Daily life in Malaysia

After living here for the past three months, I thought it might be fun to document some of the main cultural differences I'm experiencing, a sneak peak (if you will) into my daily life in Penang.

First, the languages spoken here are different.  Unlike in Texas, I don't hear much Spanish, though I do have several expat friends that are native Spanish speakers.  I commonly hear many other languages spoken around me, primarily English, Melayu, Tamil, and Hokkien.  Even my familiar mother-tongue English is affected by the accent and word choice given to it (Australian, British, etc.), and I love hearing its variety.  One recent example was when my shipment arrived and the guards called to inform me that my "lorry" was here!  (Penang was formerly a British colony.)   The official language of Malaysia is Bahasa Melayu (meaning "language Malay"), which acts to unify the three primary people groups (Chinese, Indian, and Malay).  I am currently enjoying an 8-week crash course and having fun practicing simple phrases.  Selamat petang! (Good afternoon.)

Living as a white Westerner in a sea of darker skin tones, I am more aware of my light skin but almost always welcomed.  It has been fun attending a local Baptist church and representing a minority race!  There is also great variety in women's dress here, ranging from fully-covered Muslim women showing no skin at all to teen girls in miniskirts.  I try to dress modestly, following the conservative approach of some of the other Malaysian states, but most styles are acceptable in laid-back Penang!  I have, however, been more aware of customs and cultures when considering what to wear so as not to offend anyone.  I wear brighter colors and less black and white, since these colors are often associated with mourning, and of course, I always remember to remove my shoes prior to entering any Malaysian home (a practice I might just have to bring back to Texas with me!)

Eating is delightful in this town, but like everything else, my habits have changed radically in terms of what I eat and how I shop.  Local food is very yummy and cheap.  Since the food is much better than I can make myself, we end up eating out about 3 days/week.  At a typical hawker center, there are 15-20 food stalls, each specializing in one type of cuisine.  Upon arrival, you sit down at a table and someone comes by to take your drink order.  Then you walk up to whatever stall you want and order, telling them your table number.  They make and deliver it to you, where you pay right then.  Typical meal prices are between $2 and $5 US.  Dishes are usually rice-based ("nasi") or noodle-based ("mee"), and whole-wheat/whole grains are few and far between.  Despite this, I am eating well and have still managed to lose 8 pounds since moving here!  =)

Shopping for food is also different.  For someone accustomed to the weekly, one-stop-shopping experiences of HEB, I now shop more often at more places.  Almost everything can be found here, with a few exceptions (ranch dressing, good salsa and tortilla chips), but they don't have everything all the time.  You might have to adjust your recipe, or scrap it altogether, for something else they do have.  Also, if you are buying pork products or alcohol, there is a separate counter you must pay at, since these items are considered "non-halal" (forbidden) for Muslims.  When I had only been here a week, I unknowingly brought some bacon up to the normal counter and felt awful when the cashier asked me to turn it over and bag it myself because she didn't want to touch it.  I haven't made that mistake again! 

In addition to grocery stores like Cold Storage (my favorite due to its larger selection of "international" foods (ie, shipped from Western countries)), I also go to local wet markets twice/week.  Only open in the mornings, here is where the locals buy all fresh produce, poultry, and seafood.  And by fresh, I mean that morning, it was swimming in the ocean, or walking around eating feed!  A huge variety of fruits and veggies await your palette, and it's been fun sampling new things.  Almost everything has multiple growing seasons and is locally grown.  Eggs are readily available, though never refrigerated.  Chicken and seafood are fun to buy, but not for the squimish.  You tell the butcher how many of what pieces you want and then stand back while they chop, de-bone, and/or skin it for you on the spot.  I always leave feeling very sweaty (it's hot there!) but proud of the fresh ingredients that I spent so little for, inspired to cook, and anxious to get everything into my fridge as fast as possible!

As for life at home in my super-condo, there's not much to complain about!  We are spending quite a bit on air-con, but I try to open windows and use the fans alot.  For air-con and water heaters, there are individual units in each room that you turn on and off as needed.  Dryers are also not common here.  Most locals hang up their clothes to dry, but I insisted on one for our place.  Ovens are also not common, but our convection oven/microwave makes cookies and bread just fine!  I am spending more time doing dishes, since our place doesn't have a dishwasher, but make up for it with inexpensive help from my wonderful housecleaner.  We are spending less on food and maid services, but more on travel (worth it!) and alcohol (also worth it, but much more expensive since it's non-halal).  I am also getting stronger arms from having to carry all my groceries up from the car in one load; you'd be amazed what I can carry!  Watching TV is possible through Astro cable, but reception is sporadic, and the DVR feature doesn't work.  Mostly, we use our VPN to watch things from Netflix or hulu.com since there are no video rental stores on the island.   Our kids have been pleased to see the familiar faces of McDonalds, KFC, Chili's, Pizza Hut, and Baskin Robbins, but there is only one drive-thru in Penang!  Food still tastes about the same, except the pizza, where chicken or beef pepperoni stand-in for the real thing.  Just not the same as pork . . .

Another main difference is the use of the metric system!  C vs. F and km vs. mile keep me on my toes, and I'm getting pretty good at typing "350 F in C" into google to convert for recipes!  Time is much more laid back here as well.  "Malaysian time" is consistently late (hard for some time-driven Americans to adjust to!), and when people say they'll show up at a certain time, don't expect them for at least another half hour to hour.  Even Starbucks doesn't open before 8:30, if you can believe it, and locals eat dinner closer to 8:00.  (We're attending a wedding tommorrow and are trying to figure out when to show up so we won't be too early!) 

Using the "tandas" (toilet) can also take some getting used to.  Though toilets are common in many places, some facilities have "squatty potties", which is exactly what it sounds like.  Sometimes there is a small fee to use the toilet, and usually, it's necessary to grab toilet paper prior to entering a stall, or to bring your own!  On another note, make sure to keep your umbrella handy, since unlike in Texas, it actually rains here.  (I'm still adjusting to the beautiful color green!)

There are many more differences that I haven't mentioned, but I appreciate your patience in making it all the way through this long entry!  I will write another blog soon about what driving, parking, and being a pedestrian is like (beware!).  If reading this has made you curious to experience these things for yourself, our guest room still awaits its first visitor!

Our Highlands retreat

After spending two months on an island, we finally crossed over to the mainland last weekend, taking advantage of a long weekend from school.  Our destination, the Cameron Highlands, was within a four-hour drive and promised to be a cool respite from the sweating we've been accustomed to here in Penang!  Our adventure began with a scenic drive across Penang Bridge, the longest bridge in southeast Asia.  Once on the mainland, we hopped on the North-South Expressway to Ipoh, a picturesque town of historical buildings and bouganvilleas surrounded by grand limestone cliffs.  (After getting used to much slower driving speeds on the island, it was fun to zip along at 110 km/h!)  From Ipoh, we headed up a long and very windy road to the highlands.  Temperatures were much cooler here, but sweet, carsick Abigail was quite happy to escape from the car!

Somehow in my planning, I hadn't considered the possibility of rain, and therefore left all but one of our umbrellas at home.  Of course, Rachel picked out a cute strawberry one at our first stop, a strawberry farm.  (I've never seen so many strawberry-themed things in my life!)  Here, strawberry plants are grown in individual pots above ground and watered via drip-irrigation from collected rain water.  All the plants are covered with giant plastic roofing domes in order to protect the delicate fruit.  The kids enjoyed picking strawberries, and we all shared some homemade strawberry icepops! 

We then crossed the road to a chocolate shop, bought some souvenirs, and enjoyed the cool temperatures as we ate lunch outside under covered awnings while the rain poured down.  After checking in to our hotel, a very cute cottage inn called Bala's Holiday Chalet, we headed into the small town of Tanah Rata and found a half-muddy, but still fun, playground for our kids.  They played on what they could, and then were entertained for quite some time simply throwing leaves in a muddy river.  Who needs toys?!  Afterwards, we had fun climbing on some giant fruits and veggies we discovered in the park and pretended that we were in the town of Chewandswallow.  (For reference, read the children's classic Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.)  We ate Indian food for dinner (everyone loves naan!) and enjoyed the cool weather.  My kids even complained they were cold!

The next day, we all slept late and then went downstairs for breakfast, where we enjoyed some wonderful scones with whipping cream and homemade strawberry jam.  From there, we headed out to explore a honey bee farm.  Wandering through the beautiful gardens, we observed the bees "at work" and all had a good time except Mark, who was scared of being stung.  We stopped at various souvenir shops and then headed up an extremely narrow and windy road that led to a tea plantation.  Unfortunately, the road was packed with tourists and we were unable to make it down that day.  We did, however, go back the next morning on our way out of town and were so glad we did!  The rolling hills covered with tea bushes, combined with the cooler temperatures, was quite pleasant, and Rachel had fun hiking up the steps to the tea facility.  The tour was short but informative, describing the stages of production, including picking, rolling, and fermentation.  I also learned that the proper way to make tea is to not use tea bags, but instead to let the leaves steep for a minimum of three minutes in hot water.  Filter out the leaves as you pour the tea into your cup.

We headed down the mountain and back to our island home with a brand new tea set, lots of strawberry souvenirs, and memories of our cool mountain retreat.  We'll definetely come back, next time with more umbrellas, two pairs of shoes (one for hiking in mud), hopefully with family, and not on a holiday weekend!

Hike to Monkey Beach

Feeling adventurous and ready to get outdoors and do some hiking, we packed up our kids and water bottles last Saturday and headed to the Penang National Park.  We chose a trail heading out to Monkey Beach, a popular site to see these animals and to do some swimming.  This would not have been possible without our friends' generosity in letting us borrow a hiking backpack for Rachel.  Even so, her 41 pounds turned out to be a pretty good workout for Adam!

The trail turned out to be pretty adventurous, and it took us about an hour and a half to hike to our destination. We all had fun exploring the trail and often got to climb over big rocks and lift ourselves down with ropes.  Periodically, there were concrete or wooden bridges, at one point, we found a wooden swing that we just had to try out, and Mark had to stop and examine the huge ants!  The only damper to our adventure was my son's fear that we were lost, though we assurred him many times that we weren't. 

When we finally arrived at our destination, Mark stopped crying and jumped right in the water, but then it was Rachel's turn to start screaming, as we saw monkeys from afar.  (My daughter's fear of monkeys initiated from a previous bad experience; see "Monkey attack" post.)  The monkeys here never bothered us at all, but Rachel screamed nonetheless until we were safely in the water.  We spent the next half hour cooling off in the ocean, playing in the waves, and looking for shells.  There were lots of small crabs skittering back and forth along the rocks, and it was fun to watch them.  When we got out, Abigail spotted a jellyfish, but thankfully, no one got stung.

We had arranged for a boat to take us back, which was a quick and windy five-minute ride.  Upon returning to our car, we all were starving, as we had purposely avoided bringing food in order to keep the monkeys away.  All in all, this was a great treking experience, and definetely one we'll do again soon!

Fish spa therapy

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to try a truly unique spa experience, namely fish spa therapy!  We went to a place called Kenko, where we allowed fish to exfoliate our feet.  There is a special species of fish, apparently, that thrive on eating the dead and diseased skin of bathers.  Talk about a symbiotic relationship; I dare all skeptics to try it!!  (For more information, check out www.kenko.com.sg. )

Upon entering, we washed our feet and then sat down on a bench with our feet dangling in the water. The first tank had the smallest fish, and even though I knew to expect it, the first nibbles still startled me!  It didn't hurt at all, but we couldn't help but pass the time giggling as we watched these "little masseurs" eat away our dead skin. We spent the half hour soaking our feet in three different tanks, each with progressively larger fish. I could tell that the last tank was making a genuine difference; I emerged with much softer and smoother heels!

Following our fish spa treatment, my friend and I each enjoyed a lovely 10-minute shoulder massage. I don't know how they can make their hands do some of those motions, but it sure felt amazing!! Afterwards, we were led to a quiet room where we were instructed to lounge on comfy chaises while being covered with warm towels. Peaceful music played in the background, and low lighting and scented candles added to the ambiance, as for the next half an hour, we were treated to an intensely satisfying foot reflexology massage. Wow . . . that's all I can say!

I can't wait to share this experience with friends and family that come and visit.  I'd gladly hand over the ONLY $25 US that I spent to pamper myself with all these treatments! This hour and a half of fun and extreme relaxation was worth every ringgit! I have rarely treated myself to such pampering in the past, but this might become my new guilty pleasure.

First week of school

It's only mid-August and my kids have already completed their first week of school!  They are attending an international school called Dalat, and they have to wear uniforms every day.  Makes for some good pictures, I think!

The first week went very well and we're now getting into the groove of the school schedule, i.e. "early to bed, early to rise"!  Rachel is in preschool for the first time, and she loves every minute of it.  Every day she comes bouncing out the door telling me about what she's done.  She loves free play time, circle/story time, and crafts and painting.  Her class is small, only 3 girls and 6 boys. 

Mark is now is kindergarten and loving making friends and eating the school lunch.  He spends recess time hunting for big ants with some other boys and is making progress in his literacy skills, though math is still his favorite.

 

Abigail is in third grade this year, and is learning all the rules and expectations.  She is keeping track of her daily assignments and will be receiving letter grades for the first time this year.  Her favorite class is art, not surprisingly.  The older two kids also get to attend a weekly chapel and Bahasa classes twice a week.

As for me, I'm not sure what to do with myself!  I drop them all off by 8:20, and then, for the first time, I have all morning to do my own thing.  I pick up Rachel at noon to play one-on-one until going back to get the older kids at 3:05.  Some time spent driving, but some time to breathe, too!  I'm sure that I won't have much trouble finding things to do with my time.  =)

 

Malaysia: a harmonious brew

This is such a fascinating and unique island!  I consider myself lucky to be here in Penang and get to experience various cultures, peoples, and religions firsthand.  Diversity is everywhere, yet here, people live together harmoniously and appreciate and learn from each other's differences.

Living the "island lifestyle" has been quite nice!  The backdrop of beautiful hills and an abundance of flowers and animals make it quite the tropical paradise.  I enjoy watching cruise ships and cargo ships go by each day, jet-skiers playing on the water, and local fishing boats coming in around sunrise with their catch to be sold that morning. I enjoy the sound of ocean waves hitting the shore, and the loud bartering and busy hawkers shouting their wares at the wet markets.  Smells of fish, produce, and spices mix together in a not unpleasant way; even the smell of durian does not disturb me. In this friendly city, people watch out for each other (like the woman gently telling my son to climb down from the railing), and Rachel with her blonde hair is very popular!  I love how our building guards address me respectfully, saying "Hallo, Madam", and even called me to let me know that the inner lights were on in my car.  To quote Annie, "I think I'm gonna like it here."  =)

There seems to be alot going on here, and the Penang events link keeps me "in the know".  When we had been here only a week, we attended a Japanese festival on the esplanade, and tonight, I'm going to see a puppet show related to the Hungry Ghost festival.  (During the seventh lunar month according to tradition, Chinese opera and puppet shows are staged to entertain gods and ghosts that come out roaming in search of food.  The burning of joss sticks and various forms of entertainment are "offered".)  Next week, I plan to attend the world's largest floating book fair, a huge book store on a docked cruise boat, whose proceeds go to the charity Logo's Hope.

Of course, the most widely practiced event on the island right now, being an Islamic country, is the celebration of Ramadan.  During the month of August, devout Muslims fast from all food and drink between sunrise and sunset for the purposes of self-discipline and to focus on prayer and seeking Allah. To witness such devotion humbles me and causes me to ponder how I could put more effort into seeking God.  My knowledge of Islam is very limited, but as I live here for an extended period, I hope to gain a greater understanding of Muslim culture and daily life. 

I can certainly appreciate the beauty in design and architecture of the mosques. The beautiful colors and often elaborate details speak of countless hours of difficult labor by expert craftsmen. Where America is dotted with Christian churches on every corner, here beautiful mosques and temples far outnumber buildings for other religions. I have also enjoyed the soothing sounds of the call to prayer five times a day, heard widely via amplification from various mosques throughout the city.

I am reading an enlightening book right now called Travel as a Political Act by Rick Steves.  I would highly reccommend this book to anyone who wants to expand their knowledge of various people groups and the advantages of world travel!  Be brave, step out of your comfort zone, and if you know me, come and visit!!

Monkey attack!!!

So, I'm sitting there at the Penang Youth Park and Playground, minding my own business and watching my kids splash and play in the swimming pools there.  Just idling, responding to an email to a friend far away, when . . . I hear a sound and turn my head and see a rather aggressive monkey less than a foot from my face!  I respond by screaming and jumping up, but forgetting to grab my bag, as I am descended upon by a whole pack of monkeys swinging down from the trees.  No joke, they appeared suddenly out of nowhere!

The next thing I knew, my whole pool bag was all over the place.  One monkey had my car keys, another had my house keys, and another was literally taking all the money out of my wallet.  When faced with such a situation, it made sense to me to try and yell and scare them away, but that only made them angrier, and they started chasing me and my 5-year-old son!  I quickly retreated, hoping they would tire of my things, and yelled to my son to quickly jump into the pool for safety.  Meanwhile, my little daughter, though "safe" in the pool, is screaming with fear!

Luckily, the monkeys tired of playing with my keys, and in several attempts, I was able to recover most of my belongings.  I really don't know what I would have done if they'd carried them away!!!  Needless to say, we quickly left the pool, and it might be awhile before I go there again to swim.  I knew to expect aggressive behavior if there was any kind of food in your bag, but I had none.  I'll have to be more careful next time to hold onto my bag, and definetely watch the movements in the trees!