Our Visit with Ben and Casey - In their Words

Hope everyone is fat and happy after big Christmas feasts and enjoying some quality time with friends and family before 2007 is a wrap. We're going to switch it up and offer some guest commentary on our blog this time around. We figure some fresh voices will be good. I assure you, it has nothing to do with lack of motivation.

As you know, we're staying with our friends Ben and Casey in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They are good friends of ours with whom I went to college at Bucknell. They're in Malaysia for a year and a half while Casey does research for her Ph.D. thesis in the field of medical anthropology. Without having to work any sort of 9-5 jobs, they're pretty much fully funded through grants so it's a good gig they have going.

The other key piece of background is that my good friend Ben who is an otherwise healthy and robust 31-year-old like myself had a stroke in July. That's right, a stroke. It was a crazy development out of nowhere which initially left him paralyzed on his left side. He has since made a miraculous and speedy recovery and is now walking around on his own and leading a very normal life. He continues to improve and regain strength and coordination day by day. The way he and Casey have handled it has been absolutely amazing and incredibly courageous. To let you know just how amazing his recovery has been, we actually went bowling a few nights ago and the dude beat me in the first game, 145-142! It's not like I had too bad a game either; it was amazing!

It's been a real pleasure to spend some quality time with Ben and Casey, and we owe them dearly for opening up their home to us for a few weeks. Without further ado (and without their approval), I'm going to steal the last two posts from their blog (www.bchilliard.blogspot.com) and reproduce them here. Casey, that doesn't break any academic plagiarism rules, now does it?

Let the Fun Begin - Casey's Post, 12.16.07

Hey, everyone. How is it going? I hope the fast approaching holiday season has everyone feeling happy and joyful not harried and crazy. We are doing our best to capture the spirit here, though its not easy with the absence of family and cold weather. Somehow palm trees and 90 degree weather do not scream Merry Christmas. No matter though, we do have our friends in town and lots of love and joy in our hearts so we won't be feeling like complete scrooges this holiday season.
So its true, Erin and Drew arrived late Wednesday evening and we are so happy to have them here. We are doing our best to show them what Malaysia is all about. So far we made them an all American breakfast of greasy eggs, bacon, hash browns, and coffee, dragged them to one of the biggest and busiest megamalls in Kuala Lumpur, offered them giant messy burgers at Carl's Jr. for dinner, made some super cheesy homemade pizzas, went to an expat filled coconut reggae party at one of the high end condo buildings in the city, and downloaded the complete season 4 of Entourage for all of us to sit around and watch on the couch in our air-conditioned apartment. How about it! Today, they wanted to do some cultural stuff and explore the city so we sent them out on their own with a city map and a cellphone. We wished them good luck and promised to call them later to arrange a spot to meet before dinner. We're thinking that some place like Starbucks or Coffee Bean would be ideal.

Sadly, I am not joking. Of course, having just spent the past 5 weeks traveling on foot in Nepal, backpacks strapped to their backs 10-12 hours a day, eating the same vegetarian fare every meal, sleeping in a different low rent guest house each night, and getting into bed with their books by 8PM each evening, Drew and Erin's KL experience so far has been the exact jolt to the system they were looking for. Some all-American grub to fill their hungry bellies, some crazy commercialism to shake off the peace and tranquility of the Himalayas, and some good old-fashioned quality TV to mush up their minds after all that reading- it was just what the doctor ordered. Even after the most awesome, breathtaking, and memorable experiences, the most grateful and adaptable travelers can't help but crave a taste of home. I think, amazingly we have not only fed that need but overwhelmed it, in just few short days.

Its actually a sad revelation for Ben and I. It feels like we might have caught a mild form of expat fever living here in the center of KL, taking taxis everywhere, eating out at Western restaurants, and spending way too much money, while justifying it by translating it to USD. Despite our best efforts, we have been infected. It is easy to slip towards the comfort of what's normal, it's natural and no crime but still its nice to be awakened to how far we have slid.

That is one of the differences between travelers and expats, I guess. Travelers keep moving on so they never have a chance to really get too comfortable. They are also motivated to consistently seek out new experiences and see all there is to see since they only have a short time in each spot. Whereas those of us who stay awhile start to make the foreign place home, adapting to it but also molding it to fit our personal comfort zones. We start to seek out routine and forget to explore our surroundings. However, we also take for granted that what is now normal to us may not be so normal to our traveling friends. For instance, the megamalls or the crowds of traditionally dressed Malay women wearing head scarves intermingled with the scandalously clad trendsetting Chinese youth, who make even Ben blush, or early mornings in the park doing QiQong with a spontaneous crowd of local Malaysians.

This last one has actually become Ben and my favorite Saturday and Sunday morning activity. About a month ago, I rode my bike to the very large city park near our apartment to do some 'research'. By research I mean sitting and staring at, sometimes stalking, all the people out for early morning exercise. Someone said to me before I left you are going to be so fit after this experience. Ha, ha, I am finding I prefer to watch. Anyway, while wandering around the park, I stumbled upon a large group of men and women spread out across a field playing follow the leader with a small, very skinny old Chinese man. He said nothing just did his movements and the crowd followed. The best I could tell it looked like QiQong, a popular exercise here in Asia that consists of slow coordinated movements designed to get the Qi in your body moving (its a form of Tai Chi) but the truth is the more I watched, the more suspicious I got. It seemed like the instructor, taking advantage of his aged and wisened appearance, might have creatively taken communist cadre callesthetics infused them with a few fancy arm and hand movements and tricked the crowd into thinking he was an ancient QiQong master. Didn't bother me much though, it looked like fun and I joined in.

When I got home I told Ben about it and how I thought it would be perfect for him since it seemed to really stretch the body out while also demanding many bilateral coordinated motions. To my surprise, he agreed that it sounded like fun and followed me to the park the next weekend and we have been faithful QiQongers ever since.

As it turns out, Simon (this is the name we have given the instructor due to the uncanny feeling that we are playing a silent form of Simon says) is there every Saturday and Sunday morning at 8AM and has been since the 1980s. He wears the same yellow shirt, blue workout pants, and big Jackie Onassis sunglasses every weekend. He never says a word. He just begins moving and everyone follows. The session last for about 45 minutes and then he stops. The crowd is great too. It usually starts with a handful of Malay women and keeps growing from there. On Sundays, a crowd of about 50-60 people gathers. All ages, both sexes, its great. And this past Saturday there was actually four Americans in the mix.

So I guess we are not all that insulated in our expat world. We just forget that what we deem as the mundane is not always that mundane. With Drew and Erin here, we are not only going to get the chance to see our experience through fresh eyes but also get to seek out some new adventures. It is going to be refreshing to get to live like travelers for a bit. In fact, we are heading out this morning on a long distance bus for the beach. Finally, the beach! Rain or shine, I cannot tell you how happy I am to be getting out of the city. I can't wait to sink my feet in the sand.

Take care and be Merry! Oh and I placed a link to Drew and Erin's Travel Blog if your interested in vicariously taking an adventure around the world. Just be careful it is envy inducing!

Casey

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year - Ben's Post, 12.26.07

I am writing this the day after Christmas and true to Christmas form I am sitting here fat and satisfied after gorging on a Christmas feast. We were embarrassed after our Thanksgiving debacle of KFC and fish soup so we decided to do Christmas right. In the land of fried noodles and fried rice we feasted on a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Casey, Drew, Erin, and I all contributed to figure out the Celsius/Fahrenheit conversion, we mastered our ghetto propane stove, we each did a bit of cooking, and we all sat down to a delicious meal. Special kudos to Erin and Casey for making apple and pumpkin pie. SEDAPNYA!!

I love to host parties or dinners with Casey. She always errors on the side of too much and going overboard is putting it gently. Casey, as usual, went a bit overboard and she and Erin made 4 different types of Christmas cookies. Drew and I being the lucky recipients have expressed our gratitude by pounding down cookies every hour on the hour. This is a shot of Drew, Erin, and I patiently waiting for the bird to cook. We kept ourselves entertained by watching National Lampoon's Christmas vacation (sorry, substitute photo and blurry at that)

Christmas Feast with Friends - Cisco, Casey, Erin, Elizabeth, Ben

Although we had a delicious feat, we missed spending time with our friends and families. Thanks to Skype and cellphones, we were able to connect, but it just isn't the same as being there. Next year we promise to be stateside for the holidays.

We are still in the middle of vacation season here. We have had an awesome time with Drew and Erin although I feel a little guilty as we did not do Malaysia justice in our role as tour guides. Malaysia is a diverse and beautiful country, but we managed to limit ourselves almost exclusively to KL. We did, however, escape to the beach for a few days and even though it is the monsoon season we were blessed with three full days of sun.

Annette and Z (B&C's friends from Germany & Malaysia), Ben and Casey, Erin and Drew

That, in case you are wondering, is just enough time to get completely sunburned and peel off an entire layer of skin. Tomorrow we are off to meet David and Cindy Hilliard (Ben's parents) for an epic vacation. A few days in Singapore, a few days in Malaysia, and then 2 weeks in Australia. After one full year here in MaLAZYia, we will see if Casey and I can keep up with the Hilliards - I'm betting no. It will be a few weeks before we will be able to post again so Happy New Year to everyone and don't forget to watch AND cheer for THE Ohio State Buckeyes on Jan 7th.

Ben