Blogging Abroad Challenge #1

Hello everyone, I’ve had issues keeping up with my blog.  My main roadblock is finding interesting things to talk about.  My sister who is in the Peace Corps joined this challenge (you should check her out here: thefreckledlife17.com , and the challenge site here: bloggingabroad.org ) and I thought I would follow along to get the hang of blogging.  I’m not trying to compete with anyone in the challenge and I may fall behind, having a kid makes even writing hard to keep up with, but I plan on doing each challenge as I can.  Since the first prompt is over Why? I figure it’s a great way to introduce myself and maybe go over anything that I may have missed in my initial introduction in my blog.  Anyways, here we go….

Malaysia, Home of the Green

How did you get to where you are?

As I said in my introduction post, I followed my (then) boyfriend after I graduated college.  He got a great job in a small city near his home town and that is where we now live with our six month old son.  If you want to know the whole dang thing, you can read this post.

What were your hopes when you first went abroad?

Well I was following a boy, so I didn’t exactly have a lot else structured around that.  In my head I saw us settling down in a large city, in a tall skyscraper somewhere making tons of international friends and ending up in a great career.  Definitely not what happened, haha, but I wouldn’t change what I got for the world.

Hey look! I'm holding up KLCC (and this is why I can't live in sophisticated places)

What personal values and priorities influenced your choice?

I suppose a romantic would say, I followed love and let the rest just fall into place.  That wouldn’t be entirely incorrect, but I was also seduced by the idea of a life different from what I had experienced thus far.  I wanted out of Kansas, a life more exotic and with a background in anthropology, I wanted a story more integrated than just an ethnography, I wanted to be a part of the culture. 

What challenges and sacrifices did you overcome to get here?

Giving up first world luxuries, even in a pretty developed country like Malaysia, is very hard.  Although Malaysia used to be an English territory and almost everyone, even in my small town, knows enough English that I can get by, it’s been very difficult to cultivate personal relationships outside my husbands family.  I’m also not very good at learning new languages, so when I’ve looked for classes in Malay in the past people have laughed at me and assured me I didn’t need classes, because Malay is such a simple language to learn.  It’s a bit disheartening to hear especially when a year and a half of living here and I barely know enough to order food and drinks, that and my ability to socialise has truly been affected by my isolation.  

Malaysian food, NOT a sacrifice and the only challenge is how much can you eat in one seating

Other sacrifices that I never considered when moving was starting a family.  I had no intention of having kids when I left and now there is a lot of guilt that my family doesn’t get to see my son and also knowing that if I did move back so that my son could grow up with my family would mean taking him away from my in-laws, there is no perfect solution to that issue and it’s definitely a sacrifice AND a challenge that is always there.

Have you achieved some of the goals you set for yourself through this experience?

Well, I haven’t packed bags and ran off for home yet!  To be honest, no I haven’t, I wanted to be better integrated into my city by now, have friends and a job.  Getting pregnant changed a lot of those goals and now raising a little one, we are all still figuring out what we are going to do.  As for becoming more integrated, I joined a gym this year and I’m taking yoga, Zumba and a POP pilates class, so hopefully 2016 will be the year that I finally break down those barriers.

Penang skyline on the ferry, no reason, just beautiful

So has it been worth it?  Of course it has, it’s been everything I wanted even if I had no idea what that was until I got it. It’s easy when you’ve lived in one place, or one country, your whole life to become convinced that that is all there is.  Being a part of something else, really breaking away not just vacationing, has a refreshing quality.  You are more appreciative for things you never thought twice about before and things that seem like a big deal back home (or even things that are a big deal where you are now living) get a big dose of perspective when you aren’t constantly bombarded by it.  

My family and I are still figuring out what we’re doing, where we’re going, and how we’re going to handle it all, but right now living day by day is the greatest pleasure.