Singapore Zoo

So this week was an adventurous one, lots of fun things.  It marked my 7th Singapore trip and by far the best one yet.  This time around we had a lot of free time to go and do whatever.  So a few of us thought it would be fun to go to the Singapore Zoo!  The Singapore zoo is the number 1 ranked zoo in the world and it has a Night Safari attraction, which is the only one of its kind in the world.  The night safari displays the hundreds of different animals that are nocturnal and can normally not be seen at a regular zoo.  The safari opened at 6:30, right before it gets dark.  It was so great!  At the entrance there is this fish tank full of little fish that eat the dead skin off your feet.  It tickles so bad, and takes all your concentration not to pull your feet out of the water.  The feeling is indescribable and very memorable.  After that there was a fire breathing show with some dancing, very interesting and impressive how big they can make the flames.  After that there are a dozen or so trails that you can take in addition to a tram that will take you around the whole park.  I wish we had more time to see everything, but the stuff we were able to see was great!  My favorites had to be the flying squirrel, the jungle cats exhibit, and the wolves!

This trip also marked a significant milestone in my mission, I finally had sushi!  It has almost a year and a half since I have had raw fish, and let me tell you, it was soooooooo good.  I don't trust Malaysia to make me sushi so I waited until Singapore.  And this time around I actually had time to go and eat it!

Included with the blog post are pictures, one of which has me wearing my fanny pack!

Love you guys so much, do something worthwhile, and make sure you are having fun doing it!

Photos

 Branch activity at the beach, I got buried alive and then they got creative...

 This is with Dick and Martha, my 2 most favorite people in Malaysia.  They took us to steamboat BBQ, all you can eat.

 This was the last day I was in Kuching, got to spend it with some of my favorite people ever!  Brother Martin BBQ'd up some wings and pork, so great!

This is the most beautiful  beach ever in Kuching, best 1 hour hike to get there too!

Missionaries!

So this week has me excited for two of my house mate's birthdays!  YES.  It means birthday cake and good food for a couple of days.  Anyway, apart from that, I am just really excited to hear that some of my cousins might be headed out on a mission a little bit earlier than I had previously expected. With 40+ cousins I am confident that at least 1 of them will go to the same mission as me.  Congrats to Britney, Brandon, Kyle, and Kayla that are going to be making that decision very soon!  I hope they choose to serve, greatest thing ever.  So, back to me, nothing much going on.  I get to go to Singapore next week, best paid vacation in the mission (don't tell anyone I said that).  Also, I may or may not be investing in some attack equipment as my companion and I try to fend off this especially ravenous pack of dogs.  One idea that my companion's dad had was to fill pray bottles with ammonia and spray the heck of the mangy dogs.  I like the idea.  I also like kicking them in the face.  Knock on wood, but I have yet to get bitten by one.  Well, send me any ideas that you might have about how I can inflict the most amount of pain with the littlest mess and expense.  For anyone that knows me I never was a softy for animals (I credit this to my animal-hating mother (I love her though)), and that has just gotten stronger as I see the state of animal care in Malaysia.  There are stray dogs everywhere.  And the ones that actually have owners still look disgusting, in fact most of them look like chupacabras, hairless nasty looking things.  

Anyway, on another note, its durian season, and anyone who knows what that means can cringe with me.  If you don't know what a durian is, look it up.  If you ever have to try one, you might vomit.  It has the texture of baby poop and tastes like a rancid onion.  The smell... open to interpretation, just imagine the worst smell in the world.  

On another note, I am contemplating my next lifestyle purchase.  After the fanny pack was such a success I’ve sort of hit a brick wall.  If anyone has any ideas please shoot me an email.  I’m always trying to spice up my life within the confines of missionary conduct ;)

Love you all, have fantastic day!  Jaga diri baik baik!  Tidak lama lagi saya balik, tuju bulan sahaja.  menyediakan hadiah ok? :) main main sahaja.  Wow, I just tried to put that in Google translate and it failed...

Jungle Trekking

So I didn't write a blog post last week because I was on a bus... for 18 hours.  I thought that I was going to die, it was that painfully boring and uncomfortable.  So, this week I got transferred to Miri, the northern city of Sarawak.  Kuching, the area I was previously serving in was the southern city of Sarawak.  If you look at a map you might think that the distance between the two cities is not very much, and you would be right.  But what a map cannot tell you is how undeveloped the road system is.  It is like jungle trekking in a bus.  The roads have so so so so so many pot holes, it’s amazing that the buses can actually function.  But to make things worse, last Monday, the day I took the bus, was a public holiday, so the buses were full.  I think I got one of the last tickets on the bus, and it happened to be the crappiest bus company too.  Anyway, the experience was horrible, I have never been more uncomfortable in my entire life, and did I mention in was 18 hours!

Well, the very next day I have a flight to go back to Kuching!  The only reason that I took a bus to Miri was so that I could drop my stuff off, get 4 hours of sleep and then take off in the morning back to Kuching.  I stayed in Kuching for one day and one night and it was so great. I got to see all the people that I had to give rushed good byes to, and spend some quality time in the city I love!  After that, the following day I had a flight to Singapore to pick up a new missionary and take him back to Miri.  Singapore is always great, love it there, it’s like a mini Tokyo.

So here I am in Miri, a new area, no investigators, a new missionary that doesn't speak the language, and little to no idea what to do.  Love you guys!

Fanny Pack

I bought a fanny pack today.  I know.  But it is so worth it.  Its blue.  Double zipper + internal department zipper.  Nike.  Water resistant cordura technology.  Looked cool on the manikin.  I love it, it takes all the weight off my back, no more sweating back that never dries until you go home and take a shower.  No more sore shoulders or back.  And best of all it forces my companion to take all the teaching materials :)  Day one of ownership=total consumer satisfaction.  I will tell you though, the switch to the fanny pack was not an overnight decision, it took contemplation and eventually a leap into the unknown.  I have had my eye on the particular fanny pack that I purchased for quite some time.  Every time I walk into the store I tell myself that I am going to buy it, but never do.  It turns into a vicious cycle of desire, determination, and then no follow through.  I always walk out of the store empty handed.  Today was a different day, my fanny pack was 25% off, it beckoned me and I answered with a definitive and resounding YES.  For the first time, and not the last, I am the proud owner of a fanny pack.  The versatility and style go hand in hand to create the perfect "stuff" carrier.  I would be doing you all a disservice if I did not recommend the fanny pack to all of you.  It’s not for everyone though, and I think I might have to put a caution label with my father's name on it :) Love you dad, but the fanny is not for you.

Anyway, life is good as always, fun is always within desire's reach, and I desire a lot of it!  Love you guys a lot, hope you guys love life, have a great week.

Identity Crisis

So for those of you that really know me, you know that my nationality has been in question for a long time.  Am I Asian, Jewish, Mexican, Filipino, very difficult to say.  This makes it really easy to fake my nationality here in Malaysia.  Whenever I speak Malay people are always taken aback, they don't know what to think of me being able to speak their language.  According to most people, I almost look Malaysian, but not quite.  As I have been in the sun biking for quite a few months now, I have gotten a lot darker.  The other thing is, there are so many races here in Malaysia, and all of them look so different.  Just to name a few there are; Malays, Ibans, Bidayuh, Penan, Melanau, Sungai, Dusun, Katazan, Chinese, Filipino, Tamil, Nigerian, and so many more!  Anyway, I’ve been getting in the habit of telling people I’m from Sabah, the northern state on the island of Borneo.  I get tired of having to explain my nationality, because Japanese-American is the last thing that people expect me to tell them.  For some reason they just can't see it.  So I tell people I am Katazan or Dusun, it works every single time!  They generally say something like: Patut lah kamu pandai cakap bahasa.  Oh betul, mukah kamu macam orang Sabah lah!  Sometimes people don't really see it.  First they ask me, is your father white?  I say no.  Is your mom white?  I say no.  Then they ask me if there was a scandal in my family... I laugh and tell them no.  In the end though, they always believe that I am a fellow Malaysian.  After that, me being able to speak Malay is normal to them and life is good.

I also have this picture album of my family that I carry around and show my everyone.  The first thing that they always say is wow, your mom looks Chinese!  I say, well, she is Japanese, sort of close.  They then say, oh of course, of course.  Then they see a picture of Misha and they say she looks Korean, they also ask me if she is Korean.  Then they see another picture of my mom and they say she looks Chinese.  It take a few rounds of me telling them that they are both Japanese before it really sinks in with some people.  And EVERY SINGLE TIME people think Misha is my older sister by about 4 years.

Well, that is my life here in Malaysia.  I have officially integrated myself into the culture to the point that people think I am one of them.  Now I just need to ditch my super white companions and the transformation will be complete!  haha  Well have a great day and don't forget to pray!

Rainy Day

So today was my p-day and we had a great zone activity where we played badminton.  Naturally I won, and was crowned badminton champion.  It was a competitive last match, but my competitive nature kicked into gear and there is that.  Anyway, the excitement of the day came after we played.  We were all getting ready to head back when it started to rain, really hard.  Within 10 minutes the streets were an inch in water.  We were waiting it out but it wasn't looking like it was getting any better, so we just got on our bikes and left.  We are a 40 minute bike ride from our house... it was brutal.  By the time we started biking the water level was up to our feet on our bikes.  But the story gets better.  About 10 minutes into biking it starts to thunder and lighting.  As we were pulling out of a stop light, a massive thunderbolt strikes, and I thought I was going to die, because it was so close.  You could feel your hairs rise!  Anyway, the thunder was so loud that all the cars in the parking lot next to the road started going off, it was great!  It never stopped raining as we biked home, in fact it got stronger.  And every time I heard thunder, I thought I was going to die.  The water eventually got too deep for motorcycles, and then for cars.  Lucky us, we had our bikes.  It’s probably the only time I have ever been thankful to have a bike rather than a motorcycle.  Everyday I curse every motorized vehicle that passes me, as I struggle with every hill in this massive sauna called Malaysia.  Riding bikes for 2-4 hours a day is really fun.  Being so sweaty you look like you are wet is really fun.  No one we ever meet has air conditioning, so sometimes we take refuge in the ATM rooms until the police officer tries to tell us to go... but can't speak English.  So we play dumb and stay a few more minutes, it’s actually quite funny, playing the white-man-card is very effective.  Although, I am getting dark enough now that sometimes people think that I’m a native... good thing my companion is the whitest person I’ve ever met :)   Anyway, it was the most enjoyable bike ride I have ever had in my entire life, I was wet, actually felt cold, and the fastest on the road :)  Oh, and the cemetery next to our house flooded, it looks really creepy. And the last 10 minutes of the bike ride I may or may not have taken my shirt off.  I got a lot of strange looks, but I never felt more free, and cold, absolute bliss.