Vivian picked me up from the airport, whilst I was sitting on my backpack in this strange land looking like a lost soul. Soon after we were talking constantly about anything and everything at about 100 miles an hour, sprawled across her bedroom in KL...gossiping...giggling, posters peeling off her walls, photos plastering the mirror, luggage and clothes and shoes sprawled out all over the place - we could have been back in Boston in our college dorms.
Later that night I remember taking long drags from a deliciously sweet shisha, and feeling all my problems from Melbourne melt away. It was after sunset by now, we were in the month of Ramadan. Very soon tens of hundreds of people flocked to the small winding streets of KL, to feast, and hydrate. I loved not only sitting back and soaking up the atmosphere, but Viv's friends are absolute gems. The girls whinge and gossip about their mothers, aunties, sister-in-laws and are not one to keep quiet about their religion and the corresponding difficulties that can occur. It was really something to sit and listen to how the girls would chat about how their mothers still made them to go the gym during Ramadan, and the constant eye rolls and deliberations about whether clubbing was ok or not during the month. They are all quite party animals by the sounds of it, so I'm putting my money on the consensus that it is ok, if you don't drink. And also, one of Viv's friends is absolutely hilarious with her head flicks, extraordinary facial expression and loud voice, they take to calling her a racially-insensitive name. Not that I approve - but honestly. I almost fell off my chair laughing with her black girl attitude. Viv told me that KL is quite an international place, so when we enter cafes to meet Zac (OMG ZAC! As soon as I saw him a little mouse squeal left my lips as I ran towards him and I've just forgotten how American he is. With his skate shoes and long basketball shorts, his wife beater and his backwards cap, his New York accent flows out and , in classical Zac language, they'll be a lot of 'yo, wazzup *****'. Man how I miss America. Sometimes when we head out to meet other people, or other kids from wherever, Viv even says things like "ok, look for the white people". Everyone speaks English here too, well, all of Viv's friends and most of the locals in KL, anyway. It's odd....a sort of makeshift place... with tonnes of international schools (Australian, English, American..) it's a fairly multicultural place. Not quite what I expected. My fellow Swines, most of you will know Swinburne University has a Malaysian campus in Sarawak...but they seem to have so much trouble getting people to go there. I don't know why. I'd consider exchange to Malaysia. Maybe.
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| Our hilarious nuclear family photo |
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| Me and the Pom |
Annie and Bridget arrived shortly after I did and the four of us were in paradise. Swimming in Viv's pool (seriously, by golly did we pick the right girl to befriend and make her love us enough to host us in Malaysia....her place is absolutely astonishing), soaking up the sun, eating fresh rambutan fruit with our hands, drinking guava juice at trendy bars...the list goes on.
Amongst all of this we try terribly hard to not eat too much - we call Viv's mum 'anty' (not sure on the spelling) and she cooks delicious Malay food for us all the time and omg she is a baker. Have eaten (surprise surprise) my fair share of cake whilst I'm here. It's the Austrian in me and I'm not even apologising for it.
I'm having the time of my life, and being reunited with the three best friends that were the biggest part of my college semester abroad in America, is a true joy that I can't fully describe. It fills my heart with warmth and happiness.
Oh, and in other news, I've fallen in love with Vivian's 6-year old brother, Damien.
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