CV! Longhouse Visit

WOooHOoo!! The visit to Abel's longhouse at Sungai Entulang was GREAT!!

Morning, before 7.30, everyone coming gathered at the student drop-off area, where the bus was already waiting. Most of us were so busy taking the things that we needed onto the bus, like CV! T-shirts, our belongings, etc.
CV! members that were involved in this visit included Abel, Iqbal, VJ, KC, Joana, Serena, Yani, Chelsia, Poey, Zahoor, Jenny, Jessie, Sam, Jack, Giegel (Ms. Curtin!), (even) her family (YAY!!), Ehon, Amos (Project leader), Sara, and many others.
A few that couldn't make it were Nadia, Liz, Snow Jae... Well these are the only ones that I know that really wanted to go....
We finally move from Curtin to the longhouse at 8am. Took us about an hour to reach there.
In the bus, I got to sit next to Ms Curtin! Yay for me!! ;P
Some of us just slept along the ride, cause most of us were so tired and still woke up pretty early that morning...

When we finally got there, most of us were amazed by how LONG the longhouse was!
it's not just long... it's LONG!!
anyway... our visit here was not for the longhouse... We're actually there to do 'gotong-royong' at the school there.
'gotong-royong' meaning something like community work.
When we got off at the gate entrance to the school area, we were greeted by Abel's father....

then we were led to the main hall, where Abel's father, who was the principal of the school, officially welcomed us, etc...and got to give a souvenir to Amos, our project leader.

Iqbal and Jenny (Jessie just behind them)

Serena with the red cap in the background with Amos (blue cap) & Ehon next to her

with that over with, we were then separated to do separate works.
Works included preparing lunch for everyone, painting the mural in the main hall, painting the fences, carrying wood from the forest and planting some trees.

Some of the 'big boys' went to do the forest work,

some of the ladies went to help with the cooking, (picture not available)
some others just went to paint the fence (including me)

and MOST of us were at the main hall painting the mural.

I'm not too sure who went to help with the tree-planting bid.... or even IF the work was done that day... (shrugs)

About one hour or so of work, it was time for break. Got back ot the main hall to have some sandwiches and cookies and small milk packets.
It was satisfying. And also got to see the murals... nice...

Those longhouse people are really good at drawing the patterns. CV! members just painted with them.

After break, got back to work... another hour or so later (1.30pm), it was lunchtime!

Most of us sat together and ate. Fun experience!

When we were done with lunch, some of us entertained everyone else by dancing a couple of songs... 'Just A Little While' by Janet Jackson & 'Hey Mama' by Black Eyed Peas...
after that, we went to visit the longhouse... There are 99 families here and there are three blocks that made up the longhouse.
Reason why there are three separate longhouse is cause to prevent fire from destroying all their homes like once before.

WHAT A LONG WALK!!! One block of the longhouse was long enough but THREE!!!

As I said, each block of the longhouse was REALLY LONG! but it was still a fun experience.
At the third block (Block C), we stopped in the middle to have a drink... the local drink, tuak... or in English, rice wine...
EVERYONE got at least a sip of drink...

Ehon drinking tuak, beside Amos.

I got to drink more than one glass (western tea-cup size)...
NO more details than that.... >P

After spending quite a while at that block, it was time to play some sport!
I actually didn't want to join to play.. and just planned to watch them play volleyball... but then, they were low of one player, so I joined!
It was fun! Near evening, we had a friendly competition between a team of six from Sg. Entulang and a team of six from Curtin!
We lost... sigh... Home court advantage... Hahaha! But we still have fun!

Before we go, we did something else other than the mural at the main hall... We leave our signature on one of the walls there as well!!

Try to find mine. I doubt you could, cause it's too small and barely visible in this pic.

6.30pm, we got back on the bus and left. It was SUCH a great time.

Most of us slept on the bus ride back to campus. We were SOO tired....

but, as I said before, it was GRREAT! Definitely plan to go visit there again in the next one... of course, with the condition that Abel is the project advisor.

DISCLAIMER: All the photos in this post are NOT mine. They were taken from two of my friends' Multiply sites (Jenny & Ehon's).