Home Thoughts From Abroad

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.

I hate the Rolling Stones. I hate their music, and I hate what they stand for: denegerate living and drugs. But there was a time when I loved their music. That was because there was a time when the Stones played blues. The real stuff. Little Red Rooster, King Bee. It didn’t last long, maybe a couple of albums at best, but it was good, clean, honest music. Great for basement bands like ours to copy: simple progressions and dynamite licks.

The Stones moved on, as bands do, but I never lost my love for the Blues, I just migrated to other artists. The great of draw of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton was not their psychedelic heavy metal sound, but their blues roots, leading back to B.B. King and the Chicago blues. The blockbuster hits of those days for blues fans was Big Brother and the Holding Company and Janis Joplin’s Ball and Chain from their Cheap Thrills album and East-West by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, featuring Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop. It was wonderfully powerful and driving stuff.

I’m sure music didn’t entirely die in the 80s. There was Genesis and Pink Floyd and of course Queen. But lyrical and gutsy music music was at at a premuim. For a while I gravitated over to country music, just to see what was going on, and found John Hiatt hiding out there. His 1995 album Walk On was about the only thing I listened to for about five months. It’s as close to a cross between Bob Dylan and B.B. King as you can get. Dust Down a Country Road, and Cry Love stand out on a great album.

Here’s a link to John Hiatt’s Riding with the King, performed by B.B. King, for whom it was written, and his old friend Eric Clapton. This album has been getting me through the long slog of marking exams with a bit of a grin on my old tattered face. I hope it puts a smile on yours.