Well after a long journey, we finally made it to KL! We have been here two weeks and it seems like a lot longer to be honest. So far the resounding impression is very positive-the people are wonderful, food is tasty, and our apartment is lovely. My job is great so far, and Sandip is enjoying his MOL (Man of Leisure) lifestyle!
More details and photos below...
Simone completely zonked on the flight over
Our Apartment
We don't have many photos of our apartment, but we live in a very nice apartment complex not too far from the Embassy. It is super nice and modern with a pool, playground, gym, and little convenience store. It is also right next door to a mall with a Target, Toys R Us, Starbucks, and western style grocery chain. As malls in Malaysia go, this mall is modest (Malaysians love to shop), but it has everything we need literally outside our doorstep. Our place itself is quite large and you can see the Petronas towers from our laundry room. There are also several other families in the complex that have children, including two of my language class friends, so it is great.
This is out of focus, but I love it.
First Pancake Sunday on the balcony in the new place.
The City of KL
The city is small compared to Delhi (no shock there). Still we need a car to get around easily, especially with Simone. We wanted to get a nice car to drive around, but that will take about 3 months. So in the interim we bought a 1997 Ford Taurus. It is white, huge, and we call it "The Yacht." Every man of leisure needs a yacht, right?There seems to be a fair amount to do here besides shopping (there is a Michael Kors store here for those interested...) including going up the Petronas towers, a butterfly garden, museums and of course food. We have yet to go to the IKEA, but hear it is amazing. We have already been to the Malaysian version of Walmart and Whole Foods (the latter was heavenly). You can get pretty much anything you want here as long as you are willing to pay the markup, including morningstar veggie breakfast sausages. We can even easily find berries which makes me so over the moon!!! In that way our day to day will be relatively easy.
We have hit up numerous food stalls including the Thai stall 1/2 mile from our house which is among the best Thai food in the city. Actually we have hit that one up a fair number of times already. Laura and Tomas are came this past weekend as our first guests, so we will be sure to see more of the city with them, so pictures to follow. Tomas is still here enjoying the "MOL" lifestyle with Sandip, enjoying all of the sights and foods.
The Embassy Community
So far it has been fantastic, and it really helps to have friends from language here. We also have Candy from Delhi here, which is great. It is a very family friendly post, so there are tons of kids around with whom Simone can play. We've started setting her up on play dates with kids in the building. She already has met Cyrus, who is 6 weeks younger than her and whose mom was also in Malay language with me while we were both pregnant. Our social sponsor (who made sure our house was stocked when we arrived) has been absolutely amazing. We are really lucky.Work
I have hit the ground running for sure. I am still sorting out who does what, but that will come in time. The pace is fast, but slow compared to other jobs I have had which is nice because it means I will be able to get home in time to see squeaky. Still, it is heartbreaking leaving her in the morning, especially since I have to be at work at 7:45! But that smile that greets me when I return home is magical.So far I have taken part in two programs: the Sports Envoy program and the English Camp. Many more to follow
Sports Envoy:
We brought two dynamite former professional basketball players to Malaysia for a week to run basketball camps with youth around the country. NBA Champion Brian Carpenter and WNBA Star and Basketball Hall of Famer Sue Wicks were just about the nicest people you could ask for. They were amazing with the kids, could easily work with kids who had never played basketball, and were very warm and friendly. It i such a great way to build connections between our countries-literally sports diplomacy! I love my job. I was with them for a Saturday, and got to bring Simone to some of the events. See the adorable pictures below.
She is totally into basketball. Maybe one day she will be on the court.
This is going on Simone's wall.
A picture of all the Embassy staff and kids
Me talking at one of the events
English Camp
I also got to do English Camp at one of our Lincoln Corners in Penang. Lincoln Corner (American Corner in other countries) is literally a small part of a library or other public meeting place in which we provide books and magazines in English, info on how to study in the United States, and sometimes other cool things (we have Wii in them in Malaysia). This English Camp was with 120 students in 10th-12th grade and we spent the whole day doing English things like fill in the blanks music lyrics, and having them act out American idioms. It was too much fun and I really got a lot of energy from being around the students. Here are some pictures from that event.
Giving students a chance to speak
The team after their team cheer
Students performing a skit
This picture is for Dad. It's hot chocolate, but the sentiment is there.
Squeaky
And of course, other pictures of Squeaky from the first few weeks here.
She loves to eat Piglet
