To Dwell in Possibility: Malaysia

Asia

My last few days in Malaysia were spent trying to eat as much food as I could in between saying goodbyes to the people that had become my family and best friends. I gave a speech (in Malay!) at assembly, I had a wonderful goodbye party from my class, I received lots of gifts. My host family took me to karaoke one last night. I tried to pack so much into my last few days, and that really helped to keep my mind off the fact that my time in Malaysia was drawing to a close.
James, Teresa and I, the tiny YES Abroad Malaysia family had our departure orientation. There was crying, there was laughing, there was Starbucks. The wonderful E Laine and our other LP's were there as well as we spent hours discussing the bizarre period of re-adjustment and reverse culture shock. We read the letters we wrote to ourselves back in July, when we had no idea what we were getting into. It was eye-opening to see how much I've changed, how different my views have changed.
We had our farewell luncheon with our host families, AFS Malaysia staff, Dato' Dale, and one of our favorite people from the US Embassy. Although small, it accomplished what needed to be done.
I stayed with Teresa's host family in PJ for the final days before our flight. We said a very teary goodbye to the other exchange students, strangers that grew to be my best friends. One last Pavillion trip. One last KL Sentral meet-up. One last time getting stared at on the LRT. One last drink in a bag. One last night spent staring up at KLCC, thinking about how blessed I am to have had this experience. To have this experience. It's not over yet.
My last dinner in Malaysia was Bangsar banana leaf rice with mango lassi. My last breakfast was dim sum. And there was definitely one last roti canai bought at the airport.
The airport was quite a scene. 3 American teenagers with easily 250 pounds of luggage between us (100 from Teresa, 100 from me, 50 from James...) We did have to throw away stuff at the airport. Itwas rough, but it kept my mind off of things. After baggage was sorted out, Teresa and James said their last goodbyes to their host family (mine couldn't come to the airport) and with our flight chaperone, we were off.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't bawl on the flight to Hong Kong. I cried like a baby. It wasn't easy leaving my home, to return to my home. After the best roast duck ever (SERIOUSLY TRY IT IF YOU'RE IN HONG KONG AIRPORT) I survived the 13 hour flight to LA.
Even those first steps into LAX felt very strange, the difference noticeable despite the unmistakable airport atmosphere. Due to a long layover, we had an overnight at an LA hotel. Dinner was provided and I enjoyed my real cheese and bread very much. I slept for a few hours, despite sleeping on both previous flights. Finally the next morning we hauled our luggage back to the airport and completed the last leg of our journey to DC.

Farewell Dinner with Dato' Dale

Last banana leaf rice

My bags were severely overweight

Last photo with the host fams

First meal back in the USA

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, by Hannah

America

Bucket Lists Part 2

I
made this list shortly before I left. So more than one year later, here are the results...

To-Do's while in Malaysia

Become fluent in Malay Not fluent, but definitely more than conversational
Learn some Chinese and Tamil Ahma, I know a few sentences in each
Take Physics I took it, but the teacher taught in Malay so I didn't understand a lot
Buy a sari Or 3...
Participate in Ramadan I fasted 5 days!
Teach someone how to Cotton Eyed Joe Where did he come from, where did he go? Sadly no :(
Become close friends with the other YES Abroad students Teresa and James became my family
Be on some sort of sports team I was on the hockey team for a few team
Watch the Olympics from Malaysia I was able to cheer for both of my countries!
Visit Thailand Only for a few hours, but the stamp is in my passport.
Get henna done A lot of times!
Buy a head scarf I bought at leat 20 and wore them quite often
Worship at a mosque I didn't worship, but I visited
Share information with Brewster students about studying abroad One of my friends was an alternate for YES Abroad
Get homesick Yes
Get over it Heck yes
Eat a bizarre food Sting ray and fish stomach anyone?
Eat from a street vendor Most of my meals
Visit the beach So many beautiful islands
Take tons of pictures 3 memory cards worth
Make a video about host family/ life in Malaysia yep!
Disprove stereotypes about Americans My class knows we don't eat at McD's everyday
Make an American meal for my host family yep, cooked them grilled cheese and tomato soup
Sisterhood of the Traveling Scarf/ Journal logistics didn't work out on this sadly
Write snail mail to people in the US Christmas cards!
Send postcards to school/ church/ dance See above.
Keep a running blog This was updated fairly regularly
Get tan By the end I was darker than some Malaysians
Learn about Buddhism, Islam and Hinduism Oh definitely, I stayed with families of all 3 religions
Learn how to make a Malaysian food I can make a mean nasi goreng and teh o ais

28/30... not bad!

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, by Hannah

Malaysia

Community Service Report: Ecoteer on Pulau Perhentian

I can honestly say my week on perhentian with the other YES Abroad students, volunteers, and villagers was among the most tiring, hottest, busiest, amazing and above all rewarding week in Malaysia.

Before our trip, we were given only a little information about exactly what we would be doing. We knew there would be teaching English, cleaning up the community and interacting with the locals, but that was about it. I'd say planning was pretty minimal, but somehow the few conversations we had sufficed.

Sunday morning, after a rough taxi ride from kuala Terengganu to kuala besut, where the jetty was located, I met up with Ari, James, Teresa anI can honestly say my week on perhentian with the other YES Abroad students, volunteers, and villagers was among the most tiring, hottest, busiest, amazing and above all rewarding week in Malaysia.

Sunday morning, after a rough taxi ride from kuala Terengganu to kuala besut, where the jetty was located, I met up with Ari, James, Teresa and Ben. It was a sweet reunion, as Ben was the volunteer that met us when we first landed at Kuala Lumpur airport and he was with us our first few days in the country.

Our first day on perhentian was a lot of sleepiness.y We went in a sweltering tour of the island, met the other volunteers that would be at the ecoteer house with us for the week, and listened to some presentations about ecoteer's work on the island and the coral and turtles there.

The rest of the week was honestly a blur- but in a good way. The days and nights more or less fused together into one sweaty, challenging but ultimately worth it week.

With the children, we ran two school slums, English club and ecoteer environmental club. At English club we taught the children the body parts using pictures, a song and a few games. The children were certainly energetic and although keeping them under control was difficult, I think the students and us as the teachers enjoyed the experience.

At the environmental club, we taught a bit about endangered species. The children used arts and crafts, more pictures, and of course a game to learn about the threats these animals face. The kids were honestly sweethearts and they loved hanging around me because I could speak Malay with them. I even managed to pick up some of the island slang. As part of this club, we also went with the kids to clean up the beach. The beach was strewn with rubbish, and even the rubbish we collected was just left on the beach to be either burned or transported away from the island. It's a bit of a vicious cycle. However the kids were very passionate about helping is to clear up the litter and I think they definitely appreciate the value of a clean beach.

One of the projects ecoteer is trying to implement on perhentian. At around six o'clock everyday three volunteers go around asking the food stalls and the home owners if there's any food waste there. A lot of the places don't bother to separate the food waste and the paper products, which is a shame, because composting is effective and fairly simple. It seems like as time has gone on, more and more people are separating their trash, so hopefully this project will be a success in the future.

We also helped out painting a mural in the school library, a menu board for one of the restaurants and cleared the community garden. All the volunteers were also responsible for chores, so we all ended up clearing the table, cooking dinner and clearing the garden at least once. It gave the ecoteer house a really community feel.

Hands down, the most rewarding experience for me was teaching English to some of the Malay ladies that operate a bakery/ restaurant on the island. They were a group of fun, funny, and really eager to learn aunties. We taught them basic phrases only, like greetings, questions about the meals, if someone is a vegetarian, but even those tidbits of language can be helpful when dealing with a tourist that speaks no Malay whatsoever. Knowing that we gave them the tools they needed to further their business and interact with their customers is such a fantastic feeling. An impact like that can last forever. With weekly lessons from ecoteer volunteers, The women hopefully will continue to practice and learn English. Although a few phrases don't seem like a lot, I feel like we've opened a door to more social interactions for them.

I'll never forget my time in perhentian. I know that our time there was short, but so well spent. I hope that the children will remember what we taught, the housewives will remember to separate their food waste, and the boatmen will think twice before tossing their petrol cans carelessly on the beach. What I loved was that for a week, we were seen as part of the island. We were teachers, big sisters/ brothers, children and friends. Perhentian is blessed to have such a beautiful community there and I would love to see it flourish and become an environmentally friendly place. Perhentian brought me closer with the other YES Abroad students and also with myself.

Teresa and I snorkelling

One of the kids with his artwork

The village

Teaching Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes

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, by Hannah

Lists

You Know You're Becoming Malaysian When...

After nearly 11 months in the country, I consider myself pretty Malaysian. Here's some of the habits/ ticks/ words I and other exchange students have picked up that have made us "Malaysianized"

You know you've been Malaysianized when...

You know when to use lah, leh, lo, lor, meh, and ma all correctly
You know the pros and cons of using DiGi, Maxis and Celcom
Why do like this meh? is a completely okay question to ask
You don't go out if it rains. Or even the day after it rains if it's a bad storm. Actually the rain stops all plans, and who wants to deal with the jam anyways??
You think of KL people as city folk
"We see how first" are words to live by
You know the words for eat and tea in Tamil, Malay, and a few dialects of Chinese
Complaining about how hot it is while soaking in the aircon/ fan is a completely justifiable way to spend a day
As is going on facebook, twitter, and 9gag for 7 hours straight
School holiday? Sleep until noon
You know you should be studying but instead go on to twitter to complain about how much homework you have to do
Shaving is optional
You know at least 1 Malay and Tamil song
You know whether to call someone "anne" or "abang"
You'd rather call a women that looks slightly older kakak than deal with the consequences of calling an older looking woman that's young mak cik
Arguing with the taxi drivers to use the metre isn't so difficult
Crossing a busy street? No problem, use the hand
You know how to use chopsticks and eat with your hands
You've slowly forgotten how to eat with a knife...
You get scolded by the prefects for not buttoning your baju kurung
You know what food stall at the canteen has the best food on what days
There are people in your class that speak better English than you
You know exactly what drama went down on twitter last night
You always take a Chinese friend with you to eat dimsum because the dimsum women always try and rip you off
People back in the US don't understand your English
It's really hard to understand a non-Malaysian accent
It's really difficult to form an English sentence without using a Malay or Chinese word
You've used the phrase "special discount untuk mat salleh boleh cakap bahasa melayu" countless times
You get really angry when someone thinks you're a tourist
Hearing someone talking about you in Malay and approaching them and saying saya boleh faham bm is the best. thing. ever.
You've never watched a Korean drama but still know what's going on in at least 3 of them from your talkative classmates
It's second nature to bring tissue with you everywhere
You've learned to not be offended when a Chinese or a Malay auntie tells you how fat you've gotten
Whatsapp is crucial to survival
You can't go more than one week without eating roti canai or nasi lemak...
... or one day without eating some form of nasi
You can tell how sweet the teh o ais is going to be based on the race of the pak cik or mak cik that makes it
You know what night market is open when and where
You feel vaguely uncomfortable when you're in a new place and the call to prayer goes off and it's not the one you're used to
You can tell what app someone is using on their phone based on the azan it plays
You know what the call to prayer sounds like on at least 3 different radio stations
You start to spell things the British way
You know and taste the difference between Malay and Chinese char kuey teow
You know which way to fold and your banana leaf and what it means after eating banana leaf rice
Everyone goes to you with their problems because they know you don't know the names of anyone in school still
Life without roti scares the crap out of you
The GE is all you can talk about
You laugh at the amount of political flags hanging up
You still don't know the name of two girls in your class
You know the LRT and Monorail system better than your host family
The Starbucks baristas know you by name because you hang out there so often
Malaysians know more about American pop culture than you
You still can't recognize school people when they're not wearing their uniform
People start ridiculous rumors about you (I DID NOT MOVE TO CHINA FOR 2 WEEKS)
It doesn't phase you when you find out it was your English teacher that started the rumor
You're tired and lazy all the time
Going on a run is literally a joke
People keep telling you the rainy season sudah pass but it still rains everyday
There is no such thing as too much milo
You started saying going back to America instead of going home, because Malaysia is home
You don't know if you have friends/ who your friends are back home, but that's okay
The thought of leaving Malaysia makes you cry. Really, really hard.
You know that you'll be back one day!!

27 comments

, by Hannah

Malaysia

Short Term Exchange: Dua Minggu Di Terengganu!

AFS Malaysia offers a program called Short Term Exchange, STE from here on out, to experience a different part of Malaysia. This year the locations offered were Melaka, Perlis, Terengganu, the Orang Asli settlement, and Sabah. Originally, I was one of eight students selected to go to Sabah, but due to the conflict in Lahad Datu, our trip was cancelled last minute and the eight of us were frantically shuffled around last minute to different STE locations. And that's how I ended up on a 13 hour bus ride from Ipoh to Kuala Terengganu.
My host family in Kuala Terengganu was Chinese and fabulous in all ways known to mankind. My host dad was a swim coach, English teacher, tae kwan do instructor and golfer, my host mom worked at a bank. I had two host sisters, Joceline, 19, my best friend, student and Jacqueline who works in KL. I also had a host brother who works in KL as well, but I didn't get to meet him.
The 2 weeks were really busy. The AFS Terengganu Chapter, led by Madame Lucy, had so many activities planned for us. On Sunday, we attended the 7 million women purple walk, which let us see the city, but it was during the hottest part of the day which was not so nice.
I also attended school for 3 days in Terengganu. SMK Sultan Sulaiman hosted me, Svenja and Emannuele in Form 4, classes A, B, and C respectively. The school was extremely Malay compared to Convent, there were only 2 Chinese in my class and no Indians! Everyone was super friendly and we made so many friends so quickly. Over 3 days, I swear we must have taken at least 200 photos with the students. That's another different thing, although techinically not allowed, even the prefects brought their phones to school. Such a difference than the military style discipline of Ipoh. Schools in Terengganu (along with Kelantan and Kedah, the other two Islamic states) run from Sunday to Thursday, that is, the weekend is Friday and Saturday to observe the Muslim holy day instead of the Christian. Goodbyes were surprisingly hard to say after only 3 days, but Svenja and I did go out with friends from school a few times after we officially stopped attending school.
One of the activities AFS organized was jungle trekking. I'm not a huge fan, but the first day of jungle trekking we also learned survival skills. After an hour hike we found ourselves on a riverbed where we learned how to build a fire and cook instant noodles, chicken and bread over fire. The noodles were cooked in a bamboo shoot, the bread twisted around a stick, and the chicken speared and rotated over the fire. There's something super satisfying about eating food that you cooked yourself, especially using just nature.
The eight of us hosted in Terengganu also traveled to Pulau Redang! Redang was incredibyl beautiful, everything you'd expect from a tropical island. Crystal clear turquoise water, powder white soft sand, lazy hammocks strung along palm trees under the beach, it was heaven. An utterly relaxing 3 days were spent on the island, tanning, jumping off the jetty, snorkelling. The staff at our resort were very friendly and we all left the island relaxed, but very reluctant to go back to "city life." Although I don't know how much of a city Kuala Terengganu is considered... It doesn't have a movie theatre.
When I wasn't island hopping or trekking, I was spending time with my lovely host family. I grew extremely close with my host sister, bonding over our love of glee and John Green novels (If you don't know who he is, look it up). I went with my host dad to swimming practice, hung out with my sister;s friends, and made the most of my time there. I really miss Terengganu and saying goodbye was truly a saddening experience.