Amazing Golf

I went to the driving range and the local pro put on quite a demo. He’s a South African dude. Earlier in the week, one of his assistants told me to go to another driving range to watch this guy do a trick shot demo. He told me some pretty cool things that the pro can do. He also claimed that this guy is the world’s #3 long distance driver. My google searches haven’t been able to confirm this.

Anyways, the pro was giving lessons to two older dudes while I was hacking away beside them. At the end of the lesson, the pro put on a mini show for his clients.

It’s important to note that golf here is measured in metres instead of yards.

FIRST TRICK SHOTS

Club: Appeared to be a putter (No tee). However, upon further inspection it’s a modified club. He replaced the head of an iron with a hammer head. From looking at this thing, it would have been easier to use a putter.

Distance: 150m

Control: He duffed a few shots, but he was just warming up.

SECOND TRICK SHOTS

Club: A regular iron. However he attached a steering wheel to the top of the grip. It resembled an upside-down microphone stand. He held only the steering wheel.

Distance: Easily 150 metres.

Control: He was hitting the 150 metre green easily. I don’t know if he was going for distance or accuracy.

THIRD TRICK SHOTS (AMAZING!!!!)

CLUB: Driver's grip with no shaft. The shaft is replaced by a bicycle chain. The end of the chain is attached to the head of a driver.

Distance: Unknown. I couldn’t see it well, but the few people who were watching gasped.

Control: He did the shot about three times. Each time he made solid contact. After, he went into the store for a minute and some of the people watching tried to use it. It’s absolutely impossible.

FOURTH SHOTS (NO TRICK)

Club: Just a plain old driver. He just let loose. I made sure to stand as close as I could and measure the distance.
Distance: Unknown. No one could see how far it went. Some people tried to adjust their position for a better look. He said, “You won’t see it.” It was simply too far to see.

Control: Needless to say, I’ve never seen someone hit a ball with as much power. I can only assume that the ball went where he wanted it to go.

FINAL TRICK SHOT (He only did this once)

With the same driver in his hand, he got on his knees and said, “What really takes people’s breath away is when you can hit a ball 350m like this.”

On his knees with the same driver, he nailed the ball on his first try. He seemed satisfied with the shot, so I’ll assume it went 350m like he said it would.

Teaching in Malaysia

TEACHING IN MALAYSIA

Since I've had a few requests from people looking for information about teaching in Malaysia, I'm going to compile it all on this post and refer people here. When I get more information, I'll simply edit this post.

TEACHER TRAINING

Interested in doing the CELTA in Malaysia?

http://www.britishcouncil.org/malaysia-courses-and-programmes-teacher-training.htm?mtklink=malaysia-courses-and-programmes-teacher-training

UNIVERSITY-COLLEGES

Three univerisity-colleges that I know hire foreign teachers. It helps a lot if you're Canadian.

Most of the foreigners who live in my complex work at Sunway. I haven't talked to them, so I have no further comments. You need to be an Ontario certified teacher to work in this program. They also offer A-Levels and a program from Australia. I don't know if they hire foreigners for those.

http://www.sunway.edu.my/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=265&Itemid=548&lang=iso-8859-1

Same deal here as with Sunway. Your best chance of getting hire is by being an Ontario certified teacher. Taylor's also offers A-Levels and SAM.

http://www.taylors.edu.my/main.php?Content=vertsections&SubVertSectionID=12&VertSectionID=11&CurLocation=11

I really don't know too much about INTI. There is a campus located beside my school, but I never see any foreigners working there. My friend worked as an English teacher at INTI College Sarawak. He did not have a teaching degree, but his undergrad was in English.

http://www.intisar.edu.my/

Language Schools

If you want a job at a language school try International House.

http://www.ih-malaysia.com/

I'm currently searching for more language schools that hire foreigners. it's a big challenge.

Merry Christmas To All And To All A Good Night

Christmas 2006 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I'd like to wish my friends and family back home a very merry Chirstmas!

If I walk five minutes in one direction, I’m hitting golf balls at the driving range. If I walk five minutes in the other direction, I can go skating at the Pyramid. I’ve only been skating once with Mr. James’ class. The skates that they rent to you are indescribably terrible.

A Christmas tree that would make Clark W. Griswald proud

Palm tree snowman.

Outside the Pyramid.

Christmas 2003 in Fukuoka, Japan. I'd like to live in Fukuoka for the rest of my life. Unfortunately, everyone else has the same idea. It’s very difficult to find a job in Fukuoka.

A picture from my favorite Christmas movie.

Is it December 13th?

Chillin in front of my beach bungalow.

It's too hot here. I had to go to the beach to cool off. I spent three days in Pangkor, Malaysia. It was awesome. I did absolutely nothing, which is how a vacation should be. It didn't rain at all while I was there. Pangkor is not really on the tourist trail. I hope to go back soon. My camera sucks and I really hate it.

My First Graduation

For those of you that don’t know, the students in the ICPU program at Taylor’s College earn an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) when they graduate. Here are a few pictures from the graduation ceremony.

I titled this post, “My Fist graduation” because I have a long tradition of never attending my own graduation ceremonies.

The VIP was David Summers, the Canadian High Commissioner to Malaysia. When I think about it, he’s probably the most important person I’ve ever shaken hands with (my life is sad). We enjoyed a nice catered lunch after the ceremony.

The ICPU director leading the students in the lighting of the candles. It's an ICPU tradition.

The ICPU students preparing for the graduation ceremony.

Mr. St.Garbage

Here I am on the last day of school. I was conducting portfolio interviews. You can see some writing in pencil behind me. It's some nice graffiti. I don't understand most of it though. There are at least four things written about me. The only one I can make out says, "Mr. St. Garbage". Future Taylorians are going to think I was a really bad lecturer.

Seriously though, I'm going to start being strict on graffiti.

In other news, I'm going golfing in Port Dickson tomorrow. Last time I was there I saw two gigantic lizards. Last night I was talking to my buddies and they said cobras were on the golf course. I don't know if they were just trying to gain a psychological advantage over me before the game tomorrow, but I’m really scared.

I'll post pictures tomorrow night.