Baby Michael

Besides the fact that I went to just see my own children in S.A., I also hoped to still be there for the birth of the baby. I managed that with  2 days to go, but the new great grandmother had to catch her plane on the day of the birth. Babies certainly have their own timing.

Back in Malasia

Things did not change much while I was in S.A. for 6 weeks. I came back from midwinter and snow on the mountains to HOT weather. Quite a sudden change.

We (us Westerners) often wonder if shoes do not get taken when people just leave them outside the door. So today as walk into the lift I see this sign:

So, they do go missing. My cheap slipslops are still outside the door. Clearly nobody realizes their great non-slip advantage in the rain! But then I guess not many people walk in the rain, or rather, walk at all. I noticed to my amusement that some of our Westerners have also got this thing about driving to the destination. Today we go to Jusco (walking distance from home) by car - with a long loop to the second u-turn - why? We're going to the hairdresser first - like in maybe 5 shops from the Jusco parking lot. Then we drive to Jusco for the necessary groceries and afterwards DRIVE, mind you, to Jitsheng which is straight across the road from Jusco parking lot. Then afterwards we could not walk back into Jusco for the much needed ice-cream, so we drive to McDonalds, take the wrong lane and probably drive 3x the distance I would have walked!

The hairdresser was also funny today. I am not to take photos of the family - 'we are not clowns!'. So I took the photo throught the window - my family members are clowns, they just dont't want to admit it.

When the haircut was done, the barber asked 'shave?'. The (wrong) assumption was that he was going to shave the hair at the back of the neck. When we next looked he tilted the chair and cleaned the face for a couple of minutes, then foamed the face and shaved. 'I've never been shaved by someone before!' I guess there is always a first time.