For example, Gwynne and I both had other teachers come with us to help chaperone, since there were 60 students there. However, right when we arrived at the waterfall, Hayati (one of the chaperones from my school) came up to me and said, “Okay, Anna, all the teachers will be down by the river eating fried rice if you need us,” and that was that. So much for extra help. Luckily we had brought Michael along, and he was able to help up keep an eye on everyone, especially during the jungle trek (hike).
Even though we weren’t able to get done with all the activities we had planned for the day, Gwynne and I were pleased with how the nature day turned out. I think the kids had fun, too, and that’s definitely important. We were able to go on a nature hike, write nature haiku, make individual pledges to help protect the environment and sign a group banner. By 4 o’clock, though, Gwynne and I were ready to call it a day!
Then, last weekend I went with eight other teachers and 130 students on a camping trip at Lake Kenyir, the largest man-made lake in Southeast Asia. We had a wonderful time and were in a beautiful location on an island. Here I am with a group of students and the other female teachers who went on the trip.
The highlight for me was kayaking in the lake on Thursday. They separated the girls into three groups to do three different activities, and I liked kayaking so much that I was able to go twice, with two different groups.
I was extremely impressed with the girls’ ability to be self-sufficient on the camping trip. Within minutes of our arrival on the island, they all had their tents set up and ready to go.
Then, for every meal, they started fires and cooked food in groups of about eight. Kids here are educated in “life skills” and learn things like basic mechanics, camping skills, and cooking. I feel like those are such useful skills, and wish American children were taught more things like that. Below is one of the 20 bags of rice we brought with us because, really, what's a good camping trip without pounds and pounds (or I guess kilos and kilos) of rice?
A few funny things from camping:
1. There was a wild boar that kept coming near our campsite, searching for food. Every time it came near, the students would start screaming and throwing sticks and rocks at it, and banging pots and pans to scare it away. I kept wanting to take pictures of “the pig,” and so every time it came near someone would yell, “Miss Anna, get your camera!” And so I would run in front of the mob of stick throwers and try to take a picture of the poor pig as it was running for its life. The kids were especially scared of “the pig” because in Islam, pigs are very forbidden; Muslims aren’t even supposed to TOUCH a pig. This made the situation funnier because they were already grossed out by the species.
2. No one would let me help with anything at the camp. They were doing it to be polite, and to treat me like a guest, but anyone who knows me knows that I need to feel needed and helpful. I would wander around while everyone was cooking, asking (begging, really) if I could help with anything, but everyone would just tell me to “sit down and enjoy.” Little did they know that “sitting down” would definitely not be the most enjoyable task for me. I know they were just trying to be kind, and I really appreciate that, but it was still hard for me to feel so un-helpful all weekend. Here I am trying to get a group to let me help them make dinner. My efforts were unsuccessful.
3. In Malay culture, things like burping and spitting are very commonplace, and are not thought of as rude. Obviously, this is a little difficult to get used to as an American where these things are so taboo. The funny thing is, not only are burps and spitting allowed, they are not even acknowledged by anyone. When someone burps, no one turns around to see who it was, or comments, “Wow, that was a good one!” or anything. It is virtually ignored. Well, one of the teachers who was on the trip with me was the biggest burper I’ve ever met. She burped during all hours of the day: while getting dressed in the morning (she hadn’t even eaten anything yet…where were these burps coming from?), during meals, during jungle trekking…it was really impressive. I had to try so hard, though, not to look in her direction whenever she burped. It is just an instinct, I think, to look for the source when you hear a strange sound like that, but here it would be rude and strange. Finally, by the end of the trip, I was good at hearing the sound and keeping a straight face and not quickly turning my head. I counted it as quite an accomplishment.
4. Before we could go kayaking, we had to take part in a “water confidence” test, which consisted of everyone jumping into a six-foot-deep pool of water while wearing a life jacket, and then basically just floating there. Easy, right? Well, apparently not if you grew up in Terengganu. Despite being a state with a huge coastline, hardly any kids in Terengganu learn to swim at ALL, and so the water confidence test was frightening for many of the girls. It was funny, too, because after kayaking a few people jumped into the lake (with their life jackets on) to swim and cool down, and I took off my life jacket and swam without it. I would just be treading water or something and all the students and other teachers would be so amazed, and asked me if I was an “expert swimmer.” Guess I passed my “water confidence” test with flying colors. Below are some girls pre-water confidence test.
Note: During the kayaking excursion, and for all other events throughout the trip, the girls wore long pants, loose, long-sleeved shirts, tudungs (head coverings), socks, and tennis shoes. It was a little extreme. Below is a photo of the kayaking instructor at the camp. Please compare his attire to the aforementioned girls’ clothing and tell me what is at all fair about the situation.
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