Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Kibbles 'n Bits
I forgot to mention that I met a Japanese girl while traveling who had dropped out of high school (I’m sure that is extremely rare in Japan, where studies and education are stressed so much) and her brother had been in the Yakuza (Japanese mafia)! She was really small and cute, puffing on a cigarette and speaking more Malay then English.
I hung out with Asraff, the guy working at the hostel in Kota Bharu, a lot. Watched some movies, played some cards. It really felt like I was just hanging out in someone’s living room. I met his friend Appy (which derives from Happy, because he always is) who has four moms (well, his father has four wives), the youngest only a few years older than his oldest brother. I had dinner with him and some of his friends at the night market, including a girl that seemed to be almost like a girlfriend and was a boarder at the hostel. Later that night, she came out of her room to hang out with us (me and 5 or 6 Malay guys). She had a towel on her head as her scarf, but at one point took it off (well, let it fall off). I was surprised that she was up late in a social setting with so many guys and that she was showing her hair…Related, when I was in Kuala Terennganu yesterday, I saw a girl wearing a scarf as she crossed the street and the next time I looked up, she’d taken it off and was putting it into her pocket. Later, I saw her again, wearing it.
One morning in Perhentian, I was getting out of bed and feel to the ground. My right leg had stopped working. It was just dead. Then it started to tingle. After 10 minutes, I tried it again and it (thankfully) worked! It was kind of scary and I decided to postpone my snorkeling trip, having visions of being drowned because my legs stopped functioning!
From Rumi: “What is Sufism? ‘Tis to find joy in the heart whensoever distress and care assail it.”
When Harith and I were hanging out, he and one of the guys who work there had what I assume was a really interesting conversation. Unfortunately, it was in Malay, so I only caught snippets. Harith later said that this guy was saying some really high-level Sufi stuff. If only I could have understood! I know that he did say that the rich and the poor are both tested by God and that he’d rather stand the test of the poor than the rich…
I saw a middle-aged Malay man in Kuala Terennganu wearing a t-shirt that said “I survived Jesup After-Prom 1998!”
Opps! Just discovered it’s “Terengganu.” Double G, not N…
I forgot to mention that I met a Japanese girl while traveling who had dropped out of high school (I’m sure that is extremely rare in Japan, where studies and education are stressed so much) and her brother had been in the Yakuza (Japanese mafia)! She was really small and cute, puffing on a cigarette and speaking more Malay then English.
I hung out with Asraff, the guy working at the hostel in Kota Bharu, a lot. Watched some movies, played some cards. It really felt like I was just hanging out in someone’s living room. I met his friend Appy (which derives from Happy, because he always is) who has four moms (well, his father has four wives), the youngest only a few years older than his oldest brother. I had dinner with him and some of his friends at the night market, including a girl that seemed to be almost like a girlfriend and was a boarder at the hostel. Later that night, she came out of her room to hang out with us (me and 5 or 6 Malay guys). She had a towel on her head as her scarf, but at one point took it off (well, let it fall off). I was surprised that she was up late in a social setting with so many guys and that she was showing her hair…Related, when I was in Kuala Terennganu yesterday, I saw a girl wearing a scarf as she crossed the street and the next time I looked up, she’d taken it off and was putting it into her pocket. Later, I saw her again, wearing it.
One morning in Perhentian, I was getting out of bed and feel to the ground. My right leg had stopped working. It was just dead. Then it started to tingle. After 10 minutes, I tried it again and it (thankfully) worked! It was kind of scary and I decided to postpone my snorkeling trip, having visions of being drowned because my legs stopped functioning!
From Rumi: “What is Sufism? ‘Tis to find joy in the heart whensoever distress and care assail it.”
When Harith and I were hanging out, he and one of the guys who work there had what I assume was a really interesting conversation. Unfortunately, it was in Malay, so I only caught snippets. Harith later said that this guy was saying some really high-level Sufi stuff. If only I could have understood! I know that he did say that the rich and the poor are both tested by God and that he’d rather stand the test of the poor than the rich…
I saw a middle-aged Malay man in Kuala Terennganu wearing a t-shirt that said “I survived Jesup After-Prom 1998!”
Opps! Just discovered it’s “Terengganu.” Double G, not N…
