Saturday, January 21 - The Banana Leaf

This is typical banana-leaf fare: rice, cucumbers, curried vegetables... Very tasty. Very messy. :)
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Today I had many new experiences! I began my day walking with one of the moms here. She took me to a park that, I think, was designed specifically for walkers. There is one long pathway that goes around the entire park, and there is a lovely pond in the center. We walked around the park a couple times, which was nice but hot; even at 9am, it's already 80 degrees!

As we walked, we saw about half a dozen little monkeys in the brush next to the path - I was wishing I had my camera! They were so cute... She told me, however, that they can be quite aggressive, and she actually had a stand-off with one once on that pathway! There were several other people nearby, but no one knew what to do. Finally a man came charging through waving a water bottle or something and saved the day. Can you imagine that happening in the States! Ha!! Yeah, right... :-)

Saw this guy after dinner today outside a pet shop. Yes, folks, it really is a raccoon. Isn't he just so cute playing with that chew toy? Hey, it could be your shoe instead...
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For lunch I went to one of the many Banana Leaf restaurants here in KL. It's an Indian restaurant where they serve you your food on a banana leaf. I had bryani rice, which is seasoned white rice with bits of vegetables in it, and four different vegetarian sides that come standard in the meal - curried potatoes, green beans, spinach, and cucumber slices.

Then we ate with our hands! Apparently that's really normal for Indian restaurants; I just hadn't done it yet! It's really difficult to get the hang of because the rice doesn't stick together (at least not briyani rice), and it keeps falling back onto the banana leaf. Talk about messy! I had rice all over my hand - even on the back of my fingers! Thankfully they had a wash basin, though, so people are able to eat with clean hands and leave with clean hands.

This is the LRT ("light rail transit") I take to get to my church. It's not really all that fast, but it's a lot easier than dealing with traffic!
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Tonight I went to a youth meeting, called Oasis, at the church I attend. I saw a few people I recognized from Sunday mornings and met a few new people as well. I wonder if I'll remember their names when (if?) I see them again! Many of the people I've met at church attend kind of randomly, so even if I do remember their names the next day, I might forget after not seeing them for two or three weeks!

So, anyway, we played some games together and sang worship songs for probably 45 minutes, which was interesting, since many of the songs were new to me (most of them were more youth-oriented). It seems like a lot of worship music - and lots of other stuff - gets imported here from Australia. (Hillsong worship music is really popular here.) A woman gave a message after the worship time was over, which I also really enjoyed. I think I will go again if I get the chance.