Some Action at the Rug Auction....

Just wanted to share my interesting experience of the Rug Auction that I attended with my in-laws! It was interesting, sponsored by the American Club, and all Americans at this fairly nice KL hotel who were bidding on these rugs. A couple of men from Singapore had brought their rugs from this fancy shop and were auctioning them off, and boy are handmade Persian rugs expensive!!! The cheapest one was about$200 (US) and the most expensive went for around $9,000, if I recall correctly! It was fun and exciting, but Doug was SO glad I didn't bid on anything.:) Let's just say with all our expenses of setting up house here, we didn't have the spare "change" for a rug quite yet! We've got enough from Jordan to allow us to "get by."

The unexpected hilarious moment of the night was when we sat anxiously awaiting the card chosen for the lucky draw....It ended up that I was the lucky winner! I actually won the 4 X 6 rug! and it's quite ORANGE. (the Persian looking orange rug is mine; the lovely colorful rug with the geometric shapes throughout is my mother in law's which she bought.) My assumption is that it's a rug they just hadn't been able to sell, so just brought it along for the lucky draw.:0
Well, I got my picture taken for the American Club magazine with the rug. It was too funny. I never really win anything (even those little drawings at baby showers and stuff), unless it's like a 1 in 2 chance, so...it was quite fun.

I am also including a pic of Doug and me in front of the beautiful sunset at the grandparents' pad...

Halloween & Swimming with Grandparents

We start this blog with a spectacular view of Kuala Lumpur from Doug's parents' apartment. From their bedroom, you have a great view of the Petronas Towers, the KL tower, and much of downtown. What is interesting is you only get this view from a corner of their bedroom. Most of their view is a nice view up toward the highlands, seeing much of the Klang Valley. Since their apartment was built long before the Petronas Towers were completed, you get an understanding of why the view looks the other way.

This weekend, as we often do, we spent some time swimming with grandparents. Grandma Woodward has life jackets and swim suits that stay at their place, so we can easily show up and go swimming. Reeve and Gabi are getting a lot better at swimming, but have plenty of confidence without the competence of being able to swim and safely get to the side. They certainly enjoy the water -- and there is a perfect kiddie pool at the side of the normal pool.

On Sunday afternoon, we attended the American Club's Halloween Party. Reeve and Gabi were quite excited about their costumes, and Rania even snagged a (short) early nap after church in order to visit the Halloween party.

There was some pizza, candy, and a few games, but hopefully it gave a taste of Halloween to our kids, as we are going to forego the trick-or-treating due to bedtimes on a school night and traffic to get to a trick-or-treating place.

On Friday night, Tracy went to a rug auction -- with quite the story that will have to wait until the next posting.

Cute Kiddies & Lego Robots

At the Woodward household, we have finished another week, with Doug & Tracy busy with parent/student/teacher conferences, and the kiddies enjoying their time.

Doug and Reeve have been excitedly playing with some of the school's toys -- specifically a LEGO Robotics kit. You can see Reeve with the robot, which will follow simple commands to go in a pattern.

For example, we've put in a noise sensor, so whenever you talk or clap it changes direction, an "eye" sensor, so that whenever it gets close to an obstacle, it backs up and turns around, as well as a light sensor which (in theory) will follow the edge between a light and dark floor. Unfortunately our attempts to put pieces of brown paper didn't quite illustrate the latest sensor.

Reeve has been quite excited about playing with the LEGO set each evening.

Gabriella has continued (with the help of our amazing neighbors -- see post below) to construct the most amazing stable for any pet horsey in the history of the world. Naimy is quite the lucky pet horse!

And Rania continues to grow into quite the busy little toddler -- the transformation is quite incredible, as she becomes more and more verbal. She emphatically shakes her head up and down or back and forth to emphasize whether she wants food or to change her diaper. She also loves her little ELMO toy which goes around singing songs, as Rania joyously dances by waving her arms.

Things are good at the Woodward household.

The Best Neighbors EVER!

Somehow we have been blessed with the best neighbors possible. With apologies to the Wasmuths (congrats on the new baby!), Wilsons, Herns, and others in our neighborhood, they didn't routinely bring us Malaysian delicacies that we should taste -- nor did they take our daughter for hours at a time while constructing immaculate stables for her pet horses.

Indeed, our neighbors Zainudan and Nani are absolutely wonderful. Zainudan spends most of the week at his job in Mumbai (the city formerly known as Bombay, in India), and Nani stays home, though she often has a house full of guests.

Her youngest daughter, Nina, is just a year or two older than Reeve, and has been a great playmate for Reeve and Gabi. Nani quickly introduced herself to our children as "Auntie" and she has become an amazing auntie for our kids.

Sometimes we feel quite jealous, as our kids sit at the fence between our two houses and wait for a glimpse of Nani so they can yell "Auntie! Auntie! I wunt to tell wu somthin." (in Gabi-speak) As we constantly remind them not to yell at our neighbors, we are in awe at the affection our kids feel toward someone who was a complete stranger a few months ago.


Last weekend, Nani invited our family (including Doug's parents, who she insisted must come) over for dinner, where we were treated to some amazing Malaysian cuisine as part of the week long Hari Raya celebration (the end of Ramadan). We learned lots about local Malaysian culture as well as about Nani’s family. Fireworks, games, and gift baskets for the kids were all part of the evening.


Then yesterday, we returned from school to see an amazing box that had been transformed into a "stable" for Naimy, Gabi's favorite horsey from Grandma Julie. This was no ordinary “stable”, but was complete with a bed, pillows, doors, decorations, a lamp. Just in case Naimy gets cold in the Malaysian weather, she has a blanket, and a sweater (with a tiny hanger) that fits over Naimy’s head and tail.


I should also add that Reeve is very excited about Halloween, and has taken many opportunities to wear his Batman outfit in preparation for his big celebration.

Bukit Frasier: A place to wear jeans!

Sure, we hiked through tropical rainforests, navigated one lane roads at the edge of cliffs, rode horses, played golf, explored lush waterfalls in the heart of the jungle, sipped tea in a colonial English setting, and traveled out of KL for the first time. We even warded off leeches. But perhaps the best part of our trip was just getting to wear jeans!



Indeed, on Friday morning, we made our way out of KL and then started winding our way up mountains to the Hill Station of Bukit Frasier (Frasier's Hill). After leaving the Klang Valley, where KL is located, we turned off on an extremely windy road and made our way up into the clouds. We witnessed the engineering challenge because there is a one way road up one side of the mountain (11 km) and another one way road down (4 km). All around the small area that makes up the picturesque town, there are many one way roads where we quickly learned that you have to honk before you round each corner.

We arrived at our sufficent accomodations and quickly enjoyed the cool weather that greeted us. Most of us put on long sleeve shirts and jeans -- probably for the first time since our July arrival. Seeing Rania in her sleeper for the night was an especially jarring sight.

Over the course of the three days and two nights, Reeve played his first nine holes of golf. The course wasn't in the best of shape, as the wild boars had taken to digging up much of the fairways and some of the greens. But Reeve walked the whole course and we greatly some of the scenic sights while losing a bunch of balls.



Fraiser's Hill is also known for some of its hiking trails, and we chose the easier ones, and Reeve and Gabi were great hiking, while Rania enjoyed being in the backpack. At one point the trail had been washed out by a landslide, so we scaled ropes that had been put up to get up, down, and around the affected area.



Gabi greatly enjoyed getting to ride a REAL horsey, and Rania was so insistent on getting to ride the horse, that she propelled her way into the willing arms of some random Slovakian woman, who happily took Rania around the loop on horse.



We also enjoyed afternoon tea at Ye Olde Smokehouse -- a colonial structure that is now a small hotel and restaurant that sits on the edge of the hill. Gabi quickly became a tea fanatic after discovering the taste-changing power of sugar and cream! Her aunt Carrie would have loved such an exotic location where you could just image British chaps hanging out over a century ago.

Now we are back home, enjoying our own beds, but Reeve has declared that Frasier's Hill is the BEST vacation ever. Whether his opinion is due to the novelty of sleeping on the floor in a HOTEL or just due to a 5 year old's limited memory remains to be seen.

End of a Long Week

On this Thursday afternoon, we are excited to have an upcoming 4 day weekend to celebrate Hari Raya, the end of Ramadan (the month of fasting in Islam). After a long week, we'd like to include some end of the day snapshots of our kids.

Most significantly, you realize what a toll the long days of kindergarten (they call it prep-senior in the ISKL lingo) take on Reeve. Upon arriving home, Reeve was insisting that we should play soccer. In the time it took to get changed and get ready, Reeve had zonked out on the couch.

Gabi and Rania showed a bit more energy at the end of the day -- with Rania seeming bigger and bigger every day. Seeing her walk down the stairs instead of crawl and her increasing vocabulary and communication skills (she likes to nod yes or no when you ask her something -- usually no is what she chooses) demonstrate that we are quickly moving from the baby to the toddler stage with our youngest.

We continue to be very blessed by how great our transition to life in KL has been. Sure, we are quite tired at the end of days, and the end of weeks are great times to catch up on rest. But from the warmth of our colleagues, and the great blessing that Juvy (our amah -- housekeeper/nanny) has been, we are enjoying our transition to life in Kuala Lumpur.

We look forward to this upcoming weekend with a trip up into the hills -- where we will hopefully enjoy some cooler weather, and some good hiking. Hopefully we will have some pictures and details to tell upon our return.

Horray for Sleepovers!

One of the amazing experiences of life in KL has been the wonderful invention of sleepovers. Sleepovers at grandparents is an especially amazing event.

Is it the best thing since sliced bread? We may not fully know considering we've been largely deprived of this phenomenon over the past five years. In the bizarre, mind-boggling event that only the Almighty can orchestrate -- where we end up closer to grandparents by moving half way around the world to Malaysia -- we are discovering the wonders of sleepovers.

Grandpa and Grandma have set up a general tradition where every Saturday night they invite Reeve or Gabi for a sleepover. Reeve and Gabi then sometimes have the opportunity to invite their sibling for the sleepover. Rania has yet to get in the act, but since grandpa has only been here just over a month, I'm sure she'll get her turn.

Last time that Reeve had his sleepover, he got to make chocolate chip cookies with grandma. Mom and Dad and Gabi were happy recipients of the fruits of their labor. The last two times that it has been Gabi's turn, she decided she wanted to invite Reeve so she wouldn't be so lonely sleeping by herself. (Gabi and Reeve share a bunk bed in our new home.) It's amazing how quiet the house seems when our bedtime routine is reduced by 2/3rds.

Another amazing benefit of grandparents is the re-institution of "date-nights." We now have a weekly routine where every Wednesday, grandpa and grandpa come up and help put the kids to bed. Tracy and Doug then get to head out, get something to eat, enjoy a concert, or find someplace to hangout. In some ways, you have to wonder how we ever survived being far away from grandparents. Without a doubt, if it weren't for our amazing community of friends in Indianapolis, I'm sure we never could have survived!

The Girl From Ampang Jaya

There have been so many things that we have wanted to say, but finding the time is always the challenge. So I just want to share a couple of little snippets.

In the midst of trying to finalize our church options, we have been visiting two different churches and wavering between the pros & cons of them. At one of these visits, we realized a small portion of what havoc we might be reaping upon our children, who will officially become TCK's (Third Culture Kids.)

Gabi demonsrated this quite effectively when she bravely went up to Sunday School at the local church (Reeve, being reticent in new situations, demurred.). The group of 3 and 4 year olds were asked by the teachers where they were from. Some said Australia, others said Malaysia, and some were from the United States.

When it was Gabi's turn to answer, she confidently responded, "Ampang." The teacher persisted -- no, where are you from? Again, she said, "Ampang." Given a third time to deny her country's heritage, she persisted, "Ampang." We believe there was no crowing of the rooster to demonstrate her betrayal of her birthland, but we realized a glimpse of the confusion our kids will face with the question, "Where are you from." For now, it is quite cute, but perhaps in a few years, such a question will bring our poor tots to tears.

Later, in the car on the way home, we asked Gabi about it. She didn't say much, but she did elaborate on her response by saying "Ampang Jaya." Ampang is the area of KL near where the school is. Perhaps like Herron Morton is to Indianapolis, but on a significantly larger scale. Ampang Jaya is a specific part of Ampang that is south of a main road.

By the way, as Tracy wrote, we live in Bukit Antarabangsa, but perhaps convenience prompted our daughter to go with the more familiar phrase. After all, who can argue that "Ampang" doesn't have a nicer ring than "The United States of America" to a 3 year-old's ears?

Another hilarious event we will have to recount is the "entertainment" of our local Giant grocery store, but I will comment on the picture above. With a certain 3rd born Auntie lamenting the lack of photos of our 3rd born, we will add this picture of Rania's first visit to a birthday party. She (as well as Gabi) attended the 1st birthday party of some colleagues of ours who also teach at ISKL. Their youngest had a birthday, and it was fun for the kids to go over and play with someone else's toys.