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.

Our Top Ten Countdown: Part IV

Today, our Group Study Exchange officially ends. Before we go off on our next adventures to Melaka and Kota Kinabalu, here's a recap of the Top Ten Things We Appreciate About Our GSE Experience in Malaysia:

10. The Tropical Beauty
9. The Wildlife

8. The Thunderstorms
7. Navigating the Roads
6. The Family-Oriented Culture
5. Multiculturalism
4. The Food!
3. Learning it's a Small World
2. The Generosity of Rotarians

And the number one thing we appreciate about our Malaysian GSE Experience is...

"Lah!"
We love this little word that peppers the conversations in Malaysia. It can be used to drive a point home, or to maintain the levity in a discussion. You can also think of it as the equivalent of the way we use "you know?" at the end of American sentences. We prefer "lah," though, and may even have to bring it with us to the United States!

We felt that the durian deserves an honorable mention here. After much build-up, we all sank our teeth into a big squishy fruit (or tasted the equally pungent ice cream version) and survived. Long live the King of Fruits!

Our Top Ten Countdown: Part III

"What we appreciate about our Malaysian GSE Experience #4: The Food!"

Malaysians have a burning question for our GSE team, and the answer to that question is: "Ya, says suka makanan pedal!" (Yes, I like spicy food!) Whether our utensils are forks, spoons, chopsticks, or our own fingers, we marvel at being in a country where people can have nasi lemak for breakfast, curry mee for lunch, and tandoori for dinner...or second dinner...or third dinner! Rotarians have introduced us to many of the Malaysian delicacies, such as bak kuh teh, durian (king of fruits), laksa, steamboat, and of course, the unofficial national dish....

"What we appreciate about our Malaysian GSE Experience #3: Learning it's a Small World"

Despite being thousands of kilometers away from home, Oregon has managed to find us all the way here in Malaysia. During a layover in Hong Kong, we struck up a conversation with a Malaysian-born, American-adopted student who attends Oregon State University, while at the Batu Caves, we spotted European tourists sporting an Oregon t-shirt.

During one vocational visit, our GSE coordinator arranged to have us visit the Damai Center for people with physical disabilities. The organization was founded by an activist with a disability who had traveled to Oregon about 20 years ago to participate in an exchange program through Mobility International USA, my employer! It truly is a small world.

"What we appreciate about our Malaysian GSE Experience #2: The Generosity of Rotarians"

From Penang to Taiping, from Ipoh to Klang to Temerloh, from Seremban to KL, Rotarians have opened their hearts and homes to the GSE team. The host clubs and host families went above and beyond to make us feel welcome and we appreciate all of the time, money, coordination, and care that our hosts expended to ensure that our stay would be enriching and enjoyable. They went to great lengths to arrange meaningful vocational visits so that we may further our professional development and they showed us sites that have cultural and historical significance to give our trip context. Some of our hosts even saw parts of their own city for the first time! They challenged us to try new flavors, dance moves, and points of view. They also succeeded in proving that Rotarians in Malaysia know how to have fun!

Up until this point, we've covered the top nine things we appreciate most about our GSE experience in Malaysia. That only leaves number one, lah! Any guesses as to what it could be? You'll have to wait until tomorrow, lah!

Our Top 10 Countdown: Part II

"What we appreciate about our Malaysian GSE Experience #7: Navigating the Roads"

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!!!)

Greetings from the Rotary International District 3300 Conference in Seremban!

Following a weekend of fellowship with Rotarians coming from all over District 3300, dressing as cowgirls for Western Night, and dining among Malaysian royalty, the GSE team presented a summary of its reflections on its Malaysian GSE experience thus far to an audience of over one hundred faces, some familiar, some new. We used a David Letterman-style "Top 10 Countdown" format to organize those aspects of our trip that have had the greatest impact on our understanding of Malaysia and on Rotary. Those Rotarians who made it to our presentation (i.e. didn't party as hard as the others still in their hotel rooms!) really enjoyed learning what their American visitors found most compelling about their country.

"What we appreciate about our Malaysian GSE Experience #10: The Tropical Beauty"

 

We admire the tropical climate, tropical fruit, and the tropical colors of Malaysia. When Dorothy visits the Emerald City in the Wizard of Oz, she dons a pair of green-tinted glasses that transform the world around her to various shades of green. Dorothy might have wandered into verdant Oregon, where even the trunks of trees are covered in kelly green moss. Malaysia, on the other hand, is a kaleidoscope of color, from juicy sun-colored papaya and mango to a shimmering palette of punjabi suits in Little India, to the splashes of color on Buddhist and Hindu temples, to fiery hibiscus and the threatening neon of toxic butterflies Even coffee comes in an unexpected color - white!

"What we appreciate about our Malaysian GSE Experience #9: The Wildlife"

The tropical landscape and diversity of vegetation formed a basis for the wildlife in Malaysia. Some of us enjoyed riding the elephants at the elephant sanctuary, while others of us enjoyed being chased around by herds of monkeys, who conspired to steal our purses and glasses. Pam especially appreciated spotting a pair of hornbills through her binoculars during one of her birding outings.

"What we appreciate about our Malaysian GSE Experience #8: The Thunderstorms"

In Oregon, some of us live in areas with consistent light showers, and few of us knew what to expect when we were told we'd be traveling during monsoon season, which turned out to be characterised by clear skies punctuated by fleeting moments of torrential downpours. We tried to play it cool as lightning and thunder set a dramatic stage for our GSE presentation at the Rotary Club of Klang, but even the Rotarians had to laugh when the booming thunder shook our projector!

Check back tomorrow for more Malaysian phenomena that we have come to appreciate!