Marvelous Malaysia

Mt. Kinabalu-- SE Asia's tallest mtn.

I spent the last week in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. There was a teacher's conference there that I attended Thursday-Saturday, so Maria and I headed out on the previous Saturday-- ready to explore and enjoy Malaysia. It was a great trip! We started off by heading up to the mountain area, where we stayed at a peaceful resort (where we could even see stars- imagine that!) and hiked around in the national park one day. It was so beautiful, and we just had a great time checking out the rivers, taking pictures, and even making a "commercial" under one of the pavilions when it rained. Everyone needs to keep a little kid in them, right? haha...

Next it was time to hit the beach! We went to some surrounding islands for the next two days. We hiked around, saw monitor lizards (huge lizards in the wild that are like 6-8 feet long!), enjoyed the beaches, and did some amazing snorkeling. I have never seen such beautiful coral or such colorful fish before...it was incredible! I'm pretty sure I found both Nemo and the Rainbow fish! :) Side note...the first Survivor (Borneo) was filmed just about 30 miles down the beach!

Maria & I at the Farewell Dinner

Alas, it was time for the teacher's conference. Although I have to admit I wasn't thrilled about spending my vacation in workshops, I have to admit, it was well worth it. There were so many great workshops that I learned a lot from. The theme was based around sustainability and the environment...so interesting to learn how poverty is so closely linked with taking care of the environment. Anyways, I learned so much and came back very inspired. It didn't hurt that the conference was held on the ocean front, with pools right up to the water. :) We definitely took advantage of those as well!

Well, it was back to work and back to reality for me today, and I had a great day. It's great to have a job that makes coming back from break easy. I can't say I was anxious to roll out of bed at 5:45 this morning when my alarm went off, but I can say that I started crying when we started talking about how close the end of the year is during our faculty meeting today. I am so blessed to have a job that's so hard to let go of...and for that I'm very thankful. :)