want to read it. I might even go the way of Hyperbole and a Half, trying so hard to outdo myself every time that I end up posting Elisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507547141264493494noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-459949844008522971.post-11026413771709576592011-03-07T21:34:00.000-08:002011-03-08T21:23:53.931-08:00Photo Tour of School and Activities[Pics are up!]
So nothing really exciting has happened since my last post, aside from a couple of awesome weekends up in Khota Baru and out at Sekayu Waterfalls. But I'll get to that later. I've been meaning to post a small photo-tour of my school, and this looks like a good time to do it!
My school is set up in a rough L-shape, with the girls' hostel (dorm) on one end and the boys'Elisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507547141264493494noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-459949844008522971.post-29482305106798459242011-02-23T22:45:00.000-08:002011-02-26T17:37:27.585-08:00The Embassy Says HiSo the most amazing thing happened to me yesterday. I had about fifteen or sixteen extra sets of eyes watching me teach a class - as well as a few video cameras!
The extra eyes belonged to people from the State Government and the Education Department, people from MACEE, and two very important guests: the American Ambassador to Malaysia, Paul W. Jones, and the Malaysian Ambassador to Elisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507547141264493494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-459949844008522971.post-73280160541781299752011-02-20T01:52:00.000-08:002011-02-22T22:28:23.254-08:00Highlights of First Few WeeksSorry I haven't posted in a while, guys! At least it feels like a long time to me, what with how busy I've been. I've been putting in a lot of time getting settled here at my school. My bug bites have subsided, and I've made friends with the cool geckos that scurry around my apartment in the evenings. I like to imagine that they're specifically targeting all the mosquitoesElisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507547141264493494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-459949844008522971.post-27403070116913067132011-02-10T05:25:00.000-08:002011-02-10T05:25:58.357-08:00Photo Tour of ApartmentHello and welcome to this stunning and comprehensive photo-tour of my living quarters here at SMK Lembah Bidong!
To give you some context, my apartment is located on the second floor of a small, four-storey complex in the corner of the school campus. It is literally a ten-second walk to the girls' dormitories and cafeteria, where I usually eat dinner, and about a two minute walk to Elisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507547141264493494noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-459949844008522971.post-40858725385655826102011-02-06T21:00:00.000-08:002011-02-06T21:00:39.406-08:00Chinese New Year[NOTE: I split up that massive last blog post, so now it's in two consecutive posts. This is the second one.]
We've had Tuesday through Saturday off for Chinese New Year, which is a big deal around here. I came down to Kuala Terengganu for the break and am staying with the ETAs here in their apartments. Several other ETAs had similar ideas, and these apartments have practicallyElisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507547141264493494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-459949844008522971.post-54324159710096076242011-02-04T22:11:00.000-08:002011-02-06T19:48:33.304-08:00My School[EDITED]
So, I finally moved to my school last Thursday (the 27th).We left right after the Handing-Over Ceremony, where the Head of the Department of State for the state of Terengganu personally presented each of us to officials from our schools. On our way, we stopped by a minimart, then drove 45 minutes out from the city, passing more and more jungle-y underbrush and houses on stilts Elisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507547141264493494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-459949844008522971.post-72378712621649790382011-01-25T20:49:00.000-08:002011-01-28T23:00:50.750-08:00Orientation Almost OverNOTE: pictures finally added! Thanks for keeping in touch, everyone! You're awesome :-)
It's weird; home is like a dream now, but so is being here. In about three weeks of orientation, we've covered a lot of material, but what we're here to do still seems so unreal. We're getting pretty seriously pampered right now - staying in nice hotels with free meals and internet, Elisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507547141264493494noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-459949844008522971.post-30826092427057167422011-01-15T00:26:00.000-08:002011-01-15T23:28:00.774-08:00Kuala Terengganu
Yeah, so, I'm stopping addressing my blog to specific people - it doesn't seem to be making much of a difference in how often I post or how much people comment. This one goes out to you, random internet ether.
Orientation has now progressed to the next level! We are currently kickin' it in Terengganu, the very province we'll be teaching in. The Terengganu state department are Elisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507547141264493494noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-459949844008522971.post-60716178829284752172011-01-08T02:24:00.000-08:002011-01-08T02:26:24.969-08:00Schools Assigned!Dear Mom,
I don't know if you've managed to get your computer to display my blog yet, so I don't know if you're reading this. But, I wanted to let you know - we finally got our school assignments! Jim Coffman, the program director, was holding on to them until they were confirmed, but he just seemed to love holding back something we all wanted to know so badly.
There are six of us Elisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507547141264493494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-459949844008522971.post-76035188026381814242011-01-06T05:48:00.000-08:002011-01-06T05:51:31.079-08:00Waaay Too Detailed UpdateHEY... SO: Kuala Lumpur is 14 hours ahead of Chicago time, 13 hours ahead of East Coast time. This means that I will most likely be waking up the next morning while you're still cooking dinner. As awesome as this is in theory, it means I'll probably be available during the most inconvenient times for communicating with you. We will try anyway. P.S. I have a Elisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507547141264493494noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-459949844008522971.post-79970547455670588522011-01-04T03:32:00.000-08:002011-01-06T05:36:52.615-08:00First Update Actually From Malaysia!**EDITED**
Dear Adam,
I decided to write my blog as a series of open letters, because it's more fun that way and it'll probably keep me more dedicated. I hope you don't mind me addressing the first one to you, but there is a reason for this, I promise.
So anyway, here's a fun story. I just traveled 10,000 miles in about 36 hours.
The flight to Hong Kong and the one from there to Elisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507547141264493494noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-459949844008522971.post-24467159340469089772011-01-02T09:44:00.000-08:002011-01-02T09:53:04.774-08:00Predeparture: T minus 1 hourCurrently I am sitting in the Little Rock airport before my first of four flights, and my goal is to get as much written as possible before boarding.
I managed to fit everything I needed into one large suitcase and a backpack! Go me! There's even extra space for bringing stuff home, so people should let me know what they want from Southeast Asia. I'm warning you, if you don't Elisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507547141264493494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-459949844008522971.post-49388299547714144292010-12-22T13:30:00.000-08:002011-08-18T21:31:40.325-07:00Predeparture: T minus 11 daysTest post, testing...testing... I made a blog!
Many of my friends are more visually oriented than I am. If this thing is an offense to your eyes, please tell me how to fix it.
In other news, I have officially left Rochester and it will be a long time before I stop whining about how much I miss the place, so I'll try to keep a lid on it. Anyway, there are many people all over Elisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16507547141264493494noreply@blogger.com0