Batu Pahat

Ok, Now I know what this translate into English.
'stone chisel'
I spent the weekend in Batu Pahat and felt like a kid in a candy shop. There were real stores, and real malls there. We began the journey with the big Pacific Mall where we purchased liquor. I switched to vodka, not because I like it, but because the bottle had a real top.  The gin brought to me last weekend was placed in the freezer of my lovely new fridge and it had some paper lid, which allowed all the gin to become part of the fridge. I admitted that I stuck my head into the freezer to lick out some of the thick cold gin before I conceded and allowed the fridge to be lubricated with the precious liquid. Anyway, once the vodka is gone I will save the bottle and decant the next bottle of gin into it.
We had a barbeque on the deck of one of our colleague's condo.  Very nice place - he has hot water. But oddly enough, I didn't use the hot water option. I seem to be used to the coolish water that flows naturally out of the tap.  He has an incredible view from his living room of a fenced off jungle area, on an extremely intense slope. He manages to see all sorts of wild life come to the fence. It looks like a painting before your eyes, I did not take a camera, simply because I needed to not work for a 24 hour period and taking pictures actually feels like work.  Next time I will.  I am sure there will be a next time, as he even had CHEESE. little tiny baby belles which were consumed by hungry happy teacher mentors.  I was polite and did not eat any of the little morsels, but only because I thought I would buy my own. Now disappointed because I forgot to buy them, grrr
But I still have my lovely cheese slices that can double as silly putty if in a pinch.  Besides. can you just imagine how lovely and slim I am becoming with his new diet of NOTHING MUCH!
They also have heavy monsoon rains daily there so they cool off considerably more than we do in Kota Tinggi. I snagged a bedroom to myself and have learned the value of a body pillow  in this experience I had a thin mat on the floor, and if you wrap yourself around a body pillow, there are no boney structures of the body that are seriously pressed into the floor.
BUT I did buy some bedding there. Real cotton sheets. YAY.  And will have to bring them home to Levi, as they complement the ones I gave him on my departure.  These have pictures of zebra, tiger, and leopard prints on them,. But this crazy country does not include a top sheet, which is what I thought I was buying, So now have to desperately shop the stalls in Kota Tinggi for some brown, black, yellow, or orange top sheet to cover myself with.
Think I also might pick up some sort of bed frame. Seems when you put a mattress directly on the floor, you need to pick it up each morning and lean it on the wall to avoid condensation of the body heat that accumulates overnight. I think I deserve a bed frame to avoid that step in my morning routine.
I almost was convinced to use this crazy gas ring I have in the lizard's kitchen, but by the time I got home I had decided that it was a bad idea. Still did not get an induction stove thing, so I guess I will continue to forage for food in the morning and eat at the schools at lunch.

The barbeque with friends last night was yummy.  I am glad I didn't see the meat purchase, but I think it was safe, because there are real stores in Batu Pahat.  The barbeque was still the funny little galvenized tin thing that I can get here. Poor John had a barbie doll sized ironing board in his living room which became the base for the barbeque. Amazingly it did not get greasy, as I found some plastic bags to cover it before the barbeque was placed on it.  The cook forgot to get briquette lighter, so everyone was trying to light the coals with air freshener, and then hair spray  They finally conceded to go out and get some starter which worked just fine. 
So, tomorrow I sit in on some classes after the Monday assembly at my base school in Gembut. Then return to the base school to provide a Lesson Plan for the teachers in their workshop.  Wish me luck