Well well! I can see from the 43 views of my last journal entry that some of you would really like an update! It has been my first full day in KL, and already I have seen a man's wang. It was my security guard's. He whipped it out to pee outside whilst I was just eating breakfast. Lovely.

I spent the day shopping at the biggest mall in Kuala Lumpur and am comforted to know that ZARA and Aldo are still out of my price range in Malaysia. I have a cell phone, tampons, and soap, so things are looking like I am actually going to survive.

It's been pretty tough finding my way around alone. The taxi drivers don't understand my pronunciation of the street names, but a sikh guy picked me up today who loves tourists so I think I'll be a loyal costumer of his. I'm staying at the YWCA, which is right next to China town. Now, I don't really like china town in Toronto, and I still don't really like it in Kuala Lumpur. The rooms at the Y aren't bad, its very much like a dorm, but there is no internet which I find to be a problem since most of you are awake and available when it is about 2 in the morning here so I can't really just skip out to China Town in KL at 2 in the morning to chat at an internet cafe. I am both trying to reconcile myself with the idea of not having constant access to my friends and to my world via internet and trying to find temporary accomodation which offers it. I'm going to call some hotels but chances are I won't be able to afford their monthly rates. In which case, I will have to face my weakness of being afraid of just relying on myself for emotional and technical support, and try finding something else to do after work than check facebook. Yikes. But it is certainly doable, and in same ways preferable.

I can't figure out what water I'm supposed to drink. Bottled water is relatively expensive, but it says not to drink the tap water on the US travelers site. Also, apparently they have differently outlets here so I will have to try to find a converter so I can at least use my computer for watching movies when I get sick. 

Anyway, I've been driving around in taxis in KL all day. I don't know how to explain it. Only some buildings have numbers on them, so if you try to tell a taxi an address they just look at you weird, and a lot of them don't speak english. The sidewalk changes levels and what its made of all the time, and there will be a huge shopping mall and a broken down building right across the street from one another. The trees are all pretty tropical but they don't look very mystical because everything is very dirty, and there is serious hazem. There are some temples and churches that are very pretty. I haven't been over to the towers yet, but I think Planned Parenthood is right next to it, so I can check it out at lunch tomorrow or something. I actually tried to find Planned Parenthood today, but I got the address wrong and was very confused to find a prayer house instead of Planned Parenthood. Oops. There are also 5 seperate lines of transportation,owned by different companies and by different names, which all go in different directions. Haven't seen any orang-utans yet :P

Finding food has also been difficult. I have no idea where to trust. I had my first actual meal in KL this afternoon at the mall. The Y has breakfast included, and by breakfast they mean a piece of toast, marmalade, and tea. Very european. I remember waking up in Malta, starving, and thinking "THATS IT?!" so I had some green curry which was not nearly as good or spicy as the stuff I've had in the US, but it was a mall and I am white. Last night I had some spoon fulls of rice before passing out.

It has definitely been a challenge, and I think will continue to be for a while, if not the whole time. Hopefully when the other intern comes I'll have someone to explore with, but if not it will definitely be hard since I don't think the folks at Planned Parenthood are interested in taking care of me. I'm going to ask them this weekend about good places to go hiking, but again, I don't really feel safe going anywhere alone for extended periods of time. All in all, I am trying to keep my head up and have faith that everything will turn out well. Cindy, before leaving, did me the favor of quoting me when I was in the hospital high on perkaset, "You know what, Ms. Glozier, this is great. This is fabulous. Because this is life. The good, and the bad, I want it all." And it's true.  

xoxoxoxo

Clara