This is a local village for local people... are you local???

My brother's having a LICKEL BABBY!!
Just to let the world (or the proportion of it that looks here) know this ground-breaking news... first man ever to pop one out ... no, seriously, congratualtions Ali and Rich - sorry Ali, I didn't mean to trivialise your role in this fantastic news as actual carrier of the baby! can't wait to see the little girl/guy! i'm gonna love her/him, and hug him/her and squeeze her/him for ever and ever and ever! hope for her/his sake he/she takes after her/his mummy..... what should you called an unborn child? 'it' seems so impersonal and makes the baby sound like a thing, is there another pronoun for referring to an unborn child which doesn't involve so many slashes? if not there should be, may i suggest 'shim'?

I've just had 5 non-teaching days, no lessons to plan for a whole week. This decrease in need for functioning brain capactity of course lead to a proportional increase in the amount of alcohol which was consumed and i went out in KL on saturday, which was really cooel, played some very crap pool, danced for 2 minutes, then stopped for a very greasy burger which i wouldn't have fed to my dog if she was starving had i been sober, on the way home. All the way home in the back of the taxi me and helen were fantasizing about what food we'd have if we could eat anything right now (rice gets a bit monotonous after a while). Of course macdonalds was up there, but we decided that the number one all-time fave British meal for the inebriated was chips cheese and mayo with loads of salt and vinegar (well, that's what i decided anyway, i probably railroaded helen into agreeing :
"well, I dunno katy, when I've had a few I sometimes like..."
"WOT?? whash you on aboooot?? 'schipsncheese!! course 'tis! mmmmm, chipsncheese mmmm, 'sogotta be chipsncheese innit? noneothis kebabcrap, chipsncheese!! cheesypeas!! chipsncheese!"
"um, yeah, ok"
(me hanging out the window)
"chips n cheeeeeeeeeeeseeeee!!"
30 minutes that journey home was and apparently that's all we talked about ALL the way home!

it was really strange being out of the 'local' village tho. i've been a bit of a recluse so far, and have developed a rather 'tubbs-esque' lifestyle, i've only been going to 3 places: the appartments i live in, uni, and the 'local' village. Consequently it was sooooo strange seeing western people that i didn't know when i went into Kuala Lumpar. Like, all i've seen so far in malasia are the teachers i work with and non-westerners, people from malasia, saudi, yemen, china, iran ... i wanted to go up and talk to these westerners i saw in KL and say 'hey!! i speak english!! and i look like you!!'. Don't get me wrong, i absolutely love living in a multi-cultural place but i was amazed at how the sight of westerners affected me, like seeing an old comfort blanket or something! and i was walking round dazzled by the purdy shiny lights, cos Puchong Perdana, where i live, ain't the most cosmopolitan place in the world, infact it would qualify for one of the least... can't even get a bag of chips and the town is permeated with the smell of durian, which is a wierd spiky fruit that stinks of mouldy pineapple and poo.

ANYWHOOOO... still nowt major to report, just bin teachin' and that, have also recruited more people onto the pub crawl - i mean cultural trek - up to thailand at the end of august, there's 5 of us at the moment, numbers slowly rising. i'm building up an army of 'newbie' teachers who really want to let their hair down after their first teaching job, so it should be quite a chaotic trip.

oh, and i have another interview in bangkok just before i fly home, so fingers crossed aye? i'm not expecting much to come of it tho, altho maybe now that i've had some experience it'll go marginally better than that horrific episode which passed last time i was in bangkok, and maybe i'll get through it without damaging the building or concussing any children, i swear tho', any sign of any chubby nemeses and grandma shall show no mercy...