I still love it....today has been the most interesting day yet!!!! Woke to our normal morning of pool repair men and white toast with jam and then off to the beach for one last day of soaking in the surf!!!! Then we hopped in a van with our man buddha and came on over to Ubud for some yoga-ing....
Ubud is fabulous, fantastic, beautiful! We are surrounded by rice paddies in an ironic setting which is made up of those crazy balinese things that cater to every white persons non-tourist, but yet tourist, desire. It's odd! The best part is our accommodations....the Graha....sketchy!!!! It's got some jungle-looking old school charm, and the review was certainly right when they said it could use some updating! It's pretty much crap and a bit gross!!!! The funnest part was the shower in which the water only works when you are kneeling and hanging your head against the drain, until the ginourmous spider came crawling out towards Legs....all that to say, Legs and I know one another just a little better tonight and my hair is finally kinda clean!!!!!
And so now we are killin' time, waiting for the rest of the peeps to arrive and avoiding our room, while also seeking a new place for tomorrow!!! Lesson of the day for anyone looking to do this triping thing, if you book online, book only for one night, you can always extend, but you can't take it back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Off to have a large beer and hope that I get so sleepy I don't notice what creepy crawlies join me in the night...then up early to yoga the next three days away! Namaste.....Peace!

When I grow up, I want to be a beach bum!!!!

Hola! Have I mentionned before that I love the beach?!?!?!?!
This is my life....I wake up around 9:30 with the sun shining in my window and the lovely Legs so attractively passed out in the bed next to me, mouth wide open, lookin' hot as always, get up and decide between the black, pink, green or blue bikinis and walk down to the pool for my free white toast and jam, strong black coffee and melon. Then out on the town, looking through incredible shops, bargaining ridiculous amounts...I actually refused to pay $9 for a tiedye t-shirt today, and dealed it down to $7!!!! Then we slather on the sunscreen, cause I have an incredibly sexy red burnt hip right now, and go to the beach where we sit on lovely lounge chairs with umbrellas for $2 each, drink insanely cheap beer, get massages or pedicures and swim in the Indian Ocean! After that rough part of the day, we stagger home, stopping for some giant beer and garlic bread at pub, veg in the aircon, clean ourselves and head out in the evening breeze for dinner! Now tell me this isn't the best life there could be!
One more day of this, and then I'm off to Ubud for a three day yoga retreat! The plans after than have changed, we are going to Langkawi on monday morning for 4 days, then to Batu caves, the jungle and then another beach!
I'm decked out in crazy new jewels and have a tan like I've never had one....nothing to crazy happens here because pretty much everyone is out for a crazy time, surfing, partying, sunning, napping....it's all good!
Now that you're good and jealous, I'm going to head off to eat and drink and buy a hat! Peace!

I LOVE BALI!

Really...I am in the best place EVER! It is amazingly incredible here...everyone always asks my favourite place in all of my travelling, well, this is it! And it's only been a day!!!!! I am on the other side of the equator, and I'm pretty sure that's a first, though who knows really! It's hot, but the nice kinda hot, the kind I love, unlike Malaysia, or Canada for that matter, where it's just gross and sticky and humid and icky, it's just lovely and so so so hot here!!!!!
So the adventure...well, we left Malaysia after Legs finally sorted herself out and managed to get herself unlocked from the condo and got on a rather pleasant and so very cheap flight on AirAsia, landed at 10pm and got the coolest visa ever in my passport (it's awesome!) and then cabbed to the random hotel that we booked online for $20...sketch you might think, but it's kickass! So much so that we're staying 2 more nights! We're in Legian, slash Kuta beach if you are interested in looking it up.
After a most pleasant air conditionned night we woke to our free breakfast of crustless white toast and watermelon and great coffee and then went to the beach, where we paid RP20,000 for 2 beach chairs for the day, which is about $2 Canadian! Legs and I then proceeded to get nice and dark, alternating the hot sun and the Indian Ocean. I once had an ex tell me that he had never seen anyone more ackward in waves, well, I'm awesome now, perhaps even a wave superstar! Not only can I do waves, but I spent a big part of my day body surfing, and think that tomorrow I might try the real deal on a surfboard! Then I got a full body massage on the beach for a whopping $12 and a cool handmade necklace and legs got a pedicure and of course a few cold cheap beer!!!!
All this to say, Bali is the best place on the planet! And for the boy who keeps tellin' me he's coming over to visit and travel with me, get your butt on a plane cause I don't want to go home! Do it....I could make this a lifestyle....really! I think, when I grow up, I want to be a beach bum....this is a life I could get used to.....
And now, well, we showered and aloed and came for beer and nachos.....that's right Angel, nachos! Not only nachos, but guac and salsa too!!!!! It took coming all the way to Bali, but we got our freakin' nachos!!!!!!!!!!!! Up ahead, a night of drinking ginourmous RP20,000 beer, yup, $2! And tomorrow, another day of beach.....cheap stuff.....I love life!!!! Peace....come to Bali!

I'm a teacher!

That's right, I did it!  I actually passed....it just about pushed me over the edge to get there, but I am now officially a teacher!  Now to decide if/what to teach!!!!!

But before the fun of finding a job, it's three weeks of Southeast Asia!  Tonight I leave for Bali, four days of beach and three days of yoga retreat...I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am...especially for the yoga, but for the beach and the sun!  I finally got to visit our pool on the weekend, and I'm starting to get my "look" back - the locals are starting to ask if I'm Spanish!  So no blogging while in Bali, but I'll try to make another starbucks trip before I leave again next Monday!  The tentative plan is Bali this week, east coast islands next week, jungle next weekend, and then some west coast duty free islands for a week before flying back to Canada....I know, it's almost over, I have to come back to Canada!  

Yesterday was perhaps my favourite day so far in Malaysia!  The gal I live with and I took the train into KL and went to Central Market, which was amazing!  It's touristy, but all the touristy stuff you want in SE Asia!  I got some cute cheap dresses and a gorgeous hand beaded top and then we were off to the real Little India...turns out where I went before is the tourist trap that is not Little India...I can still smell the curry on me 24 hours later!!!!  SE Asia is super cheap once you get here, it's just the issue of getting here!  

Anyway, I'm posting pics on facebook as we speak, and then I have to run to get a yoga mat from SubPar...I have a big day of pool and perhaps a pedi before leaving at 4 to catch my flight!  Wish me luck that the hotel is not a dive...we went for the fancy option of $20/night...luxury I tell ya, hot water and everything!  It's a 6 minute walk from the beach and in the middle of the action, so here's hopin'!!!!  If you're looking it up, we're in Kuta mon-thurs and in Ubud thurs-sun for yoga.

I'm off, coffee's gettin' cold and the sun's gettin' hot!  Peace!

It's been a long time....

I get it! Enough with the hate mail!!!!!!! I'm sorry, it's been a while, but I have been legitmately busy with teacher type things!!! It's on the downslope now though....let the fun times begin!
What have I been up to...well, if you've been to facebook you must have seen me in my lovely pink outfit...no? You should check it out, polyester pink, it might be the best look I've ever rocked! The shades pull it all together nicely!!! The explanation behind the fashion is the visiting of a pretty kickass mosque (there are pics of that too, kinda matches the outfit!) Saturday morning a few of the school's bigwigs picked up the STUDS and took us out to Putra Jaya, a town created solely for the government administration of Malaysia. It was incredible! Check out some of the other pics on facebook - lots of amazing Islamic architecture and the coolest mosque. It was a great morning all around from the drive in, the gardens, the touring and the tasty carrot cake for lunch!
From there, went back home to veg at the pool because it is insanely hot here right now! It's always hot, but it hasn't rained since Wednesday and let me tell you, we are feelin' it! It has been in the low 40s temperature wise, humid and wicked sun and smog. The intense heat kills all motivation...I understand now why people here seem so lazy!!!!
Other fun adventures, well on Wednesday night on of the local teachers took us on a Malaysian adventure! We went to a Thai Buddhist Temple, for the real deal Indian food, to her and her parents' house and then to a crazy night market! The best part...none of us brought cameras!!! We kicked ourselves for it all night, especially when we got to watch Sheila try the ABC dessert...let me tell you about ABC, it's a huge dessert in a bowl. From the top, you see a scoop of the sickly sweetest ice cream ever (it's blue and pink) topped with a cherry. This is sitting atop a pile of shaved ice, also pink and blue but less sweet. A little gross in the sweetness, but so far, not so bad....then you get to the part hidden by the bowl, which is full of chunks jello (not jello like you think, it's black, it's so so so bad!) and in the mix, corn and beans!!!! I'll try to take a picture, cause you really can't imagine how strange it is to be trying this with people who think it's wonderful....my response was "is that corn!?!?!??!"
Yeah, it was corn! Seems to be a Malaysian thing, they love corn! At fast food place you can buy a cup of corn (usually with a gross melted butter, salt and mayonnaise dressing). You get dessert, usually has corn in it! Corn everywhere!!!!!!!!
So that's that! You're somewhat caught up now...I have only 5 days of teaching left and am booked for Bali on Monday. One week in Bali, ending with a 3 day yoga retreat should be a nice way to forget about the hell that has been practicum! Then I think we are heading to the jungle for a few days and perhaps to hop a few islands before the big trip back to Canada!
I'm missing my girls and the nights of wine and cheese....looking forward to seeing you all again and telling you the stories live!!!!!!!!!! Enjoy the snow and I will enjoy the stiffling heat! Peace!

Another Sunday Mornin'!

Well, the conference is over and was a huge success! The kids were amazing, they put on a fabulous show and collapsed in elated exhaustion at the end of the day!!! I, however, did not!!! After an attempted beer and nachos trip off we went, back to reggae bar! Turns out I have a regular hangout in KL...who knew that could happen! It was good times and great dancing, and I managed to repeat the wheelin' of the last trip with a much more upstanding young man this time!!!

So it's a beautiful day again and I am once again doing work, preparing for the week (although I just recently got up!) I think my plans will have to change and I'll head to the pool now and work this afternoon in order to accommodate....besides, it rains here every afternoon!!!!

Off to the pool I go to get some colour on my skin and feel the heat! Happy Easter.....Peace!

It's Good Friday...what?

Who knew! There I was, working away into the wee hours of the night, helping my students prepare for their big Saturday conference, when one of the three Christian students I teach mentionned that they had to leave for Good Friday service...who knew this was Easter weekend! One of the advantages is that there is no comercialism surrounding it, which is refreshing amidst the bombardment of consumerism around everything else in this country! All that to say, I wish you all a Happy Easter...enjoy the chocolate for me!!!!
No adventures this weekend, it's conference day today and the kids are riled up and ready! They are the best kids ever...amazing hardly begins to describe them!!!! Should be a great day. Tomorrow will be spent poolside, preping my lessons because on Monday, I finally get to start teaching! Not only that, I get to announce to my class that we are taking a field trip to the elephant sanctuary....which may be more for me than for them!!!!!!!
My interesting, and somewhat gross, Malaysian thing for you today...all of the baked goods here have weiners in them!!!!!!!!!! I know, ew is the only possible response you might have! I stopped by the bakery on my way in this morning, since starbucks doesn't open until 9:30 (ridiculous!) to get a little something...look around, pasteries, stuffed with weiners, and what looks like icing on top is mayo, and sometime ketchup!!!!!! Danishes, instead of fruit, weiners! Yum!
And on that note, I gotta get to work! Happy Easter Weekend...Peace!

Who needs to see the country!?!?!?

I have travelled all this way for the coolest practicum experience ever....everyone was so jealous of what would be my amazing experience, I would get to travel everywhere on the weekends, it was going to be so relaxed and I was going to have it easy in my private school....boy were they wrong! I work longer than I ever have!!!! So much for posh!
Anyway, I'm over the whining, although I know you love to hear about it! The conference I'm planning with the kids is Saturday, which will be such a relief, and then I finally get to start teaching! That's also when the doing stuff plans start, someone taking us for the real deal indian food, chicken-fish night out, and a morning in Putra Jaya. I am really hoping to have more of a life soon so that I can tell you how exciting and wonderful Malaysia is...though I think the first weekend was exciting enough for some!!!
Now for a few more things I've noticed about Malaysia! As I live in the middle of a ginormous city, there are no chickens walking around at random, which you all know is my favorite part of developing countries! I'm sure I'll get my fill once we hit the road!!! There are, however, cats everywhere...stray, but well fed! People don't generally keep pets here, not like we do anyway! I've also noticed that the government policy seems to be to employ as many people as possible...rather than employing a few capable people and paying them well, they have decided to employ as many people as possible and not pay them well! For example, there are 15 maids to clean my classroom at the end of everyday! There is a lot of standing around here!!!! There is also a lot of laziness...let me tell you about the teksis (taxi!). They generally don't want to actually drive you anywhere!!!! They don't like it when you are not going far and won't pick you up, and if you are going far they don't want you either, and if it's raining or heavy traffic, forget it! On Friday night I had to flirt shamelessly in a little dress with a dirty ol' cabby just to get a ride into KL for Hot Pot! And the men here, well, they certainly feel that they are free to express their opinions of you, to you, at any time they like! They also feel that it's ok to take pictures of you sitting on the train, which was awesome!
Is that enough for today? I'm burnt out and it's 7pm, I have been at school for just over 12 hours and am going to do a bit more work before going home....to do more work! The disadvantage to teaching overseas is that you are constantly surrounded by the people with whom you work and so you can never escape! It is, however, the full moon tonight, which I think will involve some beers by the pool! Enjoy your morning of snow and think of me swimming in the moonlight....Peace!

Yea, I know....

I suck, I here ya! I know I promised I would keep this updated regularly and I haven't...but I think my associate teacher is trying to kill me!!! It's not that I don't want to write and tell you about my amazing malaysian adventures, it's that I'm so busy I'm not having many (some...just wait for the KL story day!!!!!) This will all get more exciting April 25th when I leave on the big trip, which is coming together I think...some island hopping up the west coast of Malaysia, up to Phuket, a quick flight to Bangkok, back to the east coast islands and then, well, I guess I fly back to Canada!!!
Anyway, I'm heading to Sunway, once of the many many many ginormous malls in the greater KL region (I'll complain more about that and the insane consumerism here another day!) for dinner with the peeps and a little shopping and to decompress from my new life so I'm off for now, I will write more soon...I think a starbucks afternoon is long overdue!
Check out the KL adventure pics on facebook and I'll write about it...maybe tomorrow....don't hold your breath! Peace!

April Fools

Howdy! Turns out, April Fools is not such a big deal in Malaysia...came and went with nothing to report! I feel as though I must be settling in here because things are not inspiring me to write, nothing seems interesting or abnormal anymore and life is life! I'm settling into a routine of waking up whenever I wake up (as long as I'm at school by 10), which is fantastic, and life is slowing down...I walk slower, I work slower and have much less going on in my life which is oddly quite nice. In Ottawa I felt that I had to move a million miles an hour, the gym, school, life, Murph, but here there is not that option. When I was in Trinidad I came to the conclusion that the reason things moved more slowly, aside from the obvious wanting to enjoy the amazingness of the islands, is that there are no super-ginourmous-everything included-monster convenience stores in which you can go workout with your children in daycare, do all of your shopping for the month, including clothing and leave all within 2 hours and having spoken to no one. You need to go to different places to get different things and people talk to each other. Now Malaysia is not quite as friendly in that sense, and people generally don't talk to each other, but life is slower (and hotter!) and I like the ease.
Don't get me wrong, I'm still working, but I'm having fun and being relaxed! Last night Super Dave took me for a run outside....yea, outside, in 35 degree heat in the sun and humidity! I lasted about 4K and headed back to the aircon gym to bike, but it was so great to be able to run outside around a lake without cars and noise and craziness!
Ok, you're getting bored of my relaxedness I know!!!!
Of my adventures, well, they're on hold aside from the running! The weekend is coming and you should be excited cause I will be adding pictures when I do my starbucks time! I'm also heading into KL to explore this weekend, the towers are on the list and I need to find my way to little India. The peeps are travelling this weekend, so I'm home alone for the first time since I've been in my padlocked condo and as much as I love them, I'm excited to veg!!!!! That's it for plans, though knowing this crowd they'll be some 4 am-ness happening somewhere!
I'm off, back to being Miss Jordan and working with my fantastic amazing incredible kids! Peace!