It's been too long...

I'm sorry to all those people who actually do read my blog, I have been terribly lazy and haven't updated for so long. I'm now back at school after taking a 2 week holiday travelling during the school exams. But next week it is school holidays. The only way i will be able to recall what i have doing for the last 2 months is to read my diary, which is good to keep updated otherwise i will forget. So....it is about early April that i should start at. Most of the photos I posted last time were from a trip to KL(Kulala Lumpur) with some friends. On that weekend we went to Times Square(a damn big shopping mall and hotel) for a 'prom'. It had some great food and some generally typical teenage entertainment...pop music etc. It was actually the concert of a USA( or Canada..not sure) band called Click 5, which I have never heard of...thankfully. The next day we went to Sunway Lagoon, which is very much like Wet 'n' Wild in QLD. We spend a long day there, going on lots of water rides and rollercoasters etc. I ran into some of Kar mun's friends from College, who were very disapointed Kar mun didn't come to see all the girls in bikinis. After deciding we were too hungry and tired to stay for the music concert that night, we went over to Sunway Pyramid(yes, a mall that looks like it comes from Egypt) and ate at a few different places..gotta experience it all :) The next day had a bad start, since we had set 3 alarms but slept throught them all. We finally woke up at 8:45am and had to walk for about 1km for a taxi then try and catch the 10am bus back to Kuantan..was very rushed but we made it, thankfully taxi driver's here aren't afraid to speed. Later that day I went to a International Understanding event for one of the school's in Kuantan, exchange students are regular guests at these things but we don't actually say or do anything. The next day at school was my friend's birthday so i suprised her with a cake, birthday's here aren't such a big deal like what we do at Ogilvie and in Australia. Also that week, I spoke at my school and another school about AFS. I also spoke about my culture and Australia at a girls' school's English Society. The day I spoke at my school about AFS there was also a fire safety presentation. I had the privilege of being called 'White Person' in front of my whole school by a fireman. That weekend I went to Megamall(again..) with some school friends but ended up meeting up with the 2 German Community service program exchange girls and Liam from Australia..proves that Kuantan is like Hobart, can go anywhere and see someone you know. At Megamall it was very exciting to find Pizza and Barbeque shapes, always makes me smile to see Australian food, which i will talk about more later. The next day I went to the Hash House Harriers family day and did this thing where you walk on rocks and if it doesn't hurt it means you're healthy...but it hurt like hell. May 1st(Labour Day) I went to another one of the International Understanding thingys and out for breakfast, which is a very common thing to do in Malaysia, actually it is common to eat out anytime day or night. That Friday I went to a Chinese Funeral(funny that I have now been to a funeral but not a wedding), I think it was the first time I have seen a dead body... On Saturday I played softball at a school called 'SMART' , too bad Nikki or Amelia couldn't have been there to show off their skills and drown in sweat out in the hot sun(at only 9am!). That afternoon I went with Bilal(from Denmark) to Kuala Lumpur. We met up with Yves and Robin from Belgium and went to Lecka Lecka(one of the coolest hang-outs in Malaysia). I think Lecka Lecka is kinda designed for rich people, it's at the base of the most expensive shopping malls in Malaysia and has one of the best views of KLCC(except some idiot is building apartments to ruin the view). Lecka Lecka is really just an ice cream place, but with a great atmosphere. Realizing it was about to rain, we left Lecka Lecka and went to Starhill(the expensive mall), so obviously if it sells Louis Vuitton it had nice toilets, which it does...you don't even have to turn the tap on yourself(someone else does it for you...). After leaving Starhill it was pouring with rain(I mean pouring!! you don't get this sort of rain in Tasmania, it's like tropical storm rain). So we had to run to where we were staying, arriving like drowned rats. Then we went out again and saw the amazing night life of KL...let's just say some nightclubs close playing the Naitional Anthem. The next day Bilal and I went back to Kuantan, after a stop at Times Square for Breakfast and Lot 10 Shopping Mall which supposely has good bread(very hard to find nice bread here). The following days I unpacked, slept and packed again for the trip to Segamat and Singapore. Segamat is the type of place, where you know you are the only white person there. Teenagers there usually just eat, sleep, go to school and go to internet cafes. It's a small town, by the way. So the few days in Segamat before I went to Singapore were spent eating out with Minea(from Finland) and Liam(from Australia) and going to the internet cafe(I got quite bored and ended up looking at cocktails on absolutedrinks.com...very pretty). From Segamat it is about 2 hours to Johor Bahru and then 5 or so minutes to Singapore. So Edwin(Liam's friend) drove us to Johor Bahru, Minea went shopping(because she didn't have her passport) and Liam and I went to Singapore. The trip over the border to Singapore was quite slow, because first time we got to Singapore we had forgotten to get our Malaysia exit stamp, so we went back to Malaysia, got the stamp, then contiuned in Singapore. Singapore is like another world comparded to Malaysia. There are little or no traffic jams, the public transport system is flawless, the taxi drivers aren't scary, the streets are clean, most things are written in 4 languages, the food is clean, the school uniform is nice and there are lots of nice cars to be seen(because no car can be older than 5 years). The only crappy thing is that it's expensive like Australia...I blame Liam for spending $S36 on 2 Singapore Slings. In Singapore we visited Chinatown, Clarke Quay and Boat Quay. Getting back into Malaysia was a very slow process, since many Malaysians work in Singapore. The next day, we went to a quite famous coffeeshop and ate some very nice bread with Kaya(the coconut spread). Then I went back to Kuantan. The next day I was supposed to fit in Softball, teaching kids english and go to KL. I skipped Softball and went with the 3 community service girls(from Germany and Belgium) to teach little kids English songs and play games. After that I caught the bus to KL, I met up with Minea and Robert(from Germany, who I hadn't seen since Orientation camp). We went to Willem's house(from Belgium) and met up with Pau(from Spain), Yves and Robin. We all went out to Starhill, realized it was too expensive and went to another place to drink and for some to smoke shisha. Later we met up with some of the German girls in a club, but decided it wasn't worth it since it was only free for ladies and guys had to pay about rm35 to get in. So, we went and ate Roti Pisang(sort of like a pancake, but oily and much thinner with banana cooked inside) and Roti Teluar(same as the other but with egg instead of banana). The next day Minea and me went to Times Square with Willem and Robert. But they left to go to a heavy rock music concert, so Minea and I wandered Times Square for a while then went to KLCC. I found my heaven in the a supermarket in KLCC where they sell The Natural Confectionary Company Lollies and about a hundred other Australian things, like Hommus and Avocado dip!! I also found havaianas, you know..the most comfy thongs(flip-flops) in the world but they are super overpriced starting at rm100, hopefully my pair will hold out until December. After being overjoyed by finding so many Australian things, I made Minea walk with me down a very long street so I could find a store which sold Bonds underwear..I also made Liam do the same thing in Singapore. But still I haven't bought any. So, after Minea told me her feet were too sore to look for the Bonds store, we headed back to Willem's house and watched a movie in Hebrew. The next day Me, Minea, Alina(from Germany), Robert, Jannis(Germany) and Bilal made the long trip to the AFS office so some of us could collect our passports. After heading back in the centre of KL, Robert, Minea, Bilal and I had arabic food for dinner(very nice) and headed over to Lecka Lecka again. Later on Robert had the unfortunate experience of that KL trains and monorail finish at midnight, so he had to call his host dad to pick him up. Bilal, Minea and I went back to Bilal's host brother's house. Minea and I took the first train back to the bus station, Minea took the train back to Segamat and I waited for 3 hours for the frist bus back to Kuantan, heading home having only had about 30 minutes sleep the night before. I went home and slept, the next day I unpacked and packed again because I was heading back to KL again the next day. I was quite proud that when I got to KL I made my own way to Times Square to kill some time before meeting an AFS employee whose house i was staying at that night. At Times Square I bought some black high heels since my last pair broke at a school formal. I met the AFS lady and got about 3 hours sleep, since I had to get up at about 3:30am so I could go to KL Central to catch the bus to the airport. When I got to the airport I discovered the best chocolate in the world(my favourite), Lindt Lindor is sold in Malaysia!!! So of course i bought some..Then I caught the plane to Penang Island on AirAsia(which is an Airline that looks like an exact copy of Virgin Blue, since everything is red). I waited at Penang airport for my host mum who was flying Malaysian Airlines, so I looked around at the nice duty free chocolate and alcohol. At Penang I had a tour of Penang, visiting temples, little India etc and a cruise with all the international AFS volunteers and Minea. The next day Minea and I went swimming, since Malaysian weather is usually always perfect for that. Then met up with all the exchange students from the July-June batch. That night was the farwell dinner for the july-june batch and international volunteers night. The dinner was really nice, with a fashion parade by the students of tradational Malaysian clothes, dance performances etc. After the dinner we went swimming in the hotel pool, which actually closes around 8pm, so we were kicked out. Then we headed down to beach, but this was one of the areas that had the tsunami so i stayed back from the water. The other students got a big yelling at from the AFS hosting co-ordinator since there are strict rules on swimming in the ocean. The next day most of us caught the bus back to KL and I flew with my host mum and the international volunteer staying at our house from China to Kuantan from KL. The next day I was forced to go to back to school(it was exams and there is no point in going to school). I enjoyed sleeping for 2 and half hours while my friends suffered through their additional maths exam. After school I met up with Bilal and we talked about the depressing topic of the july-june batch of exchange students leaving soon(he is one of them), for me, the new batch, the old batch have been super cool teachers for us and great friends, pity all of them live so far away in Europe. I can't imagine that we will be the old batch soon and have to look after the new students. That week I did some exams and we said goodbye to the international volunteers. That weekend I had the opportunity to go to KL but all my school friends expected me to go to the student organised school dinner/party. Malaysians need a few lessons in throwing successful parties.. Well, it's now school holidays, and I just returned from a trip to Ipoh, Taiping, Cameron Highlands. I visited the other Australian in Ipoh and we went to Taiping to the zoo, the history muesuem. In Ipoh I went for a search for trousers, you know fat people can't really wear trousers, you just look fatter and they never go past your thighs. Oh well, next time they make a tourist brochure for Malaysia they should say fat people stay away. I would like to say I'm over the fact I'm now fat :'( but I look forward to losing it so much when i go home. I never want to be fat again, it's so inconvient. Cameron Highlands is very special to Malaysians because it's the only place that grows strawberries, it's nice there because it's not too hot and sells nice vegetables. Anyway, now I have to prepare myself for saying goodbye to the old batch and heading off to KL to do 'native english speaker' stuff. So, I will post photos soon..I hope you made it to the end of this post. Love to all xoxoxoxoxoxo