Opening up my last blog I realized that I haven't written anything in a month or so - which may point to the fact that I'm happily into the rhythms of my life in Malaysia. I'm still enjoying all of my classes (and we're covering poetry now, into which I've thrown a little Dylan, DiFranco and Lennon), I've been reading great books, watching good movies, working out (my building finally got its gym installed) and spending a lot of time with friends. I'm carving out a good little place for myself in this concrete suburb. I've also made it out of Subang Jaya on a bunch of weekends.
Since I've been home I've been in two running events: the Terry Fox Run (held in downtown Kuala Lumpur) and the Perak Powerman. Both went well for different reasons.
The Terry Fox Run is in November here for some reason. I volunteered to advertize and organize the students at Taylor's to participate. I've often found event planning a little stressful, as one oversight can cause big problems; however the organizers downtown made the whole process very reasonable, and the students were surprisingly enthusiastic about it. All in all it was a good show and a substantial amount was raised. Once we were on the starting line I couldn't help myself and I put on a good clip; I wanted to see how fast I could run 5k. Unfortunately I ended up being directed down the "short run" option by a volunteer...only 3.6k. In that heat, however, it may have been for the best.
The next race was the Perak Powerman, a duathalon. The race went well and our team of three even won some prize money for coming in fourth! Moreover, it was a good opportunity to get out and see Malaysia. To get there we drove north through the mountains, cut west through the plains, and ended up on the west coast. There seems to be so much in this relatively small country that I'm not at all worried about being "stuck" here for 180 days in 2009 (see my blog titled Trapped in Paradise).
A few weeks ago a group of seven of us (all Taylor's teachers) headed up to Langkawi for a long weekend. Langkawi is a popular tourist destination for Malaysians, but the island also harbours a large number of ex-pats who just seem to stick around for years...maybe because it was made into a duty-free zone in 1986 in order to promote tourism. The view that the locals must have of foreigners must be pretty squewed as a result of the characters that have ended up planting themselves on the island.
We were right on a west-facing beach, but I ended up spending a lot of time on the road (in a rented car, and then by scooter) checking out the island's interior...I've never been much for the beach. Still I was always on a beach to catch the sunset. The one I snapped below was from a beach on the north end of the island: Trouble in paradise, or a good sign that there's nowhere that isn't beautiful on Langkawi? I guess that cement factory had to go somewhere.
I'm back in the office right now, but hatching plans for the next few weekends. I'm off camping next weekend (a school trip), and then off to Malaysia's highlands the next, then Singapore for a friend's wedding, and then Thailand for a long weekend.
Under the shadow of my marking it's hard to remember that I'm living in such an exotic and exciting place. However, when I'm under the sun on the weekend it's easy to forget that there's work again on Monday.
All of the photos below are from Langkawi.
On a final note, I'll be coming home for the Christmas break (Dec.14-29)! My brother and his wife are expecting a baby around then!!, and I'm really looking forward to some quality time with friends and family. So, if I don't post again until then, I'll see you soon!
