Missing UK but enjoying Malaysia

It is now nearly 8 months since we left UK, Hadiya has finally realised that Malaysia is not England. She said,"We're going back to England". Luqman still has no idea that he is on planet earth. Malik is completely happy to be in Malaysia and he has become so tanned that he is truly a Malay. Fajar misses her friends in England as not many girls in her school has the same 'head' as her i.e. sama kepala.

As for me...sometimes this funny thought crosses my mind and it says.."okay, I had a lot of fun and now it's time to go back to England". I miss UK but actually, I don't know what I am missing. I know that if I were to leave Malaysia I would miss a lot of things and I can truly name them. I will miss my family, my work, this beautiful apartment, the weekends that we spend going to all sorts of interesting places. Still, I miss the UK routine. I still feel that my life is there and I'm just on holiday here. I think most people in my situation probably felt the same and many more who decide to follow this path will feel the same way. I miss how things were done in the UK, the normal daily routine.

Otherwise, I do feel that our quality of life here is so much better. The food, the family, the working environment, the people, going out...Last Sunday, we went to Shah Alam Wet world. it is a modest place with lots of different pools for toddlers, for children, for adults and a big water slide. We had so much fun and it was such a nice feeling. I wouldn't dream of going to such a place in the UK. Well, for starters everyone would stare at me when I enter the pool with my hijaab and jilbab but in Malaysia, most people were covered and no one had a bikini on. Some wore swimming suits with sleeves, most people had a T-shirt on and some like me, had their hijaabs on. I felt completely at ease.

Me and hubby make it a point that every weekend we would go somewhere special even if its to the park to play kites. Weekend is family time and doing something together. There's so many places to go to and I feel completely safe. Even though I know the crime rate is high and I have to be careful wherever I go but I know that the criminals are bad guys. In UK, I often felt insecure that someone would attack me or abuse me because I am a Muslim. To be abused by so called 'normal' people is worse than being attacked by criminals. To be fair, I never personally experienced any racial or religious abuse but I never felt free to go anywhere alone. On top of that Friday, Saturday night was a no-no!

Over here, families are out til late at night and generally, I feel safer because I know no one is going to attack me because I am a Muslim.

So, I think over time...this feeling of missing UK would disappear as I get into the routine of my life here.

I keep having this tug of war between my dissatisfaction with the UK in many different issues and my attachment to certain things in UK. At the end of the day, the risks outweigh the benefits and here I am, back in the land I was born...the place I left 17 years ago.

In some ways many things have changed but in some ways, many things are still the same. I think it took me 5-6 years to adjust myself in the UK. I never really felt settled in UK until I started my first job as a House officer at Lewisham Hospital. I had so much fun and great memories at Lewisham that I'd treasure forever. I hope it wouldn't take me 5-6 years to resettle myself in Malaysia...