Yes us locals don't bother with Kota Kinabalu just KK! Anyway for some reason Emily and I are the only ones left now and we head up into the mountains at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning. It has been quite a long, hard week with lots of things to absorb and take on board about our role as "mentors". We seemed to finish at 6pm most evenings when it was dark and then we were all too exhausted to do anything. However before you feel too sorry for me, there were our excellent lunches, coffee and tea breaks with fresh fruit and homemade pastries to revive us! On Friday morning the Ministry of Education representatives were there with the headteachers and then we all had lunch together. My headteachers are all women about my age. The first thing they wanted to know was what religion I was and how old I was! My schools are quite mixed - I have Chinese, Malay and a large majority of the ethnic community Kadazandusun, who tend to be Catholic. Today was my first free day and Emily (who is also based in Ranau with me) and I decided to visit the island of Gaya which is a nature reserve not far from KK. We passed a large water village which apparently is full of refugees and illegal immigrants from Indonesia and the Philippines The island was idyllic apart from all the other tourists and the two very aggressive monkeys that decided they wanted to search our bags for food and weren't in the slightest bit afraid of us! Tonight we are going for a wander round the street market and pack our bags for the morning.
Now the adventure begins! Good luck. How long before half-term?!!
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