After I signed off yesterday, Aman and I went and got some dodgy tastin pizza, then headed back to the hotel. That evening, we went with all of the children to a local market. Was the quietest market I've ever been to (to start off with) cause the kids I was with couldn't talk. But then we got to the fruit stall bit and I nearly had to deck some of the local men. Never known any jaws to get so low- they were literally gawping at us. Then at the mango stalls, we were oober verbally abused. They sounded like a group of chimpanzees on speed- no joke. Sorry if that sounds racist- but u try being white, blonde, in a 100% muslim country with men going totally crazy cause they think ur a porn star. Ended up buyin CK1 for RM10, which is like 1.50quid. Smelt real to start off with, even though it burned a bit when i sprayed it, but as the night went on, the smell kinda changed to be slightly more toxic. Got Georgie a Spiderman mask, since she's a fan and Liya and I bought matching silk material to make a traditional Malay outfit from. I've been wanting a pic of a muslim family on a motorbike for ages, but thought it was too rude to take a snap shot. But after the way I've been treated over the last few days, I though screw it, so stood at the side of the road and snapped away. The kids all got neon light gooey bouncy things on a string, they all seemed to like them! This morning Aman and I braved the heat and went along to see the last of the sports. We were under the sweltering sun from 8am-1pm and afterwards I felt like my soul had been sooked out by one of those dementor things in Harry Potter, but instead of feeling cold, I was hotter than a roast pototo and redder than a polished tomato! Had no energy. Constantly being pulled into camera shots by various students, fake smiles were def needed on my part. But the absolutely goorgeously cute Sagita (little visually impaired girl) kept us company and made us feel loads better. She wouldn't stop playing with my hair and Aman's nails, she was just too sweet. We were so glad when the last race was over, and were getting ready to escape the heat at last, only to discover that the medals hadn't been given out yet and there were even more photos to be taken- oh my! Collapsed on the bed as soon as we got back to the hotel but not for long. Had to go and face the bloomin sun again and trek along a crazy high speed road, to get to the Malaysian Airlines Office and suss out our return tickets to KK. Seems like everything is in order now. Fattly then decided to take us on a wee tour of his town..by foot. (He used to live here). Not sure if I've ever actually been that close to passing out. Managed to buy some sexy scarves though- yes mum, more! Not for me though ofcourse! Then at last, Aman and I took refuge in this backpackers again. I really wana get a photo of the guy workin here- looks like an absolute ledge! He seems to have disappeared though. I was quite tempted to come here with Darren, cause its a good place to get to the Perinthian Islands, on the East Coast of Malaysia, but I'm not exactly fond of this city as a stop over point, and as Aman pointed out, there'll be PLENTY of sexy as beaches when I get to Thailand- can't wait!! We've come to the conclusion that even though the last few days have for me been the most frustrating, energy zapping and down right uncomfortable- at least it's another major thing to add to the "experience list". I never really got to experience what it's like to be the one and only white person in an Area (bearing in mind Aman's not white either)- so it's def been..interesting. And now I know, it's not really something I want to go through again. I'm just soo grateful for our placement now. We didn't realise just how Christian Sabah is, as well as the local culture of Kadazan, which is also pretty laid back. And the Chinese population is quite high, so we feel comfortable wearing short sleeved tshirts or knee length skirts, where as here- hard core covering up is needed. I find the people in Sabah so much more friendly, and approachable- mostly cause their English is of a pretty high standard- and in the cities, they're used to seeing foreign tourist, since Borneo is a popular destination, especially for wildlife fanatics. What suprised me was that yesterday, when I asked Liya what is the meaning of the headscarf, worn by Muslims, she didn't know. She had to go and ask another Muslim. It just made me wonder why if some Muslims don't know the meaning of the traditions they follow, why follow them? It's the same with the deaf children- they told us that they don't understand any of the religious stuff- they just have to follow what the person infront of them in the church of prayer room is doing. This made Aman and I think- we've been here and haven't learnt much about the Islamic faith so we asked Liya a few questions. (We'd previously asked the kids about it but they didn't really know anything about their religion). So Liya then told us that the headscarf was just part of the religion- it had a special name. Muslim girls start wearing it when they're "ready" or when their parents decide it's time for them to wear one. Some don't wear it cause they're either not as strict or the girls aren't ready to wear one yet. Liya started wearing hers when she was 14 yrs old. Women must always wear their headscarf unless they are married and in the home, or in the presence of other women. During sports, the Muslim kids wear like trendy small headscarves. We asked her about prayer and they pray 5 times a day, facing Mecca, but women don't pray when they have their period and they are not aloud to enter a Mosque at that time either cause they're seen as being dirty. I asked, what if a man has an bad injury where the skin is broken and he's bleeding?- is that dirty? She didn't really have an answer to that but said he was still aloud to pray and enter the Mosque. Men go to the Mosque most often- ie every Friday and whenever else they get a chance- Women are not expected to go so often. Liya told us that Muslims see dogs as being very dirty and if they touch one, they need to do a handwashing ritual. They have to wash their hands in something mixed with soil first, then wash normally 6 times again. She said that some people get lazy and don't bother though. We told us about clothing and how, a woman should be covered to her wrists, ankles and kneck. If not, then they should wear long gloves under a tshirt to cover their arms (We've seen most women wear these at the sports day). We've seen a few women wearing the full shabang- with just slits in their head wear for their eyes. Aman mentioned that this would be disasterous for deaf muslims using this dress because they couldn't use their lip pattern to communicate and you can't see any facial expressions. Muslims that do have shorter sleaves on, cannot touch a man shoulder to shoulder (ie when getting their pic taken), unless there is something covering the woman's skin. Men and women are obviously forbidden to show any signs of effection, or to be alone together unless married. Penelope was telling Georgie that a couple were seen kissing in a public park in KL a couple of weeks ago and were both arrested- they weren't even Muslim. We know we are to follow the Country's codes etc, but KL is a very westernised, modern city, so it was a bit out of the blue. Homosexuality here results in the death penalty, but we've seen plenty of gay dudes strutting their stuff in KK (not Muslim though). All this really got Aman and I thinking about whether there are any rigid rules we follow to do with religion or culture. We couldn't think of anything we change in our lives just because we're told we have to. We would always question- "But why do we have to do that?" I'm still trying to get my head round these religions- and since I don't have too much of a clue about my own so called religion I should reserve judgement on others.