Brunei- Chapter 1: Arriving and settling in

Week 1 has come and gone, with its share of anticipation, excitement and mild frustration. Brunei is after all an Asian country!

Upon arrival at the airport, we were met by the Secondary Principal, his family and the Operations Manager, Leona, a bubbly energetic woman. Though she “bosses” people around, her motherly personality means she will look after us and make sure we have everything we need. “No point in calling other people, they will always call me anyway so you might as well call me first!” This was established within the first week and I have to say that to know you can call someone who will have the answers and will help is not to be scorned at, even if the form might be lacking.  

Our first impressions of the country was through its airport, and although not very big and not very busy, it was very much like any airport: getting our visas on arrival requested patience as the clerk stamped and handwrote and signed and stamped again each one of our passports. Luckily there was no queue. Perhaps the one aspect that differs is that you are restricted to how much alcohol you bring into the country and you have to declare it filling in a form- but we had been warned and played the game dutifully.

Whilst we were driven to our new abode- a large house with a garden off one of the main roads called Jalan Muara, which happens to be a few kilometres from the school, a few kilometres from the city centre, Bandar Seri Begawan or BSB, and a few kilometres from anywhere really, it hit me that we had turned a new leaf in our book and were starting all over again. A slight pang of a mixture of sadness and anxiety took over my entire body as I realised for the first time in 5 years that we were not on holiday but that we would have to learn everything again. China had become our home and after each holiday we would go back to familiar grounds. Not this time. That feeling, however, passed quickly and arriving at our house where we were greeted by Noor, the HR manager who is as bubbly with laughing eyes as Leona, it helped forget how I had felt a little while back.  We had seen pictures of the house but what a great feeling it was to actually be there. I don’t think we ever lived in such a big house before- 4 bedrooms upstairs with two bathrooms, a large kitchen, a larger living-room, another room/office and another bathroom downstairs. Not to mention the garden, big enough to set our badminton net, play football and grow plants and trees, a newly-discovered passion of Augustin’s. Nothing is small in this country, apparently. And since our first day in Brunei, we have been invited to a couple of people and it is true, their houses are big too.

Living on Jalan Muara feels like living in the countryside. Smaller roads, called Simpangs, are off the main roads and take you to habitations. Easy enough to get around. Along the roads, mini-marts and small complexes offer pretty much everything you need. For more, the city centre of BSB is just down the road; the beaches, national parks etc… are also only down the road.

Starting again meant learning a lot and being ready for surprises. Our first big surprise was that our shipment had arrived (on time!), had been cleared and delivered so when we got there, all our boxes were waiting for us. What a relief! Listening to stories from other new staff, some would have to wait several weeks and that is not fun. We were able to unpack and settle in very quickly. And now, it feels like home. Another huge surprise was our car! The school had rented a car for a month for all new members of staff to help us while we were settling in. I knew that we would have to get a car but I didn’t realise how crucial it actually was. The roads are not biker-friendly to say the least; we may have only encountered a handful of people on bikes since we’ve been here. We’ll still ride but to go to school, shopping and whatnot, driving is preferable, allows so much more and since we are not strictly speaking in town, there are no taxis you can hail. There are a few buses but we have yet to work out where they stop and at what time. It seems sensible to use a car.

We spent our first weekend getting acquainted with our new surroundings, finding places to shop, trying out new restaurants… The following week was induction week and it felt more like social events than work planned by the school- not that I will complain. The management of the school was keen for new teachers and their families to make them feel welcome and show them around in order to establish a routine, I think. Not a bad idea!

First on the agenda was getting the medical done for me in order to get our Identity Cards. With your IC, you can buy or rent a car etc… Next, sort out the internet which proved a hurdle and a major drawback: no connection for 4 weeks. I should mention that we arrived a week before the end of the Ramadan and this changes everything. To top it all, the Sultan has generously declared an extra day of holiday. A new country, a new culture, a new way of doings things. We found that trying to eat out around 6pm during the fasting period was not a good idea: it is the time when the Muslims break their fast and all the restaurants, and I mean all of them are booked up. We were turned away a few times and decided it would be wise to either order a takeaway or delay. However, since we couldn’t get in one of the restaurants we had been recommended, we found others that we really liked. Nothing will deter us from going out, it seems. So Sagar, a North-Indian restaurant, might just become one of our regular haunt; the food is so good, we had dinner there once, and takeout the following day.

During our first week into our new life in Brunei, we went on a boat ride through the mangrove and were lucky enough to see some monkeys and lizards lazying in the sun on the banks of the river. There is a water village across the waterfront where people live in stilt houses and water taxis take you to visit some of the houses or the school. Quite a sight we had not seen before. An array of colours and houses on legs living on the river! On the second day there was a walk in the jungle organised for later in the afternoon when the crunch of the sun would not be so fierce. The city of Bandar is built in the jungle and one of the national parks, Tasek Lama, offers walks and pathways of different levels of difficulty. Leo went on the easy one that leads to the waterfall whilst Seb and I chose the more harduous one which was rendered harder by the heat. How we sweated! But the views were absolutely magnificent and so rewarding, it was a joy. Another walk was planned for the following day which we wanted to do but Leo took ill and we had to decline. Sadly too, we also had to decline going to Temburong, a day out we had been looking forward to and missed out, this time, on one of the most amazing day trips on offer in Brunei. It will only give us a better excuse to take our visitors there! On the Tuesday morning of that week, HR had planned a bus trip to show us around the city. I was never one to enjoy guided tours and this one was as predicted: I couldn’t shift this feeling of being herding along with no other choice but to follow and the 2 and a half-hour long bus trip, though meant with the best possible intentions, made me feel quite sick. Being shown so many different places you’ve never been to before, there was no guarantee at all I would be able to find my way again. And true to my lack of sense of directions, when I tried taking us back to some of those places, we ended up driving for a long time without getting anywhere except a growing sense of frustration. Still, with a map, which we know have acquired, it was good of the school to try their best to make us feel at home.

Our first week ended with a 5-day weekend ahead of us, thanks to Hari Raya and the generous Sultan’s decree of adding an extra day off, and plans were made, if not entirely successful! There is time, plenty of time.