The weekends always seem to fly by and I find myself back teaching quicker than I would hope. This weekend was slightly chilled. On Friday night, Aman and I were picked up by Andy (one of the deaf guys), who then took us to the YMCA near KK to sit in on the organization of a new deaf club. They are trying to set up their own deaf club in the YMCA, which will be completely run by the deaf, instead of having their events organized by hearing people. When we arrived, the room we wanted to use was locked and no one hada key so after about 1 hr of trying to break in, one of the girls successfully used the ?slip the credit card over the lock? technique. Once in, they discussed the launch of their club and gave some ideas and feedback of things they have done. I knew most of the members by face from meeting them last week, and we all went out for something to eat and drink after. I met a new girl and her boyfriend, who both used to live in KL but have moved over to live together in KK. She was really nice and I?m hopefully gona go to one of the islands with her in a few weeks. She has good English and is great at teaching me sign. The group were in full swing gossiping etc but Aman and I were absolutely knackered as we had been teaching all day, so Andy took us back to KK at about midnight, while the others continued their get together. We met up with Georgie and Catherine (found out that?s how she spells her name- not Kathryn) at the North Borneo Cabin. Claire and her friend (the 2 nurses we met last week @ the backpackers) were still there so we all sat up for aaages just catching up on all the goss and finding out what Claire had done in the last week. They climbed the mountain and it didn?t sound that bad and they had gone to the East coast. It was great to see them again cos the last time I spoke to them, they were thinking about packing in their plans to go and work in Australia as nurses for a year, and travel S.E Asia instead. So when I saw them on Fri night Claire said they had met a group of guys and she was pretty sure she was gona travel with them. But her friend wanted to go straight to Oz, so they had like 2 days to decide what they were doing since their flight to Oz was booked for Monday. Soo, it was all very exciting trying to get Claire to decide what traveling route she was gona take. Since I spent ages on the phone that night, I eventually got to bed at about 2.30am and had a bright and early start at 7am to start the diving course. Was soo nice to get a hot shower since ours is still broken in the hostel and we have to use freezing tap water and our hands (we would use a bucket but its skanky). So we started our Padi course. It was just theory on Saturday so we had to watch a 4hr long DVD and answer lotsa questions. We then have an exam on the theory next Saturday. The DVD was a teeny bit daunting. To start off with, it was sooo cheesy- about how amazing diving is, and how many opportunities you get from it etc, which was fine. But then throughout the DVD it just kept saying how so many accidents can happen- listing all the symptoms from certain problems we can get- forgot their names but mostly your lungs exploding and your ear drums bursting- nasty stuff. The most important thing we were taught is ?You should never ever ever hold your breath under water?. That was drilled into us. As well as equalizing our ears and mask. We were told a story about a guy that didn?t equalize his mask, so the mask got tighter and tighter as he went further down, resulting in like a huge hickie over his eyes. So he had a black strip over his face, making him look like a raccoon and it?s pretty dangerous and painful. The things that worried me is that if I get water in my breathing equip, I might panic and want to get up to the surface ASAP- but you can?t just shoot up to the surface, you gota go really slowly- so it?s all a bit scary. But I asked them all about this and the instructors are amazing. One guy Jeffrey and the other woman Shasha. They kept reassuring us and saying if there?s even the teeniest problem, we can stop and go from scratch until we?re comfortable. We also get taught what it?s like to have no air supply underwater- and how to control yourself and not panic. The instructors will also be no less that reaching distance away from us so they will not let us shoot to the surface. So s?aaal good. Should be amazing! Jeffery said that the last few dives he has been out, there have been Whale Shark sightings. So I?m majorly hoping they?re gona stick around till next weekend cos our first dive is on Saturday. He said they are up to 6m long- plankton eaters- would so soo love to see them!! The boys also saw sea turtles. Really can?t wait to get going next weekend. After the diving course, we went back to the backpackers and the girls and guys that shared a dorm with Claire (one of them works for Lonely Planet and is editing the Thailand book @ the mo) invited us out for drinks then to the one and only club in KK, called ?BED?. I said I was deff up for it but Aman and I had to go back to the school first cos we had our ?Dinner Party? to attend. Mr Soo drove us back and we were amazed when we arrived at the school to see the Asrama students looking gorgeous. They were all dressed up in their best Muslim dress, looking amazing. Aman and I decided straight away to put on our Chinese Dresses, which we did. Firstly we were asked to greet one of the teachers, as the party was partly celebrating her departure from the school. She was welcomed by 2 rows of girls holding sparkly palm trees made of tinsel. We met up with some of the teachers and Johnston complimented us on our dress. Everyone met in the hall, which was laid out beautifully. The teachers all had round tables to sit at, where as the students all sat in rows, further back in the hall (girls on one side, boys on the other). There was a yummy buffet with satay sticks (my fave Malay food), pineapple with garlic (a bit of a weird combination) and hoorrrible shrimp paste, which I did not touch. I felt so sorry for the students though cos it was their party, but the teachers had all the yummy food and they had the typical crap asrama food. A little bit unfair I thought. The party was to celebrate Christmas, Chinese New Year and the departure of the Deputy Head Mistress. To begin there were some short speeches to say farewell to their teacher. The headmistress gave a speech and was so embarrassing cos she pointed Aman and I out in front of everyone and welcomed us personally and said we looked like ?Miss World? in our dresses- beamer. A group of girls gave a beautiful traditional Malay dance on the stage. They had pointed straw hats and used their Malaysian Sarongs to dance with, while the boys played traditional percussion in the background. A group of boys then followed and gave their own dance. Both were fab. Next Joyce played her guitar, while others sang around her. They had written a song to say goodbye to their teacher. Joyce also accompanied a poem, which Meeza and another girl read out. They always read out poems in a different voice- like really passionate- I?m not sure what the tone of voice means but it is slightly high pitched and dramatic. I?ve heard it being used often in performances in Sabah. Joyce then sang her own song while she played the keyboard- she was friggin amazing- has the most beautiful voice and that girl is absolutely stunning. There were a few groups of students that did Karaoke on the stage, but it was kind of formal. I expected the audience to get up and dance, or move about and chat to one another, but everyone just remained in their seats and watched the performances. After the dinner and performances, the students lined up to bid farewell individually to their teacher, then we went around taking photos of everyone. Rakeema was very keen to get photos of us. Anita (the boss of the Asrama), introduced me to some of her ex-students. Some now work in a 5 star hotel near KK, which has a pool, spa-massages, and has a British night coming up. So I?m gona try to persuade Aman to go for one night with me to majorly relax. Although I planned to go back to KK after the dinner party, I was feeling seriously knackered, so I decided to just stay in the Asrama. When I called Georgie to tell her I was no longer gona join them, I learnt that she had eaten dodgie food again and was throwing up- nice. After we went back to out room, I called round a bunch of people and was on the phone for aages. Had an amazing lie in on Sunday then just chilled out in our room, trying to sort things out for the coming week?s lessons. Aman started having a severely dodgie tummy and was in quite alota pain so I called Penelope, who then brought us out some Charcoal tablets. The monsoon season has def started now and it tends to pee with rain quite often- isn?t such a bad thing though cos it makes the temperature slightly more bearable. Rakeema and Liya took me to the Supermarket, where we got all the essentials including Crunch nut cornflakes- score!! Kind of lost my temper with some of the male shop assistants cos they wouldn?t stop following me our shouting things like ?Hi blue eyes? or ?What?s your name beautiful? etc etc. So quite quickly told them to fek off and that I was quite capable of shopping on my own. May have been a bit blunt but they were severely pissing me off. Anyway! Today I?m teaching form 1C and 4A. So so so looking forward to this weekend- Saturday diving, then Sunday White water rafting- will most def be banter.