Another week over!

  The Primary school calendar in Sabah I'm sure does hold some more surprises for me but I'm beginning to be very accepting when yet another approaching event is declared. Last week was the chess tournament and February seemed to be athletics and sports. This week has been the start of fervent rehearsals for the zone competitions at the beginning of April. The pupils that are chosen to represent the schools are allowed, with the teachers responsible for the event, to practise for 2 hours after recess, until the competition. The other pupils seem to just drift around and no one appears to be in any trouble or bothered by the lack of supervision. The rehearsals that so far that I've seen have been for; choir, karaoke style singing, Dusun dancing, Action songs in English, Choral speaking in English ( a very strange chanting with a conductor) storytelling, traditional gongs and I expect there are more that I haven't seen yet. It seems that everywhere around the school there are little groups of pupils  rehearsing with music, gongs, singing, chanting all competing with one another! This week I managed to press gang some trainee teachers who were observing for a week, to help me start to paint and decorate a Year 1's classroom. My aim is to try and brighten up the Year 1's classrooms to start with and introduce a reading corner with books that they can touch!



Painting in satin!



Action song rehearsal

  The rice harvest has begun! Some of the rice plants have really started to ripen and turn an amber colour and just in the last week some of the people have been out starting to harvest. The rice is cut into bundles and then carried to a sort of makeshift tent made out of bamboo and tarpaulins. It is there that someone threshes the bundles to separate the grains. As to what happens with the dried stems I'm not sure yet but will continue to watch with interest.



Gen is in the air as I write and tomorrow I will meet her at Kota Kinabalu airport!!