Daily Life and School

7 weeks in Malaysia, how time flies! 

It feels like a longer time though, Switzerland seems so far away already, maybe because I could learn experience and see so many new things in just a month that it fills a whole diary...About this country, its culture and I guess about myself too. I am sorry that I didn’t updated this blog as often as promised but there are always so many things going on here and so much to tell that I was just too lazy to put it all in words.

So where should I start...

After the holidays and my first school days, I guess, I slowly, slowly adjust and get used to living in Malaysia. After the Arrival and the first weeks of Settling in, the everyday life begins.

Good days and not so good days.

 There are moments where I am so happy to be here that I could hug the whole world, but also moments where I am just homesick and tired.

 But the good moments clearly prevail and make every day to something I do not want to miss!

School started three weeks ago and I really like to go there, even when the school rules are a little stricter here. (What a confession ;))

Every morning I wake up at 6 a.m. and ride to school with the bicycle which is pretty much the only place where I can go by myself and I enjoy this little freedom even if cycling isn’t my favorite exercise (especially when it is 30 degrees and in long school uniform).  But I can see the sunrise almost every day and sometimes I even see a monkey or like last week, a big lizard (1 m  for sure ) walking across the street and that is totally worth it !

 Every  Monday morning we have a big morning assembly,  it is still a special feeling to sit there in my white blue school uniform with all the other students and listen to the morning prayer of the Muslims, the announcements of the principal and the teachers ( in Malay)  and to sing the National and School Anthem. The school is quite big, with over 800 students and maybe 80% are Malay, the others mostly Indian or Chinese but we are only two exchange students. It feels weird to be the only blonde girl in a whole school but my friends here say it is a good thing because  it is easier  to find me when I go lost in the corridors (happens quite often).

First day of school :) 

School trip to a Roboworldcup :D 

                                                                                                                                                                    

 I am in Science Stream because these subjects are officially in English but they seem to be further in all subjects than in my old school so it is quite a challenge. Two totally new topics for me were Morals and Civics, regrettably in BM so I don’t understand much yet. The teachers go much faster through all the topics here because the time we spend in school is shorter here (everyday till 1 p.m.) and that is why almost every student goes after school to additional tuition to learn and understand the subjects better. Having good grades (resp. to have the best grades) is much more important here than in Switzerland, a lot more of competition.

  When the teacher comes in, we stand up as a sign of respect and say:”Assalammualaikum Cekgu” and the Muslims have a short prayer called “doa belajar”. These are quite big differences to my old school but I got used to it quite fast... (But I have to admit, I still forget to stand up sometimes).

One of the best things here is the school canteen. You get a whole plate of noodles, rice, soup, drinks, snacks or chicken nuggets and everything costs only 1 RM. One RM! That is like 0.30 Francs and so cheap compared to the school food in Switzerland. I could actually eat 16 and a half plate here for one plate of Pasta back home. Really really awesome.

 Anyway one thing seems to be the same like everywhere, the students.  I guess in the end most teenagers all over the world laugh talk and worry about the same things and through the invention of the internet we also know the same songs, TV-series, movies and YouTube videos. I am very happy that most people on my school are so welcoming and interested and so I could make friends quite fast :) They help me to understand the rules and intricacies of their culture ,teach me in Malay or traditional games like”Cikupang”, tell me Malaysian Ghost stories (they have a loooot even about our own school) or so called “pantang larangs” old Malay taboos/sayings.

 I wrote my favorite ones down for you:

Pantang Larang:

•  Unmarried women shouldn’t sing in the kitchen otherwise they will marry an old man
•  If you laugh too much all education will fly out of your mouth ( there cannot be much left in my head in that case) 
•  If three people take a picture together, one will die first. 

The last one is definitely my favorite . ;))  

 I wish you a wonderful week and hope you enjoyed reading .

Sincerely Hannah 

Short Holiday Summary. 3.8. - 18.8

A month ago the Hari Raya began, the biggest festival for Muslims where they celebrate the end of their fasting month Ramadan. It lasts for a whole month and they celebrate together with family, friends and neighbors and return to their Kampung (village) to meet and forgive each other. In many ways it is quite similar to Christmas.

 In this time, especially in the first week of Raya , every house is open for friends and families to visit and eat anytime they want to and this is what we did on the first four days of Raya. 

with my hostfamily on the first day of Hari Raya.

On the first we stayed at home and almost over hundred people come through the whole day for a shorter or longer visit. The next days it was our turn and we visited 3 to 4 different houses a day, mostly relatives and because the families are so big I still don’t really have the overview to know who is who... My family s Kampung lies in the middle of KL surrounded by skyscrapers but still a village. That was really interesting to see, the different houses, to meet many new people and to eat lots of delicious Malay food! Raya is all about eating eating eating.  Yes the food... Before I came here I was afraid I wouldn’t like it but that is now my smallest worry I just love it and in every house were new and different dishes to try so I ended up eating the whole day, alternately traditional Malay food and cookies. Regrettably then my Malay wasn’t good enough to get at least the topics of all the conversations but I enjoyed it anyway and I learn new words every day.

2nd day of Raya :)

my family's Kampung in KL 

Then in the second week of the Raya holidays I went on the first trip with my family, to Kuantan and then further to Terengganu.

 We visited friends and family in two Malay villages, with the traditional wooden houses, ate fresh Ramputan fruits, went to the Beach, a wonderful small island and even when I got bitten by a jellyfish, I survived and could enjoy my first taste of Durian…yes I like it ;))  The last 3 days we spent at home and my little sister and me went Batik painting and visited together the Batu Caves, a Hindu Temple where we climbed all the 200 steps up to the caves and got our hands painted with Henna. :)

just Malaysia :) 

Pulau Kapas 

 

Batu Caves

Henna :) 

We also went to an "Akad Nikah", which is like the most religious part of the Malay wedding ceremony and it officially brings together a couple in marriage. The ceremony is effectively a verbal contract that takes place between the father of the bride and the groom. It took place  in a small Mosque so I wore for the first time a Tudung, the Headscarf and it was quite an exiting experience.
So that's it,  Post 4 will follow right after this on :)

Akad Nikad