In the middle of Januray we had a long weekend to celebrate the Hindu festival thaipusam. We took this opportunity to follow our Vice Principal, Uncle Naz, to his home in Kuala Kubu Bahru (KKB). This is also where two other volunteers teach so we got the chance to visit them in their setting. This was interesting to see the differences between the schools and also the students. As KKB is much closer to KL (about 40mins) most of the students live in the big city. The difference bewtween the quiet, rural kids of Mersing and the more confident, city kids from KL was definitely noticeable. We had a fun time playing games with a very energetic class with a lot more rowdy boys than Mersing!
After our short trip to KKB we headed to spend the rest of our long weekend in KL with most of the other volunteers. It was fun to see them all again, it was so strange being back at our school with just the three of us, we were definitely having travelling withdrawal symptoms so this reunion was needed! We even managed to get our hands on a cheeky Nandos which was certainly the highlight of my weekend!
On the 25th January we decided to celebrate Burns Night during our form 4 slot. We taught the students all about Robert Burns- Scotland's national poet- got them to analyse 'My Love is like a Red Red Rose' and some of them even had a go at reciting 'Tae a Moose'! Their Scottish accents were questionable I have to say haha! Nonetheless we still had a fun time teaching them a little bit more about our culture and Scottish heritage and the Shortbread went down a treat!
It then became the time for 52 of the Form 4s to leave Mersing to go to a better school. We wanted to do something special for their closing ceremony so decided to teach them a song they could sing and surprise all the teachers. We had 4 days to teach them all the lyrics, work out how they would get the mics and arrange some sort of choreography! Don't stop believing was the song we decided on as it is easy and has lots of harmonies for them all to join in on and has a cute message to go along with. After the first practice session I wasn't the most confident they could pull it off but they decided they wanted to carry on so we practiced again and by the night before it was starting to come together. When the time came and the music started playing I think the nerves kicked in and everyone was out of time so after a few laughs from the unsuspecting teachers we pretended that never happened and started again. The second time was perfect and they were up dancing like stars! It was a fab end to a fab programme and I wish all the form 4s who left Mersing the best of luck for the future.
February was also the time our desk officer from Project Trust, Laura, came to visit Malaysia. She was supposed to come and visit our school and see how we were getting on but after a few complications she couldn't get to us so we had to go to MRSM JB to visit her along with some of the other vols. it was fun to catch up with her and was also nice to meet the JB girls who have just started their 8 month placement.
Chinese New Year is obviously a huge celebration in Asia which called for yet more holidays. This time we took the opportunity to take a trip to Singapore, as there is a large Chinese population there. We spent 3 nights in a hostel, not the best but it's all we could afford- Singapore is EXPENSIVE, especially compared to Malaysia. We went to Universal Studios one day which was very fun, it's been a long time since I got the thrill of being on a roller coaster, my favourites were Cylon and Revenge of the Mummy. The next day we spent exploring Singapore including the Marina Bay and Chinatown. We had planned to watch the New Year's Eve fireworks at the marina bay but as we are 3 idiots we got the date wrong for Chinese New Year and it turned out to be New Year's Eve on the 7th not 8th of feb!! However we still managed to see some fireworks from Clarke Quay where we had a nice dinner.
One of the best parts about Singapore was going to the Gardens by the Bay which is a beautiful park with lots of plants and trees. But the best part is the huge 'Supertrees' made out of metal, looking like something from avatar! We even got to go on this tall curved walkway connecting two trees and even though it was a pretty dull day we still had some amazing views of the Island. Singapore was great fun, it is much more modern and western compared to Malaysia, but it was nice to experience a different side of Asia for a change, the transport system is almost that of London, it was fab!
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