We had quite an adventurous weekend in Bandar. There was a big barbecue on Saturday night for CfBT teachers and their families who arrived this year. It was at the home of one of the project officers - a beautiful house with a large swimming pool, which was where most of the children spent their time. It started at 5.30 but as it was in Bandar (two hours away) we couldn't get there until 7.30. I'm the only new teacher on afternoon session in Kuala Belait so we knew we would be the last to arrive. We arranged to stay the night with Don (who we shared a house with for the orientation week) and spend the next day exploring Bandar.
We arrived just in time for the food - a very nice spread of Asian and Western barbecued dishes. It was good to catch up with the teachers we had been on orientation with and meet some of those who had arrived earlier in the year. It was also nice to return to the palatial house we had stayed in on our first week here. Despite the size, Don is planning to move when his family arrives as there are only three upstairs bedroom and there are three children who will want a room each. The master bedroom is enormous as is the living room downstairs. In some ways it's a nicer house than ours but a bit lacking in power points, shelves and cupboards. As well as four air-conditioners there are ceiling fans in all the rooms, which we always like. But the house is too far in from the main road. It would be impossible to walk anywhere.
Don had some things on during the day (he's studying for a Masters), so we agreed to meet for dinner and do some sight-seeing. The main tourist attraction we had not yet seen was Kampung Ayer, the world's biggest water village. It is actually a collection of several villages. The houses are all built on stilts over the river and there are very long rickety bridges connecting the villages. All very picturesque, but the waste disposal system leaves a lot to be desired - everything goes straight into the water. And that means everything - toilets are literally just a hole in the floor. We had heard about a teacher who had missed his footing getting into the boat and fallen in the water. He had to go straight to hospital for a course of injections. And yet we saw a lot of local kids happily swimming in it!
Access to Kampung Ayer is by little water taxis, which either ferry you across for 50 cents a person or, as they prefer, give you a half hour ride around the village for ten to fifteen dollars depending on your negotiating skills. As far as Yoong is concerned, the less time she spends in boats the better so we opted to cross over and walk around. We left the car in the area where the villagers themselves park and walked out to one of the many jetties, where we boarded a boat that was just about to leave with a passenger. We got talking, and he offered to show us around the village. Thus began a very pleasant four hours, far better then we had expected. Haji Mohammed first took us back to his home to meet his family. He had fourteen children (all from the same wife), but his parents, who we met later, had seventeen! The house was very large and very comfortable, well equipped with large-screen television and all the latest hi-fi equipment. We talked to one of his sons (twenty years old) who is following in his fathers footsteps as a trainee Islamic Studies teacher. His ambition, of course, is to make the pilgrimage to Mecca - then he will be a Haji like his father.
After some coke and biscuits, our friend took us on a long tour including a climb up a hill where there was a Chinese cemetery, past some areas which were recently destroyed by arson (the culprit in the latest incident is now serving a life sentence), a glimpse at his school, a walk across the longest bridge in Kampung Ayer and a brief visit to a local mosque. He then took us to a little warung (restaurant) run by family members, where we met his parents and various other family members and were served a lovely meal, beginning with dessert and ice milo, as they weren't really ready to open for another half hour. We had delicious special fried chicken with rice - much better than KFC, and not oily - and some tasty soup. Only Haji Mohd actually ate with us. As we ate we could look out over the river watching all the little boats speeding around. Occasionally the whole place would shake as a little boat arrived with a bump carrying various family members. We saw one with a load of freshly caught fish. After the meal, they brought out the karaoke and, in between the Malay songs, they put on some English songs so I could perform. We attempted to pay for the meal, as, after all, it was a restaurant, but they wouldn't hear of it. We have exchanged e-mail addresses, etc. and asked them to visit us in KB sometime. It was a very pleasant experience of Asian hospitality, which left little time for the other sight-seeing we had planned. But we have over two years, so we don't really want to see everything at once anyway. After taking the boat back, we did drop in at the Museum, which was not far away. It was definitely worth a visit, with some excellent displays on the history of Brunei and exhibits showing the local wildlife. (All free, like most things here.) There is also a Museum of Malay Technology a little further along which is also supposed to be quite good, but we'll see it another time. We had also thought of doing a walk up to a lookout in the same area, but we had already had quite a strenuous climb up the Chinese hill. So that will keep too.
After taking Don out for dinner at a seafood restaurant, which was actually the first place we had eaten on our arrival in Brunei, we set out on the long drive home. It started off badly with a torrential rainstorm seriously reducing the visibility, but then it settled down to a steady but manageable downpour. It was our first night drive back to KB, and it was a bit exhausting because of the need to concentrate, but we have to get used to it. Next week, we will be driving back to Tutong (halfway to Bandar) for a house-warming party, then next Monday evening we have to pick up our visitors from Singapore, which means driving to and from Bandar in the same evening. It will be good if the rain keeps off.
No, we are not yet out of the house with the surrounding blocked storm drains. CfBT has leased it until January and they would be paying double rent for us if they moved us out earlier than that. In fact, the primary teacher down the road, Tania, fled from her house after a man apparently tried to break in. She got his car registration number, and, when the police traced him, he claimed he was trying to deliver something and had got the address wrong. As the car was a company car, it sounds like his story was probably true and Tania panicked unnecessarily. Security has become a big issue here recently as one of the CfBT teachers in Bandar was raped and beaten a few weeks ago by two men (foreign workers are blamed as usual) who broke into her house, so it's understandable that women living on their own are anxious. The woman concerned (in her fifties) was hospitalised for some time and has now been moved to an apartment with tight security. She has chosen to stay on in Brunei rather than return home. Tania stayed with another teacher for a few days until the housing officer found an apartment for her, where she is much happier. She never used the upper floor of her house anyway, and did not feel comfortable living there. But, of course, CfBT is now paying two lots of rent for her.
Apart from the blocked drains, the nearby mosque that wakes us up at 4.30 am. and the fact that our house number ends in four (always a problem for Chinese), this is really a very nice house. I like it more than the house we are planning to move into, but the other one is in a better location - within walking distance of the town - and has a fence around it. Like most houses in KB, our present house has no fence and no protective grills. It used to belong to Shell, who would have looked after security and maintenance of the whole compound. This part of town is quite rural, the neighbouring houses are a reasonable distance away, and it's relaxing to sit and look through the big glass doors at the palm trees in the yard.
It has been a very busy week, as the Tanizaki family from Singapore stayed with us for four nights. They got a special deal with Brunei Air, which was restricted to weekdays, but fortunately Wednesday was a public holiday so we had a full day to show them around as well as the mornings of the other days. We drove up to Bandar on Monday night to pick them up. They had planned to leave their luggage at the airport, explore Kampong Ayer, the main tourist attraction in Bandar, and meet us at the airport at night, but there was nowhere to leave luggage as the airport is under renovation (preparing for ?Visit Brunei Year? and APEC) and they would not be able to take luggage on the little boats that go around Kampong Ayer. Fortunately they had the number of Mr Chong, a friend of Yoong's sister, who came to their rescue.
We had a lot of fun showing the Tanizakis the sights of KB and introducing them to some of the other teachers here. On the two afternoons when I was at school, I left the car with Tani, so they could continue exploring with Yoong. On Friday we had to get up at 4.30 am. to drive them back to Bandar to catch their flight back to Singapore - an easy drive at that time of morning. This gave us a chance to check out a couple more Bandar sights after seeing them off. We climbed a hill overlooking Kampong Ayer (via the wooden walkways that are so popular here) and also visited the Malay Technology Museum.
On top of all this, Don (our housemate during orientation) chose this weekend to come and visit us in KB. He came last night and we took him out to the boat club, a popular ex-pat place which has quite good Chinese food and allows people to bring drinks in. (Members only - in theory, but not in practice. When there are actual members present, they ask you to go into the kitchen to pay, so you won't be seen using cash.) This morning we went to some of the same places we had taken the Tanazakis, especially a forest walkway and a nice lake that you can walk right around. There are signs advising people that Shell takes no responsibility for attacks by crocodiles, but the only wild-life we have seen there are birds and lizards. Then we had people over for lunch - Nick and Linda, from whom we bought our car. When we first went to see the car we stayed on for dinner so we felt we owed them a meal, and, like Don, they are originally from Northern Ireland, so it was interesting for them to meet each other. It turned out they were from the same village as Don's father. Both also have homes in Australia, Don in Brisbane, Nick in Perth. The fact that they were of different religions did not seem to pose a problem!
Surprisingly, there are quite a lot of social activities here. We are going up to Tutong for another party next Saturday, we have bought tickets to a Melbourne Cup celebration on Cup Tuesday (a similar event in Bandar was cancelled due to APEC security concerns!), and we will be going to Bandar the following Saturday for the CfBT Ball. A long way to go, but we'll stay the night with Don again. Then there is a school end-of-year dinner the Saturday after. So we haven't really had time to get bored yet.
As for the actual school situation, I'm very much a classroom teacher - no other responsibilities except form teacher. I teach three Form One classes - three double periods a week each. Next year I will teach the same classes for Form Two, then the following Year for Form Three, when they do a major exam. If I renew my contract, I am unlikely to follow them up to Form Four and O-Levels. More likely I will have to start again at Form One. I don't find the teaching here stimulating enough to want to do that, and two and a bit years is probably enough time here anyway. I am very much left to my own devices in the classroom, though there is a syllabus I have to follow (largely designed by CfBT) and I have to keep a detailed record book which is submitted to my Head Of Department weekly, who signs it without really looking at it (he said so himself) and monthly to the Principal, who does the same thing. My HOD has been off sick for a couple of weeks, so my book hasn't been signed for a while. Next year I will have various people watching me teach a lesson - HOD, Principal, CfBT officers and possibly Ministry officials. I have missed all that this year.
Most of the English teachers are foreigners, apart from the HOD. (The policy is for HODs to be Malays.) The principal, Mr Chong, is a pleasant quietly-spoken man. I have only talked to him briefly a couple of times. Some schools have very difficult principals, often from Singapore, so we are quite fortunate at my school. It is a very relaxed, casual place. The first ten minutes of the day are for registration (Form Assembly) and the students wander in towards the end of this time (or later, which makes it hard to mark attendance). Teachers don't always set a good example here, too. They are often on the same rubber time as the students.
My Form is 1E, my weakest class. (They are streamed from A to F). These students have poor skills, in their other subjects as well as in English. Only two or three are likely to pass Form One, but most will go up to Form Two and then be held back for a year so the Form Three results won't look too bad. There are 26 students in this class, one having dropped out during the month to take up full-time kite-flying. They have a very low attention span, and it is impossible to give them even simple instructions as a class. They are also very talkative (in Malay). However, they are generally pleasant and friendly. Some do make an effort to do the work, though they like to be told the answers rather than actually do any thinking. Many of them copy from other students, repeating their mistakes and making a few more of their own. Homework is really out of the question for this class, though I am supposed to set it. So I give a bit of homework and get them to do it in class. Don seems to have these kinds of students in all three of his (Form Two) classes. (His school is at Kampung Ayer.) My best class, 1B (21 students), is quite a pleasure to teach, though only a few of the students show any sign of really creative thinking. The other class, 1C (20 students), is a mixed bunch. I know my predecessor had a lot of difficulty with this group. Once they settle down a lot of them work reasonably well, but some of them find it hard to stay in their seats. I follow the text book for two double lessons a week (quite good - written by CfBT staff) and then on Saturdays, my biggest day as I have all three classes, I usually do work based on games, songs or videos.
As for the overall operation of the school, I haven?t really worked it out yet. As in Singapore, nobody tells you anything. I wasn't even told I was a Form teacher. I had to find out for myself. At least here I have other ex-pats to ask how things work. I eventually found out how to get photo-copying done, what forms to send home to parents of absent students, where to find reading-books, the video-room, the key to the video-room, etc. At the moment I'm working on finding out how to locate the key to the Staff toilet.
Last week I accidentally came across a set of school rules and an outline of discipline procedures, none of which appears to operate in practice. There don't seem to be sanctions of any kind, and I don't know who I would report any serious discipline problems to. Fortunately, there are no real discipline problems. The advice from CfBT was to avoid any confrontation in class as both student and teacher lose face, so if a student doesn't feel like working or is in a bad mood, it is best to ignore the situation unless you have a chance to talk privately (which is unlikely). A student who is difficult one day can be quite cooperative the next. And respect for teachers (and elders in general) is part of the culture, so the kind of discipline problems that arise in Australia are rare here.
The work is easy. I only have to prepare three lessons a week, which I teach to each of my three classes (with variations taking into account the different ability levels). I take up books to correct after almost every lesson, but all marking and most preparation can be completed during school time. Some teachers tell me they have to stay back two afternoons a week (even if they actually have nothing to do), but there is no such requirement at our school. I sign on at 12.15 and sign off at 5.30, and that's all.
I do enjoy the teaching, and it is a challenge motivating students who have no real reason to learn English, unlike ESL students in Australia, but it is not as stimulating as the teaching I was doing in Singapore. On the other hand it is a lot less work and Yoong and I see a lot more of each other than we did in Singapore.
So far Yoong is quite happy here, though she would rather live in Bandar, as she likes city life. (Actually Bandar is more of a big country town than a city.) I would rather live and teach in KB. It is a more interesting mixture of students. I have several Iban students and a few Chinese, whereas in Bandar they tend to be all Malays.
One primary teacher we met is in a very remote school. She has classes of about six students and they take her for walks through the jungle. In rainy weather she has to get to school by boat through the floodwaters. She loves it, but this kind of adventure would not be to Yoong's liking.
We only get three weeks holiday in December. We are planning to go to Sarawak, getting buses (and perhaps some boats) as far as Kuching, where we'll stay for about a week. It's a bit far to drive, and if we flew we would miss the little towns along the way.
We went to the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday 7 November (when else?) - well, not the actual cup, but a local celebration of it. It was a great night - lots of drinking and gambling, and the main dish of the dinner was ham - all the things forbidden in Brunei. Obviously the expat community was making a statement. There were a hundred tickets available and we got numbers 98 and 99 so we just got in. All very well organised, with a large-screen video of the race, and a horse race on a course drawn out on the lawn. We had to form syndicates of about twelve people and bid for the six horses. Most went for around $200. Our syndicate came in second (40% of the total) so we could afford to buy two horses in the second race, one of which also came in second.
Then last Saturday we went up to Bandar for the CfBT Ball, at the Serasa Yacht Club. This was also a good night with a live band (made up of teachers) doing mainly hits of the sixties. I won a coffee-maker in the lucky draw. (Every function in Asia seems to have a lucky draw.) After we left the ball, at about 2 am, we went for a short time to another party for some teachers who were leaving. The main reason we went was because it was held at the house that Don is moving into next year when his family arrives. It is a beautiful big house with enough rooms for his children to have a bedroom each, and for guests (eg. us) to stay as well. We stayed the night with Don, went for a walk in the forest with him in the morning, then met a friend of Yoong's brother for a dim-sum lunch. He is high up in the Forestry Department here and secretary of the local Nature Society in Bandar. Not much use to us, but Don will be able to join in their activities. We ended the day at the British High Commission for a Remembrance Day Interdenominational service, followed by coffee and cakes. The High Commissioner was very interesting to talk to. He is fluent in Arabic and has spent most of his service in the Middle East.
Next Saturday is the school dinner, which is to be held at the Panaga Club. It will be interesting to see how the Bruneians enjoy a night out (no alcohol of course).
There is a newly formed Anzacs society which we have joined, and they will also be having a dinner in the best Western restaurant in town - Buccaneers - which we have not yet been to. The local CfBT staff will also be having a Christmas dinner there. So, as in Australia, there are a lot of activities going on at this time of year.
As for our everyday eating, we have found a great lunch deal at a local Chinese restaurant. For $3.50 we get to choose three dishes each out of about six or seven dishes that change daily. It comes with rice, soup and unlimited Chinese tea. The quality of the food and service is excellent, we eat in air-conditioned comfort and we can catch up with the news on CNN. It has to be the best deal in town. We now go there for lunch almost every day. On weekends (Friday only) when we have more time, we can even take in a bottle of wine (so long as we tuck ourselves out of sight in a corner somewhere). We thought we were better off for food in Singapore, but you can't get anything of this value there.
Exams have started at school, so it's the beginning of the end. There will be no more actual teaching, so it will be rather boring for the next month. I suppose I can prepare next year's work scheme, but that won't take a month to do. At least I've managed to gather up a few good books to read.