I just came to town yesterday from Kampung Mangkok en route to Kuala Lampur for the weekend. A typical day recently has involved fixing myself oatmeal for breakfast, walking over to TCC to feed the turtles, checking email and doing some research reading, chatting with KakSu and neighbors, eating lunch at home (rice, roasted or curried fish, stir fry veggies, etc.), a quick nap on the porch, studying Malay and/or teaching English, returning to TCC to change water and feed turtles again, supper at home with the family, and then reading and hanging out with family all evening until I get sleepy--with about three showers scattered in among all those things whenever I get too sweaty to think. Though I am still far from being able to carry on a real conversation, I am getting comfortable enough with Malay to start forming relationships of my own with folks in the village, which is exciting and makes me feel much more a part of everything.
I have added a few pictures to the facebook album and written a poem...
To Settle In
On new ground:
sharp waves of early morning sound
barely break the stillnesses of dreams;
even tangled in the nets of sleep
I know
I am at home.
This: my window.
This?
My favorite napping spot.
I gather home around me.
Language, a family, palm trees, goats.
My clothes are hanging on the line.
Neighbors, friends, and little habits.
So many new and old things: mine.
Or so I like to say.
But when, by chance, I turn my head too quickly,
it often happens that some foreign dust
shakes down
to plant the host of ghosts upon my shoulders:
of other rooms, and friends, and lands
I’ve gathered in and loved.
And each is mine
as much as this—or more.
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