What's up with Elisabeth & George?: Penang -- Week 3, Part 1

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Penang -- Week 3, Part 1

I know I'm doing a lot of posts and putting a lot in each post, but I'm trying to catch up so I can just post as things happen. Bare with me, it won't be quite so intensive soon!

Days 15 & 16 - The weekend
What a great weekend! We do... almost nothing. Finally! We hang at the pool for a while on Saturday. Regin's first time in a pool! This is so much fun, and it is the first time since I got here that I say to myself, "I could get used to this."

Then, we head up towards our potential apartment to walk around the area and see what I'll have access to without a car. On the way, we stop and have the most amazing food. Tandoori chicken and buttered naan. Yuuuuuummmmmmm.

We each have a plate (tray) of the stuff with some little side dishes/dips, plus two fruit drinks (smoothies?) plus a huge, 1.5 liter bottle of mineral water, all for about $7. Now we're talking! Both of us go nuts for this food. We'll have to come back here again!

We park near the apartment and walk around. It's right behind Gurney, the Ocean Drive of Penang. It's not quite as ritzy as Ocean Drive perhaps, but it has a bazillion restaurants, people, and cruising cars at night. Get this... the island's only salsa club is one block from our place! And you know what else is? The same restaurant we just had our favorite meal at. Apparently it's a chain! Sad news is... we don't walk very far at all before I'm literally dripping sweat and I am forced to seek refuge at the 7-Eleven. Also, this strip seems like the spot to be, and that sounds fun, but it has traffic all night, and restaurants are open 24 hrs ("24 jam" in Malay) = all-night noise. Hummph!

The next day we hang out at the hotel and relax for a tad. Regin walks for the first time and it's so exciting! Then, we head back to Gurney again and we walk from the apartment to Gurney Plaza (Penang's Cherry Creek Mall -- the ritzier mall in Denver) eat, and walk back. The walk is 13 minutes. So if the day is not too hot (and it usually is) that's totally doable. We try and head in another direction to find the wet market in Pulau Tikus (our suburb, translation: "Rat Island") and though it's closer, you have to cross two major streets to get there, which is both time consuming and seriously life threatening. We go back and eat some of our fave Tandoori chicken & naan. It's not nearly as good as the other place. Bummer!

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How we're doing right now.

April 6th, 2009
Oh man, moving back home has been quite a transition! For Regin especially. It has taken him three months to return to being fully, or almost fully, potty trained. But we're home and happy to be with friends and in an environment where things are easier.

But of course, not everything is easier. George's first day back to work he learned that the company was exiting the business and he and all the other people that work on that product (including all those people he trained in Penang) were told to look for other jobs.

His last day was March 31st. No time for that cozy little 'sabbatical' though; after he finished his last day of work, his family called and told us they are coming (from Florida) for a visit on the 10th! This would be no big deal (other than being terribly exciting) if we were fully moved back in, but of course, until now, we've had VERY little motivation to fully unpack! So now we're preparing the house at warp speed!

You know, I do miss Penang. Hard to say what I miss exactly, because I know it's more than our friends there, but I feel a certain pang. And all the time we were there, other than missing family, friends, easy living, and snow, I never once actually missed 'Colorado.'

When we got back to Colorado, I expected to have a new and complete love for the place. I do appreciate some things a lot more, especially visual things. I see beauty where I didn't before. But it hasn't been the feeling of home that I expected, and I still have some of the same issues with the place. But what I do love IMMENSELY and will always love IMMENSELY is the people we have here. And it's been absolutely amazing to see how Regin has picked right back up where he left off with his loved ones here. There's no doubt in my mind that he somehow remembers them.