Not Teaching English

Today was the first time i was asked to help with an after school class of teenagers who have English lessons at the project we work at. As i uncomfortably sat on a chair at the front of the class having declared i was LE from England, the teacher explained the first exercise. He then called me up to the board and asked me to explain the difference between 'Love' and 'Like' to the students. haha. Since i failed to do this well he wrote on the bored 'Like 50-70%' and 'Love 100%'. Not bad. Later on in the class i had to explain what a Video recorder was (kids!) a cheesecake, and the hardest of all egg mayonnaise! how can you explain mayonnaise to someone who already knows the word egg? Fun, fun fun. Time is flying and we will be back so soon.

Singapore Evaluation 173

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Singapore

Likes: The botanical gardens, air conditioning everywhere, so many shops and restaurants we know from home, Masala Dosa (we stayed in little India), Raffles hotel (the epitome of colonial architecture, you can easily picture the ladies of leisure fanning themselves here), A diverse community (Indian, Malay and Chinese) living side by side happily, cleanliness, East Coast Park (families swimming, BBQ'ing and being together in the shady beach areas), Sentosa Island,

Dislikes: Shops, shops shops and no money to spend, burning hot sunshine, Cinema's selling out before we got tickets to The Kings Speech.

Days used exploring the city: 5

Number of times i wanted to come home: 0.

Favourite hotel: Only stayed in one, Hotel 81 Dickinson, in Little India. Nice and had accompanying indian men hanging around on the streets outside.

Favourite memory: Sitting on the arched streets of Little Indian, on a tiled square of pavement shaded by the little shops overhangs eating a bargin masala dosa.

Worst day: None, we liked it all. Possibly a day when we didn't have Starbucks.

Favourite new food or drink: Vegtable Masala Dosa, created specially for me when they didn't have what i ordered

Best/worst smell: All the temples smell of nice incense, adding to the atmosphere

Best/worst noise: The noise of airconditioning clicking in, good during the day, but bad when it wakes you at night :(

Best Norwich City Victory: None. They didn't play.

Weirdest country fact: People in Singapore laugh at totally inappropriate times in movies. Sometimes during funny bits but also through the saddest bits, and the serious bits?? Odd, but made for a really entertaining and different movie experience.

New thing learnt: We have a huge history not revolving around European relationships. It was great to go somewhere my grandfather has previously been as it reminded me of the depth and complicated history of Britain. We visited the 'Battle Box' an underground bunker where the British and Australian's tried to fight off the Japanese in WW2, but failed and had to surrender. The British were looked down on as it was un-British to surrender and not fight to the death, but they had no water, food and widespread public slaughter was threatened. The officers spent 3 years in Prisoner of War camps, but mostly survived.

Country Score: 173

A day in the life of a Khumer School Teacher.....

In the musical Avenue Q, they have a song titled, 'Everyone's a little bit racist', which i believe is true. I know this is true of myself as i am loving Cambodia but have been very surprised by how different it is to Thailand- why did i think it would be the same? Luckily it has been raining a bit and so brought the temperatures down to a pleasant level in which we can enjoy experiencing this laid back place with people who seem to know more about England than ourselves (one boy can name prime ministers going back 60 years) and almost love shouting 'Hello' to us more than they enjoy hearing us shout hello back (all accompanied by perfuse waving on both sides). We are enjoying being in one place, and getting into a routine. And here is that routine:

7.30am Alarm goes off and we lay awake but refusing to start the day until we know we are definitely going to be late.

08.00am Arriving downstairs in our share house (ex-hotel) we eat cold croissants we bought the previous night at half price from the bakery in town.

08.10am leave for school by bike. we cycle next to a calm river on mud roads waving to as many as possible.

Xss on his way to teach. Note that he has carefully put his cycle helmet in the front basket to keep it safe.

09.00am - Xss teaches the Lions class with a Khumer teacher for translation and Alison another volunteer (although she is leaving soon and he will have to do it alone later this week). He can choose the material but the subject must be around, 'Me and my body'.

This class was all about keeping healthy by moving around the classroom and not doing the work.

Some of my Creche class still thinking about whether they like me or not yet.

11.00am - Lunch break. We eat the meal cooked for us (it costs $2 a day) which is very tasty. Then we go to the local 'cafe' (shack) for an iced coffee or two.

Volunteers eating their lunches, whilst wearing a uniform suggesting where people should put their hands.

01.00pm - Classes again for Xss whilst I help interview some of the kids about their home backgrounds and try to find ways to support their families.

03.00pm- Schools out and we race home on our bikes to shower and eat fresh fruit (pineapple, melon, mango or papaya) bought on the way home.

04.00pm -SHOWERING! book reading and snoozing. Its hot.

06.00pm - Head out to town for a meal, there are lots of restaurants in town to choose from. Ecstatic Pizza last night ($5). Probably a drink or two in town.

The 'Dr. Fish' experince. I really enjoy these little friends of mine biting my feet, any of my friends wants to learn how to do this in Britain for when i get home?


08.30pm - Home to relax, read our books, try to glimpse a TV (me) or use the Internet before we fall asleep and start the cycle again. Rewarding and relaxing, what more could you want.

30 Rocks.

Today would have been my sisters 30th birthday if she hadn't of floundered at 26, and left. To be honest my primary emotion at this time is to be ever so thankful that i got to grow up having a sister and knew her for those 26 years. I'm not one to claim that she was the most wonderful person, she would delete peoples numbers from her phone if they did not reply to a text. But to me she was a really calming person, and you can never have enough of them around.

When i was a teenager i would go across to her room and fall sleep on her bed in the afternoons whilst she went about her life around her room. She was also incredibly strong and never complained about her own health or trials. She didn't have much money, but she diligently worked away to support herself and Leo, and when Leo was born she had contractions all night, and then politely called me in the morning at 8am to ask if i was busy that day, and if not would i mind taking her to the hospital. Leo was born 2 hours later without a swear word, scream or any lack of dignity from my sister. She was too late for any pain relief.

I know these stories probably seem boring and irrelevant, facts about some dead girl that not many other people really knew, but through compiling thousands of these stories together, you can find my sister. I cant say i don't miss her, but if i could have a choice between 26 years with her, or never feeling this pain, of course having her would win hands down. I'm not one to lecture, but be grateful for everyone around you as we are great at making subtle 'rules' for why we and those we love around us wont die, 'I'm too young', 'he's in good health', 'She's really careful', but really anyone could be gone in the next hour. When people die we say, 'but they were going to get married', they had so much potential', 'they will never have kids now' but this is based on a premise that everyone gets to live to old age. This is not true. So for me, its important to live my life appreciating each hour i have with everyone (even those annoying people) because in the end you never get enough time with anyone.

Bali Evaluation 187

Bali

Likes: Stone sculptures and status everywhere combined with old, old tree's and vines, Monkey Temple wild monkeys grooming me, rice fields greenness, McDonald's home delivery, 'snakeskin' fruit, learning how coffee is made, the Ubud market, the drive to Lovina up north, numerous exquisite doorways.

Dislikes: Painful massages, Kuta, never knowing the real price of anything, rubbish on the beaches, RAIN, stupid $25 'airport fee's for a terminal with filthy toilets, $25 visa fees.

Sunrises witnessed: None thankfully, we missed all 9

Places visited: Sanur, Kuta, Lovina, Ubud.

Number of times i wanted to come home: 0. Its too near the end for that now!

Favourite hotel: They were all pretty bland, but Sana's cottages were nice little isolated cottages in the trees with a nice pool. Too expensive to stay more than one night though.

Favourite memory: Wandering around Ubud, visiting several lovely coffee shops, seeing the monkeys at the temple, reading and then having a nice cheap dinner with good company (Xss)

Worst day: Kuta beach visit, lots of well known shops (but no money to spend) then a dirty beach with several hassley people and a dead rat.

Favourite new food or drink: Papas Tuna in a banana leaf. I don't know what was in this slow roasted tuna, but the leaf flavours came through as did lots of other nice tastes. Served with chips is best.

Best/worst smell: Frangipangi joss sticks, everywhere, but nice.

Best/worst noise: There is only one song in Bali. Played on some plucked instrument. At the beginning this is nice, when you finally hear it at the airport leaving, you'd rather hear S Club 7.

Best Norwich City Victory: 2:0 away at Barnsly.

Weirdest country fact: Everyone speaks English fluently. I am beginning to believe that really English is spoken the world over and only THEN did they make up their own languages, just to be different.

New thing learnt: Even if you are tanned you get used to your skin tone and think you are white again. Why does every culture want to have a different skin colour? Is anyone actually happy with their own skin? All the suntan lotions and moisturisers here contain whitening ingredients (much to my dismay as i need some). Makes me wonder if we share any universally heralded physical ideals? The only one i can think of is that everywhere thinks long hair on girls is pretty?

Country Score: 187

Travel sickness.....

I wanted to write this entry on the Perhentian islands where we have just been staying. It would have gone a little like this:

As i write this my feet are resting on the white sand of an isolated white sandy beach. I can hear the small waves repetitively relaxing my subconscious and in fact i can see the sea only 5 meters away as the 'Internet cafe' i find myself in has no walls and nothing more than a corrugated iron roof to protect the three laptops clustered on a table on the sand from the glare of the sun, and the rain. The sand here is idyllically soft, but annoyingly so, as it is as fine as dust and has many dust like qualities, most notably being hard to get off towels and bodies wet with sea, suntan lotion, rain or sweat (so there is never a moment that we are not intimately acquainted with it). There are several shacks of hotels (5) and restaurants (also 5) along the beach, and not much else as this island is part of a protected marine park. Despite the fact that it has rained heavily for half our time here, it has not made the place any less beautiful and i would be tempted to hide away here for months if we were not due on our next project in Cambodia imminently.

However, i did not write this yesterday as the laptop stopped working, and now i am writing in the Cameron Highlands, in a town that looked grim as we pulled in and as we took our first breath of highlands air thought, this is not a good place to be (THE GUIDE BOOK LIED). We took a walk immediately and it was neither scenic nor quaint as it was implied. All food places have tables with sticky plastic table clothes on with garish fruits and faded yellow implements that scream of food sickness or blandness. There are a million hotels and restaurants clustered along a busy road, swamped by a village of fruit and veg growers who have covered the lovely mountains with poly tunnels, large farm shops and plastic strawberries as big as a car. To think we left the Island for this. The only reason was to see a tea plantation; we will do that tomorrow and then leave.

I'm not really home sick, although i miss some things and people from home, but i am travel sick. I yearn to go to places i know, eat food i can identify and not be always preoccupied with who is ripping us off the least. I don't want to seem ungrateful for this wonderful opportunity Ive been given, but some evenness in this weird weird world would be great. Luckily for me, there is a Starbucks in the Cameron Highlands!!

Thailand Evaluation 219.4

Thailand

Likes: Pirate the otter at the Zoo, the best beaches in the world (so far), warm seas, seeing the in-laws in an unfamiliar setting, getting a free upgrade at the hotel which included free afternoon tea and private infinity pool, all the islands in the south, people nonchalantly saying 'oh no we don't have that' when you order anything off a menu', the food at the Shangri-la Bangkok- out of this world!,

Dislikes: Thai bra sizes being different to British (it appears that 34 inches in Britain is 40 in Thailand- i feel like a heifer), cuts getting infected at the zoo, not being able to renew our visa's in country, the noise of a Gibbon at 7.30am (breakfast time), rain,

Sunrises witnessed: well 14 thanks to the Zoo project, and another 22 happily slumbered through

Places visited: Phuket, Koh Lanta, Koh Phi Phi, Bangkok, Hua Hin.

Number of times i wanted to come home: 2. It was hard seeing people from home and not wishing to experience more familarness and Britishness.

Favourite hotel: Phi Phi Villages, Phi Phi.

Favourite memory: Getting up and taking a boat to Bon Island, to slumber on beds as comfy as a mattress and wander in the warm waters, mixed with reading, snoozing and eating good food. Returning home tired and relaxed.

Worst day: Once it rained almost all day when we wanted to sunbath, haha. oh the hardships.

Favourite new food or drink: Pineapple curry

Best/worst smell: Worst- Our bathroom at the zoo. So bad we didn't go in there and used the communal resources instead.

Best/worst noise: On a small wooden walkway at night over a square pond at the Everson resort a single frog started croaking, then another until a whole frog chorus occurred. Wonderful

Number of Monkeys to be fed at the Zoo each day: 196

Number of Monkeys fed on the days I organised the feeding team:195

Number of times i called the Animal rescue centre a 'Zoo' in front of the manager: 1 (i learnt my lesson)

Animals I met that were missing at least one limb: 9

Best Norwich City Victory: 2:1 away win against Sheffield United. (the in-laws and Us watched the late goal on the I-touch).

Weirdest country fact: Despite Thailand being a place where it is expected and polite to wear tops that cover your shoulders and knee length shorts, why can you only by hot pant shorts??

New thing learnt: I like animals, but i still cant help be mystified by people dedicating their whole lives to help them. Although a Nobel cause, i cant understand why people think it is better to help animals than defenseless children. This trip has reconfirmed and strengthened many of my convictions that i knew i already held as thoughts.

Country Score: 219.4

Can you get even bruises?

Bali has been great. I've loved it all. If anyone wants to start out travelling the easy way, Bali is the place to go. Everyone speaks English so the possibilities to understand and ask questions are limitless!!

We started with a break near the beach in Sanur, then went up to the north of the Island to a black beach, which sounds different and fun, but actually is very hard to break the association of black/gray sand with dirty, unhygienic ugliness. We then landed in Ubud the land of loveliness where we could wander around for hours in the rice paddies and vine covered trees. There is carved ornateness everywhere and every gate frames a dazzling entry to another world. Seriously, its awesome, but have not got my camera here to upload photos. Sorry.

Basically everywhere you look in Bali there is lay upon layer of fascinating things and i cant believe that i didn't trip over more than usual as i was always starting elsewhere. In order to embrace the place as much as possible, like usual, we tried the food and engaged in local activities. Well really this meant sometimes i forwent my chips for a 'noodles with left overs stirred' in dish and we went for a massage.

Now as most of you will know, i hate strangers touching my body so i opted for a leg massage instead. It was fun, but not in the way i expected. Are massages always painful? I basically spent the whole time with my hands interwoven behind my head as if they were by my sides my fist were clenched and then i thought she might notice. The phrase, 'right, that's enough' was on the tip of my tongue as my stomach muscles tried to pull me up to a sitting position on the bed. But i persevered and tried to be positive, that at least if she was bruising me, she was doing it very evenly and it might just look like dirt. I also realised how ridiculous this was as i lay there wondering why i wouldn't just ask her to be a bit lighter with her hands. I thought about this the whole of the half hour, and couldn't come up with one reason why i shouldn't ask her.

I've loved Bali, the culture, the friendly people and the sights, but we never found a wonderful beach setting, so (sad as it is to have this silly requirement for a great 5 star pole position) i cant decide if i would come back or not. Bali does not seem to make a holiday by itself.