People Watching in KL

We've only been in KL for six weeks and have witnessed and experienced the stark contrast between the rich and the poor. Throughout the week, and often on the weekends we live in a bubble of affluence. Day-to-day we take a cab from our condo to the gated school and back again. We lounge poolside, eat at nice restaurants, and shop. I don't mean to sound like we splash money around and have cash to burn, we are simply living the Western standard of life in a developing country where things are cheap.

In a country where restaurant workers make a little more than a dollar an hour, it's hard to ignore that there are a lot of working poor. This doesn't seem so bad as the cost of living is low..right? They still eat, have homes and can buy the amenities. Then there is a class far below poor, which is often a portrait of human suffering and very hard to turn a blind eye to.

A couple of weekends ago, Tyler and I were wandering around China Town, searching out cheap knock-offs and eating forbidden pork products (in an officially Muslim country). We sat down on some steps a few feet away from a (seemingly) homeless man sleeping/passed out on the steps. Several people had left takeout containers of food beside the sleeping beauty. We sat, and watched, and thought about how nice it was that people were being generous, and caring. While re-hydrating and reflecting on the kindness of strangers, a Chinese man walked over and abruptly burst our humanity-loving bubble by dumping a bucket of dirty mop water on our sleeping, homeless friend. Now, I understand that if I was a business owner, I probably wouldn't want someone using my doorstep as their bedroom, but there are definitely nicer ways to address this problem.

Seeing extreme poverty can be unsettling, but is a fact of life in all big cities. I think that the reason why the China Town episode has stuck with me for longer than a glance, is that it was such an illustration of a tragic human condition;  The lack of compassion for each other.When we are often so consumed by declaring our individuality and celebrating our uniqueness, we can forget that we aren't so different. Despite our flaws, our gifts and talents, our professions, our nationalities, our mental health or our economic standing, we all need care, we all need human connections and we all need love.

Merdeka, Merdeka, Merdeka!

The last couple of weeks have been a total whirlwind! New Students, new teachers (me), new classroom...needless to say, not a lot of time for fun and excitement.. unless you're 5 (or 27) and started Grade One last week :) So here's the haps!

Last weekend started to wind up on Friday night (as they often do). What started as some happy hour drinks and appys turned into a night of pretty wild sights! After wondering to a night market street in an area called Bukit Bintang, we were excited to see (and hear) the start of a Merdeka (Freedom/Independence) Day parade. The first floats and groups were the old dragons and drums…it seemed pretty exciting and loud but was quickly over. We were then off to seek food, and realized the parade was just ampping up! We proceeded to see wild costumes, men sitting on thrones of nails, processions of blind people, and the burning of 'Hell dollars', which was all culturally interesting to  and more or less what we would expect from a parade…Then Tyler and Danielle start gasping and saying “NO WAY! Are you seeing this!?”. Without my glasses I was seeing costumed people holding skewers of fruit and things between their teeth; No biggie. After I found my peepers however,  I realized the poles, swords, and even the body of a bicycle were actually pierced through their cheeks. These men and women had very recently (as evident by the blood dripping down them and all over the ground) pierced their cheeks with swords and other various objects and then paraded through a crazy busy street…all in the name of independence? I checked out Google for practices relating to Malaysia and came up empty handed. I asked several people at work and no one had a clue. It wasn't until a week later, Tyler and I stumbled upon a Chinese temple in Little India (?) and got to chatting with a man about a Chinese festival they were setting up for. From there the convo evolved back to what we had seen the week before (we had obviously been mildly traumatized). We gathered the vague explanation that it's a festival that involves slipping into an eventual trance, to where the piercee will not feel any pain...Seems good enough for me! The next two days were filled with street fairs, parades and general nationalism…much the same as Canada Day. We walked, chatted, shopped and, of course, sampled some amazing food!

Unfortunately, we were caught totally off-guard and only got pics with our phone!

 

In Merdeka Square, where independence from the British was declared 57 years ago...to us, a tourist photo-opt!

  

So many new fruits! Rambutan!

Some call it it people watching...others, stalking.

 The amazing part we are finding about Malaysia is that it has, literally, the best of all worlds (for lack of a better term); A variety of cultures, languages (including English), anything and everything from Western countries, an awesome climate and all while having the S.E Asian ambiance we all come to love and adore. Thus far, it’s been a country where we have been able to feel totally comfortable (due to the ability to interact with everyone, amenities, and friendliness) and yet still left amazed, surprised, and wondering about the sights, practices, religions and cultures. I can’t say it enough, Malaysia’s a gem!