K : Fazlin, yang wangi dalam bilik kau tu apa?
Me : Daun pandan?
K : Bukan. Yang wangi-wangi itu. Aku lalu bilik kau nak ke tandas, adoi harumnya.
Me : Oh pewangi bilik.
K : Ada jual ka?
PA : Di mana jual?
Me : Di Giant ada, Servey juga ada.
K : Ooo ada jual la ba.
Me : Ada.
K : Aku ingat yang wangi-wangi itu kau guna untuk halau hantu.
Me : …. (korang lah antu tu, ha ha ha ha ha)
From where I am.
Update from school.
I have actually typed an entry. But as soon as I clicked ‘Publish’, it was gone. No where to be found and it is not published.
Haih. So here it goes again.
I am now able to use the internet in school. Thanks to HOT days! Haha. Which means that there is enough light to generate energy to make the server work. Woohoo!
I rely on solar during the day and generator at night, remember?
I have gotten my surat lantikan, which means gaji as early as April, if possible. Woohoo!
There is now a TV in the staff room / office. I can now watch Wanita Hari Ini while writing my lesson plans. Reception is as clear as Astro. Woohoo!
I have spent my first weekend here in Beluran. So, yesterday I did nothing at all apart from lazying around on my bed. Woohoo!
I have the whole house to myself for the coming week. Woohoo!..Err..not so.
Scary, ok!
It’s pretty scary though teachers have said that I am ‘kuat semangat’ enough to stay alone. So, I have requested a girl from my Year 6 class to sleep in my house at night, if her mom permits.
Teaching these children can be very, VERY challenging. Lack of exposure, I suppose. There is only one pupil in Lower Primary who can read and she still need a lot of guidance.
Almost all pupils in Upper Primary can read but they still have problems in blending the sounds to utter the words. Plus, they read an English text just the same as reading a Malay text. The word ‘like’ will become ‘lik’, for example.
I was teaching Year One the other day. On the board, I had a list of words listed in alphabetical order. Then, came the letter J with the word ‘jar’. I asked, ‘What is a jar?’ hoping to get the correct answer in BM. One kid answered, ‘Jar… jar… belajar, teacher.’ Ok. That’s fine. Then came the letter M with the word ‘moon’. Again, I asked, ‘What is this?’, pointing at the word. The same kid answered, ‘Muntah, teacher.’
Huks.
Thank God that I only have three pupils in Year 1. Yes, three, tres, 3.
I get very exhausted at the end of the day, just from teaching. So I spent most of my afternoon sleeping. Haha.
Hurm hurm. What else?
Can’t think of any.
Oh, I don’t have to attend the sukan daerah after all. Save me from all the sunburn. Haha.
That’s all for now. Will update soon.
Daa~
Update.
Off to school I went for two weeks and now in Jesselton Coffee in Sandakan, the closest thing to Starbucks and Secret Recipe.
I’m settling down very slowly. Bit by bit.
I’m teaching preschoolers up to Year 6.
All 35 pupils.
I’m the class teacher for Year 2 and Year 3. Kelas gabung.
I’m Ketua Panitia Bahasa Inggeris.
I’m also Penyelaras Rakan Taulan PPSMI, and will not only be teaching Science and Math teacher, but all the other teachers as well.
Guru Pembantu Penyelaras Kokurikulum. Will need to bring children to Sukan Daerah early February since I’m the only female teacher who’s not married yet.
To get to school, I will need to take an hour boat ride from pekan Beluran, which is almost the same as Parit Bakar in Muar. The boat ride will cost me RM50. La la la la.
From Beluran to Sandakan, another an hour and a half journey by car.
Sandakan is like pekan Sitiawan – Manjung – Lumut, except that back home we have McDonalds and Secret Recipe.
The udangs and udang galahs in Beluran is damn cheap. Those that will cost you RM 80 per kilo in KL, will only cost you about RM8 in Beluran. Small udang galahs is only RM20 per kilo. Woo hoo.
I can see myself terlebih udang dalam badan and kekurangan sayur and fruits.
Maxis is available in my room back in Kg. Bukit Besi. Only thing that I need to sangkut my handphone on one of the window frames. Full bar di situ. Di situ SAHAJA.
That’s all for now, I think.
Will be updating, if possible.
Off for now.
To tell you the truth, I don’t know how to start this entry off.
I’m leaving home today, off to KL in the late afternoon. Then off to Sandakan tomorrow morning.
From Sandakan, I have no idea what’s going to happen.
From word of mouth, I have been placed in Beluran, about 86km from Sandakan.
And from word of mouth again, I have to ride a boat for about an hour from the town of Beluran to that particular school.
I’m saying ‘from word of mouth’ because it’s not in black and white yet. Things may be wrong.
But things may also be right.
I don’t know.
Wish me luck.
And I wish everyone all the best, good luck in your new school.
p/s: Blog may not be updated as often from now on. But, who knows, I might be updating everyday!