With Chocolate ( the dog)

 

WOW!  Home means own bed, and getting to be together again. . .and some hugs with Chocolate.

Great stuff. . .and YEA for being home. 

Freedom!

 

SO great to escape quarantine . . and perhaps even a day or so early. . .thanks to the Merdeka holiday.  A great celebration in order to get to enjoy the small things in life. . .such as ice cream. . .and teaching IN PERSON!  Some of the things that we too often take for granted.

Evening Walk

 

Enjoying the evening and a chance to go for a walk around the park. . .often getting a chance to stop at Hari Hari and get some delicious food on a Sunday evening, while walking in the neighborhood.  

Walking around the lake in the evening is certainly plenty humid, and nice to get a touch of nature in the urban areas.

Almost done!

 Getting close to the end of quarantine. . .and after the 12 day quarantine test coming up negative, maybe there will even be hope of an early release!  That would sure be exciting.  And good thing those sisters sure enjoy each other's company. 

Joey's Birthday

Great to have Joey in country, and a chance to celebrate birthdays together. 

Another fun ISKL MS tradition with some birthday celebrations, even if now physically distanced and a bit different than what we had before.  

Happy Birthday!

Celebrating Merdeka

As part of celebrations for Merdeka, we had the chance to dress up with Malaysian attire.  I wore dad's beautiful batik shirt. . .and got a picture with much of the MS Office team (missing Teepa) and the incredible people who make our team so wonderful.

 

Morning Views

 Beautiful clear skies while overlooking the field from the middle school wing.  Enjoying time with kids and the thrill of being on campus - even if activities and sports are currently limited.

Sunrise

 Some nice morning views from outside Doug's office, getting to see the beautiful sky and the morning views.

Delivery Day

Strange rules for deliveries when you are just sitting in a room. . .but deliveries are allowed on Saturdays, so Doug made a trip out to the Putrajaya Marriott, and had the chance to do something that, strangely, the rest of the family cannot do. . . .see the grounds outside.  Items were delivered to the hotel and will hopefully make it to the correct rooms at some point. 
 

Quarantine Life

 Spending time with the family, enjoying the meals together. . .and spending time doing school during the RIGHT daylight hours are advantages of being in the correct time zone.  Gabi and Rania are enjoying an unusual start to high school (Rania) and beginnings of IB classes (Gabi) while Tracy is teaching her classes from her hotel room. . . and thankfully the WiFi is pretty good, which is a good sign for the coming weeks.

Winning the Quarantine Lottery: Putrajaya Marriott

 

Well, if you are going to arrive in KL and have to spend two weeks in a hotel room, and each plan goes to a new hotel, you sure could do worse than the Marriott in Putrajaya. . .relatively new, spacious rooms, and enjoying adjoining rooms. . .which creates some nice space with Rania and Gabi in one room and Tracy in the other room. 

Airports & Last Bits of Freedom

 The double-edged sword of quarantine travel. . . of course, anxious to be done travelling. . . .and two weeks of forced quarantine in a hotel room at the other end is rather unusual. 

So enjoy the wide space (and quite empty) airport waiting areas while you can.

Din Tai Fung

After the crab meal last week, it was another opportunity to get to be with two amazingly fabulous women.  Ochan and Karen generously invited me, again, out to dinner, and this time it was to Din Tai Fung.  Delicious food, fabulous company and delightful conversation.

 

En route!!!!

 WOW!  It finally came through - so after countless hours on the phone with the Malaysian Consulate (LA seems slightly more efficient, maybe?) and lots of back and forth between ISKL's HR team and the Ministry of Education and then the Immigration officials, there is finally approval.  Leaving Chicago, with the All Nippon gate agent was a bit shaky, trying to get final confirmation and approval to board - and thankfully, it is all good!  Now for safe travels the whole way. . .

Crab Dinner

 Thanks to the Orientations helper for Tanya Hawkes, we had a good recommendation for a crab place in Cheras.  So Ochan and Karen generously invited me for some delicious crab.  WOW!  That is some good food. . .and plenty messy, for sure. 

A Cemetery Visit

 Tracy had the chance to go and visit her dad's gravesite.  Good to see it well tended and always a celebration of Richard Quinn's life and remembrance of all that he's meant to so many. 

Meals and Sunsets

 

Reeve is getting ready to head to Case Western in a couple of weeks. . .and there are still spectacular sunsets out the windows looking West from our townhouse in Ohio. 

At the MS Office

 Pretty lucky to get to work with such an amazing team in the MS office.  In addition to the little panda, there's the fabulous Ms. Vicki. 

Lonely Celebration

 When it comes to anniversary celebrations, this one is a bit weird. . .get some Tillamook ice cream and enjoy a selfie alone at the table.  Interesting.

School View

 Don't think I can ever get tired of the view from the 4th floor of the middle school wing.  Afternoon sun streaming through the clouds over the KL skyline. 

Family

Nice to see Aunt Marcia and get to have some time together with the family.  Still waiting on visa approval, specifically the student passes for the kids. . .and hopefully good news soon.  In the meantime, good to be together.

 

Starting School

 Starting school sure looks different for the 2020-21 school year.  Now we have temperature scans that are touchless due to the facial recognition technology.  Wild.  You get your face in the oval and get a reading of 'temperature normal' which then opens the gates so that students can come in and access the campus.