hello loves!
sorry. it's been a few weeks since I've sent a decent email....that happens. we got really busy. plus not a ton of crazy stuff happened. but I have some stories this week. check it:
so ferg, bless her heart, hasn't been speaking malay in 8 months. singapore is english. so she gets to miri, everything is in iban! mixed malay. overwhelming for her, but she is a trooper and tries her best. so we are at a shoe store, trying to find nice shoes for zone conference, when this cute malay girl comes up and tries to talk to her. in english, of course. ferg, trying to practice and show off her mad skills, decides to respond in malay. I'm on the other side of the room, so not in the conversation but can still hear everything. the malay girl goes "how do you speak malay?" and ferg, trying to say she had lots of friends that help her, said "saya ada banyak kawin!....", instead of "saya ada banyak kawan......" so what she said was that she had been married a lot. but what she meant was that she had a lot of friends. I couldn't help it, I just looked at her and burst into giggles. then the malay girl did too. and then the girl behind the counter did. finally through the giggles I was able to tell ferg what she said and she started laughing too. it was pretty epic. it's an everyday occurence with her though. haha! I love the surprises of what she's going to say wrong next! it makes me so happy. I remember when I was new too! no doubt I always said things wrong. I'll have to talk to hitey about it...see if she remembers anything stupid I said...
oh here is another funny story. this one involving me:) so there is this disgustingly famous fruit here called durian. it's the big poky spiny looking fruit that smells like a mixture of gasoline, smelly feet, and delicious fruit. it's pretty intense. I can eat it fine, but I definitely don't love it. but I'll eat it. so we are at Tarang's house (my FAVORITE new family of investigators) and they are giving us tons of food and they bring out special yellow durian, which I had never had. always the white kind. so I eat a piece, not too bad. ferg hated it so she wasn't eating it, so I had to eat another piece to make up for it. so two biji's or pieces of durian. feeling fine. then about 15 minutes later, my head starts to get a little fuzzy. and in the middle of the lesson, I got to grab the picture book out of my bag, and as I tilt my head down to look for it, the tilt was too much to handle and while still cross legged, completely fall over and smash my face on the floor. hands didn't help my fall. I didn't even see it coming! so I sit back up, everyone is dying laughing, and I am like what the heck! what is wrong with me!! and they all go "ohh!!!!! jensen mabuk!!! dia sudah mabuk!!!!" they were telling me I was drunk! so I was like no I am not drunk!!! completely shocked at the accusation, when they explain that I was "mabuk durian" meaning I was drunk off of the durian. the yellow kind is more potent, and apparently if you eat too much, you get kindof drunk. hahaha. whooops. it took a while before I wasn't so fuzzy again and I made a vow to only eat one biji of durian at a time!
so here is a fun story. on my birthday, I went to our recent convert family Masir's house. but I didn't mention it was my birthday. so a few days later, they find out it was my birthday, and they were all sorts of peeved that I didn't say anything. so the grandma, sterry, kindof yelling at me in iban, tells me that I have to go to their house on sunday then. haha. so we arrange our schedule so we can go, and we go. I get there, and all the adults are in the kitchen and won't come out, but I'm smelling the most delicious smelling smells ever....meanwhile it's me and ferg and maling and rimbau and ubit. two little 14 year old boys and the 4 year old little girl. so we play uno and have all sorts of fun just chilling, waiting for people to come out. thirty minutes later, out comes dish of food after dish of food. all homemade iban kampung food. alllllll my very very very favorite dishes (which they knew, and made specially for me) daun ubi with garlic and ginger, rice, chicken and ginger cooked in a big bamboo stick, pork, grilled fresh fish....tons and tons of food. and then this huge store bought expensive and beautiful cake with the words "happy 22 birthday sister jensen!!!!!" so they bring it all out, roger gets his guitar, and everyone sings happy birthday to me all off tune...basically it was the greatest night of my life. I was so touched. but they all did so much to make sure I had a good birthday. and I love them. roger already is 1st counselor in young mens and masir is in the process of getting a teaching calling. they are all so strong and so faithful. they're my miracle family.
one last thing I'll mention, is that chinese new year is crazy!!!! non stop fireworks allllll night every single night. our house is surrounded by chinese people so it shook all night long. so much fun!! and it goes on for like two weeks!! weeeee.
and I have no more time!!! sorry.
love you all so much!