Three In Malaysia: One Week Down, 155 to Go!

The kids on a walk in front of our serviced apartment

Thoughts From Our First Week

We have survived our first week in Malaysia! It sure did fly by. Despite the challenges of adjusting to a foreign culture I am enjoying our time here. (Don't worry, I haven't really started the count-down yet.)

The weeks leading up to our move left us completely exhausted. Moving is hard! We had been sleeping little and working until the wee hours of the morning. Getting on the plane was almost a relief. I was sad, but looking forward to the flight. It was the first time in a long time that we were able to just sit.

Once we arrived in Malaysia, we quickly had to figure out how to live life here. One of Case's bosses picked us up at the airport, gave Case his car, drove us to our apartment, gave him a cash advance and left us with a map. Then he left .. but not before Case convinced him to buy us a GPS. Although we are temporarily living in a serviced apartment, we don't have anyone making meals for us. That meant going to the mall for groceries and it meant learning how to navigate the city. We can see the mall from our window, but the roads are crazy .. so getting there is quite complicated. After one week, we can finally get to the mall without any wrong turns .. a small victory for us.

The Grocery Stores in KL are a bit similar

A few days ago I drove the car for the first time. I've watched the roads from our hotel and I noticed that there isn't a lot of traffic around 10AM, so that's when I felt comfortable driving to the mall. Wow, there is nothing like driving in a foreign country. I like rules, but many of the rules we take for granted, don't seem to apply here. For example, merging into traffic is a nightmare. I could be nice and wait for my turn to merge onto the highway, but if I did that, I would never make it. You have to force your way in .. no one ever lets you in. And when someone cuts you off, they're not doing it to be unkind, it's just how it's done here. Every single person is happy .. even as they cut you off.

On Saturday, Case wanted some practice driving to his office. That sure was an experience! (The distance was a lot further than the 0.7 kilometers to the mall). We first had to figure out how to enter Malaysian Street addresses into the GPS. (Streets have weird names like W-10-2 Jalan SS12/1J.) Once we figured that out, we simply had to listen to the voice on the GPS. Yet, I don't know how many times she told us to drive, then make a U-turn, then drive and make another U-turn. Once we had to make a U-turn from a side road, right onto a highway. What a nightmare. Eventually we did make it. Case drove there again today without any major problems.

Kuala Lumpur Map - KL Is NOT on a grid system like Fort Collins

Yesterday we tried to navigate our way to church. We wandered the streets for a little while (it's not clear, for example where SS12/1C is even if you know where SS12/1A and SS12/1B are). We were a bit late, but that was ok. I'm so thankful that we made it. We had some other trials there (I had a hula hoop thrown at me while I was nursing Ezra in the nursing Moms room) but we met so many wonderful people. I think that Case would agree that we have found our church home. I'll share more about this later .. but, the world really is quite small.

A few highlights from our first week:

The tropics - I sure am enjoying the warm weather.

The food

The view of the city from our room.

I found Mac&Cheese at a store yesterday - only $3USD per box - I wasn't able to justify the purchase, however.

A few of the challenges:

Feeding the kids

Grocery shopping

the food - although it's good, I miss Mexican.

Driving

I'm tired of going to the mall!

Coca-Cola Light is NOT Diet Coke!

Next week we will probably be moving into our permanent place. We are trying to get our lease finalized. It will be nice to really settle in somewhere. We will get our address to everyone as soon as we know it for sure.