Mr O'C in Malaysia - July 5 & 6

5th July – Monday

Travelled by bus to Kuantan which is on the eastern coast of the Malaysian peninsular. My host family made me feel very welcome and I even had a little tour around the school I would be attending. The school is called Dewan SJK (C) Pei Chai and is a Chinese school.

6th July – Tuesday

Up early ready to for the start of school at 7.30. Most Malaysian schools run two sessions each day. The first runs from 7.30am to 1.10pm, and then a whole new group arrives and is in school until around 6pm.
School starts with a full school assembly each day where notices read out. I talked to four classes about New Zealand and found their grasp of English to be very good. Each of the classes had about forty students in them. This is normal in Malaysia where even the new entrant (called Standard 1) classes have forty students.
I was taken to lunch at an Indian Restaurant by a group of teachers. We ate a range of dishes straight off a banana leaf with our hands. In Malaysia it in traditional to only bring food to your mouth with your right hand, so I was very careful to follow that custom. Some of the dishes were quite spicy but I also discovered my new favourite drink which is fresh mango blended with yogurt.
It was hotter today than it has been and I was really feeling it. I was sweating lots and feeling really drained and low on energy. So much so I needed an afternoon nap.
Around 5pm Ilee (my host) took me to play badminton. It is one of the biggest sports in Malaysia and the people I was playing with were good. The combination of the heat and my lack of skill meant I was pretty average. It was easily the hottest I have ever felt and it took a long time for me to cool down afterwards.