Adjustments

Moving always involves adjustments. Our life journey has taken a change of destination, an entirely new route and a vehicle with few familiar components. Part of the challenge is that the vehicle was moving when we landed on it, and we have to work out how it operates to keep it moving. We are grateful for the help Harry gives us each week when he comes up here for his work, and also thankful for the British influence that means many things are done in a similar way to in Australia. The other thing that has made our lives easier is the willingness and capacity of the general population to try to communicate in English.

The move has, however, necessitated many adjustments on our part, some major and some relatively minor. Some of the relatively minor changes can make quite an impact on one's life, too, like not finding a suitable alternative to the fresh skim milk that was a large part of our diets in Australia. Our once-indulgent devouring of over a litre a day has dwindled to around a litre a week, and we have for now made a change from the strange-tasting fresh skim milk that Tesco stock, to experimenting with powdered skim. The inventor attempted to use a powdered “creamer” at the lab, but after this failed experiment will now try evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk. Obviously, this is just one of the many, many ways our diet has changed. If one was to look in the lovely new kitchen unit that Harry helped us to buy on Thursday, one may jump to the conclusion that a lot of western foods are available at Tesco. It is merely that I have a good selection of them in my home. The grocery haul pictured here from last week, is a clear illustration that while we think we are eating local food , we still have a penchant for what we know and are familiar with.

Despite the seeming abundance of Western snack foods, many of the foods which once were a weekly occupant of my shopping trolley are just not available. I suspect that many recipes will need some tweaking to replace ingredients that we cannot find, either because they are not available, we don't know where to get them, or we don't know what they are called. Travelling experience helps. When we were in France in 2004 I became mildly panicky when I couldn't buy self-raising flour. Last week in Tesco, I effortlessly found the plain flour and baking powder. It helped that it was conveniently labelled in English. A few foods that were part of our everyday existence are still sorely missed- low-sugar soft drinks and cordials, nice bread, and bacon, come immediately to mind. The range, however, is not too bad, and I have readily found suitable non-food grocery items, the available range of cleaning products and toiletries being mostly Western-style. Shopping will become easier when we are familiar with what is available and the range of stores from which we can acquire it.

Although we now have a gas bottle, gas hotplates and a microwave, we have not yet cooked an evening meal at home. I doubt it surprises my readers, certainly not those who know me well, to discover that this adjustment was the easiest for us. It makes the cleaning and washing up much simpler, shopping quicker, and life less stressful. Friday night it was our turn to shout Harry to dinner, and he took us to Ipoh to a particular restaurant renowned for its bean sprouts and steamed chicken. Apart from being incredibly delicious, it was healthy and the food component was less than 40 Ringgats ($13) for the three of us. Of course, it's not necessary to drive to Ipoh to get this sort of value for a meal. Evening meals are most often Chinese food, but there is also good options for Indian and Malay, and sometimes also Thai, Japanese and Western-style. Kampar has a KFC, Pizza Hut, Dominoes and McDonalds, but the Inventor and haven't been to any of these yet. In fact, local Christians have called for a time of fasting until Malaysian National Day, and He claims to have given up Western food for the fast! Not much of a sacrifice.

It wasn't really the style I was looking for, but after some searching I actually found these in Tesco and decided I really like them. The photo doesn't show just how green they are, but they are quite interesting and fit the modern Asian theme that our home has adopted by default and necessity. Because they are sold loose, we could buy whatever pieces we wanted, hence the mixture of Asian and Western. Despite our claims of never eating at home, they get used quite a lot.

Town-house living is very different to the Australian surburban lifestyle we are used to. We have an empty townhouse on one side, and three of four scooter-riding Chinese youth who are studying at the university on the other. There are many vacant townhouses in our development, yet a new suburb appears to be sprouting from the empty block just near us. While our neighbours are in most part quiet, their front security door clattering sounds like our own, and often sounds they make outside give the illusion of being inside our house. The solid rendered wall means few sounds from inside their house disturb us, and I am hopeful that the same remains true in reverse, especially now we have a TV. I don't miss the gardening, but I do miss my verdant friends that peeped in every window at Smithfield and the buffer our own little space created. The high ceilings in our place mean a lot of stairs, and like so many things here, the treads are designed for little Asian feet, not the size 12 boats of an Australian inventor brought up on milk and thick steaks and ample servings of anything he required. Still, we ply the staircase numerous times each day. We have found a comfortable way to work the two kitchens now we have a kitchen unit inside. Snacks are prepared inside, cooking and washing up are done outside. The inconveniences of having a split kitchen don't bother me while I am doing so little food preparation.

The indoor kitchen with the lovely new unit that we (Harry, the Inventor and I) bought last Thursday. It is wonderful having a surface to put things on and cupboards to put things in.

The wet kitchen, with the breakfast burners (they mainly get used at breakfast) and less clutter on the benches now. There is chicken wire in the security screen you can see to keep out birds and cats, but unfortunately not in the side screens- yet.

We are adjusted in habit, but not yet attitude, when it comes to locking to doors. Every window has a security screen, and every door has a security screen door with both a key lock and padlock. At home or not, we keep the doors padlocked, a habit a long way removed from our tendency in Smithfield to leave everything open unless we went out. Our Australian home possessed little that would be of value to others, we had less than many of those around us, and we lived in a low-crime area. None of these is the case here, and we are painfully aware of our relative affluence and the need to be sensible in hiding and protecting it. The Isuzu four-wheel-drive utility that gets us around, while old, is also apparently the most stolen type of car in Malaysia, being a popular choice across the border in Thailand, only a few hours away. Hence, our vehicle has two safety measures, both of which we are still inclined to forget, despite having driven it for nearly three weeks. It won't start if it has been left unlocked, and has an immobilizer which must be deactivated before turning the key, which caused a few anxious moments in our first few days, as the engine chugged lifelessly. With time and experience, this happens less often. As Malaysian drivers take less heed of the road rules (which seem remarkable similar to Australia, including the side of the road driven on), we are learning to be alert. Nothing can be assumed, and while often common sense might seem absent, sometimes driving is easier and less regimented. For instance, in town where there are few traffic lights and traffic speed is lower, the flow is more like a choreographed free-form dance than a parade-ground marching display dictated by signs, lights and strict adherence to rules. The unfathomable chaos of Vietnamese roads doesn't exist, though I have heard that driving in KL is another story altogether.

I don't find it easy, but for now we will have to become accustomed to the hazy, depressing palate of grey that hangs over our heads and on the hills like a wraith. I am assured that as the seasons change, the smoke from Indonesia, or whatever other environmental abomination causes this smoggy blight, will clear. I am certainly looking forward to some bright, clear days.

We are still excited by this environment, new and different, with so many lessons to be learned. My appreciation of the interesting limestone mountains and rural environment, suitably replaces the admiration I never lost for the green mountains of the Atherton Tablelands that lean into Cairns and force her towards the sea. At times I miss the neat, orderly streets of Cairns and the organisation of a disciplined society. Discarded plastic and packaging decorate the grubby streets of Kampar, which themselves reflect the general attitude of disregard for appearances. New houses, and the occasional elderly one that receives care, stand up like conceited fashionistas amongst their emo neighbours who drape themselves in a black mould that eats at the cheap paint and rust that spoils the gates. Malaysia is a growing, interesting mix of East and West, new ways and old ways, and can be a perplexing enigma. Sometimes the lawlessness and chaos are frustrating, at other times we feel liberated from the constraints of a constipated and self-obsessed legislative, litigious school master, free at last to use common sense and a little nous. Sometimes I forget I am in Asia. Other times, as I drive past the huts of a village, or catch the air wafting from a sewer, the sights and smells spin me into another world. It's also easy to forget that friends who engage so readily in English conversation are not Australian. They do not live in Australia and their culture is more Chinese than Australian, and no matter how easily they discuss matters of modern life, they are Malaysian and their experiences, ways and thoughts are often very different to mine. Day by day though, this place is becoming home, and the things that we once considered exotic and unusual, are becoming part of our everyday life.

Discovering new places!

We miss our friends and family in Australia- the many familiar faces that passed through our lives each day, and the dear friends and family members with whom we could feel comfortable and cared for. Facebook, email and telephones have been fantastic and I am grateful that we can enjoy the closeness that they bring, at such a small cost. We know that the dear, amazing people in our life cannot be replaced, but worry that we will be left with a void that cannot be filled here. It has been nice to be greeted and welcomed so openly by so many people, and we hope that a few become those gems that we all treasure in our lives. The church we first attended three weeks ago, New Life Lutheran, has many friendly, lovely people and we enjoy the services, the preaching and the new friends that we meet. We have been back twice, and will probably make it our home church. It's just unfortunate that it is in Ipoh and takes us 30-45 minutes to get there, though the trip is fastest on a Sunday morning. The conversation with Harry is comfortable, and we enjoy having the odd meal with him when he is visiting up here from KL. Hopefully we will meet people in Kampar that we enjoy spending time with and life will settle into the usual busy productivity that I am used to. Until then, I will continue to appreciate the time I have to take life a bit slower and look after things while the Inventor gets on with what he does best.

My daughter has been asking what our bedroom looks like, and my sister has been asking how we can possibly manage a 40 inch TV in our bedroom, so here it is. The TV would be out of the left-hand side of the photo, had we owned it when the photo was taken. The ensuite is behind the bed.

Now you can see the senseless void at the foot of the bed that was crying out for a 40 inch LED TV, and I'm certain my sister will understand the necessity of the purchase.

Unfortunately we purchased the in-trays before the other things, and they don't match the lime green theme of the downstairs office, but bit by bit the house shapes into a home with things that we like and that serve our purposes.