All posts by Rebecca Michelle

Educator, traveler, reader, blogger. Loves learning, black coffee, and friendly people.
Malaysia

It’s the little things.

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This weekend was quiet but lovely. Mitch came to visit me (and was stopped by immigration on his way back to Singapore!) and we spent a couple days cooking, eating, and pairing wine, beer, and cocktails with our food. We also had a FaceTime chat with three of our friends from home, which was a lot fun. It’s so strange to me that I was actually home just over a week ago.

We also finally found an independent coffee shop in Seremban! This is very exciting because coffee culture is one of the things that I look for in new places. Bros Cafe has the brick-and-wood industrial feel that I love, complete with lightbulbs strung from the high ceilings. This time, the lightbulbs are enclosed in French press coffee makers! It’s really neat. Bros serves coffee, juice, Korean coffee beverages, and Korean desserts. There’s free water, too, which is a huge plus and a rare find. Another rare find, which Bros Cafe also has, is a clean bathroom! Mitch and I knew we’d made a good find when our coffee came to us presented like this:

Americanos at Bros Cafe - Definitely going to make myself a regular there!
Americanos at Bros Cafe – Definitely going to make myself a regular there!

Mitch and I went to Bros Cafe twice this weekend. When we walked in today, the barista recognized us and gave us a coffee card with four stamps filled in. “Two from yesterday,” she told us.

Four stamps, thanks to a kind barista with a good memory!
Four stamps, thanks to a kind barista with a good memory!

Coffee culture is one of the things I’ve been missing terribly and now I’ve found a hipster cafe in little Seremban. Score!

It rained a lot this weekend, and not just in the afternoon! We had rain during the day and thunderstorms at night, too. This is the hot season and I’m told that the 4pm rain is still normal, but it seems that we’ve had quite a lot other than that. Anyway, we were rewarded for our patience with the weather by a beautiful sunset . . .

Sunset

. . . and a stunning rainbow!

The rainbow was so large that I couldn't get it into the frame.
The rainbow was so large that I couldn’t get it into the frame.
Notice the double arc. One of my friends told me that rainbows are always in pairs, though we can't always see both of them. Who knew?
Notice the double arc. One of my friends told me that rainbows are always in pairs, though we can’t always see both of them. Who knew?

Hope you’re having a wonderful weekend! Have a great week ahead!

On My Mind

There and Back Again

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Well, I did it.

I left my home and family and friends and got on a plane that took me back to Malaysia. The biggest challenge in returning is leaving people who love and care about me. I’m not saying I don’t have friends here; I do, and they’re amazing people who I trust, love, and have enriched my life in countless ways. But, to use a cliché as I did in my last post, there’s no place like home.

Readjusting to the routine that I have in Malaysia is probably going to take about a week. When I got back from Spain in January, I called my dad crying at 2am when I couldn’t sleep because of jet lag, depression at having returned at all, and a deep sense of loss. My dad told me that I was not, under any circumstances, allowed to make any important decisions for a week. He told me that it’s completely normal to feel sad and out of sorts after a vacation and that exhaustion didn’t help. He told me to get myself through the week by focusing on school, working out, and spending as much time with others as possible. (I don’t do well alone; I ruminate on everything and talk myself in circles.)

My dad was right. By the time the weekend rolled around, I was back into the groove of daily life, over my jet lag, and feeling much better. So I decided to keep at it in Malaysia rather than book a flight home, which is what I wanted to do when I called at 2am.

This time, I managed to make it until 6:00 this morning before getting in touch with my parents. I’d already been awake for over an hour when I finally gave up and gave in to what I knew would make me feel better. Hearing the voices of loved ones generally has an uplifting effect on me. This morning, however, I was simultaneously comforted that it’s so easy to keep in touch with home, and also sad because I had a fresh reminder of everything I was missing. As I knew it would, though, the brief talk cheered me up and gave me the strength to start my day. Even though I felt alone, I wasn’t. Home is simply a phone call away, and I needed to make that phone call to remember that.

The next few months are going to be my last in Malaysia. I don’t know what’s coming next, but I will make the most of my remaining time here. I made the decision to move here and to return (twice!) and it would be a shame to waste the opportunity I asked for.

On My Mind

There’s no place like home.

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Home for me is Rochester, New York. We moved here when I was 5 and I stayed until I went to university when I was 18. After graduating, I moved back home, got a job, started my Master’s, leased an apartment with a friend, and started my life as a grown up in the very hip Park Ave neighborhood. 

Over the weekend, I took a walk through my old neighborhood with two very good friends. We made our way up to the lookout point of a nearby reservoir and paused for a photo.

It might not look like much, but every buildings has a story. Since I’ve spent years as a tour guide on the Genesee River and Erie Canal that built our city, I am proud to say I know most of those stories. Rochester might not possess the glamor of NYC or excitement of LA (and it doesn’t have a snappy acronym), but it’s beautiful and it’s home.