In Kuala Lumpur

We're here! We arrived at the airport in KL yesterday afternoon after a long but surprisingly easy 22 hours of travel. It was kind of fun-- on our flight from Taipei to Malaysia, we met up with a Malaysian guy around our age who was flying back to Malaysia from San Francisco where he'd lived for six years. He gave us his number and invited us to hang out with him anytime we were in KL. Our first Malaysian friend! We also met Ellie, our first fellow ETA (Fulbright English Teaching Assistant). Ellie is wonderful, and the three of us bonded instantly. A very encouraging sign.

When we got to KL, we were very grateful it was the three of us together, instead of just Ez and I or just Ellie alone; we were all supposed to be picked up by a mysterious MACEE (Malaysian American Commission on Educational Exchange) representative upon arrival, but after an hour or so of looking around the airport lobby and being accosted by "teksi" drivers, the representative was nowhere to be found. So, after calling every emergency number we had AND our hotel without success, we took matters into our own hands. We found a "teksi" driver for 180RM ($54) to drive us in the monsoon to our hotel. I'm pretty sure we were ripped off, but it was okay, especially since he was an incredibly wonderful guy and a great driver. By the way, everyone in KL speaks perfect English--British English--so it is very entertaining and easy to communicate. I am very grateful, since we're still at the point in our Malay where we say thank you, "terima kasih," and the locals smile at us, as if to say, "awww, how adorable of you." Maybe that will change?

So, the torrential rains died down as we arrived at our hotel in the Bukit Bintang district which, from what I can tell, is the night club/fancy shopping district. After getting settled at the hotel, Ellie, Ezra and I ventured into the city. We saw lots of recognizable brand names: Starbucks, Subway, Chanel, etc. The funny thing was that when we decided to get some dinner, all we could find were Mexican, Spanish, Italian and French restaurants, and none of us felt good about eating that type of food for our first meal in the country. We finally found a cute cafe with typical Malaysian food, and sat down to eat. Ezra got curry noodle soup and Ellie had regular noodle soup...delicious! I had fried noodles, which I'm sure would have been delicious, except that as soon as they served our food, jet lag hit. 

Now, having never really had jet lag before, I thought it just meant you were really tired, and maybe fell asleep at 5pm and woke up completely rested at 3am. Apparently, it also means feeling dizzy, nauseous, weak, disoriented, and all around TERRIBLE for five hours. This is what happened to me at about 6pm. Ezra took care of me and made sure I drank a lot of water. I finally fell asleep at about 11, and I feel totally fine now. SUCH a relief. I suppose I'm still jet-lagged, as it is 6am right now and I'm wide awake. But at least I feel good!

A few funny notes:

1. Meena, our program coordinator from MACEE, called us around 9pm and apologized about the airport issue. She said that the same thing happened to ETAs who arrived before us. Strangely enough, the driver had been there both times, but was unable to find us/we were unable to find him. ? Who knows. Also, we haven't met any other ETAs besides Ellie, so I wonder where they are?

2. In the evening when I wasn't feeling well, I put on comfy shorts and a shirt and got into bed, not expecting to see anyone else until the next day. Then, a knock came at the door. Ez was in the shower so I had to get it. I stumbled to the door in my PJs and answered it. It was a hotel worker with a giant Tiramisu. 

"Ms. jebrock?"

"Yes?" I grumbled.

'This is for you, from the hotel. May I come in?"

"Um, Okay..."

He walked in and put it on the table, said "congratulations," and walked out. I closed the door behind him, and went back to the Tiramisu. Written on the plate, in chocolate, was "Happy Honeymoon."

Oh dear. We're not sure why they assumed we were on our honeymoon, but hey, we got a Tiramisu out of it!

Until next time......Selamat Tinggal!!!!