Root Directory:

Huckool.Com HuckoolBlog.Com Blog 2008

Index Menu:

Index Bullet Points Photography

Entries:

January February March April May June July August September October November December

04/04/08 - It's been my first week off after finishing my college course, but this week I've done very little. I guess the fact that I'm going to Brunei on Monday makes me feel that it's not worth doing signing up to things, only to tell them I won't be able to do anything for atleast a week. The two things I'm after are driving lessons and voluntary teaching. Rubina's put me on hold for the position she's offered, so I need to look at other places to do teaching practice.

Despite having little to do, I'm doing my best to keep myself out the house and off the laptop. We had the Youth Concert at Taman Wahyu on Saturday, which was really good. It was nice to see some familiar faces from the CPKL Ampang church that day, then I ended up going to the CPKL service (only the third I've ever attended there) with Pastor Paul and Victoria, as Pastor was preaching there that morning. I should visit Ampang more often, as it'd be good to get more involved with the youth programs, and also Tharani lives close by.

The rest of the week was filled between visiting Victoria, and Jyothi and Ranjita. I took Ranjita out to KL again, and this trip went a little better than the other two. She didn't throw any tantrums and nobody accused me of abducting her, but she got a little hyper on snacks she helped herself to from my place. But it was still a nice day out, and clothes shopping for kids is kind of fun.

Unfortunately she has the most awful hairstyle at the moment, and she's also doing poorly in her school work. Thursday night she was in her tuition class until 11pm, as she's falling behind. I still think she'd be better off with her sisters being with her, rather than this other family, as Hema and Theeba both do very well in school. I briefly got to see Wanaja, their other sister, for the first time in a couple of years. Hopefully the time Ranjita spends with her will give her a little more motivation.

11/04/08 - It's been a busy week of everyone going places; Reuben's gone to Mumbai for studies, Heng Wai (CELTA) has gone to Australia, also to study, and I went to Brunei for a post-study holiday. There was quite a lot of emotion in the church on Sunday, it being Reuben's last day, and also Rebecca came to church, where everyone was happy to see her family again. I gave Reuben my Hindi dictionary, as he'll be needing it more than me. We all wish him the best in his studies.

I just made it to Brunei on Monday. Since when did KLIA build another airport? They now have an LCC Terminal, which is where AirAsia flys from now, and after over sleeping at the main airport, I had to get a taxi to speed it to LCC, and literally checked in at the last minute. On the way there, I finally started reading my book from the Palmers Green church, Children of the Storm, which really had me questioning the strength of my faith. Could I really commit to Christianity if it meant spending several years in prison?

My time in Brunei with Nurul Jannah has been great, it was so nice to meet her again after two years, I'll definitely have to try and see her again some time next year. It was nice seeing all her friends and family, who are all really nice people. Seeing all the large houses in Brunei, especially around Kuala Belait, made me wonder how strong family bonds were. NJ told me that meal time is strictly family time in her household, as everyone will just keep to themselves the rest of the time. I prefer bigger families in smaller houses, it's much more cosy.

Going round Brunei with NJ, it was interesting seeing the Jerudong Gardens and Empire Hotel, and the stories that were behind them. It wasn't so great staying in Bandar Seri Begawan again though, my fascination for the Kampung Ayer (Water Village) has kind of worn off. I was told Gadong, about 4km away, is more buzzing than BSB, but atleast that leaves an unexplored area for next time that I travel there. But like I said last time I was here, Brunei really needs to focus on its tourist attractions. Brunei is no fun, unless you're a friend of the royals...

18/04/08 - As one course officially comes to an end, I'm now starting on another. I collected my CELTA report on Monday, and I'm pleased to say I passed. I caught up with Amir that day, and told me about the new CELTA trainees, and dared me to pretend to be a student and attend a class with them. Just to prove that I did attend the CELTA course, you can see me in the blue shirt on this video. As for my new course, I'm now taking driving lessons. So far I've only attended a lecture, which was in Bahasa Melayu, but fortunately my handbook is in English.

I took Ranjita to the CPKL church for the first time on Sunday. I don't know what it is that makes her so appealing, but an Indian woman there really took to her. Ranjita's also seems to be progressing a little better in school, and she seemed to understand me quite well when I helped her with her English homework on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday was Dharsini's first birthday, though the family won't celebrate till next month, as the father's away working. She really liked the T-Shirt I got her from Brunei.

I've started going to a new restaurant at the slowly developing Ara Damansara complex near my house, the Station One Coffee House, which has a very good looking Western menu. It was just a shame that my first visit had me waiting 45 minutes for a small meal. But despite how great the food may be, I think I may have to cut back on my luxury spending a little bit, after having to spend £75 on extending my stay here by three weeks when changing my flight with Emirates.

25/04/08 - It's been another busy week, last Friday was the start of a weekend long Hindu Festival, Holi, which started with prayer and dance Friday night, followed by milk being poured over a statue on the Saturday, then the coloured flour and water fight on the Sunday. I saw the colour throwing in a documentary a few years ago and had always wanted to be a part of it. But caution is recommended, I was lucky to have Jyothi and her sisters to look after me, as the guys there wanted to do some pranks on me. Fortunately I wasn't involved in any of the fights between them.

Whilst at the temple, I noticed a voluntary teaching vacancy there. I contacted the number given, and the person that runs it is actually in England at the moment, though she'll be back next week. But this week, I went from English teacher to English student. I decided to do Amir's dare and attended his extra class with the new CELTA trainees, as Miro from Poland. I was quizzed a little about the Polish language, as one of the trainees visited there once, but I just gave a shy answer, which I didn't even know was correct or not.

I noticed that Amir is the only student reattending the Intermediate extra classes again, but as these trainees are doing the same syllabus and lessons as we did, I guess there isn't much point. The first trainee was a Chinese girl, who seemed a little inconfident (but they've only been doing the course a few weeks), and used quite advanced language. The second was an old, Malaysian lady, that Amir's told me a lot about, who didn't give the right answers in her answer keys, and went ten minutes over time in her lesson. And the third seems like she has done the CELTA or something similar before, as she was using techniques that they wouldn't have yet learnt in the CELTA course at that stage.

Despite attending an easy English language class, I unfortunately didn't pass my driving theory test, losing out by only two marks. I'll be taking a re-sit next week. Lastly, I saw the Olympic Flame with Sam come to KLCC on Monday. Despite the heavy rain, we sat through it and waited for the flame to arrive, though it was a shame the media hogged the viewing space when the couldron was lit. But I managed to beat the media at the very end, when the flame was put in a lantern and quickly escorted out. I was in the right place at the right time, and managed to catch one of the last photos of the flame in Kuala Lumpur. Nice!