My AFS Yearbook article

Wow, 2 months and I’ll be home, a scary but exciting thought. I have very mixed emotions when I think about my stay here. It was an interesting year, filled with some very different experiences and some amazing people I hope not to forget for the years to come.

Well, being an ambassador of Australia was easy, a country I am a bit too proud of. I was always willing to talk about Australia this year, even Tasmania a place I used to think was a hole, sounds great when I talk about it. I also know where all the good Australian food can be found in Malaysia.

I didn’t believe I had culture shock, probably because I didn’t know how to recognize it. But I did have culture shock. Everything from the amount of rubbish in Malaysia, how devoted people are to their religions, how fascinated some Asians are by white people, how evil Malaysians think drugs are, the paranoia Malaysians have regarding safety, the respect adults receive from adolescents, the unusual exam-orientated school system, how Malaysian government spends it’s money and some parts of Islam.

For such a tiny country Malaysia has quite a lot to offer. A huge array of food, some beautiful islands, great shopping and culture, lot of it!

Malaysia has made an impact on my life, in what I have learnt, the friends I have made and the experiences I had. The people I met through AFS are some damn cool people; I really hope to see them again. Staying in Malaysia has been an eye-opener; it made me see how different life is for people around the world. I have begun to think more about the future, what I want to do and what things I value in life. I think in the way the world is heading it’s important for Westerners to visit Islamic countries to understand it better. My difficult parts of my exchange would be my 3-4 months of homesickness/depression, when I wanted to go home more than anything and now, because it’s never going to be the same again. Redang Island would top the list for most memorable place I saw. Chinese New Year, the crazy times with the NH05/06 batch and my birthday are times I hope not to forget. My extended thanks go to AFS, my host family, my STE families and host family in Banting.

Hugs go to the NH05/06, SH06, NH06/07 batches, returnees-Farah, Jacqueline, Lip Hung, Arthur and Kar mun. To Minea, Liam, Bilal, Ann-Marie and Paarma, I don’t know where I’d be without you guys. Many thanks to my scholarship sponsor, SDA Tasmania, my wonderful parents and friends in Australia.

To whoever reads this..

Time sure does fly when you're having fun..or not.. But anyway, Time has been flying by, and I've only got around 3 months till I'm back down under. I'm already starting to prepare for it and I'm quite amazed by how a year in another country can make you feel. One minute you are jumping up and down with joy and the next you are crying your eyes out. Sometimes there is this feeling of being scared about going home, especially now in the last few months and then this feeling of not being completly comfortable where I am. I think it will be a relief to go home and do everything normal again. But then it will be weird that no-one will know the people I met this y

ear or the places I saw. I would love to say this year was a breeze and the best year of my life, but I don't know if it was, it defintely wasn't easy. The last few months have gone very fast, I can't believe it's now September. I'm now on Short Term Exchange in Sarawak(East Malaysia), after a 1 and half hour painful flight due to having a cold. So, I'm here in Kuching(which translates as 'cat') for 2 weeks, no school :D. Just got my flight details to back to Melbourne in December, it's 2 days earlier than I expected so, I'm actually disapointed about that. Just recently I came back from two trips, one the AFS optional trip to Taman Negera(the national park in Penisular Malaysia) and the other to Redang Island. Taman Negera was quite different to the national parks in Tassie, especially since everytime we come and go from the park, we have to take a boat. Redang Island was the most perfect place I've been to in Malaysia. The sand is so white, the water so so blue and the food was damn good. I really want to go back, it's sucks it closes from October to March because of Monsoon season. Well, since I lasted posted I guess a lot has happened, bad and good. In this order: The new batch arrived, Kuantan has 4 Germans and a Greenlandic girl. We got one of the new exchange students at my school from Germany, he is very popular and very enthusiatic just like I was at the start. My school friends threw me a suprise birthday party. I turned 17. I celebrated my birthday in Kuala Lumpur with the other exchange students and some Malaysians from AFS the day after my real birthday. Ann-Marie(the community service AFSer from Germany) went home. I went to the AFS Gala dinner in KL with my host brother. I had Subway(the sandwich) for the first time in Malaysia, kinda disapointing. The Falls Festival line-up was announced :D. I was banned from travelling alone by AFS. I went on a school camp, very muddy. We had a week's school holiday. One of the AFS chapter leaders pretty much told me I was a failure of an exchange student. Malaysia celebrated it's 49th Independance day. My host brother left for College in KL. I went to Redang Island for 3 days. I went to Taman Negera for 3 days. I went to school for a few days, then had one night in KL before I flew to Sarawak, where I am now.

The photos are: All the new exchange students in Kuantan, Yoko from Japan, some Malaysians and I on a beach near Kuantan. Kar mun(returnee from Tassie), Arthur(returnee from California), me and my host brother(also a returnee from USA) at the AFS Gala dinner in KL. Arthur and I in KL for my birthday. Me, Ann-Marie and Robert in KL for my birthday.

Confessions and Profound Thoughts

With about 9 weeks to go I'm already starting to reflect on the past 8-9 months and I felt like writing my thoughts down. This year has been a series of ups and downs, a bit like a rollercoaster some would say. I'm now at the point of feeling quite scared of leaving what I know here, to going back to a place which probably hasn't changed much but maybe the people will seem different to me and I will seem different to them. I'm not just talking about the physical differences either, of present me who has rather curly, feral hair from the humidity and an extra several kgs that I can't hide from anymore. I can blame Malaysia for these changes but there are some positive changes in my life values and priorities too. I guess I will know more of these changes when I return, especially how terrible my English has become. I can see now that every exchange is different and everyone has their own problems to deal with. AFS here really pushes having goals, achieving them, host family relationship and the language. Maybe I came here with some unrealistic goals or I just changed them later on, I think I may go back with some regrets but I will try not to. Some of the things that seemed important at the start don't seem so important anymore. I remember earlier in the year when I felt so depressed, so alone and so patriotic about Australia. I can't remember exactually when my low times were but I know they were sometime after my oldest host brother left, when I had very little to do and too much communication with Australia. I was also quite depressed after the old batch(July-June) exchange students left and I had this feeling that I had been depressed all year. But I can now think of some great things I've done and seen, that make everything seem worthwhile. And I know now more than ever that those things AFS push so much are not the things I will remember. If I die tomorrow I'm not going to be thinking 'I wish I had studied Malay in my free time and stayed home more so I could spend an extra 5 minutes with my host family who work 6 days a week'. I know I will be thinking 'I'm glad I spent as much time as I could with those wonderful people from Germany, Denmark, Australia, Finland, Belgium, Spain, Greenland and Malaysia'. These people have really made an impact on my life and I don't want to think about that I probably would have gone home if it wasn't for them. The Malaysians have been so friendly and I've spent so many hours with them at school but I will always feel closer and more like myself around the other exchange students. I have a feeling that I will feel more alone that ever when I go back and no one will know the other exchange students.
As much as some of those crazy times with the other exchange students annoyed AFS, I would never change what we did. If it was taking 2 weeks off school during exams, going to Singapore with no Malaysia exit stamp even if it was just for 4 hours, lying on the beach in the middle of the night on a tropical island, sitting outside the 2nd tallest building in the world at 3am, eating icecream while drinking cocktails and smoking shisha. It was all worth it and I will always look back at those days and smile.
Even if I do come back to Malaysia, things will never be the same and I guess that is what scares me the most. This year has really made me think about the future and priorities in life. It is so important to see the world, I will miss out on so much if I don't. I have learnt so much about myself, my culture, other cultures and religions. There is something special about having the opportunity to live in a muslim country while still being myself. There is something great about living in a place with a mosque, a church, a chinese restaurant, a nightclub and a 24 hour Malay food stall all in one city. There is so much hidden from host families, natural families and AFS, the thoughts, ideas, the depression, the crazy nights out and how we really feel. Maybe this is why a long-term exchange student can always connect in some way to another, no matter the location.
I do know how important safety and insurance is with AFS and in today's world it seems like everything is taking some sort of risk. The host family is a huge part of the exchange and if you're lucky enough to get one that you really conect with, everything will be so much easier.
Even with the different ways of life, cultures and lanugages I found ways to connect to Malaysians here. Maybe it was sport, music, books, hollywood movies, food or the world, I feel I had some interesting conversations with people of all ages. I think this year really taught me to appreciate what I have, Australia, supportive loving friends and irreplacable parents. I have really learnt about family values and the role of money and the father in Asian families. I now see the beauty of Tasmania after seeing the way buildings and the environment in Malaysia are not respected. But after getting up so early for school here, I really must say the sunrise can be very beautiful...

My 2nd SDA Report

Some of this is bullshit at the moment, but that was how I felt at the time of writing it:

If you asked me now if I want to go home, I would say no. Now I can honestly say ‘Malaysia Boleh!’(which roughly translates as Malaysia Rocks!) I want to be here in this beautiful, cultural and patriotic country. At the moment Malaysians are world cup crazy, my school friends are freaking out over exams, the July-June exchange students have just gone home and I’m trying to see Malaysia in a positive attitude without any of the politics, racism, poverty or pollution. I look up at the nearly always sunny sky and feel like time is running out. I have had some really hard times, some great times and some totally priceless times. It’s hard to put my experiences into words but I will try.

I have just returned from mid-year camp, which was on an island called Langkawi, a lot like one of those tropical paradises, you see on TV until it starts to rain. At camp I caught up with all the other exchange students and we discussed our goals etc for the rest of the year. It was a great chance to see what we could do better. The mid-year camp woke me up to the fact that I can try harder.

I have now done plenty of sightseeing and experiencing the culture but now I need to do some studying of the language. My Malay is still quite basic, I understand a lot I read and hear but I rarely speak. This has happened because everyone speaks English to me due to my skin colour. I also lost my enthusiasm to learn Malay because it was easier to speak English and I was always utterly exhausted.

I’ve seen many places in Malaysia and experienced some very different cultural things, I will give you a quick run down of most of it.

During April, I went with some school friends to Kuala Lumpur. We went to Sunway lagoon which is a lot like Wet ‘n’ Wild in Queensland. At Sunway lagoon you nearly forget it’s a Muslim country because of the amount of ‘Western-like’ behavior. Also in April, I had the experience of being called ‘White person’ in front of my whole school by a fireman. It was a bit insulting at the time but it was also very funny when he asked if I was married.

In May, I went to several places. I visited Singapore which is a fairly flawless country with it’s racial harmony, cleanliness and efficient public transport system. I also visited Penang, an island especially popular with tourists. It was very different and not so fun to see the island as a tourist not as an exchange student. An exchange student would see and experience everything while a tourist would see only what the tour guide shows them and they would be ripped off. I visited Cameron Highlands, a place famous for its fresh produce. It has a cooler climate because it is on higher ground; it is special because it is the only place in Malaysia that grows strawberries.

I saw the July-June exchange students several times in May. They have taught us new students a lot and been great friends.

In June, I attended a Malay primary school with Huw, the other Australian for English Week. We were treated a lot like celebrities and were respected like teachers, I have never signed so many autographs. While at the primary school I stayed with a Malay family, I learnt a lot about culture and religion there.

Throughout the year I have become very patriotic about Australia, it always makes me smile when I see Australian products. During the World Cup I was very proud of Australia, it was very nice to hear our national anthem.

I am thankful I have seen this country as an exchange student not as a tourist. I now realize this scholarship has provided me with a great opportunity, that not many people have, so I am very thankful to the SDA.

I'm half way there...

Ok...Interesting stuff that has happened since my last post.... I attended primary school for a week, i said goodbye to some of coolest people I've met, I went to Langkawi Island for Mid-year camp, some of my exchange student friends in Australia went back home to Europe, I finished my report for the SDA, I went to see a private Chinese high school, my host brother came back from USA, I moved down a grade to Form 4 and our maid went back to Indonesia.
Left: Stop in Malay with the typical 'lah'. Right: Langkawi Island, just out our door.
Primary school...was quite interesting. Huw and I(we were invited to the school because we are 'native english speakers') helped them a little with their english.
The school was Malay, but there were some Indians, next door was a Tamil primary school and a Chinese primary school too. We taught them some songs and we also attended some classes to learn some stuff. We signed hundreds of autographs..literally and were treated with great respect. It was a nice change from normal high school and a great chance to experience life in a Malay family. I learnt lots about life priorities, religion, culture and family values.The weekend after going to primary school, we(me and some other exchange students from the new batch) took a long bus trip out to KLIA(Kuala Lumpur International Airport) so we could say goodbye to some amazing people who taught us a lot(the July-June batch of exchange students). Left: My national pride found in Singapore, Right: KLCC at night. They were an important part of my exchange, having Bilal from Denmark(from the july-june batch) at my school is probably one of the reasons I am still here and haven't jumped on a plane back to Australia. Next week We will be the old batch and have to teach the new students, no matter what AFS says about the old batch being a bad influence on the new one. Mid Year Camp was ok, it kinda gives you a jump to try harder but then you just fall back down and you want to sleep for a few days or months. It was at a very nice island, with beer the same price as water and duty-free chocolate. I saw some exchange students I hadn't seen since January and realized everyone has it hard sometimes. We all talked about getting past the boredem of school and our hopes and plans for the rest of year...blah blah blah. Right: The AFS Malaysia mail box..pretty spiffy huh.Well...I finished my second report for the SDA, i will post it soon here. Last weekend my host brother came back from 6 months exchange in Maryland, USA and I was in Segamat, Johor visiting the 2nd biggest private Chinese High school in Malaysia. It was fairly interesting, I don't know if it's racist or logical seperating the races at school, I guess it depends what language you want your education in.
Left: Me and Minea(Finland) at Penang.
So, I've moved down a grade not out of choice but because Form 5 has that life-death exam soon and I'm a 'disturbance'. Form 4 is more in English which is nice, but I didn't really want to leave Form 5. Today our maid went back to Indonesia after working her butt off for 2 years in this house. Oh yeah and my host brother now knows about the crazy security at airports in USA, the great thing about being able to eat dairy products in Western countries, how to cook and why Americans are so fat. And I can now count to 4 in Cantonese after doing Chinese dancing with the Japanese exchange student.

It's been too long...

I'm sorry to all those people who actually do read my blog, I have been terribly lazy and haven't updated for so long. I'm now back at school after taking a 2 week holiday travelling during the school exams. But next week it is school holidays. The only way i will be able to recall what i have doing for the last 2 months is to read my diary, which is good to keep updated otherwise i will forget. So....it is about early April that i should start at. Most of the photos I posted last time were from a trip to KL(Kulala Lumpur) with some friends. On that weekend we went to Times Square(a damn big shopping mall and hotel) for a 'prom'. It had some great food and some generally typical teenage entertainment...pop music etc. It was actually the concert of a USA( or Canada..not sure) band called Click 5, which I have never heard of...thankfully. The next day we went to Sunway Lagoon, which is very much like Wet 'n' Wild in QLD. We spend a long day there, going on lots of water rides and rollercoasters etc. I ran into some of Kar mun's friends from College, who were very disapointed Kar mun didn't come to see all the girls in bikinis. After deciding we were too hungry and tired to stay for the music concert that night, we went over to Sunway Pyramid(yes, a mall that looks like it comes from Egypt) and ate at a few different places..gotta experience it all :) The next day had a bad start, since we had set 3 alarms but slept throught them all. We finally woke up at 8:45am and had to walk for about 1km for a taxi then try and catch the 10am bus back to Kuantan..was very rushed but we made it, thankfully taxi driver's here aren't afraid to speed. Later that day I went to a International Understanding event for one of the school's in Kuantan, exchange students are regular guests at these things but we don't actually say or do anything. The next day at school was my friend's birthday so i suprised her with a cake, birthday's here aren't such a big deal like what we do at Ogilvie and in Australia. Also that week, I spoke at my school and another school about AFS. I also spoke about my culture and Australia at a girls' school's English Society. The day I spoke at my school about AFS there was also a fire safety presentation. I had the privilege of being called 'White Person' in front of my whole school by a fireman. That weekend I went to Megamall(again..) with some school friends but ended up meeting up with the 2 German Community service program exchange girls and Liam from Australia..proves that Kuantan is like Hobart, can go anywhere and see someone you know. At Megamall it was very exciting to find Pizza and Barbeque shapes, always makes me smile to see Australian food, which i will talk about more later. The next day I went to the Hash House Harriers family day and did this thing where you walk on rocks and if it doesn't hurt it means you're healthy...but it hurt like hell. May 1st(Labour Day) I went to another one of the International Understanding thingys and out for breakfast, which is a very common thing to do in Malaysia, actually it is common to eat out anytime day or night. That Friday I went to a Chinese Funeral(funny that I have now been to a funeral but not a wedding), I think it was the first time I have seen a dead body... On Saturday I played softball at a school called 'SMART' , too bad Nikki or Amelia couldn't have been there to show off their skills and drown in sweat out in the hot sun(at only 9am!). That afternoon I went with Bilal(from Denmark) to Kuala Lumpur. We met up with Yves and Robin from Belgium and went to Lecka Lecka(one of the coolest hang-outs in Malaysia). I think Lecka Lecka is kinda designed for rich people, it's at the base of the most expensive shopping malls in Malaysia and has one of the best views of KLCC(except some idiot is building apartments to ruin the view). Lecka Lecka is really just an ice cream place, but with a great atmosphere. Realizing it was about to rain, we left Lecka Lecka and went to Starhill(the expensive mall), so obviously if it sells Louis Vuitton it had nice toilets, which it does...you don't even have to turn the tap on yourself(someone else does it for you...). After leaving Starhill it was pouring with rain(I mean pouring!! you don't get this sort of rain in Tasmania, it's like tropical storm rain). So we had to run to where we were staying, arriving like drowned rats. Then we went out again and saw the amazing night life of KL...let's just say some nightclubs close playing the Naitional Anthem. The next day Bilal and I went back to Kuantan, after a stop at Times Square for Breakfast and Lot 10 Shopping Mall which supposely has good bread(very hard to find nice bread here). The following days I unpacked, slept and packed again for the trip to Segamat and Singapore. Segamat is the type of place, where you know you are the only white person there. Teenagers there usually just eat, sleep, go to school and go to internet cafes. It's a small town, by the way. So the few days in Segamat before I went to Singapore were spent eating out with Minea(from Finland) and Liam(from Australia) and going to the internet cafe(I got quite bored and ended up looking at cocktails on absolutedrinks.com...very pretty). From Segamat it is about 2 hours to Johor Bahru and then 5 or so minutes to Singapore. So Edwin(Liam's friend) drove us to Johor Bahru, Minea went shopping(because she didn't have her passport) and Liam and I went to Singapore. The trip over the border to Singapore was quite slow, because first time we got to Singapore we had forgotten to get our Malaysia exit stamp, so we went back to Malaysia, got the stamp, then contiuned in Singapore. Singapore is like another world comparded to Malaysia. There are little or no traffic jams, the public transport system is flawless, the taxi drivers aren't scary, the streets are clean, most things are written in 4 languages, the food is clean, the school uniform is nice and there are lots of nice cars to be seen(because no car can be older than 5 years). The only crappy thing is that it's expensive like Australia...I blame Liam for spending $S36 on 2 Singapore Slings. In Singapore we visited Chinatown, Clarke Quay and Boat Quay. Getting back into Malaysia was a very slow process, since many Malaysians work in Singapore. The next day, we went to a quite famous coffeeshop and ate some very nice bread with Kaya(the coconut spread). Then I went back to Kuantan. The next day I was supposed to fit in Softball, teaching kids english and go to KL. I skipped Softball and went with the 3 community service girls(from Germany and Belgium) to teach little kids English songs and play games. After that I caught the bus to KL, I met up with Minea and Robert(from Germany, who I hadn't seen since Orientation camp). We went to Willem's house(from Belgium) and met up with Pau(from Spain), Yves and Robin. We all went out to Starhill, realized it was too expensive and went to another place to drink and for some to smoke shisha. Later we met up with some of the German girls in a club, but decided it wasn't worth it since it was only free for ladies and guys had to pay about rm35 to get in. So, we went and ate Roti Pisang(sort of like a pancake, but oily and much thinner with banana cooked inside) and Roti Teluar(same as the other but with egg instead of banana). The next day Minea and me went to Times Square with Willem and Robert. But they left to go to a heavy rock music concert, so Minea and I wandered Times Square for a while then went to KLCC. I found my heaven in the a supermarket in KLCC where they sell The Natural Confectionary Company Lollies and about a hundred other Australian things, like Hommus and Avocado dip!! I also found havaianas, you know..the most comfy thongs(flip-flops) in the world but they are super overpriced starting at rm100, hopefully my pair will hold out until December. After being overjoyed by finding so many Australian things, I made Minea walk with me down a very long street so I could find a store which sold Bonds underwear..I also made Liam do the same thing in Singapore. But still I haven't bought any. So, after Minea told me her feet were too sore to look for the Bonds store, we headed back to Willem's house and watched a movie in Hebrew. The next day Me, Minea, Alina(from Germany), Robert, Jannis(Germany) and Bilal made the long trip to the AFS office so some of us could collect our passports. After heading back in the centre of KL, Robert, Minea, Bilal and I had arabic food for dinner(very nice) and headed over to Lecka Lecka again. Later on Robert had the unfortunate experience of that KL trains and monorail finish at midnight, so he had to call his host dad to pick him up. Bilal, Minea and I went back to Bilal's host brother's house. Minea and I took the first train back to the bus station, Minea took the train back to Segamat and I waited for 3 hours for the frist bus back to Kuantan, heading home having only had about 30 minutes sleep the night before. I went home and slept, the next day I unpacked and packed again because I was heading back to KL again the next day. I was quite proud that when I got to KL I made my own way to Times Square to kill some time before meeting an AFS employee whose house i was staying at that night. At Times Square I bought some black high heels since my last pair broke at a school formal. I met the AFS lady and got about 3 hours sleep, since I had to get up at about 3:30am so I could go to KL Central to catch the bus to the airport. When I got to the airport I discovered the best chocolate in the world(my favourite), Lindt Lindor is sold in Malaysia!!! So of course i bought some..Then I caught the plane to Penang Island on AirAsia(which is an Airline that looks like an exact copy of Virgin Blue, since everything is red). I waited at Penang airport for my host mum who was flying Malaysian Airlines, so I looked around at the nice duty free chocolate and alcohol. At Penang I had a tour of Penang, visiting temples, little India etc and a cruise with all the international AFS volunteers and Minea. The next day Minea and I went swimming, since Malaysian weather is usually always perfect for that. Then met up with all the exchange students from the July-June batch. That night was the farwell dinner for the july-june batch and international volunteers night. The dinner was really nice, with a fashion parade by the students of tradational Malaysian clothes, dance performances etc. After the dinner we went swimming in the hotel pool, which actually closes around 8pm, so we were kicked out. Then we headed down to beach, but this was one of the areas that had the tsunami so i stayed back from the water. The other students got a big yelling at from the AFS hosting co-ordinator since there are strict rules on swimming in the ocean. The next day most of us caught the bus back to KL and I flew with my host mum and the international volunteer staying at our house from China to Kuantan from KL. The next day I was forced to go to back to school(it was exams and there is no point in going to school). I enjoyed sleeping for 2 and half hours while my friends suffered through their additional maths exam. After school I met up with Bilal and we talked about the depressing topic of the july-june batch of exchange students leaving soon(he is one of them), for me, the new batch, the old batch have been super cool teachers for us and great friends, pity all of them live so far away in Europe. I can't imagine that we will be the old batch soon and have to look after the new students. That week I did some exams and we said goodbye to the international volunteers. That weekend I had the opportunity to go to KL but all my school friends expected me to go to the student organised school dinner/party. Malaysians need a few lessons in throwing successful parties.. Well, it's now school holidays, and I just returned from a trip to Ipoh, Taiping, Cameron Highlands. I visited the other Australian in Ipoh and we went to Taiping to the zoo, the history muesuem. In Ipoh I went for a search for trousers, you know fat people can't really wear trousers, you just look fatter and they never go past your thighs. Oh well, next time they make a tourist brochure for Malaysia they should say fat people stay away. I would like to say I'm over the fact I'm now fat :'( but I look forward to losing it so much when i go home. I never want to be fat again, it's so inconvient. Cameron Highlands is very special to Malaysians because it's the only place that grows strawberries, it's nice there because it's not too hot and sells nice vegetables. Anyway, now I have to prepare myself for saying goodbye to the old batch and heading off to KL to do 'native english speaker' stuff. So, I will post photos soon..I hope you made it to the end of this post. Love to all xoxoxoxoxoxo

Photos

From the top : Sunway lagoon, Me with Reuben and Ju Vern at Times Square, Choir practice at school, Me with Ju Vern at Times Square after the Click 5 Concert.

SDA Report

I thought some of you may be interested to read my report for the people who are paying for me to be here, the SDA:

From the outside it seems Malaysian culture is food and shopping, but after staying here you will discover so much more. Malaysian culture is about adding ‘lah’ to the end of your sentences. Malaysian culture is about being able to mix a few languages into your everyday speech and modern Malaysian culture is about living with your mobile phone always by your side.

The last week before I left for Malaysia was filled with many goodbyes and regular crying. The shock of leaving my home and country for 11 months didn’t seem to hit me until a few days before leaving.

After arriving in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia we (the Australians) went to the AFS orientation camp where there were exchange students from Japan, Greenland, Germany, Iceland, Norway and Finland. Except for one student from Australia no one could speak any Malay, the official language of Malaysia. Orientation camp was a good chance to learn some basics about Malaysia, the culture, customs and language.

After camp, we met our host families; fitting in with my host family was not hard since they can speak English. In my host family, who are Chinese, I have a father, mother, younger sister and two older brothers. The family also has a live-in maid. Both the sons don’t live at home, the oldest lives in Australia and the other is on exchange for 6 months in the U.S.A.

Malaysia is very much a multi-lingual country. At my school, mostly Malay is spoken but also English, Arab and Chinese are learnt. Most of my friends speak Mandarin, Cantonese, English and Malay. At home my family speak Cantonese.

School is very important in Malaysia. There are two major exams in high school. School usually starts at 7:30am with assembly and finishes at 2:15pm except on Fridays which finish at 12pm. Currently for form 4(grade 10) and below Maths and Science are taught in English, while form 5, the grade I was placed in. all classes except English and EST (English in Science and Technology) are taught in Malay. There is an arts stream and science stream, the exam in form 3 decides which you go into. Teachers at school are highly respected and students rarely argued with them.

There are two school uniforms for girls, one a white shirt and blue pinafore and the other a traditional Muslim long-sleeve full-length dress-like piece of clothing. The Malay girls must also wear the Muslim headscarf. The boys wear a white shirt, blue tie and dark green trousers. There is also another uniform for the prefects. There are many rules at school, most of which are followed by all students. Regularly teachers don’t attend to class, so the students work on their large amounts of homework which is set everyday. When I first started school I was quite a novelty, I was the only white person and probably one of the very few in my city, Kuantan.

At school I have participated in the prefect/class monitor camp where the students learnt about leadership. I have also participated in the cross-country (and won), sport day and even the English exams for form 4 and 5. There is quite a separation between the races at my school, since the Chinese prefer to speak Chinese, the Malay speak Malay and the Indians usually speak English. Therefore, at school the Malays learn Islam and Arab while the Chinese and Indians learn Moral. The Chinese can also learn Chinese.

Since Malaysia is multi-cultural, there are many festivals and public holidays. The first one I experienced was Chinese New Year. It is a lot like Christmas, lots of food, shopping and decorations. The adults also give the children ‘ang pow’, a red envelope with money inside.

Malaysia is famous for it’s food and shopping. There is a huge variety of food which is cheap, yummy and available anywhere, anytime. Most Malay and Indian food is spicy, which is hard to get used to at first. Since Malaysia is a Muslim country, pork cannot be found at fast food outlets.

Shopping is Malaysia could nearly be considered a sport. In Kuala Lumpur there is an endless supply of shopping malls, one of which is Times Square, a 12 storey mall with an indoor theme park.

Malaysia is a highly religious country whether you are Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu or Christian. Most people are expected to have some religion, even if they do not practice it.

The economy in Malaysia is growing; they export things such as cooking oil, tropical fruits, rubber (latex) and petroleum.

Homesickness is a normal part of exchange that seemed to hit me straight away and after about 2 months. The cultural differences can sometimes be too much. Australian culture is relaxed and open-minded. The culture here is strict and very closed. However, I now look forward to seeing more of Malaysia and experiencing more of the culture here.

Few Photos..

My Friend's birthday

Above: Me and my friend, Qiao Yuat
Left Below: Me and some other exchange students. Right below: The boys playing basketball