Misunderstandings, Mishaps & Moisture

 

I grew up not drinking soda except rarely, and do not enjoy colas - not Coke or Pepsi or RC (which was a big thing when I was a kid). I like root beer, my grandfather used to make it for us, but it wasn't ever anything that I really craved. To be very clear, I know how terrible soda is for the human body; we used a can of coke once to unclog a toilet in college. But once I tried Dr. Pepper, I found it delicious. Plus, it was terrible for my body, so it felt like a rebellion of sorts...a vice. Plus, most restaurants don't seem to have it on tap, which made it more elusive and if possible, more special. It wasn't ever something I'd drink daily, but once a week on a Friday or Saturday.

Over the years, as our grocery budget expanded beyond student-level bare necessities and I was able to purchase the soda myself I determined that the full-calorie versions tasted extra sweet, so I switched to the diet version. Also, as I was trying to lose baby weight, I never wanted to drink my calories, I wanted to save them all for ice cream, so diet dr. pepper became my special drink...until I discovered cherry diet dr. pepper, and now cherry dr. pepper zero. 

Dr. Pepper (not diet, zero, cherry or otherwise) is not a thing in Malaysia. It's not to be found in the expat grocery stores (we've checked 4 different ones), and definitely not at restaurants. It was also difficult to find online (without a local bank account, I can only shop at one online site called Lazada). I finally found some that I could order, imported from Poland. The pictures online all showed several cans lined up, and of course, as a non-scientific American, when it said that the order was for 330 milliliters that seemed like a lot. Yes, I'm terribly embarrassed. 

When my order finally arrived (in the reused Konjac Jelly box) with one can only, I was pretty sad. I don't crave it as much as I wanted something to remind me of home on the days when everything was unfamiliar and uncertain. I haven't opened it up yet...I'm waiting for a day when I really need a pick-me-up.

Food ordered through Grab (which is like DoorDash and Lyft  rolled into one) is delivered in these delightful little packets of butcher paper with very little labeling. In our temp housing, they have a basket out front for food deliveries, and once I received a text that my food had arrived, I popped down to the lobby and grabbed the plastic blue sack that I was expecting to have my nasi ayam goreng (chicken fried rice normal). 

When I opened the sack in my apartment, I discovered multiple packets and unwrapped one to discover that there was no chicken fried rice, but something that was 100% unfamiliar to me. Luckily, the lobby called then to let me know that someone had taken my order, and I had hers.

The food comes served on banana leaves which is traditional - the leaves act as a great insulator to keep the food warm and moist. Although honestly, its hard to imagine any type of food drying out here. 

I include the naan picture because this is what happened when I tried to reheat it in the microwave the next day for lunch:

I've never been a great judge about how much time it takes to heat something up, but it's skewed much farther here, since their microwaves seem to work a little bit differently.

Grocery shopping continues to be an adventure. Remember the Crispy Fish Free Fingers picture from last week? They were sampling them at the store, and I didn't really understand what the store employee was saying (her accent was thick) so I tried one. The fact that it was 100% plant-based should have been more comforting to me, but the sort-of fish flavor was decidedly unpleasant.

We found Tillamook ice cream! It is actually cheaper here than it was in Central Oregon (35.99 RM is about $8) We didn't buy any, because we took a Grab to the store and didn't know how long we'd have to wait outside for it to arrive, but its nice knowing its there. Also, pictures of weird vegetables that need some improved branding, and other dubious sea creatures (cuttlefish, eels and tiger-looking crabs)  and meats out in the open:

Erik is making the face of the red fish, who isn't feeling very lucky.

The rainy season has started, and as a result the view out our windows is of a gray sky and gray ocean. I love it when we have storms, but the grayness is still not my friend...and I have to keep focusing on all the positive things, like how much cooler it is when it is raining or the fact that the clouds don't tend to hang out all day long. We do get some spectacular sunsets as a result, and once we get to move to our permanent place I will miss getting to see them in such a dramatic fashion (we won't have the same ocean view as we do now).

no filters!

the sunset is reflected in the windows of the high rise to our right

Had our first church activity last night (family games + dinner). We started off with a game of all ages musical chairs, but they forgot for the first three rounds to take away any chairs. Which is good since our congregation here (called a branch) has a significant number of 80+ year olds, and I was really afraid someone would break a hip. We played other games too, pick the tiny red beans out of the tiny green lentils with chopsticks, throw plastic eggs into egg cartons by bouncing off a table, and then from far away, and using a garbage bag to "snap" balls into a bucket. Then the little kids made Chinese lanterns using actual burning candles (something not allowed on any US church property) - this pic is of an expat family from Hillsboro. 

The people here are warm and friendly and so happy to meet new people. The branch is incredibly diverse, a lot of Chinese, Indians, Malays, and Americans. It was so fun today when they announced that we had transferred our records in the branch (officially moved our church membership from Oregon to Penang) I felt genuine happiness from so many people. Looking forward to more adventures - the next branch activity is learning line dancing...can't wait to see Erik put on a happy face for that!

Saya Suka Makan!

 

I like eating! A friend here told me that she is learning Indonesian since it is very similar to Malay, and that has helped her to recognize words, so I decided to try the same thing. 

After 8 days here, the one thing that I can say with certainty is that the food is a delight! The flavors are amazing (and unique), it's the right amount of spicy, and it is soooo cheap! I'm experiencing a reverse sticker shock. 

This first week has been an overwhelming mixture of sights, sounds, smells and adjustments. The longest leg of our flight (16 hours) was decent, and I got 7 hours of sleep (only periodically interrupted by turbulence).  

We could follow the progress of our flight across the world on the TVs on the back of the seats.

See our yummy snack of Mushroom Potato Puffs!

The humidity will take some getting used to, but AC is everywhere, and if you stay out of the direct sun, it's manageable. 

I want to be honest about my experience here, and even though it's embarrassing, I have determined that I am not a good traveler. I didn't realize how overwhelmed I would be or how exhausting it would feel to not know what I was going to be eating (or when). 

On our third day here, we toured most of the eastern island with our relocation assistant. We climbed in and out of a van for the better part of 7 hours, learning what the "naughty" monkeys look like and how to avoid having them steal our food or anything shiny, which temples we could visit (and what attire was appropriate for each), driving through chaotic traffic on the narrow roads, stopping in a random part of Georgetown to watch the pop-up Chinese opera for Ghost month (see Erik's post), then walking around the gigantic mall to get our new phone plan set up. 

I had a blood sugar crash in the phone store and had to walk over to a bookstore several shops down with Christine, our relo agent, to buy some type of soda, Lays potato chips and strawberry flavored Pocky (though it has a different name here). I didn't know how to pay, even though I had some ringgit (Malaysia's currency), and Christine quickly stepped in to take care of it. We walked back to the phone store, where Erik was still working on getting the plan going, and I sat at a table with sweat dripping down my back (even though the mall was a very comfortable temperature) and ate potato chips and pocky and wondered whether I could ever adjust. It didn't help that I was still fighting the virus that Erik shared with me the week before we moved, but that felt like a low point to me. 

I realize how much I curate my daily activity around food, schedules and routines and how much comfort that brings me. This foray into so much unknown is very challenging, but I'm excited to see how brave I can be. The great news is that I am trying lots of new foods and was able to go to a grocery store to pick up snacks to help keep my blood sugar more regulated. 

This made me laugh hysterically

 these are some sort of chestnut thingie

not sure what these are actually made of

 Not sure if it's a double swallow because it takes twice to get it down?

I didn't try this at all...

On Saturday, we drove to Erik's employee's birthday party (it was 90 min away, across the bridge in Kulim). We arrived at this Muslim family's home right as the torrential rain stopped and the sun came out, creating a wave of humidity unparalleled to anything I've experienced before. The lamb was roasting on the spit

and the caterers were still putting out food on tables set up in the carport (most houses here have a covered space in the front of their home for parking their cars). I felt so discombobulated, but Azrul and his wife Amira ushered us into their home and quickly made us feel welcome. The women all had long-sleeved multiple layers of dresses and headscarves (not a bead of sweat was visible) and were smiling and friendly. Amira continued to bring us food to try, and I'm proud to say that I tried nearly everything (I elected to avoid the fish balls on a stick). The tuna fish soup wasn't my favorite (I just took one bite of that), but the spicy peanut sauce on white triangles of some kind of starch was pretty delicious. 

One of the things that I loved about being there was that no one stared at me; they were just accepting and friendly, even though I was dressed very differently and obviously wasn't from there. The drive home took us through a huge date palm plantation with jungle views, and it was just crazy to think that I was 8,643 miles from my home. Oh, and Amira sent us home with four bags of food for each family (another expat family drove there with us), and I had to hold it all together so that the sauces wouldn't spill while Erik was driving on narrow, winding roads. 

I was so exhausted when we walked in the door at 6 pm that I actually turned down an invitation to go get ice cream with another expat family that we met. This ice cream is supposed to be amazing: bingsu. It will probably get its own post. 

This is significantly longer than I planned on writing, but regardless of anyone reading it, it is a great way to document this experience, as I know that the memories will fade. I'm still falling into bed exhausted most nights and can't seem to shake a lingering heaviness in my lungs, but I'm proud of myself for trying so many new things.