No Place Quite Like Home

It is nearly time to leave. Why do I feel robbed by time? When I left Chicago in July, August felt so far away, and now it's past mid-August and my string of flights over the Pacific is only four days away.

So I have been absorbing a year's worth of memories and sensory details to last me the next 365 days or more. Probably more.

Like falling asleep to the music of Malaysian rain at night. I say 'Malaysian' rain because it sounds different compared to rain in Chicago. I'm serious! Rain in Chicago often strikes fear in my heart. It's almost vengeful. But the nightly showers here are like beautiful wet xylophone notes to my ears.



Oh, and being woken up by a pair of sand-coloured paws prodding against my arm. It's almost always too early for that, but dogs don't always have the greatest sense of time. Sometimes as I am typing away on the computer, she decides after an hour that she has had enough of this lack of attention. So she plants herself next to the desk and whines until I call out various permutations of her name (Lou-Lou, Alou, Louette, Woo Woo, Booette, Little Lou-Lou, etc.) in her favourite language... Babytalk. Alouette has my heart.




Let's not forget durian, and the wonderful durian stalls with their huge colourful umbrellas littered around the city, ready to serve you the creamy custard fruit of the gods. If you are Southeast Asian and you do not like durian... I cannot trust you.



Kuih tako, I saved you till last because I am most thankful to you. Your soft pandan and coconut milk self amuses my bouche and has saved me from the monotony of a strict post wisdom teeth extraction diet. Mashed up fruit gets old after a while.



Sigh. I am sad to leave home, but very happy to have been here.

Equatorial

I know just four months from now, as I am stomping my way through the delectable grey mixture of snow and dirt in knee high waterproofed boots, cursing myself for choosing to fly to the other side of the world FOR WHAT? ...FOR THIS!--- I am going to wish so much to be home. In my garden, surrounded by coconut trees and leaves as large as my head and sweet pink guava picked fresh. Shushing my Alouette, who is barking up a tree at a silly squirrel.

Okay, okay. I think I'll try to forget about the W word (hint: it rhymes with 'splinter') and just bask in what I have now.

Teh Susu

So I am here. Home in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Coming home is always a little strange... even jarring at first, particularly after one and a half years of being over 9000 miles away. This morning, I was in a hawker centre with my father and the lady yelled across the restaurant asking what I would have to drink. I was craving the quintessential tea with milk, but my mind was drawing an absolute blank as to how to order it with hawker stall finesse. You know, to NOT sound like a tourist. I glanced at my father in slight panic, and said, "Uhm... the tea drink with a bit of milk and sugar?"

"Teh susu!"

"Oh, right."

How embarrassing for someone who carries a bright red Malaysian passport and has been raised speaking English, Malay and Indonesian!

I have been thoroughly enjoying the food that I miss 11 months out of the 12. Fish ball noodle soup, rojak, pork floss, char siu, pork ball noodles, sayur asam, Nestum curry prawns, freshly made sambal belacan, and DURIAN DURIAN DURIAAAN. I have missed durian so much! You can find durian smoothies in Chicago (I recommend Dong Ky's by Broadway Market), but nothing beats the sweet intoxicating yellow pulp of fresh durian... particularly when its thorny embrace has been pried open mere seconds before. O durian, my fruit drug, how I adore thee!

Speaking of fruit, I cannot believe how much more fruit I eat at home. Fruit as a snack. Fruit as lunch. Fruit after breakfast. Fruit after lunch. Fruit after dinner. I feel spoilt rotten by the kaleidoscopia of Southeast Asian tropical fruit, and my local Dominick's in Chicago just does not quite compare. Apples and oranges are so boring, really.

Oh, but this morning I had my two wisdom teeth removed. I had mashed jackfruit with milk for lunch. Hi, my name is Jasmine, and I will be eating like a toddler for the next few days.