kftravel

Wow. I can’t believe that’s this experience over. The past year has gone far too quickly, but I’m so grateful I got the chance to experience it. From all the fundraising, the homesickness, the joy…this year has brought it all.

It may not have been everything I expected, and Project Trust may not have been everything I hoped, but this experience has been amazing.

I’m still in awe at everybody’s generosity and support over the past few years. Without your help, I never would’ve achieved as much as I have.

This year has helped me a lot and given me a head start for my future. I have gained confidence, and learnt a lot about the world around us, and much to my mums disappointment, I’m definitely more independent now. I have certainly grown up a lot, even though I still feel about 6!

If I learnt anything this year, it’s that I can shout, and I mean really shout, if you don’t listen to me! I am so lucky to have spent part of my life with some of the purest, kindest people. I will definitely miss everyone, students and staff alike.

I am so happy to be home again and had great fun surprising everyone! I’m looking forward to starting university in September. I’m freezing here in Livingston so who knows how I’ll survive in Aberdeen!

Not sure what else to say without reiterating everything I’ve already written.

To next years volunteers, Project Trust may not be the best to work with, but this is your year. Make the most of it.

And from the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank all of you for making this opportunity for me. I can’t ever repay you, but I’ll never stop thanking you.

 

Kara xx

Since I have almost finished teaching, I thought I’d share a few of the lessons I have done with my classes. So, for those of you who are maybe thinking about taking a break and volunteering overseas next year, or if the new PT volunteers happen to find this, here’s a whole bunch of games and activities that I’ve done with my classes this year and worked well.

 

Do You Like Me

Get students to sit their chairs in a circle (best to move tables out the way). Have one person stand in the middle of the circle and take their chair away, so you have one less chair than people. The person in the centre goes round the circle and asks each person “do you like me?” The person they asked can then either say “yes” or “no”. If they said “yes”, the middle person moves on. If they say “no”, the middle person asks “why”. The person who said “no”, then has to come up with a reason as to why they don’t like them. For example, “I only like people who wear glasses”. Everyone in the circle that wears glasses then has to get up and swap chairs, while the person in the middle also tries to get a chair, thus leaving one new person in the centre of the circle. All excuses as to they don’t like the middle person must start with “I only like people who…”

Students love this game, and it’s great for finding out all the class crushes!

 

Tsunami

This game is crazy, wild and I strongly advise never playing it with 150 people!!

Again, students sit their chairs in a circle (tables out the way) with one person in the middle so there’s one less chair than people. The person in the middle can give the circle 2 instructions – “left” and “right”. When the middle person calls one of these instructions, the rest of the circle should move one chair in said direction. The middle person has to try and sit in a chair while the rest move, leaving a new person in the centre.

After a while, introduce 2 new instructions (so there’s 4 in total) – “double left” and “double right”. When called, the circle has to move 2 chairs in said direction. Again, the middle person has to try and sit in a chair.

There are then 2 more instructions introduced (6 in total now) – “triple left” and “triple right”. Yup, you got it! They now move 3 chairs in that direction as the centre person tries to get a chair.

You’re finally at the last instruction which is “tsunami”. With “tsunami”, the students have to run to get any chair in the room, except for the chairs beside them.

When they have the hang of those instructions, you could maybe try including other elements. For example, “triple left while jumping”. The students will then have to jump 3 seats to the left.

There will be many falling children, possibly a few broken bones or chairs, but they love playing this! It is really noisy and chaotic so I strongly advise not playing it when you have a headache!

 

7-Up

This game is a little harder to explain and takes the students a while to understand but is fun when they get it.

Students stand in a circle around the room (no need for chairs or tables to be moved this time). One person should start by saying the number 1. As they say “one”, they should a fist on their opposite shoulder (for example left hand on right shoulder). The shoulder they put their hand on determines the direction the game goes in (left hand on right shoulder means the game goes to the right). The person to the right then says “two”, again while putting a fist to their shoulder. They don’t have to follow the same direction the person before them went in, they can send it back if they choose to. You do this until you get to the number 7. With 7, the person that says it should put their hand above their head and say “seven up”. Again, whichever way their hand is pointing, is the way the game goes (if their hand it pointing to the right, the person to the right starts with number one again).

If a student makes a mistake (says the wrong number, does the wrong action, or goes when it’s not their turn), they sit down and are out of the game

When you get to the final 2 people, they should go head-head and play as fast as they can. The first to make a mistake is out and the other wins.

As I said, a bit complicated and confusing but students enjoy playing it.

Splat

Always a favourite as a child, this game involves one kid in the class shooting the rest.

Again, in a circle (no chairs or tables need to be moved), one student stands in the middle. They have a gun (obviously just one made from their fingers, if they had a real one then I’d be worried!). They can shoot anyone in the circle and say “splat”. Whoever they shoot, must bend down as fast as they can. The two people on either side of them then try to shoot each other, also saying “splat” as they do so. Whoever shoots first remains in the game, and the other goes back to their seat as they are out.

However, if the original person (the one who was shot by the person in the middle of the circle) does not bend down fast enough, they will be shot by the people next to him and will be out.

When you’re left with 2 people in the circle, they then stand back to back. The middle person will count up to 20 as the two contestants slowly walk away from each other. At any number between 1 and 20, the person counting will shout “splat” and the other two have to turn round and shoot each other. Whoever shoots first, wins the game.

Always fun and the kids love having the chance to ‘shoot’ each other!

 

Silent Killer

This is just another name for the ever popular Wink Murder, and if you haven’t played that before then I’m disappointed!

Students sit in a circle as one person volunteers to be the detective. The detective stands outside (make sure they can’t see or hear inside the classroom), and you pick a murderer. Make sure everyone inside the room knows who it is. Call the detective back in and it’s their job to find the killer.

The killer must look around the circle and wink at other people in order to kill them. If you are a victim, you must die a very dramatic death and make it known to the detective that someone else has died. The detective has to look around and see who is winking and killing the rest of their class. Detective has 3 guesses.

If the murderer kills everyone before the detective has found them, or if the detective guesses incorrectly 3 times, the killer must reveal himself and the detective will remain the detective for another round.

If the detective catches the killer, then the murderer becomes the detective and you pick a new killer and start again.

You can make it harder for the detective and increase the number of killers. As you increase the killers, increase the number of guesses.

The more dramatic the deaths, the funnier the game!

Board Race

All this game requires is board pens and 2 teams.

Split your board into 2 sections, and your class into 2 teams. In the middle of the board, write a topic. It can be anything from food to celebrities. Give each team a pen, and 2 minutes to write as many words as they can relating to that topic (for example, if the topic was food, then they could write plate or pasta etc.). For each word that is spelt correctly, and relating to the topic, award 1 point. If a word is unrelated or spelt incorrectly, take away 2 points. The team with the most points, wins.

The best way to keep the class organised during this is to line each team up and let each person write one word before passing the pen back to the next person. However, my classes are anything but organised, so they all like to run up to the board all at once and just shout words!

If your classes are older, you could lower the time limit to make it harder.

My students love this game because of the sense of competition.

Simon Says

This classic is popular with students and it’s great for getting them talking and moving.

You’re at the front, giving instructions such as ‘jump’. However, students can only follow the instruction if you say “Simon Says” before it. For example, “Simon says jump”. Students then must jump.

If you just simply say “jump”, they shouldn’t not jump. If any do jump, they’re out.

This is fun if you make it ‘Student Says’. Get a student up to give instructions and make them use their own name instead of Simon.

Great as a quick activity to wake the class up if they all starting falling asleep!

 

What Am I

This is a homemade game of the game I’m sure you all played as a child!

Get some sticky notes and write different things on them. They can be anything; objects; animals; food; clothing… absolutely anything.

Stick a word to each students back, making sure they don’t see what their own one is.

Students should find a partner and they should check what word each other has. They then ask a series of yes/no questions. These questions can only be answered with yes or no. A list of questions I use are below.

By the time they reach the end of the questions, they should have a rough idea as to what they are and be ready guess.

When they have it right, it’s now the other partners turn to ask questions.

After both partners are done, you should give them a new word and get them to work with someone else in the class.

This game is always great fun and guarantee a few giggles!

Questions I use:

• Do I have legs?
• Could I be a pet?
• Am I an animal?
• Can I swim?
• Do I make noise?
• Can I be eaten?
• Do I have hair?
• Can I be worn?
• Can I fly?
• Am I a vegetable?
• Am I heavy?
• Am I alive?

OR

Another way to play this game is to make a PowerPoint of celebrities (if you don’t have access to a projector, you can just write names on the board). Have one person sit at the front of the class, with their back to the board. Have a celebrity behind them and get the rest of the class to describe the person. If the descriptions are good enough, the person at the front should be able to guess who they are.

You can also do this with other objects, but my classes are slightly obsessed with celebrities so loved this version!

Paper Plane Game

First things first, give the students a piece of paper each and get them to make a paper plane. As they do that, you should make a target on the board (like an archery or darts target), and have a score for each ring.

When the paper planes are finished, line students up. Ask first person a question. This can be a random general knowledge question, or a reflective question on something you’ve covered in class previously. If they answer correctly, allow them to throw their plane at the target. Take note of their score. They go to end of the line and you ask the next person a question. When you get back to the start of the line, start again and add the next score to everybody’s existing one. Whoever has the highest score by the end, wins the game.

However, if somebody answers a question incorrectly, they go to the end of the line and miss a turn.

Kids love a competition and enjoy this game because it’s different and it’s not every day your teacher gives you permission to play with paper planes!
Stop the Bus

Split students up into teams of 3 or 4 (or for older, more advanced students, get them to work individually).

Get each team to make a table with the following headings:

• Letter
• Animals
• Colours
• Food
• Clothes
• Countries
• Sports

You should then pick a letter of the alphabet at random (maybe best to have a bag of letters you can pick one from). Students then work in their teams to write one item to go under each topic with said letter. The first team to finish shouts “stop the bus”. When this is shouted, all other teams must stop. The team that stops the bus, if all are correct, get a point. Team with the most points at the end, wins.

To make it harder, you could add a time limit for each letter.

 

What’s The Question

Split class into 2 teams.

Have two players, one from each team, come to the front. Style it like a game show, with the students standing side-by-side. If you have access to bells or buzzers, it’s even more fun.

Next, read an answer to a question and say, ‘What’s the question?’ The fastest player to respond wins a point for her/his team. New contestants come to the front for a new round.

This game forces the students to think backwards a little, so they must provide a grammatically perfect question. They are used to answering rather than asking questions, so this is challenging and great for building confidence.

 

Promoting a Product

Although this one is not a game, it’s still fun and active.

Split class into groups of 4.

You should have a bag of ‘products’ (random bits and bobs). Get each to pick one ‘product’ from the bag, and give them a piece of poster paper.

Explain to the class that they are salesmen and they have to convince me to buy their product. They should be as creative as they can, for example, if their product is a key, then they could promote that as the key to success. Give them a set amount of time to create their poster, and then have them present it to the class. This never gets boring as everybody has different ideas, even if they happen to have the same product, and the students love nit-picking other groups ideas and asking questions about their designs.

Although not all of these activities seem as if they help with teaching English, the students are still learning as long as you give the instructions in English. As they are playing the games, they will be trying to remember the instructions, and since you gave them in English, they will remember them in English. And they love to have fun, which these activities guarantee!

This was our last holiday, don’t worry! Saying that, we have a week or 2 between finishing school and coming home so who knows where we’ll end up then!

First up on this trip was Langkawi. Langkawi is an island just off the coast of Malaysia and Thailand. It used to be part of Thailand but they decided to give it to Malaysia (some taxi driver told me the whole story but I don’t remember it!).

We spent a day at a waterfall. It wasn’t quite what the Internet told us it was, and they completely missed out how many steps there are to the top, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

We also went to the infamous SkyCab and SkyBridge. It was a bit cloudy, and very cold, but the views were still great.

At the top, there was a lock bridge where Reagan and I declared our love for each other.

We decided just to spend our last day at the beach to try and top up our tans!

Next up was the Cameron Highlands where the average temperature is just 23 degrees, so we spent the majority of the holiday in hoodies and jeans!

We visited a tea plantation (Cameron Highlands is very famous for it’s tea) and picked some strawberries (also very famous for them!).

We also decided to go on a little stroll (please read my ‘How To Hike in Malaysia‘ blog for more info!). It was…an experience!

We made it back to school where we only have 2 weeks left. We finish here next Friday as there is yet another school holiday starting then so there would’ve been no point in us coming back to school for a couple of days. So we finish school in 10 days, and come home in 24 days. It’s crazy how quickly this years gone by!

 

PS – there will be more blogs soon!

Written by ‘The 4 Idiotic Leftovers’ (or at least it was meant to be but we all forgot about it and went for a nap instead so it was written by this idiot).

 

Below are a few pro tips on how to hike through the scary jungles of Malaysia:

Research

Research is vital when trying to navigate your way through endless trees and slippery mud. Do as much research as you like, but still ignore all warnings given by previous trekkers because you believe it’s just a little stroll through the woods. If you see comments online advising you to bring supplies such as a knife; a torch; or food, ignore them all. They don’t apply to you. A bottle of water wouldn’t hurt, but then again, you can survive without because it is only a little stroll and you’ll be out before you know it.

Dress Appropriately

If you have proper walking gear, throw it all away. It’s useless to you. All you need is a pair of jeans, or shorts, and Converse. White Converse are preferable, but we’re not fussy. If you have that, you’re good to go.

Bring Appropriate Gear

Bug spray is for the weak. We are not weak. We are champions. You do not need bug spray. Repeat after me – you do not need bug spray. The bites are nice reminders of the good wee stroll you had through the woods. And trying to avoid the bugs adds to the fun of being stuck in the jungle.

And if anyone ever tells you that a ball, particularly a 3RM Frozen ball, is unnecessary, banish them from your life. You don’t need that kind of negativity. A 3RM Frozen ball is very handy for keeping you occupied during your little stroll through the woods (just don’t drop it).

Transportation

You obviously need to get to the starting point somehow and saving as much energy as possible for your little stroll is needed, so call a taxi. If you pass other British hikers (especially ones that look like they haven’t followed this advice) walking on the way to the start, wave and laugh. You definitely will not need their help later.

Also, trust that your taxi driver knows where he is going and takes you to your wanted trail. If he doesn’t, just roll with it. Nothing bad will happen, right?

Help

If you find that you need a little bit of help (maybe finding the start of the trail), find the previously mentioned British hikers and just ask the big bearded one. When everyone starts laughing at you, laugh along and pretend you’re not confused about why everyone’s laughing.

Keep stopping and eventually Big Bearded Man and all 30 of his friends will catch up with you (at least you know you went the right way) in all your sweaty glory. If they try to offer you a rope to help you down a mud slide, laugh. You should then grab a root of a tree, try to look like Tarzan by swinging yourself down, end up on your bum covered in mud, and say ‘thank you for the rope’.

Let them overtake you and then realise you made a huge mistake because this time you actually do need their help (you don’t, it’s just all in the mind). Shout Patrick (the only name you managed to pick up but he’s Scottish so it’s all good) and wait 3 hours for a reply. When it doesn’t come, accept that you are well and truly stuck and lost.

If anybody passes you going the opposite way, ask them how far away the end is. They will all tell you the same thing – 5 or 600 meters. Believe them. You have no reason to doubt them.

 

The End!

When you see the end you must hurry up and not care about how weak your legs are or how you keep falling over.

You must reach a normal road again and laugh, then say how a little 4 hour trek stroll wasn’t actually that bad and act confused about how dirty you are.

If you are planning on doing any hikes, especially in Malaysia, please follow these survival guides. Tried and tested by yours truly xo

You normally only get 1 post a month but here you are getting several this month! This is the second, but there’ll be more to come soon.

Today marks 10 months since being here, and only 40 days until I’m home.

I’m currently on a train back to school after spending the weekend in KL. One of my friends has been travelling since January and arrived in KL on Friday so I gave her a whistle stop tour of the city before she flies home tomorrow. It was great catching up with her again and hearing all her stories. She was also very impressed with the VIP treatment I get at Healy Macs!

Last night, we met Holly and her friend, who has also been travelling, and Lyall who had an unplanned trip to KL after she was left stranded in Penang. Trust her to be the one to miss her train back to school!

That’s all that’s happened since my last post so not much to update you on. We have school this week before heading off to Langkawi on Friday. 

These past few weeks have seen us enjoying yet another holiday.

The couple of days leading up to our holiday were busy. We were invigilating the last of the exams and I somehow found myself taking part in a Petong competition! I don’t really know what Petong is to be honest, it’s kind of like boules but different! Google it, they’ll probably have a better explanation! Little Wan (we have Big Wan and Little Wan, both of which are teachers) appeared at my desk and very shyly (he hates talking to us. We’ve somehow managed to spend a total of 10 hours in a car together, completely silent) asked if I wanted to be part of his team (there are 3 people in a team but I can’t remember what the other guy teaches). Think he figured since I curl, I should be good at this but I think I proved him wrong! Somehow, we found ourselves in 3/4 playoffs, which we won!

The day we were leaving for our holiday, was also the Teachers Day celebrations (even though Teachers Day was 2 weeks before!). We finished the Petong tournament and watched other activities (one of which was riding a bike as slowly as you could). We then moved into the hall and were seated at big round tables and served food as the students sat and watched us eat. There was some speeches, videos that students had made, and a Secret Santa type thing between the teachers.

Unfortunately, me and Lyall and to leave early to catch our bus to Kuala Besut. As we were on the never ending journey, Amy text us to say that I had won the ‘Get Fit in 40 Days’ challenge that I had completely forgotten about! Apparently lying in bed is a great way to get fit (I didn’t even lose weight, everyone else just gained some so really, I won by default!).

Anyway, we eventually made it to Kuala Besut where we met Reagan and Holly.

On Saturday, we risked our lives on the terrifying boat over to the Perhentian Islands. It was totally worth the risk. The island, and the watersurrounding it, is beautiful.

There’s not a lot to do on the island except sunbathe, snorkel and dive. So we hired an underwater camera (since Kyle and his GoPro left us) and snorkeled at Turtle Bay. It was absolutely stunning.

We decided to get a boat across to the small island (there are 2 islands, we stayed on the big one) and watch some fire dancing. There was also a cloudy day so we went for a boat trip around the big islands…never again! It was terrifying. The waves were bigger than the tin can we were sat in, and I get seasick on the ferry across to Arran so you can imagine how I was feeling then! The boat also ran out of fuel, so we just went floating across Shark Point as the man filled up. Too bad if there were any sharks!

Miraculously, we survived all that, and the boat back to the mainland! And I even got a tan in the process!!

When we were back on dry land, we decided to leave it again. This time by plane. We flew from Kota Bharu to Kuching, and I had to listen to Reagan’s endless questions of “how do they know how much fuel to put in a plane”, “how do they empty the toilets”, and “could the scene from ‘Catch Me If You Can’ actually happen”.

When in Kuching, we went to Baku National Park where I was made to trek (in Converse may I add) to a beach. I wasn’t even allowed to go swimming in case the crocodiles got me. Totally wasn’t worth the trek if you ask me!

 

We also went to some hot springs which were…hot funnily enough.

Kuching is famous for it’s orangutans (despite being called ‘Cat’. Literally. Kuching is the Malay word for cat. There weren’t even that many cats there), so of course we had to go and see some. We went Semmengoh Rehabilitation Centre and it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. We just stood and watched some ginger monkeys swinging about the branches, which is fun for the first 10 minutes but when you’re standing there for an hour watching the same 5 orangutans doing the same thing, it gets pretty boring. But we were lucky to see them. Most of the time, they’re not out long enough for visitors to see. I don’t quite know what to expect, but obviously I’m happy I managed to see them.

Holly and Lyall wanted to go to the Sarawak Cultural Village so we went along too to see what all the fuss was about (we also heard there was a beach nearby!). I’d read about it online but all I’d seen was that there was a couple of houses belonging to each Malay tribe – and that literally all it was (oh, there was also a cafe!). We looked around all 13 houses but there wasn’t any information on them so it was hard to picture what life would’ve been like. Instead, Reagan and I went house shopping for us and our children!

We then flew over to Kota Kinabalu. Our hotel was…interesting to say the least. We spent some time just walking around the city but it wasn’t quite as nice as Kuching.

We visited Kinabalu National Park and were ready to climb the mountain when we spotted a restaurant so went for lunch instead! We then went to Poring to do a tree canopy jungle walk which was basically just a couple of ‘I’m a Celebrity’ bridges. You had to pay extra if you wanted to take pictures but we thought that was stupid and tried to outsmarten the man but he came chasing after us!

Instead of just wasting a day chilling in the city, we thought we’d go island hoping. We went to Sapi Island and Manukan Island, the latter in which me and Reagan went parasailing.

Afterwards, we went to central market and stocked up on totally pointless souvenirs which will join all the other totally pointless souvenirs we’ve collected over the years.

Back to KL we went and did the typical eat, sleep, and consider drinking thing again!

Spending 4 days in KL seemed like a bit of a waste, considering we’re always in KL, so we thought we’d spice it up a bit and go to the Genting Highlands. It’s only 45 minutes away from KL, but my God it’s cold up there (it was 25 degrees but still, it’s cold!). We got the cable car up to the very top only to find out our hotel was back at the bottom and we’d just wasted 8 ringgit on a ticket! But oh well, at least the views were nice (or as nice as the inside of a cloud can be).

Everything seemed to be back up the top so at least our return ticket came in use! Unfortunately, we were too young (and nowhere near fancy enough) to go to the casino, so we went 10-pin bowling instead!!

The last day was spent back in KL before we went our separate ways and came back to school.

Yesterday was a day off, so I spent that tidying up as Lyall went off to Penang with Holly and her friend. Back at school today, and spent it booking last minute things for our next holiday!

We have 2 weeks at school, off to Langkawi and the Cameron Highlands for a week, 2 more weeks at school and then that’s us done. We’ll have a while between finishing school and flying home, but that’ll give us a chance to say goodbye to Healy Mac’s!

 

Not much has happened except we actually spent a full month at school! I’m as shocked as you are!

I say we spent a full month at school, but that’s not including a couple of long weekends in KL!

School is going well. We’ve been given new and improved timetables which means we are now working double the time we have been. Unfortunately, it is exam time just now again so we’re back to having not much to do.

We have hosted a couple of activity days; one for Form 1 and one for Form 2. They both went well, but I strongly suggest never having 150 12 year olds in the same room at the same time! We did a number of things with them; general knowledge quizzes, dressing them up in bin bags and advertising the school are just a few of the things we did.

It was World Teachers Day on Tuesday and we were treated to a whole load of food in the staff room, a chocolate bar from some students, and being wished a ‘Happy Teachers Day’ by everyone pupil I passed! It was nice seeing how much respect and appreciation the students have for their teachers – you definitely don’t see that at home!

We head off to the Perenthian Islands on the 26^th of this month before flying over to Borneo. We have planned to visit an orangutan sanctuary, but I’ll tell you all about that when we come back!

‘Summer’ has arrived here; there’s rain, there’s thunder, there’s lightning but it is also 30+ degrees and hell! Can’t remember what it feels like to not sweat!!

Ramadan starts the day we leave for our holiday so that means everyone will be fasting when we come back, and we’re expected to as well… Wish me luck!!

That’s all from here. As I said, not much has happened. I hope the Scottish drought is fixed soon but if you’re missing the rain, feel free to join me out here!

Yup, you read that right. Today marks our 8 month anniversary. 8 months! I know, it does not feel that long.

This past month has been another month of holidays – it’s a hard life being a teacher! First there was Hannah coming to visit; then there was Singapore and Bali; and I’ve just had a holiday with mum, dad and Emma.

I’ve told you all about my time with Hannah, and you’ve read all about our holiday in Singapore and Bali, so let me tell you all about the rest of the fams visit..

On Friday 31 March, I escaped from school and got the train to meet mum, dad and Em. They had been standing waiting in the middle of KL Sentral for almost an hour, and then my train was delayed! But of course, there was tears shed (by mum) when I eventually arrived.

We went to the Irish bar the rest of us have become acquainted to for dinner, and there were hugs and high fives all round when I walked in!

The next day, we went up to the Batu Caves. I swear they’ve lost a few steps because it was a lot easier this time than it was when we did it way back in August. We also went up the Petronas Twin Towers, which were struck by lightning as we were standing on the walk-way between the towers! We all need a bit of thrill-seeking in our lives!

We flew to Singapore on the 2nd of April. Dad was gutted because Coldplay was playing there just a day or two before!

Singapore was a jam-packed couple of days. We managed to work the trains like the locals; we sat aboard an open-top bus; we walked…a lot; we went on a London Eye type thing; we got a cable car over to Sentosa; went to Universal; got free ice cream at Universal (highlight of the holiday); I almost got kidnapped by Elmo at Universal; met Shrek and Fiona at Universal; went up the Sky Tower; got the cable car back to the mainland; went to Raffles; went to Clarke Quay; went to Gardens by the Bay and watched a light show.

Well done if you managed to read all that!

Next stop on our whirlwind tour of Southeast Asia was Thailand. While we were up in Chiang Mai, can you guess were Coldplay were? Down in Phuket! Unamused Dad Part 2!

Thailand was pretty chill compared to Singapore. We went to the elephant sanctuary; got harassed by all the hotel staff who just kept bombarding us with free food (I am currently feeding half the school with this food!); went to a temple; and went to a night market. It was nice seeing a different part of Thailand, but all parts are very similar.

On the 10th, we flew from Chiang Mai to KL, then KL to Penang. We spent quite a of time just wondering around Georgetown. We went up some big tower and ended up standing on floor made of glass. Thankfully the glass didn’t break and we’re all still here to tell the story! We spent a day just chilling in the pool at the hotel, and went up Penang Hill to try and watch a rather cloudy sunset.

We were meant to be getting the train back to school on the Thursday, but there was too much to do in Penang so we stayed for an extra night. We went on an open-top bus around different parts of the island.

So on Friday, we got the train to school. I took the 3 of them around the campus and to meet some of the students and teachers.

We got the train back to KL that afternoon and decided to meet Hannah and Erin in the Irish bar for dinner.

On Saturday, we went up the KL Tower which I didn’t even know existed until they told me about it! Mum, dad and Emma left to go to the airport after a series of hugs and tears and pleas for me to go with them. I chose staying in KL and going back to the bars instead!

It was great seeing them again and as dad told me yesterday, it’s only about 14 weeks until I see them again!

Now you must be wondering: “is she actually going to do any work now?”. That is a very good question! This weekend is a long weekend, so we’re going to KL again to meet the others. Were also going back the following week to meet Reagan and Busby as they can’t make it this weekend. We’re working almost the full of May before our next holiday starts on the 26th! We’re going to the Perenthian Islands, Borneo, Genting Highlands and Malacca. We have 2 weeks at school before another holiday! We are planning to go to Langkawi and the Cameron Highlands during that time. We’ll have another couple of weeks at school, then it’ll be time to come home.

So in exactly 101 days, I’ll be back on good Scottish soil! See y’all then xo

Singapore 

Last Friday, I left Lyall and Lenggong behind and met Reagan, Busby, Kyle, Erin and Hannah in KL. The next day, we got on our bus and drove to Singapore. 

We got to Customs at the border and had to go through security and everything. It was rather intimidating as they seem to love having the police officers carry around massive guns!

We eventually managed to get through but couldn’t see our bus. We waited over 3 hours and there was still no sign of our bus! We somehow managed to get a city bus and drive into the centre of Singapore. 

We got to the hotel and got ready to go out. We got a taxi to Clarke Quay which is bar central. Obviously when you’re in Singapore, the automatic choice for dinner is Vietnamese food! At least it was for us!

We discovered that the 10th best club in the world, Zouk, was right round the corner, so we tried to get in but the queue was too long.

On Sunday, we decided to go to Universal. It was hot and sweaty but we had a great time. Unfortunately though, Shrek wasn’t there. Sad, I know.

We stopped by Gardens By The Bay on the way back to the hotel. Although pretty, I didn’t really understand the big deal that’s made of them. Maybe that’s just because we went just as they were closing so we didn’t really get to see much.

Luckily for me, but very unlucky for her, Busby was ill so decided not to go out to the clubs with the others. This was good for me because I’m a lightweight and need my sleep! I was also rather relieved considering we had to get up at 02:30 for our flight to Bali! Luckily, she’s better now.

Bali

I am not a morning person, so I was not at all amused by the time of our flight. I’m kind of glad it was early though because the sunrise was beautiful.

I was a bit surprised by Bali. Driving from the airport to the hotel, there didn’t appear to be any main roads. We were just driving dodgy roads through tiny side streets. I later discovered that there are a few main roads!

We were all so tired but didn’t want to waste time by lying in the hotel, so we lay at the beach and napped instead!

The hotel driver was our own personal chauffeur for the week. We’re still uncertain of his name, but it sounds something like Harry Potter, so that’s what we called him.

He took his to one of his friends restaurant (yes, he is the typical foreign man that has friends that do everything). The place was lovely. It was right on the beach and looked gorgeous. Wouldn’t have expected that from somewhere called Potato Head (that is it’s actual name, I’m not just making it up!).

Tuesday consisted of Harry taking us on a tour. We saw everything from traditional Indonesian dancing to a silversmiths to coffee plantation and paddy field to a waterfall. We got to try all the flavoured coffees and tea. Unfortunately it was too windy to go swimming or jump off the waterfall, but we got some nice pictures at least!

Harry was meant to have another job on Wednesday, but it was cancelled so he took us to another beach. It was pretty dodgy to get to, we basically had to climb through a cave, but it was beautiful once we were down there.

He asked us when he saw us if we had felt the earthquake and he was glad we were okay. None of us felt a thing and somehow managed to sleep through a 6.4 magnitude earthquake!!

Since Bali is a beachy place, it would’ve been wrong for us not to do any water activities. On Thursday, Harry took us to his friend who owned a water sports company. We decided to go snorkelling and jet skiing. The snorkelling also included a trip to a turtle farm!

Jet skiing was great, but I discovered it’s not just cars I have a problem driving!

Friday was a pretty lazy day just wondering around markets. We spent some time in the pool at the hotel, but it was freezing! Kyle somehow lost his glasses and I later found them at the bottom of the pool as we were heading out for dinner. Wish I was the one clever enough to put them there!

Another early flight on Friday. We got back to KL and found Evie and Amy (8 month volunteers) in the queue opposite us at customs! They had just returned from Thailand. 

Hannah and Erin managed to basically get arrested at customs and the only way they were allowed in the country was by booking flights out of the country! Makes no sense to me either. Unfortunately though, they were allowed to stay!

We ditched Reagan at our hotel as she’s off to meet her family. The rest of us decided to go out since it was Kyles birthday. We started off in our favourite Irish bar but moved on to a club. We found out that Zouk, the club in Singapore, had one in KL too and that was number 26 in the world. We couldn’t get in though because none of us are over 21. We found another club, but we were the only people in it so we left after 5 minutes! We just chilled in the hotel instead.

My train back to school was on Sunday morning so I had to leave the others early.

I’m sad it’s over, but that also means it’s only 4 days until mum, dad and Emma come out. Glad I’m not at home watching mum stress out over packing!

Not last weekend, but the weekend before, me, Lyall and 40 students drove 8 hours to MRSM Kuala Klawang. After weeks of practising, it was time for the students to compete at Language Week (it was actually only 3 days but oh well).

We had 20 students compete in the Malay division and 20 compete in the English division. There were around 20 other schools there, some even coming from Borneo Malaysia.

Every single MARA school, competed in their respective zones. The zones are split into North, East, South and West. 

The students had to participate in competitions such as Drama, Story Telling and Poetry Slam. Each of these were then divided into boys, girls, lower secondary and upper secondary.

Lenggong saw 1 boy win a Malay competition. We also had Vikki, a Form 2 boy, win the English Story Telling for the lower secondary boys, and Kusshi, a Form 2 girl, come runner up in the English Story Telling for the lower secondary girls. Both Vikki and Kusshi are in my class, so I’m going to take full credit this (even though I didn’t help them at all)!

The winners of each competition will go on to compete against the winners from the other 3 zones for the overall title.

Kyle, and 3 of the 8 month volunteers were also in the same zone as us. It was nice getting to meet Amy, Evie and Aminaa and we spent the weekend getting to know each other.

Last week, I had the joys of putting up with Hannah. She wasn’t that bad, and she didn’t even complain about my cooking (she didn’t compliment it either though..)!

She spent the weekend in KL instead of coming to Camp with us, then she arrived at school on Monday afternoon. 

Last week was Activity Week so there was no classes and the students were off doing different activities. On Tuesday, we were a checkpoint for a Form 1 Scavenger Hunt. We joined the Form 1s again on a Zipline on Wednesday (should probably explain that we went down individually and we didn’t all gather on the zipline at the same time). Thursday was the day Form 2 students had to decorate their classrooms as if it was a birthday party and they had to serve their guests. We ate a lot of cake that day!

We left on Thursday afternoon and headed back to KL. We ventured up to the 47th floor of the Petronas Twin Towers to the walkway, then up to the 86th floor to the Observation Deck. Although it was good, the Empire State Building is proving to be unbeatable!

On Saturday, we went up to the rooftop pool, and we may have spent a little too long in the sun! But hey, at least lobsters can swim..

We finally managed to get rid of Hannah on Saturday night and although I haven’t been told she made it back alive, I also haven’t been told otherwise, so who knows where she is?!

Lyall and I came back to school on Sunday, had classes Monday and Tuesday, helped Form 3s with their English assessment yesterday, spent today in some sort of assembly and trying to find ways to fill the rest of the day as there aren’t any classes, and schools off tomorrow! 

I head back to KL tomorrow afternoon to meet the others before our bus to Singapore on Saturday. We’ll spend a couple of days in Singapore and then we’re heading out to Bali.

In the meantime, Lyall will be spending time with her mum.

When I get back from Bali, I’ll have a week at school before going to KL again to meet my mum, dad and Emma!

So I think that’s you all caught up in my life now. Sorry it took so long, I have a memory like a goldfish!