ANGKLUNG PERFORMANCE DURING SMK TMN UNIVERSITI'S GRADUATION CEREMONY

The Angklung Group was invited to perform during the Graduation Ceremony for the fifth formers of SMK Taman Universiti. This was the first time the group was asked to attend this grand event. It was held at Pulai Spring Resort.

Other than that, I had the opportunity to meet up with the students I taught and left when they were in form two. They are already leaving school - how time flies.

And of course, there were all my ex-colleagues too.

SHORT VIDEO: The welcoming song "Dia Datang" played when the VIP arrived. (video courtesy of Cik Maizurah Abu Hassan)

I am actually waiting for more people to upload/send their photos taken together with me.

As for the Angklung Group, this was not our last performance of the year. We are looking forward to attending a carnival in Puteri Harbour by the end of next month.

ATTENDING MR. SARAVANAN'S DEEPAVALI GATHERING

26th OCTOBER 2017 ~ We were invited again by Mr. Saravanan, an English teacher of SMK Seni Johor Bahru, for a Deepavali open house at his place in Mount Austin. There were also many other guest - Mr. Saravanan's friends and relatives. It was already the 9th day of the celebration but it was never too late to hold function like this in Malaysia.

As usual there were a lot of authentic, delicious Indian food being served. This was actually our second time visiting.

We had to give away our seats to people who were arriving and decided to extend the gathering for coffee (among ourselves) at a McCafe in a McD outlet nearby (as these people had endless stream of gossips to deliver).

Thanks Mr. Saravanan for inviting us. You should know my friends would never say "NO" to meetings when there is food available, during or after. Hope to visit you again next year.

FORT ROTTERDAM - MY FIRST HISTORY LESSON OF MAKASSAR

13th OCTOBER 2017 ~ My first real life history lesson of Makassar started at Fort Roterdam - a fortress originally built by Makassar rulers to defend the land from the Dutch East India Company back in 1634.

The buildings here looked well-kept and the paint was quite new. All the buildings here were erected by the Dutch except the single story one was built by Japanese during their occupation.

I even hired a tour guide called Yasin, a student from one of the universities here who is studying English as his major. He insisted to speak English as he felt I could understand him better than using Indonesian language. I paid him 100 000 Rupiah for the tour in the fort.

The fort was the shape of a turtle - with the head of the turtle facing the sea.

a chimney

a real secret tunnel

with Yasin, the tour guide

The architecture made me feel as if I was in the Netherlands. There was also a museum here which I decided to visit to complement my short stay in the fort.

[MY MAKASSAR TRIP MAIN PAGE]

ATTENDING JOHOR STATE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CONFERENCE 2017

day one

I used to go to the hall at Kolej Perdana, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia to attend wedding receptions. I was there for a different purpose nevertheless on the 23rd and 24th October 2017. My name appeared in the list so I was there for the Johor State English Language Conference.

There were about 500 participants consisting mostly of English teachers from primary and secondary schools throughout the state. Most of the people whom I saw there were strangers.

There were academic papers presented by English teachers, language officers and lecturers of UTM.

choral speaking performance

action song performance

day two

with friends from Johor Bahru

I was glad to be selected to attend the conference. I could not even remember attending such an event. It must have been a very long time ago.