Winter Break

It’s been a long time! About a month to be exact. In December, Malaysia has winter break, so I spent the month traveling and exploring northern Malaysia with my host family. It was very pretty and I enjoyed seeing mountains as well as Penang and Kedah. Penang is known to be a tourist destination so I had a couple laughs with my family about how there were so many ‘orang putih’ (white people) walking around. I even met another American on the street who was from Tennessee! I also spent my Christmas with a temporary Christian host family, where I attended church. Church was interesting because I have gone many times with my own grandmother in America and it felt familiar. It was refreshing to know exactly what to do while participating in an activity for once. A big part of exchange is not knowing exactly what is expected but still participating anyways. Whether its trying to make conversation at school, or attending a wedding, you try your hardest to imitate the actions and patterns of others that do not come second nature to you. Church, oddly, was second nature in a sense, and I greatly appreciated it. Sometimes here I am unsure when to talk about these religions that I have knowledge about but are not the religion of those I am surrounded with. When I came home, I wanted to share how nice church was because it reminded me of home. But I did not know how to explain that this did not necessarily mean I liked the experience because it was a Christian church, but because it was something that I had done in the past and did not feel confused about how to participate. One of the most prominent difficulties I have faced here is communication differences. Since I come from a place that communicated differently, I also pick up on different non-verbal cues, which I have found is almost harder than deciphering the indirect comments. I did not factor non-verbal cues into what I would have to learn, but I am dutifully trying. On an unrelated note, when I got home from the break my host family had sweetly remembered Christmas and helped me celebrate with some practical cute gifts (thank you so much guys) which made me feel really happy, that they went out of their way to celebrate with me. I can’t wait for the next 6 months or so! Enjoy a bonus photo of my dog in America, Charlie, getting his winter coat lol.