Omnom

Day empat (4) of my Malaysia adventure, and I am currently in 'holiday' mode. If any of you are sending me letters, I'm not actually at my project yet but in Seremban - Ramadan meaning it's been difficult relocating us. Not that I'm complaining - all we've done is eat, drink, sleep and swim.

One thing needs to be established here. I love food. Seriously, food is basically my 'one true love' and I have reached the stage where I will eat anything and everything. And Malaysia? It's that cheap Cafe on the corner, which looks kind of dodgy, but smells gorgeous and the first taste sends you into conniptions. In the past few days, I've eaten shark soup, red snapper, roast boar, crab, grouper, satay chicken, rambutan - it's tastebud heaven. We've been eating at the strangest times as well - Sunday found us having curry for breakfast, then lunch, a snack-the-size-of-dinner, and actual dinner at 22.30. I mentioned the drinking, and I wasn't joking - you can buy a bucket of beer - six bottles in ice - for 50RM which is £10. We had three of these Saturday evening, and the next night we were taken to a Portuguese Malay Cafe, where we had three beer towers, six pints in each.

Our country representative Aini is away at the moment, so her husband Chris has been looking after us - we invade his house, located on the top of the hill. Following British colonial tradition, this means his house is 'upper class'. He also took us to a Colonial club, where we went swimming again. The boys tried to make a whirlpool by swimming in a circle - all that happened was they looked like dogs chasing their tails.

There has been much bonding time, with us spending a decent amount of time travelling in the bus driven by Mr. Man, a sniper who isn't allowed to leave the country in case he's hired to take out the government. All those fearful for my safety, do not worry! Mr. Man is here. I'm staying in a room with Mya and Lisa at the Lotus Hotel, which is great, though we can't unpack properly and it's driving everyone a tad insane.

On a final note, my partners will now be referred to as 'Geordam' as they have entered into the stage of bromance that demands a couple name.

Hopefully I will be able to write more at some point, but Mya is asking for her laptop back so for now, jumpa lagi!

Emily

3, 2, 1 and BLAST OFF.

And so it begins, Project Trust sending 9 plucky Europeans to Malaysia, to help others, to grow and mature, and to have fun. I'm off with my partners, Adam and George - I'm sure they're going be interesting to work with, what with their quest to steal a monkey.

This is probably the best time to start, although considering the amount of effort that has been put into fundraising, I'm not mentioning nearly enough! Alas, I leave for Malaysia tomorrow. My bag is packed (well, almost...), and reminds me vaguely of the TARDIS or Mary Poppin's bag, considering how much has been fitted in.

Not only this, 'the last supper' is being prepared down below, which for some reason is reminding me of the whole 'Condemned Man' thing - which really doesn't work, as volunteering in Malaysia for a year is NOT a hardship.

As it is, my particular project is certainly interesting! I'm off to Lumut to work at an Outward Bound School. The centre is the oldest Outward Bound centre located outside the United Kingdom, and is designed to encourage teamwork within its groups of participants. The work I'll be doing is varied - if I'm 'on course', I will be instructing, or support-instructing, a range of activities such as kayaking, wall climbing, jungle trekking, sailing, rafting and team games. When I'm 'off-course', I'm still working, but I'll instead be doing equipment maintenance, forest maintenance, swimming, training and first aid.

As with the activities, hours vary - 'on course', I'm on-call 24/7, with main work hours being 6.30am to 10pm, with no days off. In comparison, 'off course' I get a half day on Saturday and Sunday off, as well as the relaxed hours of 9am to 4.30pm.

The participants themselves are also very different - I could be teaching middle aged Malaysia government workers (which sounds terrifying, considering I'm only 18) to children from international schools, with ages ranging from 10-18.

If you want to know anymore about the project, just ask - though I should warn you, at this particular point in time, I have very limited knowledge. Once I actually arrive there, I should be able to tell you more as well as put up some pictures.

Thanks to everyone who helped with the fundraising, and don't forget to stay in touch! And DFTBA (Don't Forget To Be Awesome, as the Nerdfighters say).

Selamat Tinggal!

Emily