My First Week Back in Malaysia

When my dad informed me that he got me a returning ticket to Malaysia, I couldn't be any happier; going back to Malaysia was something that I looked forward to as it was an opportunity for me to reunite with my friends here and also the hot and spicy Malaysian cuisines. My flight back to Malaysia was on the 16th of December; it was an early morning flight which I thought was a good thing as the earlier I return, the more time I'll have in Malaysia. On my way back to Malaysia, I encountered something very unexpected; I bumped into my friend James who studied with me in ICPU a couple of years ago. Like me, James is also studying in Canada...only in a more prestigious university. We met each other in the Vancouver International Airport and it so happened that we were on the same plane back to Malaysia. Since we were going back together, we thought of arranging our flight seats next to each other. Bumping into James was really a surprise nevertheless, it was a good surprise. As the both of us reached Malaysia on the 17th of December, we went on our separate ways nevertheless, we agreed to meet up again later on. My first five days in Malaysia was okay; however, the last 3 days were miserable as I came down with a high fever.

On the first day after leaving the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), my parents took me out for lunch. On our way to the restaurant, the Q&A (questions and answers) session began; questions ranging from have I made any new friends, how was my exams, did I get drunk again and how was UBC (yeah...I visited UBC a day before I left for Malaysia) swarmed me. Seeing that both of my parents and I easily quarrel regardless of how petty the issue is, I answered their questions very carefully as I was not in the mood to argue with them. We had "dim sum" for lunch that day, and we continued our Q&A session over the dining table. After lunch (which wasn't really filling), my parents and I headed home. Back home, I started unpacking my stuff with the help of my mum. After what seems to be a long day of unpacking, I took a nice cold shower before taking a short rest. As I felt much more energetic, I told my mum that I wanted to go for my Muay Thai class; like usual, my mum forbid me as she thought I should be taking a good rest after my 15 hours flight. Since I'll be only here for 3 weeks the most, I knew I musn't waste anytime; therefore, I persuaded and convinced her to send me for my Muay Thai class. Fortunately, I managed to persuade her to send me for my class or I would be inefficiently utilizing my time back in Malaysia. My Muay Thai class was at 8:30pm, however, I arrived at class half an hour earlier. I was warmly welcomed by my kru (Thai word for master) and my classmates; they were glad to have me back. Seeing that I had half an hour before class began, I decided to "warm" myself up. I did some weight lifting, push ups, sit ups and squats; my kru who saw me working out extensively became worried and he told me to take it easy since I just came back from a cold country. On the other hand, I wanted to show how tough his student is, so I convinced him that I will be fine. However later on in class, I started to grow tired at a rapid pace; my instructor told me to throw in the towel and take a short rest, but I insisted to continue. By the end of the class, I was breathless and I submitted into fatigue. Despite going through a Navy SEAL like training session, I managed to sleep well that night.

My 2nd day over here was extremely busy. Because I plan to transfer to University of British Columbia(UBC) by the fall of next year, I had to send all of my school certificates before a certain deadline. The university requires all certificates to be officially certified and sealed by the school; therefore, I had to visit both my secondary and my high school in order to get my papers done. The bureaucracy featured in the process of preparing the certificates was the biggest pain; UBC required the certificates to be packaged in specific ways which comprise the methods of sealing and certifying the envelopes, the size and type of envelopes used and even the color of the envelopes. Preparing my certificates that day was sufficient to make me "throw in the towel". After what seems to be a long and stressful day of school visiting and certificates packaging, I managed to distress myself with my Muay Thai class; releasing my tension on the punching bag never felt so good.

Unlike the 2nd in Malaysia, the 3rd day was very free for me...in fact it was too free. I didn't even know what to do that day; if it wasn't for my Play Station 3 and my Play Station Portable, I would have died of boredom. Seeing that I had nothing much to do at home, I followed my mum out to 1 Utama for some shopping. Over there, we did some grocery shopping and we visited different gaming stores as I wanted to compare the prices of the Play Station Portable 's memory stick which I thought of buying. Later on that day in the shopping complex, my mum treated me to ba gua (slices of thin roasted pork meat) as she knew I haven't had this for a long time. In the late evening, I went for my Muay Thai class only to discover that it wasn't open for that day; I left with disappointment and dismay seeing that I couldn't train for the day. After reaching home, I saw the clock and to my surprise it was only 7:30pm. No wonder the boxing studio wasn't open...yet; it only opens at 8:15pm which ridiculously informed me that I went to class more than an hour earlier. I really felt stupid that night.

On the 4th day, my family and I went back to Johor to visit my grandma (dad's side) for a day. We left at 10am in the morning and the journey from my place to Johor was 2 and a half hour. In the middle of our journey, we stopped at Segamat (another small town of Johor) for beef noodles for our lunch. After slurping down our bowl of noodles, we continued our journey to my grandma's place from Segamat which was a half an hour drive. As we reached my grandma's place, we started unloading all the stuff that my mum brought for grandma from the car's trunk; grandma was just happy to see us all. Later on that day, my aunt (dad's side) and her little children( whom I find them annoying) came by as well. Seeing that I'm not really close to my relatives on my dad's side, I just hid myself in a room to avoid talking to them; of course I had my Play Station Portable along with me to accompany me throughout my hiding. Later on that day, my dad told me to join him and his sister (who's my aunt) for some steam bread at a nearby coffee shop. Since I haven't had steam bread for a long time, I knew it was just foolish of me not to join in. The coffee shop that day was surprisingly fully occupied with customers; nevertheless, we were lucky enough to get ourselves a table. We had lots of steam bread that day and as usual they were simply delicious; after our snack, we went back to grandma's place. Back in grandma's place, I continued my gaming on my PSP; I was trying to complete at least two missions of SOCOM: Tactical Strike only to be bothered by my aunt's intruding little brats. I wanted to scare them away but I knew it wouldn't be a great idea since my aunt was just around. Consequently, I patiently tolerate those little brats next to me. As night approaches, my uncle (dad's side) treated us all for dinner at a seafood restaurant nearby. Not really a big fan of seafood but since my uncle is buying us all dinner, I told myself not to be fussy. After dinner, we wished my relatives goodbye and headed back home. Later on that night at home, my parents wanted to see the recorded videos of my 20th birthday party on my Play Station 3 (yeah, my Play Station 3 can store recorded videos and music). Gladly, I showed them as I thought it would be nice to introduce my Hong Kong friends to them; however, as they witness all the alcohol drinking in my videos, my parents started to get angry. Consequently, I stopped the videos and immediately left before they could get their hands on me.

I went down to JPA with my dad to renew my driving license on the next day. Although I find it pointless to renew my driving license seeing that I hardly get to use the car, I thought it would be better to renew it than to retake the whole driving course again. After dealing with my license, my dad send me back home before he took off somewhere. Back at home, I kept myself entertained with my Play Station 3 and it wasn't long until my mum thought about taking me out for a movie. Since it's been a while I watched a movie, I thought about following her out. We watched I am Legend and it was a good movie with interesting story line and great acting. After 2 hours in the cinema, we went for early dinner. By then, I started to feel funny; I felt cold and my body was aching. My mum noticed that I was so quiet that day concluded that I was sick; she immediately got some medicine for me and told me to sleep early that day. She even restricted me from attending Muay Thai that night. Although I did not attend Muay Thai that night, I continued playing my Play Station 3 when I got back home instead of sleeping early.

On the 6th day, my fever escalated and it was a world of pain for me. I felt terribly cold and I was shivering all the while; I slept more than 10 times that day and I felt like an unfit sloth for that day. My mum took me to a doctor for some treatment and fortunately for me I got better after taking my medicine and a long nap (5 hours of nap). Later on that evening, I fully recovered and since that I was already okay, I thought about working out as I haven't been doing that for quite some time since my return to Malaysia. After 60 rounds of push ups, sit ups and squats, I took a bath and called it a day.

The next day, I fell sick again. What thought to be a full recover turned out to be something different; my mum then scolded me for exerting myself again and she warned me to stay in bed for the entire day. Knowing that I needed lots of rest and medicine, I stayed in bed most of the time and I constantly had my medicines.

My first five days in Malaysia was okay; however, the last 3 days were miserable as I came down with a high fever. I did not meet up with any of my friends from Malaysia throughout my first week in Malaysia. On the other hand, I managed to continue my Muay Thai training, deal with my certificates for my university transfer and experience the Malaysian hot and spicy cuisine which I miss a lot. Within the first week here in Malaysia, I also manage to complete SOCOM: Tactical Strike for the PSP and Heavenly Sword for the PS3. So basically, my first week here in Malaysia wasn't that bad. Right now, I'm just looking forward to meet up with my friends as that is the main reason of my return.