KUALA LUMPUR CUT A GIRL SOME SLACK

hiya

we're in the capital of malaysia, kuala lumpur, right now. the city is amazing, so diverse and not in a buzzword way but in an actual, no-one-looks-the-same way.
you walk down the street past a woman in a full black burka then a chinese girl in white face powder and a miniskirt then past indian women with bindis and white guys in tennis shoes.

we saw a dancedrama performance and 1) it was AMAZING, 20x cooler than 90% of the stuff we've seen in the states 2) the people working on it were unreally nice and talked to us forever afterwards giving us the scoop on KL's happening arts scene 3) a bunch of people took our picture afterwards and we're pretty sure we're in the newspaper's art section now.

so, we're basically spending our days dreaming up ways to get the fulbright to give jaki a bunch of money so we can come back here and study theatre.

also KL is IMPOSSIBLE to navigate. all the roads are crooked, its an 'anti-grid' infrastructure. you can't walk 2 blocks without getting lost. honestly.
and it isn't just farangs who have this problem. we tried to get a taxi driver to take us to the tourism centre, a huge building, to see a show, and he drove us to a ditch next to an abandoned volvo dealership. REALLY?

to illustrate, here are google maps directions of how to get from chinatown, where we're staying, to Aswara, an arts academy:

1.Head northwest on Jalan Petaling toward Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock
2.Slight right at Jalan Tun H S Lee
3.Turn left at Leboh Pasar Besar
4.Turn right at Jalan Mahkamah Persekutuan
5.Turn left to stay on Jalan Mahkamah Persekutuan
6.Turn right at Jalan Raja
7.Turn right to stay on Jalan Raja
8.At the roundabout, take the 1st exit onto Jalan Parlimen
9.Turn right toward Jalan Sultan Salahhudin
10.Continue straight onto Jalan Sultan Salahhudin
11.Slight right to stay on Jalan Sultan Salahhudin
12.Turn left toward Jalan Tunku
13.Turn right toward Jalan Tunku
14.Slight left at Jalan Tunku
15.Turn left at Pesiaran Carruthers
16.Turn right at Jalan Tunku Putra
17.Turn right at Jalan Nusa
18.Turn left to stay on Jalan Nusa
19.Turn right at Lorong Nusa Satu
20.Turn left at Lorong Nusa
21.Slight right at Persiaran Duta
22.Persiaran Duta turns left and becomes Jalan Khidmat Usaha
23.Turn right to stay on Jalan Khidmat Usaha
24.Turn left at Jalan Ibadah
25.Turn right
26.Turn left
27.Turn left
Destination will be on the right

27 STEPS?! ok great thanks google we'll do that.

in a couple days, we're flying to jakarta (decided to skip singapore because its mad expensive and it takes a 40+ hour ferry to get to indonesia from there) then we'll be making our way through java and onto BALI! the plan is to stay in bali for about 2 1/2 weeks at a friend-of-a-friends apartment and take balinese dance classes and go to the beach and feel stupidgood.

also, in case you didn't get the email, there are some big logistical changes.
jaki's flight is all fucked/shes having fun so she's probably not coming home the 10,12,15,20, whenever-you-thought-she-might-be, but instead hopefully the 24th, or maybe the 27th.
emily's also delayed. until january. because she's going back to india and not returning to ch for the fall. instead shes going to live at alternative arts-based boarding school in kerala and help a friend on a rural ecotourism project in tamilnadu. CRAZYWORLD.

loveyouall