US : A New Chapter of My Life

I know I have written nothing much these past few months. It’s because of time constraint; but now, it’s Thanksgiving break and I get the chance to write up my first moments in the US. To those who have patiently waited, this is the entry you were longing for; so enjoy it =)

Departure 

To begin, let’s travel back to the day I departed from Malaysia. It was 23^rd August and I was at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) with my family and friends who depart on the same day. It was supposed to be a joyful moment for all; after two years of struggle in INTEC, finally we get to fly to the States. 

But I went through a bitter experience. Because of believing in some officer (not sure whether it was a JPA or KLIA officer) who was tired of parents surrounding their son/daughter, I didn’t get to at least ‘salam’ my parents. 

“ Tuan-tuan, tolong ke belakang, ini untuk mudahkan proses kami...nanti jam 1 masih boleh jumpa dengan anak-anak tuan”. 

And it was a white lie to kill the mess. And after entering the departure hall, I wasn’t allowed to turn back and if I would ever die here in US, that would be the worst farewell in my entire life. Seriously. T_____T

Welcome to the US: “The Land of Opportunity” 

FROM

TO

After more than 24 hours of flight (KLIA-Los Angeles-Boston-Albany), I finally arrived at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). The only Malaysian with me is my colleague, Yap Su San. From Albany Airport, we took a cab to campus and tipped the cabby. Here in the US, you have to tip taxi drivers, restaurants and some other services. To tip means to pay someone extra dollars for their service, most likely about 10-15% of the grand total.

The First Few Days

We arrived about 4 days early. So I was staying alone in the dormitory (I applied to stay on-campus) for that period.  The first few nights were terrible. I woke up in the middle of the night, shivering. It was too cold!  And because of the coldness, it took me quite a while until I could move and find my jacket.  I haven’t had any problems with food because I have ample food stock prepared by my mom. Plus, it was Ramadan (fasting month) and I didn’t really need much food to eat.  

My only friend during this period was Su San. We did nothing much on the first few days except for registering for the semester, getting ourselves enrolled in the system, obtaining our student IDs, and some other stuffs prior to registration.

Orientation Week

My beautiful university: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

It was a simple orientation week and I was against all the odds. Despite fasting, I joined the Transfer Students Social Dinner - I definitely didn’t eat since I was fasting. I even said hi to strangers. Well, it’s all about making new friends. After the orientation, I had a number of American friends.

Prayers

I prayed in my room for the first few days. After being told by a muslim guy during orientation week, I finally found a mosque. It is about 10 minutes of walking or 5 minutes of cycling. Later, I discovered a small praying room in the building opposite the dormitory. However, it is opened only during office hours. So I do my Maghrib and Isya’ prayers at the mosque. 

The good thing is, the mosque serves free Iftar (break fast). So I don’t need to cook and spend money on food until the end of Ramadan. =) I got to taste pakistani and arab foods and the pakistani rice pudding is the most remarkable. recipe here

Rice pudding

Friday prayers are performed in the basement of the university’s gym. It’s hard to see a proper mosque with dome and minarets as could be found in Malaysia.  Here, homes are renovated to become a mosque. Anyway, it’s still okay as long as the muslim community could gather and worship the Almighty.

The building at the back is where we perform our Friday prayers

Toilet

Okay. This is kind of random. Should have proceeded with the weather instead. But anyway, this issue is a great concern for me. I have difficulties to throw away my waste products (ok. this sounds too polite) if I don’t’ feel secure or private enough. I mean, if I know there’s somebody waiting in front of the toilet door or there’s a gap or a hole within the door, I couldn’t pee or poo. This may sound funny to you guys but it’s a serious problem for me. 

Here, it’s hard to see toilet doors as it is in Malaysia. It covers just half ( refer to picture at the top) of the toilet and there are gaps, BIG gaps between the door and the wall. Worst, it has no means of water like we have in Malaysia-the 'paip' and 'salur getah' and 'baldi' and 'gayung'. You have to pre-soak tissues with tap water before you enter the toilet or simply bring a bottle of water to wash after you throw waste. In my case, however, how could I even pee in the first place? Well, God is sooo Fair. He arranges everything such that I could train myself to counter this problem. The first few days, there was nobody in the dorms, so it was kind of a ‘training session’ to get myself used to the new toilet environment. =)

Weather

It is really cold here. The temperature could drop to 5 degrees during Fall (Autumn) and -10 during winter. Even during summer, I sometimes shiver..  The problem with cold weather is your body’s response. My skin itches. My colleague got cracked lips. Well, it’s very cold that your lips could dry up, crack, and bleed. However, I didn’t experience that and I’m eventually getting used to the weather. Alhamdulillah.

Despite the cold weather, the nature here is incredibly beautiful. 

This is the kind of scene you'll see in summer

This is Fall

Posing with some lovely trees

Wahh~

Typical American home

Room and Roommate

I’d like to say I love my room. Number one, it faces the field where I could watch rugby/football matches at leisure. Second, I have a PRIVATE bathroom. Actually I was supposed to share the bathroom and toilet with the neighbor next door. But nobody entered that room, so it’s just me and my roommate who use that bathroom. Yeay me =). Third, the kitchen is exactly NEXT to my room-which is a good thing because I have to cook often. And lastly, my dormitory is just 5 MINUTES to campus. It’s as near as jumping up from bed at 7:55 for an 8 o’clock class. Nah…just kidding.  

The dormitory. *jaw drop*

My roommate is the best I have ever had. He is totally different from a typical American guy. First, he DOES NOT PARTY. And you’d say, whatt??!! I’m dead serious. All this while, he had never went out on Friday nights (Friday night is the night when Americans party). Then what does he do? He plays computer games, watches videos, plays guitar, and enjoys most of his time in front of the laptop. 

And the most awesome part of him is his respect towards my belief and religion practice. Unsurpassable. Whenever I wanted to pray in the room, he’ll stop playing guitar, he’ll turn off the volume from the laptop, or he’ll plug in an earphone to kill the sound. Whenever he takes home food from the dining hall, he would never forget to get me at least an apple. Otherwise he’ll get me some chips or anything that he’ll make sure is halal. I explained to him about halal and grey areas (syubhah) early on, so he tries his best to compromise that. 

This guy is incredibly tolerable. Everything that suits me is fine with him. Example: He sleeps at 11 and doesn’t mind me turning on the desk lamp since I’m used to staying up late at night. Once, I wanted to move to the kitchen so as not to use the desk lamp and disturb his sleep. But he insisted and let me do my work in the room with the desk lamp on. I thank God for having such a tolerable, understanding, and awesome roommate.

Campus Life

It’s quite hard to adapt for the first few weeks. Things are quite different:

1. You could register your class according to what and when you want it to be.
2. Each student has his or her own advisor. They have to meet the advisor and discuss about the possible subjects to be taken before registering them.
3. Assignments, quizzes, grades, are posted online.
4. There is a TA (Teaching Assistant-mostly graduate students) besides of the professor who will help you in the course, grade the quizzes, count the marks, conduct the lab, and all those little stuffs the professors wouldn't want to do.
5. Student ID is your second soul. Losing it means not being able to enter your room, the dining hall, the library, the computer center, and some other buildings. Besides you could buy things on campus with that card, so losing it is really a pain

Others that are different:

1. Classes here are very INFORMAL. People wear slippers and shorts and T-shirts to class
2. Most professors don't really care if you come/don’t come to class
3.  Students love asking questions. In other words, the class is active

There was an International Festival last month. It is the university's annual program to allow students to promote their respective countries to the public. Malaysia's booth had ketupat, cekodok pisang,slideshows and some crafts.

Me explaining to the Americans about cekodok pisang

They are fascinated with the ketupats =)

Food

Although I signed up for meal plan (which allows me to eat at the dining hall), most of the time I'll cook my own meal. Halal food in the dining hall is limited. You may eat cereals, bread, egg salad, tuna salad, plain rice with tofu, beans and french fries, But you got to be very careful with the pantries. 


These are the questions I'll normally ask if I'm not sure whether the food is halal or otherwise:

• Is this cooked with beef/chicken/pork?
• Does it contain beef/chicken/pork?
• What type of oil do you use to cook this?
• May I know the ingredients?
• May I see how it is prepared?

They wouldn't hesitate to show me the cooking site and explain what I asked. I  even asked the student manager about how they manage their pantries so as to make sure there's no haram stains (such as pork) left at the pantries when it's used to serve other food. 


Yet, I still accidentally ate non-halal food and because of that I ended up in front of the toilet bowl twice. 


Case 1: Pepperoni pizza. Pepperoni means sliced meat, usually pork. Mistake: Not knowing what pepperoni is and assuming it as a kind of tomato puree.


Case 2: Chicken salad. Mistake: Didn't ask the cook and simply assuming it to be tuna salad 


Obtaining halal meat is not that easy compared to Malaysia. You have to drive around 20 minutes to get to the nearest town for that purpose. Luckily I have some Malaysian seniors who are very helpful in terms of giving me a ride whenever they needed to buy meat.=)

Culture

Even though I learned and was told about American lifestyle in Malaysia, I still experience the shock.  

First, I've never expected to see people  sunbath in front of the dormitory because I used to hear sunbathing paired with only beaches.

Sunbathing spot: This is within the dormitory compound

Second, Americans like saying things out loud and say and do whatever they wish. 

Example1: Once, I bumped into a guy playing guitar and singing out loud on the ground at 1130 at night. 

Example 2: I was studying at the Student Union (a building where students gather) and a group of students was happily dancing in front of me. Somebody asked them to reduce the noise and was scolded back. It's really different with Malaysians who most likely would  be polite and try not to hurt others. Well, this is a country with freedom of speech. 

They also have a law that gives priority to students to cross the road. So whenever you want to cross a road, just dive into it and you’d be fine. 

It’s also normal to see people lying on the grass with their books and laptops during summer. 

Lying on the green is a great pleasure

Sometimes people would open doors for you and let you enter first. Otherwise, they’ll hold the door for you after they enter. 

You could also see people skate and roller-skate to class. Those who walk would have a cup of coffee in hand and sip it all the way long to class.

Language

When I first arrived here, it was quite difficult to understand what people are trying to say. Mainly because of still not used to the accent and couldn’t catch up with the speed. It’s even harder to talk over the telephone where the sound is kind of blur. 

However, I’m getting used to it and I’m currently improving myself through conversations with my roommate. Hopefully by the end of my stay, I would be able to speak English well if not as good as them.

Right now I am enjoying life. I admit there are hard times and problems especially for newcomers like me. But I always, and I hope you would, pray for my success: academic-wise, worldly undertakings and in the hereafter.

P/S: Guess there's something wrong with the blog's spacing system ; sorry for the unreasonable spacing at the top