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02/05/08 - Since arriving in Malaysia five and a half months ago, I thought I had done pretty well not to lose anything, but it unfortunately seems I'm destined to lose atleast one valuable every time I come here. My latest technological victim was my aging Olympus digital camera, but instead of it being traditionally stolen behind my back, it was snatched off me from my front. I was waiting early morning on a quiet road near a highway in Taman Megan, when suddenly four Indian guys on motorbikes stopped by and grabbed my camera. Fortunately I managed to hold onto my beloved shoulder bag, but suffered a grazed left arm and a punch in the face.

Despite a dramatic morning I still passed my driving theory test (but if I didn't fail it in the first place, none of this would have happened), then I went to the police station to make a report, where the staff were quite friendly. I doubt I'll hear back from them, as I couldn't really give many details, but I thought I'd atleast be a statistic (but all crimes should be reported anyway). I guess I could only survive so long in Malaysia before getting something snatched, it seems everyone has a story to tell about when they were a victim. And so, after exactly two and a half years of service, my Olympus is no more.

Now I've gone back to Fujifilm, with my new S5700. I paid a total of RM1700 for everything, though I wonder how much cheaper I could get it if I'd actually try and barter. I'm kind of a no nonsense person; I just want and know what I need, and I just buy it. I only seem to haggle well with things I really don't want. I was offered an extra lens for RM380, and managed to get it down to RM300, but I honestly didn't want it. I guess trying to buy a camera and putting up with Ranjita's nagging didn't make things easy.

Losing Ranjita in KLCC wasn't much of a compliment to the week. Security found her around 10-15 minutes later, but I don't think Ranjita actually realised she was lost. I've spent a lot of time with Ranjita over the past week, taking her out to see college friends, and going to church, bowling, and birthday parties (I had to miss CoPPJ's first anniversary for Dharsini's first birthday). But who else will look after her? Jyothi's working long hours every day, and the other family that stays there rejects her out of jealousy because of me, which is quite pathetic. Shay and Sam are now added to the list of those who 'take to Ranjita'. We had a nice meal and a swim when they invited us to their condo yesterday.

I did my first English class outside of British Council on Tuesday, with six students at the temple classroom in Taman Tun (where the Holi was held). It was nice to meet Ms Yans, who's doing a good job with these tuition classes; she was in Somerset, UK, when I tried to contact her last week. The students seem fine and keen to learn, but I think I might loan a decent syllabus from the British Council to teach from, after looking through some books today. But I was a language student again this week, attending Ratha's Tamil tuition class on reading, and impressed everyone as I already know how to read Tamil characters...

09/05/08 - Sa bai dee! Greetings from Laos, where I've spent the last four days. My expectations of Laos was that it would be similar to Cambodia in terms of culture and development, but I was suprised to see, when I arrived in Vientiane, that the city is very clean and developed, and people are very polite and welcoming. I noticed that English hasn't really made an impact in Laos yet, I didn't meet one local with a really strong grasp of it. Even electronic billboards in the city have typing and spelling mistakes in them. I guess that makes good opportunity for future teaching out there some time.

Despite how nice Vientiane was, there's not really much there apart from temples and nice restaurants. So I headed to Vang Vieng, where the main town is full of Westerners, who do their adventure sports and hikes in the day, then drinking and drugs at night. But crossing over a toll bridge near the river, there's a sudden tranquility. I went for a walk to the caves yesterday morning, and nobody was around; I was alone in a field, surrounded by beautiful scenery. I even went into the dark caves on my own, which was interesting, though I had no marker pen to leave my name.

Then I met Richard, who I met on the internet through some photography sites, who took me round to some of the rural areas, visiting some small local villages. Though the kids here seem to acknowledge you (that you're a tourist), they're much more reserved compared to kids I've met in other countries. Some Lao kids will shyly ask for money, but pens are also an accepted currency (don't spoil them with free cash!). Laos was a nice little holiday, and I didn't spend too much on it either.

I'm slowly adapting to my new camera, though I'm still trying to get used to it. Since the last one was snatched, I've actually started carrying my shoulder bag less, which is a good thing as I don't always need it, and it's just extra unneccesary weight. Jyothi would always tell me to be careful whenever we talked, but I never took it seriously, but you never do until something happens. The day before it happened, even Theeba told me to be careful; I guess I was ignoring some kind of message. Lastly, I had another driving lecture in Melayu on Sunday. Now the 'useful' lectures are out the way, hopefully I can finally get in a car next week...

16/05/08 - This week is my birthday week, and from Wednesday it's to be six straight days of fun and celebration! The first day of celebrating my turning of 22 was with my tuition class in Taman Tun (where the Holi was held). I've only known my students a couple of weeks, but they were very nice to make me a card (including fake flowers), and one student gave me a small photo frame. I enjoy teaching there, as I get to see Theeba often, and it's good to be getting the practice before I do it as a job. I collected my CELTA certificate on Tuesday, still with a pass, so I'd best keep it safe.

Continuing my birthday celebrations, last night I went for a meal with Christine Lim, a former CPKL member, and tonight I was with my old college friends, Sam, Chris and Shakira, where we went to a Sri Lankan bar, and solved the world's problems over some wine and beer (or coke, in my case). Chris found it weird how quiet I was, but I was just taking in everything that he was saying. But that's only half of my birthday so far; Jyothi's parents and Victoria have plans for me on the weekend, and Monday, a public holiday (Vesak Day), will be a church outing, which will be an extra day of fun.

On Wednesday night I stayed at Kamala's house in Damansara Damai, where I stayed two years ago. It was nice to stay with her again, and we communicate much better than before, with my Tamil having improved so much. I'm still familiar with the inner town area, but I don't recognise the now smooth highways outside, which were a flood of roadworks when I was there two years ago. My bike chain broke on Tuesday, and cost RM45 to get repaired; soon enough I'll have a bike made completly of changed parts.

After the Laos trip, it really hit me how little time I have left in Malaysia, only three and a half weeks. Two things that I must get done before I go back; first, driving lessons. The 'Perfect Driving Company' are being far from perfect with processing my application. As I 'don't have a visa' for Malaysia (I have the 90 day travel pass), they're being sluggish with my application, despite having to pay an extra RM50 for being a foreigner. The second is finding an old lady to stay at Jyothi's house to look after Ranjita. Just about everyone has had enough of Sumathi and her family staying at Jyothi's, but someone needs to care for Ranjita, so it's up to me to find someone...

23/05/08 - And so my birthday week continued... I had Ranjita and her sister, my latest adoptee, Theeba, in my care the whole of the extended weekend. Saturday, I celebrated the fourth day of my birthday at Jyothi's mother's house, where we had KFC. Sunday, Victoria bought a cake to celebrate mine, Luke, Francis James and Dharsini's birthdays, as we were all born in May. Monday was a church trip to Ulu Yam, where the church usually holds baptisms, with everyone playing in the river (except for me, I've come to realise I'm not born for the water). Then to compliment meeting so many people, Tuesday I met Dan Hughes, a former 'Harveian' from my old secondary school, who's travelling with his girlfriend and was in KL at the time.

It would have been nice if I was told beforehand that there are do's and don't's in regards to Theeba's health. I knew that there were complications when she was born, and that she's smaller than her younger sister, Ranjita, but nobody told me she can't eat ice cream or spend too long in the water. Though I bought Theeba an ice cream, she immediately gave it away, but she still got a cold from playing in the river (which was freezing, which is why I didn't go in), which I was told she's not supposed to do longer than 30 minutes. I guess I took for granted Ranjita's perfect health, but I'll make sure I'm more careful with Theeba next time, as long as I'm warned of all her health problems beforehand...

The list of things I get stolen is never ending. After my camera was taken a few weeks ago, the latest victim is my bicycle. I had been parking my bicycle in the same spot for four months, sometimes leaving it there two or three nights, but (I'm guessing) Saturday night the lock was broken off and it's now gone; I even found the broken lock piece, which was viciously hacked at. I haven't gone to the police about this, Pastor Paul told me you have to go within 24 hours, but I had kids with me for 24 hours after the incident, but I doubt there's anything they can do about this either.

Tuition class has been going fine, and I've had a good number of students, though there's no tuition next week as most the kids are on holiday, and Yans is away in the UK again. Though the fourteen hour flight isn't so complimenting, I wish I could travel between Malaysia and UK as often as Yans (who is married to a pilot, which gives her family extremely cheap flights). I've got two and a half weeks left, and although I'm looking forward to coming back to the UK, where I'll get to eat English food and watch English TV, get a job etc. I am, of course, going to dearly miss Malaysia.

But so I can leave Malaysia without any worries, I really need to sort Ranjita's home situation. Just one note, Ranjita's back to looking like a boy again, after Jyothi destroyed my six months hard work by cut all her hair short again, probably because of head lice. I've sent Ranjita to stay with her grandmother the whole school holidays, which is where Theeba stays, so they can both be happy the next couple of weeks. The only task is getting Sumathi's family out of Jyothi's house, and finding someone to stay there and properly care for Ranjita. Then I can leave Malaysia without any worries...

30/05/08 - My six month and a half month run in Malaysia has dwindled to its last ten days. This past week has been the school holidays, where I've spent most my time in Taman Tun looking after Theeba and Ranjita at their grandmother's house. It's a lot of work looking after them both, but I still don't have to do it full time like a parent. I haven't really taken them out much this week, I've just made sure they've got their homework done. I've just been trying to teach them to have more regard for things, after they decided to throw away a whiteboard and a pair of slippers for no good reason. Things seem to only last five minutes with them.

Theeba's really taken to church after just a couple of weeks; after the CPKL service this week, she was singing a song she had learnt in Sunday School. Theeba's such a bright and intelligent girl, as is her sister, Hema. I just hope Ranjita's home situation can be improved so she has a chance to shine too. Not much else has happened this week. Pastor Charles has left the Taman Wahyu church; his family had slowly been leaving the church, so maybe it was inevitable, but he never really followed many of the churches traditions, such as the church photo at Easter. But it's God's will, maybe it'll give a chance for someone else to shine...