Table of Contents Table of Contents... I Table of Figures... II 1. Introduction... 1 2. Saturday 21/11/2015... 2 2.1 Departure from UKM and bus trip... 2 2.2 Arrival at Gua Musang and welcome ceremony... 2 2.4 My Foster Family... 3 3. Sunday 22/11/2015... 5 3.1 Traditional Games... 5 3.2 Am s Family... 6 3.3 Cave tour... 7 3.4 Great Soccer Game... 8 3.5 Intercultural Night... 8 4. Monday 23/11/2015... 9 4.1 Palm Fields... 9 4.2 Motorcycle Trip... 9 4.3 Cooking together... 10 4.4 Closing and Farewell Ceremony... 11 4.5 Leaving to UKM... 12 5. Conclusion... 13 I
Table of Figures Figure 1: The road trip from UKM in Bangi to Gua Musang.... 1 Figure 2: Bus trip to Gua Musang.... 2 Figure 3: Welcome speech at Gua Musang.... 2 Figure 4: Me and Amriezal with our foster mother.... 3 Figure 5: My first Malaysian dinner and the bedroom for me and Am... 3 Figure 6: My foster father, me, Am and my foster mother.... 4 Figure 7: Can Throwing and Rubber Shooting.... 5 Figure 8: Marbles and Stone Catching.... 6 Figure 9: Decorating the kite for a special result of the Wau Bulan Show.... 6 Figure 10: Am's family and the coconut monkey.... 7 Figure 11: Me and Benedict sitting on a high place in the cave.... 7 Figure 12: Martial Arts at the Intercultural Night.... 8 Figure 13: Me, working on the palm fields with a large cutting equipment.... 9 Figure 14: Me and Marvin riding on a motorcycle.... 10 Figure 15: Youness cooking Curry Chicken with local people.... 10 Figure 16: Me and Björn eating with our fingers nearly perfect.... 11 Figure 17: Me and Amriezal getting a gift from our foster mother.... 11 Figure 18: Our last stop before reaching UKM.... 12 Figure 19: Our final group picture of the program Walk-In Gua Musang.... 13 II
1. Introduction For one semester I am a student of the University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). In addition to the different study system at the University in Malaysia, in my semester abroad I had the chance to undergo a special experience. For three days I decided to join the cultural course. In order to introduce the Malaysian culture to international students from the UKM and to have a great experience living and spending time with a foster family in a different region, me and the other cultural course members wanted to start a weekend trip to Gua Musang. Gua Musang is a town and territory and also the largest district in Kelantan. Gua Musang literally means Cave of the Civet and is close to the northern gateway to the national park Taman Negara. The town is surrounded by limestone hills and caves, which have become popular with cavers and rock climbers. Figure 1: The road trip from UKM in Bangi to Gua Musang. To reach Gua Musang it takes more than four hours by bus. The route we wanted to use is about 300 kilometers away from Bangi and is illustrated in Figure 1. The cultural course started on Saturday, 21/11/2015 and ended on Monday, 23/11/2015. This final report describes my own perception of in the different culture including many activities, all the people I met and of course all the experience that I gained. 1
2. Saturday 21/11/2015 2.1 Departure from UKM and bus trip In order to start the cultural course, all members met at UKM on Saturday, 21/11/2015 2:15 pm. All together, we were a group of 34 people and started our bus trip. Including one stop on the highway, we reached our final destination Gua Musang. Figure 2: Bus trip to Gua Musang. 2.2 Arrival at Gua Musang and welcome ceremony Late in the evening during heavy rainfall, we arrived at Gua Musang. The correct name of our three-days-village is Paloh 1. First of all, coordinators of the program and all foster families waited to welcome us. Figure 3: Welcome speech at Gua Musang. 2
The program, which is called Walk-in-Gua Musang, started with a welcome speech including explanations and instructions to all of us. After this, the welcome ceremony started and the members of the cultural course got together with thier individual foster family. Figure 4 illustrates me with Amriezal and our foster mother. Amriezal (Am) is a Malaysian guy, who grew up in a village close to Paloh 1. He is studying electrical engineering at the University of Kuala Lumpur and helped me with everything I needed to know. Especially, he translated all the Malaysian words. Only because of him, I was able to communicate with my foster family and we could understand each other. After the welcome ceremony, Am and I went to our foster family s house and then the life in the Malaysian culture started. Figure 4: Me and Amriezal with our foster mother. 2.4 My Foster Family At my foster family s house we had dinner. In the house was one big room, a kitchen, a bathroom, television and bedrooms. My foster mother cooked for her family including me and Am. This was my first experience of eating rice and more without using cutlery while sitting on the ground. Figure 5: My first Malaysian dinner and the bedroom for me and Am. 3
Am showed me how to eat. At first I washed my hands and then I was introduced only to eat with the fingers of my right hand. I mixed the rice with fish, fish sauce, vegetables and onion omelet, pushed everything together and the only thing I could say was: delicious. Figure 6: My foster father, me, Am and my foster mother. Am, also a great teacher in English and Malaysian language, taught me another Malaysian word: sedab (delicious). Besides my first Bahasa words, which I learned at the UKM, terima kasih (thank you) and sama sama (welcome), I then knew how to say three words in Malaysian language. After diner we took a picture from our family and Am showed me our bedroom for the next two nights. Then we went to bed, because the next day we had to wake up early for playing some traditional games with all families. 4
3. Sunday 22/11/2015 3.1 Traditional Games On the second day after having breakfast we met at the central place of Paloh 1 at 8 am to play some traditional games. All the following traditional games were a competition between the different foster families. For my family I started the games with Am. The games are called Can Throwing, Rubber Shooting, Marbles, and Stones Catching. After these games, we had to work on something to prepare the Wau Bulan Show. Can Throwing and Rubber Shooting Can Throwing is a game to throw a broken can into a pyramide of 15 cans with a distance of ten meters. Everyone has two chances to get all of the 15 cans. Since the throwing can is broken, it is very difficult to take aim and to strike the pyramide. You need both, much power and a lot of dexterity. Figure 7: Can Throwing and Rubber Shooting. Rubber Shooting is a little bit like playing darts. In a distance of three meters you need to hit a nail with many rubber ring on it three times. You shoot the rubber with your fingers and you score for each ring laying in the ground. Marbles and Stone Catching Marbles is a game of high accuracy. In a distance of five meters you need to hit marbles lying on the ground by throwing marbles. This is a very difficult game, because a marble is a small ball with little weight. You have three attempts and for each marble, which leaves the square, you get points. Stone Catching is another game, which requires high dexterity. You have seven little stones lying on the ground and you have to throw one stone upwards. Before the stone hit the ground 5
you have to grab the other stones from the ground and at last you need to catch the falling stone. This game is not easy, but in my opinion I can say that this is the game, I am most interested in. Figure 8: Marbles and Stone Catching. Wau Bulan Show The Wau Bulan Show is a colorful show with a lot of different beautiful kites. To celebrate these show, we had to prepare and decorate our own kite for each foster family. Figure 9 illustrates my decoration team working and the result of the colorful show with all participants. Because of the llittle weight of the kites, all kites were able to fly and the show became a great success. Figure 9: Decorating the kite for a special result of the Wau Bulan Show. 3.2 Am s Family After the traditional games and the Wau Bulan Show, we had lunch at our foster family s house. Am, my teacher, grew up in a village close to Paloh 1. In order to visit his own family and introduce them to me, after lunch we drove with our foster father to Am s family s house. Am introduced his family to me and told me something about their life, the fruit trees the 6
family owns and the animals which live there. Figure 10 represents Am s family, me and my foster father. Furthermore, the figure shows a monkey, which is taught to climbed up the coconut trees and bring the coconuts down. Figure 10: Am's family and the coconut monkey. Then all together we had some cookies with orange juice before we went back to the others. We had to hurry, because next we wanted to visit a cave close to Paloh 1. 3.3 Cave tour To start the cave tour, all visitors climbed up on two big pick-ups and went to the big cave. In the cave was a special view because of different angles, the mix between sunlight and darkness and the great up and downs. Figure 11 shows me and Benedict sitting on a high place in the cave. Figure 11: Me and Benedict sitting on a high place in the cave. We explored the whole cave and it required a lot of climbing and ducking. After climbing down out of the cave, we went back to the village for a little break. 7
3.4 Great Soccer Game During the break the students decided to play soccer, but nobody could find a ball for playing. Fortunately, one of the local people could find a ball so we were able to play a great soccer game. 20 young people, ten German students and 10 Malaysian guys played together and against each other at the soccer court. Due to the fact that the court was really wet because of the rain, everyone played without shoes and it was very difficult to run and to stop. At the end, all of us had a lot of fun and went to our foster family s house for showering and having dinner. 3.5 Intercultural Night After dinner we prepared ourselves for the intercultural night. This night was a great ceremony with acts of singing, dancing, and old traditional martial arts. Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practices, which are practiced because a variety of reasons: self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, entertainment, as well as mental, physical, and spiritual development, which are illustrated in figure 12. Figure 12: Martial Arts at the Intercultural Night. After this act, all the members of the cultural course started a singing performance including traditional clothes. We made some music and sang our Boleh-Song. After the end of the intercultural night, we went back to our foster family to get some rest. In the morning of the next day we planned to visit the palm fields. 8
4. Monday 23/11/2015 4.1 Palm Fields In the morning of our leaving day, after having breakfast we visited the palm fields. The palm fields are the major industry in Malaysia for producing the palm oil. Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the reddish pulp of the fruit of the oil palms. The palm oil has had both, positive and negative impacts on workers and on the social system. Figure 13 shows me working on the palm fields. The technique I am using on the figure was explained and demonstrated by one of the local people. It was hard work to get the fruits from the palm during the hot sunshine. Figure 13: Me, working on the palm fields with a large cutting equipment. We all tried to work on the palm fields and the local people supplied us with every information we needed to know about the palm oil industry in Malaysia. After this short working experience we left the palm fields for a little break. After this break we prepared our shared lunch for all families to eat together at the same place. 4.2 Motorcycle Trip During the break and before preparing our shared lunch, there was some time for some activities. I decided to make a little motorcycle trip with Benedict, Björn and Marvin. Two people together on one motorcycle which we thankfully got from the local people, we rode 9
on the streets and enjoyed the cold wind in our faces. The following figure shows me and Marvin sitting on a motorcycle. After 30 minutes having a lot of fun we came back to the others and started the preparation of our shared lunch. Figure 14: Me and Marvin riding on a motorcycle. 4.3 Cooking together We cooked together in a very big wok. Figure 15 illustrates Youness cooking Curry Chicken together with the local people. Figure 15: Youness cooking Curry Chicken with local people. 10
The following figure shows me and Björn eating the Chicken Curry Rice with our fingers, how it we were taught from the local people. Figure 16: Me and Björn eating with our fingers nearly perfect. During the last two meals my foster father attested me a large improvement of my finger skills. I was very proud of this congratulation. After finishing our shared lunch for the last time we went back to our foster family s house to get our bags. Then we met at the central place for the closing and farewell ceremony. 4.4 Closing and Farewell Ceremony Figure 17: Me and Amriezal getting a gift from our foster mother. 11
During the closing and farewell ceremony each foster family came together with the participants to share some gifts and to say thank you and goodbye. Each Member of the program got a shirt with a picture of Gua Musang on it. Figure 17 shows me and Amriezal wearing our new shirts with our foster mother sharing gifts. Furthermore, the president of the village, the coordinator Dr. Fais and one of us got on the stage to give a speech. At the end, before we went back to UKM, we took some pictures with the families and with other local people. This was a successful ceremony and this shows the friendliness of all people one more time. 4.5 Leaving to UKM After the ceremony we had to leave Paloh 1 in Gua Musang and went back to UKM. But there was one last destination. The family of one of the coordinators invited us to stay for a while and having some dessert. Finally, we left the family and started our way back to the UKM. Figure 18 illustrates our last stop on the cultural course. Figure 18: Our last stop before reaching UKM. 12
5. Conclusion After three special days, the cultural course ended. These days were special in different ways and will be in my mind for the rest of my life. You cannot describe the experiences we made in Gua Musang in a few words, but let me sum up the most important points. Perhaps, for German people the life in this small village means a complete change of everything they knew about life before. There was a different tradition, different work to do and a completely different language. But none of these points changed the lovely lives they live and the generosity of all local people towards all of us. I learned how to eat with my fingers, to sleep on the ground and to shower in a different way. All of these things will widen my personal horizon and I am glad to be a part of the Walk-in Gua Musang program. The whole team, coordinators, foster families, the Malaysian translators, Dr. Fais and all the members of the cultural course made an exciting weekend happening. To summarize my arguments I can say that in the last three days I have learned much more about the Asian culture than in the last three month I lived in Kuala Lumpur. Traditional Games, traditional food and of course, the peace, the happiness and the passion I could see in the local people s eyes. In my foster family I did not feel like a guest, I felt like a part of it. Figure 19: Our final group picture of the program Walk-In Gua Musang. 13