Kampung Homestay

We spent the weekend at a traditional local kampung on peninsular Malaysia, about 40 minutes from our campus. We were all given a host family, and spread out throughout the village. My family consisted of a mom (ibu) and dad (bapa) along with a son, a daughter-in-law, and 2 male grandkids, ages 5 and 18 months. Our house was simple, but cozy and I was even given my own room. I wasn’t hungry once the entire weekend, as they continuously fed me, even when I said I was full!

The first night, I spent the evening with my family, eating two dinners, watching some TV, and playing with the grandkids. The next day, the whole Gustavus group got a tour of the village, were we saw many local fruits, rubber tapping, oil trees, and a man scaling a coconut tree like Tarzan to pick coconuts. 

We had a quick break at our family’s house before we were dressed in traditional clothes, and I attended my second Malay wedding! It was exceedingly hot, and as soon as I could, I came back to my house and took an afternoon nap. Later on, we were invited to the field to play some traditional games, of which I neglected to get any photos. They were just silly games though, like water balloon tossing, gunny sack races, and coconut bowling. I spent another half hour at the field juggling a soccer ball with some local 12 year olds (side note I miss soccer so much) before retiring to my house for rest and dinner.

After dinner, we headed back to the town hall for a traditional dance and music demonstration. It was quite the production and ended with us being taught one of the dances, much to the amusement of the local people. Finally, we were allowed to sleep.

Sunday, we planted a “Gustavus Adolphus” tree in the kampung, and then were shown the huge rice fields that are cultivated right outside the village. We stopped for Laksa during a rainstorm, and then were sent back to our houses for even more food, and a final few hours with our families before being sent back to our University.

It was a cool experience and my ibu was the sweetest woman ever. At the moment, I'm struggling to eat food, as I think I'll be full for a few days. Keep checking back on this blog if you're interested. It's my final two weeks and I have a lot of fun things planned! If I have time, I'll be sure to update about them.