Great Time in Penang

Every year my school sends all of its employees on a free trip. This year employees could have chosen one of four destinations, one of which was Bangkok, which would have been my first choice. By the time I learned about the trips, all of them were fully booked except Penang. I had been to Penang twice before and one of those times was a school trip like this a few years back. I wasn’t totally stoked, but a free trip is a free trip.

I must say that I was totally happy in the end with going to Penang. We went there on Friday morning and came back Sunday evening. The school put us up in a five-star hotel with a killer buffet breakfast included. I’ve learned from experience to skip the planned activities on these company trips. Instead of visiting fruit farms and a pewter factory, some fellow teachers and I spent all day Saturday at the beach. It was awesome.

The pictures below are from Friday night in Penang. Another teacher and I were hanging out at Overtime and a bunch of other people from our school came in. We joined them in a drinking game that I’ve never played before and had a great time.

I’m looking forward to next year’s trip wherever it happens to be.

Ice Hockey

This is a picture of me taking a face off at the Malaysian International 3 on 3 ice hockey tournament. In Malaysia you have to specify ice hockey because people will automatically think of field hockey if you don't. Malaysia entered two teams. I was on Cobras 2. I was just playing for fun, but some of the massive beatings we took hurt a little. During the game against Cobras 1, I asked Lyna to go shopping and not watch the massacre the was about to take place and she agree, but the sneaky one watched the whole 11-1 beating. The Singapore Manimals took first place and thankfully they were not in our pool so we never had to get spanked by them. We did manage to win our final game so we didn't finish dead last. 

My school sponsors a team in the local ice hockey league. I'm happy to be the newest addition to CPU hockey team. We played our first game last week and had to settle for a 5-5 draw. I didn't get any points and I'm still not totally back into game form. I haven't gotten my own jersey yet. The one I'm wearing is a loner. Hopefully, I'll get mine soon.

A Good Weekend

It has definitely been a while since my last post. It’s not that I don’t have anything to write about, rather, I’ve been incredible busy with my studies and full-time job as a teacher. I don’t want to blog about teaching or learning right now because I have my hands full with both at the moment. Instead I want to focus on a nice weekend I had with my wife.

                                        (Showing off my new fake Von Zipper sunglasses RM 20)

Yesterday we went downtown to hang out on Petaling Street and Bukit Bin Tang. It has probably been a month or so since we got to go downtown. We definitely don’t do it enough. That might be a good thing since when we do go, it feels like a mini vacation.

                                        (Showing off her new unbranded wannabe Ray Bans RM 10)

We drank a few beers on Petaling Street and watched people for a few hours and then went to Finnegan’s on Bukit Bin Tang for some good food and some snooker.

Just this morning Lyna decided we should make use of our balcony, so we had breakfast out there. Eating breakfast on the balcony on Sundays is going to be a new tradition for sure. We just need to get an extension cord for our fan because it was super hot out there.

I really can’t say when my next post will be, but I do have a week off during Hari Raya. Right now the plan is to take the motorcycle up north and cross the border into Thailand. I have my Malaysian motorcycle license now and they can be used in Thailand as well. I hope to post regularly at that time as I’ll be on holiday as both a student and a teacher. 

Turtle Power

After almost a year apart, my beloved turtles have returned home. They are so much bigger than I remember them. Welcome back Polo, Tiger, and Carl. We also have a new turtle named Paul that made friends with ours while we were gone. This place is slowly but surely starting to feel like home.

Paul

Polo

Carl

Tiger

Basking in the hot Malaysian sun.

These turtles can run surprisingly fast if given a moment of freedom from their pool.

Doing My Homework

I am a student currently in the final year of a Master of Education degree from OISE at the University of Toronto. I have been doing this online for the past two years while teaching in Asia and it takes up a good chunk of my time. However, I often feel bored when on those rare times where I’m on holiday from both teaching and learning. Anyway, the course I’m currently taking is called Holistic Approaches to Information Technology and part of the course is to create a reflective journal about our learning experience. Since the journal is supposed to be in blog form, I figured I’d share it here as this blog has a teaching and learning theme.

http://davidslearningjournal.wordpress.com/

If you’re an international teacher interested in an M.Ed from the University of Toronto, post a comment and get in touch. I’ll answer any questions and tell you about my experience.

Setting Up in Malaysia

I got some new toys this week to help me enjoy my time here in Malaysia.


I ordered a full set of hockey equipment (less skates) from Hockey Monkey. The equipment was reasonably priced. My order got held up a few times and they required me to call them twice, but it only took five days to get here once they shipped it. Last time I was in Malaysia I always had to rummage through the equipment locker at the hockey rink and borrow spare equipment. Everyone will definitely be surprised to see me with my own gear.

It's a pretty big bag. The backpack style hockey bag will let me get to the rink on my motorcycle. Not sure about how to get the stick there. Next time we go on holiday I'm going to make Lyna take this backpack. People will think I'm abusive.

Wheels are mandatory in Malaysia. I decided to buy a larger bike than I had last time. I’m hoping that I can eventually ride it up to Thailand on long weekends or holidays. This bike barely cost any more than my old 1997 Honda

2009 Demak DMX150

 

Badass!

Back to Malaysia

Yes, I have arrived back in Malaysia for round two. The first round was from 2006-2010. The school set me up in a five star hotel for my first week, but I didn’t blog from there because Internet costs rm25 per hour. As I spent four years in Malaysia before, there are some things I want to do differently this time. The first thing I am doing differently is not throwing my money away on rent every month. My employer provides a housing allowance rather than free housing and I intend to use it more wisely this time. There are plenty of apartments near my school, but in my opinion they don’t represent good value.


I have secured a house that is in some cases 1/3 as cheap as the apartments other teachers will be living in. It’s not a mansion by any means and it’s not as modern as the other places available, but the price is absolutely right. Actually, to correct that, I’m confident that next year I can get a reduction in my rent or move to a nicer place in the same neighbourhood for the same price as there will be no real estate agent taking their cut.

The place already looks much nicer, but Lyna is in the process of decorating it. There will be another post of the crib once it’s finished. I think Lyna also has a secret plan to get a puppy to join us.

The one of the key benefits of this place is that its actualy a lot closer to Chinese restaurants than my last place. That means cheap eats and more importantly, cheap drinks (in Malaysian terms). There's also a pretty good pirate DVD.

Ugly gate should hopefully get painted soon.

Living room

Master bedroom

Beautiful view from balcony outside master bedroom