Homestay!

Over the past weekend, I stayed with the Naraindas, an Indian Malaysian family who lived in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur (KL.) Prior to knowing the family I was assigned, I assumed that we would be staying in a household that spoke little English and lived quite modestly. But my family was different. They had two maids, a chauffeur, a fairly large house and were well traveled, though the first two traits I mentioned are typical in upper middle class families. My host family had four sons between the ages of 18-31 who were all so kind and welcoming. But we not only interacted with them but rather with their entire extended family, totaling about 30 people. It was crazy and, quite fankly, organized chaos, which I'm not used to since my family is small and my extended family lives across the US. But it was a great experience to see how a large, tight knit fsmily operates and that is a major factor to understanding Asian culture since family is the top priority there.
On Saturday, we celebrated a birthday within the extended family, so all of the family gathered at the house where the grandparents lived and cooked traditional foods (lots of curries, rices and noodles, and spices.) Then everybody sat down together and ate serveral rounds. I was so stuffed again since I tried everything on the table. I'm learning on this trip that food symbolizes and brings together cultures and diverse societies, like Malaysia. There are 3 major ethnicities (Malays, Chinese and Indians) who all have different cultures and belief systems, but what brings them all together is food. At the lunch I had that day, there were several dishes coming from all of those ethnicities despite the distinct taste. I just thought that was a cool insight. We also went into the family's Hindu shrine and learned a little about the foundation of Hinduism (I learned a lot more in that conversation about their religion that I have learned through a text book.) We also did some sight seeing surrounding K.L. We visited the National Mosque, both the new and old Palaces, Chinatown, the Central market, China Town and a whole lot more. Probably the coolest activity I did was get my feet cleaned by fish, which was terrifying for the first 30 seconds but relaxing and soothing from that point on. We also ate a lot more in the evening and visited one of the family's favorite Hawker stalls, where I sampled a lot, including Stingray (which was SO good,) fish, chicken, and a watermelon drink in an Oktoberfest pitcher. Yet again, everything was great!
On Sunday, we drove 2 hrs. to Melaka, a old Portugese colony. We did a lot of sight seeing, walking and exploring. It did notvlook like we were in S.E. Asia, but rather like Central America with all of the white building and the flower vines growing on houses and a slight sea breeze blowing throughout the city (not to forget the picturesque views.) But I looked it there. The city also had a beautiful river running through the city which many people use to navigate around town. It was lovely. I loved everything about the city. Being me, I saw the beach there and I had to put my feet in the water and listen to the crashing of the waves, so I weaseled my way to the ocean. But I encountered a bit of a problem...the sand was sink sand...Naturally, I didn't realize this until I stepped in it. But I got out and rinsed my feet in the ocean (victory!) We got back home at midnight, just in time for dinner! By then, I reached my absolute maximum capacity and had a hard time pushing through the food. But we had one of my favorite dishes, Roti Canai, so I persevered.
All in all, I learned a lot about Malaysian life. Family comes first with food not too far behind it. They experience similar obstacles that we face and live quite.similarly to how we live. However, I did notice that they like to eat family meals together more often than the average American family and also eat more meals throughout the day and snack less. They also stay up much later (to eat and take part in the night life.) As their saying goes "the later it is, the better the food and people become." Also, the ethnicities don't seem to interact much together. They all seem to clique and have little interaction amongst each other. Yet at the same time, they all coexist since they are surrounded by each other and noone seems to mind that. I wonder what causes this social issue here...