Malaysian Revelations

This post is a bit random...consider yourselves warned...but here are some observations of my week:

1. The "tail is back" here in KL. For those of you pre- or post-80s pop culture generations, I'm speaking of the male-sported hair tail. I've seen way more than I'm comfortable with here in Malaysia, and actually, I'm not really convinced they ever went out (Yes Matt Harrell...you would love this place). Now that I'm thinking of it, this might also explain their corresponding fascination with Debbie Gibson and Rick Astley. It's wild....they play their music everywhere...makes me miss Electric Youth perfume.

2. Lizards. I think I'm coming to terms with these house guests and am trying...slowly...to appreciate their harmless, insect-eating selves. For those of you who are re-thinking any plans of a future visit to KL, be comforted that pest control is coming this afternoon -- they were supposed to come last week (refer to #3). My favorite quote from this morning was from our very sweet house-help, Mary. I was asking her about the mysterious, black ooze that appeared to be coming from our air conditioner. She said in her gentle, broken English, "That's sh*t maam....lizard sh*t". :)

3. God Bless Americans and their punctuality. I know we take this too far and become calendar obsessed zombies, but Franklin Covey hasn't made it to Asia. I now realize that if a store clerk tells me they'll have more diet coke "next Tuesday" or the pizza delivery man quotes "three minutes only"....these promises are loose. Same with lines...they are a bit arbitrary here, so I'm back to boxing people out like in India.

4. God Bless Malaysians for truly accomplishing the melting pot. Addie's class looks like the small world ride at Disney and somehow, our pasty-white family seems to fit into our comfortably eclectic neighborhood quite well. However, I was the ONLY white girl to attend a BSF introductory meeting last night -- 150 women representing a wide variety of beautiful beige to brown tones -- and then me. Pretty sure I stood out...but hearing the group collectively sing "Amazing Grace" with a Mandarin/Bahasa/British/Cantonese bent was pretty amazing!

And a funny story from yesterday...it was show and tell day at Addie's school and after spending a good fifteen minutes brainstorming on what Addie could take (and I must say that we had some really great ideas), she decided to take her Little Pet Shop Porcupine....that she has named "Porky". She is a bit confused on the word "poke" and instead thinks "Porky goes around and porks people". Hmmmmm...bet that was a show and tell to remember. Pick your battles, right?

Hope you guys had a fun week too -- we miss you!