March 30, 2008

Ok, so now I can elaborate about what we did this weekend. Earlier my friend Brigit was telling me how disappointed she was that I hadn't updated the blog all week because she's addicted to it, so now she will be happy especially since I've included pictures. Let's see, the reason I haven't written anything until now is because basically Mon-Thurs. I did not leave the block. Oh sure, I went to the grocery store and the other stores upstairs at Hock Choon, but no place else. For one, it was too hot, it's been high in the 90's and low around 75 and that's usually not until night time, two, everytime I did get ready to go somewhere, the afternoon rain would come and I would lose all motivation. Jim did go out during the week, he had a business dinner, his boss's boss was in town and they had a meeting until 8 pm and then went out to eat and then a club. He'll have to write in his own words what kind of club because I can't imagine a bunch of old business men paying a cover charge, getting their hands stamped, and hanging out at the bar. Let your imaginations run with it.

So finally on Friday I remembered that it had been 3 weeks since my encounter with David from England and decided to go back to Chili's in Bangsar to see if he would show up. As you all know I've been playing around with my camera and decided to take you all with me that day. The short video that I emailed did not include my entire day, I just wanted you all to see where we live now and where we will be moving to. Hope you all enjoyed seeing it, now when I mention something you can sort of visualize what I'm talking about. But anyway now I'll fill you in on what I did in between stops. After leaving from our house I went to Chili's and had lunch and waited to see if David would show up and he didn't. I spoke with the same bartender and had a conversation with him about where he was from which was Nepal, where Mt.Everest is located. He said he came to Malaysia just to work at Chili's which I found out later from Jim that a lot of people come from Nepal to work but they can only stay and work for 2 years and then have to return. Supposedly they can never get another work permit in Malaysia after that so just imagine what will happen if I go and apply for one. After lunch I walked around the mall looking for anything, I have had quite a few birthdays that I've missed and a lot that are coming up. I didn't really see anything worth buying and shipping all the way back to the States so I just got a couple of new books to read. Jim text me saying that he would meet me at the shopping center on his way home from work so I went to his favorite hangout George and the Dragon. He arrived shortly after me and we had a couple of cocktails and then headed for home. I do have some video clips of our time at the restaurant and the drive home so as soon as I get done editing them and put together a video then I'll email it out. I want everyone to get an idea of what I'm talking about when I mention the traffic.

Saturday, originally we had planned to go back to Bangsar and check out the flea market but Jim had another idea. On our last trip I got to go to Chinatown but he didn't so that's where he wanted to go. We could have taken the subway but he decided that he wanted to try and drive there. I must be getting used to his driving because not once did I feel scared in the car. We were supposed to be shopping for things for our house but I knew from before that the only thing Chinatown is good for is clothes, watches, shoes, food, sunglasses and knock off designer purses. So we walked around and he bought a Tagheur watch, and sunglasses and I got some bandanas ( because I'm tired of walking around with wet hair all the time) and a purse for my sister, hope she likes it. Jim isn't used to the whole "haggling" concept so everytime that he would ask someone how much an item was, of course they jacked up the price 3 times. I told him that when they look at him they think "big white American must have money" so he decided that I should be the bad guy and talk everyone down on their price. Usually when I bargain, whatever number they throw out, I cut it by at least 2/3 and then go from there and if they don't accept what my final offer is then I start to walk away and they usually concede. My mojo must have been off because everytime I gave my final price they let me walk away. I'm thinking because it was still early in the day and they figure they could rip off someone else later on.

Around the corner from Chinatown is a place called Central Market or Pasar Seni. It used to be an old fish and produce market and to avoid it being torn down, they converted it into like a craft bazaar. I really like this place and even though most of the shops sell similar items, the shop owners themselves actually create their merchandise or ship it in so it's still original. Batik prints are very big here, we visited a batik factory in October and got to see how they hand paint the fabric. I bought 2 silk batik print banners that I plan on using in the house. Jim really needed a haircut so there were several salons in Pasar Seni and he picked one and it was only Chinese women working there. Jim told the lady how he wanted his hair cut and someone else had to translate what he wanted so already he's scared that his hair is going to be all messed up. The odd part was when she was done she asked Jim if he wanted a shampoo and he said yes so he got up to like follow her to a sink and she made him sit back down. That's when I whipped out my camera, she put plastic around his neck and squirted what I think is shampoo on his hair and then some other gel like liquid, and proceeded to give him a head and neck massage while washing his hair. When she finished is when she took him to the sink and washed it out. She wanted to style his hair but by this time Jim was ready to go. He's the type of person who thinks that a haircut shouldn't take more than 1/2 an hour. It cost 28 Rm ( $9.25) which I didn't think was too bad considering it came with a massage, had I got mine cut it would have been 35 RM ($11.50). While in the area we found a place called UO Superstore that actually carried big and tall clothes so we might not need a tailor after all.

It was late afternoon by now and on the way into Chinatown we saw a sign that said Reggae Bar so we decided to go and check out. This place really should be called "The Bob Marley Shrine", because everything inside was Bob Marley but someone thought calling it "Reggae Bar" was quite creative. Inside was nice and cool but a little dingy, I could see this being the type of place that's really happening at night. My big thought was, the Jamaicans were a long way from home. We only stayed for a little bit but it will go on my list of places to take my friends if they come and visit. I'm slowly collaborating one just in case I have to become a guide.

On Sunday I really wanted to shop at some other places for furniture so we went to a place called Ampang Point because I heard that there was a Courts furniture store located there. I know that I've mentioned the Malay campaign "Aren't we courteous?" well that idea was pretty much left behind by everyone in this mall. People just walk in front of you cutting you off, then abruptly stopping for no reason. It continued when we went to Tesco where we bought a microwave, Jim almost got hit by a minivan speeding through the parking lot! Jim said he thought about ramming his shopping cart into the van which we both agreed probably would not have been a good thing to do. Plus the rain was coming down hard and it was raining for most of the day, everyone we've talked to says that the monsoon season started late which is why we're seeing more rain everyday but it should end soon. The whole day Sunday was worse than going into a Wal-mart on Sunday, you know you shouldn't do it but for some reason you do and you regret it later. Needless to say after shopping we were just ready to head home and get away from everyone else.

Tomorrow I will attempt to mail some packages, the post office is called POS and I've often heard people refer to it as Piece of S@#!t or Snail Mail so I'm curious to see how long it will take for my parcels to arrive. Also I'm determined to find the Courts furniture store. I'll let you know how it goes. See you!!

March 30, 2008

Ok, Brigit this is for you. It's Sunday morning and Jim is out walking Oso while I drink a cup of coffee and try to wake up. I'll probably skip breakfast since it's already 10 am, I was up late talking with my sister Stephanie who is in L.A. for a job interview. We think that she'll get the job and she's pretty excited about possibly moving from Boston to L.A. She works with Pfizer animal health selling pharmaceuticals to veterinarians. She was an intern with them while she finished college and after graduation they assigned her to Boston. She's been there 3 years so far and is ready for a change. So she's hoping that she'll get this transfer and not deal with the cold anymore. After I got off the phone with her my brother Nicholas called from Germany. He is in the Army and lives there with his wife and their 4 kids. He is getting ready to come to the States to visit his other 2 boys by his first wife, my mom and dad and my brother because the Army is getting ready to send him to Iraq. It will be his second deployment there so he wants to see his kids before he leaves. They expect him to be in Iraq for 15 months and the rest of his family will remain in Germany. He says not to worry about him, that he knows exactly what he signed up for, but that's easier said than done.

I finally figured out how to make a short movie on my laptop and sent it out so if you all see an email from me titled "Where we live" check it out so when I write about where I am you can have a visual. I plan on doing more short videos but at the moment I haven't been out exploring as much especially the last week. It's been in the 90's and lows of 75 lately so needless to say it's hot and some days I just feel like staying dry so I won't go anywhere. Jim is back and I'll have to relinquish the computer so he can finish watching a game for the NCAA championship. Later on I'll fill you in about our weekend and try to include some pics that I took. Hope this keeps you going Brigit until my next post. Angela answer your phone and again sorry about the YouTube video!! Love you all...

March 24, 2008

Well it's Monday again and I'm back being domesticated for the day. Friday and Saturday, Jim and I didn't do a whole lot. Friday we had dinner and then drinks in the hotel lounge. I stayed up late that night talking on the phone so I didn't get up until late on Saturday. We were supposed to go the flea market in Bangsar and get haircuts but neither of us were feeling it so we had a lazy day at home, watching B-movies on HBO. We did order pizza delivery from Dominoes. We tried calling Pizza Hut first and was told that they were too busy to do any deliveries at the time. I thought, isn't that the point? It was in the middle of a huge downpour and since most deliveries are done on scooters, it was probably more of a safety issue. So I called Dominoes and it took about 15 min. just to place the order. It was a combination of too many questions and the guy I was speaking to spoke English, just very fast so it was hard for me to understand exactly what he was asking me. I had to give him 2 phone numbers, the address, a cross street, suite number, the name of my first grade teacher and first boyfriend...you get my point, lots of questions!! After all that, it was time to tell him what we wanted to order and the questions started all over again. Jim wanted pepperoni & mushroom, beef or chicken pepperoni? I wanted the supreme, beef or chicken sausage? beef or chicken pepperoni? beef or chicken salami?green or red capsicum (peppers, I had to look that one up last time) and wings, I thought for sure he was going to ask me if I wanted beef or chicken wings at the rate we were going!! I wasn't sure if we were going to get what we ordered the way we ordered it, but eventually it arrived and everything came out right. I must say that not having the option of pork, make a pizza taste totally different, almost bland, definitely lacking in pork fat!! I'm discovering that the more we eat out, the more I enjoy my own cooking.

Sunday was the F1 car race I mentioned before, and because someone cancelled, there was a ticket available for me to go. I'm not really into car racing but if it involves a crowd, food, and drinking then I'm game. We got up early so we could go to Jim's work in Puchong to meet with everyone else and the clients. DHL arranged to have 2 shuttle vans transport us and also put together some "gifts", it was a DHL backpack that included ear plugs, a towel, a hat and a schedule for the races. There was about 20-25 people who went, some employees, some clients, I'm not sure who was who because the introductions were brief and not really informing. I know the guy who stuck with me and Jim for most of the day was named Nicholas and he was from Sweden, and I also know a couple of people who Jim works with but no one really engaged in any conversation and so I developed the mentality that it didn't really matter if I knew who everyone was because I was just along for the ride and would probably never see any of them again. The racetrack was located in Sebang by the Kuala Lumpur Int'l Airport and the traffic wasn't as bad as I thought it would be considering the amount of publicity this race was getting. F1 racing is very popular, like the equivalent of NASCAR in the States but without all of the rednecks ( sorry). The track is not one big circle, it actually has several turns and the cars can go from 0 to 160 km back to 0 in about 4 seconds. The shuttles dropped us off at the front gates and immediately everyone who we arrived with went their separate ways, I thought this was odd, I thought we were a group, but everyone had their own tickets so it was more like do whatever you want, we'll meet up again eventually. Nichoas tagged along with me and Jim. One thing I can say about the whole day was it was hot ( not in the Paris Hilton sense), I mean it was HOT!!!! Good thing I had the towel so I could wipe the sweat out of my eyes, eventually Jim wet his and draped it over his head. Outside the arena they had vendors set up from all the luxury car manufacturers selling souvenirs. Ferrari seemed to be the favorite of most of the locals. I picked up a hat for my Dad to add to his collection, now I just have to mail it. Nicholas is an avid diver and most of his conversation steered toward that even though Jim and I have only considered taking a diving course. It sounds like he's been everywhere, he recently flew in from Thailand where he was diving. He bought a jacket to use for when he's done diving which I couldn't believe that they would even consider selling jackets considering how hot it is here. Eventually we found our seats where we were united with the rest of our group and watched a couple of preliminary races. I'm not sure what the appeal is behind car racing, I can understand the fascination between man and machine and the power involved, but as a spectator sport to me it can be boring. Number one, it's LOUD, thank God for the ear plugs, and since your ears are plugged you can't have a conversation, where we were sitting was decent, the cars passed by us twice and then disappeared to the other side of the track which we couldn't see so you had to watch the Jumbo-tron tv's to see what was going on especially if you wanted to see anyone crash or spin out. There wasn't any commentary going on unless you bought the transitter headsets so it was difficult to tell who was leading and after a while the sound of the motors started putting me to sleep. As a matter of fact, when the main race ended I had my head on Jim's shoulders with my eyes closed dozing off. The Ferrari car won, the driver was Scandinavian and he was cute! I think the most surprising thing about the day was I was people watching and even though there was thousands of people there it was very quiet, not sure if it was because no one could hear, but if it wasn't for the race cars it could have been mistaken for a day at the park, that's how quiet and civilized everyone was. There wasn't even cheering for the winning driver even though majority of the fans were rooting for Ferrari...weird, not like NASCAR where surely there would have been a fight. Still it was interesting to go to, next year it's supposed to be held at night, maybe we'll go again, I'll bring a book next time.

We all shuffled our way back out of the arena and our shuttles were waiting diligently by the front gate. The traffic leaving of course was worse than coming in, but not too bad, once we exited the main area, of course the driver had to weave between other cars and pedestrians, there wasn't any traffic jams. Since Nicholas had taken a taxi to the DHL office, Jim and I gave him a ride back into the city which by this time, the afternoon rain had started. I was told by a guy named Sanjay that the Malaysian government actually pays a witch doctor to perform a ceremony so that it doesn't rain during the race, something like 20k RM, and if it does rain then he has to give them a refund. Still not a bad days pay if it rains after the race. Even though we really didn't do anything at the race we were tired and a little sunburned and called it a night after finding a KFC for dinner.

I didn't realize until this morning that we completely missed Easter. I knew that it was coming up but in all the excitement of going to the race I totally forgot. I guess since it's mostly Muslims here, it really wasn't advertised although I know that some hotels sponsored a brunch and there are a sprinkle of Christian churches in the city. So Happy Easter everyone, I know I missed out on the ham, more than you'll ever know!!