December Happenings

6:59 PM

December has been a bit of a whirlwind to say the least. Blogging just didn't happen, so I'll try to lump most of the December events into one post.

Kaila Visiting

One of my best friends here, another exchange student from America stayed with me in Ipoh for about a week. It was a time full of adventures: getting yelled at for sleeping in hotel lobbies, shopping until we literally dropped, and of course eating lots of food. It's so nice having someone visit and I love it when there's another exchanger staying with me. Not only is it a time of laughter and fun, it's also a time for having someone to share the inevitable awkwardness with.
My favorite thing we did was cook for my host family!We made grilled cheese and tomato soup, salad and ice cream served in orange peels. My host family seemed to enjoy, so I hope everything was sedap!

Kaila and meeeeee

Sedap kan?

Times in KL
After cooking for our host family, we headed off to KL for a few days before our midstay orientation. We attended the embassy holiday party, which was great. Not only were we able to spend quality time with other Americans, but we enjoyed such foods as salad, sugar cookies, gingerbread, turkey and chicken pot pie. American food! After the party we spent some time exploring the city. I think I've become truly Malaysian as KL has started to become a little bit boring for me. KLCC can only be visited so many times!

Midstay Camp
About 25 other exchange students, including the other Americans had their midstay camp in Banting, Selangor. The hotel we stayed at was in the middle of nowhere, but exchange students in groups, no matter what location, always makes for a fun time. We discussed a lot about what we've experienced so far, as well as goals for the rest of the year. We did crazy activities like silent casino night, American dance parties, telling ghost stories and swimming in a rain storm. One activity included writing our accomplishments for each month and it was so weird to see them outlined like that. The first half of the year has gone by so quickly, and everyone says the second half goes by even quicker! I've been here for 6 months already, say what? The midstay camp was bittersweet though, the YES Abroad Students leave before the rest of our batch so we might not be able to see these people again.
Little  piece of paradise in the middle of nowhere

Exchange students are cute

YES Outbound Dance Practice
YES Abroad is a reciprocal program, which means it send students from the US abroad, as well as students from abroad to the US. We were able to meet the 50 Malaysians headed off to the US! They were preparing a traditional dance to perform while in the US at a cultural sharing night. Groups performed a Chinese, Malay, Orang Asli and Indian dance, followed by the whole group singing a really wonderful song. The dance looked great and the Malaysians will be sure to impress. Us Americans decided to perform a cultural dance of our own, Soulja Boy! Oh the memories associated with that song... We even managed to convince some of the awesome Malaysians to learn it! This is a truly great group of people and I'm so excited for them. It's so neat that our journey's halfway over and theirs has just begun.
So much swag.

Chinese dance group


Saying Goodbye
Sadly, one of the YES Abroad students is headed back to America. Her university required that she started in January in order to ensure she receives scholarships or something like that. It was really hard saying goodbye, literally like saying goodbye to a sister that you won't see for a really long time.From what I heard, Rachael is safely back in Michigan and already has cooked Malaysian food for her family there. Go her. She'll be so missed here ♥
Kinda sums up Rachael and my friendship....

We so coot.

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8 comments

  1. Oh man, what's with the Cardiff City jersey guy? Huhu nevermind haha...it's kinda cool to see you really A LOT about our culture here in Malaysia. I've noticed that you changed your blog's background. Kinda cool too...keep up the good work dear!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hyr hannah

    U look gorgeous in tudung! xxx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kiutnya pakai tudung! u look cute wearing tudung! :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey!

    I know maybe you'll about to leave us soon, but just in case you want to speed up the learning process of our language

    I think this page would help you better..

    http://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Malay_phrasebook

    Why don't you post us your videos of speaking Bahasa?

    It will be nice, Isn't?

    Bye!

    ReplyDelete
  5. all the sweetest moment in life wont came everyday
    you look so beautiful and nice to know
    that you had a wonderful memory that you create in Malaysia
    cant wait to see you other story (^_^)

    cheers~ and have a nice day

    ReplyDelete
  6. ptc-bussiness.blogspot.com learn and earn!

    ReplyDelete

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