Just Life

Our container finally arrived a week ago today.  It was so nice to see some of the items we've been missing.  It took 9 1/2 weeks to get to us but it had been 4 1/2 months since we had packed everything.  We still have books to unpack and some of the knickknacks, but most everything is done.  We had a couple from our cell group over the next day and it was nice to have the dining table.  We had been eating off of a desk that our landlords left and I had put a tablecloth on.

Lots going on lately which has been really nice.  We have had some great meetings about working with college/university students.  We are excited about the possibilities.  We took a couple of students out to lunch to get to know them better.  Some of the students move here from other states to do their A-levels.  This is the equivalent of the last year of American high school and the first year of junior college.  This allows students just 3 years at University and gets their basic courses out of the way.  So some of the students are just 17.  Some live in hostels (dorms) and others rent apartments.  We will be meeting with volunteers in a couple of weeks and then starting a new program in September.  It is encouraging to see how interested the students are in having a weekly meeting.  

Our team has an intern that is working in the region.  He arrived last week and will stay here until the end of the month before he moves on to South Asia.  He is staying with Roy and I right now.  He'll go to another part of the country on a STM later this week with another church and then come back here for awhile.  I was thankful that the furniture for the spare room arrived in time!  Unfortunately he broke his foot on his trip over to Asia. He is hobbling around at the moment but seems to be doing well. 

Roy and I are looking forward to going to church camp this weekend.  We'll be headed up to the highland area - about 5,000 feet above sea level.  It will be quite nice and hopefully cool.  

Petaling Street

On August 2nd we went down to China Town with our cell group.  It was a great adventure.  They wanted to make sure that we tasted everything that they love!  

We started out at a beef noodle restaurant.  This is apparently a great breakfast dish.  But, I'd eat it for any meal.  It was delicious.  Our favorite noodle restaurant in Atlanta catch touch this stuff!  

The main street is filled with shops and stalls.  There is everything for sale down there, most of it of questionable authenticity.  Lots of fake purses, shoes and t-shirts.  But it was a fun atmosphere and we enjoyed watching people and making a few purchases ourselves of fruit.  
This is our friend Mei Sin.  She wanted to buy some BBQ duck for her family.  Apparently this stall is one of the best.  They cook the duck whole (yes the head too) and then chop off the head and cut the duck into parts for you to take home and enjoy.
Besides the beef noodles, we also tried some rice cakes rolled in sesame seed, a pancake dish that had peanuts insides, a drink that translates something like "cat's eye", and porridge!  We had to pace ourselves and only eat a bit at each place.  My favorite was the beef noodles, but everything was great.  The "cat's eye" fruit drink was too sweet for me, but the actual fruit is quite good.  A nice vendor let me try some.  

More on fruit...

Reading the blog, you might think that all we do is eat!  I commented to those at our cell group that they talked about food a lot - and they laughed.  It does seem to be a consuming topic here.  I suppose because the food is so diverse and there is so much to try.  Many of our friends eat out most nights.  Roy and I tend to cook at home a lot, so we don't have as much opportunity to try things.  I think our cell group as made it their calling to get us to try all kinds of new things.  

A couple of weeks ago, one of the guys brought a bunch of durian to cell group.  I mentioned before that durian is a rather smelly fruit.  I evokes passionate responses from most people - either for or against.  Hotels have signs that say, "No guns, no smoking and no durian."  Seriously!  The smell is intense and not something I enjoy.  I try to hold my breath walking by that section in the fruit department.  But, people say that if you can get past the smell the taste is worth it.  Roy and I were urged to try it so we did.  It was actually quite good.  It is very creamy and rich tasting.  There are two kinds - bitter and sweet.  I really liked the sweet and didn't care so much for the bitter.  Roy liked the sweet as well.  Apparently our cell group thinks we'll graduate to the bitter!  Everyone asks us here if we have tried durian.  We say yes and they wait in anticipation as to whether or not we liked it.  It's kind of like a test.  They expect most Westerners to not like it and so are pleasantly surprised when they hear that we do.  It is like our initiation.  Our pastor said that our liking the durian means we were meant to be here!  Here's a photo:

In an earlier blog I mentioned that we hadn't tried dragonfruit yet.  One of the university students read that and brought us a bag last week!  There are red and white dragonfruits.  You peel them kind of like an orange and eat the sweet fruit inside.  I think they are best when chilled a bit.  There are little black seeds (like in a kiwi) inside but you just eat those too.  The red dragonfruit has a sweeter taste than the white ones, but they are both good.  

Rambutans

These are rambutans which are a new fruit we tried here. They are absolutely delicious.  You peel the hairy skin part off and the white fruit is inside.  The fruit is related to a lychee and looks like a small white egg when removed from the rind.  There is a seed inside (like in a plum).  The taste is both a sweet and a sour.  Quite nice.  The name comes from the Malay word meaning "hairy."

Malls

I've never encountered so many malls in one city in my life.  There are malls everyone.  And not just small ones - they are huge!  Mega Huge!   Someone said that people here don't have a lot of hobbies, so they go to the mall. Others joked that people go to the mall when it is hot (a lot of the time) and then they go when it rains (the rest of the time).  

Some of the malls have bowling alleys, most have cinemas, one has a climbing wall and another has an ice rink!  There are stores from all over Asia as well as Britain, Australia and the US.  I don't know how the economy can sustain so many malls, but they are always busy and the parking lots are always full.  You drive around and around looking for a place to park which takes forever - except at one mall.  It is one fairly close to our house and the parking is only about .30 cents US for 4 hours during the week.  When you pull into the car park, you'll see signs like the one below that tell you how many parking spaces are available on that floor and in which direction they are.  If the sign says "full" you just go to the next level.  The signs will tell you how many open spaces available either up or down.  

Once you get to a floor with open spaces, you look for the green light (see below).  The signs will point you to open spaces, you find the green light and park.  Once your car crosses the sensor, the light turns red and everyone knows that there is one less space!  The handicap spaces have blue lights, so they are easy to see.  

I am amazed by this and wonder why I haven't seen something similar in the US.  Of course the parking lots at Mall of Georgia and Perimeter are mostly outside parking, so it wouldn't work the same.  But this is great!  I'd rather shop here than a lot of places because I know I'll find a space.  Plus the garage is well lit.  

Most of the malls and also car parks near grocery stores have other services for drivers - like car washes!  I dropped my car off the other day, went and shopped for about 20 minutes came back out and my car was hand washed and dried and waiting for me.  Great service.  

Wildlife

We went up to the hills above the city last week for a team retreat.  It was such a nice refreshing time.  The temperature up there is in the low 70s rather than the high 80s and 90s.  It makes it very comfortable.  We rented a bungalow to share with the three families and ate in local restaurants.  We walked everywhere and had a chance to have some concentrated time to talk about our hopes for the future of our work here.

One of the evenings, Barb wanted to take everyone on a tarantula hunt.  Darlene and I passed and stayed home enjoying quiet moments to read our books.  But everyone else tramped through the hills at 9:00 pm to see if they could find the tarantula hideouts.  They did!  Apparently you look for a hole along the side of the road that has a bit of a web.  Then you get a stick and tease the tarantula out into the open and take its photo!  Here is one that got caught on camera.  

On our way down the mountain after the retreat, we saw monkeys along the side of the road!  I had never seen monkeys away from the zoo and it was quite a treat.  We had to be careful taking the photos because they came straight for the car and we weren't sure that they wouldn't have climbed in with us.  Can you see the babies?!

Roti Tisu

We went out to dinner with our friends last night and enjoyed a specialty here called Roti Tisu.  We went to Mamak food corner which are all over the city and very popular.  These are run by Indian Muslims and have some of the best food anywhere - their version of a fast food restaurant.  Good comfort food.  They are usually on a corner and open on two sides so that the breeze can come in.  This one had fans with mist to keep you cool, but it was such a nice evening we didn't really need them.  The waiters come and get your order and don't write anything down.  There were 8 of us and he didn't miss a beat.  You can get fresh squeezed juices, coffees and teas and the kids favorite - Milo ice which is chocolate malt drink.  I usually get a lime water which is very refreshing.  We ate our dinner first, fried chicken rice for me, and then we got our dessert.

Roti means bread and is a flat bread cooked on a griddle.  You can have it many different ways.  Plain served with curry and sambal (spicy red sauce), or with bananas or the coconut honey called Kaya.  The specialty of this Mamak place is Roti Tisu.  

First the cook flattens out the dough and gets it really thin.

Then he puts it on the griddle and put butter all over it.

When it has cooked a little, he sprinkles sugar on it, then sweetened condensed milk, and finally honey!

He gets it off the griddle, wraps it in a cone and it is three feet tall!

The kids had never seen anything so big and yummy!

We sure enjoyed it.  The cost of one of these is about $1.66 US!