Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur was a really nice place to be after Singapore. We went from an ultra-modern city, with every convenience imaginable, and super strict laws (think caning for minor offenses and the death penalty for drug possession), to the most normal city we've been to in the last two and a half years.

It wasn't like Nepal, India or Sri Lanka. There were no touts hassling us as we got off the bus, walked along the street, or went shopping. Sometimes a person would approach us wanting to sell something and we'd say "no thanks." Then they said "ok" and walked away instead of following us for a few hundred meters down the street. No one stared at us as we walked by anymore. In fact, no one even gave us a second look. We were just ordinary people again. It's so nice not to have crowds of people staring at you, some of them trying to take pictures.

We did our share of sightseeing in KL, but the highlight of our time there was being normal again and doing normal things. We went to the 7/11 and got a slurpee - it was really exciting and fun for us. We just haven't been able to do things like this! There have been no 7/11s and no slurpees in our lives for a really long time and it was nice to have these things back. We also saw our first English language movie in a theatre since the states.

I think doing these sorts of things here will make our readjustment easier when we get back home. The United States is still going to be a strange place for us when we get back, but at least we'll have started doing normal things like these again, even if it's in bits and pieces. I imagine it would have been really weird going into a 7/11 with friends or family and being so excited to get a slurpee and being like, "Oh my God, it's so delicious! And it's cold! So cold!" And them looking at me and being like "Yeah, it is" and thinking they're glad I'm back, but I'm a little strange now.

The thing is, it won't just be a few things like this that are normal to everyone else, but strange, exciting, and wonderful to us. It will be everything and that's part of what makes readjusting difficult. Thank you all in advance for your patience with us when we get back!