Alive in Borneo playing Netball!

I'm sort of getting used to the constant changes of timetables and activities that go on in the schools. I've even started taking my breakfast in the canteen with the teachers at about 8 a.m. and haven't given a thought as to who is teaching in the school. Breakfast is either nasi goreng , mi goreng or (my favourite) mi hun soup followed by banana fritters or stale doughnuts. It costs about 50 p/centimes for a full breakfast. This week seems to have been "Sports Week" with many of the schools only doing sports and many of the teachers involved in some sporting activities elsewhere. Today I was asked to join the teachers' team playing netball against the pupils. I think the last time I played netball was when I was 14 but amazingly I did remember the rules and managed not to disgrace myself although looked very red and sweaty when the game was over. I was imagining if I'd had a heart attack that my obituary might have read " Died in Borneo playing netball!" Fortunately I'm fine and trying to get fit for my climb of Mount Kinabalu that Gen and I and some others are attempting in March/April.

 The farmers are very busy preparing their padi fields for the rice planting . There seems to be a lot of burning and clearing and repairing the mud walls. The Dusun harvest festival is in May and apparently goes on all month so another festival to look forward to - not to mention Diwali in October, Krismas in December and Chinese New year in February! The hurdles are made of palm branches and hose pipes.

Five Star Bubble

    Well the bubble has burst and I'm back again at my homestay and the routine of work today. It was a really good week and we were all genuinely pleased to see each other and find out all about all our experiences so far. The other mentors in Sarawak are mostly living in towns and cities and travelling out to the schools. There are many more longhouse communities in Sarawak and different ethnic groups to Sabah. Some journeys to school entail a 4 hour drive, 1 hour by boat and the last stretch an hour by foot. There seem to be many more "boarding schools" which the parents don't pay for but it is the only practical way of schooling the children.
    So the meetings started at 9 a.m. and usually we were finished at around 6 ish. The best bits for us all (no, not the meetings) were the amazing buffet breakfasts and lunches. Their pastry chef was trained in France and there was just an amazing selection of desserts and pastries, bread etc...not to mention the Indian and Chinese and many other dishes on offer. We went out together in the "big" city a few nights which was fun and somehow ( too long to relate) Liz and I got invited to the opening ceremony of Women in Sabah Art Exhibition which was opened by the Minister of Tourism and it was full of VIP's and adults dressed up in Sabah costumes! A few of us treated ourselves to another night in the Hyatt hotel as we got a corporate rate which was just about affordable and we were able to enjoy the swimming pool and other luxuries for a little longer.

   Emily and I returned yesterday afternoon with our bags full of shampoo, conditioner, soap, cotton buds, coffee and tea sachets etc. Is there ever a stage in one's life that one doesn't feel the need to always take the freebies?! The photos are of fellow mentors, (Liz and Pauline) and strange costumes at the art exhibition.

Back from Bahailand

Well there were moments when I felt like saying "Beam me up Scottie" but on the whole I had a really good weekend -  I met some very interesting people whom I will keep in contact with; I learnt a little about the bahai religion ( my knowledge was 0 before) and I witnessed Mount Kinabalu at sunset. My heart sank when we arrived at our destination as we had passed some very nice mountain lodges on our way. We were installed in the 'Haleluyah Retreat Centre" which normally runs Christian youth camps. It reminded me of a guide camp and was similar decor and condition from the 1970's. I was in a dorm of 8 bunk beds with much younger girls and the washing facilities were outside cold showers.It poured with rain all of Friday afternoon and Friday evening the temperature was cold. I haven't felt cold for 6 weeks and I didn't like it! On Saturday morning the weather started improving and we could see the view and everything seemed much better. The highlights for me were a very interesting documentary on the architecture of the Bahai temples in Haifa and Delhi; a talk by a young couple who had spent the last year in Cambodia as "pioneers" (missionaries) and all their ups and downs but also their very positive feelings about the Cambodian youth; the party last night - we all had a ball, young and old! There were sketches,singing and dancing and I had another go at another bird dance! This photo was the attempt of organising 130 people for a group photograph. The snake moth in my dorm was at least 1ft in diameter!

 Briefly what I brought back from the weekend (no, I'm not thinking of converting) was a feeling of acceptance of all religions and beliefs-"unity and diversity"is the catch phrase; an extremely positive role is expected of the youth and the 20 year olds seemed to be running everything; complete equality of the sexes with preference to educating females! It was a very interesting mixed racial group with many " mixed " marriages and Chinese, Malay and English were spoken throughout the weekend . There was a family there whose mother was Russian, father Tamil Indian and all the children spoke 5 languages! Interestingly too there seemed to be members from all socio-economic groups. There was a large family from the North of Sabah from the Tambanuo tribe who looked so alike and different from the Dusun people of this area. In conclusion,( sorry too many reports), I felt no pressure at all in being "converted". It seemed to be a very liberal, accepting religion which believes in serving in the community and making a difference to world unity.

End of Phase 1

 Although some of you reading my blog may have the impression that my life here is a round of celebrations and eating occasions, I am actually working very hard! Today is the last day of Phase 1 ( yes tomorrow is Malaysian Day so day off!) and we had to submit our Needs and Assessment Audit Report on Monday. I wouldn't like to think how many years it is since I was asked to write a report so I am very unsure as to whether it is up to standard or not. We are meeting in Kota Kinabalu next Monday for a week of luxury in the Hyatt to discuss our findings and plan for "Phase 2" of the project. So the group that I arrived with six weeks ago (seems longer) are all getting together again and I know that we are all intrigued to hear about everyone's experiences. I remember so well arriving at the Hyatt on 25th July and feeling so unsure of what was ahead and now I'll be walking in with an air of nonchalance!
   This week I have also given two workshops, one of which was using a powerpoint presentation, which I never thought I would, but somehow did. Today I had 40 teachers on an in-service training course entilted Teaching English is Fun! To fill the time in I made them play lots of games and I think they all seemed to enjoy themselves. Today I have been sent four long articles to discuss and comment on before the meeting in KK so instead of writing my blog I really ought to get down to my homework!

  I have been invited to go to the Mount Kinabalu National Park this weekend by a teacher and her family. I have only just found out it is for a Bahai religious meeting so am feeling rather apprehensive about it! Still it is something new to experience. The lady in the photo is one of the market ladies.

Malaysian Day?

 Malaysia was created on 16th September in 1963 when Sabah and Sarawak joined the peninsula to form Malaysia. We are of course starting to celebrate and it is a National holiday next week. The flags are flying and the children are parading in their national costumes celebrating the wonderful multicultural society that we're led to believe is Malaysia. However I realise that there are many undercurrents and racial tensions that the government does its best to hide. Many of the older generation of Sabahans remember when it was Northern Borneo and they only spoke Khadazandusun and English. The Sabahans had great faith that when they joined Malaysia that their wealth in forestry and oil would benefit everyone. The truth is that instead of the 5% they were promised in 1963 it only ever became 2% and they have watched Peninsula Malaysia reap the benefits and many peninsula Malaysians coming over and taking the top jobs. A lovely young teacher, I work with, was telling me why she had given up at the University of Malacca. She said she had been made to feel like a "poor country cousin" and everyone laughed at her Sabahan accent and then just to crown it all she is a Christian. In Ranau area there is 50% Christian and 50% Muslim and amazingly everyone is very tolerant of each other's religion. Apparently it is due to the missionaries in the early twentieth century making a deal that they wouldn't be in competition and they would concentrate on converting villages so hence there are still clusters known as Christian and Muslim villages. In Ranau the mosque, Anglican church and Budhist Temple are all on the same road.

Still Hari Rayaing!

As all my colleagues started back at school today, at least in France, I thought that you might be interested about my first two days back at school after a week's holiday. At 10 a.m.on Monday, a  teacher told me that the G.B was looking for me. I found her and she said " We've been invited out for Hari Raya". "Now" I asked. "Where? who?" I followed her dutifully through a hole in a fence at the back of the school and found myself in a stranger's house with several of the other teachers who didn't know the family either. We all proceeded to eat rice, chicken, beef and lots of delicious almond sweets. I didn't like to be a spoil sport and ask if anyone was keeping an eye on the pupils but we eventually wandered back only about 30 minutes late for class.
 This morning I visited my village school only to discover that the whole school was hari rayaing and there was food galore and everyone eating even at 8 a.m. One of the teachers was being a DJ and everyone was dressed in their beautiful baju kurungs. Needless to say there was no school work done today. I have heard from another source that officially schools are not supposed to be celebrating during school hours but come on - it's only Hari Raya once a year!

I went to my aerobics class tonight and my teacher (who it turns out comes from Taiwan) has decided that we are going to learn the traditional Taiwanese bird dance. I still only have my strong walking shoes for doing aerobics as I haven't got round to buying trainers, so I'm glad none of you could witness the orang putih's (me) attempt at trying to be a bird! Not a moment to be proud of.

The Men of the Forest

Yes I joined the masses of tourists wanting to have a "jungle experience" and see orangutans in the wild. I definitely had the impression that I was being judged by the "men of the forest" (orang utan) and them all laughing about the orang putihs (white man) in their camouflage trousers and safari shirts! Ecotourism is a huge part of Sabah's economic industry which has made the Malaysian government rethink about their huge plantations of oil palms and the cutting down of the native forest . In 2002 they started  preserving and replanting of huge areas and allowing corridors of native forest for the animals to travel through. Huge fines and prison sentences are strictly enforced if any animals are captured or killed, however only last year a local was found to have killed an orangutan and sold it to China for meat - sadly the black market trade is still alive.

 Despite the Disneyworld experience of going to Uncle Tam's Wildlife camp it really was a marvellous couple of days and we were lucky enough to see three orangutans in the wild, a family of proboscis monkeys, gibbons, hornbills, kingfishers, monitor lizards and so on. My favourite part was sunrise listening to the sound of the jungle waking up and then going on the Kinabatangan river. The camp itself was one hour by boat from any village and we certainly had the impression of being in the jungle apart from being with other tourists of course! We had 4 hours of electricity in the evening and washing was limited to barrels of brown river water. My wind-up torch, silk sleeping bag and mosquito spray were essential and fortunately mosquito nets were provided. I was with a lovely group and we all got on very well and were quite sad to say goodbye even after such a short time together. In my dorm. I had two young German men, a Ukrainian accountant, a Danish couple, Emily and myself and there were also Spanish, English and American. I haven't met any French yet to refresh my French but fortunately everyone else speaks very good English. I can't wait to go back there with my visitors! There will be better photos coming from people with "real cameras" - my zoom is not up to much!