Homestay village

I went to Tambunan again on the 12th as I said I would. Waited for Joanna in front of my house. Sitting at the porch. The new day dawns back. We stopped by at Gunung Alab to have breakfast and went to take pictures there at the park. Then continued our journey to the village by road.

Reached there by 9.30 am and waited for students to come but they were a bit late. One student forgot something at the hostel and needed to return. So they were caught up in the traffic jam. They were dressed candidly as they strode by passed us. They looked pretty enthusiastic. With their colourful clothes and wholesome bags. There were Chinese and Indonesian students. The rest are made of local students from Kelantan and Sabah.

Joanna gave a briefing to these students and it was introduction time. So the students spoke of their names and which faculty they came from. And then Joanna divided them to their host families.

After that we had another session of refreshment where we were served with fried mee-hoon.. This is my favourite part with some chillies. And then hinompuka a compressed banana paste wrapped in banana leaves. It's a traditional food famous among the Kadazan-Dusuns. As for beverage, the hosts served us with kopi Tenom (coffee made from Tenom) which wasn't too sweet afterall but hot. I took many pictures especially while they were eating.

And the dancing part too was enjoyable. They were lined up into two rows and they dance with their partners. Put into a circle they then exchange places and there was one student from Indonesia that was very good in this! The gongs beat as hard as ever.

After having done our activities with them, we took a final photo in a group and bid farewell as the students moved in with their host families. I couldn't stay longer as there was no room for me to stay.

Before heading to KK, Joanna showed me the road to these homestays and asked me to make a map. I was thinking of finding these locations inside the transposed map I have from JICA (Japanese International Cooperation Agency). It was a map that I had during the course I took in the university.

That's what is my mind so far.. See you in the next page!

Sheena James