Week 22: May 14 to 20

We have been here 5 months now! It is getting to the stage where things I was taking photos of and writing about at first are becoming everyday kind of things, like swimming, going out for lunch and dinner and shopping at the many malls. So I thought as well as a quick rundown of anything new or exciting in our week, I would write a bit about life in Malaysia. This week I will talk about language.
English is widely spoken here and it's easy to get away with knowing no, or very little Bahasa. However sometimes little things like ordering a pizza over the phone, or rescheduling an appointment can feel like an ordeal. As most of you know Steve did a language course before we came. When we first got here and he used Bahasa a bit, people would have a little laugh and he wasn't sure if they were laughing at him. We have since learnt that they are just surprised and happy that he knows some Bahasa. The kids both do Bahasa at school and are picking it up quite well. However, even for Steve there is a big difference between knowing the words and following a conversation, especially with the speed they speak and the fact that they use a lot of slang and shortened words.
I am the one in our family who knows the least, but some of the words and phrases I have picket up include:
Terima kasih (thank you) which will be answered with sama sama (you're welcome)
Numbers 1 to 10: satu, dua, tiga, empat, lima, enam, tujuh, lapan, sembilan, sepuluh.
Tandas (toilets)
Lelaki (man)
Perempuan (lady)
Tidak (no)
Sedikit saja (a little bit) - Steve says this one a bit when people ask him if he speaks Bahasa
Suda makan (already eaten)
Most road signs are in Bahasa or both Bahasa and English, so we learnt berhenti (stop), awas (beware), keluar (exit), masuk (enter) pretty quick.
A lot of words have no Bahasa eqivalent, so they use the English word, but spell it how they think it sounds Teksi is taxi, and they pronounce 'c' as 'ch' and 'k' as 'c' so chocolate is spelt cokolat. 

This week was assessment week at school for Lachlan. He had a test for every subject, but has his clarinet assessment next week and golf assessment the week after.
Thursday night Steve and I went to a beer festival. It was on all weekend, but Steve won tickets just for the Thursday night. It was ok, they had a good band that played 80s music. We met a really nice British couple and spent most of the night talking to them.
Friday I went to the High Comm for a security brief (there was an expat boy recently abducted on his way to school and held for ransom in KL) and morning tea.
Friday night we had drinks and pizza by the pool with Mel and her husband. It is a shame they are leaving soon, they are lovely people. We organised a barbecue for next weekend with them.
The weekend was pretty quiet. We had to get booster shots on Saturday morning, then Lachlan went to Ryans after lunch for a sleepover birthday party. He did rock-climbing on Saturday afternoon and they went to watch the Avengers on Sunday. Steve, Danae and I went out for lunch Sunday, then took Danae to get her nails done.

We are getting excited about Mum and Dad coming, it is less than a month now. We are really looking forward to having visitors to show around. Any of our friends and family are welcome to come and stay, I got an email from airasia, Asia's budget airline and flights from Sydney are as low as $200 each way.

I am sorry for the lack of photos this week. I will try to take more next week.