I finally found my last school and other great accomplishments

Good thing I am stubborn. Otherwise I would still not have found that last school. A colleague had tried to guide me the other week but he had no clue, and after driving in circles we gave up. I spent two hours trying today. I bought a map, showed it to someone who can speak English and she charted the map for me to take. The is a problem with that in this part of the world. The map is not accurate, and steet names on the map are not in the real world. I dont know how they manage to do that, but there are several steet names not mapped and many that are on the map that dont exist. Good grief.  So, after trying several efforts, and ending up in some very strange places, I began to seek hotels. Hotels employ people who tend to have some English. And I was not disappointed. With three different hotel guides I eventually found my way to the school. Only to discover they were in the midst of a sports day. No meetings would happen. Argh.  But I hung around with them, talked to my new mentees and then headed off into the sunset on another quest. Good grief again. The DLO (distric langugage officer) has an office in the middle of another 'nowhere'. So off I went to see if I could find him. I was given his phone number, but seems that was wrong information too. I rechecked the number several times but when I tried it, I was advised the number is not in use. Now, after GPS cow took control of the journey, I arrived at a place in the middle of an industrial park, dump, and who knows what else, I came upon a building that Madam GPS kept telling me 'destination'. So I tried to enter the parking lot, stopped abruptly by a very serious security person. No gate lift for me. So, found some where to park(ish) the car and walked back. I wandered around the grounds asking if anyone could speak English, and suddenly I heard a chorus of people responding YES. Told them my plight, and then was advised that the KSSR (curriculum seminar) is not here and they did not know where or who the person I was looking for was or is. So I decided I needed to go to the KSSR and find some more of my mentees. But I had no idea how to get there. One kind soul advised she was heading in that directions and I could follow her. Why not, so off we went again, and landed at some school I had no idea existed. I had no idea where I was. I felt like I had driven in a direction like a question mark from the location I had just left. That would lead me to beleive I was somewhere near the downtown of JB and east of it, near the Singapore border. Turns out I was correct in that feeling, but it gave me no comfort because I still did not know where I was. And Madam GPS was just as confused. I attended the meetings and was asked to return tomorrow to deliver a phonics seminar to the assembly. I am actually quite happy with this. I think the material I have and the methods I use will be useful. And if successful - many more Malaysians speaking with good pronunciation. So now the meetings are over, and I dont really know which direction to take to get out of there. Also rush hour traffice to contend with. Lucky for me one of my mentees was attending and also lives in Kota Tinggi and did not bring her car. A guide in the passenger seat who actually gave good directions led me to an area I was familair with. Still scratching my head wondering how this question mark route I took could land me where I found landmarks I know. But who cares. I have stubbornly discovered even more that I can do here - without a map, without gps, Good thing - the both failed miserably.  Now the magic of finding my way back there without having to take that route that created the question mark drive. I am sure I can. And I am sure I will.
stay tuned