Jing @ SEALNet: Project Malaysia 2009

The update I promised

2009-06-24T21:54:00.005+07:00

Location: My room, KL
Mood: Sleeeepy.
Music: Barely Breathing - Duncan Sheik

Alright, so I've already talked about the individual projects that the students came up with, so I'll go on to talk about the final day. The final event was pegged for the 13th of June, and the students worked really hard preparing for it. We had an MP officiating the event, and representatives from the MNS talking. I got to give a brief intro to SEALNet. :)

The final day showcased the students' project proposals (they made posters for it) and the environmental activities they had done over the past two weeks (litter sorting, mangrove planting/clearing, water monitoring etc). There were also a lot of fun games with an environmental focus (e.g. the chopstick game, only you had to pick up pieces of plastic, aluminum and paper and put them in the appropriate stack. Bowling with a coconut husk was also pretty fun. The MP went around and the students presented their proposals to him. The students also sold a bunch of KSNP stuff to raise money for the park, as well as a bunch of crafts made from recyclable materials (like these amazing fish we made!). It went really well! There were speakers outside, where we blasted reggaeton at Han Hsien's request - he went crazy. We also played Maahi Ve, which I knew the dance to, courtesy of Sneha! :)

Now, about the prank. So Kraig is afraid of bugs, and throughout the project Keng had been playing pranks on him, putting beetles in his shoes, blowing ice at him at KFC to make him jump etc. I think the score was 2-0 to Keng. To get him back, Kraig decided to cling wrap his car!

Amazing project. Saying goodbye to everyone was really difficult. We exchanged string bracelets on the last night (another SEALNet tradition). The last day went really quickly. After string bracelets, we slept, had the final day, then packed up and went to KL for our final dinner and our night out - an amazing end to the project. :)

Nice job everyone! I am super proud to have been part of this team, and I am so so glad that I did this. Organizing PM09 was so much work and so many late nights, but you guys made it amazing and worth it. I learned a lot from all of you, and I have no regrets about the team we ended up with. It was a lot of fun. And all you high school students reading this, you guys were amazing too - it was a pleasure working with you. Keep in touch with us, and all the best for the future! I hope to be seeing all of you soon. :)

Love,
Jing

P.S. Keep your eyes peeled for media coverage of the final day. There should also be (fingers crossed) an article coming out in a magazine, but I'll keep you guys posted.
P.P.S. I'll put more pictures up soon, I promise!
P.P.P.S. I hate accounts.

I'm a slacker

2009-06-17T21:52:00.002+07:00

Location: KL International Airport
Mood: Sad
Music: Jai Ho - A.R. Rahman

Hey guys,

Ahhhh so I was really really bad and didn't post for the last 3 days of the program. We were so busy; it was such a blur of work, late nights and pranks. One of the nights, I was up till 4am with Kellie and Tian, making crafts for the final day event and talking. We woke up really early every morning so we could work with the mentees, giving them the final push for their individual project presentations on Day 12 and the final event on Day 13. Many many posters and crafts were made, and many proposals were written and proofread.

Let's start with the individual project proposals. There were a total of 4 groups, and the judges were Kat, Asok, Tian, Kellie and me. There was Jia Jun, Farah and Sonia Maria (the out of towners), who proposed a project involving reusable bag campaigns in their individual hometowns, Pavitra, Rina and Kiru, who wanted to plan a fairly large scale Recycling Day in their school, Uthaya, Shan, Velan and Ahmad, who just proposed many things, ranging from a herb garden to an environmental camp at KSNP, and Hwei Yee, Jin Jing, Pei Yee and Kalai, who were going to hold a monthly recycling competition at their school between separate classes (something that my Chinese school actually did do, and did so very successfully). All in all it was really good, and I was pretty impressed with the projects.

Okay, never mind. I do not have time to finish this post, and I'm not going to be able to write for a week (thank you, China, for blocking my blog). Its going to be fun. My brother and sister are going to summer school, so the entire family is going to drop them off. :) I promise promise promise a full update when I get back, where I will tell you about the prank we played on Keng (we clingwrapped his car), the prank Keng played on Kraig (there was a beetle in his DVD case that he almost brought back to Hawaii with him), the final day, how sad leaving everyone was, and many other things. Check back in a week or so!

Banana!

2009-06-11T13:53:00.001+07:00

Day 10: Last day of workshops!

2009-06-11T12:41:00.011+07:00

Location: Hall, KSNP
Mood: Upbeat
Music: Kiss Me Through the Phone - Soulja Boy

Today was our last day of leadership workshops! Connie and Han Hsien taught Effective Writing, and Ha and Klarizze taught budgeting. For the budgeting workshop, we had to plan Uthaya's (one of our mentees!) birthday party with RM800. They had a variety of options for entertainment. Wei Jian's services cost RM50, Min Sern (who sings amazing a capella) was RM100, and Britney was RM200. I think they had fun. Wei Jian kept trying to up his price, insisting that he would pull crowds.

The rest of the day was spent on helping the mentees with their individual project proposals, presentations, and their planning of the final event. Chaotic. We're going to be making crafts out of recyclable goods - I made a fish out of a bottle!! It was really cute. Kat, Kraig, Klarizze and Han Hsien helped out too. Kraig gave his fish human eyes - we all agreed that he should not be allowed to paint any more fish.

We saw a 6 foot long monitor lizard in the drain today. Kellie claimed that she could outrun it, but then it started sprinting and she quickly changed her mind. We also saw it go after a chicken.

Alright, so I promised to introduce the team a while ago, and I know its reaaaaly late (3 days left!) but I'm just going to do it now. I've introduced all the project leaders and the logistics team in earlier posts, so here's the planning team.

From the left: Wei Jian and Han Hsien

Yi Xiang is a freshman at Carnegie Mellon and Wei Jian is a sophomore at MIT. They're both Malaysian, and they were both on Project Malaysia '08. The two of them were on the planning team for the project, making me the only none Project Malaysia 08-er to held out. Yi Xiang helped us with a lot of the fundraising (thanks CMU!). They're both funny people. Wei Jian is definitely the team clown. He asks the most intrusive questions on spotlight on, and keeps challenging people to sing offs (although Min Sern kicked his butt the other day).

From the left: Diego, Ha, Han Hsien, and Brynna enjoying drinks in plastic bags - Malaysian style.

On the far left is Diego, a friend of mine from Swarthmore. He's from Miami and he likes mangosteens (and all food in general) a lot. He eats like a rodent, and speaks too many languages. He's also the most polite person you'll ever meet, and he's crazy about cars. He tells the worst jokes in the world, and he has miniscule pet frogs named Robespierre and Keikuri Rasputin. He's pretty great with the kids, but horrifying to wake up.

The other boy in the picture is Han Hsien from Wesleyan. He's a Penang boy, so I am once again constantly having to remind him how much better KL is than Penang. Its really funny, but he at times reminds me of another friend of mine from Penang whom I met at Project Vietnam last year - Matteus Pan. He makes a pretty sweet gangsta face (and can do a legit blood gang sign...as seen from the pictures below), and he is just the sweetest because he is happy and smiley no matter what.

On the far right is Brynna, who is a sophomore at UC Berkeley, and second from the left is Ha from NUS High School. Brynna is half Thai, lives around the LA area, and comes to Southeast Asia every year. She is also very sweet, and really funny - the high school kids call her "water bottle" because like all Americans, she pronounces her t's as d's. She's a pretty big hit with the kids. Ha is from Vietnam, and she's the only high school student on our team. She has a camera as big as she is, which is one of the cutest things to see. She also seems like a pretty amazing artist/designer, although I must admit I haven't really seen any of her stuff. She does have a really cool tattoo on her back though, and I hear she listens to badass music.

Us chilling out after a long day

The boy in the grey is Por, and the girl in the blue next to him without glasses is Connie. They're both sophomores at Duke. I haven't told them yet, but at the beginning, whenever I said their names out loud, it always came out Cor and Ponnie (us PLs called them that before we met them). They're both pretty amazing and hardworking - I honestly don't know where the team would be without them. Connie is from DC. She's essentially the best person to be stranded on a desert island with, because she has just about everything you would ever need to survive in that orange bag of hers. She does archery (how cool is that!) and practices with her bow every day, and also makes videos. Por is from Thailand, and he is also pretty hilarious. He's in charge of the final day event organization, which has him running around lots and lots.

On the far left is Klarizze is from the Philippines. She actually just graduated, but she's going to economics grad school in Toulouse next year, which is pretty sweet. She seems like a pretty hard core academic and is crazy smart! :) She's very sweet, even if she is a little shy.

I don't think Kraig realized Brynna wasn't posing. :)

That leaves...Kraig. Hahaha. Kraig is funny. He's Kellie's brother, and just graduated WashU. He's headed to med school back home in Hawaii next year. He can be somewhat spacey, but the kids love him, he's lots of fun and he definitely adds lots to the team. He says the most ridiculous things ever.

Our professional mentors are also lots of fun. (Very briefly), Kat is 24 (younger that some of our older team members!), and just spent a year in Namibia. She is super awesome. Kevin, who was with us for a week, is a co-founder of SEALNet and really knows what's what. The two of them really helped Tian, Kellie and I out with the planning.

So that's our team. All of them, combined with our logistics team (comprised of Min Sern, who is blurred out but an awesome singer, the hilariously snarky Keng and Sam, who is just funny) make up our team. I've already introduced the PLs, too, so you can probably see how the 3 of us balance each other out. Kellie is definitely the craziest, Tian is definitely the chillest (and the most narcoleptic), and I'm probably somewhere between the two. Also, Keng insists, the pushiest. Awesome. Everyone loves being the pushy one. :-P Yeah right.

Okay this has been a super long post. Peace out.

Day 9: Progress

2009-06-10T12:33:00.003+07:00

Location: Hall, KSNP
Mood: :)
Music: None

Today was spent on a workshop about mentoring (thanks to Brynna, Diego and Wei Jian), which concluded with the mentees writing down positive mentor-like traits on stars and sticking them on us. They were really cute, and everyone enjoyed it. It was kind of a pat on the back for all of us.

Planning has accelerated. The final day planning is a little scary, and I think we need to be providing the mentees with a little more direction in the planning process. Individual projects look really good though, and I'm really excited.

The group planted mangroves today. I was a little sad that I couldn't go, but figured that since I was just recovering I should stay back and rest.

My mother gave us lots of mangoes when we left KL, so we brought the 2 boxes to dinner and finished them all. Mmmmm so good.

Yi Xiang developed rashes and went home. Han Hsien and I still have rashes though, and they're kind of scary looking. Allergies? Calamine lotion = our best friend.

Day 7: Fun Day in KL

2009-06-07T23:08:00.002+07:00

Location: My room, KL
Mood: Pensive
Music: Big Country - Bela Fleck and the Flecktones

So I decided to stay home for another night, just so that Yi Xiang, Han Hsien and I could get some extra rest before heading back to Kuala Selangor. What a good fun day though!

It started out with my parents taking us to a jazz club (No Black Tie) after the team got in last night. The group was pretty fantastic, and the drinks were good - I think everyone enjoyed themselves. My brother got to meet the team too, which was fun.

Then, this morning we headed over to Pavillion (one of the bigger shopping centers on Bintang Walk). For those of you who are unfamiliar with KL, Bintang Walk is a pretty touristy area with a HUGE variety of things on the same road. Sungai Wang is where you can find really cheap stuff, and lots of fake DVD, Lau Yatt Plaza, next to it, is where you get electronics, and Pavillion is all upmarket stuff, Burberry and Ferragamo and all that. At night, the place comes alive with shisha places and bars - its actually really nice.

We split the group into teams of 6 (my brother joined us) and we sent them off on a scavenger hunt. Thanks to the logistics team for coming up with such an amazing scavanger hunt! The things they had to do involved taking pictures with Chinese, Indian and Malay families, squatting next to some random stranger (and taking a picture of their surprised expression), finding the 40 thousand dollar toilet, hunting down Krispy Kreme, and taking a picure with a la la, after figuring out what the term meant (for those of you who don't know, its sort of the equivalent of a British chav). I'll be sure to put some pictures up soon, some of them were pretty fantastic. I hear Kraig was shameless.

As for the logistics team and the PLs....well, let's just say that we had a really relaxing day! Haha. Kellie, Tian and I went for foot massages, while the logistics team chilled at Starbucks. When everybody was done, we all headed back to my house for some mangoes and to get refreshed for dinner and a walk through the pasar malam (night market).

All in all, a very full and satisfying fun day. :)

Now, back to work!

Days 4/5/6: Litter pick up

2009-06-06T20:40:00.003+07:00

Sorry I've been so bad about posting - I've been a little under the weather! After a year of being away, I'm so not used to the Malaysian heat.

Day 4 started out with an inspiration, the human knot, which ended up taking way longer than expected. Then Connie and Ha held a workshop on public speaking, with a debate competition. That was actually really well done (even if it did run an hour over the allocated time!). I think I speak for all of the mentors in saying that we were all really impressed by how the mentees rose to the challenge, even though some of them had never done debate. The final round, which pitted Sonia against Pavitra, was quite something to watch. Perhaps the only criticism I have is that the students should have been taught how to structure their speeches better. The afternoon saw the students get together as a group to discuss the best way to organize their collective efforts to host the final day event, followed by a litter pick up. That was funny, lots of people sunk in the mud!

I missed days 5 and 6 because I was resting, but from what I understand the students have been making great progress in the final day event and their individual projects. Nice! I'm back home (my parents finally got back from the US) right now, but I'll probably rejoin the group tomorrow for our fun day - I can't wait! :)

Pictures I didn't have time to upload

2009-06-06T14:16:00.035+07:00

Some people have requested more pictures - so here you are!
'
Kraig getting a little too excited about Brynna's game.

The night it rained (and the weather was cool), we all ran out to play.

Sunrise on the way to breakfast.

The high school students trying to figure out a puzzle.

Trying to figure out the native explorer game.

Diego, Connie and Klarrize leading a discussion group.

The KSNP group (Connie, Ha, Han Hsien) hard at work.

Por and Kalai having mentor-mentee time.

Some of the mentees right before we had the litter pick-up.

Woo hoo litter pick up.

Rope bridge.

Diego with a Chinese temple in the background. I believe his comment when he first saw it was like..."whoa, check out that water park!" (referring to the boulders and the stair going up). Omg. I think all of us Malaysians just about died laughing.

DURIAN!

2/3 of the PLs goofing off when we were supposed to be working.

Morning exercises.

Yeaaa asian pose!

The search party for my contacts (check out Sam scratching her head in the background...).

dinner!

Kellie's gmail drafts is full of SEALNet emails - busted!

Brynna having fun talking into the fan.

The things we learn from SEALNet...I don't know why Tian knows how to make the bloods sign, but Han Hsien looks SO badass!

Sunset at dinner.

Group picture.

Brynna and Wei Jian racing.

Connie and Kat on ultraman.

Mentors and mentees race to untie the human knot.

Day 3: A good day, a long debrief and my turn in the spotlight

2009-06-04T08:43:00.007+07:00

Location: Hall, KSNP
Mood: :)
Music: Get Low - Flo-Rida ft. T-Pain

First of all, thanks to all you guys following the blog - its much appreciated! :)

Yesterday was a pretty good day. The leadership lessons were great! First, our logistics team, Sam, Keng and Min Sern, taught a lesson on conflict resolution, which is always a fun one to do. The beginning of the lesson involved Keng busting into the classroom and demanding, "Samantha, where are my car keys?" He told her that his car was missing, then they then argued about it for 5 minutes amidst Min Sern's yells of "What!? But my laptop was in that car.... that's my life!" Eventually, after accusing everyone and their mother of being responsible for his keys, Keng finds them in his own pocket. The mentees had no idea what was going on (one actually came up to them afterwards and pointed out the flaw in the logic of the skit... why would Keng's car be missing if he had the key?). There was also a game called native explorers that involved groups of "Malaysian explorers" trying to figure out a code. Connie, Yi Xiang and Kraig were our explorers.... and they did a pretty amazing job. Kraig did forget a few of the hand gestures though, which was sort of funny.

Brynna and Diego's leadership workshop was really good as well. The kids started to lose a bit of focus at the end though. They had a scavenger hunt, which the students really enjoyed. They're both really good at drawing the kids out, getting them to take the discussion to a whole new level. They're both just really good with kids!

The project group presented the final day event and the individual projects to the students yesterday too. Then they broke off into groups and discussed it with some of the mentors. I think that once they understood that they were going to be organizing/writing proposals for/coming up with their own legit projects, they got really really psyched.

The group in charge of environmental projects organized a photo activity that involved the students heading out into the woods for some nature photography. Ha conducted a little session on basic photography skills, which really engaged some of our mentees....and a few of them got really into it. We had the idea of making an anthology of sorts, where the student scould submit their reflections on nature, scientific writing about the different plants/animals, photographs....etc. and printed them out for the individual schools and for KSNP (maybe we could put it next to a donation box?). I'm excited.

So yeah, everyone did an amazing job - what superstars!

We had two debriefing sessions last night, which were sort of long. Kellie, Tian and I are going to have to manage them better. People were up late working tonight - I know Connie and Ha were up late preparing for tomorrow. We're also a little worried about getting the kids to discuss the final event tomorrow, since a lot of them seem to be really really excited about specific tasks or activities. but they have no idea how to structure or organize the planning of an event. We're going to have to figure out a good way to direct their discussion tomorrow.

Funny story. Somehow Min Sern got hold of Diego's bag and put it in the boot of our car. On the way to dinner, Diego calls Tian and asks her where his bag is. He insists that she has it, and she insists that she doesn't. Tian and I then take turns scolding Diego for "pushing the responsibility to other people" and being a bad mentor - didn't he watch the workshop on conflict resolution that morning? We also told him that by signing the SEALNet waiver, he had taken responsibility for himself, his actions, and especially his property. Didn't he read the fine print? By this time, he is telling us how messed up this entire situation is, and Tian and I are dying of laughter. To top things off, thinking of the skit from earlier in the day, I asked him if he'd done a Keng and suggested that he checked his pockets. It was hilarious. I had lots of fun.

I was really grouchy and tired and sleepy, especially after debriefing. Man, I really should just not be allowed to talk when I'm cranky. I went out and got the team drinks (and myself a teh o ais limau), then the logistics team got me a bar of chocolate and a coke on their Tesco's run - hahaha wow. My crankiness ended when I got put on the spotlight tonight, after having been picked by the spinning pen 3 times and having gotten out of it every other time. It was interesting, particularly because I have very different relationships with some of the people on the team (especially those I've known from before), and they got to see different sides of me. Also because people (ahem Kellie and Tian) knew stuff about me that they just wanted me to reveal to the team. It was pretty hilarious. Pretty fun stuff.

Day 2: Dancing in the rain

2009-06-03T09:32:00.000+07:00

So we started off the day with yoga exercises and kaya buns, then moved on to the leadership workshops. They went alright - lots of room for improvement! For one, our lessons need to be more structured and also more interactive. Our team needs to be prepped before each workshop so we know how to help the mentees (which essentially means we're waking up at some ungodly hour to go through lessons with people!). People need to notice when the mentees are spacing out and find a way to regain their focus and attention (probably some activity). Also, people always forget that the mentees don't understand us when we speak too quickly and use big words.

The two leadership workshops today were on service leadership (Yi Xiang and Wei Jian), and leadership styles (Han Hsien and Por). The first session came up with a pretty hilarious skit. It involved Brynna being "so old and so pregnant!" with a stuffed whale up her shirt.

On a good note, the mentor-mentee pairings look really good. :) I think we did a pretty good job.

There was also a crafts activity in which Ashok taught our team and the mentees how to make things with pandan leaves, things he learned from the orang asli.That was fun - I made a prawn of sorts. The team also did some water monitoring with the mentees, which went alright.

I think we're getting rid of the mural painting and coming up with an environmental photo activity. Also, tomorrow we tell the mentees about individual projects and their final day planning - how exciting! I hope they get psyched about it.

Okay I'm exhausted. Long day. Good debriefing (2 hours long!) with lots of good feedback. People have been up working for tomorrow. We danced in the rain. I'm going to sleep.

Day 1: Meeting our mentees

2009-06-02T10:04:00.002+07:00

Today was the first day we met our high school mentees. The day went pretty well, all in all, and our team really clicked with most of the mentees. I personally was really impressed with both the level of English some of the mentees spoke as well as their willingness to voice their opinions. Some of the mentees were a little shy, and others had a harder time understanding us, but I think everything will end up working out well.

The most difficult part of the day by far was going over stakes, impacts and outcomes with the high school students. First of all, the students didn't really understand what we were trying to get at, and when we tried to explain, we used pretty long and big words without thinking about it. The shyer ones clammed up, the louder ones were silenced by the shyer ones not wanting to talk, some of them spaced out, and others were peer pressured into not talking. The students also tended to self-segregate, sometimes by school and sometimes by race. They also used Tamil and Malay and Chinese to communicate at times, which really didn't help either. But yeah, they all seem really awesome and its going to be lots of fun working with them.

After having met all the mentees and talking to the mentors about it, Kellie, Tian and I assigned mentor-mentee pairs tonight - I hope everything goes well!

Kevin, Kathryn and I also met the local MP today. It was actually really fun! He's really into the environment, and got so excited by SEALNet and PM09 that he really wanted to find a way to get more involved. He was so upset when he found out that his schedule was booked for the next week; not only did he accept our invitation for him to be the Guest of Honour and open at our final day event, but he also requested that he receive some time to address our team/the students. All in all, a very successful meeting.

The team is doing great. Really good debriefing session, in which lots of people talked, and really good Spotlight On. :)

Ugh. Getting eaten alive by mosquitos and bugs. I need to do laundry. I stupidly brought a lot of tank tops because I was worried about the heat, but forgot that we might have some more religious students. So I only have 4 T-shirts with me for 14 days. Intelligent.

Day 0: Monkeys

2009-06-01T08:56:00.002+07:00

Location: Hostel 3, KSNP
Mood: Ready to go
Music: None - everybody's asleep

Today was a long long long day, and it involved a lot of discussion. Day 0 of SEALNet projects are always so busy, but they're never that memorable (in my experience). Its just a lot of stuff to get through. After an early start (7:30am), Malaysian breakfast (which Wei Jian rated a C+) and a tour through the mangroves (which was long, hot and sweaty), we settled down and gave the team an orientation to SEALNet (one of our professional mentors, Kevin, is actually one of the founders) and an introduction to Project Malaysia 2009. We explained the role of the professional mentors and the project leaders in the whole SEALNet process.

Essentially, the project is kickstarted and organized by two (or in this case, three, because three is just better) project leaders. At least one of them has to have completed a SEALNet project, and (usually) at least one belongs to the host country. They fundraise, read applications, pick the team of college and high school students, communicate with the local partner, and organize logistics. However, once you get on ground, the project stops belonging to the project leaders and becomes everyone's responsibility. The team members step up as leaders and shape the project.

So we as a group also discussed our stake, impact and outcomes. We talked about what we wanted/hoped for the project, the impact we hoped to have on the mentees and on the community, and the immediate quantitative outcomes we hoped the project would have. The final stake our team decided on was: Branch out and lead through passion, action and inspiration. We also came up with a chant of sorts, for when the energy level got too low.

And then we split into 3 groups: a group to coordinate the leadership workshops, one to coordinate the environmental activities we'll be doing with the mentees (and communicate with MNS), and one in charge of helping the mentees out with their individual projects and the planning for the final day event.

A monkey busted into our room (the mesh at the window had a hole in it) and stole all my stuff. Specifically, my toiletries. Specifically, my contacts (wtf?), toothpaste, a bottle of soap. my motrin, our detergent and a few other small things. Those monkeys are going to be clean, drugged up and beautified when we find them. Everything was chewed on when we found it - and the team had to conduct a search party outside for my contacts. It was ridiculous. RIDICULOUS. This was not a problem we anticipated. Also, I needed a new toothbrush.

Kevin, Kathryn and I are meeting the local MP (Member of Parliament) tomorrow - we're hoping to have him attend the final day event as the opening speaker. I got picked because I'm the only one out of the three co-leaders with legit clothes on me. It should be interesting.

We had our first set of spotlight ons tonight. For you non-SEALNet readers, Spotlight on is a SEALNet tradition in which a team member takes the hot seat, and everyone asks them questions. It was pretty ridiculous. There are some questions that are also "traditions," and are passed down - for example, everyone is asked who their favourite PLs are. I don't really like that question!! Also, the boys (particularly Wei Jian) asked some pretty risque questions. I'll stop there.

On the video the PM08 leaders made for us

2009-05-31T17:32:00.005+07:00

You guys are the best! :) And sooo funny. We won't let you down. Tuan, you're pretty cool for being such a loser (and there's a delta sign on your face...no, wait, two). Jokes. You're sweet. Wesley, I'm so sad that you're graduating before I got the chance to visit MIT and meet you in person, but I hope you have a really good graduation. What are you doing next year? I'm sure we'll meet at some point. And Kai, I'm glad you're still at MIT so we can meet for reals next year when I visit. Looking forward to it!

Tian and Kellie will probably want to respond to you guys after they've seen the video, so I'll let them do it here. Take care, guys!

(Countdown: 1 day): Logistical nightmare

2009-05-31T02:30:00.002+07:00

Location: Hostel 3, Kuala Selangor Nature Park
Mood: My brain is fried
Music: None - everybody's sleeping

Today has been the longest day ever. It started out at 12 am, when Kellie and Tian made the first airport run to pick up Klarizze, one of our team members arriving from the Philippines. I stayed at home and slept, seeing as I needed to wake up to make another airport run; at 10am, I picked up our professional mentors, Kevin and Kathryn, as well as another team member, Ha. I realize that the names are probably starting to get pretty confusing, but I promise I'll introduce the entire team up here soon, probably in tomorrow's post. The last group of people (Kraig, Han Hsien and Wei Jian), brought in by Sam and Keng, were our last to arrive at about 10pm, after which we just played a bunch of icebreakers and went over a few things.

We got to the Kuala Selangor Nature Park (KSNP) at about 1, and basically spent the entire day chillin', making runs to Tesco's (which is sort of like Walmart), eating (Intro to Malaysian Food 101) and scouting around the area. We also picked out some good restaurants to take our team to, located the hospital and the clinic, an internet cafe and a laundromat. I've been driving, which is a little scary seeing as a) I'm not used to driving on the left side of the road, and b) I usually drive a small car on big American roads, but now I'm driving a tank (a van, actually) on narrower roads, and c) Malaysia has some scary drivers. I'm glad Kuala Selangor is not a big city. But I'm starting to get the hang of it, and I'm doing pretty well. This is good for me!

The PM08 leaders also made a video for us, which was really really sweet. I haven't actually gotten the chance to see it, seeing as the internet at the park is iffy and I need to sit outside the office to steal the wireless. I'll watch it tomorrow though, and put the link for it up. (Its http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooV6UGvzXsY).

But the most important thing we've done today was probably meet with Raj, the person in the Malaysian Nature Society we're working with. He's a pretty awesome guy, and really knows what he's doing. He's a mine of information about the environment and the park, is completely passionate about what he does, is full of ideas and is proactive. Inspiring. I really enjoyed the meeting. He works a lot with environmental education, and works with a lot of local programs dealing with the youths in the area. The detail at which the kids work at is really impressive, I looked at some of their reports and its pretty top notch. He's not actually going to be here for the two weeks, so we're dealing directly with Ashok, his "right hand man." He also managed to get the member of Parliament from around here to agree to open our final day event, so we're meeting him (the MP) on Monday. That should be really interesting too - I'm pretty psyched! Also a little nervous.

Talking to Raj definitely gave me a better idea of what I want for the project, the stake I have in it, and (realistically) what I think the team can achieve in two weeks. We're going to be talking about all that tomorrow though, and the team collectively will be coming up with a single stake - so I'll tell you how that goes. That should be a really interesting discussion to moderate, because its where all the idealism/pessimism/realism emerges. What do we all hope to achieve in our two weeks here? What have we come all the way here for? Discussing the stake/impact/outcome of the project is actually something every SEALNet project does, and if done right, its actually very worthwhile and effective. The way it works is that project leaders start out with a vision; once they get on ground, the team redefines this vision and "buys into" the project. This makes them accountable for the project, which then belongs to the whole team as opposed to just the leaders.

Tomorrow's schedule looks a little crazy. We're taking a tour of KSNP, checking out the mangroves and the watchtower where we'll be painting a mural, I'm waking up in 5 hours, so I really should sleep! Just one funny thing I wanted to add though. Today Kellie had to open the gate for the car, and she spent like 10 minutes tugging on the gate (everyone who worked at KSNP who saw her started laughing) until someone eventually came over and told her it was a sliding gate. Hilarious. I thought it was so funny and was laughing so hard that I forgot about her and started driving away - Tian had to remind me about her. Diego also broke the door handle to the guys' hostel - there's a pretty sweet picture of the door lock without the handle. Oh, Diego.

Oh, Kellie.

The door to the boys' room, after Diego was done with it.

(Most of) the team at dinner.

Alright, bed. More to come later! Goodnight, everyone.

(Countdown: 2 days) A glimpse of Kuala Selangor

2009-05-29T16:02:00.021+07:00

Location: The living room, home
Mood: Sweaty, happy, tired
Music: Check on it - Beyonce ft. Slim Thug

Warning: This post is going to have lots and lots and lots of pictures.

Today, at 7:30am sharp, I rolled out of bed. I was greeted by this sight.

Yeah, Kellie the blanket monster waking up Tian (it took a while, too). What?

Also, Kellie was cold, so she came up with a way of putting on her contacts without leaving her bed (check out the contact case on the floor). THESE PEOPLE ARE CRAZY!!!

We picked up some water for the team (about 100 litres) and started the one and a half hour drive to Kuala Selangor to meet Ashok, one of our contacts at the Malaysian Nature Society. Tian, Kellie and I hitched a ride with Min Sern, a Swarthmore freshman on our logistics team, while Sam and Keng, two of our local logistics team members, followed in Keng's car.

Breakfast in the car: Roti Canai and iced Ipoh coffee.

We headed to the Kuala Selangor Nature Park, met up with Ashok, and walked around the site. Together, we came up with a more detailed schedule and a list of environmental activities for the college students and the high school students to do together. We're going to be clearing areas for mangrove planting, planting mangroves, prepping seedlings for planting, picking up litter in mangrove areas, water pollution monitoring, painting handrails, painting a mural, making environmental education posters..... amongst other things. We also got to check out the hostels and the A-frames we're going to be staying in, and I found out why they're called A-frames.

Talking to Ashok

Ashok: Made you look!

Our logistics team. From left to right: Min Sern, Sam and Keng.

Min Sern is a rising Swarthmore sopohmore who lives in Petaling Jaya, about an hour southeast of Kuala Selangor. He sings a capella and he's a pretty cool kid. Sam is a friend of mine from primary school, we've known each other since we were 7. She was my prefect and got me in trouble lots, but now we're pretty cool. Her and Keng go to IMU, a local university - they're both medics. They're our trusty logistics team, responsible for the money, the welfare of our team, feeding us, making sure things go smoothly and checking that everyone is feeling okay.

Our hostels

Us fanning Kellie

There are actually lots more really funny pictures from today, but the internet is down so they'll have to wait. You'll just have to wait to see the crazy car pictures, the A-frames, our mosquito bites and our outing to Luna Bar (we were all pretty stressed out from planning and decided to treat ourselves). Luna Bar is this swanky bar at the top floor of a hotel in KL; its right next to the twin towers and gives you the most amazing view of the city. We got to sit right next to this huge glass window, so that we really awesome. When we first sat down, Diego (accidentally) intruded on the couple next to us by stretching out his arm into their cuddle group. Hahah. And I'm pretty sure there are also videos of Diego eating all the mangosteens in my house. Hanging out in KL after the project is going to be fun. :)

BUT I think the thing that takes the cake today are Ashok's cool crocs. You guys will get to see them later. They're pretty much the most amazing things ever - you guys are really missin' out. Sorry this post is kind of messy, I'll come back and clean it up and add more pictures later.

AHH THE PROJECT IS STARTING SOON! I can't believe this.

(Countdown: 3 days) Project Preparation and way too much food

2009-05-28T22:17:00.005+07:00

Location: My room, home
Mood: Chipper
Music: Wreckless Love - Alicia Keys

After 3 flights, a couple of transits and a hectic day of running around KL, I'm finally home. Its been such a long two days, and its been mad since I got back. I'm with Kellie and Tian, my co-leaders, at the moment. They're busy working on the schedule as I write.

The madness started the minute I got into the waiting area in the airport, where I was supposed to meet Tian, who had supposedly arrived from Texas an hour earlier. I was hoping to find her quickly, since a) my Malaysian sim card was not working with my phone, b) Tian did not have a cell phone on her, and c) I was hungry and so ready for some legit Malaysian food. Recipe for disaster. After a bunch of frantic calls to Gianne (our local contact who was cracking up at the way I sounded more and more out of breath with each subsequent call), running back and forth between the two entrances of the second floor food court (Tian, of course, had to pick a meeting point with two entrances) and seriously contemplating just making a missing person announcement, I decided to just head downstairs to the train and wait for her there. In the elevator, I noticed that there was also a food court on the fourth floor... AH! TYPICAL TIAN. Of course, she had no idea she was on the fourth floor instead of the second. And had just gone a level up to get an elevated view of the arrivals hall so she wouldn't miss me. Oh boy. :)

Tian and I find Kellie at KL Sentral.

The rest of the day quickly filled up with too much food (I love Indian mangos), stationary shopping, project planning and picking up supplies (water, mosquito repellent/coils, soap, toilet paper!). I guess when you're paying 3USD a day for lodging you can't really expect toilet paper. I also managed to get in a couple of visits to my grandparents, which was nice, but for the most part we've been working all day. So far, we've made phone calls to confirm homestays for our out-of-town high school kids, arranged airport pickups for our team, basically reworked our entire schedule, decided on some ice-breaker activities, designed our team T-shirts and sent out a bunch of emails. We also have an early day tomorrow- we're meeting our logistics team at 8:30am and heading to Kuala Selangor to scope out the town/meet with our local partners. Fingers crossed that there's a place for us to do our laundry in town - 2 weeks without laundry would be dire.

Now, let me introduce you to Kellie and Tian, my lovable and awesome co-leaders. I honestly cannot imagine having to plan/run this project without them. After the thousands of emails, freakouts and project calls all over the world at crazy hours (from as late as 4am to as early as 8am), I can just tell that this is going to be an amazing two weeks.

So the one being beaten up is Tian. She's also the one sandwiched between Kellie and me in the first picture. She's Malaysian and from Sugarland, Texas. Also a sophomore Chemical Engineering major from MIT. You would think this would make her intense and sleep deprived, but she actually sleeps a lot (I believe Kellie's description was..."she misses her 10am classes and then sleeps through her afternoon ones") and gets lost a lot (as evidenced by our airport adventure). She's actually falling asleep right now, despite Kellie's clamours of "stay with meeee....stay with meee!" I met her at the SEALNet retreat in Stanford this January, a few days after I joined the project as her co-leader.

Kellie's the one beating Tian up with a roll of paper we bought today... and she's from Hawai'i. Today was my first time meeting her in person. She is also a sophomore Chemical Engineering major from MIT (she sleeps less than Tian, though). She's also a little crazy, and uses the word "fruit" and calls people "fruitcakes" instead of swearing. This video basically sums her up. Watch it! Its worth it, I promise.

Hot. :)

More pictures from my trip.

My gate at HK airport - the last flight separating me from home!

Local coffee - iced. Kopi kemamam, to be specific. Sooo good.

Banana leaf: My choice of a first meal at home. Its basically rice, curry, fried chicken, all sorts of vegetables (the crunchy fried ones are the best) on a banana leaf. I didn't eat with my hands, like most natives do though. Also, I forgot to take a picture of it before I finished it - I was way too hungry and excited about it. By the time I remembered that I was supposed to be documenting my trip, it was too late. Sorry!

Its business time.

Alright, I'm out. Time for bed, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Goodnight, everyone!

Update:// Funny story. A sign I saw at KLIA - "Stop yellow fever from coming to our home." Hahaha what. I got a real kick out of it.

(Countdown: 4 days) The journey home

2009-05-27T10:00:00.000+07:00

Location: Gate F15 in Miami International Airport
Mood: Jittery
Music: Subterranean Homesick Blues - Bob Dylan

So I'm ready to begin my 28 hour trip back to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - my first time home in a year. I'm pretty excited to be going home; KL is such a fast-growing city that it feels like everything changes each time I leave, and its such a different place from when I left it to come to school in America four years ago. The "in" places from my teenage years have become "out," and new and hipper areas have emerged to replace the ones I grew up with. Heritage Row, The Gardens, The Curve, that new mall on Bukit Bintang whose name I can never remember.... my local friends are constantly having to tell me about the newest places to go and things to do (which means that I usually feel like a bit of a tourist in my own city!). It also feels like the crime rate is constantly going up; each time I go home I'm greeted with stories about the latest scams and scandals about the city and warned that things have gotten "more dangerous" from when I left. Or perhaps its just my mother being paranoid!

Going home this time its a little different though, because I'm going to be spending two of my four weeks there leading the SEALNet (South East Asian Service Leadership Network) Project Malaysia 2009 (PM09). The project is going to be held in Kuala Selangor, a small seaside town about an hour and a half north of KL. Kuala Selangor, or KS for short, is a town that relies heavily on eco-tourism for its livelihood, and its pretty famous for its fireflies and its bird watching. My co-leaders (Tian and Kellie) and I have been planning the project all semester, and we'll be working with the the Kuala Selangor Nature Park (KSNP) and the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) to address the growing environmental issues in Malaysia by inspiring local Malaysian youths to step up as service leaders in their communities. We'll be running some leadership workshops and helping the high school students plan their own environmental projects and a large scale community event, in addition to doing hands-on environmental volunteer work such as mangrove planting and water pollution monitoring. Community service is not really part of Malaysian culture (or encouraged in youths the way it is in the US), so I think the project has the potential to have a huge impact on the students we work with. Its going to be epic.

Just in case you haven't heard about SEALNet, here's a little background info. Its a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Stanford, and its mission is to bring service to Southeast Asia and to promote the spirit of service leadership in the region. Striving for sustainability in its projects, SEALNet accomplishes its mission by building and nurturing a community of service leaders who are passionate about social development in Southeast Asia. Every year, teams of college students (usually pairs) submit proposals for projects and undergo a vigorous leadership training process (including a retreat in January). In the summer, teams of 20 college students are then sent on these projects to various countries in South East Asia, each working on a different project and a different issue.

So we've picked a team of 17 college students from all over the world, 2 professional mentors, and 19 local high school students. Honestly, I cannot even begin to describe how strange it was to be on the other end of the application process! Kellie, Tian and I spent so long agonizing over those essays, reading and rereading those applications, discussing and arguing over them into the early hours of the morning. It was a painstaking process; you really get irrationally attached to some of the applications and it almost becomes a little painful when everyone else votes against someone whose application you really like. That having been said, I'm really happy with the team we ended up with, and I can't wait to put some faces to those essays we read.

Now... pictures! Not too interesting. Mainly of Miami airport. I'm sure things will get more interesting during the actual project.

I picked up a cafe cubano and a guava/cheese pastry from Cafe Versailles at the airport - a must-do if you're passing through. I was introduced to Cafe Versailles by Diego, a fellow Swarthmore sophomore from Miami who is part of the PM09 Team. Its amazing. Everything is so tasty.

Mmmmmm.

The plane!

Okay, well, they're calling my flight number, so its time to go. Adios for now - and more updates to come!