Back in Malaysia

Night view from my balcony with Genting Highland on the right

Hi everyone.. I know, I know.. I have been missing in action for months. It was a very stressful period which was not the first time as we were again moving. Moving for most people is changing streets or may be a bit further meaning communities or towns.. but for us as always due to hubby's job, we move from country to country.

When LM was little it was easier as changing Kindergarten is easy. We can even quit school earlier or have extra "holidays" for him to get used to the new environment but as he gets older, changing school becomes very challenging. We actually waited for almost 5 months to be enrolled into the only French school in Malaysia.

But needless to say, I am very happy to move back to Malaysia. It's something very important for me to let LM understands and experience Malaysia. He knows that he is a mixed of French and Malaysian but  has never lived in Malaysia long enough to understand the mix of culture/food and languages. Not to forget his other family/relatives in Malaysia.

Happy to be back is one thing but I have never lived in KL before, so I actually feel like a foreigner living in my own country.

Fireworks at night during major festivals. This one was taken during Chinese New Year 2013

I have been away too long, living in re mode places most of the time (example a plot of land which takes only 15mins to walk around, lost in the ocean) and now I am in the capital city of Malaysia!! The traffics, people everywhere and shopping malls!! The pace is fast, non-stop and dynamic!! Compare to those days where I have to prolong my walk around the island by stopping to smell the breeze, check out the Hermit crabs and look out to the horizon to see if any dolphin decided to make a few spins and all in all it took only a mare 15 mins.

A trip to the supermarkets in any mall during the weekends is nightmare!! You could be stuck in the jam for hours and when you arrived at the mall's car park.. you might say to yourself Oh! finally I can get out of the car and enjoy my breakfast which might turn into lunch with all the time spent in the jam.. but NO!! You are not done yet cause looking for a car park space is yet another challenge!! A few huge, multi level-joined-together car park building have not a single parking space!! We actually end up circulating around to wait for someone to leave.. Shopping in this situation is not fun at all.

I actually prefer my little town/kampung(village) in France where everything is between walking distance. I'm talking about market, post office, bank and Boulanger (bakery) not department stores. Where I am living now, there is nothing between walking distance which sadly very common in Malaysia.

The first thing my parents and friends tell me when we were back was beware of your kid's where about! I am still in the very high alert mode cause with what I read on the newspaper. Kidnapping, robberies, false taxis.. I think it will take me sometimes to know my environment before I can chill out.

Please don't get me wrong, Malaysia is still a very beautiful and relatively safe compare to other major cities int he world. I think it's just me being away from the "real world" too long where the only sound other then my own breathing, is the rattling of coconut trees when wind blow through , chirping of birds and splashes of waves..

Now that I have my new nest set up, I will be spending more time here to share with you my experiences as a foreigner in my own country.

Have a great week ahead
oxoxo
Sylvia