Coming to Chukai

So my orientation has finally come to an end and the real part of my Fulbright experience has finally begun. I realized that when my orientation ended there would be major changes, but I never expected… this major. It appears that within the last few days I have gained the celebrity status of Michael Jackson and Julia Roberts combined! I tell you, when I walk down the hallways of my school, students simply just stop and stare in awe. "Teacher!" "Miss!" They wave at me with glee and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the boys had crushes on me. I was never uber-popular in school, though I was always well-liked, and I feel as if I have gained some sort of semi-divine status overnight. All because I'm from America and know English. Go figure.
I'm beginning to realize that on trips to foreign lands, such as the one that I am on, it is the little things that can drive you insane. I am staying in the girls hostel and, to quote the Grinch by Dr. Seuss, "The noise, noise, noise, oh the noise!" Last night, I could hardly sleep as a result of all the noise of girls yelling, slamming doors and, my favorite, setting off the door alarm at 1 or 2 in the morning. The noise is starting to tense up my nervous system. By the time I rolled out of my bed at 6:30am, well, I was mighty tempted just to roll right back into bed again.
More little things are grating on me. I do not get any cell phone reception in my room, and the phone reception tends to be low in any of the buildings on campus. Therefore, I am missing my parents' and other people's phone calls and text messages. The internet does not work in my room, though I am being told that someone in the IT department is looking into fixing that problem. I remain rather skeptical as to the result. It would be such a pain to have to lug my computer onto campus everything I want to check email and I really don't want to discuss important graduate school information with my parents on Skype with 30 students wandering in the background.

Basically, one area that I am struggling with is how to separate my time with the students with my own personal time. This was easy to do with the last ETA, David, as he lived off-campus, but I am forced to be on campus 24/7. In many respects it is great, as I have nervous and shy girls come by my room all the time asking me out for dinner or even to play ping pong and volleyball with them (that was so much fun!). But, it is hard to separate myself from the school, as the cries of the students echo from outside my room even as I type this off-line. I think I'm also frustrated as I want to start teaching and getting into the groove of things, but I'm getting the impression that this may not occur until after Chinese New Year, in MORE than a week. I have to keep telling myself that things work differently here and that even when I've started new jobs in the US, I've been frustrated by having a lack of direction and having a lack of understanding of the organizational structure in the beginning. However, here in Chukai, those problems feel 10 times larger because of problems with accent and language and culture (and few people understanding my culture or needs as a newcomer and foreigner).
Perhaps the hardest thing about being here in Chukai is that I can't look around Chukai (the school is 5km away from anything else)! The school has provided me with no form of transportation (because I live on-campus) and I have no way to get off-campus unless I beg for rides from my foster mom. There is a cab service that can take me into town but it is a bit pricy. Plus, it doesn't allow me to simply explore the town on my own terms. I don't want to leave Malaysia only having visited the various sites at my school, Mak Lagam. I want to be able to know Chukai, especially when my mom comes to visit. More importantly, I want to be able to have a way to get my own food and other items that I might need. Therefore, I think I'm going to try and insist on buying a moto (a motorbike). Maybe I'll ask my foster mom to take me shopping for a cheap one, or better yet rent one. I really don't want to be cooped up at Mak Lagam every single day of my time here!

The things that I have accomplished in my two days of being here have made me so proud, though they may seem terribly trivial! (you have to take what you can get). I was smart enough to buy tons of toilet paper for my room and a stick-on toilet paper holder (though it keeps falling down…). Getting my suction cup towel rack to stick to the wall was one of the most difficult things that I've ever had to do in my life. My favorite make-do invention has to do with my curtains. One set of curtains that looks into the hallway of the hostel does not close properly, letting anyone peer inside my room and making me feel like I have no privacy. Solution? I used a "Visit Terengganu" button that I had received earlier and clipped the two ends of the curtain together! Magic, privacy!