Domesticating Jen G

Remember my failed attempt to do laundry on Friday?  Well Patric and I tried again Friday night.  Let's just say I'm really glad we did a "dry" run with no clothes because we really had no idea, even together, what we were doing.  The brand of the washer/dryer is Fagor.  This is something we had never heard of.  It is a front loading washer which is something that is very common in the States.  But you should see the size of the drum.  I have no idea how a full size family would do a load of wash.  They would have to this daily or every other day at the least.  I have never seen a smaller washer...ever!  So we abandoned laundry again...

As we were heading out to Solaris on Saturday we ran into one of the front desk staff at the elevator in front of our apartment.  We asked him if he would show us how to use the washer.  He looked at us like we were crazy.  We explained that we had no idea how to use it since the instructions (yes, we had found them) were in a different language.  Funny thing about that - they look to be in Spanish.  Anyway, he came in and gave us a crash course.  We had a hard time understanding him but we got the gist of it.  After we returned from Solaris we set about the task of tackling laundry...

We got it started...

But it didn't seem to be getting everything wet.  So I sat and watched for about 10-ish minutes...

After I was sure that the clothes were all getting wet and the washer was doing what it was supposed to do, I walked away and let it do its thing...which took forever!  Finally it finished and we could put the clothes in the dryer...

Which we promptly remembered we forgot to receive instruction on how to use.  I still think we do not know how to use it correctly because no matter what size load we put in it our clothes take at least two hours to dry.  Needles to say we spent all day Sunday doing laundry.  It has definitely been an experience.

We also watched TV all day while laundry was going.  Even on the cable movie channels the cuss words are blanked out, but not all of them.  It's kind of a hit and miss type thing.  All sex scenes are cut.  Most violence is left in.  Very interesting censorship.

Just as we finished laundry and we were about to go to Solaris to get something to eat, it started raining.  It rained for a few hours.  We wound up ordering Domino's Pizza.  How Malaysian is that???

So now I'm pretty caught up...yay!  Monday I will be staying home...I'm kind of bummed about that but I have some important calls to make so I'll be sure to share about that.

See you next post!

Monkey update:  day eight...of course I didn't see any monkeys!  Kind of hard to do when you don't leave the house...  =(

Momentary Lapse...

Have you ever had a moment where you just completely blanked on where you were?  I've had those moments when I was driving down a street and went into a mild panic and had to stop (not literally) and think "OK what road am on, which way am I going and what is my ultimate destination?"  When I moved to College Station from the Houston area there were a few times when I caught myself thinking I was going to go do...  Whatever it was it was something in the Houston area.

Well I now have something to top ALL of that!!

Patric and I were watching MotoGP (motorcycle races) on TV Sunday.  At the end of the race they announced that the next race was going to be in Australia.  Patric got a little excited and said "Yeah, then after that they will be here!!!"  Well, let me share my blonde moment with you.  My immediate thought was, "There is no way, the track isn't finished yet."  For those of you that have no idea why this is the world's dumbest thought let me fill you in.

At this very moment very close to Austin, Texas, a very nice race track is being built.  This track is scheduled to be opened late in 2012.  At this track they plan to run Formula 1 cars and all sorts of different motorcycle races.  For that one brief period in time I so completely forgot where I was.

KL already has a track that has been used for these types of races for many years.  It is famous for these types of races.  And it is only 30 minutes away from us.  Yes, the world's dumbest thought!

Anyway...I just wanted to share that with you.  Those that know me well really won't be surprised.  Those that just kind of know me...welcome to my world!  =)

Almost Too Much, Huh?

Saturday morning came awfully early!  But I got up with no (at least little) complaints since we were going furniture shopping.  We met Shanny upstairs in the lobby (yes, I meant upstairs - the lobby is on the 4th floor and we are staying on the 2nd...confusing, huh?) just a little after 8:30.  For the record, she was late...not us.

On the way to the furniture store we were talking about our plans for the rest of the day while we were sitting in the backseat of the car - going to a pet store to get necessities for Duke and Josie and then going to see them at Shayne's. Shanny overheard these plans and asked us if we had a pet store that we preferred to use. Of course, we didn't. We asked her if she thought there would be a difference in taxi fare from Mont Kiara (where we are staying and where we know there is a pet store) or from closer in to KL where she might know of a pet store. She said she did not think there would be much of a difference - Shayne lives kind of far out.

Shanny took us to a store called Asian Furniture - easy enough.  From what we were told by Lana during our orientation, there area only a few furniture stores that do furniture leasing - this one, MK Furniture (we stopped and saw this one on the first day of house hunting, remember my breakdown?) and one other called Expat Furniture.  We are quickly learning that anything that caters to expats is automatically a little more pricey plus Expat Furniture is the new store in town so it is still trying to make a name for itself.  We were kind of glad that Shanny didn't take us to that one. 

So we focused on the task at hand and started looking at furniture.  The showroom wasn't that big but it was crammed with goodies!  Since I understood better how things worked I didn't feel so overwhelmed by prices, plus there weren't any out on the furniture!  One sure fire way to remove stress is to remove the stressor.  We started with the living room.  While we were discussing this Shanny announced that she was going to go find us a pet store close to where we were.  This caught us completely off guard.  All we could really say was thank you but it seemed so inadequate.  And she was off...

We kept furniture shopping.  The lady that was helping us was amazing.  She was extremely helpful and knowledgeable.  After only about two hours we had living room, dining room, master and guest bedrooms, office and patio furniture picked out and had to go and find something that was RM 20 to fill up our budget so we picked another floor lamp.  Let me add that this included lamps for all rooms.  I can't wait to get this furniture in our house so I can video it and show you!!! 

During this Shanny showed up and announced that she had found our pet wonderland!  She also had with her the most amazing treats...



Sadly, I do not know the name of these tasty morsels but I can certainly describe them to you!  The shell is just like a light, flaky pie shell - just like it looks.  The filling is sooo bad for you - it's egg yolks mixed with just a little bit of sugar and flour.  It is not very sweet at all but it is oh sooo good!!!  As you can tell from the picture a few of them were eaten by the time the picture was taken.  Not all by me!!!!!  I was forced to share!  Had I not been told they were egg yolks I would have finished this off by myself.  Once I was told that disturbing piece of information I had to exhibit self-control...DANG!!!!!  When she brought them to us they were even fresh and hot...YUM!!!

Anyway, enough mouth watering memories for me...

We left the furniture store and went to the pet wonderland that Shanny found for us.  We were able to get everything we needed for Duke and Josie except dog beds (they had sold out of them) and a rope for Duke (couldn't even see where they had a spot for them).  So we got a ball for him instead.  I forgot to mention that while we were at the furniture store Shanny also asked if she could take us to Shayne's house to save us from taking a taxi there and back.  She is just amazing!  I just have to say that I am so grateful that kindness is international...at least so far in my experience.  I'm sure it is not everywhere in the world but it is alive and well in Malaysia!

Off to Shayne's we went.  Patric had a great reunion with the dogs and they were happy to see me again.  They were a little confused as to why they weren't leaving with us.  And as I type this I realize that I deprived you of some great pictures of Patric on the floor with them since I didn't take any...sorry friends!!!  We didn't stay very long since Shanny had an appointment with another client that afternoon.  She brought us home where we got ready to head to the closest shopping area for dinner and to do some grocery shopping.

Here is Solaris...

This would be more like a strip center back home but none of the spaces are empty.  =)  We found a really good Italian restaurant called Michelangelo's and we both had really good calzones...





From here we went home and settled in for the night with our adoring cat, PK.  I'm not sure how long she will remain adoring so I'm going to take advantage as long as I can.

Sunday promises to be pretty boring...no plans so far...could be good, could be bad.  We shall see!

See you next post!

Monkey update:  day seven...more of same, still no monkeys!  I'm open to suggestions if anyone knows where to go...









SHE'S HERE...SHE'S HERE!!!!!!

Friday has finally arrived!  The only problem is that I haven't heard from the pet relocation agency on this end.  I had emailed them on Wednesday to see if they had an estimated time that our animals would be released from quarantine.  As of Friday morning I still had not heard anything from them.  As I had mentioned before, I am built to worry.  So, I emailed the contact again.  At around 9:30 I received a phone call from him.  It was a very difficult conversation to have.  I kept losing him thanks to my really awesome cell phone...

Don't be jealous!!!

Anyway, after several disconnects and call backs I found out that they were in the process of getting their paperwork together to release them.  The paperwork couldn't be completed until 10:30 at the earliest though and due to Shayne's (the dog boarder) schedule it would be early afternoon before they could be released since they had to be released at the same time.  I was just happy that they were being released!

So I figure in the meantime I would go ahead and get laundry going.  That sounds easy enough, right?  Have you ever tried to do laundry in different country?  I hadn't until Friday, September 30, 2011.  Let me just say that laundry did not get done that day.  The machine looked like I should be able to operate it - it looked like a normal stackable washer/dryer combo.  There are two dials with nothing but numbers on them on the washer part and three buttons with pictures.  Hmmm...yeah.  Like I said, no laundry that day.  Patric said we could figure it out together.  That would be interesting!  So, instead I did stuff on the computer.  =)

At around 3:15 PK finally got here...YAY!!!  I brought the carrier in and opened the door.  I expected her to come out and hide immdiately.  Not so!  She came out and started exploring right away!  She wasn't even that interested in love.  I was so caught off guard that I didn't have the video camera ready like I wanted.  I did get some still shots...

One of the first places she found was the back of the washer - a great hiding place.

Then she found the view!  =)

Then I got the video camera out and followed her around a bit.  I think she thought I was a little crazy but whatever...

Patric was even showered with love when he got home from work!  This cat was definitely happy to be with us!

That night we decided to go somewhere different for dinner and for a change of scenery.  Right next to Patric's office is a HUGE mall called 1 Utama.  He goes there for lunch - there is some sort of connection between the mall and his office building.  Anyway, this mall puts the Galleria in Houston to shame!!!  I was going to take pictures but I had no idea where to begin.  There is a store for every brand of clothing made.  We ate at Kenny Rogers Chicken Roaster - not bad.  There are a ton of choices for food.  I have no idea how many floors are in this mall.  I absolutely can't wait to go back and explore this mall!!!  It just happens to be about 3 minutes from the house we are hoping to move into.  How great is that???  The Curve AND 1 Utama...that seems like a lot of blog material in itself!  =)

We didn't stay long because I was really tired so we came home.  It was nice to come home to PK!  Then I went to bed and all of that changed.  She has never been a cat that sleeps in the bed with us all night.  She will come visit but then she goes and does her thing - whatever that may be.  Not Friday night!  She decided she needed to stay with us ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!!  And for the most part she wanted to mess with me.  One point in the night I woke up because she had her head under my pillow trying to get at my hands to make me pet her.  Another time I woke up with her sitting on my chest head butting me and purring in my face wanting love.  Every time I rolled over she was somewhere near me making it difficult to move without disturbing her which meant she thought it was time to get love.  Needless to say it was a restless night.  But she missed us and was happy to be home...I'm happy that she is happy!

Saturday will be another big day!  We get to go furniture shopping and will get to go see the dogs at Shayne's house!  See you at the next post!

Monkey update:  day six...still no monkeys, but I really didn't go anywhere so I can't really count today, can I?

House Hunting in Malaysia...Day 3

After we finished getting our brains scrambled under the guise of an orientation, we met up with our real estate machine, Shanny.  She told us that our house hunting would only take about an hour because we were only viewing three properties and they were all in the the same community as the one that we fell in love with and were all the same floor plan.  We were very happy to hear this.  We knew that this basically meant it would come down to yard size (for the dogs) and different features that would make each unit stand apart.

We arrived at the community a little early so we drove to each property and looked at the yards.  They all looked about the same.  Some already had plants planted while others didn't.  This was the main difference.  The entire community is very new - most units have never been lived in, including all that we were looking at.  This was a definite plus!

We looked at the first unit and, just as we expected, it looked just like the first house on Wednesday.  There weren't any surprises and nothing to make us change our minds about loving the house.  We looked at the second house and this one had features that made us like it even more.  It made up for not being on a corner lot.  There were frosted glass doors on the pantry the in kitchen and leading into the master bathroom.  There was a built in TV stand in the master bedroom.  This house was moved to the top of the list for day three so far.  The listing agent told Shanny that he had two other homes that he wanted to show us - one being a bungalow that was well within our budget, the other another semi-d in this same community.

We veered from our viewing schedule and went to look at the semi-d.  Right off we noticed a huge construction project going on behind the house.  This really wasn't that big of deal since it wasn't a government project (those are worked on 24 hours a day) but the problem was that we couldn't get in to see the house...the agent didn't have the key.  He assured us that the inside was exactly the same as the house we just left but from what we could see through the windows there were some differences.  The only thing I could be sure was exactly the same was the floor plan.  This pretty much knocked this house out of contention and wasted a little time...bummer!

On to the bungalow...

Do you ever have those moments when you really wish you had a video camera?  I had my digital but that just would not have done justice to what Patric and I witnessed when we arrived at the bungalow.  Again, there was a key issue.  The listing agent was there with the owner but apparently even she did not have an extra key.  The maid was in the house (don't ask me...I have no idea...it didn't look like anyone was living there so I don't know why the maid was there with the keys) and was not responding to the ringing of the bell or the yelling of the owner from the gate.  The owner and the listing agent were running around trying to get in anyway possible.  Finally, the agent jumped the fence.  He then unlocked the area where the trash can is kept so that we could walk through there - it is about three feet tall and there are two doors that we had to pass through, very strange!  After we went through all of that...the maid opened the front door!!!  It looked like she had been asleep - go figure!  The yard was amazing at this house and the house was very nice but true to form, the house was just too much for us.  The price was exceptional for size of the house but we already had our heart set elsewhere.

So we headed back to view to the last house in that community.  We wound up having to wait just a few minutes for the listing agent to arrive.  It turned out to be so not worth the wait!  This house was no where near ready to move in.  The kitchen had nothing in it yet.  We didn't even bother going upstairs.

Shanny turned in our offer on the second house we saw and she said she would call us when she heard back from the agent.  So now we wait...again.  I hate waiting.  We were both so tired of looking at this point we just hoped this was the end.  So we waited...

Later that evening Shanny called and told us that we received the initial approval...woo hoo!  She had also already emailed the terms and they had been verbally approved...tentative woo hoo!  The owner of the property lives here (which is good) but is out of the country until Monday so they can't sign the Tenant Agreement until they come back.  Hopefully they actually looked over the terms in the email and there won't be anything for them to bawk at when it comes time to sign.  Anyone that knows me knows that I'm built to worry...that is what I do.  I have to admit though, I'm not as worried about this as I could be.  I would like this to happen - very much I would like this to happen - but it is not in my hands.  Nothing in this adventure is - I'm just along for the ride.  I'm trying to work on enjoying the scenery.  So far I've been very surprised by the kindness of strangers and the ease by which things have worked out on their own.  I have no reason to doubt that this house hunting situation won't follow suit.  Right???

Anyway, Shanny

Tomorrow promises to be a good day.  PK comes home and for the first time since I've been here I'm not leaving the apartment.  Maybe I will get some laundry done!  =)

See you next post!

Monkey update:  day five...still no monkeys, and we were all over the place.  Hmmm...

Where Am I Again?

Orientation -

1. The determination of the relative position of something or someone (esp. oneself).

2. The relative physical position or direction of something.

3. An adjustment or adaptation to a new environment, situation, custom, or set of ideas.

I'm sure you are already getting an idea of how Thursday starts, huh?

Schlumberger scheduled us for an orientation to begin at 9:30 Thursday morning.  The good thing about it was that it was to be with Lana (remember, she was my savior in the furniture store).  We met with her in the lobby of our apartment building.  She had a welcome bag full of stuff to start the orientation off.  Here is the cool stuff that was in the bag..

Good info on shopping, dining, events, recreation and other essential information,  The good thing about this little book is that it is sectioned out for KL, Selangor and Putrajaya.  We are staying in Selangor right now which is separate from KL.  I don't quite understand it fully but from what I think I understand Selangor is a state or a district.  It seems that KL and Putrajaya both are located within Selangor but they are Federal Territories so they are considered separate.  So, there is the little I think I have learned so far of the geography of Malaysia...don't quote me...  =)

This little book has the same information but for tourist locations in East Malaysia.  These locations boast nature attractions.  Some of them even have pictures of monkeys...I don't think this counts as a monkey sighting for me though.

This little book has the same information but for tourist locations in the Northern Region of Malaysia.  These include some beaches and islands.

This little book has the same information but for tourist locations in the East Coast Region of Malaysia.  This seems to have it all - beaches, islands, nature - you name it and it is represented in this book.

This little book has the same information but for tourist locations in the Southern Region of Malaysia.  This seems to have more civilization exploration but some off the beatin' path areas as well,

These are useful informational books.

This is a directory full of phone numbers and addresses.  Lana told us that every single one of them had been tested to make sure they were good before they were put in this directory - it is specifically for expats.  Cool, huh?

Some expat magazines.

And finally...my favorite!  A Malay phrasebook!  Periodically I will even throw you a bone...we will learn Malay together!!  How cool is that?!?!  Of course, I probably think it is much cooler than you since I will probably use it more but nonetheless...you will get a word every now and then.

So, after we received this really cool welcome kit we set off on the orientation.  Believe me, the welcome kit was the last time I felt oriented!  The purpose of the morning was to drive around and have Lana explain where important places where and give us fixed points in the area where we were most likely going to live.  This was not a problem since we did have an idea of the area after our house hunt on Wednesday.  The problem turned out to be that we didn't just stay in that area...

Since we had not been to the actual city of KL yet, Lana included that on our itinerary.  After going there, I'm very happy to say that I am not living in KL.  That place is crazy!!!  I'll take the outskirts anytime!  Maybe part of it was that we were doing it so quickly and Lana was trying to explain everything so fast and there was so much traffic.  I am looking forward to going back when Patric and I have time to spend exploring.  Until then I will just have to remember my time in KL as a blur.

Really, my entire Thursday morning was a blur.  It got to a point where I was starting to recognize areas and could tell that I had been there before but there was no way that I could have gotten you there to save my life!  In a nutshell...I was thoroughly confused.  But it was ok.  The fact that things were starting to look familiar was somehow starting to feel a little comforting.  Especially since we were staying mostly in the area where we were hoping to get a house.

A few things that I found really interesting,.,

Pantai Hospital - All things health-wise happen here, including dentistry.  There are clinics outside the hospital but it is more common for regular doctor visits to be made and happen at the hospital.  We were shown the process and the clinics inside the hospital.  GPs are found in the emergency room, specialists and dentists are found in the regular part of the hospital.  A very interesting set up.

The Curve Shopping Center - This is a big mall.  Ikea is located here...yay...and it is very close to where we are looking to live...yay again!!!  Also, The Dome is located in this mall...another yay!!!

Tesco - this is a hypermarket, very similar to Walmart.  It is also in the same area where we are looking to live.  They have just about any and everything we could possibly be looking to buy for any area of our life.  Lana took us in and introduced us to a lot of the local fruits and vegetables.  It all happened so fast that I could not tell you what she showed us right now but I will be sure to show you as we use them.



As our orientation came to a close we met up with Shanny for more house hunting...that is the next post.  See you then!!!

House Hunting in Malaysia...Day 2

Day two started out way different than the first day.  I was able to get up and get moving at my own pace Wednesday morning.  Patric went in to work for a little while.  This was all good since we were both so tired Tuesday night.  I think we were both on such mental overload we barely remembered much of what we did the first day.  Good thing for us we had the presence of mind Tuesday night before we passed out from exhaustion to save the pictures of the houses we liked and delete the pictures of the ones we didn't.  Go us!!  I looked over these while I was killing time (and I posted a blog trying to get caught up).  Then it was time to put on the game face and see what was out there for viewing today.

Shanny was scheduled to pick me up at 12:30 then we were going to get Patric from work.  When she arrived she showed me the list of viewings...eight (yes 8) scheduled for today.  I told you, she is a machine!

Right out of the gate...house number one...we fell in love!  It was  a corner lot, perfect kitchen, perfect master bathroom, perfect everything!  The houses Shanny was showing us that day were different than on day one.  Day one she focused on bungalows.  Day two she was focusing on what is called semi-detached.  They seem kind of like duplexes but muuuch bigger.  This particular one has 3800 sf with five bedrooms.  The fact that it was a corner lot gave it a bigger yard than most of the other semi-detacheds.  This house just happened to be in a new development where there were other similar houses for rent.  Our real estate machine, Shanny, drove around and collected phone numbers of listing agents on other properties in case we decided this was our first choice (duh!) and the offer fell through.  We continued on with the list of properties she had prepared but now we had something to compare them all to...

Even with the semi-d's there was much of the same as the day before; although they definitely fell more inside our budget which worked better for us since the rest would go towards furniture leasing.  On our list were a couple of bungalows but they weren't even a good comparison to the semi-d we fell in love with.  We had pretty much determined that the bungalows are just too much house for us here.  They are really BIG!!!

By the end of the day we were still in love with house number one so Shanny called and made our offer.  It was agreed that she would call us Wednesday night to let us know what the owner of the house said.  I found out from Shanny that it is typically a two week process.  Just because we get a yes today that does not necessarily mean a definite yes.  Once the owner gives the initial yes Shanny will email the listing agent/owner what is called a TA (tenant agreement) which is the Schlumberger agreement.  This is where the negotiations (if any) will take place.  There are some things that can't be negotiated on both sides.  If this can't be agreed on then we don't get the house even if the initial answer was yes.  Bummer...right?  Well, we didn't have to worry about all of that.  We were told no immediately.  Apparently, somewhere along the lines, the owner either wasn't told by the listing agent or decided at the last minute they didn't want our dogs.  Have I mentioned that Malaysia, in general, is not a dog friendly country?  Well, it isn't...

Shanny was awesome on the phone, though.  She is so high energy and has such a "never say die" attitude!  Before she hung up she told Patric she had already spoken with three other agents from that same community from the numbers she had written down and had already made appointments for the next day.  I'm telling you...a machine!!!!  So even though we went to bed heavy hearted from the loss of the house we had hope for the next day.  Still, house hunting sucks!!  And on top of house hunting our morning will be filled with orientation...Thursday will be a loooong day!  But full of adventure so there should be plenty to share with you!!!

See you next time!

Monkey update:  day four...STILL no monkeys...not even monkey droppings.  I'm beginning to think I was lied to...  =(