Pictures... Continued

Pangi oh Pangi…. What A Wonderful Experience

Often we would watch in movies whereby poor people who could not afford to pay for train ride, would be left sitting on the roof of the carriages’ or even hanging off poles outside of the train or even during festive times, where people who had no transport but only train to get to places, would rush or do anything just to get onboard. Well, my trip to Pangi was not exactly the same but the experience of sitting outside of a train was totally awesome! I felt like an illegal immigrant! Well, it was a classic diesel powered train (considered classic as most trains are operated by electricity by now), which pulls 2 small carriages. On the way to Pangi, I sat in one of the carriages while on my way back to Tenom, I sat outside the train, literally outside the train platform where they put goods. It was a great experience as I was able to see the nature surrounding me without any obstructions apart from human beings. On top of that, the journey to and from Pangi was beautiful, with hills around it, river, rocks and even a hydroelectric dam! In Pangi, I also managed to walk across a hanging bridge which links both banks of Padas River! It was scary at first, but when I got used to it, I thought it was fun! As I walked, the bridge bounced according to the rhythm of my pace! When I got to the middle of the hanging bridge, my oh my, the view was awesome! Apart from the murky river, the scenery was just beautiful!

Interview

I have just applied for my interview... Let's just hope that everything goes smoothly and that I can get my confirmation early... God please help me!

After the mid semester break!

Gosh, to come back to this place after a wonderful week break with my loved one is definitely a dreadful thing to do! First of all, I miss my loved one. Secondly, to get back to work… NOOOOOOOO! Even though it has been 2 months since I first arrived here and I am beginning to settle in, I still find that I do not belong to this place. Physically I am here but mentally and spiritually I am elsewhere! To be honest, I do really enjoy my work here but at the same time, I do wish that I have more familiar faces here around me. Somehow I feel more comfortable and secure with familiar faces around me. With them there were no worries or sadness in me…. oh well, there are 10 more weeks to go before a very very long break with my loved ones! I am already counting down the days and looking forward to it! Oh ya and another thing, let’s just hope that my pay comes in this coming Thursday! Then it will be all sweet and no longer sour! Hehe!

Duties....

Sometimes I really do wonder…. Why do people have to work? There is just too much stress during work… Can’t people just resort to the good old days where everyone just barter trade? Well, what to do, the world is such that each and every day is an improvement of the day before… fret not on the present and the past and look to the future. It has been almost 2 month since I came to this small little town to start my career as an English teacher in a small missionary school. Initially for the first few weeks things were just smooth sailing until one of the teachers was offered a post in the district education office. Then, things started to unfold. Apparently, I was to take over all the duties held by that teacher in school. Gosh, I thought to myself. There was just too much responsibility that the teacher was holding in school. Ketua panitia, ketua dokumentasi, guru penasihat bola keranjang, form teacher and so much more! And guess what, all these duties, well almost all these duties were single-handedly handed to me in one day! Well, to say one day would be over-estimating…. To be exact, 2 hours on a Friday! My oh my…. Not that I am incapable of doing it, but to digest all that information as the ketua panitia in 2 hours was just plain complex. As he explained all the duties to me, I was like… ‘oh ok… erm….’ Honestly speaking, I was totally lost. It felt like the story ‘Journey to The Centre of The Earth’. Every step and every move, every information was a brand new experience and journey to me. The best part about this subject is that it is not a tested component in the SPM and PMR examinations but was a compulsory subject to be taught! Well, that was just one of the advantages… but in term of duties… there was just so much work to do. First and foremost, the panel has not had any meeting at all and of which I have to conduct some time, somehow, some day. Second was that the March test was just around the corner and I had to assign teachers to come up with test papers. The funny things was that due to the fact that the teaching panel was constantly evolving and changing, I was not even sure of who are the teachers involved. Oh well, that where the skill of ‘tembak-ing’ comes in. I randomly assigned a teacher who was teaching a particular form to come up with the test paper for that form. So I thought it would be all good! On the day of test, one of the teachers came up to me and said, ‘hey, why is it that there are 2 sets of papers for form 1 and none for form 4?’ I was like, IMPOSSIBLE!!!!! I had already assigned a teacher for each form and it was perfectly understood! With just 30 minutes to go, I frantically went around checking and looking for the teacher! My oh my, I found out that the teacher who was supposed to come up with the test papers for form 4 did papers for form 1! Goodness gracious me! I was practically scratching my head thinking of what could be done! Brilliantly, well not so brilliant, one of the teachers said, ‘why not take one of the form 1 papers and turn it into form 4 papers?’ At that moment, I immediately agreed as there was nothing that I can do to come up with papers for form 4! Well, we did that and we shall see what happens next!!! Let’s hope that I would not be boiling in hot soup!