#anywho this show makes me want to chug house paint

[florence-pew]

I keep thinking about Irving being so obsessed with making Helena come clean. Why not Dylan, who sacrificed his second OTC so his friends could experience the outside? Or Mark, who loves Helly and spends the most amount of time with her? It was Irving, on the cusp of suicide and reeling from his first heartbreak, who not only was the most suspicious but actually followed through and exposed the truth. Why?

I’ve seen a few people point to Irv’s military background as reasoning for his behavior. This is a man who know how to face and learn from an enemy. Whose Outie tracks down lumon workers and sends covert messages. Chances are this guy has seen firsthand how to torture knowledge out of someone.

But I think it’s just as much Irv’s love for art that compels him to expose Helena. True art clings to truth, even when it’s ugly or doesn’t make sense. He’s obsessive with his art, as we see in his exports room paintings and Burt’s portraits.

I think it’s neat that Helena was probably the least frightened of Irving calling her out because she wrote him off as some sappy, soft-spoken dude distracted by his own heartbreak. But it was Irv the artist who could tell something didn’t fit the pattern. That something wrong had been painted over something beautiful.

[chefbstrikesagain]

Sahhh dude [Sabah Bound]

It’s been a while since my last blog post and i’m really working on getting better at it. The FOMO (fear of missing out) has been real this week and has prevented me from sitting down and organising my thoughts and ideas. Anyways, here I am sitting in a presentation that is supposed to last for two hours (already so boring) making the most of my time.

Today is the last day in Kuala Lumpur! I can’t believe how fast orientation went by. Fulbright and MACEE have certainly made the most of each day by packing our days tight with speakers and breakout sessions from 8-5(ish). Before my flight to Kota Kinabalu, I still have to repack all of my clothes. I don’t know about you, but I found it extremely difficult living out of a suitcase for 2 weeks. My room looks like a bomb exploded and I literally have one clean pair of underwear left. I even went to the mall to buy more underwear in which I learned, a large in Malaysia is extremely different than a large in America. ALSO Malaysians prefer ‘tighty whities’ apparently because finding normal cut briefs in my size really don’t exist. Womp Womp. 

Anywho, tonight, my night will consist of throwing everything back in my suitcase and crossing my fingers that I don’t exceed the 50 lbs weight limit (pray 4 me). I also really want to go to Marinis, which is a rooftop bar on the 57th floor of the Petronas towers (see pictures above- they are the giant illuminated twin towers). They have a happy hour tonight from 5-9pm but honestly may just lay in my bed and watch planet earth like a loser- TBD. 

Yesterday was a pretty crazy day. We had our language class in the morning in which we were preparing for our huge ‘performance’ in front of the whole cohort. I skipped a few of our practices from being sick (never been more hungover) and it definitely showed when I was flapping my arms and pretending to dance. The performances consisted of singing, dancing, and choral speaking all in BM (Bhasa Malayu - the official language of Malaysia). If you haven’t heard of choral speaking you should definitely check it out. It’s this weird phenomenon where a bunch of kids basically speak lyrics while all moving in coordination. The most hilarious part about the whole thing is that they think this is something Americans do...just look it up.

Yesterday was the longest day of my life and thought I was going to die halfway through. We were paraded around like show ponies at this weird event that the PM of Malaysia requested we go to. After rushing through our scheduled light conversations in the morning such as sexual harassment, race, and being queer, we went to go ‘paint a mural’. JK we didn’t get to paint a mural like we were promised. It was the most staged event I’ve ever been to in my entire life. Let me set the scene for you.

After a 45 minute ride, where I felt extremely bus sick because of traffic, we arrived at these sports field/radio station (weird combo, I know). We got off the bus and were greeted by Chinese dragons and loud banging drums- just another day in Malaysia. We then followed the dragons and dancers into a field house where we had a photo shoot and then watched a presentation on this volunteer program sponsored by the Malaysian government. About 5 minutes into the presentation I ended up running out because I was about to piss my pants due to chugging 1.5 litres on the bus and then not anticipating the ~show and photoshoot. After finding the tandas, with the help of coordinator Marcy (who could be explained in about 10 separate blog posts- but that’s another story) I made my way back to the field house. From there, we then went on a tour where they must have just taken Malaysian children off the street and told them to act like they come to the complex often, because they themselves looked confused as to why they were there. We then ate food, because it’s not a Malaysian event with eating food, which really didn’t sit well with me. At this point we weren’t sure if we were going to make it out alive but somehow we all made a run for the bus and were on our way back to the beloved Dorsett. 

PSA the presentation I’m sitting in is how the government monitors social media for seditious acts and speaking out against the government. I just want to say that again this blog is in now way affiliated with Fulbright or MACEE but overall I am extremely happy in Malaysia. The people are so welcoming and am looking forward to getting to placement.... :)

Until next time Kawan’s (friends) 

Cigku B