Some days have passed

And life is moving on!

One of the things I truly do enjoy about Malaysia is how fast time seems to fly here. Maybe that is what happens everywhere when you have a routine and your life is not a series of random, "oh no! I forgot to do that!" moments. Regardless, I have no complaints about time flying. I get up, interact with an incredibly diverse group of people, learn things, ask too many questions, come home, talk on skype, then go to sleep. Probably the slowest part of my day is between 3 and 4 in the afternoon. Besides that I don't generally even realize what time it is. I am constantly learning, but I feel like there is never enough time to truly absorb everything that I need to know. Maybe time slows down when we are no longer learning things. Hopefully I will never figure out if this is true because I plan on learning for a long, long time. Then maybe one day I will be able to face my fears and become an alligator wrestler!! I dislike both alligators and wrestling. Also am not a fan of water up my nose, which probably comes with the job. Thus I feel like it will be the perfect "get over your phobias and dislikes" sort of job. If I end up becoming one, mom, I promise I will just tell you I have become a hair stylist. Or a librarian (this one actually sounds sort of fun!). Just ignores the scars on my arms, along with the missing body parts.

Moving on : the week ended well! Saturday I got to do some hands on learning with regards to the surface sensors, and I felt like I actually was learning things!! Until the computer we were testing sensors with stopped working and I ended up going back upstairs to the office to study some more.

Two Fun Facts about Labuan, Malaysia
1) The immigration office is right above the bowling alley in the mall.
2) A nice looking spa is inside the tiny ferry terminal (along with a HERSHEY'S SHOP!).
3) When men are trying to get your attention they loudly make a "PST" noise. Multiple times. As if they cannot believe you are actually ignoring them. Well yes, gentlemen, we were. Also, the general consensus was that none of you were good looking. And smoking kills. Remember these facts. :)

On Saturday night I went out with Kara (the new American), Catherine and Zhuzhu. We headed out to a pretty good restaurant called The Blue Wave which is quite near the mall (this fact probably matters to very few of you if you haven't been to Labuan). The whole experience was incredibly fun! We sat in the outdoor area and a storm was rolling in, which brought a beautiful breeze with it. Also, getting to dress up a little and go out like normal people, instead of in my coveralls was really nice. We decided that westerners are so rare (usually European, no Americans) that when westerners see other westerners, we stare awkwardly at each other in an attempt to figure out the other person's purpose in Labuan. For some reason we rarely strike up conversations with each other. But dinner was delicious. I always eat chicken, so I got beef kabobs that had been cooked with onions, mushroom, and greenpeppers. Mmm....and the best part was there was NO rice or noodles with my meal!! I like both rice and noodles, however, I have eaten them quite a lot since being in Malaysia. I enjoy the change-up. We spent a couple hours eating and talking, walked Zhuzhu to where she was going to be getting her massage, then headed back to a duty free shop for some wine! Also, I had my first Tiger beer here. I am not a huge fan of beer, but it was pretty good. After picking out bottles under the overly-helpful nose of the salesman, we headed back to my house with our purchases and proceeded to try and open them. Problem: the corkscrew we bought didn't really work. So in order to open Catherine's bottle of wine, she had to hold it and brace herself against the stove and I was pulling with all of my weight in order to try and get the cork out.  After 15 minutes...success!! We ended up with one open bottle of wine and a winesplattered fridge, counter, floor, and Becca. Good thing my shirt is black, because it was definitely a red wine. But we hung out, watched most of Spiderman 2, and then headed to our rooms (they were spending the night so they didn't have to fight with the cab driver about late night fares) at about 10:30 pm. My bed time gets earlier and earlier...I thought it was suppose to go the opposite way when we got older!

But yeah, all in all a great Saturday, had an absolutely excellent and relaxing Sunday today. Ready to continue my journey toward becoming smarter!

 11 more days until I am back on US soil!!

Love you all.

Becca