Here's the Deal...

                                            Weekly Card Game with the Girls

So, many of you have wondered how I'm spending my time here in Malaysia now that I'm, ahem, retired (at least temporarily).  Well, to be quite honest with you, I'm not really sure I know the answer to that question either. I mean, I do stuff, kinda. I run errands, I go grocery shopping, I explore the city, I go to lunch or meet up for coffee or attend random social events through the American Association of Malaysia (AAM). We've gone to dinner parties and game nights at friend's houses. I've taken cooking classes, I've gone on walking tours, and I've even gotten a massage at the Blind Institute (I know, I didn't see that one coming either). With the endless amount of things to see and do here, the days just seems to magically fly by. At the end of the day I always find myself wondering where all the time went! I can honestly say that I haven't gotten bored yet, and I always look forward to waking up and seeing where the day is going to take me. One thing I know for sure though, is that Thursday's day is going to take me to the card table. A group of us get together each Thursday afternoon to play a fun little card game called Shanghai Rummy. We each take turns hosting the game at our respective home and always provide some sort of snack and specialty cocktail(s) for the big event. Not necessarily a game for high rollers, we play with 20 cent pieces. At the end of the game (and the end of the cocktails), someone is guaranteed to take home a money pot worth a whopping 3 or 4 ringgit (which at today's current conversion rates equates to $0.96 - $1.28. It's not much, but without being gainfully employed here, each of us expat wives have to do everything we can to try and bring home the turkey bacon (it's a Muslim country, remember) whenever possible. And it's a ruthless bunch, these Shanghai Rummy wives (or as we've lovingly dubbed ourselves, The Shanghai Rummy Fight Club - SRFC). We will fight tooth and nail for every little ringgit we can on that card table! Yes, it's a dirty job but someone's gotta do it.

A day in the life: 

Dinner Party at a Friend's House

"Cooking in the Jungle" Class

Bread Baking Class (My loaf is the one that's slightly deformed - woops)

Random man I took a picture of on China Town Tour

In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle...

                                                Canopy Walk in the Jungle

Will and I have always enjoyed getting up on a Saturday morning and hitting the nearby trail in our neighborhood (i.e. Trinity Trail in Ft. Worth, our own made up little walking route in the Heights, etc.). There's nothing like an early morning hike (and by "early" I mean 9:00...ok, 10:00, ok seriously, more like 10:30 am) to really get the blood pumping and to start the weekend off on a positive, pulse racing note. Unfortunately, the "trails" in this neighborhood are few and far between, and the sidewalks, well, the sidewalks are more like sideleaps really. They buckle, they bend, and most of the time there's just a huge chunk missing out of them all together. We've had to save each other from falling into the deep, dark pits of missing Malaysian pavement more than once. Anyway, with that being said, we decided to lace up the hiking boots and head "out of town" last weekend to a well-known jungle about 15 kilometers from the city. That's right folks, kilometers. I'm trying to get used to it too. A couple of wrong turns here and there and a few "lost satellite reception" and the dreaded "recalculating" announcements from our sometimes trusty GPS lady, we finally pulled into the FRIM parking lot (Forest Research Institute of Malaysia) to explore the 600 hectacres of tropical forest, full of flora and fauna not found anywhere in Texas. After fully hosing each other down with our precious imported Off Spray, we charged full steam ahead into the forest to see what this whole Malaysian Jungle experience was all about. And what an experience it was! After an intense 30-minute climb up, over, through, and around the steep nature "trail," we reached the highly anticipated Canopy Walkway, a fully enclosed rope and netting walkway suspended 30 meters off the ground that overlooks the city in the distance and the greenery of the forest underneath. What we didn't realize however, is how long the line was going to be just to get across this thing. Apparently it was field trip day for several of the local schools here, so we had to wait for a couple hundred teens from the Malaysian Boys and Girls Schools of Kuala Lumpur to try to overcome their obvious fear of heights and SLOWLY creep one by one across the gently swaying walkway before getting a go at it ourselves. After finally reaching it to the top, we were able to take in some incredible views and see what every nature lover in these parts would be remiss not to do at least once in this town....but maybe call ahead first and make sure there aren't any field trips planned that day! And in other jungle news, Will and I did see something that day that might have put an indefinite hold to my hiking days and left me forever scarred. I can't believe I'm actually going to type this word because I fear/loathe/fear/detest/fear these things so much, but it has to be said....a snake. Yuck, ooh, gross. I hate snakes. I hate them with a passion. And we saw the biggest one that either one of us have ever seen either in real life OR on tv. It was ridiculous. This thing put Anaconda to shame. Ok, so that's a big of an exaggeration, but this thing really was gigantic. I only saw the diameter of this thing as it slithered in a ravine nearby, but Will saw the entire thing from head to tail (or whatever the end of a snake is). He swears it was at least 10 feet long. He told me to "GET BACK" as calmly as he possibly could and while I stepped back and momentarily lost consciousness, he watched this thing slither away until he was a safe enough distance away for us to continue. 
I'm sure once the nightmares stop and I find some top-of-the-line-snake repellent/weaponry around here, I'll be able to make it back into the jungle one of these days, but right now I think I'll stick to the buckling sidewalks and take my chances with the gaping holes.

View from the Canopy Overlooking the City

"Hanging out" on the Walkway

The Line for the Canopy Walkway

Low Clearance

The school kids going for a dip

Living it Up Down Under

After 5 months of living in Malaysia, I was finally able to join Will on one of his recent work trips. Destination: Australia!! Some might find it rather suspicious that due to my domestic duties and regularly scheduled social engagements I like to refer to as "appointments" with fellow expat wives, I've somehow managed to miss out on his other work trips to places like Miri, Jakarta, and Vung Tau, but just as soon as his meeting was scheduled for Australia, my calendar of "appointments" and domestic "duties" suddenly cleared right up! Coincidence?? I think not. I had my ticket booked and my bags packed quicker than you can say, "Crikey!" So we boarded a plane for Brisbane, a 6 or 7 hour flight from here, and spent a fabulous, fun-filled 4 days on the east coast of Australia before heading to Perth for another 4. I'm not sure how fun-filled the days were for Will exactly because he was literally in meetings from sun-up to sun-down, but I think I was able to enjoy them enough for the both of us! I spent the days soaking up the sun in the city parks, strolling through the streets lined with cafes, pubs, and cute little shops, and trying to scope out what fun things Will and I could do each evening when he got "home" from the office. I took train rides to neighboring towns, watched ships drift in and out of ports, stopped at every kebab stand I passed for my daily dose of chicken shawarma, and tried on all of the cute winter clothes I knew I'd never buy. It's the end of fall/early winter in Australia, so the air was cool and crisp and CLEAN, a welcomed break from the air we're used to in KL (on all accounts)! To see people scurrying about in their scarves and sweaters and to see seasonal dishes like stews on most menus was definitely a  nice change of clothing, cuisine, and climate for us! It was an amazing 8 days full of delicious food, wonderful wine, perfect weather, and great accents! Australia was just such a fun, friendly, and happy place to visit for us, and I have been encouraging Will to schedule as many more meetings there as he possibly can!

Bridge in Brisbane

A pretty hotel in Perth (not ours, mind you)

Chicken Shawarma, Please! 

To All the Dads I've Loved Before...

The sign says, "We Love You, Dads!"

Sorry about the cheesy title, but I was too embarrassed to actually post "Happy Father's Day" up there, being that I kind of missed the (fishing) boat on getting this posted on their special day. But I figured with the combination of "better late than never" and the classic, "Isn't everyday Father's Day" philosophies, I could attempt to redeem myself with a touching tribute to these very special men. And to further redeem ourselves and clear our names, I have to say that we actually did send real cards in the mail to them (albeit those were probably a bit late as well). But I digress. This one, after all, is all about the dads. And what very special dads they are! I've been blessed from the get-go with some pretty incredible father figures in my life: my very own sweet, wonderful dad, and my two amazing grandfathers, the late, great Son Daddy and my very dear Daddy Buck (now 87 years old and living in Ballinger). I just can't sing their praises enough. These men are responsible for making my childhood pretty much the best one any little tomboy could ever hope for! From all the fishin' trips to the hours spent playing catch, kick, and cards, these guys taught me everything I know about knowing what to throw away and knowing what to keep. I'm sure there were some other very important life lessons thrown in there as well, but every gambler, I mean little girl, knows these are among the most crucial to the secret to survivin'. I don't know that a blog is necessarily the appropriate medium for diving much further into the depths of how much these amazing men mean to me, but let it be known that these men are at the top of my Papa-Pedestals, and in my own personal opinion anyway, they are the greatest dads on earth (and now that I've gotten to experience a great deal more of the earth, I can make that statement in all honesty without reservation). And now on to my next dads, the "in-laws" so to speak, but I've never really thought too highly of the term "in-law."  I suppose it has a great deal to do with the fact that my dad's parents, dear Daddy Buck and precious little Grandmommie, never referred to my mom as anything else but their own daughter. I just always thought how sweet it was for them to drop the whole "in-law" thing completely and it's something that always stuck with me. So with that said, I have to recognize my other two dads, the father-in-laws (and I use that term here for clarification purposes only), that I was so very fortunate to have gotten out of the whole marriage thing: Will's dad, Neil, and stepdad, David. These two men have welcomed me into the family from the very beginning and have blessed mine and Will's lives with such love and laughter along the way. Not only did I get an amazing husband in Will, but I also got two more amazing men in my life that I'm proud to call dads and whose family's I'm so delighted to be a part of! I love them both dearly and hope they know just how very special they are to me. Will and I miss all of the dads in our lives more than blogs can ever say. So here's to our own fathers, our grandfathers, our fathers-"in-law", our godfathers, our best friends' fathers and best friends that have become fathers: We think of you guys so often and talk so much about wishing you were here to share some of these great experiences with. We cherish all the times we've spent together, the memories we've made, and the laughs we've shared, and we're so looking forward to the many, many more times, memories, and laughs to come! We love you all very much and wish you each a very special, very belated, happy Father's Day!

Here are some more pictures of the special dads in our life: Dads

Pick a couch, any couch...

So most of you know that we arrived here with very little furniture. A television stand, an antique/make-shift coffee table, a butcher block, and a couple of small hand-me-down end tables were pretty much the only furniture items we owned worth shipping over here. Besides that, we had at least 2,000 pounds of dog food and the entire toiletry and canned good sections of the local Houston Heights Kroger that took up most of the space in our crate. So with that said, furniture shopping became a high priority for once once we moved into the house, and all we had to sit on were mounds of Taste of the Wild dog food. So rather than pile and position these bags into an entire living room set, we set out on a mission to find furniture. Real furniture. Rumor has it that you can find good quality furniture over here for relatively inexpensive prices. You just have to know where to look. Well after looking in all of the WRONG places for quite some time and growing increasingly desperate, we decided to hit up the Convention Center for the Furniture Expo that happened to be in town at the time. It was mainly designed for furniture manufacturers to showcase their products to furniture retailers throughout Asia, but with enough begging and pleading, sometimes these manufacturers can be talked into making products directly for normal, needy people just like us! We met the woman representing the Chesterfield Collection and got an invitation to their manufacturing plant out of the deal (after some phone calls, emails, and more begging and pleading of course). Will and I made an appointment to meet the man in charge of the whole operation and drove out to the plant one morning to see how and where the Chesterfield creation is born....and what a thing of beauty it is! We pulled up on a dusty road in the middle of nowhere (actually, it was very much in the middle of somewhere....that somewhere just so happened to be rows of old Chinese villages now mostly occupied by stray dogs), and once the cloud of dust cleared from our drive in, we finally saw this magical little place where all of the furniture elves were hard at work, crafting couch after couch by hand in this furniture fairyland called Chesterfield. We sat side by side with the man in charge, and he talked us through the entire process. All we had to do was tell him how many pieces we wanted, and in what size, styles, and colors, and those little elves I just mentioned started hand-making them for us, exactly to our specifications!! Amazing. In just a little over 3 weeks we had a whole new living room set custom-made, plus an extra leather loveseat for the tv room thrown in just for grins. Granted, our house looks a bit like a Chesterfield showroom now, we couldn't be more pleased with our purchases! Our furniture family is finally starting to take shape, and we are so excited to have met the wonderful people of Chesterfield to help make our sofa, chair, ,and ottoman dreams come true!
 
















Will enjoying a very rare chance to kick his heels up and relax in his new chair after work!

Reunited and it Feels So Good

We are so excited to report that after 3 long months of separation, Boo has finally made her way "home" to us in Malaysia! It was certainly a team effort, made possible by a one pet relocation company, my loving and loyal family for all of Boo's temporary housing arrangements and EVERYTHING her 3-month room and board entailed, the support and understanding of my wonderful husband that ever agreed to this in the first place, and one....no, make that two, steep credit card statements that might have just catapulted us into Elite Status and Very, Very Important Customers of American Airlines....Very Important. This dog has certainly racked up the miles over the last couple of weeks (hopefully earning us some serious points along the way):  Midland to Dallas, Dallas to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to KL. I can't even imagine how long that flight must have been in dog hours! Once she arrived in KL, she was taken through customs and then sent straight to quarantine to spend the next 7 days serving time for a crime she didn't commit. Poor thing was all caged up like an animal or something. But we drove the hour out there and back each day to see her and make sure she was surviving the culture shock ok. The sweet man that was hired by the pet relocation company to check on her was kind enough to hook up a fan in the cage for her and made every effort to keep her as comfortable as "humanly" possible. We were originally concerned about the possibility of her getting fleas, ticks, and heat stroke, but the only thing she seems to have picked up at the "puppy pen" was a bad case of separation anxiety because she is not letting us out of her sights even for a second. Every step we take, she takes. As soon as we get up, she gets up. There's no way she's going to let us do that to her again! Yes, it was a rather long, tiring, and expensive journey, but she's worth every penny of it. She is home sweet home with us once again, and now our transition into crazy expat life seems complete. We have the house, the car, and the dog...life is good.

Boo's time in the pen.

Playing it Cool.

Boo....international dog of leisure

Movin' On Up

                                                    Home Sweet Home
                 3 Persiaran Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 55000

Well it's official. Will and I are now the proud new residents of a lovely little (and I use that term loosely) home here in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We moved out of our serviced apartment a little over two weeks ago and into this charming bungalow a few kilometers from downtown. We're located on a great block of restaurants, shops, and embassies (Kingdom of Lesotho to the right of us and Republic of the Sudan across the street....yeah, I had to google them too). We couldn't be happier to finally have a HOME! A real honest-to-goodness home!! Most people here live in an apartment, condo, or highrise of some sort and for us to have an actual home with a yard, a gate, and our own driveway is huge! Always the kind to keep our priorities in check, the first things we did after moving in were to put together the BBQ pit, set up the hammock, and find the perfect place on the front porch for our rocking chairs. I guess the only thing left to do now is to get out the flag poles and find a place to proudly wave Old Glory and the Lone Star State somewhere out front. I think they'd be a nice addition to the flag family already flying high on the block (in between Sudan's and Lesotho's). And now that the grill, hammock, and rocking chairs are in place, we finally saw to it that the phone line, internet, and cable were hooked up. Actually, we tried to see to this before we even moved in but apparently things happen a little slower on this side of the world (which to be quite honest with you I don't really understand because we're supposed to be 13 hours ahead of you guys)! Anyhow, after a few no-show appointments and days and days of waiting around for these workers, I'm proud to say we are up and running once again (hence the updated blog). 

And though we didn't come prepared with a whole lot of furniture or fixtures for our new home, we did come fully stocked with what seems like a year's supply of cereal, spices, and soaps. One thing I made sure to do before we moved was to load up on our favorite snacks and sundries every chance I got and have the movers cram our crate full of these goodies. I'm happy to report that these goodies made it all the way from Houston to Malaysia safe and sound with only a few dented boxes of granola bars and graham crackers to show for their nearly 3-month adventure on the high (and slow) seas!!

Pick a spice....any spice

Rotel? Check. Community Coffee? Check. Jiffy Cornbread? Check. Check.