KP in KL

We've moved out of the hotel completely now and into our new apartment at Ampang 183! My friends Zara and Martina at the G-City Hotel were sad to see us go. Seeing we were two of only a handful of hotel guests, and the only people who stayed longer than a weekend by 30-something days, I guess I can understand them missing our bright shining faces. Really they probably miss laughing at us. We were the only two people who routinely ordered fresh pineapple juice with our sandwiches (only on the few days we didn't go out for chicken rice of course) and they had fun trying to teach me a few Malay words. The only one I really got down was Terima Kasih, which means thank you or T.Q. as they abbreviate it here. I have that written down in my purse for the next time I go for lunch and they try to quiz me. We were the only people watching one of the World Cup games Tuesday night, so they gave us the mini "game ball" as a goodbye gift and said they will miss me. They didn't mention Paul however,…

So here in the apartment things are going very well so far. It's not a compound, as people have asked, but it has a tall stucco wall around the perimeter with 6 guards on location and a guard at the front driveway to control visitor access. The guards are very friendly, although we haven't verbally spoken to them much. When we pass they give us a big smile and thumbs up sign. We're on the second floor so from our balcony we're looking into the tops of palm trees and can look over into the pool. It's a 3 bedroom unit with a king, queen, and twin bed, with three bathrooms. Then there's the maids quarters which is a twin bed with bathroom but lacks a/c and shower walls. I'm giving you the heads up there's enough room for visitors!

(Living room)

(view out of the guest room window)

(kitchen)

The first thing I did when they gave me the keys was move some furniture and paintings around. They have decorated the place in nice neutral colors, but all the paintings in every single room are of leaves. Over time I'm hope to replace many of them with something a little more interesting. Outside of the front door we have a shoe cabinet, and after all of the contractors and utility service people that have been in this week, we've realized we really are the only people who don't take our shoes off before entering. I guess that's alright since it's our place though. Utilities and things are almost hooked up completely. Still waiting on Astro (cable tv) and water delivery. All the water here must be boiled before drinking, so getting the equivalent to the giant bottles of Sparkletts, called Happy Water here, with a dispenser delivered is common. I just got internet back this morning so I'm getting back into the swing of things. We've made several shopping trips for things like groceries and disposable utensils to hold us over until the air shipment from home gets here. Which by the way, thanks to our parents and siblings, everything at the house has been packed up and shipped out. And thanks to my parents our house is closing in just a few hours! I'm feeling a sense of normalcy coming just around the corner.

I thought I had made it over the learning curve at least halfway. Then I realized that the move to this apartment brought an entirely new set of things to learn. For example, the washing machine with all the words written in Spanish, is so small it can really only wash underwear and socks in one load. Therefore, doing all the laundry after letting it sit in the hotel for the past week in an effort to not pay the $70 laundry bill one last time, takes several loads and several hours. And the same goes for the dryer. In addition, I learned that shopping for dishwashing detergent can be tricky. The liquid detergent that has no English writing on it is probably not the right stuff. When in doubt, just don't buy it or else you end up with enough foam for a foam party in the utility room from what was actually dishwashing- by- hand soap. Also, I've always been intimidated by gas grills because I know that I will turn the knob on the propane tank and something will go wrong and it will all end in a big explosion. Well, now I have no choice but to learn as the gas stove in the kitchen has a giant propane tank underneath. There's an extra tank in the utility room that I have to change out when the one under the stove is empty. Should the silent killer take my life, just know that I'd rather that than the tank exploding.

Hopefully we won't have to worry about it. I'm slowly getting used to not having central A/C. There are wall units in each bedroom and in the living room, but not in the bathrooms, closet, utility or kitchen. So for now I think any prolonged showers will not be happening unless it's with cold water.

I do understand that all these things that are different is normal for lots of the world, and I'm okay with "roughing" it a little. But what I think is just crazy is that each individual light bulb in this house has its own plate and switch. As a result you end up with a 2 ft. line of switches in every single room, and if you want the lights on you have to flip approximately 12 switches per room. And there's a switch to turn hot water on in any room with water, and there are on/off switches on every electrical outlet. It seems like this could have been thought out a little better. Speaking of electrical outlets, they are few and far between as I mentioned might be a possibility, and they are non-existent in the bathrooms. I'm wondering if this has something to do with the fact that there is a drain in the bathroom floor, and each bathroom steps down about 2 inches like they expect a flood in the bathroom. And, there is a faucet coming out of the wall down low, which I think is for the Muslim people to wash their feet before prayer. If I'm correct in my assumptions, I would imagine there aren't plugs in the bathroom to prevent assassin hair dryers from falling into this flood which must be so common and taking people out. If that's the reason, that is the only logical excuse I will accept. Otherwise, it's a silly idea and the KL Interior Design office, which is next door to Hock Choon, needs to come up with some different regulations. Oh, and my toe was introduced to the two inch change in floor levels once already. I forsee broken toe happening sometime in the next two years at least once when I go to the restroom at night. That is a sure fire way to wake me up!

(the step down into the bathroom to hold in the flood)

(and the faucet and drain in the floor that will cause the flood)

(The dozen switches, fan remote and a/c remote just for the living room)

A walk to Hock Choon yesterday revealed many American items that I never thought I would see again. They even had Maranatha peanut butter for a hefty price tag of 25 Ringit, but still it's good to know they have things like that! I also found Cascade dishwashing detergent, so my foam party by myself didn't last long. I was able to try pink dragon fruit, which is delicious, but the durian was sold out yesterday. I don't think I would have bought it anyway. I've heard many people can't get past the smell to even taste it, so I'm staying away from that one. On the second floor of Hock Choon was like a treasure chest of things I've been looking for! There's a dry cleaners, two nail salons, a hair salon, art and framing shop, drug store, post office, money changer, KL's very small version of Bed Bath and Beyond, and a cell phone booth. I love uncovering these little finds already a month into things. Who knows what I will find 6 months from now. Hopefully all the finding will be finished soon so I can be a more efficient errand runner.

And speaking of efficient errand runner, carrying my groceries all the way back from Hock Choon on foot was not going to happen especially after that long trip Paul and I made a few weeks ago. So, I hailed a taxi after several drove by me. I learned in this ride speaking Spanish to the Malaysian driver does not work. Not sure what was going on in my head except that I was trying to get out words that he would understand quick enough, and when he finally realized where I wanted to go, the word that automatically jumped out of my mouth with no thought at all was "Si!" I quickly looked around to make sure I was the only one who noticed that little mix up, and then told him, "Yes, Ampang 183." Maybe I should start taking Malay language classes??

A freebie with the apartment is no need for a stereo. My blogging now is being serenaded by the prayer call coming from the giant mosque called Haji across the street. We were told to take note of where the nearest mosque was in relation to apartments when we started looking. The prayer call comes very early for some people, but if you have the a/c units on it's not loud enough here to be disruptive. When you can hear it, it adds to the foreign country ambiance. The prayer call usually lasts at least 7-10 minutes, is sung 5 times a day, and on occasions like today (Friday during the 1:00-2:00 mosque service) the singer/prayer guy gets extremely passionate about his singing and really belts out the words for an entire hour. No, it's not a recording. We asked.

A few words of advice for anyone thinking about moving overseas and not sure what to do with your things like furniture, dishes, pot and pans, etc. We heeded the advice of some people who moved here before us who said it's much easier to get a furnished place and store you things at home. Well, this is true that it's easy, as long as you have the money in your budget to buy all the extra things that a furnished apartment does not include such as dish towels, pot and pans, dishes, bath towels, iron, blender, any cooking utensils, bed sheets, pillows, rugs, wall décor, toothbrush holder, soap dispenser, trash cans, trash bags…. You get the picture. The list is endless, it all adds up, and with a limited amount of items you can airfreight, we've decided in our situation we should have shipped everything to a non-furnished place to keep from having to buy so much again. But, it's all part of the learning experience right? The downside to shipping everything is it takes about 8 weeks. So, if the apartment doesn't have a bed because you're shipping your own, looks like you might become really good friends with the floor.

Some things we're learning about living in a predominately Muslim city: Alcohol and cigarettes have a very high sin tax. Pork is very hard to come by and many restaurants have signs at the front that say, pork served here, or pork not served here. Should you buy pork (ham lunch meat) or alcohol, you have to purchase them at a register labeled that it's okay to do so. Otherwise you make the mistake like Paul and I. We got sliced turkey breast from the deli and took it through the regular checkout line. Even though it was turkey, in a sealed bag, the girl looked at me like I was crazy, stared at the turkey for a while, called over her friend to ask how to do it, then ended up putting on a plastic glove and a bag over the glove to pick up the turkey and put it in its own bag. She didn't want to take any chances in case it was ham I guess. So from now on we know not to send our turkey down the wrong line. They treat alcohol the same way.

I've heard several of you were not too fond of the fish feeding on feet that I posted last time! Too bad because Paul is planning on opening a fish pool pedicure place in the US after he imports and sells lots of Tony Llama boots here in KL. Last night I actually cooked after over a month of not cooking a single ounce of anything! Pasta salad and Chicken breast was so tasty and probably more so because of the idea that it came from my kitchen instead of going out to eat. I'm getting back into the swing of things and get to cook tonight. We'll see how long this excitement for cooking lasts. While I'm chugging along, I think pancakes are on the menu for this weekend and possibly cinnamon rolls if I have a day long enough to bake them all. For now I'm going to think about what to cook for dinner tonight. Should I attempt the real Malaysian Chicken Rice at some point? I'm afraid I'm going to have to keep Paul satisfied. Well, for now I'm going to continue breaking in our new apartment, or more like the apartment will continue to break me in, and maybe I can really call it "home sweet home" soon.