SMACK!

It hit me so hard, right in the face.

I’m going to leave Perth, for good, in November.

The only times I’ll come back are as a tourist, not a ‘resident for tax purposes’, which has a nice ring to it in a way, even if it’s not really like being an actual resident.

But. I live here. I work here. I socialise here. I walk out of the house in the morning, when the sky is a clear, gorgeous blue, the air crisp, a slight chill, with the beautiful sunshine keeping me warm, and I think…

“What a beautiful day. I am going to miss this so much.”

There are so many beautiful days in Perth, it’s unbelieveable.

When I take the bus to the city and it goes past the Canning River, it almost makes me cry seeing all the black swans and pelicans just chilling on the water. PELICANS!! Seeing the people cycling and running along the river, makes me feel so sad that it’s not going to be a regular part of my life, like it is in theirs.

Sometimes, the day is just so gorgeous and the river is just so beautiful, it makes you want to cry.

The Reason

Just a lil’ FYI to the newer readers of my blog:

This was started as a diary for me to remember my journey here in Australia. My experiences, good and bad

It wasn’t meant for commercial use I didn’t, and don’t, care if people read this or not. Anyway, it doesn’t contain really sensitive information/things I’d rather keep secret. There’s another blog for that! (top secret one, heheh).

Just thought I’d let you know, I don’t expect you to comment on it. It was more a journal thing + some friends requested it so they could be updated on what I was doing, easily. Truth be told I would never have found the time to write emails to everyone, anyway. This was the easiest, most ‘fun’ way If anyone is reading this, thanks, and I hope it doesn’t bore you too much!

-Inayah-

Ho Hum.

I’m back in Perth after three whirlwind weeks of craziness and fun in KL.

And there are just some things that I noticed, more than ever, that really GET to me about KL/Malaysia. Maybe it’s certain people I come into contact with. Who knows? There’s just always an element of drama involved, which is not of my doing.

First, though, the good stuff:

1. Although I adore Malaysian food, I wasn’t eating like a pig every day, as I usually do when I’m home for a visit. I had my favourite FAM Char Kuey Teow a grand total of once (the horror!), my favourite Sarawak Laksa also ONLY ONCE, ayam penyet ONCE, nasi padang TWICE (only because I wanted to try out the new Bumbu Desa restaurant at The Curve, which by the way is OVERPRICED to the max!) In fact, I made sure to buy muesli and yogurt and fruit so I could continue eating in the healthy way I’ve adopted here in Perth. No Nasi Lemak for me!

(I’m not exaggerating. I had Nasi Lemak on the Air Asia flight to and from KL, but none in KL for the whole 3 weeks I was there. “In former times”, I would have been eating it almost every day for breakfast. Yay me!)

2. I realised, I am definitely more a tropical weather person. Despite the heat, I was having a far better time dealing with being a little sweaty as opposed to freezing my butt off here in Perth. Also, the warmer weather encourages me to get up earlier in the mornings, regardless of what time I’ve gone to bed. It’s largely due to the fact that it’s too damn hot to sleep past 10am most mornings, and by 9am the sun is glaring at me and practically blinding me. Ok, so 9am isn’t super early, but most days I was up by 830 AND I was on holiday, so if you keep that in mind.. it’s pretty darn early. Here in Perth I have so much trouble getting out of bed before 9. It’s such an effort.

3. Seeing my friends and family was wonderful. Anna’s wedding was so beautiful and it was really touching to see all my family there, people I love and hadn’t seen in forever. It was such a feel-good thing, as weddings should be, and Anna looked stunning. TJ, her husband (my brother-in-law!) is a great guy, and seeing them together, how they communicate and interact and deal with issues… I just know they’ll be ok more than ok, they’re gonna be great! I can’t wait for the babies, I just know they’re going to be sooo cute!!! I can’t wait to be an aunt!!

4. I also broke new ground with my mum in terms of our feelings and things that have bothered us in the past and all… and I got closer to her. We both just realised things about each other, and mellowed out a bit more around each other, and I realised I really love her company. I used to love her company when I was much younger, I used to hang out with her, but then we kinda kept getting at each other and wanting to kill each other, so I kinda stopped hanging out with her as much as I used to. But this time around it was lovely to be with her (for the most part! lol). We even went karaoke-ing together! hehe. I miss her so much now. I love my mummy!

Now, the not-so-good things:

1. People are so damn unfriendly in Malaysia. Like, here in Perth I can pretty much strike up a conversation with anyone, anywhere, and they will layan me. Like this morning at the pool, I was asking like, three different people how to swim freestyle properly. I suck at doing the crawl, while my breaststroke is pretty good. One person even remarked that I had great technique. But I am useless at ANY other style. And I know freestyle is faster and better for the back muscles (since I am swimming for rehab purposes mainly).

So yeah, they all humoured me and this one girl I spoke to is actually an instructor so she gave me some great pointers and tips and stuff for me to work on. Now, if I had been in Malaysia, I don’t know if they would have been so friendly. They probably would have talked to me, but would have wanted to get away as fast as possible. I dunno. I can’t really say because I wasn’t in an identical situation, but once, at the hospital (when I was getting my MRI done), I got off on the wrong floor, and ran back into the lift before the doors closed. I kinda smiled sheepishly at the couple in the lift and said breezily, “Oops, got off on the wrong floor!”

Silence. They averted their eyes.

What the eff?

Also, shop assistants are pretty damn dumb in most places. Ok that’s not fair. At some boutiques they are nice. But a lot of places, they’re just like, arrogant, gum-chewing, know-it-alls who can’t be bothered to help you. Or are suspicious of you. Even the people at reception at the hotel I stayed with Mariam in KL at (ok it was a like, 1 or 2-star place), they were so “bo-layan” that I felt like checking in myself; like, going behind the counter and just doing it myself! Ishh.

2. The drivers. Need I say more?

3. The favourite national pastime: gossiping, especially about people you don’t really know. Wow, I had no idea my love life was such a hot topic that people I don’t even KNOW are talking about it! Well, according to some friends of mine, a friend of a friend of a friend whom I’ve never met, said I’m a heartbreaker, that I have a legion of men waiting in line to be with me and I just play around with them and stuff. EH?? If ONLY! Real life is wayyyy less interesting than that. Honestly. I got comments about how I led someone on, and when I was telling my side of the story, I was accused of lying or leaving details out. Granted, the person I was talking to is a little bit… suspicious of me. He doesn’t trust me and thinks that everything I’m telling him is a lie. But that’s not my problem. If he doesn’t wanna believe ME, and chooses to believe those who don’t even KNOW me, go ahead. I don’t need you to believe me. I don’t care.

But it’s annoying when people say these things about you, and about situations they haven’t the faintest clue about. Everything I did and said came into question. What the hell? This is what you get for being nice, and giving people ‘chances’. Well, never again! I shall not give a guy a chance, everything will be based purely on looks/first impressions. Because when I do, I get it thrown back in my face as me being a bitch. SO, I shall be a bitch right from the start. Alright?

4. Feeling like such a late bloomer. All my friends (ok not ALL but MANY) are married, some with kids, they have careers and shit, earning way more money than me… and here I am. Farting around in Perth. It makes me feel inadequate. But I still feel like a big kid in many ways. I’m not ready for the life they have. Maybe I never will be. So why should I feel bad? I dunno, I just do. Blame society. Or relatives when they keep asking me when’s my turn to get married. Now that Marena and Anna are both married, it’s pretty much my turn. Ironically, I’m the only single girl left in my family; Nat, my younger sis, has a serious boyfriend. So… yeah. Not gonna be my turn for a while yet. Unless Robert Downey, Jr., leaves his wife for me. So, probably never, in other words. LOL.

I just have so much I want to do with my life. I want to travel, do things, meet people, eat foods, experience new smells, sights, sounds. Step on different soil. Throw foreign pebbles. You know.

Suck the marrow out of life.