now gonna learn Mandarin

I seem to have found some new friends in Kota Tinggi.  The president of the Rotary Club and his wife have befriended me. Nice people to have onside here. He is the one with the purse for donating to one of my schools. There will be a new library in my Chinese school with their own books which will compliment the travelling library.  I was delighted to give them the news, and they were even delighted to receive it.  I was actually seeking help for my former schools and when the Rotary Club listened to my story came back with this offer.  Since that time, the new friends have been very supportive in my life here. They are also seeking a house for my new colleague to rent.

I have engaged my neighbour to water my garden while away. Not an easy task in this part of the world. People here do not trust each other, so when I offered to give her a key to my place it was greeted with shock. My translator at that time explained that no one trusts anyone, so this person is wondering 'what is the catch?'. She finally agreed that she would take the key, but I could see she really was not convinced that all was well. And the translators would not take any keys either.  Well, new friends from Rotary not only took all keys, but came over to my house to take them, and then wanted to take me back to their house to visit. I trust. Maybe I should not. But I feel good about this, and the worst that could happen is my home is empty when I return. I can't even begin to imagine that scenario - they belong to an organization that helps others.  Maybe I will start a new trend in Malaysia. One of trusting others.

They also have enlisted a driver for me and I think I will spring for the cost and make my life easier on departure day.  After all I am not a complete moron. I was wondering how to call a cab to come to my home, see my luggage, notice I am a foreigner,  and then let him take me to S'pore airport. Hmm, if an unsavoury sort, he could enjoy an empty house and all that inside it.  Now there is no concern with the driver in tow.

As for my Mandarin, they have offered to tutor me in that language. I have never wanted to learn Chinese EVER, but when I hear that one spoken here I feel like it could actually be learned. Basa Malay is way too guttural, fast, and all over the place to learn as a language, for me. I can master words but not the flow of them together. But Mandarin is actually slower, more distinct, and softer, so I might just give it a try. What the heck, I already know how to order bok choy in Mandarin. I am sure that is a good beginning. I won't starve. I think that is the only word I know though. Maybe I will try to learn the 'dos cervacas' equivalent and be ready for any outings in restaurants.

I managed to package and prepare for the post office, Ry's Christmas gifts. I can't believe how organized I am. In Canada I would have been thinking, jeepers, it is Christmas next month, maybe I should think about shopping or something. Here, I bought in S'pore and now have it ready to roll. Could be the fact that there is nothing here to buy so when you see something worthy of purchase, you grab it. But yesterday, searching for gift wrap I finally settled on some teddy bear paper, hanging on a rack, so bought two sheets. However, as I was returning to my car, I saw some little display of long strands of 'something' about one meter long and about the diameter of a pencil.  Because it appeared shiny,(I must be a raccoon) I went over for a better look. Package container label said "Christmas wrap". Wow, Bought the stuff and dashed home. It was a kind of metallic, glossy thing that was great to wrap with - no tearing, no dissolving from the humidity, and teddy bears again, but this time with Christmas logos. I guess the small packaging reflects what is assumed as needed for a family pile of gifts under a tree or whatever is done here. There were 3 of these pencil sized sheets, but I only needed about half of the package, so it was enough. As for the other teddy bear paper, it is already wilted and ready to move toward the trash bin.  Perhaps the small packaging size is something we westerners could learn from. Takes away the greed and gluttony of the season, right? Remember all the people who run out and fight the crowds on boxing day just to get next year's paper on sale? I was never one of those.Maybe to be honest, I didn't do it because I knew I would never remember where I put it in a year's time.  Try to picture that here. Kinda makes you smile huh?  Fighting for the 'other pencil sized' packet of paper still hanging around in the RM2 store.  And small enough to take away on your scooter too. Sadly, there were no children in the funny little car at the entrance driving around to the tunes of 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas' yesterday. No roasting chestnuts either.

Just checked the weather. It is only 24 again, but rising to 34. It will likely be the latter in a couple of hours once the fog burns off. Very pleasant, so I really should light a do-do coil and take a cup of java to my garden to watch the geckos play.  I think they believe they are back in the jungle out there. As you spy them peeking around palm fronds, you can hear the chatter - teasing their friends to try to 'catch me'.

Another confirmation for the move I made to new schools. Yesterday I took the new mentor - named Frances 2.2. Others have given her that name, advising her she is just a patch - not a full upgrade.  One mentor who asked me to introduce her advised her that she is betting on Christmas. When looking a bit perplexed, Deebra (the other mentor) advised they were all taking bets on a date she would 'take a run' and she chose Christmas.(for those who do not read this regularly - the previous replacement dashed with part of my wardrobe and never returned)  I hope Frances 2.2 took it in the humour it was given.  Her actual name is Claire and I think she will be great. By the time I was back home I had several oozy events happening on my lower legs - the exposed part of flesh.  I have not had this since I left the area, so glad to confirm that I needed to leave. I smeared the leftover steroid cream on them and seem to be winning that war.

signing off now

the older version of Frances