Photography

I enjoy taking pictures and try to photograph what I am looking at in an artistic way. Sometimes photos just jump out at me until I stop and try to capture that moment in time. 

Moving to Malaysia for a year seemed like a good reason to buy a nice camera. So I decided to buy my first digital SLR camera before we left home. After doing some online and in store research as well as getting personal recommendations, I purchased a Canon Rebel T-3. I like it’s moderate size and ease of use, but I still don’t know very much about it. As I take pictures this year, I am trying to experiment using different settings on the camera. And with the help of my daughter, I am also learning more about photoshopping. Additionally, I have started taking photo classes at the British Women’s Association in Kuala Lumpur and am loving it. In our first two classes, we covered some aspects of photo composition and evaluated professional photographer's works as well as some of our own. In the new year, I will be taking classes on movement, portraiture, street photography, aperture and macro, and Light Room (a cataloging and editing program). I am excited. Below, I have included several of my favorite shots. Hope you enjoy ; ).

Toilets/Tandas (don't read if you are easily disgusted)

Doesn’t it always seem like you don’t notice something until things get bad or become uncomfortable? 

You wouldn’t think there was all that much to talk about involving toilets.  Well, that is just not true as I first learned traveling in Asia 25 years ago. Sad to say, it’s not much better nowadays in Malaysia. If you are aren’t comfortable with eastern (pit style) toilets, don’t travel to Asia. If you are sensitive to smells, you might not want to visit either. If you thought that the women’s bathroom lines in America took a long time to get through, stay at a 5 star hotel because the regular lines in Malaysia take forever to get through. Is it the long sarongs? the bidet’s? or what??? Despite the heat, flip flops are questionable shoe gear in the bathrooms as puddles are often the norm. If you can’t pee standing up, just forget it, because if you are lucky enough to get a western toilet where you are supposed to be able to sit down, more often than not, the seats are covered with wet shoe prints!!! And don’t forget to bring your own toilet paper as most bathrooms don’t even have toilet paper dispensers. And never go anywhere without change or you may be out of luck going to the bathroom as even dirty bathrooms can cost to enter (even without toilet paper)! On the positive side, there are lots of Starbucks around Malaysia with very clean, free, western toilets.

Even if the Malaysians aren’t doing much about the toilet problems, at least they have acknowledged that it is a problem:

http://malaysiansmustknowthetruth.blogspot.com/2010/11/malaysian-toilets-fail-cleanliness-test.html

clean Malaysian toilet

clean Malaysian pit toilet

 (clean) Malaysian bathroom

Mahjong

I’m not much of a games person, but since I’m doing lots of new things this year, I thought I would just say YES to Mahjong! Plus, I thought it might be a fun game for the family to learn since we are in Asia which is where the game originated. And it should be an especially good game for Gabriel to learn as he is taking Mandarin this year at school. I found a few expat groups that teach and play Mahjong locally. So I joined the British group since the teacher is a woman in my condominium building, the lessons are free and convenient. I had heard that Mahjong was a complicated game and I was a bit nervous to find out whether or not my aging brain was up to the task. But thankfully, it has not proven too much for me and I seem to be understanding the initial lessons just fine and having fun ; ). Don’t worry, I’m not gambling yet...

Mahjong originated in China over 2000 years ago. It spread to many countries including England and Australia, but not to the US until the 1920’s when it became a decade long fad. Although it is not a widely played game in the US, there are national tournaments held each year (www.mahjongg.org).

Mahjong is most commonly played with 4 individuals and is a game of skill and strategy with some chance involved. There are both Chinese and English versions of Mahjong-the Chinese versions being more complex. It is said to be similar to the card game, Gin rummy. It is played with small rectangular tiles similar to dominoes and the tiles have Chinese writing, pictures, or both on the top surface of the tiles. Dice are thrown at the beginning of the game to determine the leader and then 13 tiles per person are chosen from the more than 100 tiles on the table. With each turn, tiles are picked up and discarded to build one’s hand. The first one to complete his or her hand has gotten Mahjong. Here is a short video giving the highlights of Mahjong. www.youtube.com/watch? v=vw2tjRGMwlg

Below are a few pictures of our Mahjong table and tiles and me getting my first Mahjong!

Mahjong at Sue's (on the far right)

my first Mahjong!

My Personal Goals

As many of you know, I am spending a year in Malaysia with my husband and two teenagers on a family adventure. While here, I am embracing the new in my life and trying to say yes to as many experiences as possible (within reason). Below is the list of activities that I have begun doing since moving to Malaysia in August. Perhaps a little ambitious, but I am also trying to remember that I am only human and to forgive myself if I can't do each activity as often as I'd like and I not expect myself to be perfect at each new thing I attempt. Here is my list if you are interested...

Guitar

   taking lessons and becoming more accomplished at guitar

   developing calluses on my fingers so that they don’t hurt me when playing

   am currently taking lessons but my fingers still hurt :(

Bahasa Malaysia

   learning some of the Malaysian language

   am currently taking lessons, but not studying much...

Explore

   exploring places in KL, Malaysia, and SE Asia   

   around KL, have visited Chow Kit wet market, the National Science museum, the National        
   Mosque, TTDI, 

   around Malaysia, have visited Melacca, Sarawak/Borneo, Penang, Frasier's Hill

   around SE Asia, have visited Bali, Thailand; plan to go to Vietnam and Cambodia

Diary

   keeping a daily diary

Blog

   blogging regularly and be more comfortable with blogging

   have 34 blog posts since coming to Malaysia 6 months ago

   have learned how to add pictures to posts and edit more easily

Facebook

   understanding this site better

   have looked at site more and tried to figure out what it’s all about-am still not

   convinced it is going to be a regular part of my life, but trying to keep an open 

   mind since my daughter and husband are on it regularly

Exercise

   trying out different types of exercise to stay in shape and working on my flexibility, core

   strength, and balance

   am working out at Fitness First gym 3x/week, taking Lesmills group exercise classes 

   and running on the treadmill and swimming in the condo pool

  

Massage

   getting monthly massages and trying out different types of massage

   have had 6 massages so far and am right on track ; )))

Computer

   learning my way around my Mac Book better, faster, easier, and more comfortably

   this is slow going esp without a convenient apple store or classes available 
   hard drive died recently and have been having trouble getting photos and iMovie back to         
   where it was beforehand

Volunteer

   volunteering in some capacity

   still trying to figure this one out-maybe at the school, perhaps with refugees...

Cook local

   learning to cook some local foods  

   many places in KL offer cooking classes of local foods

Friends

   making new friends; staying in touch with old friends

   am going to coffees with different expat and international groups, meeting new people

   skyping, tweeting, blogging, and emailing friends and family regularly

Photography

   taking lots of pictures with my new Canon camera and learning more about manual 

   functions on the camera

   have been taking lots of pictures (see blogs and facebook)

   taking photography classes with the British expat group (ABWM)
   joined a Malaysian photo group (Glimpses) that posts weekly pictures with a different  
   theme each week

Mom stuff

   to keep kids interested, stimulated, healthy, and safe; to role model healthy and 

   proactive behaviors in a new environment

   getting good books at the library, serving nutritious foods, looking for in and out of 

   school opportunities for kids to grow and experience new things

 Learning more about my new country
    attended lectures on Chinese New Year, Modern Day Slavery,

Mahjong
     learning to play Mahjong
     playing Mahjong weekly with a group of British women

   New experiences

   to try new things (see above!)

   

Thunderstorms

When weather patterns in your country vary between rainy season and monsoon season, it is a good thing if you like rain. Madeline has always loved rain in California. She especially loved walking or running in the rain. In California, the rain brings warmth, but in Malaysia, rain generally brings a welcome reduction in the humidity and temperature.

Although I love the rain, I prefer to stay inside and read a good book on a comfy couch while listening to the rain and watching the rain. In colder climates, a warm fire would also figure into this picture.

Gabe and I were enjoying an afternoon thunderstorm several days ago while having snacks at the dining table. Every once in a while, a loud crack of thunder would cause us both to raise our eyes to look at each other and grin at the incredible sound that was happening around us. Looking outside, you could barely see across the street, the rain was so heavy. We were both thrilled to have a secure, water tight home! And Madeline was happy to be able to dance in the rain and do rain angels on the pool deck;). 

Madeline, dancing in Malaysian rain