People have been sending me facebook messages and emails and twitters going like "what is going on with you? what are you doing? where are you?" so here is a post about that stuff.

So we have been in KL for about three weeks now. We spend a good part of our days swimming, reading, eating a variety of foods (Iranian was tonight!) and weird fruits (longins!)and yearning for more episodes of True Blood (how on earth is that show so good?). I also spend a couple hours a day trying to teach myself physics. I think it's working? I am also sort of enjoying it? There is something super satisfying about knowing what angle a bullet will enter a lake from, after being shot off a 20 meter cliff...really.

Then, Monday through Thursday, we spend our afternoons at a home for handicapped and abandoned children in Taman Megah (a suburb of KL). We work mostly with the abandoned children by helping them with reading and math/science stuff when they return from school. The age range we are with goes up to about 11, though a few of them are almost completely illiterate. It sounds like a bit of a daunting task at first, getting children with special needs to try and read in something that isn't their first language, but it is mostly really fun and an enjoyable challenge. Kids are so smart! They learn stuff faster than any adult (as someone with a no longer pliable brain teaching myself something I should have learned when I was 14, I can attest to this) and these children in particular are SO eager. When you tell them they've done a good job, they will give you the most truly genuine smile you can imagine. They have all had a rough go of it, so it's really nice to be given the chance to be kind and helpful to someone who genuinely needs it.

A more disheartening part of this experience is that these kids come from disadvantaged backgrounds and are still, unfortunately, disadvantaged. The home seems to have very few school supplies (there are limited erasers and pencils and just one ruler that travels from kid to kid) as well as reading material. This afternoon, we could only locate ONE story book for the kids to practice reading with. Tom and a group of boys were already busy with it, so the girls and I had to wait for them to finish it. I am pretty sure my Mom supplied me with literally hundreds of books growing up, so it was pretty depressing to see that only one book had to be split between a whole group of children. English books are not especially cheap here, which means the home cannot afford to buy a lot of them and people can't afford to donate them. It has me thinking about setting up a book drive when I get back to Canada (which will be in November, if anyone's wondering). Or at least hitting a bunch of Value Villages and second-hand bookstores to collect some to send over. Maybe you guys would have some stuff to send my way? These kids would be so thrilled. Anyway, something to think about!

I have more to talk about! Like my Grandma (who is sick, but doing okay apparently! She is in good spirits and getting better!) and school/moving (I am going to SFU to start a Biology program in January!) and plans upon returning to Canada (I am coming to visit a bunch of you in December!) but that is for another post I think.

rayanne_darko you totally do not want to watch this video.

Hong Kong is so last month, now that we are in real China (except it is kinda like our Asian home and we will probably spend the rest of our lives romanticizing it and looking for BBQ pork that is half as delicious). Anyway, here are the rest of the pictures from HK:

( !!! )

Hong Kong is a lot of fun right now, because we are really comfortable. We know this city now! We know our area and the MTR and we're never lost or super confused. We know what we want to eat at restaurants and generally how to order it. Man we even sort of LOOK like people in this city, due to the addition of colourful shoes and bags that resemble animals to our wardrobes.

The other thing they have in this city is, unfortunately, very tiny dogs. Very, very, tiny dogs. I almost have a seizure when we pass pet stores. I am reduced to a mentally crippled moron, drooling slightly and only muttering the word "puppppyyyyyyy" once in a while. IT MAKES ME MISS MY DOG, YO. HE'S TINY AND WEARS SWEATERS AND GIVES ME THESE LOOKS LIKE 'WHY YOU GOTTA DO THIS TO ME?' AND UGHHHH.

The thing is, I'm pretty sure he's fine! He has a big house and a couple of dumb poodles to beat up, so life is sweet for him.

( so I'm just going to stare at these for a while )

Here is my greatly delayed Hong Kong picture post! Unfortunately these pictures are all over the place in terms of timeline, but hopefully this makes sense. Also, by the looks of these pictures, you would assume that we pretty much never stop eating, all day long. Your assumption would be right.

( Hong Kong! )

I CUT OFF ALL MY HAIR

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