Penang -- Week 9 and 10

THURSDAY
There's a message on my phone from George. He sheepishly tells me he's gotten into another accident. His fault again. Rear ended someone, again. Poor carpool buddy, Eric, has to wait ages to go to work today.

I call my cabbie to take me to play-group. It's held early this morning, but despite my efforts, I can't get out early. Even if I could pack everything while Regin is sleeping (if I'm lucky enough that he's sleeping later than me) he eats his breakfast sooooooooooo slooooooooowly, that there is just no way to be out at a decent time unless I don't feed him! Also, I didn't call my cabbie in advance. I was afraid to in case I had to cancel. I called him then canceled on Monday. I'm just beginning to develop my relationship with him and I don't want him to think I'm a flake. He knows I flaked out on another cab driver when we first met. Relationships are so important here, and things are all about the subtleties.

Not calling Cabbie in advance means no timely taxi. By the time I get to play-group, it's really ending. Brandi is there, but she's heading out. Missy (the one who grew up in Indonesia) is hosting, and her son is going down for a nap. We chat for a while, long enough to not be embarrassed to call my cab back and just long enough that Missy has to give me a good solid hint to leave so her son can nap better. Ha! I definitely had it coming, I'm just completely clueless about overstaying my welcome!

The time there was nice. Regin played by himself mostly -- by necessity -- but he also played a little with Missy's three-year-old. We talked some more about life here. It's useful talk for me. I start to get the feel for what is normal. Roaches, normal, geckos, normal, monitor lizards (if you have a house with a yard near water), normal, things falling apart, normal. Missy tells me the newer houses are no better. They're poorly made, so they have a lot of issues too. That makes her feel better about the house she's in. She tells me that her fridge was freezing everything and when they initially didn't know what was wrong with it, her landlord told her it was because she didn't open the fridge enough!

I told Missy and Brandy about Cory's $20 bottle of ranch. They both say that they've snatched them up for around $2 a bottle. I tell them how I said, "you can make it yourself." And they both answered emphatically, and in unison, "It doesn't taste the same!" They talked about other products they crave and about the pepperonis mailed to them or carried in by visiting family members. Sorry, I feel like I can't identify. But then, I'd probably prefer home-made ranch, and these days I have to make everything from scratch anyway.

I do miss ibuprophin though. And I have been known to carry out suitcases full of packaged goods when leaving the Faroe Islands. And there are absolutely foods there that I'd pay $20 to eat here (and in the States). And it's not like I didn't have my American goods while we lived in England. So I'm a total hypocrite. What can I say?


Week 10
FRIDAY, May 16th
George's work-from-Starbucks day again today. We've given up on the idea of having decent internet at home, even though we have a contract with the company saying they're going to provide us with this awesome, super-fast broadband.

Shanti is working today too. But that is really not much to mention anymore is it?

At lunch time, Carmen calls. She invites me to come to her place; her friend with a young son is also going to be there. George agrees to drive me there before he heads to the mall for whatever wifi will finish his workday.

There are a bunch of kids there at Carmen's and a couple of moms. Carmen's daughter, who is a little bit older, has a bunch of of her school friends there. I'm introduced to Anna, mom of the little boy who might befriend Regin. We hang out in the play room on the third floor. Carmen's house is even more impressive this time than when I last saw it. I tell her I'm getting more jealous.

I'm not sure Regin is all that interested in the other little boy, but then he must be a little older. Maybe two-ish? Anna is nice. Her husband is a missionary, and she knows a fair bit about living here. She's lived here since her first born (her daughter, Carmen's daughter's friend) was two months old! Her son was born here. She's not into the whole natural lifestyle, but she has a friend who flew in a midwife and birthed at home. That's the second time I've heard that. Hmmm...

We have a nice time chatting (though I'm a little out if -- did I eat right this morning?) and Anna offers to drive us home. She plays Christian music in the car. Carmen, don't know if you're reading, but all these wonderful ladies you're setting me up with just happen to be ultra Christian. Are you trying to convert me!?!?! Ha!

In the evening, George and I talk again about the possibility of going to Lankawi for the weekend, it's another long one. Monday is yet another local religious holiday. This time a Buddhist one, Wesak Day. Yay for all the religions in Penang that give George lots of long weekends! We also talk about trying to set some sort of plan for travel outside of Malaysia.

We head to TGI Fridays (sorry, I'm telling you, it's not what I want to eat here, but the western food is easier for me to control) for dinner and spend some time at Borders afterward. Love Borders. (Yes I realize my hypocrisy in this too). It's like a relieving breath of familiar air -- albeit a very cold breath. Last time I went I froze my buns off with the AC. This time I decide to go buy a sweatshirt. I end up at Forever 21. Either they've changed or it's way different here. It's still cheap, though not as cheap, but the clothing is much nicer. The quality looks better, and it's way dressier. The store is also really clean, orderly, and well kept. Forever 21 in the States is a mess. And I'm delighted to find that I have lost enough weight that I can shop here again. My arms fit through the sleeves with ease. Still a little tight around the chest though. But Forever 21 really isn't geared towards lactating moms, so what do I expect?

On to Borders. I try to buy half the travel magazines and about a third of the travel books for our travel planning. George has a fit and we leave with nothing. The irony about all of this is: we're not our hottest selves, financially. I thought that living here would make us practically rich since we'd live for free and our money would go so far. Turns out, you have to plan things a little better back home to live for free, all our old bills are still coming at us, we still haven't sold my car, and in order to rent out our house we have to shell out up to $5k to make it worth renting! Sorry peeps, I don't yet know if all that work you did to help us empty our house was all for naught. It was still hugely appreciated, and you will all have awesome karma for it. In addition to our ongoing expenses, our money here hasn't gone much further than it did at home. We may not even get to travel at all. So really, we're the same as we were, just living with a better view and a worse kitchen.

Hopefully we can get our financial act together before we leave Penang. It would be really sad to miss out on the traveling opportunities. Since I can't legally work here, I can't help by adding some income (so frustrating) but I am inspired to cut a few costs, so I do some online research on travel options. Not nearly as fun or inspiring as flicking trough magazines and books, but it's much cheaper. Also, we're trying to buy as much as we can through the wet market. It's also much cheaper and probably better for us. But dinners out at Fridays don't help us. George's big old steak and my fajita tower aren't going to put us in the poor house, but they aren't going to make us any richer either.