Photos

From the top : Sunway lagoon, Me with Reuben and Ju Vern at Times Square, Choir practice at school, Me with Ju Vern at Times Square after the Click 5 Concert.

SDA Report

I thought some of you may be interested to read my report for the people who are paying for me to be here, the SDA:

From the outside it seems Malaysian culture is food and shopping, but after staying here you will discover so much more. Malaysian culture is about adding ‘lah’ to the end of your sentences. Malaysian culture is about being able to mix a few languages into your everyday speech and modern Malaysian culture is about living with your mobile phone always by your side.

The last week before I left for Malaysia was filled with many goodbyes and regular crying. The shock of leaving my home and country for 11 months didn’t seem to hit me until a few days before leaving.

After arriving in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia we (the Australians) went to the AFS orientation camp where there were exchange students from Japan, Greenland, Germany, Iceland, Norway and Finland. Except for one student from Australia no one could speak any Malay, the official language of Malaysia. Orientation camp was a good chance to learn some basics about Malaysia, the culture, customs and language.

After camp, we met our host families; fitting in with my host family was not hard since they can speak English. In my host family, who are Chinese, I have a father, mother, younger sister and two older brothers. The family also has a live-in maid. Both the sons don’t live at home, the oldest lives in Australia and the other is on exchange for 6 months in the U.S.A.

Malaysia is very much a multi-lingual country. At my school, mostly Malay is spoken but also English, Arab and Chinese are learnt. Most of my friends speak Mandarin, Cantonese, English and Malay. At home my family speak Cantonese.

School is very important in Malaysia. There are two major exams in high school. School usually starts at 7:30am with assembly and finishes at 2:15pm except on Fridays which finish at 12pm. Currently for form 4(grade 10) and below Maths and Science are taught in English, while form 5, the grade I was placed in. all classes except English and EST (English in Science and Technology) are taught in Malay. There is an arts stream and science stream, the exam in form 3 decides which you go into. Teachers at school are highly respected and students rarely argued with them.

There are two school uniforms for girls, one a white shirt and blue pinafore and the other a traditional Muslim long-sleeve full-length dress-like piece of clothing. The Malay girls must also wear the Muslim headscarf. The boys wear a white shirt, blue tie and dark green trousers. There is also another uniform for the prefects. There are many rules at school, most of which are followed by all students. Regularly teachers don’t attend to class, so the students work on their large amounts of homework which is set everyday. When I first started school I was quite a novelty, I was the only white person and probably one of the very few in my city, Kuantan.

At school I have participated in the prefect/class monitor camp where the students learnt about leadership. I have also participated in the cross-country (and won), sport day and even the English exams for form 4 and 5. There is quite a separation between the races at my school, since the Chinese prefer to speak Chinese, the Malay speak Malay and the Indians usually speak English. Therefore, at school the Malays learn Islam and Arab while the Chinese and Indians learn Moral. The Chinese can also learn Chinese.

Since Malaysia is multi-cultural, there are many festivals and public holidays. The first one I experienced was Chinese New Year. It is a lot like Christmas, lots of food, shopping and decorations. The adults also give the children ‘ang pow’, a red envelope with money inside.

Malaysia is famous for it’s food and shopping. There is a huge variety of food which is cheap, yummy and available anywhere, anytime. Most Malay and Indian food is spicy, which is hard to get used to at first. Since Malaysia is a Muslim country, pork cannot be found at fast food outlets.

Shopping is Malaysia could nearly be considered a sport. In Kuala Lumpur there is an endless supply of shopping malls, one of which is Times Square, a 12 storey mall with an indoor theme park.

Malaysia is a highly religious country whether you are Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu or Christian. Most people are expected to have some religion, even if they do not practice it.

The economy in Malaysia is growing; they export things such as cooking oil, tropical fruits, rubber (latex) and petroleum.

Homesickness is a normal part of exchange that seemed to hit me straight away and after about 2 months. The cultural differences can sometimes be too much. Australian culture is relaxed and open-minded. The culture here is strict and very closed. However, I now look forward to seeing more of Malaysia and experiencing more of the culture here.

Few Photos..

My Friend's birthday

Above: Me and my friend, Qiao Yuat
Left Below: Me and some other exchange students. Right below: The boys playing basketball