KL

Last week Erika, Ellen, and I took an adventure to the West side of Malaysia to the capital Kuala Lumpur (KL). It was a great four days spent running around the city and seeing as many sites as possible.

Ellen and Erika at our Hostel at the YWCA. (top left)

An amazing Indian meal. (Middle)

View from the Petronas Towers. (Below)

Petronas Towers at night. Taken from the fountains in previous picture.

Reflection of Petronas towers.

Ellen and I at Taman Tasik Perdana (lake gardens)

We were able to go canoeing for a half hour!!! My favorite half hour of the day.

After climbing 272 stairs this is the sign that greeted us at the Batu Caves

We swam at a park on our way back with some local kids and students!

Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square) on the left and a really neat building on the right. We took many detours on our journey which allowed us to see some amazing structures and more of the local life. It pays to Jalan Kaki (go by legs) and not be able to always read a map!

Two scenes from Melaca. An small town with a lot of history.

We also visited Chinatown, Little India, central market, the local night market, and Masjid Jamek (Jame Mosque). It was a wonderful trip with lots of adventure and a little sleep along the way.

Half Way

It is very hard to believe that half the service year is already over and only five months till I will be back in the states. Time is going pretty fast and I'm enjoying every moment of it. For the last week or so there have been some great moments in service that I would like to highlight for you.

1) I was meeting Johnny at Cheshire Home for conversational English practice (we meet about three or four times a week) and he started telling me they are going to have another volunteer. He went on to describe how the volunteer will be teaching English to some of the members of Young Voices. After a little bit I realized he was describing the class they wanted me to lead on Wednesday nights and tried to tell him this. Johnny said "No, no, the volunteer will be here at night and they are from America." I said, "Johnny, I am from America and Jennifer (my supervisor) just asked me if I could come on Wednesday nights." He gave this some thought and then once it sunk in asked what we would be learning.

2) Wednesday night classes at Cheshire: For these classes the main objective is to work on conversational skills. Last week we had our first class and it was me, Kelinus, Madayuk, Tony, and Johnny. There was lots of laughter, jokes, and a little interrogation into eachothers lives. It was a fun night and I look forward to more classes with those four.

3) Swinging with Colleen. There is one resident at Cheshire who loves to go swinging so each day when I see her she says my name (at least it sounds like my name) and makes a swinging action with her arms. This is the signal that she is ready to go swing and won't stop asking until we do it. Usually our swinging will last between 2-10 minutes. It all depends on her mood and how hot it is. Then she says minum (drink) and we head back to get water.

4) This week I asked two of the kids at Care Haven to look at some pictures and write a story. This is what they came up with:

The Strong Dragon: One day the strong dragons get from the castle. He wants to found people for lunch. He walks to the jungle. He have look a smokes from house. People from the house afraid the dragon will eat them. One boy come help them. He rides the horse and takes shield and sword and goes to the dragon, and the sword stabs the dragon. The dragon die and the boy become king. The Place is Peaceful. -- Edward

A Hive is a House for Bees: Ben and his father have a job. They catch the bees and put in the bee hives. The three hives for the bees house. the bees go outside and eat the flowers and after they eat the flowers they come back in bee hives and make the new honey. Then the bee hives full honey. The people take away the bees honey and they eat it everyday. -- Nelwe

Indonesia pics

Here are a few pics from the Indonesia trip: The first is our trusty van/bus we rode everywhere in. Then you have our 'family' portrait. Next is our pic with most of the cousins and I think a few of the aunt and uncles are in there too! The next two are from a traditional dance/music show. The last pic is of the ang pao!!! (Envelopes given to those who are single and they are usually filled with money. A great tradition!)

We made it safe and sound back from Indonesia. It was a seven day journey of meeting Reverend Laura's family and the area she grew up in. Reverend Laura is our country coordinator for the year. She grew up with seven sisters and five brothers. It is a very large family! Overall, the trip was good and we were able to see some of the countryside as we drove from Jakarta to a small village of Bandung, where the reunion was held. We spent time visiting with the relatives, spending a day at the pool, and tasting the local food. It was interesting to meet all the different relatives and to see the area that is the root of Reverend Laura's childhood stories. It was a good bonding trip for myself and the other YAGMS as we once again explored a new culture and faced new challenges.

Funny/cute story from Care Haven:

As most of my camp friends may know, I have a tendency to keep a pen or pencil in my hair when it is up in a ponytail and I am writing off and on all day. Well, this is a habit I haven't lost since moving to Malaysia. I was working at Care Haven this week and was correcting their spelling words and grabbed my pen from my hair. The kids were at first surprised by this and started laughing at me. As I corrected their spelling Edward had a brilliant idea and grabbed a paperclip and his pencil. (I was doing one-on-one work at this point.) He proceeded to fasten the paperclip into his very short short hair and then somehow, still mystified how he did this, hooked his pencil in it. Once again laughter broke out as he showed off his new hairdo. It stayed in fairly well until he needed to use his pencil!