As many of you are beginning to prepare for the big day with warm ovens, freshly baked pies, afternoon movies, and cards (atleast in my family!), I am about to head to bed, finished with Thanksgiving, part one.
Now I realize sometimes it requires a second thought, but no, Malaysia does not celebrate Thanksgiving. I did however, manage to have a wonderful day.
This morning (since it was NOT a public holiday) I taught for three hours. After that, I proceeded to my normal lunch with my students, which I appreciate more and more every day. Particularly when the menu does not include chicken feet. :) But that's another story!
After lunch, we had made plans to go rambutan picking, which is a local fruit that is in abundance this time of year. After being advised to put on my least nice shirt and bring a cap, five students and I piled into two cars to begin our journey. I can't quite say where we went to pick the rambutans, but it was definitely outside of the city somewhere, I'm going to say a kampung. Anyway, we trekked in a ways, stopping for snacks of manggis and langsat on the way. Finally we reached our destination-- which was basically a farm in the middle of the jungle. But there were so many rambutan trees! Think tropical apple orchard. To be honest, I mostly just enjoyed eating my fill while I watched others climb the trees like monkeys and gather large quantities of rambutan with a bamboo stick. We also managed to find lots of durian (called the king of fruits for good reason, but more because it dominates than it is delicious, sedap). Either way, the afternoon was filled with laugher and lots of fruit to eat.
Now I realize sometimes it requires a second thought, but no, Malaysia does not celebrate Thanksgiving. I did however, manage to have a wonderful day.
This morning (since it was NOT a public holiday) I taught for three hours. After that, I proceeded to my normal lunch with my students, which I appreciate more and more every day. Particularly when the menu does not include chicken feet. :) But that's another story!
After lunch, we had made plans to go rambutan picking, which is a local fruit that is in abundance this time of year. After being advised to put on my least nice shirt and bring a cap, five students and I piled into two cars to begin our journey. I can't quite say where we went to pick the rambutans, but it was definitely outside of the city somewhere, I'm going to say a kampung. Anyway, we trekked in a ways, stopping for snacks of manggis and langsat on the way. Finally we reached our destination-- which was basically a farm in the middle of the jungle. But there were so many rambutan trees! Think tropical apple orchard. To be honest, I mostly just enjoyed eating my fill while I watched others climb the trees like monkeys and gather large quantities of rambutan with a bamboo stick. We also managed to find lots of durian (called the king of fruits for good reason, but more because it dominates than it is delicious, sedap). Either way, the afternoon was filled with laugher and lots of fruit to eat.
After a much needed shower, I headed to my next commitment for the day. One of my student's had invited Erika and I to his pastor's house for dinner. I think they had no idea how meaningful this was to me to spend this evening in a house and with a family. It was also just great to spend the entire day with my students.
The evening was wonderful as well, with more laughter as we shared in three different languages (English, Malay, Mandarin) with no common language. It's funny because it doesn't even strike me as odd that we can't all communicate. We just bounce back and forth, with everyone in and out of the conversation at some point. I have picked up on a fair amount of Chinese this week (as my students currently only speak Mandarin, Burmese, and English), so I catch the few words I now know (things like no, delicious, come, okay, teacher... you know, the essentials, haha). The meal tonight was great too-- spicy Thai chicken, rice, tofu, pork, vegetables, fresh pineapple and papaya, and sweet bread. Oh, and soda! I don't know about you, but that's what I call a traditional Thanksgiving feast.
Part two of Thanksgiving is to come, as we begin the Western cooking on Saturday. Now that could be quite another story... :)
Photos following, Selamat Malam!
No comments:
Post a Comment