‘Semester in Malaysia’ Category

Peranakan Museum and Masjid Kapitan Kling

A few weeks ago as part of our Religious Experiences class, we had a visit to a main Mosque in town. The outing took most of the afternoon and started with a vegetarian Indian lunch which was delicious as usual. After lunch we visited the Peranakan museum. The word Peranakan is used to describe the […]

Coral Reef Survey at Mak Kepit Beach

Besides studying turtle conservation at Mak Kepit beach on Pulau Redang (Redang Island), we also had the opportunity to snorkel right off of the beach. There are many different kinds of corals on the reef, especially Acropora sp. (hard branching coral) and mushroom corals (Fungia sp.). For our assignment, we needed to perform two different types […]

Giant Top Spinning

On our East Coast trip, we stopped briefly in my old Peace Corps town of Pasir Puteh, Kelantan. I taught at a secondary (high) school there from 1972-1976. On this occasion, we had been invited by a friend of mine, Mr. Nazife Ismail, who is a teacher at another school, Sekolah Menengah Gaal (Gaal Secondary […]

Gustie Gamelan Orchestra

A few weeks ago, as a part of their Malay Language and Culture course, the students visited the USM Museum. There they found an exhibit of a complete set of gamelan instruments. A traditional gamelan music teacher worked with them for just under an hour, after which they produced some pretty fine sound!

Traditional Malaysian Meal in Bahasa Melayu!

HELLO FRIENDS!! :) A few weeks ago, we all traveled to the local Tesco where we completed an assignment as part of our Bahasa Melayu class (Language Course). Our task included finding distinctive recipe ingredients under an allotted price. At the time, our Cikgu’s hinted at the fact that we may be cooking some of […]

Vasakhi at the Sikh Gurdwara

On April 14 we were invited to the Penang Police Sikh Gurdwara (temple) to witness the end of the annual Vasakhi celebration. Vasakhi is akin to a “Sikh New Year” celebration, and our Sikhism teacher from our Religious Experiences of Malaysia class, Mr. Kirpal Singh, hosted us at the Gurdwara. As we arrived, anyone who […]

Merbok and Matang Mangrove Ecology

We had the opportunity to visit Sungai Merbok and Sungai Sepetang to study the mangrove ecosystem for our tropical ecology class. Mangroves are unique trees because they are adapted to live in saline conditions, as well as with changing tidal levels. They have unique root adaptations that will stabilize them in the soil and also […]

Kampung Sungai Bujang

During our field trip on Saturday to the mangroves, we were given the opportunity to meet local children and young adults from Kampung Sungai Bujang. When we arrived at the school, the local children showered us with the different tropical flowers of the region that they had hand picked themselves. We definitely felt like celebrities, […]

Buddhist Temples

Throughout our tour of several Buddhist temples, we witnessed both the cultural and philosophical practices of Buddhism, which we had spent prior weeks learning about in class. We started our morning off at the Mahindarama Buddhist Temple, which is rooted in Sri Lankan heritage. There we enjoyed the elaborate decorations, art, statues, and Buddhist stories […]

Attending a Malay Wedding

On Saturday afternoon, March 29, while on our Tropical Ecology field trip to the mangrove ecosystem in Merbok, Kedah, the people in the village (kampung) where we were staying invited us to attend a traditional Malay wedding and wedding feast (kenduri). The bride was from the southern peninsular state of Johor, and the groom was […]