Selamat datang ke Malaysia!
In 2016 I lived in Malaysia for ten months as an English teacher during my Fulbright Fellowship.
Travel is not “Fun”
Vacation and travel are often mistaken for each other because they both involve having time off from everyday life and changing physical location. Though they have a few things in common, they’re distinctly different experiences. You go on vacation so you can escape from your everyday life and relax. You treat yourself, indulge, and savor…
Class Satu-D
Students at SMK Selising are divided by test scores, with the top scorers going to “A” classes, and lower scorers going to “B,” “C,” and “D” classes. I teach the A, B, C, and D classes for forms 1 and 2, or the equivalent of 8th and 9th grade. That means I teach the youngest…
New English
I’ve learned a lot of English in Malaysia. Even when a friend here speaks to me in English, they often have different ways of expressing themselves, managing a conversation, asking a question, or saying yes and no. It’s not a different dialect of English, it’s a distinctly different style. This year my biggest communication barrier…
Selamat Hari Merdeka!
Malaysia became independent from British colonial rule on August 31, 1957. In a similar tradition as the American 4th of July, Malaysians feel the boom of fireworks, sing patriotic songs, and eat grilled meats on Hari Merdeka. One Malaysian Independence Day tradition that a lot of Americans are missing out on is the patriotic bike…
A Teapot on Every Table
While a cow and goat sacrifice festival (Hari Raya Haji) went on in Kelantan, I took a trip to Myanmar/Burma for a few days with a fellow Fulbright friend. Before I continue, let’s settle whether it’s “Myanmar” or “Burma.” Myanmar is the formal name used in written documents and Burma is the colloquial name. Burma…
Ciao, Malaysia!
Pizza and spaghetti have infiltrated this part of Malaysia in the form of Pizza Hut and Dominos. When I refer to pizza and pasta as Italian, most of my students are confused because they do not know that Italy is a country, and if they do, they think it’s the same as the “country of…
Selamat Hari Raya!
Excitement grew during the month of Ramadan for the holiday right after, Eid al-Fitr, Hari Raya. Teachers sold and bought holiday cookies, biscuit raya, and students came in shy groups to my office to invite me to their homes. At Hari Raya it is traditional for families to host open houses with special holiday foods. Reminiscent of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and…
Mid-Year Reflections
Malaysian students and teachers take their holiday from late May to early June. This year it marked the halfway point for my time in Malaysia. The school holiday was a time to relax and and consciously or unconsciously reflect on the past five months. How has my perspective changed? What’s been most surprising? What have…
The Cameron Highlands
Last month I took a road trip with a teacher from another ETA’s school. She’s the self-proclaimed Kelantan ETA mom. She has us over for dinner, spoils us rotten with love and gifts and attention, and is always happy to lend a hand when we need help. She goes by the name, “Ma.” I stay…
Two Cultures of Grief
I have lived in Malaysia for almost five months now, and have experienced many aspects of cultural exchange: Food, clothing, communication, greetings. I’ve also dug deeper, often having conversations about religion and politics. But the experiences that have taught me the most and that will stick with me for the rest of my life are…
LegoLand
A few weekends ago some teachers and I took a bus of students to LegoLand. We had been planning for a long time, trying to find a way to pay for 30 students who performed well on their March English exams to go on the trip. Malaysia’s LegoLand is in Johor Bahru, capital city of…
Kampung Nights
The warm, smiley woman who works at the school kantin (cafeteria) asks me “you are free tonight? You come to my house?” “Sure!” I said! Later in the evening, she and her husband roll up to my place in a bright blue car and lead me to their nearby kampung. The word kampung is usually…
Machiavelli in Malaysia
Most of my life I’ve been behind the desk, not at the white board. In Malaysia I’ve been learning how to teach and what it means to be a teacher. One day I had some particularly rowdy boys in the back of class who wouldn’t listen, were rude, and wouldn’t do their work. I walked…
Home in Malaysia
I live in teachers’ quarters at SMK Pak Badol, the secondary school where one of my roommates teaches. It’s an apartment inside the all-girls hostel where many of the students live. When I come home everyday, I drive through an iron gate and wave to the guard. I wind my way between the school buildings…
School Discipline
Tuesday is English day. At morning assembly, I present a word of the day, poem, or tongue-twister. Today I bring Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost to read. I hear the BM speeches in the courtyard and go out there to see when I should read the poem. All the students…
Sketches from Thailand
For my March school holiday I went to Thailand with my dear friend Becca. The ex-soldier and current security guard at the school hostel where I live has agreed to take me to the airport. I tie up what I hope are all the loose ends, lock my house key behind me when I shut…
Celebrating the Solar Eclipse
All the speeches are made in Bahasa Melayu (BM) at Sunday assembly. When the religion teacher gets up to speak, he turns to me on stage and invites me in English to attend a special prayer for the upcoming solar eclipse. On Wednesday morning I find the whole school in the courtyard. I sit down…
Another Day
“Miss! Miss! I have something for you!” One of my star students comes into my office and hands me a fresh sleeve of name brand Oreos. “For me? Really? Thank you! Why?” “I don’t know, teacher! Haha!” An excellent start to the day. Next, a group of girl students comes in, “Miss Christy! Good mooooooorning!…
A Day in the Life
When I leave my house in the morning the sun is barely up. I pass green rice paddies and mini mountains on my drive to school. Students socialize at the school entrance and all wave as I roll up. I walk into the office and someone hands me a banana leaf treat. It’s a small…
First Lessons
This year my job title is “English Teaching Assistant.” That means I assist the English teacher, the English teacher assists me, or we co-teach. I’ve only been at SMK Selising a few weeks now, so I’ve done mostly co-teaching. But for the first time the other day, I was assigned to be the head teacher…
1:30 Prayer at the School Mosque
I’m having an afternoon snack of fried fish sticks in sweet chili dipping sauce and teh tarik, a Malaysian specialty. It’s black tea with sweetened condensed milk. Delicious! I’m sitting with my friend who doesn’t speak much English, but we get along great through smiles and high-fives. The religion teacher comes in and sits down. We’ve…
The Langkawi Cable Car
I spent three days on the island of Langkawi, a rocky three hour ferry ride north of Penang. When the students and all the other teachers found out I was going to Langkawi, they said I HAD to go up the famous cable car. To get to the cable car you pass through a miniature Malaysian…
Happy Chinese New Year!
I traveled to the island of Penang to celebrate Chinese New Year. Penang is on the western coast of Malaysia. I live in Kelantan, the eastern coast, scraping the bottom of the Thai border. The seven hour bus ride took me through terraced hills, hairpin turns, and so many shades of green. In proper Malaysian…
The Philosophical Traveler 