Freedom!

 July 7, or 7/7, was our lucky day this year. It was the day we left quarantine.  We had left the room one time during our quarantine to go downstairs in the hotel and get yet another covid test.  That one also came back negative, so all our paperwork was prepared for our Wednesday morning exit.  We were worried that the checkout process would be prolonged, so we got started early.  We were pleasantly surprised that someone came right after we called to get our bags, and once we got down to the lobby, checkout was smooth and easy.  They even gave us the tin of coffee that had been confiscated from our supermarket order!

Since we got ready so quickly, our ride hadn't arrived yet, so we had time to take some pictures in the hotel lobby.

We were sad to hear that the hotel will be closing in September.  It is definitely in need of an update, but it was a welcoming home for us for our two weeks, and the staff were all very friendly and helpful, so we wish them the best.

Leaving the hotel was great, because we finally got to be in a car and on the road that we had been watching from our window for the past two weeks.  The girls and I were practically bouncing off our seats we were so excited.  There wasn't a lot of traffic, so we moved through the downtown area pretty quickly, but we had a lot of fun pointing out interesting things as we drove along.

Our goal was to get to the embassy in time to get our badges, and Jeff and I had both been telling each other not to get our hopes up, but things worked out perfectly.  We got our badges, got some cash, and then went to spend it at the cafe near the embassy pool called Raft.  We ordered sandwiches for lunch, and I took the girls outside to play while we waited for the food to be ready.  It was so wonderful to be outside.

So far, the temperatures have been in the 80s with high humidity, so running around outside, does warm you up, but it feels cooler than Bangkok, so we'll take it.  It was also very exciting to have a lunch that we picked for ourselves after two weeks of having no say in what we ate.

We got a quick peek into the "commissary" here, which mostly sells alcohol and gifts, and then our work sponsor took us to our new hotel home, the Somerset.  This is a serviced apartment hotel, so it has more amenities than our quarantine hotel, but it's still not our home.  Malaysia has been going through a series of movement control orders (MCOs), and the latest one is preventing people from going to our actual apartment and getting it ready.  Our social sponsor has keys to it, so she gave us a video tour, but there is no furniture in it at this point, so the hold up isn't just the little cosmetic things.  We're disappointed, since we've now been nomads for over a month, but we're getting settled into our new temporary home.  Its biggest selling point is that it has a kitchen.

The kitchen has a stove top and an oven, and *drum roll please* a fridge/freezer, microwave, and washer/dryer.

Now none of these appliances is up to U.S. standards, but having these versions is definitely better than having nothing at all.  The only one that is really driving me bonkers in the "dryer" component, because it takes all day to dry just a few clothes, and it is LOUD.  This wouldn't be as much of an issue if it was off in a separate area somewhere, but the kitchen is open to the living area,

so the only way to escape the noise is to hide in our bedrooms.  This is a three bedroom apartment, so the girls each get their own room.

Vivian is thrilled about this, but Elena keeps getting "scared" in the middle of the night and coming to our room looking for me, which is not ideal.

I'm hoping that this will stop happening as she gets used to her new surroundings.  

There are also two full bathrooms.  One is off the main area, and the other is off the master bedroom.  The master one is the most interesting, because it has a combo shower/tub area with a great view.

Naturally that means that, as always, everyone uses our bathroom.

We spent the afternoon of our first day of freedom figuring out the logistics of feeding ourselves.  Step one was going to a grocery story with my social sponsor.  We are very lucky to have a store just a few steps away.  We can even see it out of our living room window, since we are now on the 20th floor.

It's in the multicolored building on the other side of the construction site.  The main road is a straight shot to the embassy, so Jeff can easily get to work.  

The grocery store was small but really interesting.  I didn't think it would be appropriate to go around taking pictures, but my favorite things were a special section for Japanese food and a special section for pork products.  The pork is in a back corner, and you have to pay for the pork items there, not at the main checkout.  The store had several brands I recognized, and I was able to find pretty much everything on my list.  Since we had had such a busy first day of freedom, I didn't think I was going to be up for cooking anything, so I also got some sushi and sashimi as a snack for me and Jeff.  We're very excited that that's something I can easily get at the local store.

For actual dinner, we got into the complicated business of setting up an account for a delivery service.  The main one people use around here is Grab, which is like Uber, so you can get a ride or they can bring you food.  Jeff really wanted to try a place called U.S. Pizza, and, after many struggles with verifications, I finally got an account set up and dinner ordered.  They had a pizza with duck and a version of pasta carbonara with duck.  We are very excited that the solution to not having pork seems to be replacing it with duck!

On our second day, I was up for actually cooking some of the things I had purchased at the store, and I made the girls fish nuggets and broccoli, which was well received.

I had also gotten them Kinder eggs at the store as a special treat, but, like everything else, they seem to have a new configuration, so when the girls opened them up, they looked like this.

The girls declared this strange and rejected it, so Jeff and I took care of it for them.  They did like the little toys that were also inside.

Lunch the past couple days has been poolside.  I figured out how to do the pool sign up, and the girls and I have made the 10 minute walk to the embassy and then enjoyed ourselves just hanging out.  We've spotted some cool flowers along our walk.

Then we have the pool all to ourselves.

Our social sponsor brought us towels, and Jeff came by to say hi as well.  We also discovered that the cafe will serve you lunch outside, and the special of the day was spaghetti. 

Even when we were done eating, we enjoyed just hanging out and playing the word game where you start your word with the last letter of the previous person's word.  There was a lovely breeze, so it was a pleasant few hours of outdoor living.

There are a lot of things here that remind us of Thailand, especially the pool life and the warnings about durian in public spaces.

But things are also different in a lot of ways.  One of the main things we'll need to get used to is that this is a Muslim country, although so far it has felt like a very tolerant one.  

On the walk back from the pool, Elena found a flower that she really liked.  We had similar flowers in Bangkok. One of my favorite pictures of Vivi and Jeff is one they took walking back from the pool in our first month in Bangkok. Vivi had found a white flower that she was carrying as precious cargo.

Here in KL, on the walk back from the pool, Elena found a yellow flower that she carried as precious cargo.

It's the same kind of flower, just different colors.  The two girls are about the same age in the pictures, and KL and Bangkok have a lot of similarities too.  It makes us nostalgic for our time in Thailand, but optimistic about our time in Malaysia. We are so excited to get to know our new home and discover even more things to love about it.