So my question to you today is this: does the phrase “gelatinous fish balls” entice you to the table? Yeah, me neither. I see that description on menus and on items in the frozen food section, and even in the fresh fish section and I have to say that it goes on my “list of things I will likely not be trying while I am here,” along with the sugar coated dried cuttlefish that I have seen in the bulk food section of my favorite grocery store. I used to think of myself as a fairly adventurous eater. These days I feel like one of those meat and potato people. (Staci and James read: “meat, bread and cheese”!) I guess I’m a little disappointed in the food that I’ve had. And a little wary – I do see tripe on the menus… One thing is that they use the whole chicken. Which means there are lots and lots of bones; even the little spine-looking tiny ones. I have gotten a dish that appeared to have about 8 ounces of chicken on it, only to have ended up with about 2 ounces, once I picked out all of the bones (using my spoon and fork to tear my food apart; that is the common practice: one is rarely provided with a knife). It calls to mind that old Wendy’s commercial: parts is parts. Last Friday we decided to get something to eat from a vendor who sets up his cart out front of our building every night. Heinz had to make a phone call so I strapped Vivi in the chest pack, put Conrad in the stroller and headed down to check it out by myself. We thought it was a Satay vendor because everything he sells is on skewers. Well, I walked up to it and realized that I did not recognize a single thing on the truck. It was an interesting set-up and if someone else had not come along and given me the opportunity to watch how it’s done, I never would have figured it out. (And the vendor, on his cell phone the entire time, didn't seem inclined to help me out) On each of the 3 sides of the truck/cart is a boiling pot of water and one chooses their items and cooks them one’s self. Basically the guy only takes your money, a fee per skewer. There appeared to be an awful lot of raw fish on sticks, lots of different colored filets (and probably not enough ice for my Western sensibility on a hot night…) things that looked like the “parts” mentioned earlier, what I would have described as chicken innards, and what I would imagine a gelatinous fish ball to be if put on a skewer. I asked the guy for chicken and he showed me a few mini hot dogs on sticks. I felt like a complete rube: a truck piled high with food, probably 50 different choices and all I felt comfortable going home with was these mini hot dogs! Oh well, maybe if I had a local with me who could indoctrinate me, I might be more daring at the end of a long week. But I truly would not have guessed that there could be so much food in one place that I would look at and think “I have never seen that before. At least not in its raw state.” But as a whole I’ve been disappointed by the flavors. There are so many Indian, Thai and Ethiopian dishes that are so flavorful, the combinations of spices so awesome, making me think “I could eat this until I explode, it’s that good”, and I guess I naively hoped that I would find that here. Not yet, but I’ll keep trying. In the meantime, we did find a milk that Conrad will drink (thanks to the Aussie cows). And the choice of chocolate cookies is dizzying….

Fun cultural fact #?: the Malay word for water is literally “air”, although it is pronounced ay-ear. I just find that bizarre. For all of the English words that they use directly and all of the words that they use and spell phonetically, (“wayarless” for wireless, “epal” for apple) could they not have used a less confusing word for such a critical item? Although I do have to constantly be grateful for the scope of English used. It can make my everyday life so much easier.

The rainy season seems to have arrived. It rains for at least an hour every afternoon. The other day the kids and I went to KFC for lunch (it has an outdoor play structure, need I say more?) and it started raining before I could gather us up to head back home. That was not fun! I just need to get better about carrying an umbrella everywhere I go so I don’t get stranded places, I guess.

This weekend we are planning a trip back down onto the coast to visit Melaka, a town on the straits, recommended by one of Heinz’s co-workers. It looks very interesting and I’m pretty excited about it. Weekend before last we went to Port Dickson, another town on the straits and stayed at a resort that has the water chalets on stilts. For those of you who have not yet seen the pics, here is a link if you are interested (FYI there are pictures in addition to the ones on Facebook):

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=b22ae54aab8782c2&sid=0IZtXDVq0ZMXpA

We had a really nice time, it was a lovely resort, and I had some very interesting exchanges with people regarding the kids. As I have mentioned, people seem really taken with Vivi, especially. We had a cold drink at the restaurant the first afternoon and the maitre d’ came over to talk to me, asking how old she was. I said 6 ½ months and he said “I have a little boy, same age but she’s…umm… a lot bigger than he is.” So are you telling me my kid’s fat? The next morning we were at breakfast and he was there again and she started to fuss while sitting in the stroller so he comes over and says very emphatically “She is tired”. I said, picking her up, “actually I think she’s just bored and wants to see what’s going on around her” so he says “Oh” and reaches over, takes her out of my arms (without even the “May I?” nod I might have expected) and walks around the restaurant with her, trying to hand her off to a few of the waitresses. It was very bizarre. Later we were out by the pool and I changed her diaper on one of the lounge chairs and a few young girls stopped by to ooh and ahh at her and they said “oh, she’s so cute! But she’s so fat!” as they rubbed her tummy. And now you ARE telling me straight out! One says to me, as Vivi is laying there in her diaper and it is about 88 degrees in the shade, “isn’t she cold?” I can imagine the “Are you nuts?” face I must have made. Then her mother, or an older woman that she was with, came over, did the May I nod and when I said alright (how can one not?) she picks Viv up and walks over to her group of people and the women there were all passing her around. They just stood there, talking amongst themselves, handing her to each other. We had ordered lunch and at that point the waiter came over to tell us our table was ready and I had to go over to them and take her back and they kind of looked at me as if to say “You’re interrupting.” It’s very bizarre to me but I felt the need to apologize to them and explain to them we were moving into the restaurant. I guess boundaries and their observance, or non-observance as it may be, is the stuff that cultural clashes are made of. I did have a few creepy exchanges with strangers regarding Conrad when we were fairly newly arrived. One time we were going into the little pharmacy/convenience store downstairs and he and I were sort of tripping over each other as we tried to get in the door with the stroller (anyone in a wheelchair in this country is just screwed: every shop or restaurant entrance is up a step, not to mention the horrible condition of the sidewalks) and this woman who had been sitting at outdoor seating for one of the nearby restaurants swooped in, is the only way I can describe it, and grabbed Conrad’s arms and started pulling on him saying “You come play with me. You come play with me while your Mom shops.” It really rattled Conrad and I think you can imagine what it did to me! I keep telling myself that she probably just thought she was being helpful, she could see that I really had my hands full, but in what culture do strangers actually take children away from their parents like that? It completely creeped me out! But then on the flip side we have the young guy in the elevator who flirts with Viv and says how pretty she is, and the waiter who chucks her cheeks every time he comes to check on us. She has 3 teeth and is cruising with the commando crawl. It’s hard to believe but we are at the halfway point of our first segment here: 5 weeks down, 5 to go. We’re actually feeling pressured to get in all of the travelling and sight seeing we want to do! I wonder if the second segment will seem to go as quickly?

We hope you are all well and that you all have a safe and Happy Halloween. One of the malls near where we live has some festivities and I think I might check them out for the kids. It’s Viv’s first Halloween and she has the cutest shirt from her Grammy; how can we not go?

Now that I’ve finally got the blog set up I hope you will check back with us regularly. I will probably write more often, and not such long letters!

Be well and keep in touch. There is nothing like an e-mail from a friend when you are far away! Hugs and love~ Jackie