Hari Merdeka (Independence Day) is celebrated on August 31 every year. Today, we celebrated Malaysia being free of the British for 59 years. 

At exactly 09:30 on 31 August 1957, the declaration was read by the first Chief Minister of Malaya at the Merdeka Stadium in front of thousands of people, including Malay Rulers, members of the federal government, and foreign dignitaries. To commemorate the event, Hari Merdeka was declared a national holiday – which means no school for us today!

Every year, there is a televised parade in Kuala Lumpur. There are other, smaller parades in most other big cities. Unfortunately, as it is only a one day holiday, we could not make it to any of these parades. Instead, we slept in as we’re still suffering from jet lag, and went back to Kuala Kangsar with Amy.

It is amazing to see such a patriotic country and to see people who are proud of where they come from. We don’t seem to get much of that in Scotland, and it is such a shame. 

Although we didn’t seem to celebrate much, it was great getting to experience it.

The picture below is a garden display at the school. ‘Sehati Sejiwa’ translates to ‘one heart, one soul’.

PS – that backwards L is annoying me too!

Today, I was given my timetable and my first class. 

I walked in to class 205 (Form 2) and was greeted by a standing ovation! They students all seemed so excited to see me which made me feel pretty good.

Little did I know, however, I was teaching this class by myself! I was expecting another teacher to be in with me and assumed I’d just introduce myself and observe. This was not the case!

When I say ‘teaching’, I really mean play games! I was caught off guard and was not prepared at all. I started the class by introducing myself and getting the students to introduce themselves (I remember 3 names, but can’t put a face to them!). 

We played a couple of games, including ‘Do You Like Me?’ and the memory game. Emily, the volunteer here last year, warned me that ‘Do You Like Me?’ can get violent, and she wasn’t wrong! If you’re not familiar with the game, I’ll quickly explain it – basically, everyone sits in a circle, with one person in the middle so that there are no spare chairs. The person in the middle asks “Do you like me?” to each person. You can either answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’. If you answer ‘no’ you must give a reason. For example “I only like people that wear glasses”, so everyone that wears glasses will swap chairs and the person in the middle will try to get a chair too, until one person is left. It’s quite fun, and a great icebreaker. But, as I foung out the hard way, sometimes the students get a little over excited!

By the time we got the classroom back to normal, and everyone had recovered, we only had a couple of minutes left. The students spent this time asking me questions about home. Trying to describe snow and convince them it isn’t mythical is rather challenging!

I’m glad my first class is over and done with, but I’m looking forward to teaching Form 4 (equivalent to S4) tomorrow. I know just need to try and be more prepared!

I’ll be teaching everyday, except Friday. I only have 5 classes just now, but that should increase when Form 3 and Form 5 finish their exams.

Okay, so it hasn’t been a full week yet but never mind!

On Tuesday, I arrived at MRSM Lenggong – my home for the next 12 months. The campus is massive (it has boys dorms; girls dorms; teachers houses; a mosque; a shop), but is apparently it’s one of the smallest MARA schools. The buildings are really colourful which I guess motivates the students more.

Our house is quite cute. Fairly big, but attracts a lot of cockroaches!! So far, we’ve had 12 roaches, 5 million ants and a frog! We’ve trapped all our roaches under bowls and cups, so now we have nothing to eat off or drink off!

We’ve met quite a few pupils already. We haven’t started in the classroom yet but we should be getting our timetable tomorrow.

On Friday night, we went to the music club and got to watch them rehearse. We’ve become quite friendly with them. Last night, there was a performance in Lenggong town that they were taking part in, so we went down and supported them.

Everyone is so friendly and welcoming. They’re also addicted to selfies and Instagram. I’m now up to 150 new followers!  

Form 3 and Form 5 (equivalent to S3 and S5) are currently sitting they’re exams. They’re all so focused and dedicated. It’s amazing to watch.

We’ll be teaching Form 1, Form 2, and Form 4 until November (they end of the academic year). When school starts back in January, we’ll be teaching all 5 forms.

I’m excited to start working and get to know the students better but being told I look like a Barbie doll is getting a bit old now!!

We arrived at about 6 on Tuesday night. My first thought was, “I want a McDonald’s”. My second thought, however, was “oh my god, that is colourful”. The campus is like a little village with a mosque, a shop, a café. Everything you could possibly want. Except a McDonald’s!

On our way to the school, we stopped at a shopping complex to pick up some groceries. We got some milk, which we totally forgot to put away when we arrived at the house, so it ended up smelling like cheese. It was horrific!

 

The school is so crazy. On Wednesday morning, Amy, our mentor, picked us up and took us to the school office to meet with the principle. Everyone in the office, including the principle, wanted a selfie with us. They all love selfies!

Amy showed us around the school and took us up to the staff room to meet the other teachers. All of them immediately asked which one Kara was, and I was so confused as to how they knew me but not the others. As it turns out, Emily (the girl who was here previously whom I have been speaking to) has been speaking about me a lot!

Later on, Amy took us to Taiping – a small town about an hour away from Lenggong. We went to Dominoes for lunch, and Tesco for more milk!

When we got back to the school, Amy showed us the music studio and we got to try the traditional Malay instruments. We met a couple of girls who told us they had a tournament on Friday and invited us to go and watch their rehearsals.

So at 10, we headed back along and got to hear them play. They played one song for us but then got distracted by our “very white skin, and beautiful blue eyes”. I could get used to all these compliments!

Some of the boys taught us how to ‘dab’ and some taught us traditional Malay dancing. In return, we taught them the Gay Gordons and Flower of Scotland!

Everyone followed us on Instagram, but they must’ve shared our usernames with the dorms as we only met about 10, but I gained 75 followers! Some even followed my friends, so apologies to them for that! It’s absolutely crazy. I now feel sorry for celebrities!

 

This morning, Amy told us we had to be in the staff room for 08:30, so we arrived at about 20 past. An hour later, she walked in and took us for breakfast. It’s hard being a teacher over here!

We still haven’t been assigned our classes or anything, so here I am, just chilling in the staff room while you’re all sound asleep at home!

 

PS. pictures of the school to follow.

I’m writing this quickly before I get kicked off the wifi again!

We made it to KL on Friday but had to wait for about 2 hours before meeting our country rep, Jothee, because we arrived at the airport at the same time as the Bronze medal Olympians.

We eventually met Jothee and her husband , Taras, and got our picture at the airport to send back home to show we’re still alive!

We made a trip to McDonald’s before heading to the Homestay we’re living in for the 4 days we had in KL.

We didn’t do much else the first day, just unpacked and went to a Chinese restaurant and tried everything!
On Saturday morning, we started off with a typical Malay breakfast. Everything over here is revolved around food! This breakfast was a crepe type thing which was filled with either banana, egg or cheese.

We headed to Batu Caves and climbed the 276 steps to the top. In what I thought would be a touristy place, I was shocked to find we were the only white people and everyone would want their picture with us! 

We stopped by the KLCC Twin Towers which, according to Jothee, were given to different companies for building and they raced each other to see who could finish first. She never told us who won though!

Thai food was on the menu for dinner. I genuinely don’t think I’ll ever be hungry again.
On Sunday, we went to Little India for breakfast before going to Central Market. Afterwards, we walked along Chinatown, then went shopping for our Baju Kurung’s (traditional Malay clothes).

Monday was a lazy start as Jothee didn’t pick us up until 2. We went to the IT mall to get our SIM cards, then Jothee gave us our briefing for our projects.
On Tuesday, we headed to the MARA building to meet Marwati – the director of MARA – and representatives from each of the 3 schools we were going to. 

After our meeting, we headed our separate directions. And now, here we are! (More information on MRSM Lenggong to follow).
Kuala Lumpur is a beautiful city, but I have never realised how good drivers back home are! I think even my dad is better than everyone here!

At 10 this morning, I had to leave my family behind at Edinburgh airport. As hard as it was to say goodbye, I’m excited to be going.

Sitting on the plane to London, we discovered that the lady next to us is an returned Project Trust volunteer. She volunteered in China 21 years ago, and is now living in Beijing with her husband and 3 kids!

Lyall and I – one of my partners – have spent the past 6 hours in Heathrow airport. We have finally met the 4 and are getting ready to head to the gate. Our plane leaves at 20:15 and we will arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 09:00 UK time (16:00 Malaysian time).

Once again, thank you to you all for making this possible.

In less than 12 hours, I’ll be sitting at Heathrow airport waiting for my flight out to Kuala Lumpur. It’s crazy how quickly its come around.

I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has been involved in my journey so far. With your help, I’ve managed to raise the full £6,200. I’d like to say thank you particularly to my gran and granda who have done so much in helping me get to where I am. Also to my mum and dad – without them, I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today.

But the adventure only starts now. I’m really looking forward it and I can’t wait to share it with you.

So I guess this is it and I’ll speak to you all from Malaysia!

DISCLAIMER: THIS BLOG IS A PERSONAL BLOG WRITTEN BY KARA FINDLAY. AS SUCH THE VIEW’S EXPRESSED IN THIS BLOG ARE THOSE OF KARA FINDLAY AND NOT THOSE PROJECT TRUST.