Fireworks for Chinese New Year

For the past few evenings we've been rocketed out of sleep by the explosions of fireworks between about 11:00 pm and  2:00 am. As a matter of fact, one night the noise was so loud that we pulled open the curtains and watched a colorful display from a neighbor's yard that rivaled any small town 4th of July show we'd paid money to watch in America.

My husband, a giant boy at heart,  mentioned that he would like to light off some fireworks, too. "That'd be kind of fun. I'd like to light off some big ones." I told him I'd see what I could do and made a mental note to ask my Chinese "contacts" where I could purchase some explosive fun. Unfortunately, like most of my "mental" notes, I promptly "lost it" forgot what I was going to do.

This morning, while helping a student write vocabulary sentences with the words she'd missed on the last exam, I was startled out of my concentration by the unannounced visit of three local police officers decked out in their official looking hi-vis yellow net safety vests with the words "Polis" emblazoned on the back. These official looking guys strolled though the school building, peeking into bathrooms, opening cupboards, and scanning the perimeter of the building's interior. The primary school teacher saw this as a good opportunity to practice greetings and led her students in a "Good morning, Police Officers!" That caught them a little off-guard and they smiled back, waved a sheepish hello, and headed out the door. Again, like my "mental note" to find fireworks, I completely forgot this short interlude and my curiosity as to the purpose of their visit.

It wasn't until the end of the day when I was told about the police officers' visit. Apparently the restaurant downstairs was selling fireworks(crackers - more probably - I mean we're pretty darn close to China) and apparently selling fireworks/crackers in Malaysia is illegal. (Apparently the police are not so concerned about arresting those "lighting" the fireworks - only those "selling" them.) So the police confiscated the contraband and took the owners to jail. The police were checking out our school just in case additional fireworks were being hidden among books, students and computers.

When I expressed  my regret at having missed the ability to make good on my promise to my husband - "Darn! I missed buying them by one day" -, again I was reassured..

"No problem. The owner will probably only spend one night in jail and he probably has contacts in the police department so he will probably get his supply returned and he'll be back in business tomorrow."

Note to self - "Buy fireworks tomorrow!"

Saturday Surprises

Last evening my husband and I were talking about Saturday plans. His is always predictable: work. Mine is always different but includes some type of physical activity: gym, jogging or biking. This week's plans included new twist; five students joining me on a bike ride. And, to be quite honest,  I was a little nervous about the responsibility.

In preparation for the excursion,  I'd driven around town to plan a route with mostly village roads, very few dangerous intersections, and an interesting destination. I'd reminded the students on several occasions to bring water. I'd packed a spare tube, rubber patches and cement, a pump, and basic bike repair tools. There'd been no notes to parents, no permission slips signed, no waivers of responsibility, nothing. Instead I'd gotten a verbal "thumbs up" from the principal - "What a great idea! No problem at all!"

After relating my American-based-too-much-media-hype-teachers-liability- litigation concerns my husband smiled and said,  "I hope your day is filled with surprises. Everything will be just fine."

Still not convinced, I replied,  "I hope it's only filled with good surprises. I don't want anyone to get hurt."

As it turned out, my husband was right, and the day was filled with many good surprises. Here are three that stood out:

1. Met the Manjung Cycling Team (MCT) en-route to school. I saw a group of men decked out in tight, colorful  biker shorts assembling together with road bikes several blocks from our house. I'd heard there was a local bike club but had been unable to locate them. As a result of this morning's ride, I knew their staging location and time and got a Facebook address for future reference.

2. Enjoyed a 25 km ride - the students' longest ride ever with stops at a Chinese temple near the sea and McDonalds for breakfast and ice cream- with delightful, eager, friendly, positive, optimistic kids riding anything from older,slightly rusty mountain bikes, to newer  "fixes" and everything in between. They were respectful of riding single file, watching for cars and keeping track of each other. After few seat adjustments (I explained how they are growing and probably needed to raise their seats) and a little air in a couple of tires, we had smooth spinning. My worries had been unfounded.

3. Found the registration page for the 120 km JMFR (Jalan Manjung Friendship Ride) in April. I'd seen the billboard for this ride but couldn't read it or locate any further information, so the search for the bicycle club also yielded the April ride for which my husband and I are both now registered.

As it turned out, the surprises were all good so I have a lot to be thankful for.

Teaching NetBall

At 7:50 a.m. today, exactly 5 minutes after I walked in the door to school, I got the news every 53 year old woman who was always picked last for teams in high school PE and therefore prefers individual sports wants to hear...

"You're taking the girls today for PE. You can teach them netball and determine if we can put together a team for the All Christian Schools Sports Day in July."

Oh boy! This should be fun. First of all, I've never played netball. For that matter, I've seen a netball game. As a matter of fact, the only time I'd even heard of netball (before this morning) was at a Christmas Eve dinner about 15 years ago in Maryland when the hostess mentioned she'd been pretty good at netball in New Zealand  and I was too shy to admit that I had no idea what she was talking about. I'd pictured bouncing a basketball over a volleyball net.

"No problem," I replied. "Let me just Google that."

By now the students were streaming into class. Between "Hellos", academic questions, and papers being thrown on my desk my quick skim of some netball basics told me there are 7 players on the field and the ball can only be moved forward by passing. Finally, the person throwing the ball cannot not move. I figured this would give me enough information for one day. We'll run and pass.

We headed out to the field and I was instructed to lead the girls in a warm-up. Standing in front of me were the usual assortment of middle and high school girls who were less than enthusiastic about jumping around in the hot sun. I figured some fitness PR was in store so I gave them my #1 reason to exercise....Endorphins! I explained that I didn't LOOOVE exercise, but I really LOVE the feeling I get after I exercise - happy, energetic, focused...Even if they didn't buy my marketing campaign, at least they would learn a new English vocabulary word.  And guess what?! It worked. They performed and put forth their best effort jogging in place, stretching and even trying push-ups. They were sweating, moving, and participating without complaining.

After doing about all the warm up exercises I could think of, I sent one of the more responsible girls over to find us six balls. Several minutes later she returned with one very big, hard basketball. My face dropped.

One basketball on a grass field with 20 girls. I needed a plan B.

I asked Responsible Girl, "Remember those Spider Man plastic balls we used for the team-building activity last week? Can you find those?"

Off she trotted.

Problem solved!

The rest of the class went really well. I just pictured the thousands of soccer practices I'd watched (and paid for) over the course of about 14 years and decided to get some additional money's worth. I modified them - instead of using feet to move the ball forward, the girls had to pass the ball forward with their hands. I then moved to three players ( a game of keep-away), small-sided games and finally to a full field (minus the net - I have no idea where it is or what it looks like).

The class went well, the girls had fun and we all got some exercise. On the way back to the "changing area" the principal asked, "So, which girls do you think should be on the team?"

Are you kidding?! I was too focused on just trying to come up with enough to last 2 hours and keep the names straight. I have no idea who can do anything. And, I have no idea what will make a good netball team. Furthermore, I'm not a coach!"

I replied, "I have no idea but I think I can use ALL the girls for awhile. That way, we'll have two teams and we can play against each other. Besides, I'm not sure who even WANTS to be on a netball team. Can we play for a few weeks first before I have to create a roster?

Strike this as just another day filled with unexpected surprises...