Little Things

 School has started-we went back to work on July 24th and had two weeks of orientation and then students returned on the 7th...More about the school piece at a later time but the general consensus is that things are good and North and I have a very steep learning curve ahead of us. This post is the little things; the day to day that we are getting used to, the things we are noticing, painting a picture of our life here in Sungai Buloh (the official area where we live and work, outside of Kuala Lumpur).

• Call to prayer-I think I notice this more than the rest of the family but it's something that happens multiple times a day and I don't notice it all the time but occasionally I will be outside early in the morning or later in the evening and here it ring out. I like the rhythm of it, the sound, the idea of people pausing in the midst of their lives to acknowledge something bigger. With that, noticing that in the malls, at the school, at rest areas, all around there are prayer rooms (surau) for men and women and you'll see people ducking inside from out of the public space.

• Learning about appropriate clothing, especially for women but also men and boys. At school my shoulders should be covered and skirts/dresses should go to my knees (although there are definitely people wearing nice tank tops I'm still a newbie so am watching the dress code properly). When we went to register the car, both of us needed to be in long pants. Around town and in the city there is a mixture of clothing; women in full head coverings with only eyes showing, many women in a hijab and pants/long sleeves, and all the way to women in short skirts/short, crop tops, and tank tops... Finding the nuances around when to wear what...

• Laundry: our machine is outside with a hose that runs right into the drain, we do more laundry because it all hangs to dry. Usually it dries really quickly because the sun is intense and even when it's overcast it's still warm. Occasionally it is so humid that it takes all day to dry but for the most part we have a solid little routine with some pretty awesome drying racks.
  
  

• Biking to work/school! We have a morning routine (and it is EARLY) that has us leaving the house at 7:15 just as it's getting light and then it's a quick 5 minutes to the school gates. The guards leaving our neighborhood have gotten used to us and raise the gate with a wave and "Hi Boss" to the boys and North and "Morning Miss" to me. We feel pretty good on the road, there are speed bumps so the cars are slow and the security guards at school are starting to anticipate us now as well so they pop out with their stop signs as we get ready to turn into school. It feels good to move in the morning and to continue a routine that feels so integral to my life.

• The temperature and humidity have been a significant change from the Pacific Northwest, not sure that we will ever be "used" to it but we are regulating. It is amazing to me how much I sweat when I step outside to hang laundry, bike to work, run, or just sit in the house without the aircon on. The kids play outside at school-Talus has a red IGBIS bucket hat (there's a no hat, no play rule in elementary) and they are on the field before school starts and during lunch playing football. My students come in dripping in sweat and then settle into air conditioned rooms and throw on their seatshirts 💦We haven't quite figured out temperature regulation at night, without the aircon I feel too hot, with it we inevitably get too cold and wake up to change it.

We are still figuring out so many pieces of what life here looks like but after five weeks we are finding a rhythm; one that is sure to change as we get farther into the school year and the boys start playing football for the school and for Everton Academy and we start taking part in coaching and helping to run after school activities. During our school orientation we were served many tasty Malaysian dishes so I'll end with one of them: nasi lemak (rice in banana leaf with egg and some spicy sauce), mee soto ayum (a noodle soup with chicken), and curry puff-like a samosa.