Brunei

Uneventful flight (thank goodness) across to Brunei over some beautiful turquoise clear water. Not sure what I expected from Brunei, I didn't know very much about it. I knew it is a very small sultanate wealthy as a result of its oil resources and that the organisation, who I have done a placement with (here know as summer placement organisation, SPO, as anyone can read this), are involved in Brunei, particularly with teaching English teachers and recruiting English teachers.

First thing I noticed is that it is far less conservative than I was expecting. Women are actually quite present in the workforce and also quite high up in the political world as well and young Muslim couples walk around holding hands etc. It is also nothing like Asia, other than the odd water village and market, people stop at zebra crossings! Even though nobody walks, when I was walking around people would stop their cars and ask where I was going. It is known as the 'Abode of Peace' and does have some really beautiful mosques. It also has a Chinese temples and a strong Chinese presence, similar to Malaysia. After meeting the people at SPO, I also realised that the expat community is quite different to what I had seen in Vietnam. Brunei is quiet, modern and has little night life, so most expats are families.

I am going to spend three days in total properly observing their work and staying with the families of those who work at SPO. This has so far included long chats about the difference between being an 'English teacher' (ie English literature) and a 'teacher of English'. First thing is to learn our own grammar! (Apparently Brits are a bit better at this than people from NZ and Aus...!) This is something I'd talked about with Emma in Vietnam, as well. I spent today watching the Prime Minister's Office have their English lessons. They were learning about how rhetoric and speeches, quite difficult! We spent a long time putting different emphasis on phrases to change the meaning and then looked at rhetorical devices through poetry, which included dramatic readings from me of 'The Eagle', 'Jabberwocky' and Auden's 'Funeral Blues'. Try explaining galumphing to a Bruneian.