Home Thoughts From Abroad

Kuala Lumpur is a city designed for shoppers!  The malls are massive and beautiful, open virtually everyday of the year and always crowded.  Sunway Pyramid is our local mall, as seen from our pool deck in the picture, and it comes complete with a Skating Rink, a Lagoon waterpark and three theme parks.

We have been perplexed as we watched the sales promotions throughout the year.  When the “Spring Sales” arrived the malls were decorated with trees in bloom, umbrellas and spring flowers.  Lately we were attempting to find some light weight pants but when we asked the sales clerk he was quite shocked.  He informed us that we would need to wait for the summer clothing to come in before we would find light clothing.

In the sixteen months we have lived here, we have rarely seen the daytime highs at less than 32 degrees, with lows consistently around 26 degrees.  We finally asked the question, “How do you know that it is winter?”  The very helpful young man said he had no idea but they always use the same promotional themes as America so he thought it had something to do with their culture. 

 I guess our heavy pants will need to do for now because I m certainly not buying corduroy or knitted sweaters but I hope summer comes around again soon.

This year we have decided that we need to make a real effort to see more of our adopted country and to gain a better understanding of the culture.  This has been a challenge without a vehicle as public transportation takes you to a specific destination efficiently but does not allow you to experience much along the way.

We learned from our visit to Fraser’s Hill, that outside of the cities people are much less apt to understand English and sometimes the cultural differences mean that what seems obvious to us is not necessarily obvious to others.  We had lunch is a local restaurant, where Steve and I both ordered Chicken Fried Rice and Gary and Kveta each ordered Chinese Fried Rice.  The waiter misunderstood and bought food for only Steve and Gary, clearly not finding it the least bit unusual that only the men were eating.

Anyway, we have now begun spending a half hour each evening in language study and it is evident that our ability to memorize is not what it used to be.  It has taken us a full week to master the numbers and the days of the week.  Fortunately, we hear that Bahasa Malaysia is not a difficult language to learn.  The big challenge is the fact that they build on nouns and verbs to derive new words, so until you are very familiar with the root words, the language looks very confusing.

Additions can be made before, after, in the middle off or even around a root word.  So masak (to cook) becomes memasak (is cooking, memasakkan (is cooking for), dimasak (cooked), permasak (the cook) or masakan (cookery) and the list goes on.  By the time I figure out what the root word is, it is way too late to follow any conversation.

Oh well,  I figure that if I am not learning something new, it is probably time to pack it in.

 After school on Friday, Steve rented a car and made the four hour drive down to Singapore to join me for the weekend.  It worked out well to have a car there as it enabled us to pick up some packages at the airport and explore the east coast and the northern part of the island.  In the Orchid Gardens there is a water garden that has some of the most spectacular flowers and grasses that we have ever seen.

On the way home we detoured to Port Dickson, which is on the west coast Straits of Malaka, just outside of KL.  Found a lovely, quiet beach where Steve spent the afternoon marking essays while I relaxed and swam.  Who knew that there was a retreat like this just outside the city.

In the midst of all the travelling and moving around, we finally found the time to make use of a 30th Anniversary gift from our friends Ken and Susan.  Last night we both enjoyed a one hour Amoaras Relaxing Massage and it was wonderful!

We have shared many adventures with Ken and Susan this year and it is a privilege for us to count them as friends.  Their ability to understand Mandarin and Cantonese often came in handy and their familiarity with the culture challenged  us to experience things that we would not otherwise have considered. 

It was all wonderful, except for the durian, of course. 

They are heading back to Toronto at the end of the month to resume their teaching careers at home and we will certainly miss them.

Living life without a car certainly has it’s merits, mainly financial, and we really don’t miss it terribly.  However there is one major downside and that is the fact that we have not seen very much of the incredibly beautiful Malaysian countryside.  You can rent cars here very inexpensively and very conveniently, as they deliver it to your door.

On Saturday we, along with our friends Gary and Kveta did a great day trip to Fraser’s Hill (actually seven hills) which is just about 100 Kms outside of the city.   The hill station is 1500 feet up in the Titwangsa mountain range and was built to provide a place of retreat away from the heat and humidity of KL.  It is named after a British pioneer who came in search of gold but found large tin deposits instead.

Today it is a sleepy little settlement that has streets and rockery planted with lovely flowers and a network of nature trails and jungle walks that can be done in the relative coolness of the mountains.  We were able to see plenty of wild life, ferns and flowers in the forest and even saw (and heard) four massive hornbills take flight.

Our first week back has been a flurry of actvity, not the least of which was our move to a new apartment.  It was not a long move as it only involved going from Tower One to Tower Two of our complex.  With Steve back at work, I managed this move using a large suitcase on wheels.  I must have made forty trips but fortunately was able to vary my route somewhat so that people would not think that I had completely lost my mind.

Here we rent our apartments “furnished” and each landlord has their own definition of furnished.  So although the actual apartment structure is identical, this one comes with a full kitchen, built in cupboards with drawers, sofas that are actually comfortable to sit on and a dining table that seats more than two.  Thanks to our friends Bill and Kim, who lived here last year, it also comes with some added touches that make it feel very comfortable and bring back memories of some wonderful evenings spent here with them.

On Saturday night we had five people over for dinner and actually sat at the table together over a home cooked meal.  After a year of cooking only with a microwave, it felt wonderful to be able to entertain again.  Cooking is still a little tricky as ovens are not widely used but at least a stove top offers many new options.

Gosh, it is good to be back in Malaysia. My two thoughts on going back to Canada were: 1) It’s cold here! and 2) Where is everybody? The country is empty! Malaysia is not crowded like Bangladesh, but it is lively, and the streets are always full of people. Funny what you get used to.

Speaking of people, we got together at the Boulevard last night for a barbeque. It was a get-to-know-you for the new staff, all thirteen of them. Along with the eleven hold-overs from last year that makes two dozen ex-pats in this program. That is still a shade less than the 80% called for by the Ontario Ministry of Education, but probably close enough to pass certification for this year.

They are a pretty interesting bunch. Sandra was hired out of Oman where she had been teaching, Craig and Beth out of China, Farshad out of Korea where he and his family had been for four years. Gary and Kveta, who joined us in January were hired out of Papua New Guinea. Getting together with this bunch is like doing a verbal tour of Asia!

Even those who come from Canada have pretty interesting stories. Colin went to school in Mexico and has travelled extensively in South America. An amateur photographer, his photos of Peru and Bolivia are about to go up in a gallery in Toronto. His aunt is the famous Canadian guitarist Liona Boyd and his mother, Vivian, and I were in the school orchestra together at Kipling Collegiate. What a small world!

Our time in Ontario is rapidly drawing to a close and we are making each moment count.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to be available to help Jon and Nic in even small ways.  The fact that we are not able to be involved in the day to day lives of our children is without a doubt the most difficult aspect of being in Malaysia.

Jon and Nic are down in the states celebrating the launch of his project  with a company sponsored trip to Six Flags.  The timing also coincided with Abi’s need for a “well baby” check-up and that along with the chance to spend time with friends, made the trip down very useful.

So Ben and I have from Wednesday to Saturday to get to know each other and to explore Waterloo and area.  Ben is very easy going, plays and sleeps hard and loves to shop so we are having a great time.  Even found him some new shoes that he can run in and they fit his cubby little feet- but his dad will hate them.