Helllllo again. :D
The last two weeks weren’t as eventful as those in the last
post, but there were some cool moments.
Golfin’
A friend here at UPSI took Meredith and I to play golf one
day, and this was fun for the first and only hole we got to play until it
started to DOWNPOUR. And when I say
downpour, I mean downpour. The thunder booms
(I used that word especially for my ole’ high-school friends) were also the
loudest I had ever heard. We definitely
were right smack in the middle of that storm!
After it passed, it was too late to go back on the course, so we just
had some chipping and putting contests until the sun went completely down.
A couple days later, our friend took us to a driving
range. Practice was quite needed, as my
golf swing was a little rusty on the course.
After hitting who knows how many balls and getting blisters all over my
hands, my night was suddenly made. Our
friend invited his friend to come meet us.
And his friend wasn’t just any guy. He was the number ONE golfer in Malaysia
named Shaaban Hussein! After taking us
to dinner, I was so in awe, I didn’t even think to get a picture or autograph. I joked later about bringing him home instead
of a Malaysian doctor. ;) He also invited us to come watch him play in the
Malaysian Open. Unfortunately, he missed the cut after the first two days and
didn’t make it to the final round, which was the only day Meredith and I could
go to. Even though we didn’t have anyone
to personally cheer on, we still enjoyed it.
Since it was also a European Tour, I didn’t recognize many
names except for Padraig Harrington, but I did do some research before we
went. One guy I just happened to read
about was named Tommy Fleetwood who was from England, my age, and quite cute I
must add (hehe). I decided we could
cheer him on once we got there. Just as
we arrived to the golf course, the horn went off for rain delay. Perfect timing huh? It was ok though as we killed the time by
watching someone show off in their helicopter.
The helicopter flew around zooming up and down and over fairways. It was a little nerve-racking.
After that excitement, there was a chipping contest that if
you chipped three balls in a bucket, you won a car. I tried it, and didn’t win. But if I had rung the bucket, I was told I
couldn’t win anyways because I wasn’t Malaysian. Don’t I look Malaysian though?? ;)
We also checked out the automatic driving range, which could
bring the balls right back up to your mat. Coooolioooo.
After a little while, a couple of the golfers started
warming up on the putting green and who would have thunk it?? My new man Tommy came walking out right
beside me. I immediately asked if I
could have a picture with him, and he said yes.
Once play resumed, we watched a couple groups until the final group came
in with the champion who was from Thailand.
Taipang Zoo
With my Animal Physiology class, we went to Taipang
Zoo. It was a beautiful bus ride up
through the mountains (at least the little bit I was awake for) to a zoo that
had so many cool animals. I got to feed
the deer some plants a worker had just cut down from the trees. I hope that was ok for them to eat… I also
got to see hippos!! Whenever I have gone to my zoo back at home, I NEVER get to
see the hippos because they are always underwater. Some people may not get excited about that,
but I sure was. There were also monkeys
everywhere again, which was funny because I couldn’t tell if they were escapees
at first or just wild monkeys living at the zoo by choice (which they were).
However, there was a different kind of monkey called a Gibbon monkey (part of
the zoo) that made the coolest noises/hollers.
I thought about having a “hollering” contest, but I figured I didn’t
need any more stares.
Indian “Festival”
After the zoo, we came back to our dorm and got ready for an
Indian “festival” we had planned to go to.
A friend from our class invited us, and said the informal part started
at 9:30. She also said there was going
to be food, and dancing, and that we could wear our sarees we had bought. I was SO excited to wear mine. Since we were back by 7:30, we weren’t
rushing by any means until our friend texted us at 7:45, saying we should meet
her at the bus stop at 8:00. (What happened to Malay time?!?) After a lot of communication errors to say
the least, we finally found our friend.
I asked her if she could help me put my saree on, and she said her
roommate would once we found a bathroom.
Now, when I bought the saree, the lady wrapped it all nicely around my
clothes and tucked it here and there, and tied it here and there, and I looked
like a real Indian women! (besides my eye and hair color) Butttt, I guess that’s not the way you wear
them in real life. First reason why….we
were almost to the bathroom and our friend said, “Do you have pins?” I, knowing the lady didn’t use any pins when
I tried it on, said no. She just smiled
and said, “That may be difficult, but we can try.” Then we got in the bathroom, and she said,
“Do you have the shirt to wear under it?”
I, wearing only a cami under my normal shirt, asked if that would just
be ok. She laughed again and said, “We
can try it.” Then as I am pulling the
probably 6-yard long piece of silk cloth out of my bag, she says, “Where are
the pants?” At this point, I’m thinking
how can a saree be one of the words that seems to have two meanings here? Well, it doesn’t because my friend laughed
AGAIN and said you get the piece of “cloth” I had bought tailored into an
entire outfit. Hahhh. Feeling so
embarrassed and sad I couldn’t wear it, we all just laughed and headed to the
“festival” anyways. Late of course, we
made it and it was NOT what I expected.
I felt like I was at convocation.
My fellow Queen’s friends know what that is….eeeekkk. Haha.
Kidding. But not really. There were awards being given to professors,
a bunch of speaking in Malay, clapping, photos, door prizes, etc. in an
auditorium. You can’t Indian dance in an
auditorium! I waited patiently however,
and it got better. There was a play with
some Indian dancing and then some other students that sang and danced. The audience didn’t get to participate, but
maybe that was a good thing. Y’all know
my dancin’! The voices and music and
dancing was beautiful though, and even though I didn’t get to wear my saree, I
enjoyed it in the end.
Batik Class
Now, this class is supposed to be relaxing and easy…but it
ain’t! Haha. Our first assignment was to “tie and dye”,
which was fun. Here’s a picture of my
finished artwork.
The next assignment is doing different Batik
techniques. Communication barriers have
definitely stood strong in this class, as our teacher tells the Malay students
the assignment in Malay and the Americans (3 of us) the assignment in
English. However, the Malays and
Americans are being told two different things.
And that makes it even more difficult when a biology major is trying to
get some help with her art…For example, I am stapling my cloth to a piece of
wood and ask a classmate, “Is this enough fabric left hanging off the
edge?” It probably doesn’t make it any
easier on myself either when I’m a perfectionist. (I get it from my Aunt
Beth.) My classmate takes it from me,
and staples it all. It was nice of her
to try and help, but then it was too lose for me to draw out my lines with
wax. Sooo…I start to take every little
staple out, and then the same girl comes again and takes it and re-staples it
for me. In the middle, I say, “Very tight, very tight.” But, once again, it’s too lose. I hide from her the rest of the class. Hah. I get some other students to help me staple
it tightly, but then the staples start coming out of the wood. Sooo… I have to get a new wooden frame and
staple it AGAIN. I was getting a weeee
bit frustrated. Luckily, two realllly
sweet girls helped me and got me back on track. Thank the LAWD for them!
Malay “Carnival”
With our two new friends from Batik class and some of their
friends, we went to the Malay “carnival” that was going on on campus. Now, when I hear carnival, I think ferris
wheel, dunking booth, greasy food, and whatnot.
This carnival still had booths, but with clothes and food. There was also a “cinema” going on, which our
new friends invited us to go to with them.
This “cinema” ended up being a traditional Malay play. Even though it was all in Malay (except for
the plot written in English on a big screen), I couldn’t understand anything
but still managed to laugh at the acting as it was definitely a comedy. There were what we would call drag queens/men
dressed as women, a princess, a prince, tribal people, and some guards. I forgot my camera, but I stole this pic from
someone else. Heh. Rachel, another
American who came last semester is in the middle, and our friend Sue from
Turkey is all the way to the right.
It was a really fun night, and I was so happy to have made some new Malaysian friends. Side note/story: One of our new friends was so cute when she first met us. You would have thought she was meeting Matthew McConaughey with his shirt off or something, as she couldn’t stop giggling and covering her face because she had never met an international student before. Here’s a pic we got of all of us.
