Thursday, March 10, 2011

Booked

     Today is the first official short sleeve day here in Denver. The wind is calm, the sun has been out all day, and even wearing a hoodie is uncomfortable. Some are even wearing shorts. The skate park across the street not only contains its normal patrons of pot dealers and bros looking to get sponsored, but also the families and even a few people who got off work early (the Dockers are a dead giveaway). I'm not too sure what the temperature is, probably in the mid 60s if I had to guess, but I don't really care. It is gorgeous out. Why am I not outside you ask? The answer is simple, I'm a graduate student. However, Nina (my dog) forces me to pull away from my work and enjoy at least part of the day.

     All of this is a simple reminder that within two short months, Denver will be a far, far away place. I'll be in a new environment with a new language and a new cultural system. This dry, 60 something warm day will be a thing of the past. As of yesterday I'm officially going to Malaysia. I bought a plane ticket, non-refundable, non-transferable. I am all in baby.

     The number one thing I am worried about this summer is adjusting to the humidity. As an American, I really don't know what humidity is. Ya ya, I know many of you are saying - what about the deep south? The Florida Keys? Yes, those areas are humid, and yes I have been to many of those places. I'm talking about hardcore humidity. The punch-to-the-gut humidity that hits you the second you step off a plane in any region between the tropics. The kind of humidity that overwhelms you, makes you want to take a cold shower 4 times a day, and is completely inescapable. The kind where you can smell and feel the vegetation breathe. The last time I experienced such a thing was my arrival in Iquitos, Peru the start of my 5 day stay in the Amazon. It's one thing to tolerate something for 5 days, but it's another to live in it for a summer. I will be 3 degrees north of the equator where the temperature is about 80 degrees with 80-90% humidity at all times. Fortunately, unlike the Amazon, air conditioning in KL is rather common; unfortunately (and also unlike the Amazon), I will be enduring the punches in business clothes. I understand it is all a part of the experience, don't get me wrong. However, I'm already going to be that crazy, pasty, white girl. I just don't need to be known as the smelly sweaty one as well.

     The beginning of this experience has also reminded me of just how time consuming moving to another country really is, even if it is temporary. Moving to Denmark required quite a lot of planning, but as I say, the bigger the body of water you cross, the more that is involved. Compound that with being a full time graduate student taking 5 classes and the to-do list is never ending. It's a happy kind of busy though, an enjoyable busy (except contacting health insurance companies...just don't get me started) the kind of busy that you just know is going to pay off, so don't think I'm complaining.

     Among this list is something extra that I have made as a goal for myself - to learn a little bahasa Melayu, or Malaysian. I'm not just talking about what a tourist to any country should know. Please, especially if you are an American (notorious for being the more ignorant of the tourist community) at least learn to say 'please,' 'thank you,' 'hello', 'goodbye,' 'cheers,' and if you are getting the hang of it 'yes' and 'no.' My goal in Malaysia is to not be shy and divert to English all the time. Now, this is a significant challenge for me. Those who know me (or will soon learn through this blog) know that I barely have a grasp on my own language, let alone a foreign one. Despite my inherent disabilities in the language department, I have found bahasa Melayu to be a relatively easy language to get the hang of. I've been using a website with audio files and 64 lessons in bahasa Melayu. There are no crazy intonations like Chinese, there are no verb conjugations, to make a word plural you say it twice, and words like 'I,' 'me,' and 'my' are all the same word (forgive me, I don't remember the technical terms of each of those pronoun derived subsets). Furthermore, the sounds of the language are ones that someone who speaks languages of latin or germanic origin can actually pronounce. I can actually say quite a lot, hopefully I'll eventually learn how to say 'speak slower' so I can communicate in day-to-day life.


     As I sit here writing, the to do list isn't getting any shorter. It's back to the grind for me. Until next time.

M

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