BEST DAY EVER

Excuse my enthusiasm, but today was the BEST DAY EVER and I am going to take this opportunity to write all about my school while I'm feeling so positive and excited about it.

Sekolah Menengah Kabangsaan Matang, also known as SMK Matang, Matang Bestari, Matang Smart School, and SEMAT, is located in the village of Matang about 1 hour West of Kuala Terengganu, the capital city of the state of Terengganu, and 20 minutes West of Kuala Berang, a small town of probably a couple thousand people. As we are considered to be out in the boonies here, the population is 99.9% Malay. The drive to Matang from Kuala Berang is absolutely gorgeous- fields of palm groves, small and quaint rural houses, and rolling green foothills line the highway.

The school itself is actually a nice complex. The pinkish orange paint of all of the buildings against the surrounding greenery makes it quite festive. It is a small school, so there are only 4 buildings ("blocks") of classrooms, plus a cafeteria (canteen) and Surau (small mosque). Right next door to the school is where we live is the "hostel" (also called the dormitory or, in Malay, "asrama"), with its own cafeteria and 2 badminton courts. Looking out from our living room window, Ez and I can see the school, the hostel cafeteria, and the kids playing badminton, takraw, hackey sack and a strange version of volleyball that allows kicking.

Teaching at SMK Matang is almost like being in a movie. I'll see if I can illustrate the uniqueness of it for you here. Remember, I say all of this with love, not with bitterness, although sometimes I admit there is a fine line. Today though, it's all love:

At SMK Matang, school starts at 7:30am (Sunday through Thursday) with an assembly in the parking lot in front of the school. All 600 students line up perfectly, by class, with the boys standing in the front and the girls standing in the back. The teachers then proceed to make announcements for 45 minutes, about what I couldn't tell you, but by the look on the kids' faces it must be very very boring. On Sundays there is a special assembly, where the kids get to sing the national anthem, national song, and school song. This is slightly more fun for them I think, but they still look pretty miserable. After the assembly, most kids go off for their first period, but some always stay behind. I think that these 5-10 students are the ones who got in trouble the day before, as it seems that every day they must suffer a different humiliation. One time, as I mentioned earlier, the girls had their shoes and socks taken away. Another time, a discipline teacher was designing funny shapes into a few boys' hair with an electric hair clipper. Strangely enough, the boys seemed to enjoy this much more than the assembly they'd just had.

My bulletin board

Once all of the kids head to class, prepared to study hard and learn as much as they can, all of the teachers head off to the cafeteria to get some breakfast. I go with them of course, so I can only assume that the students are sitting nicely in class, waiting for their teachers to come to the room with full bellies. After eating breakfast myself, I head back to the ladies' office to sit at my desk and prepare for class, check my email, read, and plan activities. It seems to me that teachers here barely ever have class, or at least often skip class without notifying the students. I thought that perhaps this was because they had meetings or other activities they were required to go to instead, but I've found out that the reasons are much simpler. I passed by a teacherless classroom last week on my way to my desk, where the students promptly ran to the door and greeted me. Making chit-chat, I asked them who and where their teacher was. They all told me that she was on her way. When I reached the office, I saw this teacher as she sat down at her desk, looked at her watch, shut her eyes and slept for the next 30 minutes. 10 minutes before the bell rang for the next period, she got up to go teach her class. The next day, as I was chatting with her over breakfast, I remarked that the students at SMK Matang were very well-behaved. She agreed with me and replied, appropriately "Well yes, we are very good here in discipline for the students, but the teachers here are very naughty!"


As you can see, I spend a large part of the day being very amused at just how different cultures can be. The other part of the day, I spend trying to figure out if I actually do have the classes listed on my schedule or not, as sometimes they are cancelled or moved without my knowing. A few weeks ago, I was preparing for my Form 2 class at 11:30, when the Form 2 teacher asked me how class went. I corrected her, saying that it didn't start until 11:30 (it was then about 11:15), and then she went on to tell me that no, it had been at 9:00 because it was moved. Well, nobody told me that of course... I've also had classes cancelled and then uncancelled without my knowing, which is also fun. It might sound frustrating, but I am learning to see it as really comical and kind of enjoy the surprise....which brings me to today, the BEST DAY EVER:

So, today, I was supposed to have class right at 7:40, but I found out yesterday that the class had been cancelled. However, I needed to make an announcement at assembly, so I got to school at 7:40 anyways. Turned out that assembly had been cancelled because it was pouring rain, so instead I went straight to the office to grab something and head back home. In the office, my mentor saw me and told me that actually, my class was not cancelled, and where had I been it was already 7:45 and the kids were waiting for me. So, quickly thinking of what activity to do with them for the next 80 minutes, I grabbed my bag and walked to the classroom. When I got there, the kids were sitting quietly and prepared to begin. I started to do an activity with them that would probably take about 30 minutes, but after 10 minutes, one girl raised her hand and said, excuse me Miss, but we have to go take an exam. Sure enough, they had an exam at 8:00, so after apologizing for making them stop short on the activity, I went back downstairs to the office. When I told my mentor, she looked at her schedule again and said, "Oh, they must have changed the time of the exam."

No problem, I was there anyways and needed to print something out, so I went off looking for a printer. An hour later, on printer attempt #26, I found a printer that worked. Totally contented and ready to see where else the day would take me, I went back to the office where I ran into the Form 6 SA 1 teacher, who asked if I would teach her class for her. Of course I agreed, and decided to do the same activities I was planning on with the morning class. At about 11:30, I get to 6 SA 1 and announce that life is too crazy to be bored all day, and that for the next 80 minutes we were going to have fun. The class started off with pretty much an Obama rally, as the students were interested in the elections and had me explain the process, the candidates, and why I disliked Bush. The latter of course was a huge hit, and we discussed all of things that could possible change about America with Obama as president.

A typical classroom

Then I had the kids to play a "surrealist game" (thank you Sarit!) thinking that maybe they needed some humor in their lives. Ez calls this game "1000 words." Each student writes down a sentence at the top of a page, any sentence in the world, and passes the paper on to the person sitting next to them. That person then draws a picture describing the sentence written above. The students then cover up the original sentence, just so that the picture is showing, and pass it on to the next person. That person then writes a sentence describing the picture, covers up the picture and passes it on. This continues, sentence-picture-sentence-picture, about 4 times, always covering up the previous ones so that the description evolves. At the end, the students all unfolded their papers to reveal the evolution their works had taken from the first sentence.


The class erupted in laughter. I encouraged them to go around the room and look at all of the sentences, and for about the next 20 minutes I experienced what I now know to be teacher's bliss. They were the happiest kids, 19-year olds I might add, cracking up nonstop as they read each others' papers, and as I walked around and looked at them, I found myself laughing too. This was enough to make any other frustration, any other minor issue that I had even for a moment been annoyed with, dissolve completely.

With another hour left, I had to think about what else we could do. I saw that they really liked drawing, so I remembered an activity Ellie had taught us about having the kids draw portraits of themselves in the past, present and future and present them to the class. This would be good, especially for Form 6 so they could practice the tenses. It took about 30 minutes to do this (all activities take about 4x as long as I think they will) and at the end, I asked them to present. One boy, now one of my favorite kids, volunteered to present his. It went a little something like this:

Student: "In the past, I was thin. Now, I am stronger!"

Rest of the class: "You mean fat!"

Student: "Ok, yes, now I am fat!"

Me: "And in the future?"

Student: "In the future, I will die."

Again, the classroom erupts in laughter, and doesn't stop for 20 minutes, while another 4 students present their self-portraits. Now, this happens to be a shy class, so the fact that I had volunteer presenters, VOLUNTEERS, is incredible and I was left speechless after the most fun 80 minutes I have spent in this country. If I can get all of the students to feel like that at least once, then all of this will be worth it.

And that, friends and family, is why today was the BEST DAY EVER.

PS: I posted new pictures in the Photos section, and a couple more videos in the Video section.

Let It Go

Me presenting a medal to a first place winner on Sports Day at my school. It is customary here for children to kiss the hand of their elders as a sign of respect. The three girls are standing on blocks labeled 1, 2, and 3, just like at the Olympics.

It's week 4 here in Matang, which absolutely blows my mind-- this experience is already going by so fast. Luckily I am starting to get the hang of life here, and things are starting to make a little more sense (relatively). I'm not sure if things are actually getting better, or if I am dealing with them better...it's hard to say. For example, it's not that the other women teachers whisper about me in Malay while I'm sitting right there any less, it's just that I am now imagining them saying how wonderful I am and what a great job I'm doing, instead of thinking that they are criticizing my every move. I may never know the truth, but as you will read in Jackie's blog, the truth isn't really important. Total survival mode.

It's not that it takes extreme measures to survive here, it's actually quite easy, as long as you are able to let anything go. That is what I am learning. Still don't have internet? Let it go. Class got canceled and nobody told you? Let it go. Tomorrow is a school holiday but you didn't know so you didn't have time to plan anything fun? Let it go. Wearing a skirt that reveals the silhouette of your lower legs and you're told to put on a "petticoat?" Let it go. It's a good lesson in any country really, so I am thankful to Malaysia for teaching it to me now.

Ez teaching a class.

My current struggle is not getting frustrated when people assume something about me for being a Westerner, and don't really listen to me when I try to explain the truth. Some people are very curious and always ask me things like my favorite color, my favorite food, my sister's name, etc, but when it gets to deeper things, they think they already know and either don't bother to ask, or interpret my explanation completely wrong because they think they already know the answer. For example, someone might ask, "Why don't you have rice in America?" to which I will reply, "Actually we do, we eat rice all the time," to which they will reply, "Why don't you like rice?" At first I thought this was a language issue, but after experiencing similar conversations with people who are quite competent in English, I really don't think it is. There are a lot of misunderstandings that go on because the cultures are so incredibly different. It can be really difficult, especially when the two cultures have different ideas of what is rude and what is not. Something I say that is perfectly normal for Americans, ie "You did a very good job on your essay," is considered inappropriate in certain situations. Yes, I learned that the hard way. There are so many different rules, and mostly I have been learning them by breaking them, so in order not to feel constantly under scrutiny, I really do have to just let it go.

But on to the things I love.

The students. There is nothing more fun than spending my time with the most polite, most excited, and most giggly teenagers I have ever met. Yes, I get a little tired out when 95% of the words I speak all day are "good morning" an "good evening," but mostly I am just happy that everyone always makes an effort to talk to me, even if they only say the few words they know. I was in the computer lab the other day, when a class of Form 1s (13-year olds) came in to talk to me. After a few minutes of blowing me kisses and telling me they loved me and missed me, they all handed me pieces of paper. I couldn't figure out what they wanted from me (by now they had maxed out their English vocab and were just throwing Malay words at me) until one student modeled it for me by signing her name. Apparently they wanted my autograph. I'm not sure why, I don't think they thought I was famous, but I suppose that being the first American they have ever met is enough. We don't realize back in the States that TV and movies have made us famous simply for being us. Of course in some countries it is pretty negative fame, but in Malaysia Americans are revered for the most part.

Another request I always get from the students is to sing them songs, and not just any songs; I am always, without fail, asked to sing them "Umbrella" by Rihanna. Why the kids are all obsessed with this song I don't understand, but I seriously need to memorize it so I don't disappoint them anymore when I can only sing the chorus. Sometimes they ask me to sing Green Day songs, which I am much happier about. If only I played guitar and actually had a good singing voice, I would be a superstar.

Most delicious lunch ever- "Daging Merah Goreng" (fried red meat)

Other things I love- how cheap the food is, and how easy it is to travel on the weekends. I probably spend less than $4 a day on food, and even though I am always picking sardines out of everything I eat (the rice, the salads, even puff pastries), it is a really good deal. Travel is also pretty cheap, but mostly it is a well-deserved break from the overwhelming feeling I often have at school. Last weekend Ez and I joined 6 other ETAs at Perhentian Island. What a beautiful place. We took a boat from Kuala Besut, about 2 hours north of here, for a 30 minute ride to one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. The boat ride was a little rough, but we were all ok with it, except for maybe Mike, who was screaming the whole time. Just a few 7 foot waves in a small 15 person speed boat, no problem.

First glimpse of the beach on Pulau Perhentian Kecil (Small Perhentian Island)

Some very happy campers


The view from our hostel's resaurant

No definite plans for my birthday yet- we have an ETA group outing planned for this weekend, but where and when exactly is still a mystery. Good ol' government planning.

Bikinis and Dirty Radiator Water

I am back at school after a long, wonderful weekend escape to the beach. The fun started last Wednesday, Ezra’s 23rd Birthday, when, like the good significant other that I am, I did absolutely nothing. Ez was of course very understanding, as I wouldn’t even know where to begin to buy him a gift and a cake, unless he wanted a bottle of 100 plus and a fish cake. Luckily, it was also our friend Saidi’s son’s birthday, so on his way to buy a cake for his son, he also picked one up for Ez. So nice! Ez and I did end up going out to dinner in the nearby town of Kuala Berang, where he ordered the very festive and disgusting “ABC” drink: a cup of shaved ice filled with rose syrup, condensed milk, gelatin, gumballs, grass jelly, corn, and barley. Happy Birthday Ez!

Ez with his "ABC" Surprise

Ez with his real cake, thanks to Saidi

Thursday was the start of Chinese New Year here in Malaysia, and the whole country had a day off. Fortunately for those of us in Terengganu, this meant we got a three-day weekend (weekends in Terengganu are Friday and Saturday). As you may have guessed, we didn’t have to go to Singapore. The government was able to fix our visas on time, so that was lucky (or not- a free trip to Singapore would have been lucky too). Instead, Ez and I took off to Cherating beach, a small beach town in the state of Pahang, about 3 hours drive from our town. Saidi (again to the rescue) lent us his car Thursday morning so that we could drive to the taxi station 15 km away, take a taxi 40 km to the bus station, and catch the bus for our 3-hour drive. Saidi warned that his car was very old, and that if the water meter started to rise above the halfway mark on the gauge, we should pull over immediately and add water to the radiator.

Of course, after about 10 minutes of driving, the meter was almost at the top pointing to “H,” so Ez quickly pulled over and we turned off the car. I opened the hood and found the radiator lid. Unfortunately, all knowledge of cars slipped by both of us in that moment, as well as my ability to read, as the radiator cap clearly said, IN ENGLISH, “Do not open when car is hot.” So, of course, I turn the lid slightly, and for a split second, hear some strange gurgling noises. I barely have time to wonder what they could be when BAM! The radiator cap blows off and a rush of dirty warm water shoots out, all over my face, hair and clothes, soaking me completely. This was not one of my smartest moments ever, but I am so thankful the water wasn’t hot. Ez got wet as well, but I think I got the worst of it. So folks, you probably already know this, but don’t try to add water to the radiator when the car is hot.

Luckily, water dries pretty quickly in this country, so I didn’t spend the rest of our journey dripping wet, though it probably would have served me right. We arrived at Cherating at about 4pm, about 3 hours later than expected due to bus delays and unforeseen obstacles, such as me having bought tickets to the wrong town, and having to take another bus to the right town after our 4 hour bus ride. Not my best day. It’s ok though, it was all worth it when we got out of the bus and saw the beautiful beach. Also, we found out that a few of our ETA friends were visiting a nearby town that weekend, and were also at Cherating beach for the day. We met up with them, swam in the ocean, and stayed out late celebrating Ez’s birthday and friendship all around. And yes, I got to wear my bikini on the beach, which was SO liberating after weeks of wearing long sleeve shirts and pants (or “drapes” as Mike would say). I was so happy that I didn’t even mind when a group of 20 local men gathered around me while I was on the phone with my dad and stood there while their friends took pictures. I think Ez was weirded out though.

Me in heaven


Ez doing what he does best


Our chalet at the beach. We met up with Mike, Joe, Chris and Zoe for a lovely beach experience.

Being back at school after such a great weekend is a bit of culture shock all over again, but I’m ready for it. I have started teaching and my classes are going really well! My students are so cute and, as you have probably read from Ezra’s blog, very entertaining. I have done mostly introduction exercises with them so far, getting them used to me and helping them gain confidence to speak to me. I usually ask them to say their names, favorite hobbies, and favorite word in English. Students here are VERY different than in the states. Their favorite words are usually words like “peace,” love,” and “harmony,” and sometimes “responsibility,” “loyalty,” and “hardworking.” They aim to please! One girl literally gave me an orange after class to say thank you. In our culture, this gesture would be akin to giving me an apple.

I would love to start doing some exercises like Ez does with his classes- haikus, stories, etc, but the teachers at my school are much more controlling about what I teach than his are. He has complete freedom (because he’s a man?), whereas I have to clear my lesson every day with the teacher of the class, and usually the teacher rejects it and tells me just to teach from the book, which I know I am not supposed to do. Mostly though, I have been doing my own lesson plans anyways, just using the topic that the class is currently covering. It has been a little bit more of a struggle for me though, as the teachers feel they need to monitor my every move (because I am a woman?). I am figuring out how to both please them and do my own thing, which is proving to be possible. I think the teachers don’t actually want me here to teach, but rather to do activities with the students a couple times a week during breaks and put up pretty posters in English, but I am much more interested in teaching than doing art projects that no one will look at anyways, so I have fought for 16 periods a week instead of 8. It took awhile for me to work up the courage to tell my mentor this, but when I did, it was so much better.

I just found out I have Thursday off again this week! Hmm…where shall we go?

Love,
Sarah

PS- I just uploaded photos of our apartment in the Photos section. Enjoy!

A Land Without Darwin

The first week here at Matang has gone by quickly, and I am thankful for that since it was a week without internet! It's amazing how addicted we are to this thing, I actually felt like I was going through some sort of emotional internet withdrawal. I'm not too happy with this discovery of my "addiction," but seeing as though we just got internet in our apartment, it probably won't go away anytime soon. Well, I'll leave that battle for another time, I've got plenty more pressing ones to deal with at the moment.

My desk in the staff room

Life at Matang is both incredibly wonderful and incredibly strange. On the one hand, the people here are the same as anywhere else- loving, kind, caring, passionate, etc. I can't go anywhere without hearing "Hello Miss," "Have a good day, Miss," "You look so beautiful today, Miss," and "Is Miss happy at Matang?" (The latter, if you're wondering, is simply a translation issue: In Malay, when being polite, you address someone in the third person.) The students genuinely care that I am happy here, and will overcome their shyness, even if for a moment, to wish me a good day. At the core of things, I think humans really are connected by fundamental characteristics such as these.

On the other hand, this is the most bizarre, most frustrating place I've ever been. Kind of a contradiction, I know, but welcome to Malaysia. It has been a week, and I have yet to receive my timetable with the classes I will be teaching. In the meantime, I have been told to stand around the school, in the halls, in the staff room, and wait for people to come by so that I can talk to them in English. Not only is this a slightly offensive request, but it is also very boring, since most students and teachers are in class during school hours, which leaves very few people for me to talk to in the hallway. Therefore, I haven't really been doing that, and no one seems to care anyways. Instead, I have been looking over lesson plans, planning activities, and reading a copy of Steinbeck's "The Pearl" that I found in the staff room.

I have been able to teach a couple of impromptu classes though, so at least I feel slightly useful. The students are great, and not as shy in the classroom as they seem in the halls. I have just done basic lessons (introductions), and while no one will ever volunteer to speak, they will absolutely comply with my request for them to speak if I ask them to individually. There are no discipline problems at all, which will be a life saver. I hate to think about why the kids are so well-behaved actually-- I have a feeling it has to do with the discipline system being stricter than you or I can imagine. Perhaps the kids know that getting in trouble just really isn't worth it. I don't know what the discipline is like, but I do know that my second day here, all 300 girls at the school were an hour late to class because the discipline teachers decided to do a "random sock check" to make sure the girls were wearing longs socks and not short socks. A few 'naughty' girls had been caught with short socks, and the teachers wouldn't let anyone else get away with it. They ended up finding about 10 girls with short socks, whose punishment was that both their socks and shoes were taken away from them, and they had to walk barefoot the rest of the day. Punishment by humiliation, of course. It turns out that the difference between a long sock and a short sock is about 3 inches.

Me playing volleyball with the hostel boys

My relationship with the other teachers is pretty comical. They all want to practice their English with me, but are even more shy than the students. A typical conversation is usually, "Hello Ms. Sarah, can I practice my English with you?"
"Yes, of course! So, which village are you from?"
"I am from...um...oh my English is so bad! [Puts head in hands, runs away.]"
So it's a challenge, but little by little they are getting used to me, and not so afraid to chat. Some of the best conversations I've had are with the actual English teachers, naturally. For example, my mentor was telling me about her family the other day. I asked her how many children she had, and she said four, including 1 son who went to our school. When I responded that I would love to meet him, she said, "Oh, well he's not a special person or anything." Language barrier or cultural barrier, I am not sure.

The best conversation I've had was with a biology teacher here, who happens to speak English rather well. I was asking her about the biology curriculum, just to make conversation, when, to my own surprise, I asked her if she taught Darwin and the Theory of Evolution. We were actually warned not to bring this up, since obviously the creation story is taught in schools, and no other competing theory. But, alas, it was too late, I opened my big mouth and she understood the question perfectly.
"Of course!" She said, "I teach about Darwin on one day during the year. I tell the students who he was, and what his theory was, and then explain how silly it is. How can humans come from apes? Seriously! Everyone knows that humans come from embryos!"
Just a reminder that we are not in Kansas anymore...

Some other highlights:

1. I taught a yoga class to 30 girls at the hostel! I had mentioned during my speech to the school on the first day that I enjoyed yoga, so a few brave girls asked me to teach them one night in the girls' prayer room. To my surprise and delight, about 30 girls showed up wearing athletic clothing, not knowing what yoga was except for that it was some sort of "stretching thing." The class went really well- it was fun to watch them do all the poses in their headscarves, like something out of a dream. I even did a guided meditation with them at the end, and even though they probably didn't understand most of it, they understood they were supposed to be relaxed. The class was full of giggles, of course, especially when I had them to downward dog (which I just called "downward pose," since dogs are forbidden in Islam). I don't think they are often asked to stick their behinds into the air.

2. On Friday, Ez and I met up with Gwynne, Anna and Len at Sekayu Waterfalls. It was SO nice to see them, the few days we had been apart felt so long...

Sekayu Falls

3. Saturday was an interesting day- my foster mom took Ezra and I to Lake Kenyir (the largest man-made lake in S.E. Asia) only 20 minutes from Matang. My school was competing in a cross country race there, so we got to see about 200 kids racing around the lake. SMK Matang had about 40 runners, and two of them placed (Fifth in the under 15, and sixth in the under 18). Very exciting!

Girls Under 15 Cross Country

Chinese New Year is this week, so we have a three day weekend. If all goes well, Ez and I will be going to KL with our fellow ETAs. But, we're having some visa issues (like our visas expire Feb. 7th) and if the state government can't fix them by then, we will be taking an all-expenses paid trip to Singapore. Either way, I'll be happy, as long as the government pulls through one way or another and we don't get deported. I'll let you know what happens!

Love,
Sarah

PS- I added photos to the post below titled "First Day at SMK Matang." Scroll down and have a look!