Haziq and Afiqah's Wedding

      Haziq is my cousin, well host cousin. Yesterday he had his wedding reception and the day before yesterday was his solemnization. During both ceremonies I was able to see things that I have never seen before. During the solemnization, Haziq and his dad and the bride's dad and some other men who are related all sat in a a circle with the Ustaz, holy man, and they were all agreeing upon the marriage. When everything is finalized and everyone has agreed, the Ustaz will say sah, meaning that it's final, the couple is now legally married.

      The following day was the reception. There was a lot of yummy food and delicious deserts. There was an adorable photo booth and all the family had matching baju kurungs. The adults had orange and the little kids wore brown. When the husband and wife came in and made there grand appearance, there was the family behind them and behind them was the rombongang. It was as if they were royalty, there was someone holding the brides dress from behind and when they got to there "thrones' as I call it, there were two people fanning them. 

      After the wedding I went with my other cousins and we went shopping at Kotaraya, and we ate at a very down to earth restaraunt called dapur gendela. There was a lot of decorations that looked recycled and it was a nice atmosphere. We waited forever for our food and drinks though. My iced cappuccino was pretty good, but I don't think it was really worth the wait. Afterwards we went to a thrift shop. It was pretty fun because it was my first time going to a thrift shop in Malaysia and everything was super cheap.

The men and the Ustaz sitting in a circle

The newly weds <3

The adorable photo booth sign

The guest book with props for the photo booth

Table for the VIP

The rombongang

The intsruments they are holding is called kompang

Afiqah looked dropped dead gorgeous on both days

Getting the royal treatment

Me with the bride and groom

Wedding cake

At Dapur Gendela

My little sister and my cousin

Thankful for my Family

I love my host family. They have been so great to me and I am so thankful that I have been placed here. To show them just how grateful I am, I decided to make a Thanksgiving dinner (lunch) for them. They have never eaten a roasted Turkey so I thought it would be something very special. It was a little challenging making a whole Thanksgiving lunch by myself especially since it was my first time, but luckily I had some help from my cousin, sister, and aunt.I made the turkey, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, homemade gravy.macaroni salad, and pecan pie for desert.
In the end I was very proud of the result and my family loved it. My host dad even invited the office workers and they loved it too.

Pecan Pie

Turkey and gravy

Office workers

Me and my host dad

Happy Thanksgiving!

     Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that I would be on the other side of the world for my senior year. I am so far away from my family and friends back home and I miss them terribly, but I am thankful to be in this beautiful country, experiencing a very different culture and have such an amazing and wonderful family, and making so many new friends along the way. I am so thankful to have won the BP scholarship for Malaysia. I will be forever grateful to AFS for making my dream of studying abroad come true. I want to thank my host family this weekend by making them a real authentic American Thanksgiving dinner, hopefully it turns out alright, but we'll see how it goes. I really want to make it for them though because they do not celebrate Thanksgiving so I want to give them a little taste of my culture. Hopefully they will enjoy it.

Thanksgiving lunch at the U.S. Embassy with the other American exchange students

KLCC

The Petronas Twin Towers

At the mall having fun, its not every day that all the American exchange students get to see each other

Favorite Malaysian Foods

     I have been in Malaysia for a little over four months now and I'm loving every second of it. I'm getting a real taste of the culture, I have learned a lot about the Muslim faith, and I'm learning Malay ( very very slowly though). One thing that I really enjoy about Malaysia is the food. There are so much delicious foods here that its very hard to tell you all of them, but here are some of my favorites.

1.) Durian: I love durian. Many people either hate durian or love it. It is sometimes regarded as the king of fruits. On the outside it is thorny and kind of scary looking. At first I was a little scared to try it not only because of its appearance but because of the really strong odor. It didn't smell too pleasant. In some places here in Malaysia it is forbidden to bring in durian into some businesses and establishments like hotels because of the odor. When I took a bite of it though, I couldn't get enough. It tasted like this rich creamy custard unlike any fruit I had ever eaten. It's delicious and even though I once I ate so much that it gave me a sore throat, I still love it. Durian is also used in desserts like durian crepes or durian ice cream. 

 

 2.) Cendol is a traditional dessert that is made with coconut milk, green jelly noodles made from rice flower and food coloring, shaved ice and palm sugar. Usually red beans, cream corn, and grass jelly will also be added.

 3.) Satay is seasoned meat skewered and served with a peanut sauce. It is a very popular dish in Malaysia. Usually it will be served with glutinous rice like in the picture below. Its kind of like a shish kabob.

4) Nasi Goreng or fried rice. It is made with sweet soy sauce, garlic, salt, shallot, chili pepper, vegetable oil, onions, and sometimes fish paste and fish sauce. Slice of tomato and cucumber are used for garnish.

 5.) Steamboat: I love going to steamboat restaurants. You get to pick your own ingredients. You buy the raw meat, the veggies, fish, chicken, anything you want and cook it yourself. In the center of the table there is a burner with a pot with soup in it. Usually its chicken broth on one side and on the other its it will be a more spicier broth.

6.) Nasi Ayam is chicken rice. The chicken can be either fried or boiled. It is very tasty and is usually served with chicken stock and sambal on the side and garnished with lettuce, cucumbers, and tomato. 

7.) Kuey Teow Goreng is made up of flat rice noodles, either shrimp or chicken or both, soy sauce, fish paste, bean sprouts, and other veggies. 

8.) Roti Canai is an Indian influenced dished and is often served in mamak stalls. It is flat, fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside. It is made with flour, water, and fat. Roti Canai goes perfect with teh tarik whenever you don't want to eat anything heavy either for breakfast or supper. It is usually served with curry and sambal.

9.) Claypot is when the food whether it be noodles or rice is cooked in a clay pot and is served sizzling hot. Due to extended amount of time it takes to actually cook noodles or rice in a claypot, many places already have the ingredients cooked so that when you order it can just be heated in the claypot. It is cooked with soy sauce in the pot and chicken, sausage, eggs, and veggies. 

10.) Teh Tarik literally translates to pull tea because of the way it is made. This is actually an Indian drink but is really popular in Malaysia. You can find this drink at any mamak (Indian food stall) as well as restaurants and kopitiams (cafe's). This drink goes perfect with roti canai. It is made with tea and condensed milk. It is poured back and forth with two containers to make it and that is what gives it the froth on top and also it properly mixes the tea and the milk. You start from pouring it really low and gradually pouring it from a higher level.  Its really cool to watch them make it at the mamak stalls because they pour it from really high like in the picture below. 

 

11.) Nasi Lamak: Is rice cooked with coconut milk. It makes the rice taste very creamy and delicious. It is served with sambal that is mostly a bit sweet and can either mild or very spice. It is eaten with cucumbers, peanuts, anchovies, and an egg. Sometimes it will be eaten with chicken. This food is very versatile it can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It can be served in a restaurant or in a food stall. It can be wrapped in banana leaves for convenience.

 

Merisik and Bertunang

    I find the process of getting married in the Malay culture very different then what I am used to and very interesting. My host sister is getting married soon and this weekend was her engagement.  Merisik, the asking session, is when a relative of the boy will go and inspect and seek approval of the girl. They will present the girl with a ring which is a gesture for seeking approval. By accepting the ring, one accepts the proposal. Returning the ring means the girl refuses.
    The engagement is called the bertunang which can be done separately from the merisik, but for sake of time can be done together. The merisik is the asking part. After the bride's family has agreed, a date will be set up for the engagement and dowry's will be discussed. The bertunang is the actual engagement where the ring will be given and gifts exchanged. Now a days it is common for these two to be done together, which is exactly what our family's decided to do.
    This weekend we had both the merisik and the bertunang together. What happened was that the groom brought a group of women in his family to give our family gifts. They were gifts such as sweets, fruits, perfume, and even a baju kurung. Then the future bride had a group of girls from her famlily give the future groom's family gifts, but the girls side gave two more gifts then what the boys side gave. Usually the number of gifts is an odd number.

     Then the girl came out and sat in the center of everyone's attention. Then the boys family stated their intentions and our side accepted. Then the mother of the future groom put the rings on the girls finger. It was two rings. One was the merisik or asking ring. The other was the engagement ring which is more expensive then the asking ring. My sister was very lucky, she received two beautiful rings in one night.

   After the engagement or bertunang is the solemnization or the akad nikah which is when they will officially be husband and wife. The akad nikah is the most important. It is where the man has to give his words to the witness and a ring to complete the akad nikah. This can be done either in a mosque or at home. This is the only Islamic required ritual. It will be done by qualified and registered kadhi who will declare the couple husband and wife. Then will be the reception. This can be done days or weeks apart or on the same day. It is optional, but it is tradition for the family to invite friends and families and even neighbors to share their joy that the couple is now legally married. The reception can have up to thousands of guest. It all depends on their budget though.

Gifts from the girls side

Gifts from the boys side

Chocolates

Victoria Secret 

Baju Kurung

The cute couple :)

The theme was grey and white 

All my host siblings

The beautiful bride to be (My lovely host sister)