HI EVERYBODY! This is Sadie once again—solo this time—reporting from Malaysia. Hope you didn't miss my blog posts too much!  


Today was our second-to-last day in our homestays, which we will all miss very much. This morning, back at our house, Kate and I got off to a late start. As usual, I woke up on the later side, with my amazing host mom, Mama Rody, knocking on my door to let me know breakfast was ready. When I got to the kitchen table, a whole feast had been prepared: fried chicken, rice, banana bread, fruits, toast, and sticky rice with pandan. Sangat sedap (very delicious)! 


After breakfast, one of our tour guides, Ja, picked us up from our house and drove us to the town's community hall. There, surrounded by the remnants of the local wedding that happened a few days ago, we completed our physical, emotional, and poop checks. Once everyone arrived, we started a walking tour of the FELCRA palm oil plantation on foot. 


At the plantation, we watched the workers cutting down branches and removing leaves from the trees. Fun fact—the palm oil doesn’t come from the large branches of the tree, but rather from small orange fruits hidden behind the leaves. The more expensive oils are made from the seeds of the fruit. There was an electric fence guarding the trees on the plantation to prevent animals from entering the area. Malaysia is one of the biggest palm oil producers in the world, and it’s used in food and personal care items like cosmetics.




As we moved along the tour, we learned more about the sustainability efforts of the plantation, even though there are concerns that these trees, which are not native to Malaysia, lead to deforestation and monocropping. For example, they avoid burning tree waste, preferring to leave the cuttings as fertilizer. They also avoid pesticide usage on the soil and have put in physical barriers to prevent fertilizer runoff into the nearby river. At the end of our tour, Angah quizzed all of us on what we had learned today and gave prizes (a mini Taman Negara easel and canvas) to the students who got the answers correct. Unfortunately, I was not a prize winner today. 


We then walked over to Angah's house for the last time to journal and eat lunch. A bussin’ meal was delivered with rice, omelet, chicken (Ayam Masak Merah), a fresh salad, and many different fruits. After we feasted, we played many rounds of card games and also spent time with Angah's 3-year-old nephew. Basically, he stole our cameras to take blurry photos, and we tossed his googly-eyed stress ball around!


After that, it was time to go to the Tekoma hotel, where our teachers are staying, to plan for the farewell dinner tomorrow. Every homestay family is meeting tomorrow night for one big final feast and performances from everyone. In the few hours we were at the Tekoma, we planned what we hope will be the performance of a lifetime. First up: a skit of a disastrous wedding between two of our group members, with our very own Sohum as the bride. And because we have been perfecting the Cup Song from the hit movie Pitch Perfect this entire trip, it only makes sense to perform it, too. We also wrote a parody of Miley Cyrus's Party in the U.S.A. called Party in Malay-ay-sia. Look out for videos of our incredible performance! We can't wait to perform!





Once we had our performance perfected, we convinced Ja to bring us to the ABC store. We got a Malaysian ice cream treat and my personal favorite snack here—fried bananas. It was our third bussin’ meal of the day. After all that singing and eating, we were all exhausted, so we headed back to our homestays. 


For Kate and me, the feasting wasn’t over. Right when we got home, our family headed out to yet another restaurant for more food. At this very moment, as I write this blog, I'm seated at a restaurant overlooking a large pond. We got our usual drink, called Milo, which is basically chocolate milk, and we have some roti on the way. 


Later, we’ll head over to our favs Ananya and Sienna’s house for dinner for the second night in a row! I should probs wrap this up—hope you all enjoyed! We’re definitely sad to leave Kuala Tahan and our amazing homestays, but excited to explore Penang next. Can’t wait to see you all very soon! 


Peace out everyone! Hope you’re all having a lit time back home!


-Sadie

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