The Nam

I just got back from Hanoi, Vietnam. Sandra managed to get me to drink snake's blood. The first shot is always the best. They cut the still beating heart out of a cobra and mix it with his bile. If you're as quick as I am, you drink the heart while it's still beating. Wimps like Sandra just drink the straight blood. I have some graphic photos of the event, but they won't appear on this PG-13 blog. They cook the cobra 10 different ways for you. It's really quite good. It cost us $20 per person. I think our moto driver took a big slice of that.

The non-snake photos are of the prison that held American POWs called the "Hanoi Hilton". I think the real name is Hoa Lo prison.

Another highlight of the trip was our visit to Ha Long Bay. We used Sandra's camera to take the photos. I'll post them if she ever e-mails them. Don't hold your breath.

The French used this on the Vietnamese.

The entrance to the "Hanoi Hilton".

Dinner

This is booze, not preservative.

Lizard Juice

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

I'm off to Hanoi tomorrow. I'll be back on the 26th.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Days 3 and 4

Beach Day

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day Comic

Click on the comic to read it. It's brilliant!

By Balqis

Day Two: Dress-Up Day

I have a strict dress code in my class. Students must dress and act professionally at all times.

Here I am closing a deal to buy 50 rainbow ties from Arron.

I really thought this picture would be cooler than it was.

Day One: Cool Shades Day

Today was "Cool Shades Day" at ICPU. I chose to sport a retro 80's punk pair of Ray-Bans. Tomorrow is "Dress-Up Day" and I plan on cleaning my desk.

What's up with the goggles dudes?

Malaysia Round Two?

I have until Sunday night to decide if I want to stay in Malaysia for another year. Although I made a depressing post a few weeks ago, I really like it here. ICPU rocks! I'm going to Hanoi next week and I get another week off in March. I'm not sure where I'll go at that time. I'm in a little bit of a fix because I only have two pages left in my passport.

Next week is dress up week. I think I can dress up each day except Friday because I don't have any traditional Chinese clothes. Maybe I'll dress up in traditional Canadian clothes instead. I'll be decked out in track pants, a touque, and a hockey jersey.

The Party Shacks

Some very expensive bungalows are being built right next to house. The cheapest is about $600,000 CDN. At first, I was a bit sad to see that the people who are building these homes are living in shacks. However, sometimes I walk past on my way to the store and it sounds like a full-blown party is going on. I can hear singing and something that sounds like bongo drums. Someday I’ll build up the courage to crash one of their drunken bongo parties. I’ll post some pictures when I do.

Great Success!

Forty hits last night. Was my post about the Batu Caves that great? I don’t think so.

I also got three new votes on my poll and they weren't for gangsta.

Thaipusan @ Batu Caves

I’m happy because this is a four day workweek. I get Thursday off. Malaysia is a multi-cultural country that reminds me a lot of Canada. I get all these awesome holidays. This week Thaipusam and just over two weeks from now it’s Chinese New Year.

Anyways, I thought I’d post some pictures about what makes this holiday so special. Unfortunately, I won’t be going because I don’t enjoy being in large crowds. It seems like it would be pretty cool to see though. Please read my cut and paste job below.

The Thaipusam festival.Every year, on Thaipusam, as many as 800,000 devotees and other visitors may throng the caves. As a form of penance or sacrifice, many of them carry kavadis (literally, "burden," such as a pitcher or jug). These are large, brightly decorated frameworks, usually combined with various metal hooks and skewers which are used to pierce the skin, cheeks and tongue. By doing this penance they expect some favours from their Gods.The festival is held in the tenth month of the Hindu calendar (mostly the end of January).




The procession starts on the evening before the Thaipusam festival at the Sri Mariamman Temple in the town centre of Kuala Lumpur.By doing penance they want to extort some favours from the Gods.
The kavadis is placed on the shoulders of the devotee. The kavadis represents a miniature shrine.Women carry a silver jug full of milk on their heads, some are pierced through their cheeks and tongues and others not. Chains are dropped from the central body of the kavadis and hooked onto the flesh of the bearer. The length of the spears had to be limited to a metre in consideration for other devotees. Others hook limes, oranges or coconuts onto their bodies. They are always accompanied by an entourage of relatives and friends to make them enthusiastic with dance parades, songs, musicians playing the drums and the flutes.As they arrive at the shrine at the Batu Caves, the Swami removes the hooks, spears etc. The vow is finally fulfilled.
Thaipusam is celebrated at Peninsular of Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur and on PenangThe procession on Penang starts on the eve before the Thaipusam festival at the Chettiar Temple in Penang Street.

Ringgit Strengthens :)

1.00 CADCanada Dollars = 2.95979 MYRMalaysia Ringgits

On a positive note, the Malaysian Ringgit is on a tear against the Loonie. Keep up the good work:) Now I'll give you a complete analysis of the factors that led to this climb.

Rock Bottom! Rock Bottom!

Yes, I know that I haven't posted in a long time, but I think I have a good excuse. I may be in the deepest stage of culture shock right now. Either that or I'm just really bored. I should be golfing and travelling every weekend, but instead I find myself sitting in my apartment doing nothing. I think that a major factor has been the lack of internet access here. Sandra bought me an I-Pod for no reason (dowry) when she came to visit me and I haven't even been able to download I-Tunes on my computer. I know the key is to get out and do stuff, but I find it hard to do.

I'm Still Alive

The internet has just been sucking since around Christmas, so I haven't been bothered to post anything. Sadly, after all this time I still have nothing to blog about. I got four sections of International Business again, which is great because I have all of the lessons prepped. Some of the students here are quite entrepreneurial. When they sell their used textbooks, they include the notes and case studies from last semester. I'm proud of them, but they have made more work for me. When I first looked at my class lists, I was very happy because my classes seemed smaller than last semester. Period two had only 20 students in it. Well, after the first few days period two has exploded to 33 students. None of my classes has less than 31 students. The marking treadmill is currently off, but it should be on full speed by Chinese New Year. I’ll probably have to bring some tests with me to Hanoi. Aiyo!

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.

The Laffer Curve

I just felt like posting these two pictures because I feel that they represent how I feel most days.




Many times I'm having so much fun, I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing.

Sometimes I feel like this guy. I think I need to decrease the amount of notes I give each class. My general rule is that notes should not be taken for more than 20 minutes in a lecture.

CLASSIC QUOTE

In 1930, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, in an effort to alleviate the effects of the... Anyone? Anyone?... the Great Depression, passed the... Anyone? Anyone? The tariff bill? The Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act? Which, anyone? Raised or lowered?... raised tariffs, in an effort to collect more revenue for the federal government. Did it work? Anyone? Anyone know the effects? It did not work, and the United States sank deeper into the Great Depression. Today we have a similar debate over this. Anyone know what this is? Class? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone seen this before? The Laffer Curve. Anyone know what this says? It says that at this point on the revenue curve, you will get exactly the same amount of revenue as at this point. This is very controversial. Does anyone know what Vice President Bush called this in 1980? Anyone? Something-d-o-o economics. "Voodoo" economics.