I Just Might Miss You After All

Things are starting to look up over here after my run-in with the school administration last week. I won't say it's perfect, but of course that was never a possibility, right? Luckily, my meetings with the principal last week and this week have seemed to smooth things over. An unfortunate series of miscommunications (or acts of sabotage, depending on how cynical you want to be) led my principal to think I had not been doing my job, and me to think that my school did not appreciate me. The truth is that I have been doing my job, and beyond it some weeks, and my principal was unaware (she is never at school). So, of course I felt unappreciated, because at that point, I was. I voiced my feelings to the JPN (State Ed. Ministry- my "boss") and it got back to my school, blown way out of proportion of course, and made my principal and Kak Zam think I was lonely and depressed, and that I hated Matang. Couldn't be further from the truth of course, as I am really happy here most of the time.

Anyways, they approached me this week apologizing for not having appreciated me before, now that they know how much work I have done. I in turn assured them that the JPN was incorrect in saying that I was unhappy and that they had no need to worry. I promised to continue my activities and they promised not to give me a hard time anymore, and maybe even a pat on the back every once in awhile. I'll take it.

After smoothing things over, this week turned out to be really fun. It started over the weekend when Ez, Mike and I got hungry and decided to go out to eat...in Kuala Lumpur. 7 hours later we arrived at our hotel, the Pondok Lodge. We were really thankful that the hotel allowed us to check-in in the morning, since Ez and I got in around 4:30am and Mike got in an hour after that. So we slept awhile, then headed out to find some food. All I really remember about that glorious weekend was seeing 2 movies in one day and eating Mexican food. And we went to the zoo. Heaven.

(WARNING: DO NOT STAY AT PONDOK LODGE- We later found out that this hotel was a terrible place to stay despite the early check-in. The music playing in the bar below it literally shakes the beds until 4am on Fridays and Saturdays, so sleeping doesn't really happen there. Also, upon returning home I found  some lovely patches of bedbug bites on my back and my legs. Mike found the buggers themselves on his towel, and Ez had a stowaway in his backpack).

So even though the school week started with those slightly tense but fortunate meetings, it ended up being one of the best weeks I've had here so far. It was like all of a sudden something clicked between the kids and me, like we saw each other as real people for the first time and could relax and be ourselves. I've had so much fun chatting it up with the girls, and even teasing the boys about their "girlfriends" which makes them laugh and blush uncontrollably. I am also falling more in love with my Form 6 class- they are 19 years old and I can relate to them so much better, especially now that we are all getting more comfortable with each other. Basically, I have a better handle on Terengganu now, so I'm not so scared to do or say something wrong anymore. I can be myself now (relatively). What a relief. 

Also, last night was the first of 6 or so Movie Nights I am hosting at the hostel where we live. I got the money from my school to buy 15 bags of popcorn (not nearly enough for the 250 kids who showed up) and luckily was able to schedule the event on the same night they were installing a state of the art audiovisual system in the cafeteria. Ez has gone on a movie-buying rampage since we've been here (how could he not? $1-$3 for a DVD) so I chose "Ratatouille" from our expanding collection of Pixar movies and played it for the kids. A huge success! They were cracking up at every scene, and gasping like nobody's business during the 2 brief Rated G kissing scenes. It was enough to make Ez bury his head in his hands in embarrassment. There was one part where I cringed a bit having forgotten it was in the movie; it was when they mention both dogs and pigs in the same sentence while getting drunk on red wine... most certainly NOT halal. It was okay though- I was told that as long as there was no nudity or implicit/explicit sex scenes, it would be appropriate. I warned Kak Zam that there would be lots of wine, and she said it was okay as long as I didn't discuss it with them afterward. Oh the joys of cultural repression!

The week ended with a bang! when I was approached by a strange man on campus who literally said, "Hi, my name is Latif, are black people bad?" After stuttering in surprise for a second or two, I said, "Hi, I'm Sarah, can you explain your question please?"

"Yes, I watch many American movies, and in them, the black people are always very bad man. Is it true?"

I spent the next 45 minutes explaining to this man that first of all, he should NEVER believe anything he sees in American movies, and second of all and MORE IMPORTANTLY, "black people" is not a category of people that can be described by the word "bad" or any other adjective for that matter. We talked about how people all over the world can be good and bad, regardless of their religion, nationality, or color of their skin, and that this diversity of experiences can most certainly be applied to African Americans. He looked perplexed as I spoke, and kept referring to things he'd seen in movies as if they were segments on the nightly news. I was trying not to let my anger at the American media show in my face because I was afraid he would misinterpret it, but it was definitely there. I was relieved though when at the end of our conversation, he said, "Well, Sarah, thank you for teaching me this. Welcome to Malaysia." I still have no idea who this man was or why he was at my school, but I am happy I could share my perspectives with him. Oh the joys of cultural exchange.

Lastly, I decided to go to UC Davis. I start August 18th. My first final is August 22. No joke. Malaysia, I just might miss you after all.