Life is good. And what cannot be explained in words can be grasped in pictures. Orientation ended yesterday and today is the
start of yet another new adventure: classes. Let me start from the beginning of
orientation and fill you in on the eventful week we all had. First off, I am now all
moved into my new home! That means no more temporary housing which as Jocelyn
said, "was like an insane asylum". Instead of constant cobb webs and
cockroaches, I am now freezing at night (when you get A/C again it is just too
cold), my clothes smell after washing them in a washing machine, they fed us
six times a day at orientation, we have warm shower water, and we have a refrigerator
and microwave!
One thing about Malaysia that has taken me no time at all to realize is
that there is NO SENSE OF TIMLINESS! The bus may say 2 hours but it means 5,
the locals say it is a 10 minute walk and it takes 40, class starts at 11 but
it actually doesn’t start till 11:25. This is actually not too bad because no
one really ever feels rushed. This may bite me in the butt when I get home to
the states.
On the first day of orientation, the rules started pouring in!!! The
rules at UPSI are literally a complete 180 from Queens but it is amazing being
in a place with such great culture and people. I tallied up all the fines that I would have accumulated in
the first two days living on the new campus: well over 1000 Ringgets! At UPSI, you
cannot cook in the rooms (fire hazard), you cannot enter the corridor or room
of someone of the opposite sex, no gambling, you cannot buy a heater for your
room (why you would want that in 90 degree weather I don’t know), you must be
quiet by midnight, you cannot have any pets, there is a curfew of midnight, no
swearing at all, and no “gangsterisms”. The school gave all the students hats
so all the Americans decided to wear them (that’s what you do with free stuff
right?). Well, not quite. We were asked not to wear the hats unless we are
playing sports (dumb Americans). The common rooms, the only confined place that
both a guy and girl can be, has completely glass walls. Mom, this makes me
think about you living in a convent for college-hahaha! The rules might be
excessive and not what I was expecting but Tanjong Malim and UPSI are amazing
places to be!
All eight Americans have also been given nicknames-Sarah has become
Finnegan and I have become Sven (since everyone thinks we look German or
Swedish). Also, since there is only one American guy, we have adopted guy
names- I guess so he feels less lonely having eight more “guys” to hang with.
I also purchased a cell phone- I love not having a phone with Internet! At
first we were considering adopting one of the sweet little kittens around the
school until we found out that we were forbidden from doing that (and they have flees and most likely harvest nasty diseases). But, Marlee
did buy some cat food to feed them and they are adorable!
My room!
The town of Tanjong Malim
One night Husnil, a friend and a fellow student at UPSI (we pronounce it
oop-see) took us to the mosque on campus so that we could learn more about the
Malaysian lifestyle and culture. I purchased a head covering so that I could be
respectful when entering the mosque. It is great to have such welcoming people
here- we are treated so well and everyone is beyond kind.
One day of orientation we were told that we would have a
surprise outdoor activity-YES! The sheet said it would be at the sports complex
so I figured we would play football, ultimate Frisbee, relay races, or something on
a field. Nope, we all loaded into the back of a cargo van (the ones you would
imagine people being smuggled over a country border in) and were on our way to
go tubing. We were all wearing sports clothes, running shoes, and the oversized
polo we were all given- NOT water clothes! Having thirty people packed in the
back of a truck was hilarious! At one point a creature jumped into the truck
and the chaos began! All the Brunei, Indonesian, and Korean students started
panicking and screaming. I expected that a large snake, lizard, bird, or some
sort of fast moving, predatory creature had bombarded the bus- nope, it was a grasshopper.
It was also the bumpiest ride I have ever been on and therefore was AWESOME! When
it comes to tubing in Malaysia, 1) you must be fully clothed, 2)
you must wear shoes, 3) the water may look calm but you are 100% mistaken, and
4) the water is very cold. I didn’t have water shoes so I was forced to walk
barefoot to the start of the tubing-OUCH! The whole way the water looked
progressively less deep and less rough- how are you ever supposed to tube in
that? The guide, who is actually my instructor for climbing and rafting started
by telling us all the rules of the tubing, then pulled out a large rope. At
first I thought we were all going to have to hold on to the rope the entire
time- we didn’t. We were pushed down the river and began our journey. At some
parts the water was no more than 5 inches but at other parts you couldn’t
stand. We were all expecting little to no rapids but we got the opposite. The
rapids were so unexpected at parts that I was thrown out of the tube and into
rocks. Needless to say, I have quite a few scrapes, bruises, and welts.
Regardless, we all laughing so hard and had an absolute blast!!! Before we
left, Sarah and I hiked a short but strenuous walk up to the top of a vista in
which we could see the whole area- it was incredible! On the way back home,
Sarah and I rode in the back of a truck, also great! I sure do love sitting
in the back of a truck driving through the jungle wilderness!
In the back of the cargo truck heading to our surprise in the jungle
After tubing, Sarah’s parents were texting her asking about the water
and the area. Carson (lone-American male) thought it would be funny to say
“Well the water was OK, however the gangrenous infected leeches did cause a bit
of a problem, however the local rat infested hospital gave me dirty needles
with old anesthetic for the pain, however I am not sure the pain will go down
soon”. I then thought it would be funny to say that Sarah lost a pint of blood,
has welts all over her body, and that the water had numbing properties so she
couldn’t feel all 55 leeches on her legs. I figured that this story was so
fabricated that not a sole would believe it- Nope, I couldn’t be more wrong.
After two days in KL with no connection the US, Sarah parents were worried sick
about her being in the hospital- oops.
Thug life: Koreans and Denisse
On the last day of orientation, we all went to KL for a
tour. Kuala Lumpur sure is one large city! After taking many taxis, trains, and
walking A LOT, we found a hotel for the night. The thing is, hotels in KL are
semi-expensive and the rooms are SMALL! With the eight of us Americans, we
wanted to fit into just one room: not quite possible when the room is just a
double bed and coffee table. We ended up getting two rooms- which meant four
people to one bed. We all went out for dinner- we all ate frog! This was a
great weekend to be in KL because it is Chinese New Year. That means dragon
parades and fireworks galore! I even got to be a part of the parade and hold one
of the poles to control the dragon. Prank playing has become a constant trend- after tee-peeing Carson’s room, he
got payback on Sarah and I by putting a raw egg in our drinks- sadly, it didn’t
stop either of us from drinking it (extra protein right?).
Believe it or not, we all fit in the beds in KL and slept
really well. We all went out barhopping in KL and did anything we could to get
random guys to buy drinks for us. The drinks are so expensive- sometimes over
30 Ringgits for one drink! So, Sarah and I thought of a brilliant plan to get
guys to buy us a drink. We both pretended that we spoke Swahili (a good one to
pick because who in Malaysia is going to know it). We had lots of
“conversations” in our language and some Russian guys really thought that was
so cool= free drink. We went to a disco club- what we had been trying to find
all night! After much dancing we all went to sleep in our jam-packed bed. The
next morning, we went to check out and start the days journey- we had two
goals- find BOOF (a store that looked cool) and an outdoor sports store. We
ended up finding both but BOOF was closed. As we checked out the front desk
told us that we wouldn’t be getting our deposit back. OOPS- they told us we had
“too many people and ate too much breakfast”. Well, I guess that happens when
you fit eight people in a place that is designed for four. We bought bus tickets
for our journey back home to find that we had to wait three more hours- 1)
Denisse was watching our stuff and got us kicked out because she was sleeping
in an area that was not allowed 2) we bought Oppa (one of my favorite Koreans)
a Justin Beiber poster so that his room could have some color. We super glued
it to the top of his ceiling above his bed so that every morning and night he
can admire it. Don’t all 26-year-old Koreans like Justin Beiber? Denisse was
also nice enough to read all of us Americans a bedtime story- which consisted
of Goosebumps!
My Korean friend: Ko
Petronas Towers!!!!
Who wants frog for dinner? All the Americans!
There is supposed to be an "I" at the beginning but Sarah left that out :)
Being a part of the dragon parade!
Goosebumps bedtime story
-Night everybody!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment