Hi All,

We started off this morning with a fantabulous buffet breakfast down at the hotel restaurant. Highlights of breakfast included pancakes, chocolate pudding and doughnuts. After breakfast we went on a bus tour of the island. We learnt that the island looks like a pregnant turtle and that Korean prisoners built a pretty important bridge.

We began with our trip to Penang Hill which involved photos with snakes, a cable car ride, many photo opportunities and some temples. After Penang Hill we went to Kek Lok Si, a temple, that required a supposed 500 stair climb (although we only counted 386, Miss Prosser?). The temple was worth the walk, despite the sweltering heat that we battled to get there. After the temple, we jumped on the air conditioned bus (which was very welcomed) and drove to the botanic gardens nearby. It was here that we watched, but did not made eye contact with, a barrel/troupe/carload/cartload of monkeys (to avoid an epic monkey fight scene). We ended the tour and went back to our hotel for kids menu lunch.

After lunch, we went for a swim in the pool and beach (yay for Bree). Also, there’s waterslides with no age limit so we really lived it up, yay! We even got Miss Prosser involved in the waterslide, Penanigans. After our swim we all relaxed (and some busted out their robes and slippers) and saw a bomb sunset.

We went to the food court again for dinner and then looked at the night markets and did some shopping. After dinner and the markets we all relaxed until bedtime.

That’s it folks, we’re off for a night swim,

Caitlin and Jorja xx

Dear Ladies and Gents,

Today was business as usual at the Bethany Home. We started off by waking up (at a lovely, non-freezing temperature), ate our breakfast consisting of cereal and toast (unfortunately none of Bree’s milo), attended the devotion (hosted by Bree & Jorja based on Hope), went on our daily walk and participated in a highly intense aerobics routine (led by Mr Roberts) which was very tiring.

Double hand-holding is the best!

Already the best of friends

After aerobics was done, we headed back to the Headquarters to wait for our bus which would then take us to Penang. The bus arrived and after numerous power naps we arrived to the Park Royal Resort.

As we reached, we were all taken by surprise at the state of the resort! It was extremely elegant and “boujee” which were very happy about, and which we all found quite different in comparison to the Bethany Home. This made us feel grateful and appreciative. After going to our rooms, we came down to gather for lunch (as we skipped the half-way Maccas run, much to everyone’s disappointment). This was at around 3:00pm, hence we were all starved and starting to get “hangry”. As lunch arrived we all demolished our food and were getting ready to take a good swim in the pool.

Straight off the bus – This place is fancy!

We started off by going in the pool with slides (accompanied by many parents with their children) and enjoyed the rides. Soon we moved to the next pool to enjoy some leisurely swimming. After several rounds of ‘chameleon’ we chatted amongst ourselves and then got out to get ready for dinner. (But not before taking full advantage of the hot showers with incredible water pressure!)

Before dinner, we decided to go take pictures of the beautiful sunset. Then we walked towards the food court and were bombarded with ALL the choices of what type of dinner we could eat! The dinners that our group ate consisted of curries with naan and rice, chicken bread (sorry Sarah, cannot recall the spelling) and sizzlers.

What a stunning view!

So much food to choose from – We will be back tomorrow for sure!

We will be back tomorrow for more adventures and Penanigans (get it Penang + shenanigans?)

Now for our sign off:

We know after all the previous blogs, you are probably expecting a long, elaborate collection of adjectives to describe how great we are, but we don’t need to tell of our awesomeness (and also we want to go back to the pool and swim)

Meetal and Bree xox

This is where you can find us 🙂

Hey ya’ll,

It’s been a pretty jam-packed and hectic day today… so lets just jump right into it.

First off, we woke up, ate some breakie and heard an inspiring devotion from Sarah and Caitlin talking about perseverance… it was truely sensational. We then we did our usual walk and then went to aerobics. To shake things up a bit (pun intended), Mr Roberts and his three professional back up dancers – Emma, Jorja and Meetal led the session; they put their heart and soul into it which was very evident…

Then, it was time for the first ever Bocce Championships, the day we had been dreaming about since day 1 of training (we couldn’t sleep, we couldn’t eat, we couldn’t drink). We got put into mixed teams of the Bethany gals, teachers and Bethany students. Some teams were unsuccessful but there was one team that brought home the win today- Emily’s team was victorious! Coming in second was Jorja and Miss Prosser’s team and coming in third was mine (Asher) and Bree’s team (*not biased* but we should have won… I (Asher) will be speaking with the umpires tomorrow).

After a strenuous morning of bocce, we ate lunch (rice, curry, fish and vegetables; oh and lets not forget the main component – soy sauce) and then some of us finished painting the banner (I think we are up to 5 hours of painting to complete that banner) and some of us went to classes. I (Asher) and Emma were in the physio room, mine (Emily) was in room 4, Caitlin, Bree and Meetal were in the work skills room. We then finished our game of Harry Potter Uno which had been running for around 3 hours over the duration of 2 days… Miss Prosser took the win. Exhausted from the stress of the Uno game and distraught from Miss Prosser’s win, we then worked on the mural – we painted the buildings and took the tape off the windows (personally, my favourite part of the day… so satisfying).

Then, the lovely Phillomina took us out for drinks (*non alcoholic beverages*… calm down!) at Old Town White Coffee Cafe. We then ate dinner at Rajesh’s house. She cooked us some very tasty noodles, fish, rice, fried chicken and vegetables. We played with her very cute (clean, vaccinated, with NO rabies -it’s ok parents, your children are fine) puppies. We then came back to HQ (or as we later found out is called ‘IQ’, which stands for International Quarters,  (what?! biggest plot twist)) and played some cards and just chilled out.

To close this blog post, we just wanted to highlight the hospitality the people at Bethany have shown us so far… although they don’t have a lot, they share with us what they have and this generosity has been very inspiring to all of us girls.

So, goodnight all, we are now going to bed after Bree tells us a bedtime story – tonight it’s ‘Revenge of the Mosquitos’ (a sequel to ‘Emily vs Mosquitos’) which we are all very excited about.

Love from your  favourite bocce champion and actual fav Bethany gals,

Emily and Asher xox

Go team!

Serious stuff!

Champions (Yay Emily!)

Back to work!

Hi everybody!

We started off today with our morning walk:

Next we did aerobics with the students, we are getting a handle on the routines:

Emma, Asher and Izzy spent the majority of the day working in the physiotherapy room. We began by throwing balls to the students to work on their motor skills, participated in a very relaxing nap time, and ended the session by colouring in.

Jorja, Caitlin & Meetal spent the day in the special needs unit, where we enjoyed singing a variety of English nursery rhymes (with particular enthusiasm during our favourite; “The Apple Song”) , along with a variety of activities to improve coordination and motor skills.

Bree and Sarah went to the Lighthouse Learning Centre to make thank you cards.

Emily worked in level 1 with the younger students. They enjoyed spending time outside on the equipment.

Now STOP… banner time!

Jorja, Caitlin and Sarah were tasked with creating a banner for an upcoming Bethany dance performance. They worked tirelessly for 3 hours before being joined by the rest of the crew.

While they were working on the banner, the remaining girls began painting the mural. We have planned for a Peter Pan themed wall with a sunset and a city sky line. This is the progress we have made so far:

We are currently engaged in a marathon UNO event, spanning hours with a result still pending. Winner TBA, tune in tomorrow for the result.

Lots of love from the Infinitely Superior, Unwavering, All Conquering, Universally Loved And Admired Bethany Gals, WHO TAKE NO PRISONERS.. You Know Who We Are.

-XOXO Emma & Jorja

Hey all,

Today was our first day working at Bethany Home. We were excited to meet all the students when they arrived this morning. The first thing we did was attend a Devotion led by Asher and Emma where we sang hymns and a Tamil song.

We then took the students for a walk out the front of the home, followed by aerobics. After this we split off into seperate classrooms where we helped out different students. Caitlin, Meetal and Emily helped out in a PE class; Sarah, Bree and Izzy helped out with the high needs class; Jorja helped out with motor skills and English in a Level 4 class; and Asher and Emma helped in a life skills class. After helping out, we all had lunch supplied by the Bethany staff which was delicious.

After lunch, Bree helped out in the hydro-pool and everyone else started stage one (the undercoat) of our mural. The Bethany staff then organised a bocce game where Bree, Meetal, Miss Prosser, and Mr Torquato (the yellow team) dominated. Sarah, Izzy, Jorja, and Caitlin shot photos for their album cover, coming soon (see photos below). We then relaxed in our rooms and played cards until we walked to the street markets to buy our dinner and the odd pair of happy-pants. For dinner, people had fried rice, noodles and chicken, corn on the cob and oranges (for Bree). We then played charades, cards and music to finish off the day.

Looking forward to tomorrow and seeing the students again.

Lots of love,

Your bestest Bethany gals (Sarah and Caitlin)

xoxo

Starting the day!

Morning Walk

Lunch.. mmmm!

Mural Stage 1

As only Bree can!

What’s going on? Mmmm!

Bocce!

Dear All,

Today we woke up and had a buffet breakfast at the hotel. After breakfast we packed up our suitcases and bags and relaxed in our hotel rooms until it was time to check out. While waiting for the bus to arrive to collect us we played a round of Cheat, which Bree won.

When the bus arrived, it was a lot larger than we all were expecting which we were very grateful for. On the way to Bethany we observed many interesting things including; palm trees, various forms of greenery, buildings, and many temples. We also noticed that the traffic rules are non-existent, which we were quite shocked by. And before we arrived we enjoyed several games of ‘Mafia’ and then went for a Maccas run.

When we arrived at Bethany Home we had a good look around whilst waiting for the Reverend. Then we got settled into our room & cranked up the air conditioning & bathed ourselves in mosquito repellent. We all gathered in the HQ and enjoyed a few round of various card games.

Then we went our for dinner and ate some yummy Chinese which was thoroughly enjoyed with Reverend Eleizer & his wife, Sarah.

From your ACTUAL favourite Bethany Girls,

Isobelle & Meetal

Waiting for the bus to Bethany

Arrived!

Cards before dinner

3 happy girls that tucked in!

Really tasty Chinese cuisine!

Dear All,

We have arrived….

It’s been a long day filled with lots of adventures and exciting things to do. As we started our long journey at Perth Airport Australia in the early hours and travelled to Singapore where we had a stop over to shortly venture on to the plane to KL Malaysia.

Once we arrived at our hotel, the Melia, and checked in, we went out to dinner at the food court across the road.

After this long day of getting ready for the adventure which is to come, we are all heading to bed to rest and recover for our 5 hour journey to Bethany Home tomorrow.

Until tomorrow, your fav Bethany gals (Ash and Bree) x

Dear All,

Just adding the Global phone number: +61 0438 605 188

Itinerary simplified:

• Sunday 6th to Bethany
• Thursday 10th to Penang
• Sunday 13th to Bethany
• Wednesday 16th to Kuala Lumpur
• Friday 18th to Perth

Dear Everyone,

Almost there! Pretty exciting now! Just reminding you of a few things:

• 24 textas, a lead pencil for drawing on the wall, a pack of cards, earphones…
• 4.15am – 4.30am at the airport; we book in together
• bring your positive, adventurous spirit and DON’T FORGET YOUR PASSPORT!

Mr Roberts

There has been a change to the return date of the Bethany Home tour to Friday 18 October (instead of Saturday 19 October). This change has only just come to light and is due to a miscommunication between myself and the travel agent in November last year when initial Singapore Airlines bookings were made. My sincere apologies to all for this change in return date.

This return date means that the group will leave Bethany Home one day earlier arriving in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday 16 October rather than Thursday 17 October. Otherwise the tour is exactly the same as promoted. Students will still have ample time at Bethany Home to build relationships, develop new skills and serve the needs of the students there.

Hence the final flight details are:

5th Oct SQ224 0625 to Singapore arrive 1145
5th Oct MI328 1245 to KL arrive 1345
18th Oct MI327 1430 to Singapore arrive 1530
18th Oct SQ215 1845 to Perth arrive 2355

Dr Mark Fielding