Chez Moi!

                                         Chez Moi!

     Well it is not exactly the wooden kampong house I romantically imagined myself in but at last I have moved to my new home in Ranau. It is brand new, which is a first for me, and has two bedrooms ( one for my guests!) a small kitchen/living room and shower room. My landlady agreed to install hot water in the shower room kindly for the pathetic orang putih which I’m very pleased about! It is set in a lovely garden and seems very private and safe and the only thing I’m noticing is more traffic noise rather than the river but the birdsong in the morning is wonderful. Of course I was sad to say goodbye to the people and the beautiful setting of my homestay but I am very pleased to spread myself out and have my own home. At the moment I have a bed and a fridge and not much else but I’m going shopping this week because I’m on holiday!
       A holiday so soon I hear you ask. Yes of course it is for Chinese New Year and all of my schools are adding 3 extra days onto the 2 official ones so they have a week off. They are supposed to catch them up some time through the year but I have my doubts that that will happen! Anyway there is definitely excitement in the air and there are fire crackers and fireworks going off as I write. I was left a big bag of satsumas on my desk in my Chinese School which is for good luck . The streets and shops are decorated with lanterns and everything seems red and Chinese music is being played everywhere. It is very much a family celebration and today is the clearing and cleaning away the bad spirits of the year with the lion dance and welcoming the Year of the Dragon tomorrow.

       On Saturday I went to the first wedding where I was officially invited. It was a teacher at one of my schools, whom my head teacher subtlety described as “the short fat one”! There were some of the pupils dancing and playing the gongs. It was very lavish and there was a non-stop buffet all day. It was held at the groom’s home and the actual wedding ceremony seemed to be there too. Apa’s bride was a convert from Christian to Muslim and so she had to change her name. It went on from 11 a.m. until late and there seemed to be many people invited who came, ate and went again with the odd one singing some karaoke. The theme was purple and the décor and all the relations were dressed in purple too. I was called up to bless the bride and groom, who sat on thrones with two people fanning either side of them. I had to sprinkle water and a few flowers into their hands which wasn’t too difficult but I could see some of the family were watching anxiously in case I did something odd!

I haven’t yet sorted out internet at my new house so hence the delay with my blog but hopefully things will get organised soon.