Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

When we arrived in the Cameron Highlands it was dark. The dashboard clock of my friend’s little red car flashed 11 p.m. As a driver my eyes had been fixed on the curving, swirling, serpentine road. Now demoted to passenger I was free to admire the slashes of light in the distance. What were they anyway?

A Chai Exhibit: March 10th

It had been a long and terrible night. Stirring from my sleep as sunlight filtered through the blinds across my eyes, I was overjoyed to find myself feeling quite a bit better than when I had gone to sleep. Just a friendly and wise note: if you attend a shot-luck, participate moderately and NEVER take a super-shot, a concoction of all the hard liquor available (and there was a lot), smack in the middle. I will never, ever do that again. After a number of terrible hours in the early morning I finally slipped into a wonderful sleep. Hours later I woke up, luckily without a headache, and my stomach had settled. Still, I felt a gross grogginess. After a lot of grumbling and groaning I found myself walking from the bus station to the event I had promised to cover for the student newspaper, Omega. I was attempting to absorb the crisp morning air and wake myself up, but by the time I arrived at the Commodore Grande Café and Lounge I was still groggy and instead feeling utterly worn out.

That blissfully changed less than five minutes after I swung the door open.

Traditional Chinese Medicine Presentation: March 1st

Uncomfortably shifting my legs, for the tenth time I contemplated my decision to choose the floor over the chairs lining the sides. The mats surrounding the small table had seemed so inviting, and so exotic. The chairs in comparison had seemed to be placed there for those interested in the event, but not willing to fully immerse themselves. They’d seemed like crutches. They were cultural prisons, like always choosing a fork over a chopstick. In comparison, the mats had no restraints, no enclosures and, I would soon realize, no support.

I’d gleefully set myself down on a mat off to the right, savouring the feeling of freedom after being bound to a chair all morning. An hour in the novelty was gone and I found myself restlessly fidgeting. I had never stayed in a cross-legged position for this long before. My legs were falling asleep and my back was stiff from unfamiliar effort. Occasionally I wistfully eyed the chairs, longing to get over myself and rise to those thrones. Eyeing my fellow observers I noticed one woman, then another, unabashedly unfold their legs and stretch them before themselves. Inwardly relieved I followed suit, sighing in bliss as my legs were released. Content again I could once more take in the fascinating presentation before me.