Sunday, January 5, 2014

Food!



Star Fruit and Pineapple Juices
Soursop, Pumpkin, Rose Apples
Food - perhaps one of the most difficult things to adapt to when moving to a foreign country. When I enter a new place to eat or shop for food, which is every day here, I always try to imagine what the people here would be feeling if they were entering an American restaurant or grocery story. Full of unrecognizable (and inedible to many of them) creamy sauces, cheeses, breads, and family sized, single portions of meat. Almost no whole fresh fish to be found, and rice is often an afterthought or unavailable. I experience the opposite of that here. Whole fish (which are delicious by-the-way) complete with eyeballs, and fins are available almost everywhere here. You may order it up fried, in a curry or broth, broiled with local spices, or in any other way you like. Rice and noodles in every form or fashion are available in most restaurants. Most veggies here (other than okra and green beans), are completely unknown to me. Gourds and pumpkins of all shape and sizes – only a few have I ever eaten before.  There must be 20 variety of leafy greens, usually served cooked. I can’t even begin to contemplate all the spices. The Malaysians use coconut milk to flavor many things, along with the curry leaf, both of which contribute to food, some of the yummy, familiar Indian range of flavors. The Chinese use lots of fermented soy and seafood based pastes to flavor food. All of it leaves me feeling like a wee babe in the culinary world.


Hibiscus Calyces

Hibiscus Tea
The other day in the fresh produce market Nozar and I purchased some gorgeous red “blooms”. I couldn’t quite place them. The seller said they were from Vietnam but couldn’t explain further because of our language barrier. We brought them home, tasted them and found them pleasant but a bit bitter. The Shell contract administrator, who is Chinese, came buy our apartment that same day and said they are used to make a tea. Ding, ding, ding, the bells went off in my head. I remembered that my friend Tizoc, from Mexico, used to steep something similar to make a drink. Nice. A connection, to something familiar. After more research, I remembered they are actually from the hibiscus family, high in vitamin C, and make one of the most beautifully, naturally colored drinks a person could consume. I steeped them and sweetened the tart drink with some local honey. Voila! It turns out to be a nice alternative to iced tea. I know, from experience, that these calyces are available in your local Mexican market. I encourage you to venture out and try something different for a pleasant change.


A pancake of sorts, cooked with peanuts.
Nozar really loves his juices!
Beverages here in general could have a book written about them. Since I don’t know what most beverages are I just point and say, “May I have one of those please?” I’ve drunk quite a few concoctions, most of which I couldn’t quite recognize. However, the common beverage I find most difficult to adapt to is instant coffee. There are some “real” coffee shops here but Nescafe - by far - rules.  After a while the taste grew on me and I actually purchased some for home; but still, every time I drink it, it brings to mind coffee out of desperate circumstances. The only times in my life I ever drank instant coffee was when I had absolutely no possible access to regular coffee grounds. It’ll be a while before I fully embrace instant coffee. On the other hand, something instantly palatable is fresh squeezed fruit juices. They are one of the best perks of living here. You can hear a juicer grinding out pulp in most restaurants. Apple (green or red), carrot, cucumber, star fruit, dragon fruit, orange, pineapple, honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon. A glass of any of those pure juices here is approx. $1.50. Inexpensive, fresh, healthy, yummy, refreshing! I’m in!


Night market BBQ. Chicken tail, gizards, wings, chicken hotdogs.
Getting to know the food here will take great attention and time. Also, I don’t feel super confident yet about cooking some of the really foreign items. But not to worry, they sell spaghetti noodles and pasta sauce in the grocery store so when I am desperate for something familiar at least those items are available. Also, yesterday we found a grocery store that sells ice cream products. We went in for the purchase. I haven’t tasted it yet, but the picture on the container looks like it is chocolate-cherry flavored. Could be exciting. I’ll keep you posted.


Hibiscus in Bloom
Attempting Life :)

Tamara

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Nozar Visits Chinese Medicine Doctor


Beautiful view from the Piasau Boat Club

Suspension bridges at the first oil well sight in Miri.

It only took me two weeks since arriving in Miri to hurt myself this bad. It might look like I got involved in a street fight, but I actually paid to be hurt. On a Saturday morning, looking for something to do, I decided to get a cab to downtown to find a local breakfast and have a little walk. Wandering in the Chinese market section of Miri, I saw a Chinese sign (with a few English words) advertising for Chinese medicine on second floor. I couldn't resist my own curiosity, so I went upstairs to see what it was all about. The receptionist there asked me what my ailment was. Since I wasn’t sick at the time, I mentioned I have sinus allergies and that my feet get tired when I walk. She referred to a mysterious, large, handwritten Chinese medicine manual and determined I could use a medicinal massage. Disappointed that she wasn’t offering something more exciting, I suggested that acupuncture may be right for me. After realizing that I am there for fun, she said I don't need any acupuncture, but I can receive a massage. I agreed.



Four days after treatment!
After some waiting I was taken to the treatment room where a woman Dr. and her message assistant were waiting. After some discussion, mostly in Chinese, I am seated in a chair, and massage begins on my scalp and neck. An instrument was used, something like a bone, to perform the head message which hurt so bad I had to remind myself that big boys don’t cry. We proceeded on to the message table, where the assistant began applying clear, glass suction cups to my back and moving them over my skin. Now envision a Lady Dr. yelling instructions in Chinese, her big guy massager working really fast, so I can’t find time to cuss, I’m yelling out in pain, and the receptionist/translator can’t stop laughing at me. This went on for 20 minutes.



Total damage: $23 and a completely bruised back. Will I go to see my Chinese medicine friends again? You bet. Maybe next time I can get them to do acupuncture.



Have a great day.



Nozar

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Miri Life



Nozar and a stormy day where Miri meets the South China Sea
The neighborhood behind our apt.
View from front of our apartment.
What we think we know, is really nothing at all. I am reminded of that fact more often as each year passes.  This past week we have learned lesson after lesson. My husband, over the past weeks, has repeatedly reminded me of why I married him. Simply put, he gets shit done. He’s not afraid. He bravely embarks on one small journey after another. It’s nothing short of impressive. He’s not afraid to leap off into the abyss where as I like to study the abyss first, stick my toe in, then step off. 


Our week has been full of learning opportunities. On Christmas day, while the whole of Miri was celebrating Christmas, we moved into our apartment. It’s a temporary apartment, because we could not find a house that met our criteria, so we will search again for a house at the beginning of 2014. For now, this is quite a nice apartment. Four bedroom, four bath and a pretty good view. Good enough for those brave enough to come and visit us here. You are all invited. We may just end up staying in this apartment for the whole of our years here, but we’ll see. Chinese/Malaysian architecture takes a bit of getting used to. Our happiness with our living arrangement here will be an ongoing adaptation of comfort level.


Shopping Mall w/ a few recognizable brands. Yes, that's a Kenny Rogers Roasters. Too funny!
Nozar and I both drove (in this country) for the first time this past week. That was an experience. Imagine, sitting on the “wrong” side of the car, driving on the “wrong” side of the rode, and not seeing one sign written in English. Yeah…it was a butt clinching experience the first time out. We both lived through it though. We only yelled at each other a couple of times. They have a traffic light system here that is essentially like ours in America until you arrive at a bright green U. What the heck! After getting used to it, I’ve decided, it’s a good system really, an indicator as to when it is okay to make a U-turn. I think it adds a bit of safety to the whole driving ordeal. Anyway, thank goodness the signs are the same shape and color as they are in the states. The parking garages here are a completely different story, as they are built for Smart Cars and Yugo’s. Not to mention, road side and direction often switch to American style in car parks – but not always. It’s a complete guessing game as to what to do once you enter a garage. Nozar (not taking the former into consideration) purchased the largest car available on the market here. Yep, we’ll have to take a taxi to any location requiring parking. Lucky for me, Shell allows for a rental car during the first weeks here so I have been driving a tiny Honda. Not a bad car, and – most importantly -  fits in the parking garages – no matter which direction I need to go. I used to dream of owning Mercedes and Audis, now it’s Prius’ and Mini Coopers.


Tamara, at a local Miri, beach front park.
The people here are amazingly kind and trustworthy. Every one of them always makes an effort to help us as much as possible, even if there is a language barrier. Lots of folks speak some English here so communicating only represents a relatively small problem.  (Specifics  about communication efforts here though, is a topic for its own blog entry.) Time and time again, we have just been trusted and left on our own to do what is right. For example, Nozar’s company is sometimes a little slow in handling things, so the day we moved into the apartment, while Nozar was getting the keys, the manager had our contract ready to go and asked about our form of payment. Since Shell handles the contracts for our living arrangements and since we are waiting to get our Ringgit (Malaysian currency) credit card, we told the apartment manager that we would come back to pay later. That was over a week ago now. It seems the Shell contract advisor is on vacation for a week and our credit cards won’t be ready until next week. The point is though, that not a sole has asked us to pay. We are just living here, in this huge apartment, rent and contract free. It’s very odd to be trusted. But nice to be in a country where it’s still possible.


White Spider Lily.
I hope you all are enjoying this blog. Thanks so much for all the kind and positive remarks. Makes me feel connected while so far away. If you have questions or want me to include different information I will happily accommodate. Next time, Nozar is posting about his visit to the Chinese Medicine Doctor. I swear he needs to hire a crew and film his own adventure show for A&E or the Discovery Chanel.


Attempting Life,

Tamara