Bridging Fantasy & Reality

I had nasi lemak this morning for brunch. It was not even remotely close to the one sold back home in the kertas lilin but it sure did taste a little Malaysian. What's ironic is, back in Malaysia I used to avoid nasi lemak... the name says it all - direct translation, "rice fat/fat rice". And now, here I am, judging it on a scale of one to ten..

Attended the UMSA (Malaysian club) orientation barbeque yesterday and I met, more Malaysians... We had to participate in some odd scavenger hunt interlaced with lame tasks at the check points. Most involved singing primitive nursery rhymes and gesturing wildly in sync to lyrics, all done in the direct view of the public. Thankfully, NZ citizens aren't the type who stop, stare and giggle in amusement when anything remotely unusual occurs in the middle of the street. When an accident takes place, people here don't deliberately crowd around the victims and start whispering and oggling without offering much assistance..

That said, I would like to applaud UMSA for the effort in bringing us Malaysians together (...not that we don't already stick to each other like peanut butter and jelly within slices of fresh bread). Managed to socialize quite a bit over satay sticks and ubi cake (...which I had a little too much off and Joanna and I demanded to pack home). Evidently, the Malaysians here are split into two very distinct groups although there remain quite a number of odd ones who don't fit into the picture.... The guys - engineering students and the ladies - Tesol (???) students/pursuing some sorta teaching course... I've yet to meet a Malaysian psych major. And when I tell people that I'm doing psych, I get the same reactions. The wide eyed "owh" with a slight retreat which i tend to interpret as "wth is she thinking??"... But then again, maybe I'm being too cynical? Maybe they're retaliating in awe. Forgive my wishful thinking.... LOL.

Anyways, I met Roger at the UMSA bbq, (yep, Jacintha....) and he didn't recognize me til I asked him if he did.... Also met Jie Huei there from the BRATs camp in Kuching which we attended together.. She recognized me immediately and honestly, I was pretty shocked to see her there... And I did like the ice breaking session which was like a round of speed dating. (only diff was it allowed social interaction between similar genders)

I've been handed assignments already and yesterday, a few of us went down K street to get a printer at Dick's Smith to print out assignments and slides. Don't worry mummy! I spent NZD 11 for the printer plus paper coz at least 6 of us are sharing it.... Been taking it easy this past one week, but I will start taking my studies seriously from next week on wards. Tutorials and labs start next week too. And I've actually passed my CV out to certain places so fingers crossed, I will be able to find a job some time soon and then find a balance between the job and my schedule. Trish was kind enough to let me in on some of her working experiences and she's been giving me tips on where to look for jobs and course selection, all those small little important details. I seriously owe it to her for making my life a tad easier. I owe it to a lot of people over here actually. Everytime something crops up, there's always someone there to help get me through it. God's definitely watching over me....

Been feeling particularly reflective of late... I've been caught up with my thoughts a lot. It's not making me feel glum but there's certainly so much more to think about compared to the past 7 months in Malaysia where I just got through the days without even remembering the dates. I've never been one to say much, always been more of an observer/listener. But here, I feel the need to observe and listen more intently.... I still giggle as much though, annoying as it may be. Thanks to the fancy quips of Joanna, the antiques of my other resident mates here and our little wine fests with the Grafton guys...