A Bathing Ape– Friday 5th Feb 2010

Today, my ever faulty immune system did it’s thing, and it was off to the doctors for me! Diagnosis: Inflamed throat, sinus congestion, runny nose and one monster of a headache. Zaidee carted me (and Jess) off to the klinik where all I had to do was show them my passport and into the doctors I went. She told me to drink lots of water, take the antibiotics and de-congestion medicine she gave me and NOT TO EAT SPICY FOOD. How one avoids spicy foods all together in Malaysia I’m sure, unless you go to McDonald’s or KFC, neither of which I want to do.

 

On a completely different note, I found this amusing: Whitening lotions. Lots of them.

Okay, so our KL adventure begins. We managed to successfully navigate our way around the Melaka Sentral bus station, get on the right bus to Kuala Lumpur and settled in for the 2 hour drive (which was followed by a 45min standstill in a KL traffic jam). I found my very own ‘Engrish’ (if you are not sure what engrish is, check out www.engrish.com) shirt on a man on our bus, I was pleased: It reads “beley milo – a bathing ape”

Upon arrival in KL, we were greeted with torrential rains and thunder storms, which had turned the streets into rivers.

Jess and I set off around 6pm on a walking tour of Chinatown, guided by our lonely planet book. Which, being girls, we had turn upside down to read the maps. We got lost many a time, but found some wonderful places including the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Old China Cafe (where we had dinner), Jalan Petaling (street markets) and many a lantern shop.

      

(washing my feet to go inside the temple, and women blessing a baby in the temple)

  

(Old China Cafe and Jalan Petaling)

It seemed to be that the men working in the Jalan Petaling markets thought that by calling us “sexy lady” and saying things like “nice boobs” would entice us to buy their products, when in fact, it had quite the opposite effect and made us walk faster past their stalls selling fake Rolex’s and Polo shirts. One lady warned us to watch our bags as hers had just been slashed open – needless to stay I held my bag like a baby from then on. There are some beautiful buildings in this city … along with some very unattractive areas, but Chinatown had a fantastic atmosphere.

After a long day we headed back to our hostel (called Back Home Kuala Lumpur) where we proceeded to somehow break the air conditioner and now have none at all. Go us. We now have a small fan. Our roommates will be arriving at 3am, so I better get some sleep before then. End of Day 1 in Koala Lumpy.

PM Pandemonium - Thursday 4th Feb 2010

Zaidee collected us at 6pm (or some time around then… Malaysia seems to have a ‘near enough is good enough’ approach to time)and we set off the Prime Minister’s function. Traffic was nuts as usual, but we made it there by 6:30pm and the night began (and the night continued… and continued… and continued until we finally made it to bed at 2:30am)!

There were 50,000 people in attendance, all because of the PM’s visit… how very patriotic! I cannot imagine a turn out that large in Australia to see dear old K. Rudd. Although, maybe 50,000 people would turn up for free food… There were 10 people per table, which means 5,000 tables to set, clear and serve! On a side note, they made an announcement at the start that all vegetarians should make their way to two particular tables… 20 seats out of 50,000 were allocated for vegetarians (obviously it’s not a good idea to go vego here).

 

And yes, I did say free food. The government funded the entire evening:

50,000 people x 10RM (ringgits) = 500,000RM on food alone. That’s approximately $17,000 for food, not including the chairs, tables, tents and entertainment.

        

Malaysia is a very multicultural society, with so many different religions, races and cultures co-existing so harmoniously. So far we have seen Chinese, Indian, Dutch, Portuguese and Malay culture present in Melaka and Islamic, Catholic and Hindu religions. The motto of the evening seemed to be Satu Malaysia, meaning One Malaysia. This truly is the impression we have gained so far. Every culture has maintained their own traditions in every  possible way, and everyone is so accepting of each other.

The entertainment was endless – from Malaysian pop-singers, to traditional indigenous Malay (which coincidently looked very similar to Australian aboriginal dancing), Indian, Portuguese and Chinese dancing and fireworks, we saw it all. I cannot say the speeches were as fantastic however, as not only did I not understand a word, they went on for a hideously long time.

  

By 10pm, I was falling asleep but we soldiered on to wait for the lucky draw (which did not conclude until 1am). Zaidee and I had a little nap at the table…

Prizes ranged from river cruise tickets, to whitegoods to motorcycles to a car. My name is not Mohammed and therefore, I did not win anything. Every second name drawn was Mohammed and I am not exaggerating. Zaidee then informed us that all of his sons are called Mohammed something… popular name!

Bed was a welcome sight at the end of night, and Zaidee (very nicely) informed the Head Master that Jess and I would be late for school so we could sleep in, and sleep in we did!

The Very Hunger Caterpillar – Thursday 4th Feb 2010

Made it to assembly on time! Go team Australia!

(Yes… this is most of the children at the school… it’s quite small)

The touristy stage of today is yet to come, as the Prime Minister is coming to Melaka this evening. We have been invited by Zaidee to go to the function celebrating his visit. 50,000 people will be attending the function, which is for dinner. So not only do they have to find a place big enough to squish 50,000 people into, it must be big enough to seat that many for dinner. Zaidee took us for a drive to see the venue the other day… it is a big, sandy, blank block of land. Parking will be horrendous (to go with the driving over here… noone stays in their lane or indicates and there seems to be a complete absence of merging rules. Also, it is only required to wear your seatbelt in the front seats… very safe)!

I will add more on the spectacular tomorrow, as I won’t get home until around 1am.

On a different note, Malaysian hospitality has been fantastic. People have driven us places and tried to make sure we are as comfortable as possible. We seemed to get the same questions every morning and afternoon however:

1) Are you hot?

2) Did you sleep well?

3) Have you taken you breakfast/lunch?

We need to make a sign with the answers:

- Yes, very

- Yes we slept well

- and No, we haven’t had breakfast yet, but no we don’t need any

Speech

We observed 2 classes this morning, and participated in another…

Class #1 and 2 = Physical Education

To be honest, they seemed the same as physical education in Australia, except possibly less advanced. Where Australian kids would be playing football, netball etc by years 4 and 6 (which were the 2 levels we observed today) these children were quite uncoordinatedly playing what looked like poison ball. I am assuming that sporting activities are conducted in circles to enable signing between teachers and students.

We did not participate in these classes as the teacher did not talk to us at all. I feel like I am not interacting enough with the students here, but it is very difficult when our communication with the teachers is limited, let alone our communication with deaf, non-English speaking children.

After yesterday’s session with Zaidee and the hearing aids, I was feeling quite dismayed about the usefulness of hearing aids; however, today’s 3rd class answered some of my questions about their success.

 

Class #3 = Art

We made caterpillars! It was nice to join in the activity with the children and have some contact with them. They communicated with us the best they could… that’s not to say we always knew what they were saying.

     

   

The art classes and life skills classes so far have reminded me of vacation care or day care in Australia. I am yet to see the educational benefit… although it would be interesting to compare the classes with deaf classes back in Aus.

As  I mentioned earlier, the hearing aids definitely make a difference to 2 of the children in this class, who can talk quite well and do not have to rely solely on sign language from the teacher. It was great to hear some of the children here communicating with spoken language. Most of the children make noise, whether it be laughing, a grunt or a wailing sound – these noises can be quite confronting and can change your perception of the child. The grunting and wailing can make the child seem less intelligent than they are and this is something I had not considered until experiencing it myself.

Talk to the Animals – Wednesday 3rd Feb 2010

Once again we missed assembly. Sigh. Hopefully a better start tomorrow.

Today we went to the Melaka Zoo. It was HOT but great. Awi, Nani and Lin drove there with us, and Lin went in with us. You may be thinking ‘seen one zoo you’ve seen them all’… but this was no ordinary Adelaide Zoo experience. There were all the usual inhabitants + some very exciting ones as well. Among the most exciting were:

   

Elephants, Rhinoceros, Wildebeast and Sun Bears :)

We watched an elephant show during which I was asked to join them in the enclosure. An elephant put a hat on my head using its trunk and picked up a coin and gave it to me (which I dropped… after the elephant did such a great job). There were three elephants and they played a song for us – one on the harmonica, one on the tambourine and one on the drums. Very talented elephants!

 

After the zoo, Awi, Nani and Lin took us to A’Famosa, which is a historical site. We went inside the ruins of St. Paul’s Church.

BEST. MEAL. EVER. tonight. Awi drove all around Melaka looking for Sate for us for dinner. After many failed attempts, we found some and it was worth the wait. Dinner consisted of 2 glasses of ice cold watermelon juice, Pataya and Sate (satay).

 

Speech

Not a whole lot to report from our observations in the classrooms…

Class #1 = Art Class.

The kids were super cute, the two that were there anyway! Aliah and Husni are both 7 – Aliah is just deaf however Husni has dyslexia as well as being deaf. There are two other children normally in the class who are not only deaf, which would be difficult enough, but also have to cope with having dyslexia AND autism. They are also twins. The children sought our confirmation in much the same way as Australian children do, through eye contact and positive reinforcement – they simply don’t use spoken words.

An aspect of the education system in Malaysia that is vastly different is there is no need for permission from parents for us to take photos of the children. Thus, photos abounded…

            

         Aliah                                               Husni

 

Class #2 = Life skills

I am not certain how the ability to build a table out of drinking straws and masking tape is a life skill, but nevertheless, that is what was done. It was interesting to note that the children did not have their own scissors or masking tape, as we would in Australian classrooms. The teacher said this was a matter of controlling the children, as they would play around with the scissors and not pay attention. It was great to be able to join in an activity with the kids, as most of our time here has been observations rather than volunteering and participation. I think most of this is due to the communication barriers with both the children and the teachers.

            

Audiology with Zaidee (the pretend audiologist)…

Earlier today two children had complained that  there was a problem with their hearing aids, and so came Zaidee to the rescue. He is not qualified to repair hearing aids, but checks the batteries in them and determines whether it is just a problem with the batteries… or if the BTE device itself is broken. Most of the children who have hearing aids here where BTE devices (behind the ear).

I was lucky (if you call hearing a VERY loud screeching noise lucky) to listen to what the children hear through their BTE when it is not functioning properly. Not pleasant at all. Jess and Zaidee had a good chortle at the face I pulled. Hopefully we will get to hear what a working hearing aid sounds like soon!

         

To attend this school, and live in the hostel, children’s parents pay for half of the cost, and the government gives them scholarships to pay the remaining amount. The costs for the parents of hearing impaired children can be quite larger, as the ear mould of the hearing aid must be changed when it becomes hard (it is normally soft … like silicone) and is usually every 6 months. The cost of 2 BTE hearing aids is usually 6000RM (approx. $2000).

King Fruit = Bad Idea – Tuesday 2nd Feb

Today began with a series of mishaps.

Mistake number 1: We missed assembly completely this morning. Well done girls.

Mistake number 2: While feeling very Malaysian in our Baju Kurung (Moo Moos) we commenced the penguin shuffle to the school. Unbeknownst to us, the skirt was not meant to be that difficult to walk in - we had simply not undone the stitches at the bottom. Thankfully a gardener spotted us shuffling along, had a chuckle, and then fixed us up.

Mistake number 3: We learned that our recess yesterday was not free, but instead we were supposed to pay for it. So essentially we stole food from the special school. Mega Fail.

Mistake number 4: I got a mosquito bite. If I do not return home, I probably have Malaria.

The day did improve however, and in the afternoon Zaidee took us driving around Melaka to show us the sights and where we should visit. We ate some rather… interesting food, some of which I can still taste and smell hours later…not good.

The first experience was Coconut water – mine was horribly unpleasant, with my coconut husk containing absolutely no coconut. Jess scored a nice coconut and her water actually tasted somewhat pleasant. Next on the list was an ABC, which is ‘Air + Batu + Campur’ (we were told it had Ice, Corn, Peanuts, Sugar and Jelly). I tasted beans, jelly, corn and ice. Very odd!

 

Our third and most scarring experience = KING FRUIT. Called Durian in Malaysian, it is a fruit to be avoided at all costs. It looks like a huge conker, smells like overripe mango, has the consistency of brie cheese and tastes like nothing I have ever tasted before, or wish to taste again! We took one bite and dissolved into giggles/gags. The man working in the stall was very interested in Australian money and had all sorts of questions for us.

Everyone in the school seems very relaxed; it’s quite a nice teaching environment. Too bad we have absolutely no idea what is happening most of the time.

Speech

We observed a year 6 English class with Lee Swee Ling this morning. There were 6 children in the class, but hardly any noise! This is something Jess and I are finding it hard to adjust to – almost silent halls and classrooms (apart from the teachers.) The children all seem very well behaved as they are quiet, but upon closer observation, they all sign behind the teacher’s back, just as mainstream children would whisper and pass notes.

The children in this class will be sitting an exam at the end of the year – the same exam as children in normal schools; however, the marking will be much more lenient and the pass mark lower for the deaf children. They read very simple English and their sentence construction is poor. The lessons are conducted entirely in ASL (American Sign Language) which proved confusing for us as we are trying to pick up some Malay signing. Jess and I would like to learn some Malay signing, as well as some of the language, and so far we have learnt small amounts, but when we were in this class it was all different signs again. The teachers are amazing as they are able to speak English as well as sign in English and Malay.

The children were doing Information Transfer today in class, where they read passages in English and chose the relevant information to copy out. Lee Swee Ling was encouraging the children to respond verbally with ‘yes/no’ to no avail.

So far we have found the teaching style to be less interactive than in Australian school. The teacher is out the front and facing the students. This is obviously a matter of necessity as the students need to be able to see the signing; however, there is less input from the students. It would be interesting to visit a hearing impaired school in Australia in order to compare abilities and teaching styles/classroom behaviour.

Zaidee is acting as a fill-in Audiologist, and trying to learn as much about it as he can. We are fortunate enough to be able to observe a speech pathologist and an audiologist visit the school next week to test the children. The facilities are quite basic, so it should provide a fantastic insight into the fields of SP and Audiology in a developing country.

Hearing aids are often too costly for the parents to afford, which has a significant impact on the children. This does not surprise me, as many of the children here are from the village; however, what does surprise me is that many of the parents have not learned sign language and cannot communicate with their own children. The parents expect the teachers at the school to take care of the children and do not make the effort themselves.

Nama Saya Kelly - Monday 1st Feb 2010

We arrived in one piece, very overwhelmed by the sheer size of the KL airport. There is a train in the MIDDLE of the airport. Not only to take to you into the city of KL, but simply to take you from the ‘satellite’ terminal to baggage reclaim. Nothing like the single escalator at Adelaide airport. Very hi-tech indeed!

The flight was fine – we numbed our brains with mindless movies (numb minds to go with our numb derrieres!), mine including “All about Steve”, “Confessions of a Shopaholic” and “Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs.”

Introducing May Ling and Zaidee…
May Ling and Zaidee met us at the airport to take us to Melaka. On the way we stopped at an outdoor food court where we tried some Mee Hun Sup, Mee Hun Goreng and Beef Korma. Iced Lemon Tea is a different experience, much less cordial-y. Delicious!

May Ling very graciously took us in on our first night. We met her husband Chris, sons Clement and Clarence, and nephew Marcus. It wasn’t until we reached her house that we felt immersed in a foreign country and culture. The streets and houses were a fantastic sight. A bed was a welcome sight… albeit for only 5 hours of use. A 5:30am start this morning was challenging.

Breakfast was (as Jess so graciously described) and flat square of dried roast meat slapped between bread… having said such, it was quite nice, with a much needed coffee at 6am. Food is certainly not in a short supply with recess being served at 10am at the school, consisting of rice squashed together to resemble potato and Mee Goreng. Lunch will be served shortly, although I’m not sure I could eat again yet. (We consequently skipped lunch)

This morning at the school began with assembly, where we were seated front and centre on the stage. Pointing and excited signing abounded from the children. We were given names in ‘sign’, mine being representative of my curly hair and the letter ‘K’, Jess’s being a combination of ‘J’ and ‘S’, after deciding a symbol of ‘pointy nose’ was not appropriate. The school is beautiful and extremely clean (the brooms are amazing) and our dorm room well exceeded our expectations.

Yes… I do realise it’s very bare, but we expected to be with the children as such…

We are going shopping tonight for some more appropriate clothes to wear in the classrooms. Jess had a shirt thrust upon her this morning at breakfast as her attempt at modesty was a failure (in a t-shirt). I am unsure whether I have hilarious feet or if my footwear was inappropriate as some children proceeded to point at my feet and laugh (I was in sandals). The school is quite nice, with the maximum class size being six children (this is number for all special schools in Malaysia) with mainstream schools having up to 50 children/class.

I am now the proud owner of a Baju Kurung (a.k.a. a Moo Moo) thanks to Awi (our housemate), Nani and Lin. It’s green of course.

(Lin, Awi, Me and Nani)

Note to anyone wanting to travel to Malaysia: Carry toilet paper with you! I have no idea what Malaysians do with respect to this matter, but I wish not to know…

Speech
While on our tour of the school with our trusty guide Zaidee, Oh May Ling was trying to elicit sounds from some of the children (who had conveniently left their hearing aids at home). She said “good morning” very slowly and over emphasised all of the mouth positions, resulting in nothing more than some very vague sounds, but it was an interesting attempt all the same.