Semi-annual clearance! semi-annual freakout!

Hello all,

So I have hit the six-month milestone for living abroad. I left shortly after Thanksgiving last year from Boston, stayed a few days in Los Angeles before finally departing on the last day of November. By the time I reached Asia, it was already day 2 into December. Quite some things have happened along the way, and hopefully you have following along somehow (no particular order, with some significant highlights of course).

1) Inter-Asia travel - I finally have the opportunity to make trips to some destinations that were reserved for long haul trips across the Pacific, but having lived in this part I find that the jet lag is not noticeable much. Karen and I made a visit to Osaka, Japan, mainly because of my exam taking restrictions, and it definitely was an experience. I wish there was more diversity of travel though (see below)
 

2) Local culture/customs - ...and I thought Boston traffic conditions sucked... here in the valley, basically EVERYONE drives, and not in a professional well trained manner. You have speed demons hitting sleeping police, dangerous navigation of curved roads, and lack of road manners. Boston seems mild compared to this. The public transportation is years behind even the most primative systems in the US, and the government here takes money for pet projects. Malls are very big here. They recently opened one literally in our backyard, and it's an eyesore and a poorly planned piece of development. It just makes the current bottlenecking worse, since it's essentially right off a major highway artery. Karen and I joke that they should just rename the country "Mall-aysia", and that's not supposed to be a humorous pun. 

3) Food - It's a Muslim culinary dream, and a pork lover's nightmare... why do I say that? Unless you are in a Chinese food court, "kopitiam", then you will not find anything related to pig, or alcohol for that matter.

I have had to adjust to the fact that pork ribs are few and far between in shopping areas, and that there are no guarantees you will even find US standard quality at the fast food places.

When you think of this country, you think of a food mecca, which is true, but you factor in that much of the food is lacking in a particular oinky essence, and you have to wonder, "why???" Still, when it comes to local comfort food, nothing beats Chicken Rice or Banana Leaf Rice. You still have to wonder how they make the chicken "cha siew bao" taste rather true to the original pork version though.
 

 4) New faces, new places - Of course I still miss everyone back home. There's nothing more important than seeing some familiar personalities from decades long relations. Yes, it has been more than ten years for most of you, hope that your life includes some new bonuses, or news you can share. As for me, I've managed to round up a decent bunch here, and they are all fairly local, which I find funny at time since I try to understand their sense of humor. Very good folks though, not extreme in any sense, but have a strong sense of opinions much of the time. Also have some church folks from the services my in-laws attend for community outreach and development. But that damn LDP... oh my goodness...

  

How is everyone doing, by the way?
 

 5) Drum Roll please - So the biggest news, and newest news, is probably the fact that Karen and I are expecting in September. We are excited, and just took the first major step in parenthood with the purchase of a play/sleep pen. It was not totally unexpected, as we were intending to start a family of our own in due time... our little one will experience Asia first hand although she probably won't remember any of it by the time we are ready to return to our true home. As a form of subtlety, it will be a girl.

 It also has nothing to do with the year of the Dragon hehe.By the next year, we will be looking forward to almost two years in the country, and for Karen it will be two plus, and for the little one, maybe one full year to celebrate a birthday???
 

...Yes, I admit that Malaysia is a nice place, and it truly is Asia, but nothing makes you feel more comfortable than a house you can claim as yours, a culture that doesn't depend fully on building malls all over the place with monotonous and redundant products, and the simple fact that Karen has already adopted Boston as her place to be going forward, and for me to help make that happen, along with the upcoming attraction. Here's to the first six months, and hopefully a quick passage of time for six more plus.
 

Kent