International Day at JIS 2009

This is one of the biggest events at JIS and is usually a very busy day with parades for the kids, food stalls, talks and speeches for the Middle and Upper Schools and a concert at the end.

(Yusufs is the fourth one in from the right- the yellow one!)

You are basically asked to wear something that represents your country. Since the UK doesn't really have a national dress, I wore my Shalwar Kameez. We miraculously managed to find a Sherwani for Yusuf but none for Zaheer who had to go in wearing a shirt and trousers!

(Me and Yusuf dressed the part)

(Zaheer being boring!)

The day begins with a parade for the kids. This is where the classes in the Junior School go up on to the stage and introduce all the different Nationalities. My favourite costume for the UK was a boy dressed up as Ozzy Osbourne. It was brilliant! He even had the guitar and hair! Unfortunately I couldn't take any pictures of him but trust me it was one of the best costumes!

(Two of my favourite costumes are in this picture- the ninja (who must have been boiling in that suit) and the leprechaun! He really made me laugh!)

(Yusuf's turn to do the parade)

(Yusuf's class- Reception Fish)

(Yusuf looking gorgeous!)

After this the kids can go have a look at all the diffrent stalls that are set up and enjoy the events that are held throughout the day.

(China stall- all the kids got a spinning drum, it was brilliant!)

(Gurkha Martial Arts event- most impressive!)

It was a really fun day. I am trying to decide now what/who I should dress up as next year.........

Ulu Temburong National Park

This post has taken me absolute ages to put together because I took over 300 pictures and sorting through them all and picking some for the blog was hard work! So this post will be done in 3 or 4 smaller posts becasue there are a lot of pictures!

We booked a package holiday with a company based in Brunei called Intrepid Tours. The price covered absolutely everything- the water taxis, the nightime safari, visiting a long house, taking the long boat to the national park, entrance to the park, river rafting, accommodation and all the food. We only spent one night there yet covered everything. It was the best holiday ever!

(This is what we eventually climb up)

We went with a friend of ours called Salome. The tour company was based in the capital Bandar Seri Begawan which is only 20 minutes form Rimba (like most things!). From there we were taken to the water taxis which would take us direct to Temburong. This should have been a 40 minute boat ride but it broke down half way through the journey. It was ok for the first 10 minutes but then the heat just got unbearable. I really started feeling very claustrophobic as the boat was absolultey packed. Salome then had the nerve to say at this moment, "They call these boats floating coffins"! I could have killed her! We were stranded for about 30 minutes when the rescue boat arrived. I had never felt so relieved!

(Boat breaking down!)

(The view was something I suppose!)

Our tour guide was waitng for us in Temburong when we got off the boat and took us to our accommodation. As we arrived I saw a huge mansion of a building and thought that was it! Turned out it was the house of the owner of the tiny house next to it which was our accomodation! We hadn't paid much so it wasn't too much of a disappointment.

(The lounge! You can imagine what the rest of the guest house looked like!)

After refreshing up a bit we were on our way to the nightime safari. This was such a brilliant experience. It is always very hot and humid but the boat rides are just so refreshing and cooling. We went along the river for ages and spotted lots of monkeys. At dusk we decided to turn around and look for crocodiles! We had a few torches and were looking for the reflections of the crocodiles eyes as this is the only way to spot them. On the way we came across a huge barge carrying the tree trunks and nearly crashed right in to it as there was no room on the side we were on. The barge had swung right in and missed us by inches! The thought of falling into the river at night with crocodiles about really shook me up! I don't think I have ever panicked as much as I had done then! We did however spot a baby crocodile in the river and was told the mother will be around but is probably hiding. Is was soo cute! Its the only word to describe it! It was very shy so we only saw it for a short while. My camera had died at this point due to the humidity but I probably couldn't have taken a picture anyway.

(Our boat- the blue one)

(The humongous barge that nearly killed us!)

(Our tour guide- he was brilliant)

(The view along the river)

(I love this shot)

(Looking for crocodiles!)

(Getting soaked as it started raining really heavily when we were on the river. Very scary)

Anyway that was the first part of the trip! I will post the other part(s) soon!

Ladies Night

Since nothing ever happens in Brunei, this event was VERY popular! There were women from all different parts of Brunei, not just from the school. And it was sooooooooo much fun! The food was good, the music was brilliant and the friends were fantastic! They are thinking of making this a regular thing which I think will sell out every time. (The guys had a poker night held at the same time cus they were jealous!)

Halloween 2009

This was the first time the residents of Rimba (the area we live in) had organised a Halloween party for the kids and it was a massive success. About 80 children turned up with lots of food and lots of games and prizes. Trick or treating was done in groups of 10 and Yusuf got loads of sweets! He hasn't touched them though. There are just too many for him to eat. It was a really nice night for the kids but very tiring for the adults. It was an especially humid night too and I was really hot and sticky by the end of it. Yusuf loved it!

(The transformation)

(Yusuf decided he didn't like it because it was 'too scary'!)

(Pumpkin competition- we didn't have one)

(lots of games)

(trick or treating)

(This was the most impressive thing I have ever seen. There were lights in the mouth too! And the reason why I was sooooooooo impressed with this- the owner had MADE IT HIMSELF!!!)

Fish Spa

I recently found out from a friend that there existed a Fish Spa near us (in Gadong) and that it was a really good, calming experience so I thought why not? It was one of those crazy things I'd heard about in the UK on the news but never thought I'd be doing it myself. It cost $15 for half an hour which was quite cheap. We went with some friends of ours who had never done it either. To be honest I was really nervous cus just the thought of some living thing nibbling at my feet was too much! So we arrived at the place and saw these fish:

They looked pretty enough! We were given a towel to wipe our feet then slowly immerse them in the water. It was really weird! For the first five minutes I just kept taking my feet out because you really do feel them bite- not hard but enough to make you feel slightly uncomfortable. Zaheer just couldn't cope cus he felt so ticklish but after a while I got used to it and it is really calming. However we didn't notice any difference at the end (our feet were not smooth!) but I think it was more for the experience than anything. Another thing to tick off the list! We also found out as we were leaving that they do a FULL BODY fish spa! Now that would take a hell of a lot of guts!

Birthday Parties!!!

The parties here are VERY different!! Yusuf recently attended two- one of Jimmys and one was Elinors. Jimmy is the son of one of the teaching assistants I work with and is a year younger than Yusuf but they are really good friends so we were invited along. It was held at a hotel and was a lot of good fun.

(this clown was miserable and a bit creepy- needless to say with my fear of clowns this picture was taken with zoom)

(Yusuf and Jimmy)

Elinor is in Yusufs class at school and they are also quite close friends. This one was held at the beach and was a LOT of fun! We had sandcastle competitions, pizza, marshmallows and glow sticks! There was also supposed to be fireworks but it rained like crazy so we had to run home. Maybe next time.......

(Yusuf and his best friends Dani and Oscar)

(Starting on the sandcastle)

(Finished........)

(with a little help from Oscars sister)

(They won the competition!! Yusuf got a magnifying glass)

(Soggy pizza and marshmallows- it was raining quite heavily at this point)