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.