Malaysian Gathering and more..

This weekend was indeed a highlight!

Friday saw me shopping with Jesse, Sully, Isabel and Mirjana. We went around town and it was good.

Saturday was when the fun started. The Homecoming perade was fun and I joined as a flag bearer. Carried the Malaysian Flag around and when ppl ask meif I'm Malaysian, they were surprised that I was. So funny! The Homecoming parade was on Saturday and Sully and I participated. We were supposed to be flag bearers for our countries in our traditional clothes under the International Students Association’s banner but the weather was too cold for us to wear them. We just went in our jackets and joined the parade. It was great fun to see all the floats that the people had decorated. The theme for Homecoming was ‘Stomper Saves the Day’. Stomper is the MSU mascot. There were all sorts of different forms of Stomper. He was Batman, The Hulk, Spiderman and Superman and many more. The floats were decorated with them. Some of the figures on the floats even moves. The students really put effort into them. The Sororities and Fraternities also had their own floats. They were very nicely decorated. The African Students Association was behind our float and they had African music blasting behind their float. It was cool as they danced down the parade. We walked for about half and hour and then we stopped as the weather was too cold. It was raining that morning so the temperature was pretty low.

At six, Glenn picked me up to go to Rachael’s birthday. It was fun as I got to meet their friends and family. They introduced me as their international family. So sweet of them=) They had a bonfire burning outside and it was so nice to be around the fire during the cold. We play volley ball till dark that Glenn drove his car to their backyard and shined the court and we continued playing. When Rachael and Alyssa’s friends found out where I come from, they were so interested to find out more about Malaysia and when they realised how old I was, they could not believe me. We had fun together. We then gathered around the fire and Rachael showed me how to make smores. It was so much fun roasting the marshmallow and it tasted good. The marshmallow just melted in the heat and when I put it into my mouth, it was sweet and savoury all together in a bite. So lovely! We chatted around the fire and I learnt of 3 siblings who were adopted from Russia- Andrei, Vladimir and Anna. They were so open about it and Vladimir was just a fun kid to be with. When it was getting to cold we went indoors and played Apples to Apples and there was 17 people playing it. It was by far the largest group I have seen playing this game. We had fun playing and realised that the international players were winning! Andrei and I were leading and eventually we won! So funny! When the game was over, Glenn dropped me back to MSU at 11pm. It was a nice evening as I made friends with these kids and I really enjoyed feeling young again, living my youth that I had since past...

On Sunday after church, I attended a Malaysian get together organised by fellow Malaysian in MSU. Through this meeting, I finally met all the Malaysians that are studying here. There are 6 of us. As typical Malaysian, when we meet, we eat. We had steamboat which I had not have for a long time and when there was a pot of spicy flavoured soup, I was so happy! It was so long since I had something spicy as there food served at the cafeteria were always not spicy as I was explained to me that Americans have a low tolerance to spicy food. It was so good to have something from home and especially better during this cold weather where it warms you right up. Somebody brought mooncake and it just added brighten up my day. Saturday was supposed to be Mid Autumn Festival back home and we would always have mooncake during that festival. I thought I would not have them here but when it was brought out, I was so happy! After we had our fill, we cleared up the room and went home. Although it was only a short gathering but the knowledge of knowing fellow Malaysian are around in campus was kind of comforting. The few hours of being able to speak the language and use terms that others can understand without explaining the meaning was just great.

I then attended a NBA game in the evening. It was free for a few of us exchange students as the offer was sent to us by the international Students Association Graduate Assistant. It was the Minnesota Timberwolves verses the Milwaukee Bucks and it was the pre season game. We went and watched it and it was so cool to be so near the NBA players. They were really GOOD! All the dunking and passing, it was just great. They have performances during half time and that was phenomenal. There little kids break dancing and the best was the performance when 3 people using trampoline to dunk the balls. They were just AWESOME! Unfortunately I could not finish watching the game as the cafeteria would be close by the time the game was over so I had to leave mid way for food. Will try to attend next time and sit for the whole game.

All in all this weekend was a good one but now I have to suffer the consequences of a fun filled weekend. Assignments are piling up and I need to finish them as soon as possible.

Till then...Ciao=)