A Slightly Less Philosophical Blog Post

Well this is it guys....my last 3 months of my exchange. I'm assuming if you are reading this blog post you have been at least briefly following my previous posts about my time here in Malaysia. I've learned a lot, about myself, about human beings, about human interactions and my own interactions with other people. My exchange of course has been as far away from what I expected it to be as truly possible, but it has been life-altering in ways I never could have asked for. Here are some things I've been up to lately:

CHINESE NEW YEAR: the year of the horse.

     For Chinese New Year, all exchange students were given an opportunity to go stay with a temporary host family and experience the different culture and lifestyle during the holidays. While many things were different between the Chinese and Muslim families, many things were also quite similar. The family I was staying with had only daughters and they spoke in only Mandarin. No Malay was spoken in the house. I felt like I was in a different country! I enjoyed Chinese New Year so much, as I was given the chance to really get involved in the Chinese-Malaysian culture.

(Chinese dragon dance in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. February, 2014)

 (Offerings from my Chinese host family to the deceased.)

(Me wearing the traditional Chinese shirt, cheong sam, and holding the malaysian flag. Satu Malaysia!)

(An adorable member of my temporary Chinese host family! SOOO cute!)

(I was given the chance to help make New Years Dinner. In this photo, I am grinding peppers for a chili sauce.)

(My wonderful temporary host family for Chinese New Year. Thank you so much for he wonderful memories!)

     A few weeks after Chinese New Year, I went to a Malay wedding. However, it wasn't a typical Malay wedding. It was a Pakistani-Malay wedding. This means the traditional clothing were a mixture of baju kurung (I'm wearing it in the photo below), and punjabi suits from Pakistan. This was so cool. Also, next to the wedding, was a rubber tree farm. Rubber is one of Malaysias top exports. 

(Traditional Malay dress, Baju Kurung, and the Muslim head scarf, tudung)

 

(The bride waiting in the hot Malaysian weather)

(The rubber tree farm next to the wedding place)

(Rubber dripping from the rubber tree)

Later in February, myself and the other AFS students from my state (just four of us) had a beach clean up. But what's a beach cleanup without a bit of areobic dancing first?

(The team!)

(The beach, Tok Bali.)

 

Following the beach clean up was also a day of AFS activities in Kota Bharu,Kelantan. 

(Me and the AFS gang: Mary representing Italy, Jan, and Darius representing Germany.)

 

(Batik is a tradition originated from Southeast Asia. It is the art of painting on cloth with great detail and craftsmanship. Below are more photos of batik, and our time at the batik outlet.) 

(We got the chance to do it also...........)

(I totally failed when I spilled paint all over the place.)

(Us with our batik.)

(Ice cream and Moon Kites!)

 

(The traditional Malay "moon kite." It is made from a special bamboo so that when it is flown you can hear a soft whistle in the wind.)

(Kaley-Sized moon kite!)

After those events we had yet another beach clean up...and you know what that means?! More aerobic dancing!

(AFS at the beach clean up.)

(The clean up crew)

(My wonderful siblings agreed to come along and help me clean the beach.)

All in all, February was a very productive month.....

   But something severely disturbed me when we went to the beach clean up. After the time rang clear and our job was finished, people pulled out snacks and water bottles from their back packs and began drinking and eating. Normal right? Of course. But after everyone was finished, I saw many people carelessly throwing their garbage BACK onto the beach and not even thinking about it twice. This made me feel angry and hurt that people could be so ignorant and disrespectful about the planet, and those who worked so hard that day to clean it. If you are reading this, I am begging you...whether you are Malay, American, Chinese, Belgian, German, Mexican, Spanish, French, Indonesian, Indian, or anything else, we are all human. And this is OUR planet. Please stop the littering. If you see garbage on the ground, take it and put it where it belongs; in a dust bin. Don't destroy the beauty that was given to us!

Sorry to end on such a negative note. Hopefully this post has been juicy enough and full of info for you guys, these next few weeks willbe very busy for me, as I will go live with a temporary family in southern Malaysia  (Johor Bharu) for two weeks to experience life in a different place temporarily. All of the exchange students do this so it will be an exciting opportunity.

Well thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Kaley.