We have been hear nearly two months now and alhamdulilah I am feeling more and more comfortable and
familiar here... but its still not home. MashaAllah there are things I love about Malaysia, but obviously things I miss about Canada.
So I present to you a list (in no specific order) of the things I love about Malaysia and things miss about Canada.
What I miss about Canada:
-It goes without saying, I miss family and friends the most...alhamdulillah there are some nice people here but no one can ever replace family or friendships that have lasted many years....
-Spring, and the smell of spring. We left Canada at my favourite time of year. Boo.
-Timmies... Oh how I miss my med steeped tea with two milk two sugar
-Bagels! The ultimate comfort food cannot be found here. Though, I have found cream cheese. Many different flavors of cream cheese. But whats cream cheese without a bagel?
-Chai. Theres no Red Rose or Tetly tea bags here... only Lipton, which Im slowly getting used to.
-Cheese. I've found some cheese here. Cream cheese, sliced cheese and grated cheese. But I miss my blocks of marble cheese. Lets see if my Moms theory of avoiding cheese helps you to loose weight?....
-Being able to communicate in fluent English with just about everyone. Alhamdulillah its not THAT bad here... but English is not as common as I had initially expected. Were slowly getting used to the accent, and sometimes, my husband even speaks in their accent when communicating with them.... apparently doing that more efficient (and pretty hilarious for me to watch!).
-MY VAN! Ok so I've never been crazy about cars, so long as it gets me from point A to point B safely, Im cool with it. Actually it wasn't even til the boys got a lil older that I became familar with the names of cars. But last year we bought a brand new Sienna and mashallah it was SO comfy and spacious! We have somewhat downgraded to some sort of Volvo I don't even know what its called ... but the main thing is that its quite squishy! Alhamdulillah no doubt I am happy we have a car. And I don't miss our actual car as much as I miss driving our car! Which leads me to my next point....
-Driving. I used to have our car all day every day back home. Id drop my husband off at work and have the freedom to go wherever my heart desired.... friends houses, playgroups, classes, parks, libraries, Walmart (oh thats something else I miss), Timmies ( when I say that word I can almost smell it in my head...), or run some errands. I have yet to build the courage to drive with the Hubby, let alone without him. The traffic is crazy, there are fearless/ crazy motorcycle drivers everywhere and the directions are confusing :/ He keeps trying to convince me, but well see. Alhamdulillah he is very accommodating and takes us out whenever he can ... but its still a big adjustment from being out pretty much everyday to be at home so much. However, on the flip side of things I am enjoying bonding more with the kids, but Ill save that point for the next category.
-Shopping with familiar name brands and products. There are some things we recognize here, but for the most part, the local stores have all their own brands and products that we've never seen before. Sometimes it can be fun and exciting to try new things, but sometimes it frustrating...especially when you have three kids with you. Like I said I don't go out alone, so its all five of us when we go for groceries. And sometimes the three munchkins seem to conspire against us and drive us crazy just in time for us to do our weekly shopping.
-Going out alone and / or leaving the kids. Again, Baba deserves credit for really making an effort to help me out. But he works, and quite a bit, so he is limited. I miss having the opportunity to send the boys to a friends for the day so I could get some work done, and hear myself think. *sigh* alhamdulillah....
-I know I already said friends, my my kids friends deserves to be a point of its own. Mashallah they had some pretty awesome friends in Canada, and good friends are hard to find.... So I miss that for them. Alhamdulilah we have been doing some pretty neat things with hsing, and I feel I have more time to focus on teaching them things, but I cannot replace their friends. InshaAllah soon they will meet some more kids their age... I hope. And alhamdulillah for Skype which they have used a couple of times to speak to their close friends and family.
-Being apart of homeschooling groups and playgroups.
-Living in the suburbs. I've never lived in a city before. I've lived in an apartment building, but I think it had 8 floors? Our current one has more than 35. We are living slightly on the outskirts of KL but the traffic, pollution, noises and smells are totally the city life type, which I am not used to.....
-Seeing people we recognize. We knew so many people back home...it was was rare for us to go out and not bump into someone we knew... so its strange only having a handful of friends.
-Being in the same time zone as family and friends. It took a good two weeks to recover from jetlag. But sometimes I feel as part of me is still jetlagged. Like at night time here, I know its morning time in Canada so I become all awake and fresh and ready to talk with people, even tho I should actually be getting ready for bed.
-Going outside without feeling like Im drowning in my own sweat. Ya alhamdulilah its nice to have hot weather all the time... but sometimes, well a lot of times, its just too hot.
Well, thats all I can think of for now.
Summaiya is awake from her nap so inshaAllah I will continue with part two perhaps tomorrow.
Stay tuned for what I love about Malaysia!
