The weekend of the 26th-27th of April we were supposed to go to the Language Week in Kuantan, but this was cancelled right at the last minute so we just decided we'd stay in Tumpat and have a relaxing weekend. We really needed it after an exhausting week. So me, Gemma and Rosie headed to Kota Bharu for some retail therapy. We hadn't found a place to have breakfast yet and when we saw that there was a market on for the first time at the Thai buddhist temple we thought it would be a good chance to try something new. Only it wasn't just a market, it was a water festival to celebrate the Thai new year! We chatted to an American buddhist who'd lived in Thailand for 15 years, but always enjoyed celebrating the new year in this temple. The water fight was supposed to start at about 2, but when the children saw us purchase our water guns we immediately were the head targets. Of course we expected this as we were the only white people there, but my god we were surrounded by at least 20 children at a time. Their water guns were bigger than our little pathetic ones and we got plenty of water buckets thrown over us. It was amazing though, I had such a good time. Just when we thought it couldn't get any more exciting than it already was a fire engine arrived and I got hold of the fire hose at some point. The Thais also covered us in creams and colourings and baby powder as a way of blessing us. It all got washed off very quickly of course but we smelled so nice by the end of it.
We decided to leave before all of the excitement died down and nothing special happened anymore that day apart from us watching Les Miserables at our house and sobbing like babys.
Last week we got an extra long weekend because of the elections. We had been advised to not get involved with it too much and as it got pretty heated up here in Kelantan and our school was being used as a polling station we decided to go to Singapore. We booked our tickets for the night train from Tumpat and I was not looking forward to it at all. Students told me it would be very uncomfortable, there'd be no airconditioning and it'd be really bumpy. All lies! It was amazing, the beds were ridiculously comfortable, might have even been the best bed I've slept in here so far. Although anyone who is 5 cm taller than me wouldn't have been able to snuggle in as comfortably. The journey was supposed to be 14 hours and we all slept like a log. We did end up arriving 4 hours later than we were supposed to arrive, but we were so amazed by this train it wasn't too bad.
We were only planning on staying there for two days and then going to Taman Negara, the national rainforest, to meet up with the other volunteers. But all the trains back to Malaysia were fully booked until the 7th of May, unless we got the slow train the next morning. It took us a while to decide what we wanted to do. Gemma and I thought it was pointless to stay in Singapore for less than 12 hours, but Rosie really wanted to go to Taman Negara so we split our ways.
Singapore is amazing! Very shiny and clean, though we lived in constant fear of getting fined. For those who don't know, they fine you for everything here; eating/drinking on public transport (this was a hard one to remember), eating/drinking when walking on the pavement, littering and you could even get fined if they found out you hadn't flushed your toilet. And the fines are at least 500 dollars, so you do not want that to happen.
I was quite surprised at how little Europeans there were, but there was an great mixture of all the Asian nationalities.
Gemma and I spent our first night there in Chinatown and settled ourselves in the Beary Good Hostel, it was beary good indeed. Nice staff, comfortable beds (second most comfortable I've slept in)and great breakfast (toast! margarine! marmite! unsugared coffee!).
The next day we went to the zoo. We spent a lot of time staring at the otters which are so funny, monkeys just climbed around freely in the trees above us and I spent far too much money to sit on an elephant and the picture they took of us was 30 dollars which is absolutely ridiculous. I couldn't spot any panda bears which I'm very sad about.
We went to Little India and had to stop ourselves from buying everything there, we went to Marina Bay which has the most incredible view over all the skyscrapers and I sang Stronger by Britney Spears in a karaoke bar with a bunch of drunk Koreans.
I felt like we had to justify our behaviour in every restaurant we went into, the others must've thought we were acting so strange when we were almost salivating over all the European foods we've been missing. We went to a tapas bar where I had my first glass of wine in 3 months, the next night we had pizza and the last night we went into a Swiss restaurant and I had tomato soup and olive bread. Mmmm.
As much as we loved Singapore we were very happy to get back home. We hadn't booked any buses or trains so we had to improvise, but it all went surprisingly smooth. We arrived on Monday morning completely shattered so the moment I came into the house I ran for my bed and didn't wake up until late in the evening when Rosie arrived. She had been covered in bruises, scratches, leech and mosquito bites after a two day trek in the jungle but she said it was totally worth it and that she feels very accomplished.
Fortunately there hadn't been any riots because of the elections. The government party won comfortably, despite this being the first year in which there was doubt about them winning. The largest opposition party, PAS - that still leads the state I'm living in - have been growing in recent years and this year was the first time they had any chance of winning. But in the end they didn't.
I feel like I should tell a little bit about my students and not make it seem like I'm only out and about and not doing any teaching. I've said this lots of time to friends and family; there are lots of things to love here, but the students will always be my favourite. They're just so funny and still really enthusiastic about seeing us and being taught by us. Back home I would never ever dare to teach any students older than 15, but here they're very respectful in class. When I'm wearing my baju kurung I'm Miss Anouk for them but if I'm just wearing my normal clothes they all know they can just come and have a gossip with me.
Being here has also been a real ego booster. Some of the girls have been calling me Princess Anouk which is just the best thing ever and we both get told we're beautiful almost every single day. Then again when we're tired they call out that we have big bags under our eyes or when we have spots they ask us what's wrong with our skin. So subtle.
The teachers are also lovely. Totally nuts, but lovely. Madame Has is a little bit like our mother. When we have problems or things we need to have sorted out, we go to her. She always looks terribly busy but she says she always gladly helps us out. Then there's the chemistry teacher Suryana who sits next to us in the staff room. She absolutely crazy, I don't need my cup of coffee anymore after I've spoken to her in the morning. She's started calling out HEEY SEXY LADY whenever I walk into the staff room, which is a bit awkward when students hear this, but she's a good laugh. There's the history teacher who invites some of the boys over to his house at the weekends to play video games and then lets them clean his house. Rosie and I think this is hilarious. And I have told about Hajar before, who has become a really good friend.
All in all, everyone's so lovely here and it's hard to be sad when you're surrounded by people who are so jolly and fun.
This has been written in a bit of a hurry, so I'm sorry if there are any mistakes and I know I've missed out some things I have to share with you all, but I have to pack now. Friday we're flying to Cambodia, from there we're traveling down to Vietnam and on the 25th we're staying in Sabah for 10 days. I'm very very excited!
Lots of love to you all xxx.
Here are some pictures of the water fight and the students. My camera has been added to the list of things I've broken in mysterious ways so I have to wait until Gemma gives me the pictures of Singapore until I can show you all
