We arrived back at the KL International Airport yet again. Now much more familiar with the layout and city, we opted to take a “Grab”(Malaysian version of Uber), so it was another one hour drive and finally we made it to our new Airbnb apartment at 1 in the morning. Like zombies, we took to our now very familiar arrival routine.... showers, throwing clothing in the washing machine (excess amounts this time because of hotel living), and jumped into bed.
This next week was spent doing a lot of work indoors. My schedule started to really fill up as Chinese parents started to lose their minds, trying to entertain their children for 16 hours a day. To their parents’ surprise, the students welcomed a sense of structure and really desired to learn and even do some homework. It was now a month since they had a proper routine, going to school and doing homework, so they really struggled to focus in the beginning, and teaching mostly younger students (age 4, 5, 6) the whole use of computers and iPads for class was a bit of a challenge (even for me). Thankfully, most parents were still not working, as many places were not yet reopened for business, and they were able to sit in the room and help with any internet issues or if students needed any in- person support.
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| Thank you moms for sitting in!!! |
Some particularly funny situations that occurred were during my group classes that I teach on Sundays. In the morning I have 7 super young students (Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd graders), and my god, what a circus. These students often forgot they were “in class” because their whole family was walking around in the background, so they’d insist on having full fledged conversations with parents, or screaming “MOM, I’M HUNGRY!” to which I had to constantly but gently remind them “Allen, everyone can hear you, please wait until break time to get a snack”. The all time funniest moment came when a student decided to take the iPad to the bathroom with him.... NO, Jerry you do not need to take us with you to use the toilet..... his response “Oh, I didn’t want to miss anything”.
Needless to say the entertainment was endless, and to this day, I continue loving the unexpected challenges and humorous experiences with my students.
To finish off this week, Kolja decided to surprise me not once but twice! The first surprise went a little like this “Hey, I just signed up for a 100 kilometer ultra marathon in 3 weeks in Kuching, so let’s make sure we can make our way down to the island of Borneo”. Now to some this might sound like a foreign language, or an early April Fool’s joke, but having been together for over 2 years I knew better and am somewhat accustomed to these types of conversations. However, signing up for something so crazy in such short of notice was insane, even for him. Never having heard of “Kuching” and also wondering at this point if I should get his head checked, I didn’t necessarily agree that signing up for this marathon was a smart idea. However, upon doing some research and heavy persuasion, I gave up the idea of trying to change my stubbornly wonderful boyfriend’s mind and we booked tickets to our next destination, Kota Kinabalu, on the Malaysian island of Borneo.
The second surprise was a little more up my alley. On Wednesday of that week Kolja told me that he had planned a surprise evening for us on Thursday (our last full day in Kuala Lumpur) and that I should be ready by 4 pm. He’s not always the best secret keeper (and I’ll admit I always find a way to force surprises out of him), but he didn’t give me any hints about this one. First, we took a Grab to the biggest mall in the city center, where we taste tested some yummy snacks and Malaysian desserts in the food court. Then, we proceeded to walk to a tall building close by (Kolja having no sense of direction may have made a few wrong turns leading to us both sweating profusely and becoming a bit irritable) but we made it and went up to the 38 floor. Now we aren’t big drinkers or fancy people, so I was very surprised that he was bringing me to a rooftop bar, but it turned out to be a helipad!! We both had never been to one before and it was very cool to see how they turned it into a bar in the evenings. The sunset views were stunning and we enjoyed a few cheeky cocktails on the roof.
Finally, after cooking our own meals all week, I was wined and dined at an AMAZING Italian restaurant called Tatto (see dad, told ya). From red wine and a cheese platter, to pizza and dessert. The night was just what we needed to remain positive, appreciate some quality time together, and forget about all the drama and chaos of our current situation.
Kuala Lumpur Round 2 February 15-21, 2020
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