Since my first day at SMK Bukit Mentok, I've been wearing what the lady teachers wear - the baju kurung (see my various BK stylings below). This recently-named traditional piece of Malay clothing is composed of a floor length, empire waist skirt and a knee length (or below), long-sleeved shirt, top, dress thing. It can be made out of a lot of types of material, but the nicest and most cool material is silk. The patterns found on the baju kurung vary WIDELY. You can get relatively simple single-colored ones, or you can get one that looks like "flower power" exploded on it.
Before being turned loose on our states, the lady ETAs were given three or four (or five) baju kurung to get us started. During the state orientation, I picked up a few more. But when I got to school, a wonderful teacher named Tanty raided her closet for me, handing over something like 12 baju kurung. Luckily for me, Tanty and I have pretty similar tastes in pattern (subtle) and color (subtler).
In general, the baju kurung is nice to wear in the hot weather. Your limbs are covered, so mosquitoes are less likely to bite you. (Gawd help you if one gets stuck in the baju box, though.) They are pretty light and breezy, meaning you won't pit out every shirt you own. There are, however, some caveats. 1) They are long. And for those of us who never mastered basic functioning in long dresses/skirts, it can make walking up stairs and standing up a constant battle. 2) They are restrictive. Hopping or stepping wide distances now takes forethought, something I tend to not use. 3) They make eating a challenge. The sleeves on these bad boys are long and flowing and I have yet to sit down and take a meal where I don't end up with food on or down my sleeve.
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| Business Baju Kurung (with my roommates and our English Language Officer) |
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| Some of my kiddos (they really like taking photos) |
Last week, I asked my mentor if I could possibly wear some of my own clothes to school once or twice a week. She said it was fine as long as I kept everything covered. No problemo. So, yesterday, I wore pants. And it was great. It was also my best day of teaching thus far. Coincidence? Probably. But still, there was something really nice about wearing my own clothes, being able to roll up my sleeves and walking up stairs without the fear of ripping a whole in my skirt.
Pants, people. Pants.
