The First School for Blind in Malaysia (1949), Johor Bahru

SK Princess Elizabeth. (First School for the blind in Malaysia) (N1°28.036' E103°44.467') It's located just behind the Aloha Tower Condo, Johor Bahru.
This school was built since 1949 and officially open on 1953 by Princess Elizabeth. That was before the independent of Malaysia.

Photo of Princess Elizabeth

We visited this school because of the coming JOTA meeting. It's really an eye opener for us!

The school also provide hostel for the blind students. There are 3 category within them. B1 - Totally blind, B2 - Partially blind, be able to see objects but very blur, B3 - Able to see things in very close distance (less than 20cm).

The stage of the hall

The Hall

The small field in the school

Canteen

The classroom

The Hostel

Also give me a chance to touch on the "Perkins Brailler" which is kind of typewriter for the blind.




We experience their life over here, the way they read, the way they live.......and also explore this very Old school in Malaysia.

She is using the Brailler for her homework

I had a chance to talk to one the boy over there. He love to touch anything that he never touch it before. His ear is extremely sensitive! I believe that's the nature of all the blinds. By the way, he's friendly.....and we ask him about his life in the school, his answer : "I'm very Happy staying over here! I feel secure here and I know everything here...." (He is belong to B1 category....) We just tell him that, we will be back in one week time........

Below pictures shows the way the B3 student study......do you notice the camera below the monitor?


Even the school located in the middle of JB town, but the surrounding environment is green by trees.....


Related post :-
* JOTA - Asia Pacific Region 2008, Johor Bahru

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New and Newish Websites on Czech Jewish Heritage

My friend David Kraus has put up a new web site on Jewish heritage in the Czech Republic. It's called "Vanished Tempels" and so far includes images takes from old postcards of pre-WW2 synagogues in Bohemia and Moravia.

It also includes a few other types of old postcards with Jewish themes and -- interestingly -- photos of some of the architects of synagogues, including Wilhelm Stiassny, one of the great designers of Moorish-style synagogues in central Europe, among them the Jubilee synagogue in Prague and the synagogue in Malacky, Slovakia, not far from Bratislava. (See my own 2006 picture of Malacky synagogue, now an art school and gallery, below)



David's site provides a link to an even bigger data base of old postcards on Jewish heritage around Europe, 1890-1930 So far, there are images of synagogues from about a score of countries, plus some other Judaica, including postcards of Jewish sporting clubs and events.



David's site also includes links to several other web sites with resources on currently existing Czech Jewish heritage. One is a database of information on current synagogue buildings in the Czech Republic, and another has information on Jewish cemeteries in the Czech Republic.

Both sites were put up by Jitka Oltova. Both are in Czech, but there are lots of pictures. (Below is a slide show of my own photos from several Jewish cemeteries in the Czech Republic.)



Another site David links to is also pretty fascinating. Called "Vanished Places After 1945" it is a data base, in Czech and German, with lots of articles and pictures, of destroyed built heritage, including several dozen synagogues.

Jewish Museum in Hohenems, Austria Revamped

I just received a copy of the thick new catalogue for the Jewish Museum in Hohenems, Austria, which reopened last year after a complete renovation and revamping of the permanent exhibition. The Museum, which was founded in 1991, now goes by the name "At Home: Diaspora." I haven't seen it yet -- but the catalogue is a more than 360-page collection of essays and photographs linking history, personal history, memoir and analysis.

Hohenems is in the far western corner of Austria, near the Swiss border -- a few years ago I wrote an article about the town and an exhibition at the Museum on cantorial super stars called "Kantormania" for the International Herald Tribune. It is the birthplace of one of 19th century Europe's biggest cantorial super stars, Solomon Sulzer, and the exhibit formed part of celebrations marking Sulzer's bicentennial .

"Sulzer was not only a cantor," Hanno Loewy, the director of the Museum, told me at the time. "He was a composer; he was a public figure; he was a teacher. He had his own school, he had his chorus. He led probably the best chorus in Vienna in the 19th century."

What's more, he added, "He was celebrated because of his wonderful voice by most of the celebrated musicians of his time, from Schubert to Liszt. They all came to the synagogue to listen to his voice." Not only that, Sulzer also became the center of a personality cult, to the point where admirers even copied his famous long-flowing hair style.

The Museum, on the other side of the country from Vienna, forms part of the cultural scene in the Lake Constance area, which also encompasses parts of Switzerland and Germany. It also has forged strong bonds with descendants of Hohenems Jews -- each year the town and museum host a gathering of Jews with links to the town. The first such gathering took place in 1998; this year it took place last weekend.

Wooden Synagogue in Latvia endangered

I missed the posting last month on Sam Gruber's blog about the wooden synagogue in Subate, a town in western Latvia, that is in danger of collapse, but it is important to spread this information, so I am linking to the post here.

This simple little synagogue, along with a score of others elsewhere in Latvia and Lithuania (maybe elsewhere?) are the only surviving examples of the sometimes magnificent wooden synagogues that one stood in eastern Europe. See a summary of Sergey Kratsov's Survey of Synagogues in Latvia for the Center for Jewish Art here.

In it, Sergey reports that out of 280 synagogues in Latvia before World War II, only 43 still exist. The good news is that the so-called Green Synagogue in Rezekne, the best-preserved of the country's wooden synagogues, is under "thorough conservation" sponsored by Latvian authorities and the World Monuments Fund.

New Ruthless Cosmopolitan Column

In my latest "Ruthless Cosmopolitan" column for JTA I write about "allosemitism" -- the concept that Jews are the perpetual "other". I describe this year's Yiddish Summer Weimar festival and also a summer exhibit at the Jewish Museum in Munich on "that certain Jewish something" that makes things and/or people Jewish.

The column can be seen at the JTA web site or at various other sites, including the Jerusalem Post.

I am aggregating all the columns on a Ruthless Cosmopolitan blog, where they can be subscribed to via RSS.


DOES A "CERTAIN JEWISH SOMETHING" REALLY SET JEWS APART?

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

WEIMAR, Germany (JTA) -- I learned a new word this summer -- "allosemitism."
Coined by a Polish-Jewish literary critic named Artur Sandauer, the term describes a concept with which I am quite familiar -- the idea of Jews as the perpetual "other."

Allosemitism can embrace both positive and negative feelings toward Jews -- everything, as the sociologist Zygmunt Bauman put it, "from love and respect to outright condemnation and genocidal hatred."

Read full story

Estuary of Danga River (Sg. Danga), Johor Bahru

This place where I'm standing (N1°28.905' E103°42.737') is located at the back of the Danga View Apartment. It's also just beside Danga Bay of Johor Bahru.

There's a new bridge under construction now at the place I took this pictures. Once it's ready, the road from Danga Bay will be connect to the Iskandar Malaysia Development at Gelang Patah. The bridge will really cut down the traveling time from JB town to Gelang Patah.

Opposite of Danga Bay

Facing south, behind the trees.....there's Singapore.

The purpose of visiting this area is to capture some nice photos before the nature GONE. You can see from the pictures, it's really calm & peaceful for the moment....hmm...will all this beautiful scene remain after the bridge complete or gone forever....?!

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PIKOM PC Fair II 2008, Johor Bahru

The 2nd PC Fair organized by PIKOM was held at the same place - Persada Johor (Johor International Convention Center) on 2nd & 3rd August, 2008.

We visited there around 2pm. The crowd as usual, PACKED!!

This time I saw the demand of the GPS in the PC Fair. There about 5-6 booths promoting the GPS devices.....And I only remember that the Garmin Nuvi 200 was selling at MYR888.00 and MYR868.00.


Price war as usual, I was attracted by the price of LCD monitor - 22' LCD Monitor cost only MYR780.00.
Recently, I noticed that the fair doesn't only computers & accessories....but, the LCD TV (consumer products), CCTV cameras & Digital cameras also took part in the fair.


We spotted some new products in the fair too! Like Mini Solar Charger for all 5V devices.....selling at MYR138.00 & MYR198.00.(I doubt the reliability.....)

MP5?? Huh? New product?.....hmm....not really, they named it because the device be able to play the real media format only.....

Linux Ubuntu Operating System!! The ONLY computer in the fair!!

This was the first time where digital cameras accessories also participated in the fair!

And also the LOVELY Promoter of the booth...

And.....when I walked pass this HP printer booth, she just smile at me!

Beside the main hall, there were the War between the there major Internet Services Provider....TMNET, CELCOM & MAXIS.



But most of the promoters are having limited knowledge about 3G......

Related post :-
* PC Fair III 2007, Johor Bahru
* Computer Fair 2008 at Landmark Mall, Johor Bahru

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