Lately

A short list of things that Malaysia (or at least Terengganu) loves:

Plastic bags. Here they put EVERYTHING in a plastic bag. Your take away drinks at KFC. One pack of gum from the 711. Each individual item you buy at Mydin (slight exaggeration, but it feels like it). A can of Coke that you get at a drug store. To-go noodles at a café (this one is actually a plastic bag within a plastic bag – doubly good for the environment).

Straws. This one makes me so, so happy, as I am a huge fan of straws. Straws abound here (maybe since they’re made of plastic…could there be a correlation here?) and even the tiniest little roadside stands seem to have an abundant supply at all times. Every time you order a drink in a can you get a straw, without even having to ask for it.

Nasi (rice). Malaysians love their nasi!  Almost every day at school, while I am eating at the canteen (cafeteria), a teacher will say one of two things: 1. “You’re not taking enough nasi!” (as I am filling a fourth of my plate with rice, a portion that seems generous to me) or 2. “Did you eat nasi at home, before coming to Malaysia?” (many people here seem to think that the only place you can get rice in the States is at Chinese restaurants). It’s so much fun to eat with the teachers, though, and everyone is so kind to me and is eager to tell me about the various Terengganu foods and how to correctly eat them. Many things here are made with peppers, making them “hot and spicy,” but I love the spicy things. This makes the teachers so happy, when they warn me that a dish is “hot and spicy” and I inform them that I love hot and spicy things. If you make an effort to try the foods here in Terengganu (and the majority of them are delicious, especially the things made with coconut milk) you will most likely be a big hit. Food is a huge deal here.

Eating with spoons. This one is tough for me sometimes since American manners are so engrained in me (thanks for that one, Dad). In Malaysia, the cutlery consists of a fork and a spoon; knives are essentially nonexistent except for food preparation. I tend to eat mainly with my fork, using my spoon to cut things into smaller pieces. Two times this past week, two separate teachers have asked me why I’m not using my spoon more. Each time I told them that it was completely out of habit, because in the U.S. we eat most of the meal with forks. I’m trying to incorporate spoon usage into my mealtime routine, though, because it seems like I’m not doing things quite right yet. Sometimes, too, I just eat with my hands, and that helps to get rid of the problem. The teachers here are so cute and many have told me, “I eat with my hand…original spoon!” Even eating with your hand here is difficult at first, though, because you only eat with the right hand and also because getting the rice and meat into your mouth without getting food all over your face or dropped back onto your plate takes some real skill. You have you push it just the right way, with your thumb. I’m still working on perfecting my technique. 

For some reason, eating in the canteen is when I’m most aware of differences between schools in the U.S. and schools in Malaysia, but also when I'm most aware of the similarities. When I look around and find myself at a table surrounded by talkative Malay teachers, happily passing around a Korean DVD that they are all anxious to watch, I think about how this same scene, more or less, could easily happen in a teacher’s lounge in the States. Then I see the Malay women eating whole fish (which I have grown to like, actually) and rice with their hands, wearing their baju karons and tudongs and I’m reminded of what a different place I’m in. Then we talk about purses and I ask about their children and we’re back again to a place I identify with. It’s a strange feeling, this pendulum swing between feelings like I understand and feeling like an outsider, and I kind of enjoy it.

Here is a photo from right outside my office door, and you can see the canteen in the background.

Seatbelts and helmets. Oops, no, this should be listed under the “Things That Don’t Really Matter Here” category. As cute as it is to see entire families piled onto a single moto (and it really is adorable), toddlers without helmets squeezed into the space between the driver and the handlebars, it makes a part of me cringe every time. Also, no one wears seatbelts in cars, and so it’s very common to see cars absolutely packed with people or with children crawling around in backseats. Interestingly, though, I haven’t seen a single car wreck since I’ve been here, and it makes sense to think that if there were accidents happening frequently more people would be safety-conscious.  

Now on to the update stuff.

I love teaching. It’s a wonderful feeling to go into school every day and see so many girls that are excited to wish me a good morning. I try to sit with a group of girls each morning and just make some small talk before classes start, but sometimes I make it to school too late and they are already in the process of reciting the Quran.  

This is a picture of two blocks (buildings) at my school.  

Most of my classes are with older girls, Forms 4 and 5 (so they are 16- and 17-year-olds), but I have one Form 1 class as well (13-year-olds). I really enjoy the older classes because the girls’ English is more advanced and because they are more mature so we’re able to get more meaningful activities done. The younger girls, though, are so energetic, and they make me happy to be around them. Whenever I am on my way to my Form 1 class, I see little covered heads peek out the door and then, when they spot me coming, I hear chairs squeaking and 

girls whispering loudly, “Miss Anna’s coming, Miss Anna’s coming!” Then when I enter the room, I’m greeted by cheers and laughter. What could make a person feel better than that? The girls are truly wonderful.

Interesting fact: I was planning to do a Valentine's Day activity with the girls last week, but luckily my mentor advised me to skip that plan because many Muslims disapprove of Valentine's Day and its focus on romance.  I changed it to a "Friendship Day" activity, though, so everything worked out well and I made it through another day without an Islamic faux pas.

Lately a big hit with all my classes has been Miss Anna Says (Simon Says). We have been playing at the beginning of class to get them up and moving, and they are really getting the hang of it and love when I make them do silly things, like meowing like a cat or giving each other high fives.

I have enjoyed making lesson plans as well, and it is rewarding to see the girls respond well to things I have prepared. Right now many of my classes are working on a simile poetry project, and they are coming up with some wonderful poems.  It's fun to watch them be creative.

Below are photos of one of my Form 4 classes working on their simile projects, my office (my desk is the one on the far left, and my office is great because it's large and is one of the few rooms in the school with air conditioning), and my foster sister's car, which she takes me to and from school in each day.