hmm, blogspot really wants to tell you the rest of my night out

And while on the dance floor, I met my first Malaysian boyfriend. Or rather, he met me as he danced like a lunatic across the dance floor, decided that he liked the way I danced, proceeded to watch me dance so that he could learn to dance the same way, and then COPIED MY DANCING. So, I spent maybe an hour or so dancing my way to friends on the other side of the bar, dancing my way behind pillars (from whence I trekked it at top speed to distance corners of the patio), and to the "bathroom". I don't usually go to the "bathroom" but I was feeling quite stalked. And he was being freaky with other girls too, but he actually cornered me near the bathroom to ask if I would be his "girlfriend," even though he knew "it'd be long distance..." I was trying so hard not to laugh/cry/scream/RUN, and didn't have a damn clue what to do, and while I'm making these important decisions, he continues to ask for my phone number and "why can't [he] have my phone number...maybe I don't appreciate [him]?" so at this point, Tony walks by and says hi and I just about jump on him b/c I'm so happy to see him. So I start talking to Tony and then my 'boyfriend' wanders away (grrr!) and only tries to dance with me about 700 more times in the last 2 hours at the bar. (btw, I have the best excuse ever for not giving out my phone number: I don't have a cell phone yet, and don't know the apartment's phone number, so I just say that I don't have a number, and I'm not lying. Plus I'm obviously not Malaysian, so no one questions or wonders why I am such a fooken moron...that is for you to ponder.)

Saturday I was a hermit again,a nd worked on planning my classes and running etc. Sunday, I woke up super early and left the apartment at 8-soemthing am to take the bus to georgetown (the downtown area) and wander around, find 2nd-hand bookstores and figure out the main roads. [I bought a book that compares the treatment of women by three religions: Islam, Judaism, and Christianity; it's written by a Christian woman who converted to Islam, so I'm wondering how much of a slant there will be. At any rate, it'll be interesting to read.] I walked everywhere and it was marvelous, though somehow my feet get filthy here, and then it rains, and so my feet are wet and filthy (I only wear flipflops except when running, and Laura, I swear that my ankle is doing just fine!) Last year's interns mentioned something about wet things (like running shoes) getting moldy here with absolutely astonishing speed, so I'm trying to avoid mold monsters. I also got a job offer from the Japanese owner of an Asian Fusion restaurant, which I had to decline since I plan to travel every other weekend and for a month here, there, and wherever I can steal it from my work horus. But he fed me unagi-don (broiled BBQ eel on a bed of rice, once of my favorites at Japanese restaurants) and some potato salad with carrots and cucumber. I think I'll definitely go back for a meal sometime, as I've been craving Japanese food. He also drove me to a Japanese grocery that his friend owns, so I was able to pick up some essentials, though they were wicked expensive (but imported, so I guess I can try to udnerstand.)

Later in the day, I met up with Emily and Tony, and Tony drove us to the mall (oh, and it was soo good--I bought another book, by JM Coetzee, called "The Life and Times of Michael K"--supposed to be phenomenal), and then we drove to Batu Ferringhi (all of this is in the northern part of the island) to watch the sunset on the beach. Batu Ferringhi is where all of the resorts are, and the famous beaches on Penang. The beaches are OK, but the sunset was beautiful, gorgeous, splendid, fabulous... we watched from the patio of a resort restaurant that was having a happy hour drink special (buy one, get one free...23 ringgit/dollar cocktails--YUM) and a special seafood buffet. The buffet was unbelievable...I ate things that I don't usually even ponder: baby lobster, mussels and oysters,smoked tuna, Italian sausage, fresh crab meat hoeur d'oeurves (sp?), tabouleh and fatoosh, seafood satay, ohmygod, I'm too hungry to keep listing these gorgeous foodthings... Then...(dum dum dum), there was the dessert table. There was homemade tiramisu (just a little bit), pecan pie, carrot cake, fresh sliced mango, papaya, winter melon, yellow watermelon (my current favorite fruit), local pastries made of rice (sooo good), Belgian profiteroles in a chocolate sauce, and mango pudding, and a few other things (like a total of three tables' worth of desserts)...=)

The final tally: two full heaping plates of seafood and a single heaping plate of dessert. also two "Jamaican" cocktails (run, coconut cream, and vanilla). I was SOOO full and soo happy and soo could not sit properly in my chair because I wanted to unbotton my pants:-0 (not proper in Malaysia for women to unbotton their pants)

Then we went for a walk on the beach, where I played in the water because it was just sooo marvelous, and Tony showed us how to make the sand glow in the dark. If you want to know, you will have to come visit:-P

Hmmm, it's now getting dark here, at 7:45pm, and I have to cross Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah to get home, which is basically a three-lane (in each direction) highway populated by crazed red-light-running motorcyclists and careening buses (they get the right of way in Malaysia during rush hour, and the rest of the time they just take the right of way), and cars that bounce back and forth between the buses and motorcycles. (Ben Conway, they are what you call a "crotch rocket" and account for 60% of motor vehicle accidents in Penang, and many many deaths.) I'm also finally hungry again, after waking up with a stomach still full of seafood and cake and fruit and rum and not being able to really eat all day...so home to tofu stir fry. I hope the soya man is still on Sungai Dua (the main road outside the university) because fresh soy milk is sooo good. Although everyone here seems to drink it with buckets of either brown or white sugar syrup, and I just can't take it anymore, and will henceforth be requesting sugarfree soya (probably to his great consternation and discomfort, but oh well).

Write me!

Also, my academic schedule:
Semester 1: June 21-Oct 24
Classes Monday-Thursday at 11am.
semester break Aug 8-15 (really Aug 6-15)
between semesters break October 25-Nov 21 (yes, it's really that fucking long, you all better come visit in this break,a nd tell me soon so we can plan some fun travelling, which you CAN afford because this corner of the globe is mega-cheap)

Semester 2: Nov 21-Mar 20
I am hoping to stick around Asia for a few weeks, maybe a month after March 20th, and hopefully find an internhsip or something in Thailand or India, just for a few weeks. Please feel free to visit now as well.

Also, you're going to want a couple of days to get over the jet lag, so arrive a bit early. e.g. arrive October 23rd (leave the US on the 21st or 22nd). Also, you can fly directly to Penang from Kuala Lumpur or you can take the bus. My advice is to fly, since it's not too expensive (in addition to researching regular airlines, check www.airasia.com because it has crazy deals sometimes, and will probably be less than the ~$100 to fly Delta or whatever to Penang), and also, you will have just spent 22 hours on ONE airplane with a lot of Asian people and not much elbow room. Four hours on a bus (even for $7) is not going to be what you really really want out of your time in Malaysia.

Toodles, hope to hear from you all,
<3 Mibi