Of Family and Stuffs

My younger sis who just graduated from a Maktab in KL has been posted to a school in Sungkai, Perak. I have not been there yet. She was a bit down when she came to know about the school. Its a small town chinese school. Based on her senior's experience, mode of communication is only Mandarin, and even when they hold meeting, Mandarin is used. So the non Mandarin speaking teacher is left clueless (be it Indian or Malay). So much of 1Malaysia spirit huh?

The senior couldn't stand the condition and nothing much he can do about it, so he asked to further studies. There are also other teacher giving tips to my sister, if you teach BM, that is all you can do. Don't even bother to get involved in other extra curricular activites, basically mind your own business. Well, like me, my sister is also the adventurous type, she loved to get involved with the students, be it in uniform body or any sports activities, and she said if she could not do that, then what is the point of being a teacher then? She got a point there.

I tried to talk some sense into her, noting that not all schools are the same, mainly depends on the headmaster. I told her, unless you try, you'll never know. The school is small, total students is only ~90 persons (Std 1 to Std 6), so there is chances that the headmaster is not as controlling as she would have thought. She reported duty yesterday and according to her, the teachers are OK, just the common feedback that she gets is the students did not really have respect for non Chinese teacher....hhmmm... that is tough.

I told her to hang in there, see how things work, try her best at least, and if she really could not adapt to that situation, there is always another option, whatever that may be.

People should realised that there is big different mindset between community living in kampung and small town versus the one living in big city. I used to take school buses with kids from chinese school (SJKC Jalan Davidson and SM Confucion) and we (4 of us) are the only people from non Chinese school. And these kids got along just well with us. They even tought us how to swear in Cantonese and Mandarin back then... :P So if you are talking about kampung chinese vs town chinese, it is different. 

On another note, her house hunting journey was not so good. She started by wanting to share a RM450/month house with a friend, but the friend is posted somewhere in Slim River, quite a distance from Sungkai, so she started looking for a new house, she found one kampung house RM 175/month and decided its a go. But when my other sister went and have a look, she did not approve, the house is not in well kept condition, and the house owner who lives nextdoor just mind their own business. Since she will be staying alone, they decided to look for another house, with a housemate is preferable.

Luck is on her side and Alhamdulillah, they found this house ,


Cantik tak? baca gaya Eric Leong ye....

If you are driving heading upnorth on PLUS, after Slim River exit, you will see a well built housing area on the left. Its actually a Felda project building homestay, but somehow this owner decided to rent it out. It has 4 rooms with RM 450/month. She is sharing this with another new teacher reporting to a school nearby.

I just hope that my sis can endure the atmosphere there (the school), as I am already making plans to go to Sungkai Hot Springs and free accomodation is always welcomed :D