Lessons Learned and Advice for Future GSE Teams

It's good to be home! As Team Sungai unpacks their bags and acclimates to the wonders and woes of returning to Oregon (Yay Mexican food! Fie on chapped lips!), another group of young professionals in District 5110 are already beginning to plan for their Group Study Exchange to Italy this spring. I was only too glad to meet this lively group and share some of the tricks that helped our team make it through relatively unscathed. May we present...

2011 Malaysia Lessons Learned and Advice for Future GSE Teams:



Packing:

• Pack your favorite clothes because you will wear them a lot. 
• If your host family line-dries washed clothes, try to get your laundry washed within the first couple of days you arrive so you don't risk having to pack damp clothes when it's time to leave.

Things to keep in your day pack:

• Bring a small stack of business cards with you everywhere. If you need to follow-up with someone about something, make a note of it on the business card they give you to jog your memory later. A small business card holder can be helpful for collecting cards each day. Including your blog link or Facebook page would be a good idea. 
• Jot down names of people and places or other notes that you may want to write about in a blog post
• Bring a small photo album with pictures of your house/neighborhood/work/family/activities to keep in your bag to aid you when talking about your life at home.
• A small map of the U.S. is helpful for showing where Oregon is in relation to other states.
• Essentials: water bottle, tissues or wetwipes
• Small gifts 

Gifts (giving and receiving) 

• If you think you will have four host families, bring enough gifts for five in case you have an unexpected additional homestay.
• Examples of gifts we brought were colorful maps of Oregon/our hometowns, Oregon puzzles, Oregon calendars, honey sticks, vacuum-sealed salmon (although this was met with puzzled looks), Ansel Adams coffee table book. Smaller gifts for people we met on a whim included pins, pens and freebies from work (especially for vocational visits).
• In your daily travel bag, bring a stash of small gifts to present to people who host/receive you at cultural, vocational, or other kinds of visits. Keep notecards or Oregon postcards handy so you can write brief thank you notes for larger gestures or favors.
• Any room in your suitcase resulting from giving away your gifts will eventually be filled by gifts you receive in return.

Team time:

• The time you have with your team to plan or meet may be limited! When we were pressed for time, we had to discuss team tasks at inopportune times, such as during a walking tour or during a social event. Long bus or train rides were sometimes helpful.
• Determine how each of your team members make decisions with groups. Does someone stand out as a good facilitator? A good note-taker? Someone to keep time? If possible, everyone should keep their mobile phones handy in case your team needs to make a decision when not physically together (e.g. what outfit to wear today, who's bringing the bannerettes, etc.)

Rotary presentations:

• An interesting, creative, and polished presentation that lasts no more than 30 minutes exactly will be appreciated.
• Serious business attire required for Rotary meetings, but nothing Malaysia specific. Skirts to the knees are fine. Black is fine.
• Who will be in charge of finding out about ensuring that a laptop or other equipment will be provided at the meeting?
• Who will bring club bannerettes? Who will bring/distribute team brochures/pamphlets, etc?

Malaysia-specific considerations:

• It will be just as helpful to pick up some Tamil, Cantonese and Mandarin as it will be to learn Bahasa Malay. The same for studying up on the geography and people groups of India and China, so that when you meet Malaysians who say "my family came from such-and-such place," you have some knowledge about that. Also some context for Indian, Chinese, and Malaysian names would be useful- how family names are passed down, etc.
• Slip on shoes are nice to have because you take your shoes off every time you enter a residence, as well as some stores and museums and most temples. On and off all day long.
• Wear cotton!

A Parting Shot

Going for a ride in Melaka

The last week of GSE went by fast! After the District Conference we were hosted two nights in Seremban. Our full schedule included a Rotary Club meeting, day trip to the historic city of Melaka, and a fellowship dinner with GSE alumni and the newly-selected inbound team that evening. Then hosted two nights in Kuala Lumpur and *poof* it was over. Good-bye! Dan was bound for Melaka to renew friendships he formed during his Peace Corps service there in the 1960s, and the rest of us were on a plane to Borneo!

I extended my stay there for a full two weeks during which I visited beaches near Kota Kinabalu and trekked in Gunung Mulu National Park. Truly a memorable experience, finally realizing a childhood dream to visit a real tropical rain forest!

Trek to the Pinnacles in Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak

Now that it is over, I'd like to a take a parting shot at what this this tour of cultural understanding was all about: not just learning how Malaysians do things differently (or the same), but learning that there is not just one way of doing things. From the simple eating of rice and curry with your hand ("it just tastes better" we were advised) to the family support systems that have grandparents and married adult children living in the same household, we had an opportunity on this exchange to become not just acquainted, but even adjusted, to norms that were different than we grew up with.

Though challenging at times, growing as a conscientious person is learning that the rules you thought were hard and fast are not actually rules. Out of that maturing comes openness and acceptance, which make the way for dialogue and compassion... on track toward world peace.