Learning The Land - Meeting The Family

The first full day in Malaysia begins, as it should, with breakfast.

Kim's sister Hong takes us to a coffee shop near her home.

Now this coffee shop is much different from the way I understood a coffee shop to be.  Here, a coffee shop is a place owned by someone who provides things like coffee and tea (in many different variations), as well as juices and other such beverages.  They also rent out space within their coffee shop to hawkers, who have their carts and offer different foods.  As well, you will note from the photo on the right, this place, like most we will go to, is open to the street.  No air conditioning here, however ceiling fans and wall mounted fans are in great abundance.


So in we go, order and pay for our drinks (I quite like Malaysian milk tea), and then make the rounds of the hawkers selecting what we would like to eat,  We order something from one, something else from another, indicating what table we are at.  When the food is ready the hawker will bring it over to the table, we pay them, and proceed to enjoy our meal.  Certainly a different type of process from what I was used to, but I like it.  Along with the food we get from the hawkers we also get great chats and friendly exchanges as we order our food and then when they bring it to the table.  A very relaxed atmosphere, even when the shop is busy.

During our breakfast I am also getting to know Hong, my sister-in-law.  Although neither of us is particularly good in the other's language (her English is miles better than my Mandarin), we are still learning about each other and getting along famously.  She is eager to teach me about her neighbourhood, as well as the local day to day lifestyle, and I am looking forward to learning, so it is an excellent opportunity for each of us.

Keeping in mind that I am writing about the early days of our Malaysian Adventure after being here for more than two weeks I think I can perhaps, at times, better describe my thoughts and feelings as I have had some reflection on events.  Regardless, I hope that I can impart to my readers a feel of this adventure, because it still is.  As we proceed, you will as well have an opportunity to meet the Malaysian members of our family and learn more about them.

Although breakfast may seem like a small event, it was a significant beginning of the learning process.

We will continue our day in the next post.