Welcome to Sarawak

After being in Kuala Lumpur (KL) for more than two weeks, I feel as though I've just now arrived in Malaysia. Orientation in KL was comprehensive and fun, and super American. There are 98 of us English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) here in Malaysia after all, so it would have been a true challenge to have a fully Malaysian orientation experience when surrounded by other English speaking, Chaco wearing, liberal minded, young Americans for two weeks straight. I don't say that as though it was a bad thing, though. It was nice to be around a bunch of people my age with similar goals, who are about to face similar challenges while living and teaching English in rural Malaysia.

Yesterday, along with fifteen other ETAs placed in the Malaysian state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo, I arrived in the state capital, Kuching. This is our first time in Malaysia without the Malaysian-American Commission on Educational Exchange (MACEE, the people that help Fulbright ETAs thrive in Malaysia) to guide us through orientation. We didn't receive many details about our arrival in Borneo, but soon as we stepped out of the Kuching airport, we were greeted by about twenty smiling faces, our mentors for the year, who put a red, black and yellow beaded necklace around each of our necks; "Welcome to Sarawak. These beads represent your new home".

This morning, we were sent to various schools to observe the teaching styles and classroom management techniques of experienced teachers. Upon arriving at our assigned school, my peers and I were welcomed by a live performance by some musically talented students. The principal welcomed our group by serving us breakfast and coffee (despite having just eaten half an hour earlier) and then proceeded to take us around the school, introducing us to various teachers and students. I felt like a minor celebrity. Every class we walked by would wave to us and say, "Good morning!", followed by giggling and blushing. After the extensive school tour, we were brought back to the conference room, where we ate lunch and the principal gave us each two gift bags full of Sarawakian goodies. Leaving the school, we posed for photo upon photo. Three young men proclaimed their love to me. My roommate, Josephine, and I were asked to pose for a picture with the young physical education teacher, while his young students giggled and said "Awwww!", as if the three of us had just done something terribly romantic. Soon enough, we were whisked away, back to our hotel in Kuching where we had a safety briefing from a high ranking police officer who offered this advice: "wear whatever you want, just don't go out naked". Following the informative safety briefing, a representative from the office of tourism told us about all the incredible adventures that await us in Sarawak (COME VISIT ME!). Then, we did the Sarawakian version of the electric slide. Welcome to Malaysia.

Some of the students at the secondary school I visited today.

This blog, "Uprooted", is not an official Fulbright Program site. The views expressed on this site are entirely those of its author and do not represent the views of the Fulbright Program, the U.S. Department of State, or any of its partner organizations. 

May the sun shine warm upon your face

At last, I am in Malaysia. I have loved traveling for the last few months, but I have come to a point in this journey at which I am very content knowing that I will soon be moving into my new home where I will live for a whole ten months. Still, I do not know exactly where this now home is. I have known since April that I would be moving to Malaysia this year, but it wasn't until two days ago when I found out which region of the country I'll be living in. My placement is in the state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo. I am quite happy with this. I had requested to be on Borneo, as there is plenty of access to the outdoors and the populations I will be working with will be very racially and religiously diverse. I will find out on Tuesday my specific placement within Sarawak. For now, I'm in Kuala Lumpur learning how to navigate the upcoming ten months of cultural exchange as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA). 

Moving around so much this year has had its challenges and rewards. For the last few months it was a rarity to know in which town and which hostel I would be sleeping the following night. I've met new friends every single day, and I've said goodbye to more people than I would have liked to. This uncertainty and spontaneity has forced me to break a bad habit of romanticizing the future too much. With such an absurd itinerary, I've gotten more comfortable with living in the present and trusting that the future will be okay without my constant attempts to shape it into something perfect that I will inevitably be disappointed with. As I settle into my knew life here in Malaysia, I know I will struggle to maintain a "live in the moment" mindset. I expect to miss people and home, wherever that may be, and living in a new culture will be exhausting at times. I have a goal to work through the hard days without removing myself from my present situation too much. I'm sure that's easier said than done...

For those of you I've had to part ways with this year, I'd like to share with you an Irish blessing my paternal grandma kept around the house:

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back. 
May the sun shine warm upon your face; 
the rains fall soft upon your fields 
and until we meet again, 
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

I made a table

I wish I could say that I built a table with my own two hands out of a Douglas fir tree that I sustainably harvested, but I didn't. I don't have that skill set. Instead, I made a table with information and advice about most of the countries I visited this fall and winter. These places all deserve more than a few brief blurbs but heyyo this girl has not found the time to do that yet. Keep in mind this is purely based on my personal experiences of being in each country for a range of 1 to 3 weeks. Let me know if you want to hear more about a specific place or experience! Posts about Malaysia to come ASAP.

	Food	Sleep	Transportation	Safety	Other notes
Colombia	Lots of rice, fish, chicken, fresh fruits and veggies. Super cheap and delicious!	Cheap (US$7-10/night), and overall beautiful hostels! My favorite was Casa Elemento above Minca.	The cities of Bogota and Medellin both have impressive public transportation systems. Between cities, I mostly took night buses, on which I did not sleep very well (or not at all).	Lots of unpleasant sexual harassment on the streets, particularly in Cartagena.	I learned to pay only for 1 night at a time at a hostel here. You don’t want to be stuck in a dorm that shares a wall with a noisy club with a bunch of cocaine snorting roommates for 2 nights when you have food poisoning  :(
Bolivia	An abundance of rice and fried chicken. Quality ketchup in American establishments.	Cheap ($4-10) hostels. It is a pleasant surprise if your dorm has outlets and an even better surprise if the bathrooms have hot water, lights, hand soap, and toilet paper!	Lots of super cheap comfy buses with plenty of legroom. By the time I arrived in Bolivia, I’d decided to avoid night buses at all costs. I listened to many political podcasts and watched the scenery pass by. I recommend this.	Besides being groped in La Paz, I felt pretty safe in Bolivia. Of course, as for most cities worldwide,  I would never walk alone at night and I kept my valuables close. Of course, always listen to the locals’ advice.	Bring your own toilet paper with you everywhere!!!!! My sleeping bag liner came in handy here, as cleanliness varied a lot between the super budget hostels.
Peru	CEVICHE! Yummy vegetarian restaurants in Lima and Cusco.	My lodging ranged from nice, warm hostel dorms ($8-15) to freezing cold sleeping bags and tents on treks. Bring your own gear!	Lots of long, uncomfortable bus and van rides to get places… However, the places those vehicles are taking you are amazing and upon arrival you will probably be hiking a long distance so it’s totally worth the drive.	Being a blonde woman travelling alone didn’t seem to attract as much attention in Peru as it did in other places. That was nice.	For most treks, you can go with our without a guide. Either way, I recommend bringing at least your own sleeping bag because the gear provided by guiding companies was oftentimes not sufficiently warm enough when sleeping at 4000m or so elevation.
Iceland	So expensive (compared to South America)  that I ate milk and cereal and PB&Js the entire time.	The most affordable hostel I could find in Reykjavik was around $30/night.	RENT A CAR!! So much cheaper and flexible than bus tours.	Probably the safest place I’ve ever been in my entire life.	Iceland is such a naturally beautiful country! I hope to return in a time of year when there is more daylight and when I am not on such a tight budget.
United Kingdom	Delicious food carts where I ate my weight in gourmet mac & cheese. I had to, word is there’s not much cheese in Malaysia.	Lucky for me, I stayed with my good friend, Robyn, who was studying abroad in London.	Pretty solid public transportation, but there were tons of strikes while I was visiting, which caused some unfortunate delays on the metros and trains.	I never felt unsafe, but London but I was with friends who knew the area the entire time.	There are ways to get into cool things for free! For example, instead of paying for a tour of Westminster Abbey, Robyn took me to the free Evensong service which ended up being a my favorite part of my visit.
United Arab Emirates	Finally momma’s home cookin’! Best food EVER! Plus yummy Thai and Indian restaurants.	I stayed in my parents’ apartment. It was excellent. They let me stay there for free since I’m their favorite daughter.	Public transport is a little know and under utilized amenity in the UAE (at least in Dubai and Abu Dhabi). Taxis are also pretty cheap. Walking can be challenging because sidewalks only exist in some places.	I felt completely safe here.	As with travelling anywhere else, it is important to be mindful of the cultural norms of the place you are visiting. In the UAE, a Muslim country, that means dressing extra conservatively at all times when in public.