Friday, June 08, 2007
Geography Fieldtrip to Sabah - 1st Day
Ahaha!! I'm back! With a vengeance! Heh. Haven't had the time to upload pics or blabber for several months now...
But since I've broken a record and had the time of my life... I shall share the joy with you people who still bother to check this website of mine out!
As seen from the title of this entry, I organised a Geography fieldtrip to Sabah after much upheaval and angst, and return home in one piece after enjoying myself thoroughly. Why a record-breaking event? That's because it's been almost 5 years since the last Geography fieldtrip took off! And I made this one happen! *grin*
Definitely have to give all thanks to God, as He has been really merciful and blessed me and my students wholely. Everything that happened was due to the grace of God. For example, the number of students (specially hand-picked by God), the itinerary, the happenings, the groupings, etc. Everything went well, despite the uncertaintly and paranoia.
So, we finally set off on 31/5/07 from school. Headed to Senai Airport in Johor to board this artistically (in other words, or-biang) Air Asia flight into Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah. My gosh... it was so cramped and uncomfortable as the person seated beside me was not exactly the slimmest of people. Lucky it was a short flight!
When we arrived, we were welcomed with our packed dinner. Guess what it was? A mysterious black plastic bag! So what was in this mysterious black plastic bag?? *Drumroll* A pathetic flattened burger with a bottle of mineral water! %$#&*@!!
You mean we paid for this? And the best thing was, it was stated in the itinerary that we were to stay in "Step Inn Hotel"... you know what the deal was? It turned out to be "Step Inn Lodge", a youth hostel! With dinghy-looking flight of stairs with cockroaches, which resembled the Hong Kong apartments in town. The shock and disappointment on all our faces were impossible to conceal, (well, unless with mud!)
But the youth hostel wasn't that bad lah. The rooms were air-conditioned and clean. Beds were dormitory double-decker beds and rather comfy. The entire feeling was ratehr homely, and the toilets were clean with hot showers. More than what we expected. Heh. So it was a pleasant stay after all. And of course, we had to amuse ourselves.
These are my two room-mates who live my past. Heh.
And of course, since there was a night market, I would wanna explore it! And it turned out to be a real wet market! A Filippino one to that extent! So we indulged in yummy chicken wings and fruits, after touring the market and opening the kids' eyes to a whole new world - informal economy of the not-too-well-to-do.
And of course, back to the homely hostel where I cut the mangoes and feasted on the wings and mangoes to supplement their poor burger.
This helped to set my expectations alot lower, and I influenced the kids too. So that they would not be too disappointed if they were not fed superbly well and stayed in high-class accomodation.
But since I've broken a record and had the time of my life... I shall share the joy with you people who still bother to check this website of mine out!
As seen from the title of this entry, I organised a Geography fieldtrip to Sabah after much upheaval and angst, and return home in one piece after enjoying myself thoroughly. Why a record-breaking event? That's because it's been almost 5 years since the last Geography fieldtrip took off! And I made this one happen! *grin*
Definitely have to give all thanks to God, as He has been really merciful and blessed me and my students wholely. Everything that happened was due to the grace of God. For example, the number of students (specially hand-picked by God), the itinerary, the happenings, the groupings, etc. Everything went well, despite the uncertaintly and paranoia.
So, we finally set off on 31/5/07 from school. Headed to Senai Airport in Johor to board this artistically (in other words, or-biang) Air Asia flight into Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah. My gosh... it was so cramped and uncomfortable as the person seated beside me was not exactly the slimmest of people. Lucky it was a short flight!
When we arrived, we were welcomed with our packed dinner. Guess what it was? A mysterious black plastic bag! So what was in this mysterious black plastic bag?? *Drumroll* A pathetic flattened burger with a bottle of mineral water! %$#&*@!!
You mean we paid for this? And the best thing was, it was stated in the itinerary that we were to stay in "Step Inn Hotel"... you know what the deal was? It turned out to be "Step Inn Lodge", a youth hostel! With dinghy-looking flight of stairs with cockroaches, which resembled the Hong Kong apartments in town. The shock and disappointment on all our faces were impossible to conceal, (well, unless with mud!)
But the youth hostel wasn't that bad lah. The rooms were air-conditioned and clean. Beds were dormitory double-decker beds and rather comfy. The entire feeling was ratehr homely, and the toilets were clean with hot showers. More than what we expected. Heh. So it was a pleasant stay after all. And of course, we had to amuse ourselves.
These are my two room-mates who live my past. Heh.
And of course, since there was a night market, I would wanna explore it! And it turned out to be a real wet market! A Filippino one to that extent! So we indulged in yummy chicken wings and fruits, after touring the market and opening the kids' eyes to a whole new world - informal economy of the not-too-well-to-do.
And of course, back to the homely hostel where I cut the mangoes and feasted on the wings and mangoes to supplement their poor burger.
This helped to set my expectations alot lower, and I influenced the kids too. So that they would not be too disappointed if they were not fed superbly well and stayed in high-class accomodation.
# posted by Banana Saviour @ 12:40 AM 
