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!