It's all about the thumb

Before getting to Malaysia, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. Come to think of it, I’m not even really sure if I had even seen a picture of it. For some reason, the only image that came to mind was “jungle” which ended up being kind of correct.

We anchored off the coast of Penang, Malaysia. Penang is a small island state off the mainland. We were only a few degrees from the Equator so the weather can be described as hot, humid, and hazy. (By the way … I hear it was snowing in New York) Since we were anchored offshore and not docked, we had to take tenders to the pier (a.k.a. take the lifeboat shuttles). Malaysia was the first time we’ve had to use tenders, and it was a pain because you couldn’t just get on and off the ship when you wanted.

The first three days I spent on a Malaysian home stay. When we arrived, we were greeted with music and refreshments. Right away it was clear that everyone was extremely welcoming … and unable to speak English. Unfortunately, my Malay isn’t exactly up to par either. Four of us were put up in the community center because our family’s home was being renovated. At first, I was excited because we were staying right there at the meeting place, but it wasn’t until later that I realized we weren’t actually living with a family which was a little disappointing. Luckily, my host parents had an eighteen year old daughter named Shima! Shima spoke English fairly fluently, and she was a great “sister” to have for a couple of days. That first afternoon, Shima gave us a little walking tour of the town. We saw some goats, and then headed over to her relatives’ home. (I think). The house was very nice. I think it was the first time I’d been in a real living room for about two months … odd … watched a little English CSI: NY. Haha. We also went to an herb farm and drank lime juice that is “good for the body.” That evening, the town put on a cultural show and dinner for our whole group.

Now … Malaysian food is delicious. I would say it’s a mix between Indian and Chinese food. While we were on the home stay, I felt the food was closer to Indian. There was lots of rice, vegetables, fish, and chicken. And, of course, there is curry on EVERYTHING. Everything was pretty spicy. I’ve discovered that I have a fairly strong stomach, so I’m lucky because (Boozy, this is for you) I don’t think my thigh muscles would have been strong enough to endure three days of being sick, considering we did not see a western toilet for three days. Sorry, that is disgusting. But anyway, whenever we had a meal in our “home” a bunch of women would come prepare it for us and then sit and watch us eat it (with our hands of course… it’s all about the thumb push). They would prepare like seven bowls of food for us to put over our rice. One day there were whole fish sitting there. We were told it is rude to leave food on your plate so I piled on that curry and was stuffed. One morning for breakfast there was SO much food. I had eggs, crepe things, and delicious corn balls which kind of reminded me of the corn casserole we have all the time at home. I hadn’t really eaten any of my rice that morning, and one woman kept pointing at this bowl of fishy goop. Now … I am not a big sardine fan so I kind of just smiled and said no thank you. Eventually she was like “good fish!” and puts some on my plate. And then I had sardines for breakfast. Since they were watching us, I don’t think anyone wanted to finish first so we just ate and ate and ate.

Wow, that was a lot about food so back to the “cultural show.” Several children’s groups performed dances or songs which were adorable and pretty impressive. After that we found a flea and went to sleep. Haha…

The next day we were bused around to see different aspects of Malaysian life. We revisited the goat farm and went to an ostrich farm, batik factory, rice paddy, fishing village, and the beach. Now, one of the best parts of the day was the air conditioned bus so by the time we got to the beach a lot of us girls (myself included) were annoyed that we could not get in the water. (Malaysia is a very conservative Muslim country. In fact, all the women and most little girls wore head coverings in the town.) So we get to the beach to play “traditional Malaysian games.” For being traditional, they held a surprising resemblance to games you would play at a camp in the U.S. We were split into four teams for relay races. Game 1: using three bricks as stepping stones, make your way across the beach then pick them up and run back. Game 2: potato sack race. Yes. Potato sack race. Game 3: run to the ocean and then, using a sponge, fill up a plastic bottle with bottle with sea water. Game 4: twenty m&m-like candies are in a bowl buried with flour. Without using your hands, find two candies and put them in the container next to the bowl. Now, by the end, there were balls of spit in the bowl, and we were absolutely covered in flour. But whatever, my team won so it was all worth it. And that’s how we won the Malaysian Sea Olympics. Haha

That night, after a nap and showering with a ladle, my family went for a little drive. They took us to a scenic viewing area, and I could see the whole valley below us. It was breathtaking. Then we went to a night market where the street was lined with vendors selling food mostly. I had spring rolls, sweet corn, and ice cream. It was quite the dinner. We ate as we walked around the other vendors selling shoes and t-shirts. Then we drove to Georgetown and around the island for awhile. I had been asleep on the bus ride to Balik Pulua so I hadn’t realized how big Georgetown was. We ended up in Batu Ferengi. There was a huge night market there with hundreds of vendors selling movies and music, knockoffs of everything you can think of, food, and knick-knacks. After exploring there for awhile, we got back in the car and headed back towards our town. Before we got there though, our dad asked if we wanted to stop and get something to drink. We ended up getting this really good food. It was similar to naan except a little softer and more shredded. Anyway, you dipped it in this delicious curry sauce or you could put sugar on it. I couldn’t decide which way I liked it better so I did half and half. It was SO good. The next morning before we left, the families gave all of us little gifts. That last night going to the night markets and just spending the time with my host family definitely made the trip for me.

The next day back in Georgetown I decided that I needed something to wear to church on Easter since good old laundry day wiped me out of all my smelly skirts I wore in India. After a yummy Thai lunch and a milkshake, the shopping adventure began. Now, food in Malaysia was ridiculously cheap (and Georgetown’s seemed more Thai or Chinese style than on my home stay). However, clothes were expensive for some reason. After a couple of hours, we had Easter Sunday outfits ready to go so we got some Auntie Anne’s pretzels to celebrate. Yum. We headed to Penang Hill only to discover that tickets to take a tram thing up to see the temples were sold out for a few hours. Disappointed, we headed to the Botanical Gardens which were beautiful and reminded me a lot of the rainforest in Puerto Rico. There were monkeys everywhere just jumping around and walking in the paths. Now, I like monkeys. I think they are cute. Apparently I looked one straight in the eye. All of a sudden it opens its mouth, and I am an idiot and was like oh he’s smiling! Then he lunged at me. Well not really but it felt like he was about to attack. The friend I was with got the scariest picture of the killer monkey’s teeth. I walked away and there was another monkey sitting in the middle of the path. I froze. It stared me down, and I ran away from it. Yes I ran away from a monkey that was ten inches tall. Scariest monkeys EVER. No longer do I think they are just cute and fuzzy. No. Killer monkeys. Anyway, I ended up back in Batu Ferengi and did some intense market shopping which included about sixty movies. Now I have something to do in between Japan and Miami! Haha

The next morning was Easter Sunday. My friend and I had decided to go to church in Georgetown. Of course, as usually happens when I mean to go to church, I overslept, but I made it right in the nick of time. (is that right? Oh well.) We ended up getting off the ship way early and had time to walk around for a bit and get some caffeine in us before the service. We went to St. George, the first Anglican Church in Southeast Asia. It was a beautiful building; I think they said it was almost two hundred years old? That could be wrong. We sat next to a Malaysian woman and her Canadian husband and talked to them for awhile before the service started. It’s interesting… we were told not to discuss religion or politics in Malaysia and everywhere I went I was asked whether I wanted Clinton or Obama to win the election. McCain isn’t a factor to the rest of the world apparently. The service was really nice… the priest that gave the sermon was actually visiting from Singapore which is cool. He was funny and told little jokes which made me miss dad. (love you) I had never been to a Catholic mass before so I wasn’t quite used to all the readings, but I got the hang of it. A kid’s group did a couple songs and dances which were cute. It was a really nice service, and I’m glad I got to go to it. After the service, there was a huge brunch of rice and noodles, chicken and fish, and this ridiculous dessert of shaved ice and sugary syrup over a bowl of beans, coconut, corn, and a bunch of other random ingredients. I admit I did not eat that. Haha.

That afternoon I went on a service visit to the Chesire Home. The facility is home to about thirty residents with varying physical and mental disabilities. It was interesting to see the cultural differences in how people with disabilities were treated. After that, my friend and I went to TGIFridays for a little taste of home and then went back to Auntie Anne’s. Normally I don’t think I would admit that I went back, but the cashier recognized us and knew our orders from the day before. Moral of the story: people know me. Around the world. Then our taxi driver didn’t speak English, and we got lost. Whoops! But I am alive and well on the ship so all’s well that ends well.

I had a great time in Malaysia. It was more beautiful and green than I could have even imagined, and even the cities seemed well kept and clean. The people I met were all kind, and I never experienced any anti-American feelings which may be the first port I haven’t seen any. Even though my home stay wasn’t exactly what I had expected and I probably wasn’t as open minded as I should have been, I think it was a really good experience for me to have under my belt. I think that sometimes I’m so focused on having the “best experience” in each port that I forget that it is the little things that make a trip. I also forget that perhaps the most cultural experiences aren’t the ones of how the native people lived hundreds of years ago but what their live are like now. I feel like I made progress in learning about their culture but also about myself and how I deal with situations that are presented to me.

I’m happy.

I just posted a lot of pictures on previous entries so be sure to check those out!