Last weeks in Malaysia

This past week we took part in a treasure hunt on campus. The first thing we did was find clues around campus, and then we played six games. Some of them included Shan crawling under several ropes on her hands and knees in the pouring rain, trying to catch water balloons falling from a story above us with our shirts, and picking tooth picks out of an orange without using your hands. It was super duper fun, and we ended up getting third place out of thirteen teams so all around not too shabby.

On Friday night we went to our friend Casey’s good-bye party. He is actually going back to Chicago for a couple of job interviews. He studied in the UK for two years and has been in Malaysia for the past year, and has only been home for a week during all of this! We have had a lot of fun with Casey, and it was sad saying good-bye, but unlike most people at the party we are confident that we will see him again and soon. He is planning to come see us during our lay-over in Chicago on our way home, and he is already planning to bring us a gallon of milk!

Then, Saturday morning we took a train to Seremban. Tsi Ying invited us to her house, and we gladly took her up on the offer. After we arrived we took about an hour bus ride to a pretty famous place in Malaysia called Melaka. This place was ruled by the Portuguese, Dutch, and British until 1957. We went to a museum, market, and tried some of their famous food. In Malaysia it seems that everywhere you go there is some kind of famous unique dish special to that particular area. Tsi Ying’s parents met us in the evening and took us out for dinner and brought us back to Seremban. It was comforting to be in a house, and her parents were extremely welcoming. Some of the biggest differences between her house and ours are that they don’t have a yard, their kitchen appliances are much smaller, and the shower isn’t separated from the rest of the bathroom. On Saturday night we actually got to watch TV… and American TV at that! We got some quality Friends watching in on Saturday night, and then went to breakfast on Sunday at a nearby shop. I believe that we got to experience a traditional Chinese breakfast which included a half baked egg, noodles, fish balls, and some kind of rice wrapped up in a leaf. Meghan enjoyed it, Shannon appreciated seeing it. Tsi Ying then showed us around her town, and we went to a mall for awhile. Then, we went out for dinner and has some familiar Chinese… Sweet and Sour Pork! We were begging to think that American’s just made up dishes and claimed them to be Chinese. After dinner her father brought us back to campus. It was fun to get a little taste of the home aspect of life here!

Now, we are getting ready for our last week of classes! We are excited to be done studying and start traveling, but kind of sad to leave INTI. We have had a really good experience here, and have met some great friends that we are going to miss.