Acclimating To A New Culture

I'm having to learn lots of new things here, including a new way to point.  Instead of pointing at something with an index finger, Malaysians point by holding their right hand in a fist with the thumb on top (like you're about to give a thumbs-up sign) and using the tip of the thumb to point at the person or thing.  The only exception is when pointing to Allah (God), and for that they use the index finger.

Here's a sad discovery: dogs are considered dirty here, and so I'm not going to be able to bring pictures of my dog Cocoa to show to my class.  However, pigs have it good in Terengganu since the Muslim religion forbids the consumption of pork.

Another interesting cultural thing is that during presentations, it seems that it's common to show funny (and completely irrelevant) pictures or short video clips to break up the lecture.  I don't know if this practice really is prevalent, but the last two presenters that we've had have both done this.  The first guy showed us a series of funny, inspirational quotes and photos to conclude his talk.  Then, today, the speaker showed two videos, one of two middle-aged American women getting into a fight with their cars in a Wal-Mart parking lot, and the second of painful looking bowling bloopers.  They were completely unrelated to his topics (Islam and Malaysian politics) and nobody could really figure our their purpose.  We all kept laughing at the situation, but I think the speaker thought we were laughing at the clips so he appreciated it.

Other recent events worth mentioning:

Yesterday Ezra, Sarah, Mike, Jackie, Ellie, and I were wandering around town and we came to a boat that was taking people somewhere, but we couldn't tell where the boat was going.  We asked the guy at the ticket booth where the boat would take us, but he kept saying, "One ringet, one ringet," so we weren't able to get much information.  We decided to get on anyway, and it turned out to be a water taxi across the river to a more suburban area of town.  The driver was this old Malay guy with no teeth, but he was awesome and was steering the boat with his foot while using his hands to guide the boat as well.  We were very impressed.

 

It was a funny situation because the six of us were so excited to be on the boat and kept taking pictures and laughing, and the other people on the boat were looking at us like we were crazy because they obviously ride on this boat all the time and it's no big deal to them at all.  When we reached the other side, we explored the area and found a group of boys -- they were probably about 7 or 8 years old -- riding their bikes. They started showing off and doing wheelies for us and kept following us, smiling big and eager to pose for pictures.

We're also still working on the language thing.  Yesterday Ellie was trying to find the women's restroom in a restaurant.  She knows a little Malay, but got nervous and so instead of asking, "Where is the women's bathroom?" she asked, "Where are the men?"  Way to support the Terengganu opinion that American women have no morals, Ells.  :)

As a side note, we are really lucky to have Internet access here in the hotel.  In fact, they installed wireless Internet especially for our group's stay, and I'm so thankful.  I have loved getting to talk on Skype with George, Susan, my parents, Taylor, and Lori.  I also loved your phone call today, Mom and Dad!  Let's plan another one soon.  If anyone wants to give me a call, to reach my cell phone (they call them 'hand phones' here) you dial: 011 (to leave the U.S.) 6 (the Malaysian country code) and 0133012473.  I would love to hear from you!  The best time to call is morning or evening (Malaysia is 13 hours ahead of Eastern time in the U.S.).