Hari Guru still?!

Mahua waterfall

A walk in the Crocker Mountain jungle

Teachers' Day (Hari Guru) was actually celebrated on the 16 th May but here we are a month later still celebrating how wonderful us teachers are! My colleague who has worked in several different countries tells me that it is very common to have a Teachers Day but I'm afraid in all my years of teaching I seem to have missed out on this day ( or month in Sabah) of patting each other's back! Anyway I joined the District Teachers' Choir last week and the teachers were given three days off teaching to come and practise for the District Hari Guru celebration on Saturday. I didn't of course and just tried to work around the rehearsal times. We had no music and no choir master/mistress until the last day but with all this musical talent in Ranau we managed to put together three songs with five part harmonies with apparent ease. The songs were about -  guess? Yes how wonderful teachers are- however two of them were in Malay so I just sang, learnt my words and hadn't a clue what I was singing about which is something I am used to doing in France! The last song was Only You (Platters) adapted to mean only you special teachers and it was fun. We attempted a very easy movement with the beat but despite the musical talent there were two completely out of time - still it didn't matter and everyone seemed to appreciate the performance. I'm not sure if there will be more concerts but as with all choirs it is nice way of meeting people and I really enjoyed singing with everyone. So hopefully that is the end of Teachers' Day until next year. I got a funny card from a pupil that they had made saying "I love you Miss Fiona, You looking good, Reuse recycle" - is it a compliment or what??

Some of the choir waiting.

So what happened to that handsome son of mine? (all the females in Ranau tell me he is so I'm just following!) At this very moment he is working as a volunteer in Tabin Wildlife Nature reserve which is about 8 hours drive from Ranau. Andrew and I visited it last year and thought that it would be an ideal place for Patrick to experience. It is a huge reserve and at the headquarters there is a large research centre with  many research projects going on - tree planting, pygmy rhinoceros etc. and there are also lodges for tourists to stay in to enjoy the wildlife. Patrick appears to be doing all sorts of things from nature guide to barman to film maker. He has already seen lots of interesting animals and birds and as he has borrowed my camera I'm hoping for some amazing photos soon via Patrick.

Aki Nabalu

     The name Mount Kinabalu most likely has derived from the Dusun words "Aki Nabalu" meaning " The sacred place of the dead". The Dusun people believe that when you die your spirit goes to the mountain and the moss and lichens growing on the rocks are the food provided. Sometimes when the wind is blowing, they believe that the sound of music can be heard and that the spirits are making music with the bamboo.Sometimes when Mount Kinabalu is covered with clouds for many days it is believed that the dead are celebrating and don't want to be disturbed. There are many legends surrounding  Mount Kinabalu and as I drove up to collect Patrick today, with amazing blue skies, after he had successfully ascended to the summit ( The first Wright!) I thought of how comforting it must be to know that your lost loved ones are safely up on the  mountain, ever present and near enough to feel close to.

In the last 10 days I have lost two very good friends. Jane arrived in Sabah on the same day as I did last year and we instantly became friends. We discovered we had many things in common but mostly I think we shared a love for life. She had the most infectious laugh and was kind, generous, talented and was the sort of person everyone wanted to be with. I felt privileged to be counted as her friend and when we discovered that by chance, our parents had been friends, (Coincidences or fate blog)I nearly felt like part of her family. She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in late January and despite the treatment she passed away last week surrounded by her friends and family. Sue died yesterday after losing her brave battle against oesophageal cancer. We had known each other for many years, meeting in Bermuda as teachers in our twenties both newly married. Our lives followed different paths but we always stayed in contact and managed to see each other over the years. She was a very talented musician and was an inspiration to me and many others. She was a warm, lovely, fun person who enjoyed life. Why Sue and Jane's life books have been cut short when there were many more chapters to go is a question I ask myself.  My heart goes out to their dear families and I will miss them greatly. In the Dusun way I would like to think they are on Mount Kinabalu, laughing, making music and surrounded by friends and loved ones.

 These beautiful photos were taken by Patrick today as he ascended and descended the Mountain, seemingly with great ease - oh to be young and fit!

Mabul Island with Patrick

The other side of Mabul Island

Patrick pointing to the poshest resort on Mabul Island

 Patrick arrived safely last Sunday and appeared to get over any jet-lag without any problems.  On Monday we flew over to Tawau on the East coast of Sabah and then stayed the night in Semporna where we were ready for the 8 a.m. boat ride out to Mabul Island. It supposedly should take about an hour but the boat broke down and by the time the next one arrived and we changed, we were two hours late and soaking wet as it was pretty rough. Apparently there had been a storm about 2 days before and there had been a lot of damage and all of the guests of one homestay had to be evacuated at 3 a.m. before their bedrooms were washed away! Anyway we arrived at our homestay which was in the heart of the water village and definitely the wrong side of town as all the smart resorts were on the other side of this tiny island. It was very basic but adequate and I loved just watching what everyone was doing around the village. There was always fishing boats going in and out and small dugout canoes being paddled by and in the afternoon when it was low tide all the children went out to the reef to collect sea urchins, fish, collect shells, clean shells and other activities that I'm not aware you can do with fish and shells! The children made boats out of rice sacks filled with water bottles and  I watched these two small boys, about 5 years old, successfully spear fishing with a coconut leaf stalk and an elastic band - impressive.

Sea urchins

Spear fishing

Big brother in charge

Rice sack boat

Anyway the main reason for our visit was to dive and although Patrick is slightly ahead of me in experience, we are both beginners. However we were well taken care of and went on some really good dives. My favourite being the turtle dive where we saw nine turtles from medium to enormous. They have such interesting faces and the huge ones just looked bored at yet another diver staring at them - sorry turtles. I wish I had the vocabulary to describe the colours and designs of all the different types of fish and coral that we saw. Sometimes we would be amongst a shoal of angelfish, butterfly fish, parrot fish, trigger fish etc..and it was just magical, with stingrays and cuttlefish darting by. Fortunately I had Patrick to increase my knowledge of the names of fish instead of just saying the yellow and blue fish but the one time I decided to go snorkelling and Patrick diving, a fellow snorkeller asked me "What is that big fish with all those teeth?" "I've no idea, maybe a grouper?" I replied naively. However it was a barracuda so we swam in the opposite direction hurriedly.We didn't have an underwater camera as we thought keeping check on our air and looking at things was enough however we could have had some great photos snorkelling. So I am going to own up that the following  photos are not mine but we did see underwater images just like this. The list would be very long of all the sea life that we saw but you would be asleep by then so enough of that. We flew back to KK yesterday evening and headed up the mountain and today I've been showing Patrick the sights of Ranau i.e. the market and he has been getting me to climb on rocks in search of insects in the dark in my garden!

Masked butterfly fish

The view from our bedroom

Turtle

Emperor angelfish

A Weekend in Labuan

  Sunday 3rd June: I'm just waiting for Patrick to arrive in two hours time and I've had a very interesting weekend that I feel I must write in my blog. Nurliah, who is also my landlady, a Guru Besar who I work with, and friend, invited me to her nephew's wedding celebrations in Labuan which is an  island very close to Brunei. Nurliah comes from a family of ten brothers and sisters and only she and another brother have left the island. The rest of the family have built houses around the simple wooden kampong house that they were born and brought up in, where their mother is still living. It is like a housing estate except that everyone is related. I was staying with Nurliah's younger brother and family who were delightful and their 12 year old daughter was given the job of looking after me! Nina's English was excellent and she was able to tell me about her mother cleaning the house from top to bottom  and her younger brother phoning all his friends about an orang puteh coming to stay!!

Coconut rice

A curry

After being cooked

A thousand hard boiled eggs!

Another curry!

  








The Friday was relatively relaxed with all of us eating together and the karaoke starting but Saturday morning was when everything got into action.There were uncles, aunts, cousins all doing some job to help in the preparations. The organisation was incredible and they were catering for around 500 people and nearly all of it was prepared on Saturday or early Sunday morning, not to mention the wedding bags, the decorations etc.. My attempt at stuffing the coconut leaves with rice and coconut milk was laughable but they were all very patient with me. I was allowed to grate some carrots under much supervision as they obviously thought that wasn't too difficult for an orang puteh! The official wedding ceremony had already taken place three months before at the bride's home and this was the groom's family's turn to throw a party and invite everyone they knew.

The Koran blessing

Orang puteh's blessing

Dancing on a Saturday night!

 The celebrations began on Saturday evening with the bride and groom installed on their thrones and prayers being read from the Koran by the men, while the women waited outside. Then blessings were given to the couple by sprinkling flowers and coconut milk on their hands - apparently taken from the hindu tradition - and then it was karaoke, eating and dancing time which went on until 2 am I believe.There was a traditional band playing Brunei/Labuan music which was very different to the Dusun style of music and dancing that I'm used to now.

Welcoming the groom

From purple to white

The happy couple

 The real helpers were up at 5 a.m. cooking and preparing everything and by 10 o'clock the guests were arriving and we were all changed and ready for the next day. The wedding family team were all dressed in a peach colour - men and women - and the bride and groom were in white sparkly outfits today. The groom " arrived" with a group of boys and men banging welcoming drums and then it continued with lots more eating, socialising, people coming and going, karaoke and to finish the celebration was the cutting of the cake which is taken from the western tradition apparently. My thanks and congratulations to Nurliah's family who all worked in such harmony, male and female, appearing to cater for huge numbers with such ease; managing to look amazing and being extremely kind and welcoming to the stranger in their midst.