No Tengo Dinero — Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | March 2009
“Déjà-Vu in Kuala Lumpur ”
“Bucket of Sol?” two identically dressed Malaysian girls chirp in unison.
“A bucket of soul?” I ask. The question bewilders me, but the girls look utterly intriguing. Both are wearing black leather cowboy boots, navy-blue hot pants, tight yellow tanks tops, large brown cowboy hats and irresistible smiles.
“Yes, a bucket of Sol,” one of the girls repeats the message as she pulls a bottle of the Mexican beer from a small ice-bucket. Ah! Sol beer, not soul, now I get it. They are beer promotion girls. I look at my colleague seated at the opposite side of the table and, with just the exchange of a glance, we decide to accept the offer of six bottles of beer in a bucket of ice.
It’s been a fun night so far. We might still be in Southeast Asia, but Kuala Lumpur is far more cosmopolitan and ‘developed’ than Vientiane. Before having dinner at an Argentinian steak house, we shared a hookah at an Egyptian-themed café opposite our hotel and now we’re having Mexican beers in the al-fresco Hawaiian-themed Waikiki Bar. This is definitely one of the better training sessions I’ve ever been on.
At the end of last year, my boss had called me into his office, “As you know Marko, we’re starting a new university foundation year programme next term. I’ve got most subjects covered, but I’m still looking for a Computing Studies teacher. I understand that you’re quite computer savvy, would you be interested in taking this on?” he asked. Whoa, déjà vu!
“Uhm, I’m not sure. I’m okay with the software, but I don’t know much about computer hardware,” I said as thoughts raced through my mind that I should just accept the new challenge like I’ve always done. [Read: Free to Wear Sunscreen…] But messing around with a computer alone in an office or explaining some software to a group of army officers is quite different from standing in front of a group of undergraduate students teaching computing studies as part of a university foundation year programme. The stakes are much higher.
“You’re going to be fine,” said my boss, “We both know you’re a good teacher. You’ll have all the materials and resources you’ll need, so as long as you make sure you stay a couple of lessons ahead of the students you’ll be great.” I felt a warm glow inside as I deciphered the compliment woven into his words. He was right, of course, I should accept the offer, “Okay, I’ll give it a try.”
“Good,” he said, “then I’ve got a nice perk for you. Early March, you’ll be off for a week-long training session in KL with the other programme teachers.” That wasn’t a bad start, looked like history was repeating itself again.
Lobby of the Grand Millennium Hotel in Kuala Lumpur
So now we’re here in the Malaysian capital. Our week-long training is actually only two days, but because of the limited number of flights between Vientiane and KL, we are here for a week. We’re staying at the five-star Grand Millennium hotel which is quite an experience. I’ve regularly stayed in five-star hotels before, [Read: Because We Can…] but after six years in Laos it is a reinvigorating experience. The training itself, conducted by instructors from the University of New South Wales, isn’t that interesting but the interaction with the instructors and the other participants —teachers from all over Southeast Asia— is.
Arguably the best fringe benefit of this week is the food. The breakfast buffet at the Grand Millennium consists of a dazzling array of international cuisines and our training session takes place at a vocational college where the budding chefs of the culinary department are going to extremes to create memorable lunches for us. With breakfast and lunch covered, we can spend our $100 daily stipends on sampling some of the city’s best restaurants. Yes, it looks like it was a smart move to accept the offer to become a computing studies teacher!
P.S. After this introductory training, I was the Computing Studies teacher for UNSW’s Foundation Year programme for five years. The first year was quite a challenge. I managed to stay ahead of my students and I think I taught the content with enough confidence, but there were many moments where I was sure the students were asking difficult questions trying to call my bluff. Later I would realise that they really were just genuine questions from students actually interested in what I had to say. During my second and third years on the programme I became more confident and found my own style for teaching the course… but then I got bored.
Some of the students and teachers of UNSW’s first (2009) Foundation Year class.
After the fifth year, I asked my boss to take me off the programme. I didn’t want to teach computing studies anymore because I don’t believe it’s fair to the students to have a teacher who’s lost interest in the topic. After all, my sixth year would still be the first year for a new batch of foundation year students; it just wouldn’t be right. I’m off the programme, but I never regretted saying yes to the unknown. Again!
Los Umbrellos – No Tengo Dinero [Single]. Copenhagen, Denmark: EMI-DK. (1997)
This autobiographical sketch comes from my bundle In the Moment: A Disjointed Audiobiography which is available at Amazon.com. (USD 9.50 for a paperback or USD 4.50 for the Kindle version)
