Week 23: May 21 to 27

Another fun week in KL this week.

Tuesday I went to a luncheon to welcome the wife of the new DA, who arrived on the weekend. Then I went shopping for a new pair of swimmers.

Wednesday I was going to go to Chinatown, but ended up going to get a pedicure with Toni instead.

Thursday, Steve was home by 11 so we went and had lunch, then we went down to the school for Junior school Open Day afternoon. Where we spent the afternoon in Danae's classroom. She finished her 'mini beast' and then had to explain what is was, what she used to make it, and what its defence mechanisms were. After school we had a parent teacher interview with Lachlan's teacher. When he found out Steve was a meteorologist, he asked him if he could come into the class to speak in a few weeks, because they studied weather last term.

Friday, Steve was also home a bit early so we went out for lunch, then went looking for birthday presents for a party the kids were going to on Saturday. I had wanted to go to Chinatown in the morning, but tidied up the apartment instead. Then we came home and as Lachlan and Danae got off the bus we rushed off to take Lachlan to the dentist. He has a wobbly tooth and the permanant one is coming through his gum kind of crooked, so I wanted to get it checked out. The dentist said to give it another month, and if it hasn't come out he will need to go back and get it pulled out. Poor thing was in tears, and now wants to eat a lot of apples. We finally found presents, then came home and had a quick swim. We came upstairs for dinner, then had Toni and Michael over for a drink.
Saturday was even busier than Friday. In the morning I did some cooking for later that night. At 11 we went downstairs for the birthday party for the two New Zealand girls, Lucy and Caitlin. Then we came back up to cool down, and do some more cooking. At 4 we went to watch the Adelaide Collingwood game with most of the other High Comm people and met the new DA. We could only stay a while as we had to come back for a bbq we had planned with our new Aussie friends. They had some visitors staying and it was a great night, and a very late night.

Sunday was a quiet day, we all slept in. After breakfast Steve and the kids went for a swim, while I went back to bed with a headache. After lunch Steve did some study, and we all kind of did our own thing. Then we went out for dinner and had some cheap, local food. On the way home, we saw a water and light show in KLCC park. It was really good, we are not sure if it will be a regular thing now. Here is someones youtube video that I found:

I was going to talk a bit about Malaysian food, as it's such a big part of the culture here, but I might save it for another time. I think I've said enough for today. Have a great week!

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.

Week 21: May 7 to 13

Happy Mother's Day for yesterday, especially to Mum, Robyn and Liz. This photo was from last week, but I didn't put it in. The kids wrote me a Mother's Day message and put it on the mother's tree at a store when we were at Midvalley Mall.

 Things got a little more back to normal this week. Steve had his last exam and last 2 assignments due on Monday.
We went out twice for dinner this week, once to the Japanese restaurant here at Dua ( I am surprised it took us this long to try it) and to the German place for schnitzel.

The kids are back into school routine and getting ready for their athletics carnival. They have been practicing in sport and PE and apparently Danae did really well at high jump.

super moon; Danae's outfit (with bed hair); Mother's Day presents; Wendy, Mel and Cathy @Dish; dinner at Kiroshima on tuesday.

 Steve had Friday off, but didn't find out until Wednesday so it was too late to go anywhere. So we went out to Damansara and had a look around the Curve, then went to a brewhouse (that Steve has been wanting to go to for a while) and had lunch and tried some beers. Then we went to IKEA, that was were we parked the car and if you buy something there you get free parking (well that was my excuse anyway!). Then on the way home we went to Lasting Impressions warehouse, they have some really beautiful restored antique Chinese furniture.
When we got home Lacksmi, the lady who does our cleaning, had left an Indian style outfit that her daughter had made for Danae (she asked me last week for her measurements). So sweet!
Friday night we had some drinks by the pool with a few people that we know from Dua and the NZers. I was invited out the next night to a degustation and wine pairing at the steakhouse here at Dua.

Saturday we went shopping around Bukit Bintang because I had a store voucher that needed using before it expired and I wanted to show Steve a sports store I had seen the week before when I was on my own. Here is a run down of what we bought; Diadora thongs for Lachlan ($6); thongs and a running top for Steve ($17); football boots for Lachlan ($8); a pair of sandals for me ($8); swimmers for Danae (would have been $20, but I used my vouchers and only had to pay the remaining $3) and we had Japanese for lunch ($30). I love this place!

Saturday night was fantastic, I went out with Mel (another Aussie, whos daughter goes to school with Lachlan and Danae, but they are moving soon to Dubai), Lachlan's friend Eve's mum (they moved from Dua last week, but are still in KL) and Lachlan's best friend Ryan's mum, Cathy. It was kind of an introduction for the new chef here.

 Mother's Day was lovely, after a bit of a sleep in and a slight hangover, we went to Publika for brunch at Plan B, then some cute handmade markets, some grocery shopping and home for a swim in the afternoon. I was very spoilt with gifts.

Week 20: April 30 to May 6

Oh my goodness this is so late, not because I have been busy but because I have had computer issues and been a bit lazy! So sorry. 

Exam week for Steve this week so mostly late nights and staying home. Exam timetable for Steve was: mon- strategic studies; wed- strategic management; thur- Malaysian foreign policy; fri- International relations. He also had 7 assignments due this week! Having said that though Tuesday was a public holiday (we do get quite a few public holidays here but not that many fall on a Monday or Friday, so we can't get away for the weekend). We did go out for dinner on Monday night. We had heard a few good things about a Mexican restaurant in Ampang ( about a 5 min drive from our place) so we finally went there Monday night. The food and margaritas were really good. I really wanted to try the Wagyu cheeks with foie gras ( for about $30, which is a lot to pay for a meal here) so Steve and I shared it as well as a cheaper meal. It was sooo yummy! The kids had steak and chicken with mushroom sauce, salad and fries.
Tuesday afternoon we had Lachlan's friends Ryan and Wesley over for a play and a swim.
Wednesday and Thursday I spent time with Toni. On Wednesday we went to IKEA and the shopping centre next door and Thursday we went to a local market in Chow Kit, it was really interesting, but all I bought was 500 grams of mangosteens and a pomegranate, for a total of $3.
Thursday night we went to klcc and had some cheap local food to get out of the house.
Friday I met Steve at the Pavillion and we had lunch together at Malones Irish Bar.
The weekend was spent at home with a few swims in the pool or short trips to the mall to get out of the house and give Steve a break. I did a scrapbook layout, the first one since I have been here.

Week 19: April 23 to 29

A busier week and quieter weekend this week.

Monday, the kids were still on holidays. We met Michelle and her daughters for breakfast at Antipodean, then they came back to Dua for a swim. In the afternoon, after Steve got home from work, Danae and I went to the Kraft Komplex close to our house and did some batik painting.
Tuesday the kids went back to school and I went to Hock Choons for a pedicure, some groceries and flowers, then came home and went to Bukit Bintang for some browsing too.
Wednesday we went to the dawn service at Cheras Cemetary, then the kids went to school and Steve went to work and I got back to Dua in time for zumba class.

Thursday I wasn't feeling great so I just pottered around at home. Friday I got a haircut and Steve and I went out to a brewery with his classmates. We were in the mini bus from the college and it took us over 3 hours to get there (partly because of the traffic and partly because the driver had no idea where to go once we got close) - it took us 20 minutes to get home though. Ahh the joys of Malaysia!
We had a quiet weekend because Steve was studying. Steve and Lachlan got haircuts on Sunday (again). We went up to do them on Saturday but there were demonstrations in the city (which we didn't see) but a lot of the roads were blocked and the hairdressers was closed. On Sunday I went with Toni to a home and decorating expo nearby to get out of the house.

I also found out this week that Lachlan has the opportunity to go on a school excursion for 8 days... to China! We are considering it.

Week 18: April 16 to 22

In the start of this week most of my time was spent putting together a photobook for Steve of photos from his week in Sarawak. It took a lot longer than I had anticipated but it was worth it and I got it finished on Wednesday. Tuesday night we went out for dinner at Chillis and got a few groceries afterwards. We saw a friend of Lachlan's from school, Wesley and met his dad. They were keen to get together and have the kids play together. So we went out for dinner with them Wednesday night at the resturant here at Dua, and organised for Wesley to come over Friday afternoon to play and swim. Wesley's dad, Rod is Australian but has been living here for 21 years and his wife, Grace is Chinese Malaysian. Wednesday I ran out of ink as I was printing the photobook and the plan was to take the towels down to the pool, walk to the nearest mall to get printer ink, (its about 700 metres away) then come back, have a swim and come back upstairs. On the way home we got stuck in a flash storm and got back totally soaked! So we didn't go for a swim but the towels we had left downstairs came in handy!
Thursday we spent the day at Kidzania. It is a great concept where the space is set out like a mini town and kids get to try different jobs and get paid in 'kidzos'. Some of the jobs cost kidzos and some they get to be customers. We spent most of the day there and they got to be Pilots, Couriers, Travel Agents, Doctors, CSI Agents, Spies, Computer Builders, Checkout Chicks, Dentists, Security Guards, Lachlan also got to be a Judge while Danae was a witness and Danae was a cutomer at the beauty salon and got her nails done and was a sushi chef where she got to eat the sushi afterwards. It was a great day and we saw some people we knew there as well. We left there at about 5:30 after a really quick walk through IKEA (I bought a vase, so we could get free parking for the whole day) and on the way home I took a wrong turn which wasn't too bad at the time because that way would still bring us home...but at that time of day and the fact that I didn't have the GPS so had to stick with the signs back and the fact that it started to rain it took us 2 hours to get home (it is usually about 25 minutes)...oh the joys of KL traffic.

Friday the kids and I went to the High Comm to pick up some mail and grabbed some lunch at Suria on the way back. Then Wesley came over and we spent most of the afternoon down by the pool until about 5 when the rain came and the boys wanted to play X-box. We ordered pizza and Wesley got picked up shortly afterward.
The weekend was fairly quiet as Steve has a lot of assignments due Friday and then exams the following week.
Saturday morning Steve and the kids went with the NZers for breakfast at Antipodean just a few hundred metres down the road and I met them there a bit later after my Zumba class. Antipodean is becoming very popular with expats around here, they advertise themselves as having Australia/New Zealand breakfasts and they have real bacon. Bacon is easily available to buy here, but it is in a little non-halal corner of the supermarkets and you have to pay for it there because most of the checkout opperators are Malay and wont handle any pork products. But at most restaurants you wont find ham or bacon (except Chinese restaurants) so instead they have turkey bacon or beef bacon, which doesn't really taste like bacon.
The rest of the weekend we spent at home, kids watching movies or on the computer and Steve studying. I went shopping/browsing on Sunday because I hadn't had the opportunity with the kids on holidays.

Here are some photos from Steve's trip to Sarawak a few weeks ago:

Week 17: April 9 to 15

Sorry this is so late, I have been helping Steve put together a photo book from his trip to Sarawak as part of his assesment. He was given over 2400 photos and it took longer than we expected.

The start of the week was fairly uneventful, even though the kids are on holidays. Monday was not a day off here. The kids were happy to mostly chill out at home. Monday we went to KLCC to get a few groceries and got some lunch. Danae got a kids manicure there and they stamped nail polish on her fingers, so cute!

Wednesday was a public holiday for the coronation of the king. There are 13 states and 3 federal territories (KL is a federal territory and is surrounded by the state of Selangor, so some of the suburban areas of KL are actually in Selangor like the school the kids go to. Of the 13 states, nine have sultans. Every 5 years one of the sultans is crowned king, they rotate through.
On Wednesday we all went to Chinatown. We had a wonder through the markets, went to my favorite home wares store, had a foot fish spa, had lunch, bought flowers and came back home for a swim.

Thursday the kids went to Petrodains with Miyo and Hanson, the Chinese Australian children who live here and go to the Australian school. It is a bit like Questacon in Canberra and is at the top of Suria KLCC shopping centre, so quite close to here.

Friday we had Michael and Toni over to watch the Carlton Collingwood game. It was on live here so started at 5:30. Then we went out for a few drinks afterward.

Saturday we went to Melaka. Steve is starting to get to the end of his first semester (he has 3) and will be quite busy over the next few weeks with assignments and study for exams. so we wanted to go away this weekend before that all starts. I really love Melaka! It is my favourite place in Malaysia we have been to so far. We stayed at a hotel about a 15 minute walk along the river from the touristy centre of town. The shopping is great along Jonker Street and although we didn't do much shopping we all got something. Saturday was a bit cooler (Melaka is generally hotter than KL because there is not as much cloud) and we did as much as we could. We did the river cruise and walked around the ruins of an old church up on a hill. At about 5 we went back to the hotel to check in, have a swim and we got a free hour in a karaoke room as part of our family stay package ( the catch was that we had to get a drink each and soft drinks were $3.50 -that is expensive here). It was a lot of fun though! We then went back to Jonker Street to have dinner and look at the night markets.
Sunday was a lot warmer. We had breakfast, checked out and left the car there while we headed back to the centre of town. We went on a trishaw ride, did a little more looking around and went and had a cool drink at our favourite spot by the river, they make the best lemon iced tea. We had been there the day before and had a drink and tried cendol (a Malaysian dessert with red beans in the bottom, a big mound of shaved ice, some green pandan flovoured little sqiggly things, kind of like rice noodles, then poured over the top is condensed milk and gula Melaka, whis is a liquid palm sugar). Sounds bizarre but we all liked it, until we got to the red beans at the bottom. We headed home and stopped at a shopping centre on the way out of Melaka for lunch. It took us about 2 hours to get home.