The new KL metro line has just opened, and we can now get a train directly into the city centre, which is very good news as the traffic can be appalling, particularly at rush hour. So I went on my inaugural ride this week, to spend an evening in town.
There are very helpful notices, designed to encourage socially responsible behaviour –
and I couldn’t help wishing that a few of them could be displayed on the London Underground –
I also had my first bubble tea this week, bought by a kind friend who couldn’t believe that I’d never tried one, and to my great surprise, I loved it!
I spent a very happy 20 minutes on the train home sucking up all the chewy bubbles from the bottom of the cup, one by one, and making very satisfactory slurping noises – whilst all the time sitting under the MRT etiquette notice …
… whoops.
On a completely different note, I also started volunteering at the local orphanage, who put out a plea for English teachers to help the pupils prepare for their exams next month.
When I arrived, I was waiting in the foyer and a boy came up to me, grabbed my hand, smacked himself on the forehead with it, then let it go and wandered off. Oh dear, I thought, I hope they’re not all mentally disturbed. But then another boy did the same thing, and another, and another, and I finally realised that it’s their way of greeting people. Some kiss your hand, and others take it reverently and place it gently on their forehead, but for a lot of them, it’s snatch, smack and drop. Oh well, they are teenage boys, I suppose.
I’ve been assigned to Ammar
who’s in the centre of this photo, along with the Warden’s two children. Deda, incidentally, is the only girl in the place, as it’s a boys’ orphanage.
We sat in the dining room and did exam preparation
The homework session is from 8.30 until 10 pm, which seems very late to be doing schoolwork when you’re only eleven years old, but because it’s a religious institution, prayers take precedence over prep. Not all the boys are orphans, but all have lost at least one parent or come from a very impoverished background, and they are fed and cared for, sent to school and put through university, and can then return to their home town if they wish.
The past paper exam questions that we were working through looked very familiar in style to language exam papers in England, but the content was very different.
And I wondered what British teenagers would make of this boy’s preferred reading matter –
Ammar turned out to be an ace negotiator, and we came to an agreement – well, he twisted my arm, actually – that if he finished his work early he could watch a video on my phone, and I wondered what he would choose. Despite his religious upbringing, he chose something called ‘God of War’ involving weapons, battles, monsters and heroes …
… whoever first said ‘boys will be boys’ obviously knew what they were talking about.