School Philosophy, Monkeys and Fireflies

Yesterday was quite the day. We began the day very early, being picked up at 7:30am to get to school by 8:30. The day began with a short lesson about the Chinese in Malaysia. The most important information including of course food recommendations, but also practical classroom advice for understanding the naming conventions, and then also how not to use chopsticks so that you don't appear to be rude. :-) The key, don't stab your food, and don't put the chopsticks straight down into the bowl, because that represents death.

The second part of the day was with our new Head of school - titled the Principal, who shared with us and reminded us of the school's philosophy. It was a reminder that the goal of our school was not to be ordinary or do things as others expected of us, but to innovative teachers and make learning much more for the students. A reminder that if want to do something new that it will be supported with funding and administrative support. And key, we are trusted as the professionals we are and that we will work together to achieve the goals. It was a fantastic reminder of why I accepted this position, and that I really want to teach and work in this type of an environment. I look forward to working with all of the teachers at the school as they all seem to have the same goals. I have had so many conversations that share the same feeling I got from this presentation. We are all excited to begin and to work together to continue to build the goals that have been set out.

Then we had some MAC training that showed us the basics of using the MAC. Although I feel much better, as I was trying to prepare pictures for this blog I realize there is still quite a lot that I can learn to streamline my picture preparation as I have no idea how to crop pictures or adjust contrasts in the programs that I found.

Following the training we received our passports back and we are now official residents of Malaysia, and I have a work visa stamped into my passport. :-) Namejs will definitely be placed into year 7, and Didzis will be in year 8. I got the uniform lists and am considering how many sets of each one I will have to purchase. Then we headed back to KL. This daily drive back and forth has really made it clear to me that we have made the right choice to live in Putrajaya.

Upon arrival I quickly grabbed the boys who had stayed at the hotel for the day. They had been set up with donuts for breakfast, then had gone down to the pool, and I had pre ordered lunch later for them in the room. They were rested and ready to go on our trip to Kuala Selangor to see the Silverleaf Monkeys and some fireflies.

The bus trip took close to two hours, and I was able to have a much needed nap. Upon arrival we climbed a steep hill to reach the monkeys. It was not quite as hot climbing as I had expected. Now I realize it was because we were closer to the see, and we were getting a bit of breeze. But it was a welcome relief, as the heat is not easy for any of us at all. Didzis and I are especially sweating and not really enjoying this. Luckily we can regularly duck into air conditioned areas and receive some relief from it. For us on this day, it was the bus that was the relief.

But the top of the mountain was not only worth it in terms of the monkeys, but also the view. It was the first time we had seen the sea, the jungle like terrain with lots of palm trees, and a different part of Malaysia other than KL and Putrajaya. A good beginning for this kind of opportunity. The monkeys were interesting, and fun to see, feed and touch. It made us realize how far away we are from anything we have previously experienced. Below are some pictures of us with the monkeys.

This picture shows how comfortable the monkeys were to just sit and observe the view from the canons left over from the fort that had been built on this hill previously.



Namejs was fascinated by the monkeys and wanted to try to connect with them. He even had me buy some food for them so that he could feed them. The first try they came right to me with the food and started feeding well. The second time they stole the food right out of Namejs' hand, then the third time he had a bit of pulling experience with the monkey Mum, but let go. The boys decided that my success at being able to pass out the food more easily was because I am a Mum and a teacher and know how to say no to kids!

Namejs and the monkey checking each other out.


Two monkeys on my shoulder and some more begging for food. I had take back food they snatched, and have them wait their turn.


Namejs watching the Mum and baby eat the food they stole right out of his hands.


The same Mum and baby earlier.



Following the monkey experience we went into the small town and had an absolutely amazing feast. The entire meal consisted of seafood dishes caught locally. It was a Chinese restaurant, and thus all the food was prepared with a Chinese flavor. I wish I had taken a picture of the dishes of fresh prawns, crab, squid, fish, and amazing fried rice and greens. I realized that the boys had never had crab before, and they weren't too impressed because it was so difficult to get out the meat. But they had also never eaten shrimp on the shell before, so they had to learn how to shell a shrimp. The rest of the food was more familiar, and I was quite pleased at their adventurous nature in trying new things again.

The dinner was followed by a river boat ride to see fireflies. The hand made wooden boats were rowed by local men using what I can only describe as standing oars. The long oars were on either side of the rower standing at the back of the boat, beginning at about shoulder height and being consistently dipped into the water. It was possible to get only 4 people into each boat, and we were required to wear life jackets, especially as the boats were so low in the water. Rowing out in the beginning we wondered where the fireflies were because we could not see them in the light. Once we got out into the darker areas of the river along the shoreline, we spotted little lights in the trees. It turns out that these are trees the fireflies feed from. They looked just like the lights in Christmas trees. There are many trees dotting the shoreline with the beautiful lights. Sadly, just as everywhere, humanity is influencing even this spot, and the firefly population is diminishing. Nothing is yet being done to determine exactly how. I was not able to take any pictures that worked out in any form due to the extreme darkness.

By the end of this last beautiful light show we were extremely tired and ready to fall into bed after the two hour trip home. I prepared to deal with today's foray into car and apartment world again. But I will share that tomorrow, as we get to actually sleep in and rest on a Sunday!