Alice's Malaysia World

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August 31, 2010

I love our apartment. There are lots of buildings around if you look outside on our deck. It's very fun too since it's like you're going to fall right down but you aren't. There is a building that is just getting built right next to us and a little bit far away, but I'm looking at it right now. It has lights on two cranes sticking up. There are three lights on each crane.

In the morning today, I went to the pool first. I swam underwater from side to side. It is very fun. We have a humongous pool and a water slide. The slide gets boring, though, after a while. After that we hung out in the house for a bit. Nanny and Papa skyped us and showed us their new kitchen. They have to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner down in the basement now. Then Boom Boom turned on some music and we all rested.

Today is Malaysia's Birthday, so we did not have school today. I felt great to know that we didn't have school. It wasn't so fun in the morning because I had lots of problems with my annoying little brother.

We went to Lake Gardens in Kuala Lumpur today. We played in the playground and while I was pushing Boom on the swing, a girl said "A dark cloud, it's going to rain." So, I told my Mom and Dad. My Dad was resting on the bench. When Daddy was about to get up, the thunder came. It was big loud thunder. Then Mommy and Daddy talked a little. Mommy said we're going to the Deer Park. Then it started to rain. We started to walk down. I saw a mouse deer and another mouse deer and another mouse deer. We saw shelter up ahead and went under it away from the rain, then I smelled big deer poop.
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I saw a little baby deer. It was running all around. 10 deers were under the shelter. They don't want to get wet, that's why. We went to the National Mosque. I took some pictures of it with my camera. Then we walked back towards Chinatown. There were lots of people with big carts around. Purses. People riding motorcycle with ice cream on the back. It was tough getting around without getting lost at least once but I was lucky, I didn't get lost. Then we got some dinner. Mine was really good, rice and chicken.

Then I went home on the subway. We stopped at Ampang Park stop, near our house. Then we went and bought me a Hari Raya outfit for the Malaysian Muslim holiday at school. Then I saw a "Tuck Shop" and it reminded me of the Tuck family! In the Tuck family, there is Spencer, Caroline, Graeme, Courtney, and Matthew.

I took a picture of Boom Boom's shoes too. He just got them. They are flip flops. His pinky toe is hanging off. I told him that when he bought them. But he said, "I want those shoes still!"

Alice's Greece 2010

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Alice's Blog about Greece:

August 7, 2010

I went up a long path to the Acropolis in Athens. It was super hot. I saw the Athena Temple. It was right over us when we walked up the steps to the Acropolis. It was big city where they prayed a lot. Inside the Athena Temple, there is a really tall, really big statue of Athena, but I didn't see it because the temple was broken down a little.

I took a picture of the Acropolis on the cover of a book, then I took a picture of the real Acropolis.

We went to the Epidavaros Theater. I climbed to the top of the steps. It was very hot and hard and super tall too. If you dropped a coin down at the bottom, you could hear it all the way at the top.

I went to the island of Paros with Isaac, Theo, Max, Tina, and Bruce, Mommy, Daddy, Boom Boom, Griffin. We went to a beautiful beach with lots of rocks that I could climb on. I climbed up and had a beautiful view of the ocean. It was very fun and I jumped in from the rocks. The hike up the mountain was very fun but there was lots of mountain goat poop along the way. We went down to a small cave where there were piles and piles of dry goat poop. Griffin picked one up and said it was super dry but it was the stinkiest stink bomb in the world. We saw another little pile of rocks that was very tall and had a great view of the ocean. I climbed there and ran and jumped and played on the rocks. We tried to see who could get to the rocks first. I won. Mommy and Daddy said I was a mountain goat. I got up to the top. It was a super good view. I saw all the boats and the blue sky. Isaac said "This is a really good view. I wish I was down there at the water though, this is super hot" Then I went to ask my Dad for some water.

The island in Paros, we had a humongous water park. It was super big and I went on the slides. They made the slides scary but they really weren't. It wasn't so fun sliding down the inside of them because I told you they look scary but they really aren't scary. You go super slow and you have to push with your arms and legs to go fast. I saw a black slide but I didn't go on it. It goes into the ocean. I was too scared and Mommy tried to make me but I said "No!"

I liked to pet the horse. I saw a baby cat that was only two months old. It was so small that when it walked, it wobbled a little. I rode the horse last, of all the cousins. It was very fun to bounce up and down on the horse and hug it.

Love, Alice

Freemans in Greece: Changing of the Guard

August, 2010

Our children refused to leave their cousins to go see any of Greece. They would have stayed in our hotel for 2 weeks, alone with their cousins, if we'd let them. We were only able to drag them away if we promised their cousins would meet us later. So, we took off for Athens to see the changing of the guard, with the cousins trailing close behind.

We arrived early and had time to explore the National Gardens, originally designed to keep the kings and queens cool on their strolls in the glaring sun. Now, it's filled with striking statues and strewn with ruins -- they have so many ruins that they don't know what to do with them all. In typical Greek fashion, there was no clear signage -- no clear map or path signs to help us find the playground, just laid-back park workers sitting smoking, drinking greek coffee, and chatting with their coworkers who would vaguely wave us in the direction of the playground, only to have us get lost again.

Finally, we found the playground and it was lovely -- shaded and laden with new structures for us, creatively designed to spin kids around fast, with no legal worries holding back the playground designers. Then we ran to join the cousins at the changing of the guard that's held in front of the tomb of the unknown Greek soldier.

With lots of pom poms and fanfare, the soldiers and band put on a show of a change for us. When we got in position to watch, the military forced us to stand on the far side of the road, so we couldn't see over a crowd in front of us. After the procession passed, we all ran across the road up as close as possible to the guard changing, that is hundreds of us all ran up at once, with some vague missives from the soldiers guiding us. After the guard change, the soldiers ushered us back across the road to let the procession pass down the road again. The entire event was complete chaos, with a lot of pushing and shoving, with some unsettling moments trying to keep track of 9 kids.

It was my first taste of the easygoing Greeks, to the point that even the Greek military is easygoing and uncontrolling. Let me explain - think of how hyper-organized the Germans are, but to be so organized you have to be very controlling, as a culture. Now, contrast the Germans to the Greeks. They are complete opposites, with the Greeks being very unorganized, but you also get a laid-back, uncontrolling culture along with it. More of that to come in the following postings...

Annual Freeman Family Trip - To Greece!

August 7, 2010

21 Freemans travel every summer together for 2 weeks. Given the inevitable dynamics that erupt with 21 family members sharing a home, I’ll have to tread lightly as I write this blog that most of them read (Hi Freemans!). I don’t want our blog to lose its biggest fan base.

We had a day of rest after all the travel to get to Greece. My family woke up at 4am and the rest of the Freemans woke up at 9am, being from different sides of the world. It had been a tough drive to our house. To get to the house, you had to go through windy mountain roads, without many signs telling you which way to go, or else the signs were in Greek, either lowercase or uppercase. But, at the end of the road was paradise with a view – a huge house (usually a hotel) high up on the side of a mountain overlooking the beach, the Island of Evia, and the bay.

I woke up so early that I watched the Greek heroes in constellation disappear and the sun rise. The sunrises were spectacular, with the sun rising over the island mountains. I meditated. I did yoga. Then, I went for a jog. Then I returned and everyone was still asleep. So, I swam. I had a week-long vacation before 9 am.

Then everyone slowly woke, preschoolers and grandmothers first, preteens next, teens last. The parents were forced to wake but weren’t really awake. But, the youngest cousins were charged up and thrilled to see each other after our being away. My kids were especially excited since they’d been deprived of close friendships for 2 months. Swords were wielded. Dump trucks were dumped. Cannonballs were jumped into the pool. They were downright giddy.

From Kuala Lumpur to Athens, via Bahrain

August 5, 2010

We flew from Kuala Lumpur to Athens via Bahrain. Yes, Bahrain, as in next to Iran in the Middle East. We had to stay overnight in Bahrain, due to flight scheduling and to break up the trip. I’ve never been in such a different world. It made going to Malaysia feel like we’d simply traveled to Philadelphia. In fact, it was almost culture shock for me. Southeast Asians cannot say no to you. They speak quietly. They dodge conflict so adeptly that you don’t even know you’ve been dodged. Bahrain-ians practically barked at you when they spoke. I was reminded of some Israelis I knew back in NYC. They were direct, said no a lot, honest, social to the point of being in your face, and loudly charming.

But, that was the men because ALL the women were covered in black burkhas. I mean COVERED. We saw one woman whose entire body, and I mean ENTIRE, was covered – she even wore gloves to cover her hands. Even her eyes were covered. On the flight to Bahrain, I was the only uncovered woman. I started to feel naked. Men might be staring at my bare hands.

Gulf Air got us a free hotel for the night, since our connection was the following day. The Golden Tulip of Bahrain is a nice hotel. It has gold accents. It has a beautiful spread for the buffet breakfast. And we could not eat any of it. In fact, we had to stay in a separate, second-class wing (misleadingly called the “garden wing,” considering that there are NO gardens anywhere in the desert state of Bahrain). This wing is reserved only for people forced to stay overnight in Bahrain due to their flights. People who don’t pay for their hotel rooms. People who don’t deserve an elevator – you had to carry your suitcases up to the second floor. People who have a separate, lesser “Pool Café” to eat in with separate, lesser food. Children who can’t swim in the pool because we weren’t told they’d hold our suitcases at the airport. We were amazed at how easily Bahrain-ians created a second class world, within 1^st class luxury.

As Americans we were outraged by our separate but unequal status. In America, people would loudly protest to the hotel manager over this undemocratic system. No one would settle for it. But, in Bahrain, none of the other second class travelers complained. The Turks and Greeks seated next to us seemed completely satisfied.

We were moping until they put out the hummus. Since there is no decent hummus to be found in Asia, we made like the starved masses for the hummus platter. My kids systematically cleared the entire hummus platter. To the point that my entire family finished dinner, except for Boom, who stayed behind to methodically dip the pita until he cleaned up a huge pile of hummus. You think you’ve had hummus, but you have not really had hummus (creamy like milk!) until you’ve eaten hummus in a desert in the Middle East.

I got in bed, exhausted by 3pm, falling asleep, until I was woken up, convinced that there were bed bugs nipping at me. Ken claims he felt none. Yet another confirmation of my second class status for me.

We woke at 4am, determined to spend at least an hour outside of our hotel before leaving. We’d actually planned on taking a tour of Bahrain the previous day. But, the Gulf Air representative baldly laughed at us when we asked him to recommend a tour bus for the afternoon. He said, “Don’t take a tour of Bahrain. It’s too hot. But, Bahrain is a beautiful country.” I completely doubted that the heat should stop us from touring Bahrain.

He was completely right. The moment we stepped outside of our hotel at 5am, we were shocked at the heat. This is before the sun has fully risen! There was just early morning light. Our glasses fogged up. Our camera fogged up. And, I felt like I was walking through jello, the air was so thick. We walked the block to the beach where there was a waterside walking area, like on the Hudson in NYC. Except there was only one lone jogger, inexplicably jogging in his pants, collared shirt, and un-jogging shoes. Only people without cars walked on this waterside walk – immigrants from India and Bangladesh without enough money to buy a car. It was all sand, palm trees, and a view of Bahrain’s skyscrapers, industrial warehouses, and the city’s growth, not inland, but out onto water.

They were building huge skyscrapers on the water. You can see one above, called the Bahrain World Trade Center, with a luxury mall in the bottom and windmills (unused!) on the front. It was a jarring sight of progress. If you look into the past, just beyond the skyscrapers lining the water, you could see the old city of Bahrain -- It is all sand-colored buildings, looking like a mirage as it seemed to disappear into the surrounding desert sand.

After 10 minutes of walking, we turned around and practically ran back to our hotel. Then they told us we’d have to wait for our breakfast as they served a rich cornucopia of a breakfast buffet to the “regular paying” early bird customers. Starved by 7am, we were finally let into our small side room to eat overcooked scrambled eggs with the non-paying travelers in transit. Then, relieved, we were whisked away to Greece!