They Say You Can't Go Back...

You know the cliché, "you can't go back." It's supposed to mean that things change and what was, can't be the same if you return. I suppose it is true enough. I've moved back into areas after having left for a time, things might be similar, but they're never the same.

But there's something special about returning to your host country, and host family. I will never again be the 17 yr old girl that lived with Mama and Papa and their family. Heck, I'll never be that skinny again. But I have gone home. Many times, three with my children. And it always felt like coming home. I'm sure that part of it is my wonderful Malaysian family. They have always loved me and always welcomed me. But part of it is because I really am Malaysian on the inside. Every time I get off the plane in KL I feel like I'm home. Ok, the couple times I've gotten to fly back on MAS as soon as I got on the plane and heard all the announcements in Malay I felt like I was home too.

There are things about KL that have changed drastically. The rivers have been put into large culverts to help with flooding, they built a sort of a subway/monorail system to help with traffic. The KLCC and Petronas Towers are now sort of the center of town, and they didn't exist when I lived there. The Bas Minis are all gone, I miss those. Even the trash in the longkan is less than it used to be, the sewer smell mostly gone. Malaysians are always shocked that I speak Malay, and I haven't run across many from KL who don't speak fluent English in years.

But it is still KL, the smells of food from the stalls are still the same, the durian is still amazing, the pasar malam still operate, and people still hang their clothes to dry in their yards.

I haven't been back in 7 years now, and I don't know when I'll get an opportunity to return (buying tickets for six is substantially more expensive than it was for one). But I know that it will always be my second home, calling to me and as long as Mama or my siblings are around I have a home to visit and amazing food in the kitchen.