Teacher Barbie Boleh (can)!

               The nickname I have been given by my students is "Teacher Barbie."  I hear on a regular basis things like, "Teacher, you look like Barbie, teacher."  At first I wasn't sure how to take this new nickname.  Though I had many Barbie dolls of my own growing up, as one gets older you tend to associate them with being too "girly" or with negative connotations thanks to her ridiculous body proportions.  Stubbornly not wanting anyone thinking I'm a wimp, I was at first a little horrified by the name.  However, I'm deciding I can definitely own my new nick name.  Barbie may be girly, which may be true of me as well, but she is also VERSATILE.  When I learned a song all in Malay my friend said, "Oooh, Barbie can sing in Malay!" and when I cooked for the first time here in Malaysia my friend said, "Oooh, Barbie can cook!"  Barbie can do so many things and so can I.  One thing this year is certainly going to be about is versatility.  Whether it's teaching English or helping save our plants from a torrential downpour (that happened while I was writing this post last night), Barbie boleh!  Boleh is probably my favorite Malay word because it means CAN and the word can is used so much more here than any other place I've experienced.  So my mantra for this year is Barbie boleh.  One example of my new mantra in action is in the video above.  With the help of my friend Nuria, who taught me the song and accompanied me, I performed in front of the entire school at chapel this week. 

Grace Center students at chapel

Below are photos of all of my housemates bailing our plants out of the rain.  It was quite an undertaking.