A Day of Festivities

Today was a replacement day. During Chinese New Year, we received a week off from school; however, only three days were officially school holiday. Therefore, we have to make up two of those days. Today was one; 26 April is the other. Yet today was not a regular school day at my school.

It began with a normal Thursday schedule. Morning assembly at 7:10am, followed by two classes at 7:30am and 8:10am. But then festivities began.


Morning assembly with the students in their cultural attire instead of their usual school uniforms. Everyone looked sangat cantik (very beautiful)!



With my students

Today SMK Labis celebrated Maulidur Rasul, the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday. Preparations began Friday after school. At 3:00pm, Dorine and I returned to the canteen at my school to join the teachers and staff for Rewang, the preparation of food for the celebration. The women and a few men peeled and chopped vegetables, onion, and garlic while the rest of the men hacked and cut the meat. Two cows were slaughtered for the occasion. When we arrived, the cow parts were being hung from the cross bars of the walkway and the meat was being separated from the bone. The older form boys enjoyed helping the teachers and administrative staff in the preparation of the cows. Needless to say, I stayed with the garlic and onions.


Food preparation with the lovely ladies at my school


Meat preparations by the male teachers and staff

With so many hands working diligently, the meat and vegetables, to be served to nearly 400 people, were ready for cooking within three hours. Cooking commenced later in the evening and continued until the morning, with some people spending the night at the school to ensure the food was ready for lunch on Saturday.

As Maulidur Rasul is only celebrated by Muslims, the Indian and Chinese students had their own activities for the day. The Indian students had a motivational guest speaker and the Chinese students had a guest speaker explain the true meaning behind the Chinese festivities and the zodiacal animals. All students were provided with food – breakfast and lunch. Although each function was conducted in the students’ first language, one of the Form 6 Chinese students translated the speech about the zodiacs for me.

Not being attached to any one racial group, I was able to visit all three ceremonies. Breakfast with the Indian students, the first half of the morning with the Malays, the second half with the Chinese, back to the Malays for lunch, and finishing the day with the Indian students. As the day was an Islamic celebration, I will focus on the activities of the Malays.


Serving roti canai, a fluffy bread taken with curry, to the Indian students


The motivational speaker for the Indian students

I entered the Maulidur Rasul ceremony during the reading of the Quran. The students and teachers had already assembled and proceeded to the religious center on our school’s campus. After a few short speeches, several students performed. There was a brief drama pantomime performance narrated by a few students seated off to the side, songs sung by a group of male students with percussion instruments, followed by a chorus of female students with male accompaniment on percussion. Talents I didn’t know my students have because there is no music class at our school.


Male students' musical performance


Female students' choral performance

The guest speaker commenced after the presentations. His talk was about the Prophet Muhammed and birthdays. During the portion I stayed for, he explained how birthdays are no longer celebrated in the proper way. Now, the youths like to go to the clubs and celebrate with members of the other gender. The proper way to celebrate is to show gratitude, ask for prayers and well-being, and show appreciation and humility. He seemed to be a very entertaining speaker as the students were constantly breaking out into fits of laughter.

It was during this speech that I left to attend the Chinese speaker and thus learn about the Chinese zodiacs. As a snake, my prime hours are between 9am-11am. Each of the 12 animals has a special two hours during the day. It is during this time that the animals are most active or perform certain behaviors. Between 9-11am, the snake hunts but does not harm people. It was clear that the speaker was also very entertaining for the students.


Chinese speaker


A Thank You for Coming

At 12:30, the Malay speaker finished and the students and teachers broke for lunch. Lunch was served on large platters with a variety of dishes shared by a group of students. Family style, eaten with the hands, the traditional Malay style of eating. I ate in the teachers’ room with my colleagues. There was biryani rice, mixed vegetables, several meat dishes, each with a different sauce, fruit salad, a variety of juices, and water. Lunch marked the end of the celebration, though the cleaning of the canteen continued for quite some time.


Lunch time!


Cleaning after lunch

***
The day’s festivities were not finished this point. Dorine and I had tea with one of our new friends from yoga class and her son. The son is a very intelligent student in Standard Four at the local Chinese school. He has a collection of 50-60 trophies for competitions he has taken part in – Chess, English speaking, and English storytelling competitions, to name a few. He was very curious about the United States and where Dorine and I live, information which we gladly shared with him.

***
As for the evening, Dorine and I had been invited to an Indian Coming of Age ceremony. Traditionally, this ceremony is performed when a girl reaches puberty; however, in more modern times, it has become a smaller ceremony for family and close friends and is often held years later. In this case, the girl was 18. Unfortunately, we arrived after the ceremony, though we were able to watch the video recording of the events.

From what I could gather, the girl is seated on the floor while her elders take coconut milk in their palms and pour it on the girl’s head, along with a special type of grass, in a sort of blessing. Once everyone has done so, the girl is taken to the bathroom where, with a cloth over her head, water is poured on her head. Next there is a ceremony involving coconut, platters of food, and blessings. Regretfully, I am not sure of the specific significance of these acts. We were able to greet the family and partake in the dinner before the occasion concluded. Delicious vegetarian Indian food I may add.

This was a lovely day, full of cultural experiences and festivities.

Cross Country Running

Saturday, 9 March 2013

Student: Teacher Leslie, did you just bathe?

Me (with a perplexed expression): No, not just now. 

Student: Then why are you so wet?

Me (looking down at my completely soaked shirt): It's my sweat from running!


This morning SMK Labis had a cross country race. All 700 students were divided into four houses - red, green, blue, and yellow - and then further divided into age groups which would determine their start time. Some excited, some not, we all came to school on a Saturday as if was a week day. Mohammad Haili and I led the aerobic warm-ups much to the delight of the students. 


Preparing for the run - about to start warm-ups

The course was roughly a 5k, over half of which was through palm and rubber tree plantations. A beautiful course. As it was still early when we began, the morning mist created a serene atmosphere as we passed the young palm tree fields. And once the sun did pierce through the morning haze, the trees protected us from the heat. That is until the final 0.5km stretch which was in full sunlight. 

Many teachers were posted along the course as were the St. John's club members who were responsible for administering first aid as needed. I believe only one girl fell and scraped her knee. A good percentage considering how many students, especially the boys, I saw sprinting down the uneven dirt hills!

I was the only teacher that ran with the students. I began with the second group of girls, but did not complete the race with them. A race that would have normally taken me 25-30 minutes lasted over an hour because I kept turning back to "force" students to jog a short distance with me. This way I ended up running with every gender and age group and probably made at least 100 students jog during a time they would have otherwise been walking. As we were jogging up a hill and I was encouraging my students to maintain a steady pace rather than sprint and walk, one student said, "Teacher, with you I can do this." Yet another reason to smile everyday. BOLEH!

Once everyone finished, there were refreshments and an awards ceremony for the top finishers in each age group. I without a doubt won the wet shirt contest. Malaysians don't seem to sweat much, whereas I was compared to last year's male ETA! Well, Leslie likes to exercise and Malaysia is hot. 


Hydrating after the run

And of course many students wanted to take photos with me after. Attractive me! But at least the students were happy!

When you love what you do, you never work a day in your life!


Resting after the race


Medals!

I Smile Every Day

Every day I ask myself,
Why do I do what I do? Why am I here?
And every day I answer
Because this is what I love.
Because this is what I am meant to do.

Despite the lack of sleep, the frustrating moments of being misunderstood, feeling like I’m “speaking a totally foreign language” or that others around me are speaking a foreign language, despite being half way around the world from my family, I do not wish to be doing anything other than living in Malaysia and teaching at SMK Labis.

Every day I smile. Every day there are so many things to be happy about. Yesterday I laughed with a student as he painted his toenails during recess. Two weeks ago I helped a baby kitten, taking her to the vet to get eye drops for her infected eye and to the pet store for deworming pills and milk before returning her to her mother, only to see her health improved the next time I saw her. (There are a few “school cats” that roam around our campus, including two kittens.) Whether it’s dancing Gangnam Style with my students, singing “What a Wonderful World” with the incredible women in the canteen, or celebrating with the Bahasa Malaysia debate team when they win the semi-finals competition, I smile.


Dancing Gangnam Style at the end of class

Perhaps one of my favorite daily moments is seeing the faces of the special needs students shine with happiness as I greet them. I love working with these students. They always want to talk to me and learn from me despite their minimal English skills. On Thursday, one of the students took me by the hand, led me into her classroom, followed by several of her classmates, and asked me to teach them English. With pleasure! And they didn’t want me to stop. They just wanted to keep learning.


With a couple of the Special Needs students

Sometimes I feel like I am not making much of an impact. Sometimes I wonder how I can do better. But then a student whom I do not see in class will come to me and ask me to talk with her so that she can improve her English skills. And we’ll sit and talk for an hour.

Impacts start small. You can only walk a mile by taking one step at a time. For example, the standard response for “How are you?” is “I am fine.” Not anymore. No longer are my students just “fine.” They may be “not fine” or “tired,” but more often than not, they are “excellent,” “awesome,” “happy,” and “very very very good”! My students can now find North Carolina on a map. My students now know about ultimate Frisbee. My students have celebrated diversity and have worn two different colored shoes to school to show their acceptance of differences. I cannot wait to see what we can accomplish in the next eight months.


The Bahasa Malaysia Debate team preparing for the Finals Competition!

I am blessed to be here in Malaysia. I cannot believe that two months of my ten month contact have already passed. I love every minute of it. Every moment makes me stronger. Every day there are many things that make me smile.


The wonderful women in the canteen

World Thinking Day

22 February 2013


Different Shoes!

World Thinking Day is a day to show appreciation for diversity in our community and around the world. It is a day to accept differences between people of all cultures and backgrounds and to recognize that our similarities are greater than our differences. With this day near the beginning of my year working at SMK Labis, I took the opportunity to teach my students about diversity and the importance of accepting people’s differences and similarities.

Although we are all physically different, we are also all the same. I have light skin; you have darker skin. I am from the United States; you are from Malaysia. I am American; you are Malay, Indian, Chinese, Orang Asli. We may look different and act different, but we can still work together. We can still understand each other and learn from each other. We can be friends and value each other for who we are, for both our differences and our similarities.

The thought came to me on Monday night. With World Thinking Day occurring on Friday in the United States, I knew I needed to work quickly. That night I drafted a letter for my school’s headmaster and in the morning I requested his permission to implement this project with the students. With permission granted, I began preparations. I had two of my classes make flyers to post around the school promoting World Thinking Day. Throughout the week, I taught my students about diversity and culture, World Thinking Day, and why and how we would be celebrating the day this year.

A key feature of World Thinking Day is the wearing of two different shoes, hence the day also being known as Different Shoe Day. On Friday, all of my students were supposed to wear two different colored shoes as a visual representation of diversity. They also had to sign an agreement to value differences between all people on this day and every day.


Students participating in World Thinking Day


My fellow English teachers

Over 125 students and 10 teachers, including all of the English teachers, came to school wearing different shoes on Friday, 22 February 2013, daring to overcome any embarrassment and discomfort by doing something unusual. Since I do not teach every class in the school, many students were not aware of World Thinking Day and the reasoning behind wearing different colored shoes. Thus, my students had to explain the significance of the day and of wearing two different types of shoes. Many students could not believe I would make them do such a strange thing, but in the end, I think they understood and were willing to share the importance of the day with their friends.

Malaysia is a very diverse country. Every day the students must interact with individuals of different races, religions, beliefs, and customs. And yet every day we see cooperation, friendship, communication, and acceptance. Every class I teach has Malay, Chinese, and Indian students; Muslim, Hindu, Christian, and Buddhist students; students of different shapes and sizes, interests and hobbies; yet every day we work together. This is the message I wish to share with my students all year – even though we are different in many ways, we have just as many similarities.


Pledging to Accept Differences

Agreement to Value Differences
To those of you who are different from me,
I promise:
To learn about you,
To understand you,
To befriend you,
To value you and your differences,
And to appreciate that our
Similarities are larger than our differences.


Students participating in World Thinking Day


My class Form 4A

Click here to watch a short video about World Thinking Day at SMK Labis

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Chinese New Year with the Wee family
9-11 February 2013

It's a time for extended families to come together and celebrate the beginning of the new year and bid farewell to the old year. The new year celebrations last for fifteen days, but the most important night is New Year's Eve when there is a huge reunion dinner to thank the gods and honor the ancestors.

On Friday, some of my Chinese students gave me a gift basket with oranges, New Year's treats, and ang pao. Instead of containing money, the ang pao had short notes written by the students wishing me a good, memorable year in Malaysia and thanking me for coming to teach at their school. This was the best gift they could have given me!

In the evening I took the local bus to Segamat to meet my friend Freddie. A while back, he invited me to celebrate Chinese New Year with his family, and I couldn't think of a better way to spend the holiday. Freddie and I met at the Penang Ultimate Frisbee Hat tournament at the beginning of December. His family happens to live in Segamat, the nearest town to Labis. An incredible coincidence.


Freddie and me having fun on a swing

We had a quiet first evening at home, watching television, looking at old family photos, and chatting late into the night. We ate dinner at a local Chinese restaurant with his brother, mother, and aunt, a very small preview of Saturday night's extended family dinner. Freddie's mom seems to know everyone is town, greeting every customer who walked in the door. When you live in a small town, everyone knows everyone.

Over the course of the weekend, I believe it is safe to say that I gained 5 pounds from delicious CNY food! One breakfast with Freddie's mom and aunt was followed by breakfast with Freddie and Patrick which was then followed by coffee. A mandatory sampling of yellow rice and mixed salad in the mid-afternoon and a table full of delicious foods in the evening. This is not to mention the taste testing of the plethora of New Year's treats and cookies. Repeat the following day.


New Year's Eve's dinner

On Saturday, the eve of the new year, we had a relaxing day, spending most of it at Freddie's grandma's house watching episodes of a Korean TV show, playing with the children, and attempting to help prepare the food.

In the evening, aunts, uncles, and cousins all came together to share the new year's meal. First we had to lou sang (mix) the vegetarian yee sang, a traditional new year's dish. Taking chopsticks or other cutlery, we had to toss the colorful mix in the air shouting our wishes for the new year. Then let the feasting begin!!


Mixing yee sang

At midnight we set off the fireworks. Fireworks had been sounding since the morning but culminated into a surround sound experience at midnight. There were poppers, ground sparklers, fireworks that shot into the sky, and the Chinese specialty, the red firecracker, a long strand of poppers that are hung from a pole and lit from the bottom. It's a domino effect until they've all popped - very exciting and loud. It is believed that the fireworks scare away the evil spirits.


The Chinese Red Firecracker

Many families were also releasing red Chinese lanterns into the sky, in hopes that the wishes they wrote on them will come true in the new year.

Sunday morning began with Catholic mass, the service of which was conducted in Mandarin, so I'm afraid I didn't understand anything. At the end, the church offered ang pao (red packets containing money) and mandarin oranges to the congregation.

The day was once again spent at Freddie's grandma's house, eating two lunches (including fatt choy, the prosperity vegetable dish), playing and gambling (a new year's tradition) with the children, chatting with the adults, and serving tea to the elders. It is tradition for the unmarried youth to give tea to their elders, and in return, they receive ang pao. I served tea to Freddie's mom wishing her prosperity, health, and youth in the new year, much to the delight of everyone around. In return, I too received ang pao, truly becoming part of the family.


The children lining up to give tea to Freddie's mother when she arrived on Saturday afternoon


Me giving tea in exchange for ang pao

I had a fantastic time getting to know Freddie's diverse family and spending a family oriented holiday with them. THANK YOU FREDDIE for letting me be a part of your family's celebrations!!!


Additional Tidbits

On the first day of the new lunar year, everyone wears new clothes. New beginning, new clothes.

Many people wear red because it is believed that the evil spirits are afraid of red (and loud noises, hence the fireworks).

You are not allowed to clean because it would be sweeping away the good luck that comes with the year. Thus all of the remains from the previous night's fireworks must stay until the following day.

Some people bathe with flower petals to keep away evil spirits.

Incense is burned in honor of the ancestors and hell money is burned to appease the evil spirits.


Lion dance

Labis

Home sweet home. I have been living in Labis for a week now. I'm settled in my home, established at my school, and I love my co-workers and students.

Labis is a small town in northern Johor, in the district of Segamat. It has two main roads – one leading north-south and one east-west. I live on the main road, and while the town is overall very quiet, the road is noisy 24/7. But you get used to it.

My roommate, Dorine, and I live in a shop-top apartment near the KFC. Our apartment is quite large for two people with four bedrooms, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, and two bathrooms. Since we don't have internet yet, we have become regulars at the Coffee Corner, a delightful coffee shop down the road. As the sole orang putih (white person) in town, on our second day, the workers asked if they could take a photo with us. Of course!

We have stayed busy cleaning the house, frequenting the Coffee Corner, walking around town, trying new restaurants, visiting the local hot springs, and making new friends. Last weekend, we attended a wedding reception for one of the teachers at my school; went to a birthday party for the friend of my mentor; and went shopping for household essentials in Segamat, the nearest town. Phew! That's not to mention the most important aspect of our days. Going to school!!!

A group of my students

SMK Labis is a secondary school with about 720 students in Forms 1-6. It is quite diverse with Malay, Indian, and Chinese students in every class. I am teaching Forms One, Two, and Four. These are the years that the students do not have major examinations, and so I have more flexibility in terms of my lessons. Thus far, I have twelve classes a week (four in each form), in addition to participating in the co-curriculars and leading a weekly assembly called "English Within 20 Minutes (EW20). My students have varying degrees of English language proficiency, ranging from understanding almost everything I say to understanding hardly anything at all. Some are very shy, some are very outgoing. I cannot tell you how many of the boys have already asked if I have a boyfriend! Sorry kids, I'm your teacher.

My fellow English teachers are a phenomenal group of individuals with whom I am thoroughly excited to work. They have already been so generous, helping me assimilate into the school's environment. My mentor, Thilaga, is outstanding. I feel like one of the family! Her husband is the English Language Officer for primary schools in the District of Segamat, a good connection to have. They have two wonderful children; their son is in one of my classes. Their daughter is almost two and is a darling little girl.

I am very excited for this year. I think it is going to be quite challenging, but these are challenges that I am looking forward to overcoming.

Segamat District Awesomeness
Dorine's mentor, SK Sri Labis Headmistress, Dorine, me, SMK Labis Senior Assistant, and my mentor

Thaipusam

Note: One image at the end of this post is quite graphic and may not be suitable for all audiences.

Thaipusam is a Hindu festival that commemorates the triumph of good over evil. Thousands Hindu devotees and tourists from around the world flock to the Batu Caves to pay homage to Lord Murugan in what is now the largest Thaipusam celebration in the world. An unbelievable experience for anyone who attends.

The festival itself lasts for three days; however, the festivities really begin a week before. Although all of the ETAs had traveled to our respective states on Friday, come Saturday the majority of the Johor, Perak, and Pahang crews returned to KL for Thaipusam.
***
For a month leading up to Thaipusam, devotees fast by maintaining a vegetarian diet and eating smaller meals during the day. Many also sleep on floor mats rather than sleeping on mattresses. These examples of self deprivation aid in the devotees' ability to go into trances and endure the pain of bodily piercings during Thaipusam.

The day before Thaipusam, the large procession of Lord Murugan devotees leaves a temple in Kuala Lumpur and walks 15 kilometers to the Batu Caves, a process which can take up to eight hours. Upon arrival, devotees, wearing all yellow, carry jugs filled with milk up the 272 stairs into the caves to present them to the god. Others carry large and heavy kavadis on their shoulders, stopping frequently with their entourage to rest.

Some devotees engage in bodily piercings. The piercings take place down by the river, a short walk from the caves, and are removed once inside. There are many different types of vel, or piercings. The most common I saw was devotees having hooks placed in their backs. A modern belief is that the greater the vel, the more devout a person is, though I've also heard that the degree to which a person engages in these acts of devotion depends on their necessary personal penance to god. Limes, small jugs (the size of limes), apples, even coconuts are attached to the hooks that hang from devotees' backs. Some devotees have hooks attached to long ropes that are held by another person up to ten feet behind them. I believe it is only the men who partake in these body piercings.

In addition to the hooks in the back and upper arms, many devotees pierced their tongues and cheeks with long needles. This is to bring them closer to god by restricting their ability to speak and connect to other people. Men and women engage in this practice.

During this process, many devotees go into trances. Their movements are then largely controlled by the music. When the Bhangra drums are sounded, tranced devotees begin dancing to the rhythm, spinning in circles and stomping their feet, often while simultaneously holding a jug on top of their heads. When the music stops, the devotees relax and rejoin the procession to the caves.

The trances end when the devotees have paid their respects. While standing in front of a shrine and being blessed, the final hook was removed from a devotee's back. He immediately looked up to the sky, screamed, and collapsed to the ground as the spirit left his body. In a minute or two, he had fully recovered from his trance and could hold a normal conversation.
***
Clutching my bag tightly, I closed my eyes and felt the power of the moment. The rhythmic beating of the drums, the sound of dancing feet, the chanting of the devotees and their supporters, and the smell of burning incense. A very full experience.

Unfortunately, Thaipusam has become very commercialized. To reach the caves from the train station, we had to walk through a carnival setting with rides and a ferris wheel, as well as food stalls, music stands, and booths where one can buy an assortment of Indian goods. The festival has lost much of its original meaning, yet the experience is still incredibly real for the devotees. Walking between the carnival and the caves was like walking between two distinct worlds.

This post is by no means a comprehensive telling of the events of Thaipusam. I am not an expert in Hinduism, in the symbolism of the rituals, nor do I believe that I have all of the facts straight. This blog is meant to be a recount of my observations and the knowledge gained by speaking to individuals at the festival.

The stairs leading into Batu Caves. This was early in the evening when the crowds were quite small.

Inside the cave. You can see a couple kavadis in the middle.

Devotees with the jugs of milk on their heads

A man carrying a kavadi resting

A devotee with hooks in his back