Welcome to the world and a water village in Kudat

Susan and Fiona at the Tip of Borneo

Only hours old!

This post is going to be rather late or early if you didn't notice I didn't write one last week. I sadly said farewell to Susan and John today and the three weeks that they have been in Sabah seems to have flown and has been really good fun. I feel that they're "family" now, as they would say in Ireland, and I'm sure we will meet again soon. They are on their final leg of their 3 month trip visiting KL, Malacca and then finally Singapore for the 9th April departure. We had a lovely week combining business and pleasure up in Kudat and there was a very exciting event up at Simpang Mengayau on Sunday - Howard and Lorinna (our hosts) welcomed their daughter into the world. Lorinna was working until late on Saturday night in the Tip Top restaurant and then by lunchtime on Sunday the baby had arrived. As far as I know, she has no name yet but I have seen her and touched her beautiful soft head.

A wonderful birthday cake made for me by 7 year old Michael

  


Whilst Susan and John explored the beaches and cafes and drank beer, I did actually go to work and I had a very interesting visit to a school situated at the edge of a water village in Kudat. I asked about inviting the parents in the village to the school for a story workshop and before we knew it there were two teachers, Mike and I heading off down the walkways. Of course Mike and I did feel very self-conscious as we were probably the first orang putihs to do so but at least we did have a purpose and had the two local teachers beside us. The walkways were full of rotten planks but as we carefully watched where we stepped everyone else  purposefully strode ahead. It was like every village with little shops and restaurants; some very poor houses and others beautifully cared for. The mounds of rubbish around in the sea was quite horrific but I suspect they have continued to just throw their waste into the sea as generations have done before and no one has provided or thought of an solution with the ever growing use of plastic.

Wonderful flowers in amongst the rubbish

Today another exciting event is happening. Andrew is flying in from KL and is going to be staying for 2 weeks which also coincides with Hazel and Pascal's arrival next Saturday. So I must get on and at least tidy up and get the sheets off the line. Happy Easter to all of you who celebrate it and I have managed to find two cream eggs for tomorrow so all is well!

"Would you like to come and tell a story?"

   

The North Borneo Railway

John and the train

I hadn't thought that I was a railway enthusiast before but I feel that I could become one if all train journeys were as lovely and picturesque as the train ride from Beaufort to Tenom. This railway was completed to Tenom in 1903 and runs closely along the Padas river. It was used mostly for transporting tobacco and rubber from the plantations down to the coast and of allowing the people to travel to their villages and markets. It has suffered periods of closure since its opening but in 1970 the steam engine was replaced by diesel locos and since then there have been the freight and the passenger Diesel Multiple Unit carriages which have remained unchanged. The line is often closed due to flooding and landslides but it is being upgraded and since the white- water rafter tourists are using the railway there has been more concern as to the safety issues!

 
  Susan, John and I drove to Beaufort and missed out the other section of railway from Kota Kinabalu and arrived in good time for the 1.30 departure to Tenom. We queued up and were very surprised to hear that the ticket was only 2.75 ringgit (about 50 p!). Susan was in charge of getting the seats by the window on the river side and before you knew it we were off. There were no other tourists except us and the train was full of people using it for some very short stops and others going all the way to Tenom with their shopping. It was charming and my photos do not do it justice. The Padas river is a very fast flowing river with many rapids and even though it hasn't rained for seven weeks it looked like it would be an exciting rafting experience and when the river is full I suspect it would be terrifying! We slowly rattled along taking in the amazing scenery and looking at the passengers and catching glimpses of peoples' lives as we trundled past.

A passenger descending with her shopping

 After about two and a half hours we arrived in Tenom and made our way to the Orchid Hotel just across from the station where we booked in for the night. A very kind mentor based in Tenom gave us a quick tour of the views and sights of this sleepy town (also famous for it's coffee )in the Crocker range. We then had our meal, a few beers and then went to bed so that we could be up in time for the 7.30 am departure. The return journey was much the same except that we had a group of "Young Farmers" from near Ranau who were going to do the white - water rafting and were all very excited. So I wish I could describe the scenes eloquently like Thomas Wolfe (1935) in Of Time and the River which Lisa had to translate into French this week for her exam, but I'm afraid I can't. It was however a very enjoyable and cheap two day outing that I highly recommend!

Happy Saint Patrick's and Good Craic with Friends

Susan took this to commemorate the occasion!

 Yes this is my two hundredth blog post! I'm not sure what to say on such a momentous occasion so best not to say anything! I can't believe that I have written so many times and just be thankful that I didn't start a daily blog. I have just had a quick look at the statistics and 1,281 people read my blog last month and since I started in July 2011, 32,687 people have looked at Fiona in Borneo which all seems amazing as the majority are people I don't know. Most of the people reading the blog at the moment are either from United Kingdom or Malaysia but last year the majority were from the United States and there are very few faithful followers left in France now.

Susan and John with the invisible Mount Kinabalu behind

So enough of boring statistics and on to the news of the week. On Friday evening my school friend, Susan Woods and her partner John arrived in Sabah. We started out in Primary 1 together at the age of 5, continued on to secondary school  and  have kept in touch on and off for over 50 years but haven't seen each other since Mummy died about 6 years ago. Susan is an intrepid traveller who likes to escape the Northern Ireland winters by travelling around continents that specialise in sunshine and warmth during the dreaded months. Our lives have been quite different in many ways and there seem to be lots of gaps about each other's lives that we don't know so there has been lots of chat, craic (an Irish expression) and reminiscing about school days. John also went to the same school but was that much  older than us so I didn't remember him, although his baby brother Colin was in our class. I do think it is one of those amazing parts of the brain that we can remember so much from certain times of our lives. Susan remembers all sorts of things from Friends' School Lisburn days that again has opened up rooms of memories that have been locked away.

Another amazing sunset

 Since starting that post we have headed up the mountain to Ranau and Slagon Homestay and Susan is identifying places that she has seen and read about in my blog. As always it is lovely seeing people up here and we went for a lovely walk in the padi fields yesterday. I feel like crying when the children still recognise me.

Threshing the rice in Ranau

By complete coincidence Anna and Mike White plus parents are staying here tonight too. So since it is St Patrick's day we are going to celebrate our Irish heritage with a bottle of Jameson's and some guinness. Happy St Patrick's Day!!
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The ELTDP Symposium 2015!!

Sunset on the river cruise

ELTDP Symposium 2015: https://youtu.be/pJimjjmQBOw via @YouTube
Enjoy the film that I have been involved in making.

It is all over and all of us on the very busy symposium committee are suffering from the adrenalin withdrawal symptoms now! It was a great success and I feel that all the teachers left feeling inspired, enthused and full of ideas to try in their classes. Our keynote speakers, Anji Maldarez, Jamie Keddie and Jim Scrivner, all from the UK , were really excellent and pitched their talks exactly right for their audience. The other workshops, presentations and creative displays were amazing and the teachers although really nervous at the beginning, soon gained their confidence and were really great.

  The exciting event for Anna and I, who have been working on the storybooks, was to actually hold the printed books in our hands and we both felt like crying! It has been such a last minute effort to get the books finished for the publisher and then they have been working flat out too to have them for the Symposium. Anyway they managed to sell lots and there was a lot of media and public interest in the illustrators who were flown from Sabah to be there. Jainal is already a published illustrator but Didi, a young man from the village of where the first parent workshop happened, had never left his area before, let alone fly and stay in a very fancy suite in the Hilton. It was rather overwhelming for him but he managed to do two sessions of book signing, talk to the VVIPs and press and cope with all the attention although I think he was longing to get back to his village and his water buffalo.

Didi and Jainal

One of the books!

There is talk of a book launch in Kuala Lumpur and an invite to present the storybook project at a conference in June and put forward a proposal to win some award..... so who knows what lies ahead!

Anji and Tricia

Happy education officers on the cruise

Keeping it going!

Countdown to the Symposium!!

Tuaran Police Station photo with the FBI!!

This is going to quite a short entry this week as I have got a few things to finish this evening in preparation for the Symposium and then tomorrow I set off to Kuching. The contents of my suitcase seem rather strange - there are 45 sarong "Miss World" sashes for the organising team, a banner, 3 pink and multicoloured wigs, a red clown nose, 4 pairs of large glasses - all for the photo booth and I haven't got round to thinking of my clothes yet! Anyway I'm sure it is going to be great and lots of fun but at the moment I'm feeling like there is a big exam ahead...

Lots of #itis ideas at the rehearsals this week

    On Friday I received a phonecall from the Education Department in Tuaran that I had to report to the police station with my passport. Off I went a little bit later than the 4 pm appointment and was ushered into the office with a policeman from the Special Branch or FBI (he told me) and answered all his questions about my address, job, emergency contact number etc. and then he asked me whether I had heard of ISIS to which I was able to reply to. He then told me that he had decided to assign two detectives to all the "orang putihs" in Tuaran so that we could contact them directly if we were in trouble. He then showed me into the next room where there was a big tea party in progress with 3 recently arrived American Fulbright students and the 3 mentors of Tuaran. The Special Branch had laid on cream cakes, banana bread, muffins, tea, coffee etc.and it was quite the jolliest visit to a police station that I have ever had. The final request of us was that we all posed outside the police station to remember the special day that 7 white people came to Tuaran Police Station! The nice thing about it was that we now have been introduced to the American girls and spent a lovely evening with them afterwards. Tuaran seems to me a very sleepy quiet town so I wonder what the Special Branch do with their days!?

Gong Xi Fat Cai

Happy New year of the Goat to all my Chinese friends and family. As I write I can hear the firecrackers and fireworks going on around me and the celebrations will continue for a month I believe. I know there seems to be some confusion about it being the year of goat or sheep but apparently in Chinese there is only the word - yang meaning a ruminant with horns which could mean either sheep, goat or even antelope. So I hope that has made things clearer! Anyway I'm afraid I haven't done anything very Chinese in Tuaran as I don't know any Chinese and most Chinese families have a very family day at home. There has been lots of gonging and I've seen a lion dance but for the last two days I have been doing a lot of sewing and other things in preparation for the Symposium.  I went to climb up the beautiful pagoda in Tuaran today only to find it closed and so I will have to return again another time.

  The exciting news is that the last proofs of our storybooks have been checked and they go to the printers tomorrow morning. Anna (the mentor responsible) and I are very excited at seeing them nearly ready and of course when we actually see them in print it will be even better. I think they look great and we are hoping to sell lots at the Symposium and the profits will be going to the school and the illustrators. There apparently will be media interest and in particular the stories of the illustrators who have come from the local villages and will be present for the signing of the book. More will be revealed in the coming weeks!

Farewell Dearest Phoebe

Our beautiful, much loved Breton spaniel, Phoebe, passed away on Wednesday much to our great sadness. She was 15 years old and when I said goodbye in January I thought it might be the last time I would see her but I was just hoping that she would make Tanya and Anthony's wedding and that I would be with her at the end. She has been such a part of our family throughout the years and like most dogs she was completely devoted, adoring and forgiving to us all - always forgiving me and loving me again when I returned. If I remember in my first blog entry, I was more worried about leaving Phoebe than I was of my children! For eleven years she was my shadow and wherever Phoebe was, I was close by. She was happiest when everyone was at home and she would constantly badger us all for a cuddle by offering her paw. At any social occasion Phoebe could be guaranteed to be there joining in the party and she was in her element at Lisa and Remi's wedding last July.

The Wedding 2014

 It certainly was a difficult decision about leaving her but the family and I agreed that I couldn't turn down a fantastic job because of an ageing dog. I'm sure many people might have but I chose not to and just trusted that for however long Phoebe was going to live that she would be well cared for at La Ferme des Vallots. Phoebe had already had breast cancer when she was 10 years old  and had had a major operation removing all her mammary glands and the prognosis was unsure.

The day before she died

During my first contract in Borneo, Andrew did a marvellous job of replacing me and when he had to travel for work Phoebe stayed next door with Paul and his dog, Ruby. When I returned at the end of September 2013 I stayed at home for three months - not sure what I was going to do in the future. After I decided to return to Borneo we advertised for a dog-sitter and an American lady called Bell  came for five months. Somehow after the wedding Andrew and then Patrick looked after her and it wasn't until January we realised that we had to look for dog-sitters again.

Phoebe had definitely aged in the last few months when I saw her at Christmas; her back legs were unsteady; she drank water constantly; her cancerous tumour had returned. However, the vet felt that she still was in good form for her age and wasn't in any pain and still had an interest in life and loved her walks. Julie and Paul became her final carers for a month and I am so grateful to them for obviously loving and looking after her so well. When she had a "turn"on Wednesday and couldn't walk and was in pain, they took her to the vet, the vet emailed us recommending she was put down and they stayed with her until the end- passing on my messages of love.

P.S. Dear Julie and Paul, I have never met you but I will always remember your kindness that you showed to Phoebe.

P.P.S. Dear beautiful, crazy Phoebe, thank you for all the love you have given us - we will miss you so much. xxxxxx