One Month in Chaah

I am pretty settled in Chaah these days. I have definitely found a routine, which is good. I am still enjoying my three classes, though I am still struggling with a few issues, including a few students who cannot read, and my enormous (43 students) secondary school class, which, while not difficult to control, makes it hard to give all students a chance to participate. In a language class, it's hard to learn without being forced to speak regularly in class (that's why I loved my Farsi classes at school, which never totaled more than about 10 students).

Classes aside, life in Chaah is generally pretty slow, especially as I only have classes in the afternoons, after school has finished (a lot of other centers have adult classes in the mornings, but we aren't teaching any of those here, yet). We also haven't done much community work, but I'm hoping and planning for a couple projects this upcoming month. As there is a two week school vacation from the end of May through the beginning of June, it might be a good time for it. I did get to visit one of the public primary schools, and assist with a program there, leading team building and English games.

Regardless, it's okay that life is slow, because I need only to step outside to see the beautiful place I'm living in! Here are a couple photos from around town:

A coffee near my house

A fabric store in the nearby town of Labis

A saleswoman serving nasi lemak (one of my favorite Malay dishes) at the weekly Night Market

Fish etc. for dipping and frying at the Night Market

Proof of Chinese culture in Chaah

"See? It's nice! It has a road!" This is where I run in the mornings, near one of the palm plantations.

Welcome to the Malay Village, Chaah.

More views from a morning run

The religious school and mosque

I hope the name of this shop never stops making me laugh

Colorful houses in Chaah

 

Some of Dominig's sisters came to stay for Easter, and helped dress me up, Indian-style.

Dressed up with the ladies of the family for Easter

At the church for the Easter service

Sunset Easter service at the Tamil church

Last weekend I had my first CDO training in Kuala Lumpur. It was great to get back to the city where we were busy for the entire four days we were there, and so wonderful to see the people I met at my orientation training, as well as meet the other CDOs I've only talked to on Facebook. Every two months we will come back together from our respective centers (there are about 30 open all over the country, and more and more coming!), which is a great chance to meet everyone and talk through our issues. Thursday wasn't officially part of the training, but as our first session started Friday morning, and my classes are only in the afternoon and evening, I had to cancel them Thursday anyway, so I decided to head up to the city as early as possible and go downtown with some friends. We walked around a lot, saw a lot, including Little India, the central market, and Chinatown, and then returned to our favorite street of bars, before heading home. Friday, we had training all day, from 10 until 6 or so, but it was so nostalgic to eat in the office cafeteria, and see everyone who'd arrived later in the afternoon, and those who are working in the office and we had missed on Thursday. Our training essentially entailed talking about the problems we're having and working toward a solution, or generally venting. It was relieving to hear that other people have or have had similar issues at their own centers, and to hear from more seasoned teachers (a few people are almost finished with their year of service and are heading home in the coming month or so). Saturday was basically the same, training and chatting, and Sunday we went to the beach. It was a great day - very sunny (just ask our skin - mine has started peeling, to the general delight of my host sisters) and the water was so warm, we only left it for food.

After a full day in the sun and ocean (especially after a few nights of very little sleep), we were all completely exhausted, and spent the evening back in the clubhouse, chatting and watching a movie, before dragging ourselves to bed. Monday was officially travel-back day, so those whose centers are far from KL left early, while those of us whose journeys are only a couple of hours lingered around the center and were the last to leave. I got back to Chaah around 6:30, and was glad to be back home, though I'm missing the other CDOs and hope some of us can get together soon. See you in another two months, KL!

After a very short week, due to cancelled classes on Sunday and Monday, and Labor Day on Thursday, I set off on Friday with the family for a short vacation in Melaka, only about an hour and a half drive from Chaah. We left Friday morning, and made our first stop at the Melaka Crocodile Farm, where we admired peacocks and, yes, crocodiles.

The park was small and not a little smelly, so we didn't spend too long there, and after about an hour we headed into town. We started at St. Peter's Church, which is pretty much in ruins, but at the top of a huge hill and with really incredible views over the city and even the sea.

We walked down into the Portuguese fort, A Famosa, and then headed to the hotel to cool off and beat the hottest part of the day.

Here's the view from our hotel room:

When enough time had gone by that it was no longer miserable to be outside, we returned to the city for a river boat ride. I hear it's much nicer ton go at night, when the city is lit up, but we had a nice time anyway.

 After the boat ride, we headed to Jonker Street, the main street in Melaka that becomes an enormous market at night, selling food, drinks, toys, clothes, electronics, and anything you could ever want. We walked up and down the street, looking around and gawking at the enormous crowd, until we were too tired to stand up any longer, and headed to bed.

We woke up on Saturday and checked out of the hotel, then headed to the Melaka Zoo (after a breakfast of Roti Cannai.. yum!). The zoo wasn't particularly impressive, but on a scale of Dushanbe National Zoo to Washington, DC National Zoo, it's about a seven. We did get to see some great parrots, and Malayan tigers (I didn't know the Malaysian Peninsula had tigers... I'll be keeping my eyes open from now on!)

After the zoo, we headed back home to Chaah. We made it back around 4:30, in time to prepare for another awesome week!