Honestly, the traffic here scares us a bit. Nonetheless, we can appreciate how skillful one must be to stop within a few centimeters of one another's bumpers after speeding along while motorbikes weave through the labrynth of vehicles. We appreciate a trick that our friend "Moots" taught us when attempting to cross a busy street (a task that strikes fear into the hearts of American jaywalkers from pedestrian-friendly cities): Signal to oncoming cars and motorbikes that you don't wish to be flattened by making a "talk to the hand" gesture. This is the Power of the Palm.
Above all, we appreciate that we're not the ones driving!
"What we appreciate about our Malaysian GSE Experience #6: The Family-Oriented Culture"
Thanks to the homestay aspect of the GSE program, we have learned so much about the different family structures here, and how family-oriented Malaysians tend to be. While a 20-something in the U.S. who still lives with her parents might be considered a deadbeat, young adults in Malaysia may live with their parents and other relatives well beyond high school graduation. Families in Malaysia can be big or small, and they pray, play, and stay together. In some households, as many as four generations may live under the same roof!
"What we appreciate about our Malaysian GSE Experience #5: Multiculturalism"
Only in Malaysia will you be invited to a Tamil wedding at a Halal Chinese restaurant! Only here will you spot both headscarves and saris billowing behind women on motorbikes as they whiz by the mosques, temples, and churches which line the roads.
Here, Malaysians switch fluidly between Tamil, Malay, or a Chinese dialect if they don't want their American visitors to follow the conversation...and most of the time, we don't! Here, everyone knows at least three languages, but the universal phrase is almost always Yaaaaaaam SANG!" (Cheers!!!)
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