Missing Canada!

 

"Thank you for believing in me, for taking care of me, for giving me this opportunity.......As I leave now, looking back, I know it was meant to be.  God brought me here for a reason.  ............Malaysia is beautiful, the people, tjeir smiles, their hospitality, their warmth, that is what I am taking home with me.......I feel like I am taking home some of this 'warmth' with me..........I've changed during my time here,,,,I am so happy that I have. I was looking for something and i found it in the comfort of these walls and these strange streets. It felt like home to me...because of you."

As I read Morgan Reed's farewell card to me, I got all emotional. I called the taxi driver, Mr Gill, who was taking Morgan to the airport. "Can I talk to Morgan?" I begged.

"She just left your house less than an hour ago and you already miss her? How are you going to live in the next few days?" Mr Gill laughed.  He has been the eHomemakers city guide cum body guard for female foreign interns.

Farewell dinner with intern Tzer Haw's family.

Morgan came to the phone, I was so touched by what she wrote that I didn't know how to put my feelings into words, "Hey you, your cards is making Rhon cry. She is sniffing and tearing now. I am about to follow her too...."

"Ohhhhhhhh," she said. "I will miss you guys too!"

That was how we said our last goodbye.

Morgan at a steam boat buffet, and then being treated with a rainbow cake!

I've dealt with 20 foreign interns or young volunteers for eHomemakers in the last seven years. Some  left imprints in eHomemakers while some leave unsavory memories. None has left such deep footprints in my life like Morgan has done. The documentary we were working on required both of us to discuss issues from different perspectives.  Her homestaying with me also meant that we were closely in touch with each other, day and night! This could bring out the worst in our relationship if we couldn't stand each other! 


But in our case, it helped us to reach out to each other,in very human way.





Her cheerfulnees, energetic body, limitless enthusiasm, commitment and the 'can-do' attitude reminded me of the many peopole I met while I was a student in U of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada.   I have fond memories of people in Saskatchewan  --- their genuine friendliness, and their kindness to a foreigner without strings attached.

Barbara Block visiting KL in December 2011. 

City families like the Blocks adopted me as if I were one of their daughters. I made Malaysian dinners for them and got to eat things I couldn't afford. The whole Block family sent me off at the Greyhound bus station when I left for Vermont to do my master's. Mother Block made me sandwiches, put oranges,apples and canned drinks into two brown lunch bags for me. As the bus left the station, the scene of all the Blocks waving their hands at me etched in my memory. 

Kodak moment in my mind. 






Now when Babara Block, their daughter who lives in India, visits me, I make sure she got her delicious pork dishes, dim sum and anything she can't get in India ! The Canadian kindness they gave me when I was a lone poor student can't be repaid with all the meals I can give to Barbara!

Then there was the LaBar Family whose farm in Birsay was my playground. I went there many times to milk cows, picked blueberries and raspberries, sat on the combine when it was harvesting wheat, and yelled at the top of my lungs while riding pillon on a motobike which was flying off the rolling hills.  I used to help Mother LaBar made butter from fresh milk, and head cheese from cows they just slaughtered.
Kodak moment in my mind.

And there was my Agro big sister Irene whose family taught me to roast turkey and made Christmas cookies.  A picture of me holding a big fat turkey was their family's favorite picture for many years.
Kodak moment in my mind. 

Although I was a poor student, these Canadian familiues showed me their best hospitality, feeding me, taking me to the lakes and Banff for camps, driving me to see the Northern lights and teaching me to hunt moose. And when they could, they tried to made me drink beers and milk like they did ( except the Block family..)  And there was so much joy and laughter. Those years were the best carefree years of my life!

I haven't been back to Saskatchewan since I left almost 27 years ago, it seemed like yesterday when I was there learning how to x-country ski so that I could get to the university on time because it was faster for me to to ski than to sink into deep snow that almost reached my knee...........

Morgan told me that Saskatoon is now a cosmopolitan city, it is much bigger than the time when I was there.  Things have changed in Saskatoon and much of Saskatchewan. 

Morgan's bright smile is what endeared others to her. 

Except for the Blocks, I have lost touch with the other famiilies who adopted me. I wish I have the opportunity to see them and find out what has happened to them all these years.

Morgan having BBQ lamb at a luk luk stand in TTDI. 

Image of Morgan carrying the camera on her backpack with the tripod perched on her shoulder will be another Kodak moment in my mind.

She was just like like the first strong Canadian woman I saw when the Air Italia plane I was in landed in a bad snow storm at the Toronto airport in January 1980.  She was the lone woman who directed the plane with two luminant beacons, and then she moved a ladder-like trolley to another plane on her own, walked up and scraped  ice from the window, her long blond hair laid neatly at the back of her neck in a French braid.  Beautiful.                                                                                 Kodak moment in my mind. 

Coming from a country where the state owned utility company sent six men to fix a broken street lamp and taking an hour to do so with a lot of shouting and talking, the woman on the snow covered pavement left a big fooitprint in my mind with her bravery.  She was 'unusual' and fascinating to me because she was in men's work domain and she could multi-task effortlessly.  

Now years later, I am seeing a 27 year old young Canadian lady doing the same thing-  carrying heavy equipment on her own and doing professional work without any assistance. Morgan's genorosity -- buying the HD camera when we couldn't get any sponsorship of such a camera and her arguing with me in my kitchen about why she should pay for her share in the Cambodian trip instead of me paying for her  -- is stlill fresh in my memory. 

The people in Saskatchewan were so very genuine then, and I am still seeing it now in the form of Morgan.

Morgan trying chicken feet, still smiling. 

Now that I think about it, this is what I miss since I left Canada. Life has led me to many countries, meeting with many people and seeing many things.  But I haven't met the kind of genuine people I used to meet as a student in Canada.

I have been living in my own country for over 17 years now.  Sometimes when people give me somethng and then ask somethng back from me, or kick up a big fuss when I ask for help from them ( which is rare and I always make sure I pay them back with restaurant meals or gifts or my personal time to do somethng back for them), I think back about the times when I was in Canada.  I miss the human warmth and the natural instinct of being kind to others.

One day I shall go back to Saskatchewan to thank Canada for giving me an opportunity for an education that changed my life, and I want to tell the families who adopted me that I have tried to be that woman in the Toronto airport in my way all these years.

Oh Canada!


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Rhon's feet after cycling in Angkor Wat. Morgan's Canadian feet were in worse shape, with more mud!!
Kodak moment in my mind

By CSC

A Week After Morgan Left

My hammock without Morgan. Her water
bottle is still sitting on the reclining chair.

It is Sunday,today  -- exactly seven days since Morgan Reed, our documentary film-maker and editor, left Kuala Lumpur.  My house was her homestay for four months.

And it is time to jot down a list of things which I have done since she left.

1. Cleaning and tidying up the house -- Over the last six years, I have been hosting foreign interns in my house. Often I ended up cleaning dirty rooms and bed linens after they left. Morgan left her room clean and tidy, it was a gesture that indicated her appreciation of our Malaysian hospitality.

Due to the hectic schedule of the documentary-making in the last four months, I didn't finish house improvement projects that I started last October. It was only after she left for the airport that I got into the 'house' mode again!

2. The king of fruit in Malaysia -- I was at a hypermarket looking for a DIY shelf, and 'wow', I saw durian!  The scene of Morgan rushing out of the house announcing quickly that she needed fresh air when I tried to show her a packet of durian flashed through my mind. Eh........, I should have some durian now that she is not in the house any more!

When I got home, I wolved down five slots of durian in a few minutes, I wonder why.........

(Here is Andrew Zimmerman's bizare foods episode in Penang, Malaysia, about durian http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o_1qillkJs&feature=related)

3. Coconut juice and flesh -- When I passed by the fragrant pandan coconut stand at the hypermart, a thought flashed passed, "Morgan loves this! I should get some for her."  Then I remembered, she had left for Regina!  So I bought some for the house and told myself, "I am going to enjoy this beautiful delicious gift from the earth just like Morgan." 

My food habit has been changed by a young Canadian!

4. Morning routines -- The last six weeks before Morgan left, we walked to the office together every morning around 8.15 am and then had breakfast together.  She would then sit comfortably on the couch in the living room to edit the documentary and I would worked in the admin room upstairs.  At about 11 am, I would be down to the kitchen to make teas or cut some fruits. Then I would sing her name in a sing-song manner, "MOOOOOrGAAAANNNN, do you wAAAnt soooome?"  She would sing back, "Ooooooooh yeeees, danka!"

On Wednesday morning, I caught myself when I was about to sing, "Moor.." while I was pouring home-made herb tea into a cup.

5. Daily chocolate -- On Friday, I was passing by the KLCC shopping area to the Crowne Plaza Hotel for a meeting, and there was a chocolate stand. The normal me never bothered to stop by because I am not a chocolate fan. This time, I actually stoped and examined the chocolate tidbits,  and even tried a few samples. My mind kept asking, "I wonder if Morgan would like this..........."   And when I saw durian cake with chocolate frosting, I almost bought a slice, but I held back, "Who is going to eat it now that Morgan is not here?"

6. My favorite spicy noodle soups -- I made curry laksa for dinner tonight. It was spicy. Morgan would choke sampling it.  I chuckled as I sprinkled chilli powder to make the lightning strikes in the mouth.  I heard her choking on a spoon of laksa soup, her cheeks very red.......... and her voice cracked, "It.....is ......verrrrry deee (cough cough cough) liceeeee(cough) ous, (cough).

'Ha, ha', I laughed, "That Canadian!"

 7.  Chilling out at night -- I put the mohito and tequila bottles away, it is no fun without anyone to cheer to. And I have been a 'bad girl', I watched four episodes of CSI on Monday and Tuesday...... because the disciplinarian was gone!

Those six weeks while Morgan was editing was a period of calm for me. The documentary was filmed and everythig was in Morgan's hands for editing.  We worked 8-10 hours a day, and then we had dinner together, took an hour's break for shower and Morgan to skype her sweet heart, then around 10.30pm, we would have a shot of Mexican fun before we watched two episodes of CSI.  Morgan would stand up from her reclining posture on the marble floor and said, "Ok, it is time to go to bed," and she would do her 'Morgan stretch' (which you can see in a scene in the last part of the documentary  -- me stretching my side torso while my arms stretched to the right and to the left while walking in the park). And we all went to bed because CTV Canada had said so!

8. The ballerina stretching exercise -- Me doing the Morgan stretch in the office whenever I am stiff -- a legacy left by Morgan.

9. Tourist spots -- I passed by China Town on Friday night on my way home from a 
meeting, "Oophs, I didn't have time to take Morgan here....."

Morgan having BBQ lamb at a luk luk van in TTDI.

As I browsed through the various food stalls, I screamed excitedly to myself, "Wow, Morgan would try this intestine stuff.... I think she will put this in her mouth......oh, she will like this preserved octupus......." 

Since it was a night without Morgan, I decided to play tourist and boarded the U88 bus that would go through Brickfileds, the Indian area. As the bus cruised through Indian open air night stalls, temples, churches, and old buildings, I said to myself, "Morgan would love walking around this area at night! It is full of stories for a film-maker!"

10. Night food stands by the roadside -- Last night I walked passed the area where our favorite luk luk ( a mobile truck with sea foods, meats, vegetables on skewers and you dip them into boiling soup to cook the foods before you eat them with a choice of five kind of sauces) van was. Several people were standing around the van while another two were sitting on stools by the roadside. I stood there watching, frozen in a time not long ago.

"Didn't the Canadian TV anchor almost made me teary when she sat on the stool by the roadside?"  A TV anchor who humbled herself to eat street foods by a drain....ignoring passing cars and stares.........that is precious!

The list has 10 points and it isn't finished yet.

I guess I am missing MOORRGAANNNNN!



By CSC

Oh Canada... Hello again

Things I’m taking back with me:

The experience of a life time, and ten pounds... of memories.

Ok maybe ten pounds of something else too because the food in Malaysia is first class.  I will certainly miss all of the delicious dishes, but more than that, I will miss my new friends.  It’s funny how you can plan for something so carefully, analyse all the variables, and prepare until you’re blue in the face, but in the end you realize in turned out totally differently that you had expected.  Better.

I never expected to learn and change and grow as much as I did over the past four months in Malaysia.  For me, “Portraits of Perseverance” is more than a documentary. It’s more than a project that I worked on, it changed my life.  I know that is such a cliché thing to say but there’s no other way to put it.

It could be the jet lag, but being back here in Canada, I notice life looks different.  I am so excited to see my family and friends and to get back to my work but I’m not the same person I was when I left.  I have the voices of amazingly inspirational women ringing in my ears, I have their stories in my heart and that makes a world of difference.

It is really a gift to be able to see things with new eyes, a fresh perspective, to have your view opened up just a bit wider.  As a journalist, that’s kind of the whole point of my job, to help people understand one another through telling their stories and sharing experiences.  Usually I’m telling someone else’s experience but right now I’m grateful to be able to share with loved ones the events that have transformed my young life. 

From making my way alone around the urban jungle that is Kuala Lumpur, to riding a bicycle through the serene roads of Angkor Wat, looking into the smiling eyes of  a woman who has had her mobility and health taken away, or sitting down to a traditional Chinese dinner as an honorary member of the family.

I have always had a great life, but looking back on this adventure and everything I’ve gained in the process I see that I am truly blessed.

The good news is the weather here in Regina is very mild.  The snow is basically gone and it's perfect walking around the lake weather. The bad news is... I miss my hammock.

By: Morgan Reed