Thursday June 5, 2008

I know Brigit! I have been totally slacking on my writing and I know how disappointing that is for you. I can't promise that will change anytime soon. I read a while ago that most expats start to get into a rut after about 3 months after moving and I think that I have reached that point. Now that the house is as complete as it's going to get I've found that my motivation to leave the house has but left me. Here's my routine: I usually get up around 10:30 am, go downstairs make a cup of instant coffee. I let Oso out and give him his morning treat. Usually I get online and check all of my emails and respond to them or of course forward them out to everyone I know. That usually takes me about 2 hours while I drink my coffee. By then I get hungry and I make myself some lunch and while I eat I watch Oprah and the Ellen Degeneres show. When that's over it's 3 pm and I usually do some laundry, housework, cut the grass and start making dinner. I never know what time Jim will get home but so far he has been good about letting me know if he's running late. Jim will get home and then we will eat dinner, walk Oso and watch tv for the rest of the night. He usually goes to lay down around 10 pm and I will stay up and read until I get tired. Sometimes I'll try to call people since it's daytime there. Most of the time I fall asleep around 3 am which is why I sleep until 10:30 am unless of course the construction that's going on in my neighborhood forces me to get up earlier. Right now I have a total of 3 houses around me doing some kind of renovation, combine that with the daily rain and Oso's barking at the thunder and it can be downright frustrating.

Last week I was up at Georges with Jim and as we were leaving I noticed a lot of employees who were not working sitting around so of course I had to stop and say hello. I found out that they were all there because there was a party planned after the bar closed for the employees for Gawai. Here is another cultural lesson for you all. Gawai is a holiday that is primarily for the area of Serawak which is located on the eastern pennisula of Malaysia called Borneo. Basically it's a chilie harvest celebration that most of the people I asked about it compared it to Christmas. Even though Jim and I were leaving I invited myself to the party. I went home and walked Oso and came back up to Georges. When walked in there were still a few customers so I talked to my sister Stephanie until the party started. My friends Sim and Scott hung out for a bit and we ate. Scott is the head chef at Georges so he had cooked a spread of Malaysian food like nasi goreng (fried rice), beef rendang ( spicy, cinnamony beef cubes), nasi ayam ( chicken wings) and some vegetables. Everything was good and I found that I am getting used to the spicy stuff. Scott was little ticked off because some customers saw him put the food out and they thought it was for anyone so they started eating it. Shortly afterwards they had drawings for the employees to receive various gifts like DVD players, gift baskets, and gift certificates. I felt honored that they asked me to draw a few numbers considering I invited myself to the party, but everyone knows me so no one seemed to care. After that is when the party really started rocking. Apparently even though Muslims aren't supposed to drink alcohol, it is allowed for this holiday. Everyone was passing around shots and pints of beer, drinking scotch and whiskey and then the singing started. Mostly it was 2 guys who started and it was like they would sing a small song for each person at the table. I couldn't tell if the songs were funny or insulting or what because they were singing in Malay. I was finally bold enough to ask them to sing one for me and to have someone translate. They started singing "Amazing Grace" and everyone started laughing. They also sang "Sweet Chile O Mine" and "It's My Life" by Bon Jovi. That's pretty much how the rest of the night went. I was talking to the manager of Georges Kabil and few other managers from related restuarants in the corporation and the next thing I knew it was 7 am and the place was a mess. I went home and finally fell asleep. I had a really good time and Jim wasn't upset with me because he knows that I want to learn about all the local customs while we're here.

Right now my friend Sim has asked me to help her plan her birthday party this coming weekend. She is turning 21 and having a pool party. She has changed her mind so often about the food I don't know what we're eating. All I know for sure is I'm baking her a cake, there will be alcohol ( tons of alchol according to her, she is sitting next to me while I write this ) and lamb. The time of her party is odd, it's from noon to 6 pm. I told her there is no way she is going to get everyone to leave by then because they'll all be drunk. She plans on going out later on that night but right now I'm betting she won't be able to get off of her chaise lounge next to the pool. I'll have to fill everyone in later on about the party.

So now Brigit I've caught you and everyone else up on what I've been doing since March 23rd which was the date of my last entry. Hopefully I will get out of my rut soon and sign up for the classes I've been meaning to take like yoga, learning malay, and a cake decorating class. I think once I sign up for those then I will have more things to write about other than what I had for breakfast. Until next time...