A few days ago I was cleaning up my closet, and found one of the most special dresses for me: the one that my host family gave me, the very first day of my exchange year in Malaysia. Suddenly, all the memories about that day, came to my head.
It was a very hot day (i would soon realize that a "hot day" for me, was an average day in Malaysia), and I was feeling like a kid that just woke up to open Christmas presents. All the exchange students and me, were staying in a hotel, while waiting for our families from all the country to come. The volunteers of the organization, encorage us to prepare a performance of something tipical of our country for the presentation ceremony. With other Spanish girl (that actually felt more Catalan than Spanish), danced the closest thing to Sevillana dance that we could. After that, we did what were waiting for all the morning. Meet our new family.
The first minutes were a bit awkward, and when I got into the huge van with my five siblings and parents I had the first suprise. They were bringing me to my first Malay wedding. My sister gave my a dress that i'd keep forever, and we got ready to the occasion. I could write pages and pages of twhat happened after that, but to summeriez it, I'll just focus on the most memorable moments. First shock: "salam", an arabic word used in the Malay language by muslims that means 'peace'. Is what you must say when you meet new people, specially for the elders. You have to sincronize that word with the hands movements: hold the person's hand, and head it to your foredhead and, after that, three kisses. Second shock: "makan", eat. It might not sound like something special but, do you imagne yourself having dinner when your only cutlery is your own hand? It was very funny when the rice spilled between my fingers, and very embarrasing at the same time. The third and last shock was also related with food: "pedas", spicy. All the food there, was very very very very very spicy. At the point that I felt my toung like burning.
All those exciting moments, were just the begining of what would be a year full of stories, wonderfull moments and not that good moments as well. I'ts hard to describe my feelings during that day, but definitly, i'd love to experience that again.
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Wow, it seems amazing how can a dress remember you of all those special things you felt the first time you went there, to Malaysia. I found the entry really amusing and I loved the way you made me feel while reading the text, because it felt as if I was there in the first day of the exchange. I liked a lot how you described the new way of seeing things, the way of speaking to malaysian people, the spicy food... I found the text really amazing
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