Tag: Jessica Weyer

The power of relationships! Reflection from Jessica Weyer, Pennsylvania Agriscience Teacher

Jessica WeyerPost-Trip Thoughts

I was asked to write a reflection of the AgEd2Malaysia experience and I had no idea what to write. I was so overwhelmed by the idea of trying to translate what I have learned from a 4-week learning experience into a blog post. There are so many things that I have learned about agriculture, culture and the education system of Malaysia. I have notebooks of notes that I have taken while on the trip and things that I would like to remember about this trip. Everything from what the prayer schedule looks like for people of the Muslim faith too how much you can sell an MD2 pineapple ‘seed’ for.

After being home for a week, this task is not so daunting. If I have to boil down everything that I have learned on this trip into one-word, the word would be Relationships. Going to Malaysia was the trip of a lifetime for a number of reasons, but the relationships that were built on this trip are something that I am going to remember for the rest of my life.

When I was packing for this trip I was looking through my house and bookshelves for some books to take along on this trip. I came across some books that I was given in the #GLAG18 Conference-in-a-Box (GLAG stands for Global Learning in Agriculture. You can registere for #GLAG19 by clicking here) . I picked up a book entitled I Will Always Write Back. 

I figured I should read the first chapter of the book before I carry it to the other side of the globe.  I sat down to check it out and in 1 day I had finished the book. Now if you know me well, you know I do not read a lot and I am not a fast reader. The fact that I completed a book in a day is a big deal. This book completely opened my eyes to the power of a relationship. This book is about a pen-pal relationship that was started in 6th grade that ended up drastically changing the lives of both students. After reading the book, I was so excited to start my journey to Malaysia to make relationships of my own.

Before we even left the United States, we started to build relationships with the people on the team traveling with us. The #AgEd2Malaysia U.S. contingency was comprised of six current secondary agriculture teachers and six agricultural education teacher candidates (college students) from across the country who would come together to work together in a foreign country. We all met face to face for the first time when we were in Amsterdam and it was already like meeting up with family!

When we arrived in the airport in Johor Bahru, Malaysia we had a welcoming committee. There were 10 Malaysian students and a slew of faculty from the University of Technology Malaysia waiting for us with signs, posters and cheering voices. I remember when we were going through customs I looked out and saw the welcoming crew. I thought to my self “I have always wanted to be greeted in an airport like that, the people they are greeting are so lucky!” I was the first person through customs and when I noticed that that giant gathering of people was waiting there for me I started to get emotional. So many people were there are they were all so excited to meet me. Once we were all properly welcomed my bags were whisked from hands and taken to the bus. As we were walking, I started talking with the ‘welcoming committee’ and I realized that this team of people was going to be with us for the next 28 days.

Looking back over the trip the welcome that I received at the airport was not abnormal. The people of Malaysia were always so willing to ‘roll out the red carpet’ for us. It was so humbling to be treated so well everywhere we went.

The ten Malaysian students that came with us on the trip are the relationships that I will cherish the most. When traveling with a group of almost 30 people you spend a lot of time on the bus. On the bus was such a great time to talk with everyone and learn as much as you can about the culture of Malaysia. From all of the bus rides, I sat next to every one of the students. The relationships built with everyone mean so much to me. These relationships mean so much and it is hard to put into words the impact that these students have had on me. To Nisa, Nina, Azirah, Huzaimi, Hanif, Ali, Yazleen, Suhana, Fatin, Ain my new family! When we left the airport we made sure to not say goodbye, but until next time. I do not know where the next chapter will take us, but I am sure that we will meet again.

The hardest part that I now face is how do I translate the power of relationships to the high school agriculture students at my school? How do I share with them the power of these connections? I think that I am going to start a pen-pal program for my students with some of the high school students that I met in Malaysia. We will see where this path goes but I hope that it will lead to more connections.

Jessica Weyer (@JessWeyer) is a secondary agriscience teacher from Pennsylvania. 

Day 23 – Weyer’s Wildlife Wonders: Close Encounters at the Bird Park

Jessica WeyerIn-Country Sharing

Weyers Wildlife Wonders is a blog series curated by Ms. Jessica Weyer, Pennsylvania Agriscience Teacher, as part of her individual professional development plan. Here previous installments:

Today we made two stops. We went to the MARDI Malaysian agriculture research and development institute and the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park. Both were great stops but this is Weyer’s Wildlife Wonders so I am going to focus on the bird park.

This park was built in 1991 and is now the world’s largest free-flight walk-in aviary spanning over 21 acres. This park is home to over 3,000 bird specimens. Including 5 species of horn bills.

I was so excited to come to the bird park because I purchased a super dope feild guide that I have not used enough on this trip. I was also really excited to see some hornbills from southeast asia.

I feel the best way to share about wildlife is to share photos! Take a look at the slide show of all of the fun species and activities we did at the bird park.

Jessica Weyer (@JessWeyer) is a secondary agriscience teacher from Pennsylvania. 

Weyer’s Wildlife Wonders: Part 4 – Beautiful Butterflies and Bugs

Jessica WeyerIn-Country Sharing

Weyers Wildlife Wonders is a blog series curated by Ms. Jessica Weyer, Pennsylvania Agriscience Teacher, as part of her individual professional development plan. Here previous installments:

Today we woke up at the base of Mt Kinabalu. We traveled to the park at the base of the mountain. This park has been named a world heritage site. This mountain is known for the tremendous number of botanical species found on the mountain at different altitudes. Many of the species are endemic, being found here and nowhere else in the word.

We went to the mountains botanical garden. I learned a lot about orchards and traditional medicinal uses of some of the plants found in this forest. Take a look at the slideshow to learn more.

Jessica Weyer (@JessWeyer) is a secondary agriscience teacher from Pennsylvania. 

“You will never go hungry in Malaysia” – Day 11

Jessica WeyerFood!

Thursday, July 19th was our first full day with our host families and it was truly an incredible day. These families have opened up their homes for us to stay in for four days and were so generous.  For my blogging reflection, I wanted to focus on the outpouring of food that we have received for this entire trip. One of my favorite quotes that I have heard time and time again from our Malaysian hosts is  “You will never go hungry in Malaysia”. This quote could not be truer. When we are fed 5 sometimes even 6 meals a day!! Islam teaches that sharing food in general is a great thing to do.

Breakfast

Nasi Lamak

Description coconut rice, red chillie type sauce, salted minnows, hard boiled eggs, cucumbers, peanuts.

This meal was special because was the first breakfast that I shared with my host family. Before I went to bed the night before I was asked what I would like for breakfast. The first thought that I had was oatmeal and maybe a yogurt would be great but that is not what Malaysians eat for breakfast. Spicey rice is very typical for breakfast, so I asked for the fishfirst thing that came to mind. Nasi Lamak is the national dish of Malaysia and is very common. My host mom awoke at 5am the next morning to prepare breakfast for me at 7:30! It was so kind of her to take care of me in such a nice way. I also got a chuckle over the slices of white bread and jam that were placed on the breakfast table table next to the nasi lamak. This was because they were told that Americans like bread for breakfast. She apologized for not having a toaster for me to have toast. This was so sweet of her to try and make breakfast similar to what we eat in the states.

Morning snack

Fruit

Malaysia is home to a number of unque types of fruit that are only found in Malaysia.

After breakfast, we went to the department of agricultures local extension office for a tour. This extension office had a number of fruit trees in their orchard. Lucky for us it is time for the fruit harvest so their was fresh fruit at every stop. Take a look at some of the fruits that we were able to eat on our orchard tour.

The most notable would have to be the durian. This fruit has a relatively short season and is called the KING OF FRUITS. So when it is durian season the Malaysians get really excited. We have been asked to try durian on a number of occasions while on the trip. This fruit has an interesting smell that I would not use the word good to describe. You always know when their is a durian tree near by because it is really strong. Than the flavor. I would describe it as a really oniony banana. The texture is really mushy as well. Not something I need to eat again. It is interesting watching the locals eat it and enjoy it so much.

Second morning “snack”

This consisted of a buffet style meal that had what I call a curry soup bar. Like we have baked potatoe bars in the US and I have eaten a lot of soup bars in the country. You fill up you bowl with what you want in the soup than pour the broth on top. This meal also had curry puffs and coconut puffs.

We all sat down and filled our plates and bowl. It was about 11:30 so I assumed that it was our planned lunch. After we were done eating we were thanked for coming and sharing a snack with them. A snack! We got on the bus and were told that the trip planners had planned on taking us to a market for lunch but we had already been fed.

After thinking about this for a while I am still really amazed by this. We went to visit an extension office and they cooked a meal for us just because we visited. In the US if we had a large group of international students visit our government we might give them a granola bar of you were lucky. Such a generous outpouring of kindness.

‘Lunch’

Because our snack had become our lunch we had a small but much needed trip to the ice cream store. Their specialty was a coconut shake. So refreshing on a hot day.

Afternoon snack

This afternoon we found ourselves with some free time because a tour had canceled. We went to a market to purchase some gifts and treats. Whe. We got back on the bus in typical Malay fashion we had to share everything that we bought. Some were tasty some were not

Second afternoon snack

When I arrived home I shared a mango and some tapioca chips with my host family. These mangos are the best mangos I have ever tasted.

Dinner

By now I am sure you are wondering how you would fit many meals in to one day? Well, it is not too hard when you get up early and you eat your last meal at 10pm.

After Ramadan is over there is a month of celebrations. This is called Eid Mubarak (syawal). We went to one of those celebrations tonight. It felt as thought the entire town was invited to the mayor’s l house for this feast and it was a night that I will never forget. Malaysians know how to have house parties! Lots and lots of food to choose from. This party was extra special because we were dressed in traditional Malaysian clothes, Baju kurung for the girls and baju melayu for the guys.

Until next time I am sure that I will have more exciting new foods to shair.

Jessica Weyer (@JessWeyer) is a secondary agriscience teacher from Pennsylvania. 

 

Weyer’s Wildlife Wonders: Part 3- Mangrove Madness

Jessica WeyerIn-Country Sharing

Weyers Wildlife Wonders is a blog series curated by Ms. Jessica Weyer, Pennsylvania Agriscience Teacher, as part of her individual professional development plan. Here previous installments:

Today I am going to share with you the experience that we had in a mangrove forest.
This was my second time ever seeing a mangrove forest. The first time I did not have a guide and I was only their a short time. Today was really a special day that I will remember. I learned how important mangroves are to our ecosystem and the amount of biodiversity found here. I also learned the impact that service learning can have on my students.

We were able to witness so many species today, but I am going to focus on two families. The mangrove tree and the mudskipper.

Mangrove trees have some really unique adaptations to live in a very harsh climate for a plant. First of all, it is directly on the ocean where there are never-ending winds. These trees must have great root structures to stay standing when only anchored in soft mud and sand.

Next is the fact that these trees are located on the ocean which is salt water. Just as salt water will kill humans, too much salt will kill plants. One of the species of mangrove tree deals with all of this salt in a unique way. The tree will uptake the salt from their roots with water. When there is too much salt in the plant it will push the salt out of the leaves. The salt will then sit on the top of leaves. We were able to lick the leaves of the tree and actually taste the salt on them. Such a cool adaptation.

These trees also have a really unique root structure. Most plants need to have a constant supply of oxygen to their roots in order for the plant to complete cellular respiration. Plants will absorb oxygen and transport it to all parts of the plant. Because mangrove tree roots are fully submerged in water for most if not all of the day there is no oxygen in roots. These trees have special roots that come out of the water. Each species of tree has its own unique way of acquiring its needed oxygen. Some pictures below are needle roots, knee roots, hanging roots, and stilt roots.

 

Lastly, mangrove trees reproduce uniquely as well. I could not imagine a small seedling trying to germinate and stay upright in a tidal zone where the water is constantly coming in and out. So mangrove trees will produce what I think look like fruit. But, instead of dropping the fruit a long green stem grows from the bottom of the fruit. These stems look like giant bean pods. When the stem is developed it will fall from the tree and hopefully stick upright in the mud and start growing a new tree.

This mangrove forest is home to 26 different species of mangrove trees and all of the trees are so unique. I could have spent days just learning about these unique trees.

The first species that I was intrigued by when arriving I found living in a small puddle under the bathrooms. Kind of looked like fish or maybe a salamander. I later learned that it was called a mudskipper and they do just that. These ‘fish’ live in the tidal zone that is sometimes flooded and sometimes sandy. When the water is high it acts like a fish. It uses gills to breathe underwater and its fins to swim. When the tides recede than the fish transforms into a salamander. Absorbing oxygen through its skin and walking on its pectoral fins. There is currently some debate in the scientific community as to how this fish should be classified because it is so unique.

 

Overall, a great day with lots of wildlife. Here is a list of the wildlife that we viewed today (I think all of the names are correct I might have some of the names incorrect due to translating):

  • White-collared kingfisher,
  • red eagle,
  • leaf snake,
  • mudskipper,
  • red berry snail,
  • mangroves king salamander,
  • piei plant.

Jessica Weyer (@JessWeyer) is a secondary agriscience teacher from Pennsylvania. 

 

Weyers Wildlife Wonders: Encounters Part 2- Domestic Pets

Jessica WeyerIn-Country Sharing

Weyers Wildlife Wonders is a blog series curated by Ms. Jessica Weyer, Pennsylvania Agriscience Teacher, as part of her individual professional development plan. Here previous installments:

Encounters Part 2 – Domestic Pets

Today we had the opportunity of going to a Bugis house. No, I did not spell Buddhist wrong this is one the of the ethnic groups that are found in Malaysia [Learn more here]. When I walked into the house, I noticed there was a small tank of three smaller turtles.  Turtles!  As I got closer, I thought that they looked familiar.

 

These turtles are all indeed red-eared sliders. This is a very common species found in Pennsylvania. I had so many questions about these turtles. When we departed the Bugis house I used one of the Malaysian student’s phone and did some quick research. I learned a lot so here is what I learned

  • Red-eared sliders are native to the southern United States and northern Mexico.
  • The most popular pet turtle in the world
  • Most commonly traded turtle in the world
  • On the list of the top 100 most invasive species in the WORLD

In the early 1900’s these turtles were captured out of the lower Mississippi river basin and marketed as a great, cute, small, and easy to care for a pet and sold all over the US and eventually the world by the 1950’s. Millions of these turtles were being shipped all over the world. The popularity of these turtles exploded when the popular comic Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles were revealed to actually be red-eared sliders.

This all becomes a problem when people get tired of taking care of a pet and release them into the wild. These turtles currently found in the wild in most of the US, and in pockets in Europe and Asia. When in the wild the red-eared sliders aggressive feeding and high reproduction rates are competing with the native turtle populations.

Wow, I learned a lot from a pet in a Bugis house!

Below are some pictures that I have taken of wildlife. I would love some help in identifying the species below. Please comment if you can help.

 

Jessica Weyer (@JessWeyer) is a secondary agriscience teacher from Pennsylvania. 

Continue reading “Weyers Wildlife Wonders: Encounters Part 2- Domestic Pets” →

Weyers Wildlife Wonders: Encounters Part 1

Jessica WeyerIn-Country Sharing

Weyers Wildlife Wonders will be a blog series curated by Ms. Jessica Weyer as part of her individual professional development plan. 

My in-country learning goal is to observe the wildlife of Malaysia and keep a journal of my observations. My goal is to create a journal that my students would be able to read and then create a journal of their own. During my time in Malaysia, I will make at least 10 posts about the wildlife that I have observed. When talking about wildlife definition of wildlife includes the flora and fauna of an area. I will talk about reptiles, birds, mammals and maybe even some plants.

Whenever I travel to a new part of the world I find it fascinating to study the differences in the ecosystems compared to where I am from. I live in the eastern part of Pennsylvania.

The first observation that I made when I arrived in Malaysia was the increased humidity. On the day I left Pennsylvania the humidity was 40% and I thought that it was particularly humid that day. The day I arrived in Malaysia the humidity was 70%. Everything feels wet all the time!

When we arrived and slept off some of the travel fog, I spotted my first bird. I was so excited to take a picture of this new, exciting, rare species. Sorry for the poor picture quality. This was neat because I traveled halfway across the world and the first bird I see is a crow!

My next sighting was not so common in the US. That evening we went on a bike ride and I heard someone say they thought they saw a monkey. I was so excited and walked up to it to get a better picture. My Malaysian friends told me to back up. Apparently, monkeys do not like a bunch of humans rushing up to them with cameras.

It was so neat to see the monkey walking on two feet carrying a coconut! On our way back home, while it was getting dark, we saw a troop (group) of monkeys in a tree. There had to be at least 20 of them in the tree. Unfortunately, I could not get a good picture. When I got back to my room I pulled out my field guide to ID the monkeys.

I believe that we spotted the long-tailed macaque. We later were told that these monkeys can enter your house to take food from you. They can even snatch food from your hands!! I may have just spotted the Malaysian form of a raccoon or maybe even a seagull. I can not wait to have more monkey encounters on this trip.

Tomorrow we are going to a more rural area to a school, so I will be on the lookout for more wildlife!

Jessica Weyer (@JessWeyer) is a secondary agriscience teacher from Pennsylvania. 

@JessWeyer
Jessica Weyer

 

A Taste of Malaysia

Jessica WeyerFood!

Whenever I am getting ready to travel somewhere food is the first thing that I think about. Am I going to like it? Is it going to cost a lot? What is it going to taste like? As soon as I found out that I was going to Malaysia for a month I had to learn more about the food. After doing some reading and watching some you-tube videos. I thought that it looked

a lot like Indian food. I thought that I have cooked some Indian food before so why couldn’t I cook some dishes served in Malaysia. After spending

some time trying to find a recipe that I thought that I could find all of the ingredients for I decided to do a google search to try and find a restaurant. I found Jenny’s Kuali.  I made a phone call to one of my adventurous friends and we were off.

Image result for Jenny's Kuali

Little did I know that I just found one of the best restaurants in the area. When we arrived it was packed! The restaurant was filled with the smell of curry! Once we got a table we looked over the menu and I started to get worried. The menu was filled with a lot of little chili peppers next to the descriptions of each menu item meaning spicy!!

Normally when I see those I do not order them because I do not like spicy food but I figured that I am going to have to eat it for one month I can eat it for one meal. We ordered Dim sum and Roti Canai for appetizers, Mee Goreng and Nasi Goreng for entrees and followed up the end of the meal with banana fritters and black rice tapioca pudding. We were clearly hungry. We were really surprised at how good all of the food tasted. Some of the food was a little spicy for me. I did learn how to handle some of the spice though. You can always order white rice and mix the food with rice to cut down on the heat. I noticed that the hot tea that we were drinking really helped to cut down on the heat as well.

Pictured from left to right, Roti Canai with curry dipping sauce, Nasi Goreng with Shrimp, Mee Goreng with Chicken and one Dim Sum, black rice tapioca pudding, banana fritters

Overall we loved it and if anyone is ever in Allentown, PA and want to go out to eat I will go with!!

The next thing that I did was try to cook at home. I made beef randang. It took a long time to make but made my house smell so great. When I was done cooking I was so excited to eat it! When I started to eat it my mouth was on fire!! I ate a lot of rice that night but my husband really liked and did not think that it was to spicy.

After eating and trying these things I summarize the food in Malaysia to be a cross between Chinese and Indian food. I am really excited to see if the food will be as good as I think it will be! Since trying some of the food, doing some research, and increasing my tolerance for spicy foods I feel that I am ready to take on eating in Malaysia!