Selamat Detang Malaysia and The Harley Language

For Christmas, all I wanted was some snow in Illinois before I left for tropical, steamy Malaysia. My wish did come true, because as I fit the last of my belongings into my suitcases, it did flurry. Although one had to squint to see it, it was there. And, with that, I said “see you soon” to my home, my family and my friends.

The last time I traveled abroad to Seoul, South Korea for a semester, I went entirely alone. I sat at O’hare airport alone, got off the plane in Seoul, South Korea alone and initially experienced the first moments in Korea with the only fresh set of eyes around, as my hosts were native Koreans. Although it is nice and empowering to experience new places and people alone with your own thoughts and words to explain them, I forgot what a gift it is to experience a new place with a companion set of fresh eyes, as I did when I traveled to Rome, Italy. For this Fulbright experience, I flew from Chicago to LA with three other Fulbrighters (Katia who my parents were able to meet, Jordan and Katie) and then I traveled to LA to Hong Kong with at least 12 additional Fulbrighters. To add, from Hong Kong to LA there were even more Fulbrighters. When I stepped off the plane in Kuala Lumpur International Airport after 26 hours of travel, I took in my first moments with fellow companions who are bound to become some of my dear friends throughout the next year. It was so nice to have someone to share excitement, anxiousness and curiosity with, and it has been nice to share the same zest for experiences during the first days of training.

We all were surprised to see that we made Malaysian papers by January 4^th, within less than 24 hours of actually being in Kuala Lumpur. The Prime Minister of Malaysia has made English language a top priority of his, and recent conversations between President Obama and Prime Minister have been reason for much publicity. Therefore, us 50 Fulbrighters from the United States are a direct result of the Prime Minister’s goals and mission. Therefore, in the paper, they featured a picture our Malaysia 2012 group, taken within an hour of departing the plane when we all were at our finest hour-jetlag that is.

Here is the link to the article, which was also posted a few days ago:
http://malaysia.usembassy.gov/pr-eta_arrival-010412.html

Us three in the van on our way to KL!

As all Fulbrighters were gathered onto a bus to head from the airport to the capital city of Kuala Lumpur where we are staying for the first few weeks. Somehow I ended up in a van with only two other Fulbrighters, Norma and Chelsea, instead og the bus. We drove in front of the bus, and us three together stared out the window as the chilliness of our hometowns in America was replaced with beaming sunlight, green landscape and most foreign to me…palm trees and rainforests.

Surprisingly the jet lag never fully hit me and I have been able to wake up promptly every morning to enjoy a breakfast buffet at the hotel that consists of literally any breakfast food you could think of, from sushi and soups to French toast and hash browns. The mornings are an excellent time to sit at a table with fellow Fulbrighters, get to know one another and even more so, discuss the fact that we should load up on food of this kind now, before nothing of the sort is available in a few short weeks.

Our Orientation Room!

After breakfast, we all head down to the Malaysian-American Commission on Educational Excellence (MACEE) office where our orientation is being held. Our two points of contact are Jim and Meena, who we all were fortunate enough to meet during our Orientation in D.C. last July. In addition, 2011 ETA Alum Olivia as well as a Malaysian man named Raymond are people for us to reach out to, as Olivia has experience with the ETA program and Raymond is familiar with Malaysia and the culture.

Since January 5^th and until January 20^th, we have training Monday through Saturday from 8:30am to 5pm, with some exceptions and some additional special events, such as High Tea with the Ambassador. I will say that the Fulbright Orientation has been extremely thorough and I feel comfortable knowing that we have such a support system with the MACEE, as well as the U.S. State Department and U.S. Embassy.

We have learned a tremendous amount about the culture and people of Malaysian, as well as a great deal about what we can expect in our placement areas. One thing we have been told, and one thing that I try to remember everyday is that this is Kuala Lumpur, a huge, somewhat modern city, this is not the Malaysia I will be living in for the rest of the year.

View from my hotel room

We are being housed right in the center of KL (Kuala Lumpur), and within a two minute walk we have access to at least three Starbucks, Marc Jacobs, Gucci, Auntie Anne’s Sephora, beer gardens, four malls, two movie theaters and so many other places that could be found in any American city. Within the immediate area of where my hotel is, the only few things that remind me I am in a foreign country are:
 1) dangerousness of crossing the street-motorbikes, scooters and cars literally do not stop
2) the doormen of the hotel great us with Malaysian greetings and take their hand to their hearts to say “welcome”
3) the fact that the hotel does not have free wi-fi, which I always take for granted in America
4) elevators are crazy crowded beyond any American city-goers imagination- there is always room for more.

Modern buildings in KL

Palm Trees in KL on Jalan Bukit Bintang

5) While some clothing is modern and trendy, there is a lot of conservative wear, especially Muslim dress for women. Other than that, I need to walk for about five minutes in any direction to truly comprehend and understand that I am not in America anymore.

With staying in such a modern place, it would be easy to say and make assumptions about “Malaysia,” but the fact is that these aspects I am experiencing currently are not “Malaysia.” It’s Kuala Lumpur. Therefore, myself as well as some others are trying to not get too comfortable here. For instance, there is nothing I would love more than to get Starbucks everyday, enjoy Western food and nightlife and say, “This is Malaysia,” but instead, I am slowly but surely starting to get mentally prepared for no longer being in city life.

While there are these Western amenities within easy access to where I am staying in KL, within a five minute walk I do break through into an area that is full of new foods, new places and things I have never experienced. As you walk down the main street of Jalan Buit Bintang, after you pass the modern Pavilion mall (with literally any store you could possibly imagine…name it, it’s there) and pass under the KL Monorail, no matter what direction I go I am surrounded by a place that definitely is not familiar. I see many people everywhere, some Westerners, some Indian, some Muslim, some Chinese and some Malay. The streets are very crowded and it is very loud, with some occasional people on the corners playing music or posing as glittered-up statues. I see people trying to sell me things, some people trying to lure me into their store or restaurant, people sitting on curbs, people leaning against walls and people talking.

Scavenger Hunt (David took the picture)

Hop onto the monorail and I have the city at my fingerprints. On our first Saturday in KL, we had a Fulbright scavenger hunt where we were broken down into groups of 4 or 5 people and had to spend 4 hours searching and experiencing things in the city. My group had myself, David, Julie and Patricia and we ran around the city doing everything from getting a person from Malaysia to sing an American song with us, to having David try on a Baju Malayu (native Malaysian dress for men) and asking someone if we can “pull” the teh tarik, which is a thick, sweet tea here in Malaysia. It was one of my favorite memories so far in Malaysia, because we got to see and experience so much of the city as well as interact with locals.

One place my group went through was the China Town of Kuala Lumpur. It literally “blew my mind” is the best way to describe it. I had experienced Asian streets markets in Korea and Japan that were busy, had many things and so much color and flavor. I used to wander those markets with dear new friends and eat in hidden kitchens and dig my teeth into the juiciest fruit. I loved those markets.

A taste of what I saw in China Town

However, this China Town market was possibly the most chaotic and unbelievable array of mass chaos I have ever seen. I describe it as mass chaos, but my ETA friend Blake explained to me that it is actually organized chaos, because believe it or not, someone actually manages the market and organizes the stands, sort of like a manager. This is definitely something I find fascinating as a business major, and I definitely want to look into it more.

Kuih

As my group walked through the crowded streets, there were stands after stands of knock-off bags, Rolex watches (bargained one down to 30 ringitt which is roughly ten dollars- it was a scavenger hunt duty) , LeSportSac bags, clothing, perfumes, gadgets, hats and shoes as well as people soliciting DVDs to us. Even more, there were stands after stands of food, drinks and snacks. We tried a Malaysian snack called Kuih, which was sweet and peanut flavored, but it is available in many flavors such as banana and apple. My senses were captivated and my taste buds were intrigued as there were heavy fish smells followed by the smell of roasted sugar and topped off with a scent of fresh apples and mandarins. My eyes were drawn to all the colors, the soothing colors of the varied fruit, the bold and bright colors of the garments and the faded colors of the rusted umbrellas that stood to block out the hot sun.

Durian

My group also stumbled upon a durian stand. Durian, for those of you who have not heard of it, is a fruit that is generally, immensely disliked by foreigners to Asia. The scent can be identified from blocks away and the taste is supposed to be potent to untrained taste palettes and will make one’s pee smell for days. I surprisingly did not find the smell as bad as I was warned, but we did not dare to try it yet. However, as part of our scavenger hunt, we did have to make up a poem about it:

Durian is a fruit

O my, it’s a hoot

The smell of it will make you cringe

Like being poked by a syringe

A porcupine may prick you,

But the smell of durian will stick with you.

David trying on Malaysian dress

Next we wandered to the Central Market, which was a short walk from China Town. Masses of people ran across the street to beat the motorbikes that were coming quickly. Quite frankly, I just do what the locals do. They run across the street. I run across the street. They leave their plates and napkins at a market table. I leave my plates and napkins at the market table. In this mass crowd of people in the shuffle from China Town to Central Market, I just squeezed my bag close to me and bolted through like they did. As we entered the Central Market, we were greeted by the heavenly feel of air conditioning. “Ahh…” In this market, we kept asking around to find out where we could find native Malaysian dress and we were directed to “floor 3.”

On floor three of this indoor market, we were greeted with smiles and “hello’s” and we tried to explain both in words and gestures that we needed to find a Baju Malayu for our “kawan” (friend) to try on. We ended up meeting the nicest people, and they actually were from Terengannu, the region in which I have been placed. The one gentleman even told our group, “I have two wife.”

We looked at one another not knowing how to respond. “Huh?” we said together.

“Me have two wife,” he repeated.

I just smiled, because out of habit when I have no idea what to do or say, I just smile. Someone could tell me something very bad in a different language or heavy accented English and I will just smile. I probably should work on that.

“I have one wife for home, and this is my second wife,” he said pointing with a fist, since Malaysians do not point, at a Harley sticker that was plastered to his wooden workbench.

“Ohhhh…” I said laughing hysterically, for his beloved Harley was his "second wife." 

The man with "two wives"

I could not help but think that if my dad would have been with me there, he may not have understood a word the man was saying and they probably would not have understood one another. However, no matter what culture you are in, I am beginning to realize that Harley speaks one language. It is a language I am starting to feel that any Harley rider can understand. I laughed for a good five minutes. Even in Malaysia, even a shop owner of a native Malaysian dress shop, speaks the language of Harley.