06/25/12

Selamat Tengah Hari!!!

Universiti of Sains Malaysia (Science University of Malaysia- USM) motto is “Kami Memimpin” or “We Lead.” No wonder I am drawn to this place. The more I learn about its history and its potential future, the more I see only leaders come to this university. It is open to all prospective students, including international students. The only requirement that I heard was for international students; they have to take Bahasa Malay language courses. Also, the hostels (dorms) are gender specific. It seems that genders tend to stay separate for the most part. It is interesting to see a majority of girls in the café area before 4pm and a majority of boys after 4pm.

Gentlemen do not violate the ladies hostels

If you bring any electronics that require an outlet, make sure you bring an adapter for your cords. If you travel often I recommend that you purchase a universal adapter with voltage converter capabilities. An adapter that can be plugged in any socket and that is compatible with any power cord. That would save you lots of time and money.

Take a look at outlets around the world:

USM outlet with universal adapter attached to computer cord

http://www.travel-images.com/electric-plugs.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_power_plugs_and_sockets

There is an “open gym” (in the blazing sun) next to the female hostel for all students. If you plan to work out at high noon, make sure to bring lots of water and use lots of sunblock! Or you can just burn, you r decision. I mostly see students use the area as recreation: to talk to friends, play instruments, even sneak one-on-one dates late at night.The hostels have an interesting set up. My hostel has 10 floors but the elevator only has five buttons: 1; 3; 5; 7; & 9. Each floor you walk up or down a few steps to get to your hostel room floor (i.e. floor 9 or 10). Even though the hostels have gates, anybody can walk through, but unauthorized men should be reported. On every floor there is a pantry equipped with washing & drying machines and filtered drinking fountains with hot & cold options; an iron room equipped with ironing boards attached to the wall and super industrial irons; and 2 showers, 2 sinks, and 2 different types of toilets per 4 hostel rooms with 2 people to a room.

Speaking of showers and types of toilets; if you never been to Asia or a developing country, you might not be familiar with unheated showers or squatty potty (squat toilets). There are no hot and cold options for water in Malaysia. Unless you are in a tourist area or possibly a tourist hotel, you can forget heated/hot showers. There is only an on and off knob available in the shower stall, every bit of it chilled. Well unless you get lucky and have water pipes that were heated by the sun. Honestly, the showers are not that bad. It feels like stepping into the pool which is cold at first contact, but becomes warm after submerging your body completely in the water. So you turn on your water, take a deep breath, and just step into the stream without hesitation. After about 5 seconds you will begin to enjoy your shower. Try to avoid showers on chilly nights to avoid actual cold showers. Now there is a lot of information I can provide about my experience using the squat toilets here (which is the most natural way to use the restroom). But instead of grossing you out with all the details, I will allow you to read the links below to learn how to use the squatty potty. Just remember, no matter where you go always shake/eat with your RIGHT HAND, use the word TOILET, and BRING your own toilet paper (to be disposed in the trash not in the toilets) or something to dry yourself off with if a bidet is provided in the stall. }:o)

http://www.wikihow.com/Use-a-Squat-Toilet

http://www.naturesplatform.com/health_benefits.html

http://www.talesofasia.com/toilets.htm

Squatty Potty sign on the stall door

Malaysian Toilet Rules

How to use the handheld bidet

Lucky if you find this in a bathroom!!

Is your poo healthy?

Please never forget to...

::Side Note::

There is a 3 week itinerary planned for us here at USM. Every day Monday – Thursday with the exception of a few days, we have lectures from different professors, organizations, and companies from 9am-5pm. I had planned to use this blog to report all my experiences here while in the country, but that would be nearly impossible to do with our schedule, homework/research, and field trips without having my own personal computer. So I will begin to post my daily public health adventures with weekly random thought posts and special adventure entries. Most of my pics that I took early during this trip have been lost, so I plan to post many video recordings that I took and pretty much borrow everybody else’s pics to give a snapshot of our adventures! (It also takes forever to load pictures on this site one-by-one… sooooo… bear with me!!)

Cheers to the start of a new adventure!!!

Here are a few videos of us out and about:  

Krystal