Melaka, Malaysia

Over our Thanksgiving break, eight other teacher friends and I took a bus trip to Melaka, Malaysia. This city used to be a major port in SE Asia and the influences of other cultures are widespread. A Sumatran prince, named Parameswara, founded the city and named it Malacca or Melaka around 1390. It was a popular port for Javanese, Arab, Indian, and Chinese sea merchants. The city became so popular and wealthy, that the Porteguese occupied for about 130 years. After this, the Dutch captured the city in 1641. I don't know when Malaysia took over. I learned a lot of this on my trip, but I had to look up the specific dates (http://www.melaka.net/history1.htm).

The bus seats were nicer than any plane I've been on. They had so much leg room and reclined almost fully. The picture to the right is where I sat.
While we were there, we walked around part of the older area of the city where we admired the architecture. It was all different and really showed the presence of the Dutch and the Porteguese. We also took a riverboat tour, with the funniest, most knowledable guide. Most of the pictures I took were of the different buildings and while on the river. Here are some of my favorites:

The doorway to the path up to the ruins of St. Paul's church. I really loved this building!

St. Paul's church from the stairs

A closer picture

A classic 'senior picture' pose in the old window of St. Paul's church

This church was in the 'downtown' area. It shows the Dutch influence.

The fountain at the area called "The Stadhuys"

Clock tower and the fountain
Traffic circle at The Stadhuys

Me in front of the river

McDonald's sign

Prayer room and a public toilet...

The Dutch windmill and my Dutch friend, Katie McDonald's drive-thru

The riverboat

Some of the sites along the river




Melaka'>
If you'd like to see all of my pictures from this trip, click on this link to my Picasa web album.

New Blog

Hello family and friends :)
Welcome to my new blog! I hope this will be easier for you to read and respond to my updates. Thanks so much for keeping in touch...even when I've been slacking. Please know that you are never far from my thoughts and prayers.
The past month has been very busy. I feel like I haven't had much time to even sit and reflect on all that has happened.
After vacationing in Thailand, it was a little hard to go back to school. It was so nice to get away from it all for a few days and relax. I really enjoyed everything about that vacation. The country is beautiful, the food is good...it felt like a more authentic Asian country. Where we were (Hua Hin) was a little more rustic than a big city, but not so much so that I was uncomfortable. The place we stayed was very beautiful. Some of the highlights from that trip were taking a Thai cooking class and riding on an elephant! If you haven't had a chance to look at my pictures, here is the link. (http://picasaweb.google.com/nicolemweitzel/Thailand)
Other things I've been up to...I completed the Great Eastern Women's 10k as I did last year. My time is nothing to boast about, ha, but I did finish :) Practices for high school volleyball have started once a week. Not many people have come because many of the players also play basketball and they need to wait until that season is over. Many Saturday mornings a group of us go to Sentosa (a small island off of Singapore, with beaches and many many things to do like bike riding, a butterfly park, and an underwater world) to play beach volleyball. We go early in the morning to avoid the heat and the crowds. That's been really fun!
School is going well. Our enrollment is over 400 students! That is a milestone for the school. With two companies doing big projects in Singapore beginning next year, we are expecting to reach our limit of 500 students for next year. This means we are in need of about 17 new teachers in all areas. If you or anyone you know of is interested, let me know! Or refer them to the NICS website to apply online (www.nics.org).
I have decided to stay here another year. As I told my mother, I feel that this chapter in my life is not done yet. It's very hard for me to miss the everyday stuff at home, but at the same time I really enjoy my life here. It's weird to feel conflicting emotions at the same time, yet, as I learned this summer at my training, it's completely normal. So if any of you reading this are excited about what I'm doing here, but sad to learn that I won't be close by again, you are normal, too :)
You can reply right to this email, so it will be easier for you to respond if you'd like. I pray this letter finds you doing well.
Love, Nicole