Week 4 Penang

Dear Ethel, family and friends,

We are here in Penang and have now finished the second week of our English Language course. This week we have been doing some practical work as well as study. Monday we gave a test lesson to our class mates and tutors, which was nerve racking enough. However on Tuesday we had to teach live teenagers. Yes we went to a school here in Penang, Sri Palita, an international high school. A lot of Asian countries send their children to safe areas like Penang to study English. At Sri Palita there are kids from Thai, Korean, Japanese, China, Malaysia and more. It’s been an interesting week to say the least.

Apart from our schooling this week, we hired a car on Thursday. Our friend How Seng from school, as a native Chinese Malay, helped us negotiate with a local Indian man a good price. It pays to have a local on your side. We have the car until we leave, about 16 days or so for about $280 Aust dollars and leave it at the airport. It’s great to have transport now, as we have a bit of free time.

This weekend we went out on Saturday to do a bit of touristy things. We went to the other side of the Island to have a look around, and went to the Butterfly Farm and National Park. Its good to be mobile and explore a bit. We spent Saturday afternoon with our friends Danny & Barbara. Sunday has been a quiet day doing some school work, swimming and lunch out at a nice Indian Restaurant.

We have news that our friends Michael & Joyce have made plans to visit us in Penang on their way back to KL. So we look forward to seeing them the week after next.

All the best for now

Ric & Louise

Week 3 Penang

Dear Ethel, Family and Friends,

Week 3 brings us to Penang for our month of study, to learn how to teach English to speakers of other languages, (TESOL course).We arrived in Penang from our week long stay in Cambodia on Sunday afternoon at about 4pm. We didn’t have much time to get acquainted with our surroundings before we had to go to school in the morning. We are staying at the northern tip of Penang, Batu Ferrangi is only 2 km away. We are staying in a 23 story unit block or Condo as they call them here, we are on the 18^th floor and have a great view north, towards Thailand, we can see the mainland from here, and I guess Thailand is not that far away.

Going back to school is a great experience, at first we were not shore how we would go, but after the first week, the worst of it is over. We passed our first test, and are waiting on assignments to come back on Monday. Another exam tomorrow, as well as a practical demonstration of how we will teach a class. But apart from that, no pressure at all. Needless to say we have been busy preparing for the test and prac work, so not much of a chance to get out and see things. Only 3 people in our class, Louise and I and a guy named How Seng, a Chinese Malay, from KL. We actually start teaching on Tuesday. We have our prac work at an international school and will be teaching teenagers, so it will be interesting

We have been eating out at the hawker stands a lot, rice and noodle dishes for about a dollar or 2. Have made some friends at the school, Danny is a teacher and is from Coffs Harbour and is in Penang with his wife Barbara and two young daughters. They will be staying here a year or two. We had drinks with them on Friday night and went out to the night food markets for dinner.

Haven’t had a chance to up load any photos from Cambodia yet or do any more video, as we have been busy at school and internet connection is also very patchy here. But we will try to stay in touch.

All the best for now

Ric & Louise