Hey so this is what I have been up to the last days here in
Malaysia:
After my flight from KL to Penang (sorry David no pictures)
I was picked up from the airport, along with another German volunteer, and
brought to our project in. My project, called Steppingstone by Asia Community
Service (you can find the link under the tab “the Project”) and lies between
Balik Pulau and Pulau Betong. Balik Pulau is a small village about 4 km away,
while Pulau Betong is only a kilometer away, it is an even smaller village than
Balik Pulau.
My job at the center is to help and guide the mentally
challenged through their work day at stepping stone. Their work varies from
weaving to cooking, baking, crafting (batik/tie-dye/paper makingand pottery)
which they all sell in their store.
As most of you know Malaysia has three main inhabitant
groups: the largest are the Malay with 50% (have to be Muslim by law), the
Chinese with 25% (either Christian or Buddhist ), the Indigenous with roughly
10% and the Indians with about 8% (mostly Hindu or Buddihst).
The area of Balik Pulau is Malay dominated and thereby a
Muslim region (especially Balik Betong). Sub sequentially during the time of
Ramadan (time of fasting), which it is coincidently at the moment, only a few
shops and restaurants are open during the day.
That is also one of the many reasons why we decided to go to
Georgetown for the long weekend, Friday was a holiday. Malaysia is the country
with the second most public holidays in the world, due to the many different
religions that are practiced here.
After a 45 min drive we got to Georgetown on Thursday evening,
the largest city of Pulau Penang (island Penang) with almost 800.000
inhabitants. Georgetown feels like the
exact opposite of Balik Pulau. It is big, noisy, a lot of people, not only
Malay but of all different “races” as the locals would say (which for me, as a
german, is rather difficult to adapt to).
Thursday through Monday
On Thursday Evening we met up with the other AFS 18+
volunteers and went to an amazing Indian place wher I ate ayam nasi groeng (chicken
fried rice) and roti channai (bread with sauce is the best explanation I can
come up with, but it tastes amazing :D). After that all of us met up with our
AFS Penang supervisor, a local Chinese lady.
On Friday we all went to a very large Buddhist temple close
to Georgetown. Since we are now locals, we took the bus. :D
Saturday and Sunday we explored the city. Eating a lot,
seeing some cool street art, enjoying little India and finding some awesome things
that you can see in the picture below.
Streetart scattered through the heart of Gerorgetown
Me eating some ice..... on a stick.....
we found this beauty on the street...
cool speaker system; wasnt for sale :(
And as always thank you for reading... if you have any questions write me an e-mail. tmvolkmer@hotmail.de
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