My adik biras, or younger brother-in-law, flew into Kuching for a day on business. That makes him the first relative to see my daughter, which is fitting, since I was the first relative to see his daughter who was born just last month when we were in Kuala Lumpur. Anyway, he took those of us […]
Monthly Archives: February 2003
KakYang
KakYang entered the world on 20 February 2003, making me a father for the third time. She opened her eyes wide and stared right at me as I called the Iqama in her ears. Now she and Ibu are recuperating at home. Here in Malaysia it is customary for the mother to remain confined in […]
The Waters of the Sungai Maong
Two weeks ago, the Maong River jumped its banks and swallowed my entire neighborhood. We were not alone. The Kuching District received its worst flood in 40 years. The Great Kuching Flood It had been raining daily leading up to the Chinese New Year. But the day after that, it really began to pour. I […]
Wireless Dial-up
I have finally, finally established an internet connection from home. I’ll spare you the sordid details, but the end result is I’m using a Fixed Wireless Terminal as a telephone. It’s a glorified cell phone really; large and boxy enough to be non-portable. But it can connect to Telekom Malaysia at 115kbps. Not too shabby.
Fried Green Tomatoes?
We were walking through the night market last night when, amid all the other fruits and vegetables, I saw a guy hawking from the back of his van what appeared to be big green-beans, chopped and marinated. Pickled green-beans, I thought; just like Dad makes. I few steps closer and I see that those are […]
Taski
My son just finished his first month of school. It’s a nice little Islamic preschool with about thirty other kids. The curriculum is fairly light, as you would imagine for a bunch of 4-6 year-olds. But they manage to teach abc’s, prayer instruction, aliph ba ta’s, and so on, in between snacks, play breaks and […]
Happy Chinese New Year
Malaysia has a very large Chinese population, about 1/3 of the country, and the New Year (year of the Ram, apparently) is a big holiday. The town is lit up with those pretty red lanterns. Downtown, the main drag is strung with lights and lanterns from the spreading canopy trees in the boulevard to the […]