Melaka

I am bee-hind.  Oh well, here are some Melaka Memories of which all of you can now be a part.

Kristy, Vicki and I had all of our bags packed before Kristy got out of school on Friday.  We were very excited to get on the road and head out of town.  When we arrived in Melaka, we drove straight to our hotel, Hotel Equatorial Melaka.  

Celebrating Culture~ Hari Raya

So, we started the week with Merdeka Day and ended the week with a Hari Raya Celebration! 

The best part is we got to dress up in traditional Malay clothes. 

Ms Jag and I match and we didn't even plan it!

We spent the morning rotating through some very engaging activities that helped us understand more about how Hari Raya is celebrated. 

 Later in the day we attended an assembly and had the privilege of watching authentic Malaysian dances that represented different cultures around the country.

Lastly, we ended the day with a "cooking" class.

We learned to make Ondeh-Ondeh. It was a neat process. However, after we tasted it and I surveyed the class (to practice our tallies) only ONE student actually liked it. Six were on the fence and asked me if we could add a "kind of" column, which I thought was hilarious and the other 9 students said that they did not like it. 

The outside tastes like a rice paste which is rolled in coconut. The inside is a hard dark sugar. I thought they said coconut sugar, but maybe it's cane sugar. In either case...

Had I taken the survey I probably would have checked "no." I just didn't want to be rude.   

All in all, it was such a fun day. I learned a lot; the kids learned a lot and I couldn't help but think of Jaxson attending when I saw the little three year olds dressed up in their Malay clothing! 

SO CUTE!!

Celebrating Culture ~ Merdeka Day

Hi friends, family and fellow bloggers!

As you know, Keith has had to take over writing the blog entries and I am so appreciative.  We are loving that this is something that we and Jaxson can look back on as a "scrapbook" or "diary" of our adventures. It also helps us to communicate with all of you so you know we are alive and well.  Thank you for your continued love and support!

My entry is very special.  It isn't about traveling or about venturing out in KL. It is about my adventure as a classroom teacher in a very diverse setting.  I thought I had a diverse setting back in Chattanooga.  I definitely did, but here it is diverse in a whole new way.  My students are literally from all over the world and they come with very different background knowledge. They have already seen more of the world than most people three times their age and they come with different perspectives each spoken with their own accents.  All of my students speak English, although a have six EAL students. (English as an additional language)

I have "good" days and "bad" days. As you can imagine it is such an emotional roller coaster. There are days I wonder.... what have we done?! and days we are amazed at how much we have seen and experienced in just three short months.  The possibilities of what the next two years here hold excite us.  We also see the truly INCREDIBLE education and opportunities Jaxson will have if we continue in the international setting.

Last week really helped me see the unique experience we are all having. We had two cultural celebrations.

One was the Merdeka Day Celebration. This is just like our "Fourth of July" in the states. Well, when I say just like, I mean that strictly in the sense that it is the day they celebrate their Independence from Britain. Malaysia is only 55 years old; a very young country.

The "Red Hats" (some of our fifth graders) hosted the Merdeka Day Celebration. 

There is Ms. Jag! 

After school, the staff members put together a beautiful "tea" with a buffet of local treats! They were so cute and excited about giving us a "tour" of all the treats.

Araceli and I took a bite of everything on this plate. 

This is a 9 layer cake. 

Such a great day and confirmation we are experiencing new things each day! 

Week 11

This was the last week Vicki was in town and we had a lot of sight seeing to do.  Fortunately, we got our new car on Friday of this week!  Here are a few pictures of it.

    

We got a 2012 Black Myvi.  It's a Malaysian car.  We really like it and the best part is that it is under a 3 year warranty, so if anything major breaks, we can take it in and get it fixed.

We used our new car to go visit Kristy at school.  It was a Fun Friday so Vicki was invited into the classroom to read to the kids.

The kids really enjoyed it.  I made sure Jaxson didn't destroy the room while Vicki read.

Menara KL Tower

The Menara Tower in KL is definitely worth seeing.

Vicki, Jaxson and I set out in the morning to see this tourist attraction in Kuala Lumpur.  I set the destination in the GPS and we drove straight there.  It is actually across the street from the hotel we stayed in when we first arrived in KL.  We were told that we could go up in the tower for free if we just ordered a coffee at the top.  That sounded like a great plan, but when we arrived there we found out that we actually had to spend about RM 30 per person to go up.  That always seems to happen around here.  I need to take a Malaysian resident around with me to make sure I'm not getting ripped off next time.

Elephant Extravaganza

We finally got a reliable car so we decided to visit the Elephant Sanctuary.  It was such a great day.