All posts by Rebecca Michelle

Educator, traveler, reader, blogger. Loves learning, black coffee, and friendly people.
On My Mind

29 Days

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There are 29 school days between now and Christmas break and all the expats are making travel plans. 29 school days is actually a lot, but if we talk about it often enough maybe it will feel closer. Some of my coworkers booked their flights home as soon as the calendar was finalized in September. Others, such as myself, waited.

Waited for what, you ask? Thanks for asking, but I’m not sure.

My original plan was to travel around Australia and New Zealand because I’m so much closer than I ever would be from just about anywhere else. A little bit of research about a month ago told me that the flights were way more expensive than I’d anticipated. Maybe that would not have been the case had I looked into it earlier, but I didn’t.

Then there was the plan of my parents and brother coming to visit me, but Mum wasn’t exactly keen. I have not provided her with a complimentary description of Malaysia, and while we would travel rather than stay in Seremban, of course, Malaysia is really far away from America’s East Coast. It’s just not worth a 10-day trip because at least 4 days are eaten up by travel.

My sister is working as an au pair in Spain until the end of June and Mum and Dad decided it would be much easier to visit Spain over Christmas. (And Mum likes creature comforts and hygiene more than anyone I’ve ever met, so she probably wouldn’t do terribly well in Malaysia.) The family Bri is working for has given her the whole school break off, too! It’s convenient that my siblings and I, currently in three different countries, have the same school break. After discussion and a look at flight options, I decided that Christmas in Spain was the way to go.

Last night I booked my flights so I’m officially going to Spain with my family for Christmas! I am so excited to see them and spend time with them, but also a little nervous. I think it’s going to be extremely difficult to say goodbye and come back to Seremban, especially considering I wouldn’t call myself happy here.

Ironically enough, I’d been talking about going to Australia for Christmas before I even arrived in Malaysia and it’s summer there now, as it is here all the time. What don’t I have with me? Winter clothes. Back home, three-quarters of my wardrobe was winter things and I have exactly zero of them. I don’t even have a pair of closed-toe shoes! Or a long-sleeved shirt! Everything I left at home is in boxes in Mum and Dad’s basement, so one day Mum and I will go through my things via FaceTime and she’ll pack a bag for me. I’ll do some quick shopping here to obtain warm things to get me through travel and one day because I land about 8 hours earlier than my family.

Never thought that lack of winter clothes would be a problem for this Montreal-born, upstate-New-York-raised girl. Goes to show you what I know! Note to self: Next trip around the world, squeeze in a pair of flats and a sweatshirt.

Malaysia

Games

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One of my new pastimes here in Seremban is playing badminton. Badminton is a very popular and competitive sport throughout Southeast Asia and there’s a really nice court near school. A group has been playing Tuesday nights for about 6 weeks now, perhaps longer. Two weeks ago, one of the other girls and I decided to join them and we had a great time! We had an open day at school yesterday and five of us got through the day by counting the hours until we were allowed to leave and go play badminton. It’s a great workout and I find myself improving noticeably each time we play.

Those who know me know that I am not an athletic person. I run primarily because I can do that without disappointing anyone else and without having to focus on throwing, catching, or hitting, all of which involve hand-eye coordination that, sadly, I lack. I’ve been playing a lot of pool here, too, because there are pool tables in the bars that we frequent most often. I’m not good, not even a little bit, but it’s a lot of fun.

The most recent game I’ve learned to play is darts. Previously, I’d simply thrown darts at a dartboard because I was with someone who wanted to throw darts at a dartboard. Unless I’m very much mistaken, those dartboard were usually in friends’ basements and magnetic or something that wouldn’t damage walls. Darts involves aiming, which is hard for me. That’s also my problem with pool, I think. But I’m more competitive with myself than I am with other people, so it works out okay.

The apartments we were promised are still under construction, but we’ve asked for a pool table and dart board in the communal space. With any luck, I’ll be a better player when I leave Malaysia than I was when I arrived.

Malaysia, Travel Guide

Travel Guide: Republic of Singapore

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Being in Singapore with Mitch this weekend was a blast. It was also rather useful because Mitch has been there for a grand total of 12 days, which practically made him a local. He knew where we should eat and drink, which MRT (Singapore’s metro) stations would lead us where, which parts of town I should see, and how to get there.

Everything I’d heard about Singapore turned out to be true. It’s almost uncomfortably clean, people queue for everything, it’s incredibly safe, there are trees, plants, and parks everywhere, and it could easily pass for a Western city. The population is very diverse and all signs are posted in four languages: English, Bahasa Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil.

I really love the juxtaposition of traditional and modern that one sees all over Singapore
I really love the juxtaposition of traditional and modern that one sees all over Singapore

I arrived in time for a late dinner and drinks Friday night at a Japanese craft beer bar in one of Singapore’s many outdoor food courts. This one had restaurants serving cuisines from all over the world; we saw French, Italian, Irish, Japanese, and American eateries under brightly colored awnings next to a park.

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A quest for brunch on Saturday morning led us to Mark’s, a restaurant specializing in chocolate. (Yes, you read that correctly.) Patrons ordering a simple cup of hot chocolate choose from a list of chocolate-producing regions from around the world. The chocolate in Mitch’s hot chocolate came from Cuba! The other item in which Mark’s specializes is waffles! We got a “plain” waffle with real maple syrup and a cheese waffle with salad, eggs, and oranges. Yummy!

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We spent a bit of Saturday morning wandering around Fort Canning Park on our way to the National Museum of Singapore. The park was lovely and had a really beautiful fountain that actually wasn’t on because the city is in a bit of a drought. Welcome to Southeast Asia.

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The National Museum’s permanent galleries are closed for renovations until September 2015 (depending on how all of this works out, we might still be in the area) but there was a really interesting exhibit on the history of Singapore that I believe was a smaller version of one of the permanent exhibits. I knew next to nothing about Singapore before spending several hours walking through the exhibit. For example, one of Singapore’s earliest kings in the 1200s was a relative of Alexander the Great! I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t know the Japanese were in control of Singapore during World War II and I didn’t know anything about Japanese wartime propaganda. Now I do and I’m glad we had the chance to learn!

Mitch introduced me to the gem of ABC juice. ABC stands for apple, beet, carrot and the juice is made out of those three ingredients blended with ice. One buys juices like that at stands like this:

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We spent some time exploring Chinatown on Saturday . . .

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And Little India on Sunday . . .

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The socioeconomic differences are pretty obvious. Chinatown is definitely more affluent and the bigger attraction, definitely for tourists and possible for locals just based on location. However, every third restaurant in Little India is a vegetarian restaurant, which was both shocking and amazing. (Why is is that there are Chinatowns and Little Indias all over the world? Why not Little China and Indiatown?)

We made our way down to Marina Bay on Saturday, as well.

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In addition to the financial district’s tall building and the boats on the water there was a display of Christmas trees right next to the palm trees that are actually natural to the region. It made me laugh.

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Christmas in July! But not . . .

Other Singaporean adventures took us to a British pub, Red Dot Microbrewery (the best beer I’ve had since leaving the US), the club Zouk for a guest DJ show, and a restaurant called Strictly Pancakes (I had pancakes stuffed with leeks and potatoes and topped with mushrooms and cream cheese).

We also came across this building:

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Google was only marginally helpful in telling me who David Elias is, but I’m quite curious as David and I share a name . . .

Moral of the story: Singapore is interesting, exciting, cultural, modern, traditional, and very liveable. I can’t wait to go back!