Karen Dean

I have been visiting this site for the past week and so many memories have come flooding back. It really was such a special time in our lives. What a fantastic school we had, no other schools (and there were many!) came close.

As I said in the guest book, one of my favorite memories is racing the monsoonal rains home after school. We lived at the top of the hill at Jln Ahmid Bin Kasa, and we would literally race to get home with the rain thundering up the hill behind us and it would usually drench us as we turned into the street.....it was so predictable!

I remember Strawberry fantas at the Hostie, our big treat and Mentos lollies...both of these took years to reach Aust.

Pulau Tikus market and how the chickens were SOOO fresh that they ran around headless for a while before they finally died and you took them home. And the pancake man! Yum, I am drooling as I type!!

Our lovely mechanic that took our whole family out for dinner every year.
Bombalasca or toffee banana deserts at the restaurants.
Picture evenings at the Penang swimming club, sipping fresh lime juice and that magnificant sunset. And how about the swimming carnivals? Fantastic fun. Prawn crackers and the beach beyond!

Who remembers the Girl Guide exchange trip to Thailand????

We babysat a teachers' pet monkey for a few months when they went to Europe....it was called Mongo and it used to suck its own you know what....use your imagination here, it was a boy if that helps!!! It lived in the monkey pod tree in the backyard on a chain the poor thing, and it really didn't like my sister Ali for some reason.

How about the Snake Temple? I remember feeling quite ill after a close encounter with a Cobra, on a school excursion. I can also recall a school hashrun through the rubber plantation/jungle close to school, and about four of us jumping over a log before realising that there was a very BIG snake under the log. Joanne Humphries where are you? you should remember that day!

I smoked my first cigarette in Penang! Once again, in the rubber plantation near the school at ? Hut. I was with Ali and Lyn Howitt, and Lyn's older brother....and they MADE me do it (Ali is my younger sister by 11 months) I felt very ill and didn't smoke again for quite some time!

Our cook (very Catholic Chinese Malay called Margaret)cooking spring rolls every single Friday for two years....needless to say that towards the end of our stay we girls could hardly look at a spring roll, let alone eat one but our mother made us suffer in silence as Margaret was so proud of them! Margaret ruled the household and we were all a little scared of her I think. Our Ahmah, Eng, was quite the opposite. She was an absolute darling. She really spoiled us....she wasn't supposed to clean our bedrooms as mum believed we should do it ourselves, but Eng always managed to sneak in and do it for us. I remember one occasion when mum and dad had to go to a Ball at Butterworth, Eng babysat us and snuck her husband in to do the ironing...she was very pregnant at the time and had been told not to do it! Such loyalty!

Basketball at the hostie, tennis, tabletennis, badminton, Joeys Dances, so many school excursions to rock pools, temples and batik factories and that lovely smell of hot wax mingled with the Durian growing around the buildings.

Terrifying trips on the bus to the Hostie, down the hill with no brakes....I can still close my eyes, smell the deisal fumes and transport myself back onto those buses, hanging on for dear life.

Neighbors that I remember are the Scotts, Aarron and Liah (teachers children, younger than us) the Yoes, Marion was my age. We have photos of a concert we held for the parents on their back patio....us girls in our bikini tops and sarongs! Ann Gordan, The Fitzpatricks (teachers who lived at the end of the street and had bunnies)And the Vincents (all redheads who moved into the Yoe's house next door)

I have had some opportunities to experience that tropical heat a few times since Penang, and it immediatley makes the last 20 odd years melt away and transports me back to THAT TIME IN MY LIFE! Others that I have been travelling with have found it oppressive, but I have loved every minute of it! I remember wearing headphones to bed on Saturday nights, plugged into the radio to listen to Saturday Night Disco and the requests....praying that someone would dedicate a song for me! It didn't happen!!!

Disgusting milk at school! Trying to pretend that the flavoured ones tasted better....but they didn't. It has put me off drinking milk to this day!

Someone letting off firecrackers at a school assembly and being totally admired by every student in the school for the whole year!

I could go on for hours with all these memories that keep popping into my head....it's like a disease!

Our family left Penang in '75, lived in Melb for 4 years, then onto Canb. Parents and youngest sister Shelly went on to Wagga, Nicky went to Japan, Ali went to England and Scotland, I went to the Canberra School of Art and then moved back to Melb after hooking up with old friend Paul Bramich (we first met after returning from Penang) and conducting long distance relationship for some time. I worked in the photographic industry for many years before finally getting married, Paul and I now have three very handsome boys the eldest is just finishing grade 6 this year and moving on to high school. He is worried about losing contact with his friends as he is the only one from his primary school going on to our chosen highschool. This site has helped me explain that you never forget, and you can always regain contact with old friends. He is quite intriqued by the whole concept of me being a grade 6er years ago, and finding my class photo on the internet!

This is such a wonderful thing, to be able to voice all these memories to people that shared this experience, and know that it means as much to them as it does to you! So often I have said something about my time in Penang and noboby has been able to associate with the experience! To all you X RAAFies and teachers children out there that did share the experience....welcome home!

Looking forward to hearing from all old class mates, fellow girl guides and swimming buddies!

Cheers,