Morning Pages for Forty Freewrite

Malaysia in the Morning

I liked blogging so much yesterday rather than writing in my journal for my morning pages. So, I will do it again here. Not as much to say though because I pretty much gave the rundown of what had been happening from January 6-15th. (It is the 16th now. So it was 6-14th for the USA.) So, there isn't very much more to tell.

George had his last talk yesterday, and he connected with his colleagues, and they gave him a bunch of food gifts. So, he has no room in his luggage, but I have a lot of food. I packed very lightly for this trip because I wasn't going to be going anywhere formal. I just had a skirt and three colored tops, black, pink, and royal blue, to go with that and the black loose-fitting yoga pants that I wore on the plane for at-night things if it was casual. Then I had a pair of shorts, a skort, and four T-shirts for walks and exercise. 

I never wore the mid-calf and long dresses I brought. I also had a sleeveless flowered shirt that I never wore either. 

So, I have lots of space and am carrying all of the goodies he brought. I will just have my backpack with medications and heat wrap, but I have not needed them because my back hasn't given me a stick of a problem - THANK YOU DR LENHOFF, and the wonders of PROLOTHERAPY - no issues since my last treatment on October 13.  

I will also carry The Great Divorce and hope to read it. I need to remember to have my Kindle books downloaded onto my phone. I didn't do that before I left. I did not bring the physical copy of one of my Enneagram books because I hoped to be more lightweight and read it on my Kindle app. Lesson learned to make sure I do that before we leave in about 24 hours.

What are my thoughts about Malaysia 25 years after we left to go back to America in 1999? We were back twice since then, once with the boys in 2001, when George gave a talk at the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (both for himself and his coworker who could not go). And once in 2008 when we were on our way to Brunei with Ed and Brian. Oh, I think we brought Mike and Vangi to check it out. 

Random thoughts: people don't wear Baju Karongs anymore. Everyone wore them all the time back then. Now, they wear pants and long-sleeved shirts that cover their bottoms. I miss the sea of color of the Baju Karongs though.

Penang is so unusual. I met with Cassity, she has lived here since 2018. It is so non-walkable. I know I said that yesterday (I think), but Cassity said it isn't walkable. I have been to many other places in Malaysia, and it is very walkable. There are crosswalks. Basically, you risk your life, or you hire a taxi to even get to the other side of the road. How is that ridiculous? We needed cash to go out to eat on Monday, and we asked about a cash machine. She said, "Oh, we have one right here at the convention center!" It did not work. So, she said, "Oh there is one across the street, but there is no way to cross the road, and it is very dangerous." I have to laugh about that. I was hoping to take walks while George was at work and explore neighborhoods, but you cannot get to the neighborhoods. 

Singapore, on the other hand, was super walkable. I loved my walk to the Botanical Gardens through neighborhoods. Even when I was on a busy street, it was very walkable with an actual traffic light and crosswalk to cross the busy street to get to the Nassim Gate of the Gardens. 

Kuala Lumpur is like that too. I never had a problem walking there.

What is nice is that there is a nice big place to walk behind the hotel. So, I have walked that ever morning we have been here. 

All that said, yesterday turned out to be a big work day for me. I got all the handouts done for my Enneagram teaching on February 6th and 7th. Now I just need to spruce up the second PowerPoint. (I will ask Marty and Sandy what they want out of time before I go full in on that.) I have tools for them to utilize for their personal growth and for helping their directees grow. So, I was pretty focused on that all day until Cassity came for a short time of tea. I wanted to do the Thai Tea for Two, but she didn't have enough time before her doctor's appointment. So I treated her to Kambucha and a potato pastry. 

(I will put a picture in here when I get it from Cassity.) 

She is a friend of a friend. So I don't know her well, but we have a lot in common and mutual friends. So it was nice chatting with her. 

After that, I went back to work, and that was very nice. 

Then George came back to the hotel, and we went to Uncle Ray's Grill. We had to cross the street, but it was a quieter street with a roundabout in the middle to break up the mad dash between cars. So it was doable. It was really, really good food. George had a burger (he has been eating a lot of Asian with his colleagues), and I had delicious chicken carbonara. Who knew? And only $10 total! Wow!

Then, we came back, and I worked a bit more and then we were in bed by 9:30. I dreamed I met Marie Osmond (?). Then I woke up at 4 am, but the lights were out on the convention center. Usually, the colorful lights are on all night. Then, I watched the ladies exercise in front of the big ball. Today they had PINK shirts on (other days were blue and white). George went down to breakfast. I had Centering Prayer with my London nuns and company and also Examen with the OMS people. Then George and I went for a walk around the garden (again) watching the ladies move. So cute. 

We have been in our room and taking a long time to pack. George did it all last night and has no room in his bag. 

George had a driver that wanted to take us to the airport. So, we booked him instead of using GRAB. He has taken George two other times, and George wants me to meet him. 

That is one thing that has not changed about Malaysia. The Malay are SO FRIENDLY. Just lovely people in every way. We are bonded to them for life. It has been good to be back. It is very comfortable and familiar, and I will never regret living here for two years. We wanted to live here longer, but it was not to be. God is sovereign. We have bloomed where have been planted. I am grateful. 

Well, this is not going to be the Morning Pages of forty minutes. More like 30 minutes. It might meet the required number of pages because I type a whole lot faster than I can write. :) 

Oh, by the way, we have totally missed a massive snow storm back in the Pacific Northwest. Paul has had to walk to work every day since Saturday because the roads are so slick. OSU has been since Friday, and it will reopen at noon on Wednesday. We really missed it!