ICE! Sculptures at Gaylord Hotels

A life-size nativity scene carved entirely out of ice

Every winter, I get a little jealous when people visiting colder climes start sharing photos of ice sculpture festivals and ice hotels. In Texas, Mother Nature does not keep the outdoors cold enough for us to enjoy such things. December weather is all over the place. Some Christmases, it's been warm enough to wear shorts. On another, more magical Christmas, snow flurries fell from the sky, causing my children to abandon their half-unwrapped gifts to run outside. When I heard about the Gaylord Texan Resort hotel's ICE! Winter Wonderland, I knew that it would be the perfect mini-getaway during our holiday school break. Gaylord Hotels has four locations around the USA, each with a different themed ICE! exhibit.

At the End of the Universe at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston

Kusama's Love is Calling

The At the End of the Universe exhibit by Yayoi Kusama first caught my eye on my cousin's Instagram feed (@wanderng). Polka dotted, neon colored tentacles rose up from the ground and twisted down from the ceiling. An infinite field of incandescent lights exploded across a dark room. Curiously drawn to wanting to immerse myself in this experience, I knew that I would visit the Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH)  the next time that I was in town.

Austin's Graffiti Park at HOPE Outdoor Gallery

My favorite piece

Street art started catching my interest when I was living in Penang, Malaysia. Taking a photo next to the Kids on Bike mural  and going on street art scavenger hunts has become one of the must-do activities for visitors there. As I've traveled around the world, this particular public art form has been a draw for me whether I'm in Paris, France or Rapid City, South Dakota. So, I was excited to discover that the street art scene has taken off in my hometown of Austin, Texas during the years that I was overseas.

HOPE Outdoor Gallery

Most of the popular street art around town seems to fall into the wholesome category suitable for using as a backdrop for the holiday card family photo. The HOPE Outdoor Gallery, a.k.a. Graffiti Park, has a edgier feel to it. It first came to my attention when a friend posted photos of her daughter's hip hop dance crew taken at HOPE. "What?!," I thought to myself. "Something this cool exists in Austin?" I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised what with the "Keep Austin Weird" motto of this Portland-of-the-South.

HOPE Outdoor Gallery launched five years ago as part of SXSW. Spread across three tiers of concrete walls that are supposedly what remains of an abandoned condo construction project from the 1980's, it's said to the be the largest outdoor mural project in the city. The original info I found for it asks artists to submit applications to be considered for displaying their creations here. In magazine and travel blogs, it shows up as a place that everyone, both Austin residents and tourists alike, must visit.

A few weeks ago, I was finally in that part of town and decided to pay HOPE a visit. On this quiet weekday afternoon, parking was already scarce. I imagine it must be rather difficult on a fine weekend. With the tiers rising up before me as I approached the outdoor gallery, it was a little hard to take in. There was so much going on visually. 

There's now a trailer near the street entrance that supposedly sells cans of spray paint if you want to get in on the action. It was closed when I visited, so I didn't get a chance to leave my mark. I was glad that I'd worn sturdy shoes as the hike uphill alongside the concrete walls was a little steep and uneven. No stairs were in sight anywhere. I wanted to get closer to the art on the upper tiers but didn't feel like I was quite agile enough to hop over walls and drop-offs.

Heading through a gate at the top of the hill, I was surprised to find myself in front of an office building disguised as a castle. This city landmark belongs to Castle Hill Partners, owners of the property where HOPE is located and sponsors of the original art installation launch. Hmmm... it also seems like the parking here (West 11th Street off Blanco Street) was a much better option as long as the gate to the gallery is open. I've always wanted to get close to Austin's famous Castle, so stumbling upon it during this outing was a bonus.

As I walked around HOPE, I didn't quite know what to think. I really had, pardon me, high hopes for this place. It is so hyped up as a essential part of the Austin experience. But compared to what I've seen elsewhere, I was disappointed. It may have started out great and semi-curated, but the current practice of letting any person let loose with a can of spray paint has diminished the quality in my apparently not-so-humble opinion.

My favorite piece, the woman's face in the first photo of this post, has probably survived unscathed because it is up high and out of reach to anyone without a ladder. Every other surface was covered with layers and layers of random scrawlings, like the kind you see at restaurants where you can grab a marker to write on the wall. Empty spray cans littered the ground. Broken beer bottles were scattered around, too. I must be a hypocrite because I found this urban art experience that I sought out a little too urban for me. How I long for Singapore sometimes. 

As an observer, I give this place 3 or even 2 out of 5 stars. I think the magic must be in getting to be a participant. To be the one wielding the spray paint and leaving your mark without fear of repercussion.

Do you consider this art?

It’s Your Turn, Link Up Your Newest Travel Inspiration

I've joined up as one of the co-hosts of Weekend Travel Inspiration.

1. Link one of your inspirational travel photos or stories to this post by adding your info.
2. Copy and paste our badge and a link to this page.
3. Visit some of the other wonderful travel bloggers, read their posts, and leave a comment.  It would be great if you could comment on 2-3 posts.
4. Tweet it and include this hashtag. #wkendtravelinspiration .
5. Follow all the hosts of Weekend Travel Inspiration who are working hard to spread the word on what wonderful work travel bloggers are doing.
6. Don’t forget to check out my amazing co-hosts and their pages: Reflections Enroute, The Crowded Planet, ContentedTraveller, Albom Adventures, Safari 254, and FamiliesGo.

I've also joined with the following linkups. Check them out for more around-the-world travel inspiration.

• Travel Photo Thursday on Budget Travelers Sandbox
• Weekend Wanderlust on A Brit and a Southerner, Casual Traveler, Justin + Lauren, A Southern Gypsy and Outbound Adventurer
• The Weekly Postcard on As We Saw It

Looking Back at 2015

Pulled over on a country Texas road to snap this photo after dropping off my teen for weekend camping

2015 was a year for rediscovering the USA. I barely used my passport. The one time I whipped it out returning to Florida from our Bahamas cruise, I didn't even technically need it as a driver's license would have sufficed. Still, with a nation as vast and varied as America, we learned that you don't necessarily have to go abroad to find adventure.

I didn't plan it on purpose, but we seemed to visit the typical places on a "Where to Take Your Kids in the USA Before They Grow Up" list. Perhaps it's because we've been focusing on other parts of the world for so long, and I'm beginning to feel a sense of urgency to squeeze it all in now that my eldest child turned 16 years old.

The Road Goes On Forever

I had a different post planned for this past weekend. It's only half-written at this point, and with a little luck, I'll have it done by next weekend. Ever since we moved back to Texas from Malaysia, I've felt sooooo busy. I'm convinced it's because I now spend all my time in my car driving around. It's something that my friend who repatriated at the same time I did also commented on when we first returned. At least we have great music on the radio!

The Natural Wonder of Hamilton Pool

Behind the waterfall

I stood behind the waterfall enjoying the cooling mist and thinking about the year that's passed since we left Malaysia to return back to Texas. One of my biggest worries about repatriating was that life would become humdrum and routine. That returning to the city that I've called home for the last 20 years couldn't possibly be as exciting as exploring an exotic, foreign country. So, I reminded myself that I had perhaps taken Austin, Texas for granted.

Springtime Blooms at Wildseed Farms

Meadow filled with red corn poppies

One of the things I really missed while living in the tropics was the change of seasons. In Malaysia, we marked the passage of time by whatever festival brought droves of tourists to town rather than through dropping temperatures, shorter days, and changing foliage. Spring is my favorite time of the year, when the earth awakens and the days get longer. I'm delighted to experience it for the first time in four years.

A busy April kept me away from doing the countryside wildflower drives that are de rigueur in the Texas Hill Country. No squatting in a field of bluebonnets for my kids this year. A blank half-day on the calendar at the end of the month gave me just enough time to make the trip from Austin out to Fredericksburg with my parents in tow. With just a few hours to spend, I headed straight for the place guaranteed to have a gorgeous display of blooms, Wildseed Farms which is the largest working wildflower farm in the nation. After these flowers bloom, the tiny seeds are collected, packaged, and sold the the general public, landscape contractors and highway maintenance departments.

Bye-bye Summer, Hello School

Today is the first day of the new school year, and with that, another summer draws to a close. I don't feel quite ready, yet, believe it or not. I started off June with good intentions of all that we were going to do these last few months, and there are still so many things left undone.

I clearly remember my first summer as a mother to three young children. As I picked up my boys from preschool, I burst into tears. Perhaps it was because my oldest one would start "big boy" school the next year, and I was saying goodbye to that phase of his life. Perhaps it was because I had given birth to my girl only five days earlier and the postpartum hormones were still running crazily through my body. Perhaps it was because I had no idea how I was going to occupy these kids and keep them out of mischief for three long months.

Now that they're older, my expectations go beyond merely surviving the summer with my insanity intact. I wanted to keep their skills up throughout the school break. I had notions of doing multiplication drills with flash cards. That happened all of twice. The school library summer reading program leaflet stares at me accusingly, devoid of any books listed or minutes logged. My kids are great readers; they're just bad record keepers. Oh, and I never quite got around to giving my 10-year-old "The Talk". You know... the one about the birds and the bees. He'll just have to enter 5th Grade (Year 6) ignorant of how exactly babies are made.

Then, I decide to stop focusing on the unchecked items on the To Do List. Sure, we didn't get everything done, but we accomplished a lot. For one thing, we hopped westward across three continents. We took a gigantic field trip encircling the world. The family explored Paris from the tippy top of the Eiffel Tower to the dank corridors of the subterranean catacombs. The miles ratcheted up on the van's odometer driving around Texas from big cities to small ones, from state parks to Galveston Bay. Touching back down in Penang, Malaysia, we remembered what it was like when we first arrived two years ago, and how much more we now know about this place we currently call home. Certainly, all this travel must count for something.


We saw paintings by Da Vinci, Seurat, Matisse, Picasso and Warhol up close in Paris. The kids clearly had more of an affinity for realistic paintings than modern art.

The kids attempt to pose like the figures in the Picasso.

My eldest boy learned how to build a shelter out of yaupon branches, rope and a tarp, then spent the night in it. The next night, he did away with a shelter altogether and slept under the Texas sky.

Who needs a tent when camping out by the shores of Lake Bastrop?

The kids got a first hand physics lesson in aerodynamics by experiencing the interaction of body position and airflow when they went indoor skydiving.

Held aloft by nothing but wind

We found a new museum to explore science and visited some old favorites. Hands-on is always more fun than reading it in a textbook.

Austin Children's Museum * Houston Health Museum
Cite des Enfants in Paris
Mayborn Museum in Waco, Texas * Children's Museum of Houston

My younger son had time to sit and build his LEGO Legends of Chima fighter. Then, he decided to modify it with LEGO Mindstorms to turn it into a controllable robot.

Building robots out of toys

The Fourth of July (America's Independence Day) was spent remembering their roots, reconnecting with cousins and watching fireworks. Boy, was I surprised when they spontaneously started singing The Star Spangled Banner, our national anthem.



The rockets red (or white) glare

We heard music with our ears and felt the rhythm down to our bones at a performance of Drum Corp International in Houston. I'm hoping it provided some inspiration for my budding percussionist.

The Boston Crusaders

So yeah, we didn't get every academic thing on my list done before school started. But I have to remind myself that it's not just the books and flashcards that count. Living life and taking in the world goes a long ways towards expanding young minds, too.

Bye bye summer. Hello school.

Capture the Seasons

"[Malaysia] is a springless summerless autumnless winterless land. One day might be a drop wetter or a mite drier than the last, but almost all are hot, damp, bright, bursting with lazy tropical life, conducive to endless tea breaks and mad, jostling, honking rushes through town to get home before the afternoon downpour."

from Evening is the Whole Day be Preeta Samarasan

Living in Central Texas, I was always envious of people who got to truly experience the seasons. The winter there is so mild. But moving to Malaysia has been an exercise in forgetting seasons altogether. We arrived last year in July, when wearing shorts, tees and flip flops seemed quite normal since that's what we'd been wearing when we'd left our Texas home. But then the months slid into December, and we were still wearing the same outfits day in and day out.  I was hoping that the short-sleeved velveteen dress I had brought wouldn't be too warm when my daughter wore it to the school Christmas concert. Now, I don't even check the weather reports because it never changes. Even the days are almost the same length. There's only a 38 minute difference between the longest and shortest days for the year. I miss the change of seasons — even the Texas version of it.

This is my entry in Booked.net‘s “Capture the Season.”  German expat living in Texas, Country Skipper, invited me to join her in the contest. I hope you enjoy my East versus West take on it.

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I realize is is Autumn when...



Hayfield Maze at Sweet Berry Farm, Marble Falls, Texas — October

Hayfield mazes start cropping up in Texas. Every fall, we'd make the trip out to Sweet Berry Farm to pick pumpkins, stuff scarecrows and navigate through the Hayfield Maze. Notice that we're still wearing shorts. Tip for Parents: If you are chasing two mobile kids through a maze, carry your baby instead of pushing a stroller. Otherwise, you have no hope of keeping up with the mobile ones and end up yelling, "Freeze! Where are you?"

 

 

Deepavali decorations at the Penang Sports Club, Malaysia — October

Deepavali decorations start showing up around Penang. This city has a large Indian population, and Deepavali/Diwali/Devali is part of the fabric of the community. Beautiful rangoli designs made out of colored rice decorate public areas and are a sacred welcoming areas for Hindu deities. Sometimes, the artwork is very large and elaborate.

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I realize it is Winter when...

An unexpected snowfall is always a treat in Austin, Texas — February

Snow falls on the ground in Austin, and the city screeches to a halt. It happens every couple of years. Our Valentine's Day gift from Mother Nature was a smattering of snow on the ground. Ever try to make snow angels in 2 inches of snow? You end up with a very muddy coat. Here, we've scraped up enough to make a 12-inch snowman with a baby's hat on top.




Just a small part of the massive Kek Lok Si temple complex, Penang — January

Thousands of lanterns and lights adorn Kek Lok Si, the largest Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia.  Starting sometime in January, Chinese New Year decorations hang everywhere in Penang, and you can see the temple on the hill from miles away lit up in celebration. There are fireworks all around town almost every night for 15 days. The last census showed the Chinese population just edging out Malays as the most populous ethnic group in town. It seems that Malaysians mark the seasons more by holidays than by changes in the weather.

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I realize it is Spring when...

It's a field of bluebonnets! I must plunk my child down in it and take a picture.
Austin, Texas — April

Fields of bluebonnets stretch as far as the eye can see in Central Texas. Taking a picture of your family surrounded by bluebonnets is a rite of passage for anyone in Central Texas. After all, it is the state flower. Wildflower forecasts show up online, and people start posting where the best fields are.

Thai New Year Songkran Water Festival, Wat Chayamankalaram, Penang — April

It's time for the Thai and Myanmar New Year celebration. Another New Year celebration? Indeed! April is the hottest time of the year in neighboring Thailand, and the respectable tradition of washing a Buddha to mark the New Year has evolved into an all out water fight. If you attend, prepare to get drenched. Most revelers are armed with water guns, and buckets of ice cold water lie around ready for them to reload. If all else fails, just pour water from your bottle.

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I realize it is Summer when...

Kemah Boardwalk near Houston, Texas — July

We hit the Kemah Boardwalk for some amusement park fun. When my mother-in-law went down to her parents' weekend home on Galveston Bay as a child, it was a quiet, rural area, and they had to bring their own water to drink. Now, the Kemah Boardwalk is located just a few miles up the road, and the Johnson Space Center is fifteen minutes away. We visit every summer to reconnect with our extended family. Between the blazing Texas sun and the humidity wafting in from the bay, it feels like we've never left Penang.




View from school cafeteria, Penang — August

Penang quiets down as many expats go on Home Visits while the international schools are on summer break. We first arrived in Penang a few weeks before the new school year started. (An unofficial New Year, perhaps?) Of course, we were excited to get a look at the campus. I couldn't believe the view from the school cafeteria. That's when I definitely knew we could get used to this place.
 

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Next up is...The following bloggers always have such great photos and stories. I'm hoping they'll join me and show us how they #CaptureTheSeasons.

Brave, or Just Crazy?: Long-time Canadian living in Singapore
Katie not in Prague: American serial expat now living in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
The World is a Book: Filipino-American like me sharing her tales of world travel with kids
More Kids than Suitcases: Hilarious tales of family trips
Average Traveller: Hits the sweet spot between luxe and budget travel


This post is part of Travel Photo Thursday on Budget Travellers Sandbox. Check it out for beautiful pictures that will have you longing for Myanmar and other around-the-world travel inspiration.

5 Unexpected Pleasures of Going Home

Triple Berry Pie with Graham Cracker Crust

This summer, the kids and I headed back to Texas for six weeks while hubby stayed behind in Malaysia, diligently doing the work that instigated our overseas move. I looked forward to the typical things — reuniting with friends and family, eating Tex-Mex and BBQ, shopping at Target and well-stocked grocery stores... You know what I mean. It's the stuff that everyone misses when they are away from home for months on end. I couldn't wait to get my hands on some fresh, summer berries to make a yummy pie. However, there are things I missed without realizing it. They took me by surprise.

Peace and Quiet
When I wake up in the morning in my suburban Austin home, I hear birds chirping. Penang, on the other hand, is a cacophony of noises. I live on a main thoroughfare, and the roar of traffic is constant. Construction on a couple of high rise condos going up next door continues six days a week, sometimes until late at night. At least the explosions have stopped. Someone is renovating a condo twelve floors above me, and it's amazing how the jackhammer sounds carry down through the building. Austin was a sanctuary of peace and quiet. Well, until my kids started arguing with each other.

Wide, Open Spaces
Penang is an island with a few big hills in the middle. Almost all the people live crowded along the edge of the island from the northwestern tip down around clockwise to the southern side. Residential towers reach up for sky everywhere like exclamation points littering the city. As I drove around near my Austin home, I couldn't help but notice how the brilliant, blue sky wrapped around me without interruption. Even though the idea of living in a dense, urban community like Penang really appeals to me, I couldn't help but love how open the suburbs feel.

A science demo that the whole elementary school in Austin turned out for. You can't pull this off in Penang.

I Feel the Need... The Need for Speed
Driving around Penang is city driving. Lots of stopping and going while the speedometer never goes much above 60 kph (37 mph). Cars constantly cut in front of me, and I can't begin to explain how crazy the numerous motorscooters are. I hadn't driven at highway speeds for months. Heading up the freeway ramp, I felt a little apprehensive — kind of like when I was a teen behind the wheel for the first time. But the stream of cars just carried me along. It felt wonderful and free to be sailing down the road. Although, I did notice that the Malaysian maneuvers I've picked up don't work so well at fast speeds. When I drove the 200+ miles from Austin to my in-laws' house, I even became reacquainted with my old friend, Cruise Control.

Great Music on the Radio
Every good drive requires good music on the radio. In Malaysia, I always listen to Top 40 music, probably because that's what most of the English-language stations play. One station broadcasts the Ryan Seacrest show every weekday afternoon. I can't seem to find a classical station anywhere on the dial, although there seems to be one Malaysian station we've nicknamed "Obscure Songs from the 70s." But Austin, self-proclaimed "Live Music Capital of the World", has such a wonderful selection of music on the radio. I was hopping all over the place. ZZ Top, "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me," classic rock, alternative, NPR, concertos, dance.... I kept telling my kids, "Listen up! This is a really good song." My ears were in heaven.

When hubby was growing up, he had a water fountain in his house. Seriously.

Drinking Water
Free water is hard to find in Malaysia. At most restaurants, you have to order bottled water. One Italian restaurant really rankles my husband because all they have is fancy, imported water that costs more than twice as much as the sodas. When we go on outings, the family usually brings along drinking water. Do Americans sufficiently appreciate how easily they can get potable water? All the museums, shopping malls, grocery stores, and entertainment venues in Texas we went to had water fountains. No need to lug around bottles for 3 kids and an adult! At the restaurants of course, the waiters just set it on the table free and without asking. It's such a mundane thing, but I've missed it.


Visiting Texas was wonderful. It was just what we needed. (Missing hubby/daddy was the one downside.) Looking at our hometown through the lens of living in SE Asia certainly brought about a new perspective. But returning to Penang was good, too. Both places feel like home.



This post is part of Friday Daydreamin' at R We There Yet Mom? Check it out for more travel inspiration.

A Strange Visitor in Austin, Texas

While I was home in Texas, I was browsing through my digital photo albums and came across a set from 2002 of the strangest visitor we've ever had. Morgan was a regular girl living in Malibu, California until the day a surfboard fell on her and made her 100% completely flat. Most kids would be quite upset about their new 2-dimensional status, but Morgan decided that this was an excellent opportunity to travel cheaply. So, her mom placed her in an envelope, put on a postage stamp, and sent her on her merry way. That's how I ended up opening my mailbox one day to find a new guest, Flat Morgan. We took her around town, showing her all the sights and taking plenty of pictures for her to show her mom.
 

The Broken Spoke - a True Texas Dance Hall

Flat Morgan was missing cowboy boots that day.

When people think of Texas, they think cowboys and country music. Here's Flat Morgan at The Broken Spoke, the self-proclaimed "Last of the True Texas Dance Halls" that plays the best honky-tonk music in the Lone Star State.

Stevie Ray Vaughan statue with Austin downtown skyline

Austin considers itself the Live Music Capital of the World. Blues rock guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan (SRV) got his start in Austin in the late 1970s and tragically died in a helicopter crash in 1990. Austin erected this popular statue to commemorate this legendary musician. Whenever it starts to storm in Malaysia, I can't help but think of the song Texas Flood by SRV and the band Double Trouble. Looking at this photo, I'm also struck by how much the downtown Austin skyline has changed in the last decade.

Congress Avenue Bridge - home to the world's largest urban bat colony

Next, we headed to the Congress Avenue Bridge. From March to November, 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats call this bridge their home. This is the largest urban bat colony in the world. Every night at dusk, waves of bats fly out to start hunting insects. Watching the bat emergence is on of Austin's most popular summertime tourist attractions.

Texas State Capitol

Austin is also the home of the State Capitol. Because everything is bigger in Texas, this capitol has more square footage than any other state capitol in the U.S.A., and it's also taller than the U.S. Capitol by 23 feet. When it was built in 1888, it was the 2nd tallest building in the world.

Texas Governor's Mansion

The Texas Governor's Mansion is conveniently located close to the State Capitol. Unfortunately, it was extensively damaged by an arson fire in 2008. Here it is with Flat Morgan in its former glory. The restoration will supposedly finish up this summer, and the mansion will reopen to public tours.

University of Texas Tower

Austin is also home to the University of Texas, and its UT Tower is the main landmark. I hear there's quite a view from the top. Whenever UT wins a game, you can see the tower lit up in orange. An NCAA national championship illuminates the entire tower in orange with the window lights turned on to make the number 1. (We didn't mention the 1966 sniper attack to Flat Morgan. She is just a kid, after all.)

Old Whole Foods headquarters

Two well-known companies got their start in Austin — Whole Foods Market and Dell Computers. Whole Foods is now in a bigger, fancier building across the street from this one. You can spend hours and hundreds of dollars there. It has yummy food stations scattered throughout the store. Take a look around before you start noshing.

Texas Hill Country with Downtown way in the back

Most people think of Texas as flat and dry. But Austin is part of the Texas Hill Country. It's in the middle of a drought right now, but when this picture was taken, it was still kind of lush. Here's Flat Morgan at the Capital of Texas Highway lookout with downtown Austin in the background.

Prickly Pear Cactus

We ended our tour of Austin with a stereotypical shot of Flat Morgan with the official state plant, the Prickly Pear Cactus. After a good night's rest, we mailed her back to Malibu with these pictures as a memento of her visit. A few days after she returned home, her brother inventively realized he could restore her back to her natural 3D form with the help of a bicycle pump. Morgan is flat no more and about to start university on a softball scholarship. A decade has passed since this trip, but it's one we still fondly remember.


Pssst... if you have a kid in early elementary school, you may enjoy reading the book Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown which was the inspiration for this school project.

Playing Ball in Malaysia

My girl and Chris Davis at a Round Rock (Texas) Express Game, June 2011

In America, almost every parent I know spends their weekends watching their kids play sports. Weekdays are spent figuring out how to shuttle them to numerous practices. Here in Penang, we've found that it's decidedly more low key. This worked out well for us, since we're not a very competitive family sportswise. But when I was telling one of my friends in Austin about it, she looked at me and declared that it would drive her husband CRAZY.

When we arrived here in Malaysia, my oldest boy decided to start playing baseball after being inspired by his sister's appearance at a minor league game over the summer. In America, I would have been hesitant about letting him begin at such a late age. After all, some of the kids on my girl's kindergarten T-ball team in Texas were already in their second year of league play. But since everything is so laid back in Malaysia, learning baseball in 6th grade didn't seem like such a big deal.

Our condo grounds aren't the best place to practice batting, so hubby went online to find a batting cage. The closest one is in Kuala Lumpur, 4 hours away. That's a bit of a drive! So, they drilled a hole in a ball and hung it from a rope to practice instead.

The team was one of three in the intramural league at the school. Whereas my daughter's kindergarten T-ball team had weekly practices led my multiple dads, my son's Penang team only had a couple practices before the season started and a couple before playoffs. Other than that, his time commitment was simply for the one game each week during regular season. The coach was a teacher (and father of a player) assisted by a few high schoolers. No moms or dads helped out over here.

Most parents didn't come out to watch the games either. In Texas, I was accustomed to a bevy of moms, dads, sisters, and brothers for every player showing up at the games. One of my favorite memories is of the umbrella and picnic blanket tent city siblings built on the sidelines to watch a game during a rainshower. The games at our Penang school only drew a handful of folks.

Middle school games were always on a Saturday morning at the school, and the elementary school doesn't offer softball or T-ball at all. Unlike in Texas where we'd have to juggle being at various games for each kid throughout the weekend, the time we spent watching sports shrank down to less than a couple hours. The rest of the weekend was free!

Playing ball on a tropical island has its own special challenges. The coach's wife tells me that a few years ago, the kids went out of bounds to retrieve a wayward ball. There it was lying next to a python. Luckily, the python had recently fed and was in a food coma. The next season, a wild boar ran out onto the field. The players piled into the van next to the field while adults grabbed the baseball bats to chase it away.

My younger son who is in elementary school signed up for the Soccer Club during the 2nd Quarter. Unlike in America, they never formed teams but just practiced as one big group. The only time that they played another school, the kids were divided up into teams after they arrived. It was more like a organized pick-up game than the soccer leagues I was used to in Texas. This was fine for my son but I think my friend's daughter who played on a development team in Austin may have been a little let down. Once again, not many parents turned out to watch the game.

We were informed that playing against local schools would be different than what we're used to in America. The typical Malaysian "Ok-lah" attitude extends to not worrying about being on time for competitions. Or maybe the coach or some of the players won't show up. When my middle schooler attended the citywide cross country meet, he was quite surprised that hardly anyone was there at the announced start time. Most didn't start rolling in until 15 minutes later. You can bet no one is speeding to get their kid there on time.

So yes, sports are much, much more relaxed in Malaysia than in Texas. This suits us just fine because sports takes a low priority in our home.  (Although, it's not 100% absent like it was in my childhood.) It's been great to not have to eat dinner at weird hours just to accomodate practices. I definitely don't mind not driving to sports practices for all three kids. But I do miss the camaraderie that comes from being with the same team supporters week after week.

A Room with a View

Today's showdown is a comparison of the views looking out my boys' bedroom windows.

At home in Malaysia

At home in Texas

Malaysia wins!

Sometimes, I feel like Cinderella at the ball. How did this happen? How did I end up living in this incredible place?

Malaysia has such a comparatively low cost of living that I understand why so many people retire here. Of course, you do have to go without good Texas Barbeque or authentic Tex-Mex food. (TacoDeli — I have been daydreaming about your Cochinita Pibil tacos for months ever since you denied me them at my last home visit.) One day, the clock will strike midnight, and my carriage will turn back into a pumpkin. At least my pumpkin will come with mesquite smoked brisket and tacos al carbon.


This post is part of Friday Daydreamin' at R We There Yet Mom?