Day 1, 2 & 3 Bintulu, Sarawak

continued...

Day 1 in Bintulu started like any other day: breakfast then straight to work. Despite coming from an organisation that emphasises on gender balance, there were only 7 females in attendance and 6 were from my organisation!! Talk about gender sensitivity!! The sole lady participant from Sarawak was a last minute addition as she was to be my "mak angkat" during my long house stay. After a round of introductions (where I learnt that Mel and I are known as 'anak dara' ) the meeting/training commenced.

During lunch, my lesson on the Iban culture continued. I was told that Ibans eat fast as they do not like to linger and talk while eating. That was so true as the Ibans at my table ate so fast that within 15-20mins they would leave the table. I also learnt that at the long house, if you are the last person to finish eating during meal times, you'll have to finish eating all the leftovers!! And that's no joke!! I kept that knowledge firmly in mind as I needed to remember this during my long house stay. Nikodemus taught us a trick however. He told us to eat only a little so that we'll definitely finish fast!! Hahaha!!

Day 1 ended quite early and Mel and I actually missed dinner coz we didn't know that dinner was pushed forward. No one informed us. No big deal though coz the hotel was surrounded with coffee shops.

Day 2

Though we slept early the previous night, waking up in the morning was difficult. It was actually harder waking up today than it was yesterday morning.

I was famished and was looking forward to a hearty breakfast. However, when I reached the dining area, I found that there were no eggs. There was the usual beehoon, roti canai, bread, sausages and fried rice. But there were no eggs. I wondered whether Sarawakians ate eggs. I don't know why I expected eggs but I suppose it's natural as eggs are like THE breakfast thing to eat.

During lunch, I was told that the long house I was going to stay at has no water supply nor electricity!! OMG!! The residents depend on rain water and for electricity, they use a generator. That was enough to make me worry. All I could do was smile and act brave in front of one of the residents.

To make matters worse, my long house @ Rumah Rajang is the furthest one away from Bintulu town (about 2-3 hours away by car). It was situated at Niah, almost near Miri!!

I went to bed thinking about my long house stay. Would I survive? I survived one month in India. This couldn't be worse right?

Day 3

Getting up today was even more difficult that it was the previous two mornings. I suppose the long travel hours and long working days were taking its toll.Thankfully the third day was a light day as it was mostly about role-playing and planning for the monitoring. We were briefed about our long house stay and put into our groups. We socialised, talking to the participants and one even thought I said I was related to Karpal Singh, thinking I was a Punjabi!!

When the meeting ended, Mel and I finally had the chance to walk around Bintulu town. I bought some souvenirs and. There was even a "mall" but it was nothing like Gurney or Queensbay. It was not even like Prangin Mall. I suppose with such a small population, there is no need for such a big mall.

After dinner, Mel and I spent our time packing as we were to leave for our long house stay the next morning.

to be continued...