A Busy Few Weeks

Oops, 19 days since I last wrote on this blog!  I've been chivvied along reminded by Maya that I need to re-enter the 'blog-cave' again, so here I am.

So, what have I been doing in the last 2 and a bit weeks...?

1)  Working.  New class, new Principal, new role (Year Leader), lots of work.  The children are delightful, and just beginning to get into their new classroom routines.  Me too.  But I know that a good start to the year is invaluable so I don't mind spending time on this.

2)  Cleaning.  Because when you're temporarily without an Amah, if you don't clean the kitchen you get ants!  Who knew?!

3) Taking photos of babies.  Our 1-month-old neighbour for a start (and wow, babies are tricky to take photos of - they keep MOVING - hence the sleeping shot!):

But also this baby kingfisher we found in our street last week:

Poor little thing, we think its mother had been killed.  It was looking very lost, and sat here for ages (which at least allowed me to take a photo).

4)  Meeting the local wildlife.  I continue to be delighted and amazed by the wildlife here in Brunei (OK, not the ants.  I could do without wildlife in my kitchen).  This little fellow was lurking outside our door at the weekend:

5)  Pinning.  Have you found Pinterest yet?  It's a website where you can create virtual pinboards of all your favourite things.  Check it out - although be warned, it's totally addictive!

6)  Reading.  I've become mildly obsessed with the Mitford sisters, the eccentric aristocratic family who became notorious in their lifetimes for political reasons, but whose memories live on through their prolific writings - autobiographies, novels and letters.  They're a truly fascinating bunch.  I've been engrossed in this excellent biography, and felt quite miserable when I finally finished it...  so immediately went onto Amazon and ordered a book of letters between Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh - My next Mitford-fix!

7)  Cooking.  This weekend we had a pretty typical Brunei-shopping experience - carefully planning some meals and then discovering that crucial ingredients were nowhere to be found in the shops!  I had decided to make a chilli-con-carne, but there was no mince and no tins of kidney beans.  Correction, there was mince, but it was so fatty as to be almost white (ick!) and there were kidney beans, but they were in syrup (another ick!).  So I ended up making a chilli with diced steak and tins of lima beans instead.  I'm nothing if not adaptable!

I'm looking forward to a bowl of this for supper tonight (with chips and some grated cheddar - naughty but nice!) and then we'll fill the freezer with portions of it.  Over the last couple of weeks we've almost emptied the freezer of the 'ready meals' that we make andkeep for busy weeks, so it's satisfying to restock it.

This isn't actually the recipe I used (I don't usually use a recipe for chilli), but a friend posted it on our forum recently and I have been meaning to give it a try, if only for the name!

Cowboy Chilli

olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 or 2 red chilies, finely diced
salt
4 cloves garlic, finely diced
2 lb (1 kg) ground beef
6 strips (300 g) bacon, diced
1 x 14 oz (400 g) can of kidney beans, black beans or pinto beans
1 cup (250 ml) barbecue sauce
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (optional if you don’t want it too spicy)
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 x 12 oz (350 ml) beer
grated cheddar cheese, sour cream, diced scallions, tortilla chips, etc., to serve

Heat a splash of olive oil in a large pot over a medium-high heat. Add the onion, chilies and a pinch of salt (to stop the onions from browning) and cook for 10 minutes, or until the onions have softened. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add the ground beef and bacon and cook until it’s nearly cooked through and browned, stirring occasionally.

Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer, then lower the heat to keep at a gentle simmer. Cook for 30 minutes to 1 hour – the longer you cook it, the more the flavors will develop – adding more beer or water if the chili starts to look too dry. Serve the chili warm with toppings of your choice.

Parents' Evening

I love most things about being a teacher, but one of the worst things is parents' evenings.  Actually, scrub that, one of the worst things is the anticipation of parents' evenings.  I always absolutely dread them, but once they get going the vast majority of parents are lovely - and appreciative - and I end up really enjoying the opportunity to chat with them. 

I've now in my 13th year of teaching and I can count the number of parents who've been rude or aggressive at these meetings on the fingers of one hand...  but I guess those few mentally scar you for life!  (Although at least now I can look back and simply roll my eyes at the excruciatingly embarrassing 10 minutes I spent with the newly-divorced couple who swore constantly at eachother...  and the husband of one of my then-colleagues who rudely told me I was teaching PE 'wrong'.  Awkward!)

Anyway, it's struck me before, and did again this evening, that some of the parents clearly dread the whole experience as much as I do!  Some come in nervously and sit up very straight on the tiny chairs, looking petrified that I'm going to tell them their child is some kind of behavioural nightmare without 2 braincells to rub together...  but luckily I didn't have reason to say much that was negative about any of the children in my class this year!

Thanks to my ex-colleague Chris for introducing me to the following poem by the great Allan Ahlberg.  Chris used to stick a copy of it onto his classroom door at every parents' evening, and I like to think it cheered up a good few parents - it certainly always makes me smile!

Parents' Evening

We're waiting in the corridor,
My dad, my mum and me.
They're sitting there and talking;
I'm nervous as can be.
I wonder what she'll tell 'em.
I'll say I've got a pain!
I wish I'd got my spellings right.
I wish I had a brain.

We're waiting in the corridor,
My husband, son and me.
My son just stands there smiling;
I'm smiling nervously.
I wonder what she'll tell us.
I hope it's not all bad.
He's such a good boy, really;
But dozy - like his dad.

We're waiting in the corridor.
My wife, my boy and me.
My wife's as cool as cucumber;
I'm nervous as can be.
I hate these parents' evenings.
The waiting makes me sick.
I feel just like a kid again
Who's gonna get the stick.

I'm waiting in the classroom.
It's nearly time to start.
I wish there was a way to stop
The pounding in my heart.
The parents in the corridor
Are chatting cheerfully;
And now I've got to face them,
And I'm nervous as can be.

(From Heard it in the Playground by Allan Ahlberg)

National Day 2011 - Part 2

So we missed the big parade in town last Wednesday...   but I still got to celebrate!

Here are some shots from our National Day Assembly at school last Friday.

The school hall, decorated for the occasion.

Waving the flag.  This photo makes me smile because the girl behind the flag saw me pointing the camera in her direction and gave me a beautiful grin... only for her neighbour's flag to flap right in front of her face!  (She and I had a good laugh about it in the classroom when we looked through the photos!)

The Year 3 Malay group marching.

A hall full of people dressed in yellow!

Me with my lovely class.

We were told to dress in yellow and black as they are the main colours on the national flag.  This proved rather a problem as I don't own a single item of yellow clothing (apart from one vest-top, but sleeveless = inappropriate here).  However, I went for black and red (there's a little bit of red on the flag!) and also wore a yellow Brunei baseball cap for the assembly.  Tragically there's no photographic evidence of me in said baseball cap...

On my way home I was waiting in traffic at the roundabout and snapped a couple of photos of the billboards that had been erected for National Day:

The Sultan certainly has an impressive range of uniforms - almost as many as Rob!

Chinese New Year - Fun at School

I thought I'd only end up writing one blog-post about Chinese New Year, but the celebrations just go on and on.  Apparently the festival lasts for 15 days! 

As I mentioned in my previous post, we had a great CNY assembly in school.  I finally remembered to e.mail myself some of the photos that I had on my school computer.

All the children (and staff) came dressed in red, or in Chinese costume.  This chap went the extra mile!

Oranges for every class.

Secondary students performing the Lion Dance - they were superb, and very funny!

Secondary students performing a fan dance - again, they were excellent.

I love the special assemblies that we have.  Because the Primary and Secondary schools are on the same site we often have contributions from the older kids which really inspire the younger children.

Flat Stanley's Adventures in Brunei - Part 2

As I mentioned in my previous post, Flat Stanley accompanied me into school last week.  I had an inkling that he might be paying us a visit sometime this term, so I had got the book out of the school library in anticipation.  I told the class that we had a very special visitor, but I wanted to read them a story first... when we got to the part about Stanley being put into an envelope the penny dropped and they all guessed who was here in Brunei.

They were excited really - but some of them have very serious 'photo faces' which they put on the moment I get my camera out!  I've noticed this phenomenon before with children, but some of this lot are particularly funny.

They soon got into the swing of things though, suggesting where Flat Stanley should be photographed in order to show Polly in England what our school is like:

Eating our snacks (at 9.40am...  we're hungry by then as teaching starts at 7.25!)

In the Hall at playtime.

Playing Snakes and Ladders!

Skipping (he's in her hand!)

In the sandpit.

By the swimming pool.

Ready for our swimming lesson.

By the recycling bins - we're going for the Green Flag Award, which Polly's school has already got.

Going to our Music lesson.

Joining the other KS2 classes for Friday Assembly (with me trying to ignore the funny looks I was getting from my colleagues!)

And finally, in the classroom with me (slightly blurry photo - it's very amusing watching a 7-year-old struggle with a big SLR camera!  But he did really well.)

The class were nearly as amused by Flat Stanley's monkey-related injury as I was!  They were very taken with the idea of me writing to Polly with all these photos, and some of them decided - with no prompting from me - to make little information posters about our school to put in with the letter.  How sweet!

The funniest thing was this morning though - we had a new girl join the class.  She's come from England, and I overheard one of the girls asking her "Do you know Polly?" 

Flat Stanley visits Brunei

Are you acquainted with Flat Stanley?  If you're a parent in North America I can pretty much guarantee that you have heard of him, and you've probably met him too.

Flat Stanley is the hero of a series children's books written by Jeff Brown.  Stanley Lambchop was just an ordinary boy until one night a bulletin board fell off his bedroom wall and squashed him.  Stanley was unhurt, but flat - half an inch thick.  After the initial understandable concern of his family, Stanley soon discovered that being flat had its advantages, and the books tell of Stanley's many adventures.

One of the benefits of Stanley's diminished size is that he can be posted to visit his friends (in a special envelope, along with a carton of milk and an egg-salad sandwich made with thin bread!), which is 'much less expensive than a train or an aeroplane ticket'.

This idea generated a huge Flat Stanley project in the USA and Canada, and it was something that caught my eye when I was living in Ontario...

So, when I was teaching in rural Oxfordshire earlier this year, I set up my own Flat Stanley project.  I read the book to my class (Year 2 and 3), then gave them all pictures of Stanley to colour.  I laminated them, and sent them home with covering letters as a homework project - send Stanley somewhere... anywhere... and let's see what happens. 

Well, I wouldn't ever have imagined getting such an incredible response!  Within weeks we were having Stanleys sent back to school from all over the UK, and all over the world - Australia, China, Hong Kong, Poland, France, to name but a few.  All the Stanleys came back with postcards of where he'd been, but many of the recipients had gone above and beyond the call of duty and sent Stanley back to our class laden with gifts (the clotted cream fudge from Cornwall was particularly popular!), and often with photo albums documenting his adventures.  We could just tell that everyone had had so much fun, and it was incredibly exciting (and educational) for the children (OK, and for me!)

When I left the UK to come to Brunei I gave all of my class a slip of paper with my new address on it, and told them that I would love to have Flat Stanley to stay with me.  It's taken a few months, but last week Stanley arrived, courtesy of the lovely Polly.

I was so excited!  I immediately started planning photo opportunities...  Imagine how delighted I was to wake up on Wednesday (which was a public holiday) to hear the monkeys leaping about on our roof.  "Perfect" I thought, a quintessentially Bruneian photo-shoot - Stanley with the monkeys.

This proved easier said than done, but I managed a few with the monkeys in the background.

Pretty soon one of the monkeys came to sit on the car, a place where they often like to play.  Even better!  This'll be a great photo...  Smile Stanley!!!

Now if you know the monkeys, I'm sure you can guess what happened next...

At this point I'm shaking with laughter and trying to snap away as Stanley becomes closely acquainted with this Bruneian resident...

But then things got a little nasty...

Oh crap!  Now I'm clapping my hands and shouting "NO!" at the monkey, who seemed utterly unperturbed by my distress.  Every time I took a step closer, he simply took a step back, with Stanley still in his mouth.  I had visions of him leaping up onto the roof with him, and poor Polly would never see Stanley again.

Suddenly I had a brainwave, the ignoring-bad-behaviour-strategy!  Gritting my teeth I turned my back and began to walk away.  Sure enough - and to my huge relief - the monkey dropped Stanley and leapt off into a nearby tree.  Phew!

Stanley had a lucky escape, although tragically he lost a leg as a result of the incident.  A quick trip to the Pendlenton ER soon had him sorted out though.  I'm hoping Polly will see the funny side - after all, she probably owns the only Flat Stanley in the world to have his leg chewed off by a monkey!

We took Stanley to the Yacht Club to soothe his shattered nerves.  Nothing like a sunbathe by the sea to help one recuperate.

We retreated to the shade of the palm trees when it got too hot.

We then took Stanley out for lunch.  No expense spared for our special guest - we had a $1 lunch at one of the food stalls in Serasa!

It was genuinely delicious though - especially the rose-syrup/condensed milk/crushed ice ABC drink (although Stanley was less than impressed with the grass-jelly and sweetcorn at the bottom of the cup.  Definitely an acquired taste).

On our return home Stanley helped me in the kitchen.  We made cookies and baked bread.

Stanley got to lick the beaters.

Later that week Stanley came to school with me...  but that's for another post!

I'm so pleased that Stanley survived the monkey attack with no mental scars, he seems as cheerful as ever...

To be continued.

Hari Raya Part 4 - Celebrations at School

The celebrations for Hari Raya just go on and on.  Hari Raya officially lasts for an entire month.  That's a month of open-houses... and excuses to eat!

Today in school we had our Hari Raya Assembly, followed by a shared snack.  The children - and staff - were encouraged to either wear traditional Malay costume or to wear green, the colour of Hari Raya.  I managed both!  I had bought some lovely fabric recently and decided to get my own 'baju' made.  There are many little tailors shops dotted around here, and I have happened upon a great one very close to where we live.  He's called Mahirah and is an elderly Malay gentleman.  He speaks very little English, and I speak virtually no Malay, but we manage to communicate through mime and drawing pictures - and lots of laughter!  He charged me a mere $20 to make the baju - that's about 10 pounds, amazing value.

The top is made from embroidered Thai silk, and the skirt is some kind of silky fabric.

The whole of the Primary School came into assembly (we're usually split into KS1 and KS2 as there's so many of us) and it looked so fabulously bright and colourful with everyone gathered together.

We were treated to traditional Malay drumming and dancing from some of the secondary students (the school takes children from Pre-Kindergarten to age 18).

There were also performances of Hari Raya songs from the Primary Choir and some other soloists.


Then it was back to our classrooms for our shared snack.

The children had all been asked to bring in food to share... and they certainly rose to the challenge!  I have never seen so much food in one classroom.  Here's just a small selection, including some of the vividly-coloured cake you see so often here:

 

Later in the morning we were back in the school hall, this time with all of the Secondary classes too..!  This was where we really started to regret the fact that the school hall has no air-conditioning - no walls either, come to think of it - only a few fans.  This assembly was to launch our official Eco-year which we hope will culminate in the school becoming the first International School in the world to be awarded the prestigious 'Green Flag Award'.   The school (International School Brunei) already has a good record of environmental work - impressive in a country where there seems to be relatively little awareness of these issues.  However this year, lead by our eco-teams, we'll be taking several projects forward (including 'Million Trees', beach clean-ups, recycling, etc) and also raising awareness of the plight of the Proboscis Monkey which is only found on the island of Borneo but currently endangered due to the destruction of its Mangrove-Swamp habitat.

The assembly was attended by the British High Commissioner who unveiled our new school logo in honour of our environmental work and our efforts for the Green Flag Award:

It wasn't a day where we got much work done in the classroom (my class were so upset that we didn't have time for our spelling test...) but it gave the children plenty of food for thought (not to mention food to eat!).