Chapter 1

It's been a month since I've arrived in KL. Shit. Has it really been that long? Or that short...? When I meet someone new and I come to the point when I have to tell them how long I've been here, I just can't get myself to say that m-word...it always seems to get stuck in my throat and I end up telling them that its been 4 or 5 weeks. How long am I gonna keep this up? I'm not sure but I think I've come to understand why new parents count their baby's age in weeks ("He was born right before Christmas so it's been 32 weeks!" ...)

Anyways. A couple of exciting new developments in my now semi-new home:
- My roommate got a TV = Olympics and Malaysian soap operas. Woo!
- just realized that my washing machine sings a song when the laundry is done. I think it's the cutest thing ever. (especially since I grew up in a house with a dryer that made the most obscene honking noise in the middle of the night.)
- the new 7-11 which magically appeared on my block in a matter of days
- finally started cooking food at home! ...despite the fact that it's more expensive, more laborious and more time consuming than eating out. it's still awesome to be able to make miso soup at home.
- FINALLY got a gym card after going to the management office SIX TIMES (a long story which only makes me relive my frustration to the point that I pop a vein on my eyeball every time I retell it)
- have decided only to smile at female neighbors as I pass them by because too many guys have gotten the wrong idea by this minor friendly gesture



Right before seeing Dark Knight with my new hilarious friends from work. (Doesn't pertain to the rest of the post but whatev)


I'm not sure why I started off this post with the most mundane developments in my life, but now I'm sleepy and I realized I have to wake up early to go to a conference on "Islam in Southeast Asia" at University Malaya. One of the speakers is the professor/activist/blogger who got me connected to SIS so I'm pretty much required to go stalk him.

Preview for the next entries: JAG E&P meeting, new SIS projects, and most importantly, Barcamp...!


Cheers.

KL at night

Chicken and cous cous

After a long weekend of swimming, shopping, eating and reading, I start off the Monday morning by jumping into a cab to the Crystal Crown hotel where SIS was hosting a mini-Conference and workshop on "Muslim Women in Contemporary Societies." There were about 20 participants there from various organizations, international agencies and journalists who were all interested in learning about ways to interpret and understand the Qur'an in a way that extends more liberties to women. The two guest speakers were two professors from Indonesia, Dr. Nor Rofiah and Nyai Siti Ruqayyah, who are Muslim scholars and feminists. My duty was to film this two-day event. However, it was soon clear that I wouldn't be able to get much out of it since it was all conducted in Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia (which are two very similar, but slightly different languages).

Despite this, I picked up on many of the points they raised, such as reading the Qur'an WITHIN context instead of removing certain sexist passages out of them. I was also able to meet many interesting and established journalists and activists from the field. One such person was up until recently, the author of a controversial column in one of the largest newspapers of Malaysia which dealt with international religious political questions and raised various tabooed points on how the Qur'an, the Bible, or other holy texts are misinterpreted (the other participants were initially weary and intimidated by him being there). I slowly figured all of this out as I spoke with him, and also found that he was a very sincere, friendly guy, who's not even religious himself and yet passionately reads and studies holy texts. He has worked all over the world as a journalist, speaks 5 languages and is feared for his textually grounded critiques of religious doctrines. In short, he is my hero...

So the conference finished up around 2 on Tuesday and I headed back to the SIS office where I finished the report on child support. During which, they invited me for dinner at a SIS board member's house that evening.



The host was an ex-activist, ex-government staff member and painter. 72 years old and extremely active, she made this amazing Moroccan feast for all 7 of us. It was so nice to eat a home cooked meal.






This is her home.

Gorgeous.












Me pointing to one of her paintings...I wish you could see it better. :(


















Me with the ladies of SIS.










I saw a completely different side to these respected Muslim scholars as they continued to giggle and make dirty jokes about their vaginas all throughout dinner.




It was a great evening.

Internship: The first week

Last week was my first week at SIS, but I already feel very comfortable at the office. Everyone is so friendly! They're very serious about their work but they joke all the time despite the emotional weight of what they do. They're hilarious. I'm also learning so much about Malaysian politics because they're very much into talking about it all the time... They're also into making fun of me and the other intern, Femi, who's also from the U.S., and they're crazy about lunch time (this is probably universally true for the working world).

So what am I doing exactly? Right now, I'm finishing up the first draft of a research paper outlining 6 different child support agencies from various countries. I'm going to present it to the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality in a couple weeks, who will use it to plan and design such an agency in Malaysia. These agencies, while they vary, are mainly for supporting and enforcing child support payments from the non-custodial parent and making sure that in cases of domestic abuse, the abuser doesn't find the spouse who's receiving the payment. It's been very depressing reading agency websites because so many get away with not paying child support. (In Japan, apparently, 87% don't pay! AND joint custody is illegal there too...)

Then I'm supposed to be working on a database for them to input data from their legal interns doing "Court Watch" visits. This is when they go to shariah (Muslim law) courts that are dealing with divorce, domestic abuse, or other family matters, to make sure that the courts are following proper court procedures. As of now, they just have dozens of forms with notes with no way of organizing all of it. To be honest, I don't have much experience with making databases but I'm not too worried. I need to consult with them to figure out what kind of system they want.

I've also been doing IT odds and ends...such as helping Zainah Anwar and an occasional SIS staff member (who's American) named Jana, to design and find a good logo for their international conference on Muslim family law in February. In a couple weeks, they're going to put on their first Mobile Legal Clinic, in which their legal interns and staff will be going out to different destinations around the area and provide workshops for Muslim women to learn about their legal rights. I'm sure I'll be doing other things but I'll write about it as it comes up.


Below I've posted an excessive amount of photos of their office (mainly for my family who wanted to know exactly what it looks like) and some of my coworkers.

This is on my walk to the office from the LRT (Light Rail Transit) station, which is only one stop from my house.


I can even see my building from this street. Woo!


The view of the office from outside. I think it's a house converted into an office since the neighborhood is full of people's homes.



This is the view of the inside from the entrance.


The kitchen is in the center of the building...which is really nice because this is where everyone convenes for lunch and breaks together. When it rains, it falls through this hole in the ceiling and into this little garden.


This is the room where I work...


...and my cubicle. I get to sit next to a picture of Dubya all day.


Some of the people I work with at SIS.


Friday was the last day of Najib, the young legal intern and pretty much only guy at SIS, who was really nice and funny and knew more about American celebrities and pop music than I did. I'm going to miss him...

My new crib

These are pictures of my new place, a condo, where I'm renting a room for 600 ringgits or about 180 dollars. I share it with an Iranian grad student, Ali, and a working guy named Leonard who I barely see. I found it through one of the women at the SIS office, who asked one of her friends to wander around looking for flyers advertising available rooms. It turns out that this place has a gym, multiple rec rooms, restaurants, cafes, manicurists, masseuses, 2 pools, 24-hour security and a sauna. I really can't believe how cheap it is to live here.

These show the view looking out over the balcony of the condo. This is where I hang out my clothes and leave my fruit out (leaving them inside makes them ripen way too fast.)








This is the living room with the dining table at the far end, leading to the kitchen.




These are pictures of the kitchen. I haven't really cooked anything other than fried eggs and toast here but I've only been here 6 days...






This is the pool that I have to pass by everyday. I'm getting into the habit of swimming every night since it's always too hot to go running.




This is the building I live in, taken from below where I walk every day. I'm on the 10th story so I'm about 5 levels from the top.




The best part about my new home...



The view!

The Bahasa

The majority of people here speak at least some English, because it's the common language among all the different nationalities (mainly Chinese, Indian and Malay) but the Malays are mostly fluent in Bahasa Malaysia (which means language of Malaysia).
I've started to pick up some words, especially the ones that are very similar to English.

Kosong = Zero
Terima kasih = Thank you
Sama sama = You're welcome
Teh = Tea
Teh-o = Tea without milk
Teh-o kosong = Tea without milk or sugar
Restoran = Restaurant
Teksi = Taxi
Sotong = Squid
Mee = Noodles

I love the way it sounds and it seems really easy to learn. So I'm looking for a casual language class right now that meets maybe once or twice a week since I get so burnt out by the end of the 8 hours everyday. More on the actual internship for another time...