Laurie Winters – Laurie Winters in Asia – Malaysia 7

This week, many of our students will be fanning out over Malaysia in Malaysian Studies trips to see this country and get to know one another well. Our goal is that students will bond, and I’m pretty sure the grown-ups in charge of some 60 in a grade will be a team before we’re through, too. My trip is going to Endau Rompin, on the east side of the Malay Peninsula. I know very little about it just yet, with so many other things to think about at school, but I am most excited about “A Million Lights”, a firefly cruise in which we will see-millions of fireflies! There will also be a chance to see local fishing structures and techniques, and I’m sure much more.

Yesterday the rain was accompanied by strong wind and darker skies. It was dramatic and made me wonder if this heralds the “rainy” or monsoon season. It was reminiscent of the Pacific Northwest, and made me feel like baking chocolate chip cookies, as if in the fall or winter, which we won’t have here. I wonder how my inner clock will cope with no seasons. A college recruiter visiting us today from Mt. Holyoke, Massachusetts, said she’d send me some autumn pictures from the east coast later in the fall. Signs say No Swimming in the rain, which often means No Swimming in the lightning, often accompanying the torrential rains. I guess you’re too easy a target in the pool!

Our friend Lori says the local monkeys (i.e. real ones ? visit the school each evening and run around upending garbage cans. I have yet to see all activity she describes, but we did spot a few visitors with Slurpee cups. 7-11 is right down the road.

Posted from Malaysia:

posted Monday September 2007

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