Sari shopping and enjoying the mundane
I have recently had several messages from friends and family mentioning my blog and everyone is sending supportive messages. Looking back I see that my last few posts have shown that I was tired and exhausted from this process of moving again. I'm here to say that things are moving on and getting better again. :-)
At work things are falling into place I am at least a week ahead from where I am teaching and that gives me the space I need to get other items into place for the classroom and work that needs to get done. We have our first set of grades due next week, amazingly enough for only two classes... I have never worked anywhere where they stagger grades going home along with parent conferences. Amazing, and making the progress report process easier.
Just as Malaysia is unique in its ethnic groups, so is our school in the number of celebrations we recognize yearly. Last month we celebrated Hari Raya with a huge school assembly with the teachers singing a song together - in which the management also sang solos. In November we will recognize Deepvali with another assembly. The teachers have been learning a dance, and all of us are expected to dress in Indian clothing, just as we were expected to do for the Hari Raya celebration. There I borrowed a sarong. This time I went with several other teachers to buy a sari.
We traveled to the port town area of Klang. Our guide, who is a local Indian Malaysian teacher at the school, had found a store in which we would be able to buy our saris at good prices, and was guaranteed a discount if we all bought something that day. Thus 9 of us traveled an hour and a half to this unique community. The area used to be a plantation, and many Indian workers had been brought in to work the plantation. Along the way we saw many small temples that had been created throughout the generations along the main highway. The temples have been sanctioned by the government as religious locations and cannot be replaced by other buildings. Thus very often in Malaysia you will see temples standing in the middle of areas that are surrounded by tall buildings or huge highway ramps.
The shopping area that we arrived in was closed off for a planned visit by the Malaysian Prime Minister and we struggled to park. Yet on the positive side it allowed the group of us to walk along the street without having to take the crowded footpaths along the edges. It also allowed me take quite a few pictures along the way.
After returning home the boys and I began to prepare for taking Namejs to his first birthday party. It was in the Mines which is relatively close to where we are located, but I knew that I had to plan for getting lost. We left about an hour and a half early to get there. After struggling with the Sat Nav for the majority of the time which insisted on taking us through an industrial park, we gave up and tried to find our own way from the view I had found on Google Earth before leaving home. It had turned out we had been close about three times during our hour and a half, but the sat nav had kept taking us away from the final destination each time. We still made it to the party on time. Namejs spent three hours with his friends in a dance party. Didzis and I went to the mall that was close by and walked around looking at things we needed and purchased some small items that were necessary. We found that the mall has an underground canal/river that leads to the lake, and there are boats that you can rent for sunset boat rides. After picking up Namejs we found our way back home in ten minutes!
At work things are falling into place I am at least a week ahead from where I am teaching and that gives me the space I need to get other items into place for the classroom and work that needs to get done. We have our first set of grades due next week, amazingly enough for only two classes... I have never worked anywhere where they stagger grades going home along with parent conferences. Amazing, and making the progress report process easier.
Just as Malaysia is unique in its ethnic groups, so is our school in the number of celebrations we recognize yearly. Last month we celebrated Hari Raya with a huge school assembly with the teachers singing a song together - in which the management also sang solos. In November we will recognize Deepvali with another assembly. The teachers have been learning a dance, and all of us are expected to dress in Indian clothing, just as we were expected to do for the Hari Raya celebration. There I borrowed a sarong. This time I went with several other teachers to buy a sari.
We traveled to the port town area of Klang. Our guide, who is a local Indian Malaysian teacher at the school, had found a store in which we would be able to buy our saris at good prices, and was guaranteed a discount if we all bought something that day. Thus 9 of us traveled an hour and a half to this unique community. The area used to be a plantation, and many Indian workers had been brought in to work the plantation. Along the way we saw many small temples that had been created throughout the generations along the main highway. The temples have been sanctioned by the government as religious locations and cannot be replaced by other buildings. Thus very often in Malaysia you will see temples standing in the middle of areas that are surrounded by tall buildings or huge highway ramps.
The shopping area that we arrived in was closed off for a planned visit by the Malaysian Prime Minister and we struggled to park. Yet on the positive side it allowed the group of us to walk along the street without having to take the crowded footpaths along the edges. It also allowed me take quite a few pictures along the way.
In the store itself it was a lot of fun looking through the variety of materials, and all the tunics and saris available were quite beautiful. Some were to bright and bit much bling for me, but I found lots of options that I really liked . We all tried on at least 3 saris, and enjoyed the process of being dressed by the store staff. I still don't quite know how to put the sari on, and probably will need help, but I did choose one, as did everyone else. :-)
This is the sari I chose. I spent a total of RM90 which is the equivalent of $30. I will still have to have a top made to wear under it, but I found the material to be very beautiful, and as it was the third sari I tried on, I really liked it. Now to wear it correctly on the day...
Before going home, we ate some wonderful Indian food and eventually walked back to the car. On the way there I found something that you do not find everywhere.
A Mosque across the street...
from a Methodist Kindergarten in an old Colonial building, which was
across the street from a hindu temple.
After returning home the boys and I began to prepare for taking Namejs to his first birthday party. It was in the Mines which is relatively close to where we are located, but I knew that I had to plan for getting lost. We left about an hour and a half early to get there. After struggling with the Sat Nav for the majority of the time which insisted on taking us through an industrial park, we gave up and tried to find our own way from the view I had found on Google Earth before leaving home. It had turned out we had been close about three times during our hour and a half, but the sat nav had kept taking us away from the final destination each time. We still made it to the party on time. Namejs spent three hours with his friends in a dance party. Didzis and I went to the mall that was close by and walked around looking at things we needed and purchased some small items that were necessary. We found that the mall has an underground canal/river that leads to the lake, and there are boats that you can rent for sunset boat rides. After picking up Namejs we found our way back home in ten minutes!
Today we have spent the day just cleaning, washing all of our sheets and laundry. I ironed most of the day. We ended the day with some chocolate chip cooking baking! Our first try in our table top oven. The first tray burned, but was still quite edible. Following that we adjusted the baking time and the rest came out perfectly delicious. It is great to have access to chocolate chips in a bag and brown sugar - the authentic tollhouse cookie. :-)
I leave you with a view from our balcony of a beautiful sunset.
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