Sunday, February 5 - Eating fish...Chinese style

Everything is backward here - even the escalators! You wouldn't believe how many times I've almost tried to go up the wrong side. The blue sign to the left reads, "Please stand on the Left to allow others to pass." See? They even pass on the wrong side!!
see all photos »

Okay...how 'bout a few highlights from the week before I get into it, eh?

I finally got to talk to my twin sister last Wednesday...for the first time since I arrived. She had been touring in Israel and Egypt with her husband and a few dozen students from a college he attended. It was so strange being in a brand new place and not being able to share any of it with her! I'm thankful for the journal she gave me at Christmas, as it has allowed me to keep track of the many things I've seen and done here in KL.

In case you want to be prepared for the toilets here...this is what you can expect. Some of the Americans like to call this a "squatty potty." You actually can find Western-style toilets, but they're fewer and farther between, plus they're more often occupied than the alternative. Don't ask me what they do with the hose. Sometimes I think they don't know either, considering how wet the floor is at times!
see all photos »

Thursday night I went to my student's house for dinner, and the family and I played Phase 10 afterward. I don't know if you've played this game before, but it's really tough! The first time I ever played it, I was on a church retreat with my Sunday school class back in Ohio. (a great bunch of people, truly...) There are ten phases to beat, with each phase requiring you to acquire a different - and increasingly difficult - hand of cards (2 sets of three of the same number, 3 sets of three of the same number, 2 sets of three and 1 set of four, etc.). I think it was 9:30 when we quit, and most of us hadn't made it through five phases yet! But it is a lot of fun, and I would highly recommend it.

Yep...McDonalds actually delivers here. So when you're feeling really apathetic about your health, you can just have them deliver their delicious and nutritious meals right to your front door. Yeachh...
see all photos »

Friday at school I sat in on the beginners' Bahasa class again, and I actually got to use some of the words later in the day! For whatever reason, this language is really "sticky" - the words play through my mind throughout the day, and I see and hear and remember the words I've learned. It's very exciting! I'm hopeful about learning more of the language as I spend more time here. In the afternoon I went swimming with some of the students, and I got my first sunburn... I guess I didn't think I would get burned since we were swimming later in the afternoon, but then we are closer to the equator here...

Today I went to church, which is on Jalan Wesley ("Wesley Street"). I think about my sweet (and crazy) cat, Wesley, every time I see the sign... For those of you who don't know, my cat is named after the hero in the movie "The Princess Bride." The hero's real name in the movie is Wesley, but for part of the movie he goes by "the dread pirate Roberts." So, my cat's real name is The Dread Pirate Roberts (mostly on account of his cute eye mask and goatee), but for short, I just call him Wesley. :)

Okay, so...the big evening... Tonight I went to a Chinese seafood restaurant and had fried tilapia. Now, when those of you in the States order fried fish, you get a nice, neat piece of fileted fish. But here they give you the whole thing - head, fins, tail, bones...all of it (kind of like the duck in "A Christmas Story"). And I was challenged to eat a little more than I've been accustomed to doing. But hey, I'm brave, so I decided to try it. First I tried the fins and tail. Since they were fried, they were crispy like potato chips and not too bad, actually. Then I tried...an eyeball! I was really hesitant, because it looked so gross, but I finally gave in and ate one...but only after dissecting it first! Inside the eye was a hard, white sphere, which I promptly smashed and then ate...kind of pasty, but not bad. I'm not saying I'd like to make a habit of it, but it wasn't the traumatic experience you might expect...at least, it wasn't for me, anyway!