The only reason this post exists is because I was wondering how many Malaysians read this blog – and to confirm my suspicion that I can count all of you who do on one hand.

As usual, that’s a lie. I actually need your help, fellow countrymen/women!

Nasi Lemak, how I miss thee… (Rice cooked in coconut milk served with spicy chilli and an assortment of other side dishes)

So summer vacation is just round the corner, and due to various excuses (though I’ll attribute it mostly to the killer oil prices) I will not be returning home to home sweet Malaysia this year… Err yea, big bummer I bet you’re thinking cos Japan is so much more fun yadda yadda yadda. This paragraph is mostly for my friends back home (who don’t read this blog) who have been bitching to ‘disown’ me for not coming back to visit this year. (Yea, I love you guys too =P)

‘Economy’ rice (Stall selling a healthy assortment of chinese dishes to go with rice – that’s light on your wallet)

Anyways, to make the ‘most’ of my time here in Japan, I did apply for this homestay program in neighbouring prefecture in the hopes that I get to experience Japanese inaka-life full force (which gains Caitlin’s seal of approval :P ). Well, my shit luck and late application have thrown that plan out the window (didn’t get accepted).

Indian banana leaf rice…

Instead, I’ve been invited to help out in a local school camp, where a few of us foreign students have been asked to educate some schoolkids about our respective countries. Basically, I have the responsibility of spending an hour with some 14 year old Japanese schoolkids talking about Malaysia and doing some planned ‘activity’ with them reflective of my country (teach them a song/dance/game/something, etc.).

Bak Kut Teh (Pork stewed in Chinese herbal soup – tastes so much better than it sounds)

That’s all well and all, the problem is that I’ve come to realize I’m probably one of the worst persons to get as as a pseudo-ambassador of ‘Boleh-Land‘. Look, I spend more time on AnimeNano than I do at Malaysiakini for God’s sake -_-”

Random Chinese food, mostly Yong Tau Foo (veggies and beancurd stuffed with meat) I see

Long story short, I’ve yet to figure out what to do with these kids during the hour to represent my ‘lovely’ country. I mean if I had to, I could yap a lot of repetitive half-assed crap about Malaysia being:

…a melting pot of “Truly Asia” -n culture;

…home to some of the best food in the world (imho);

…as well as Youtube-worthy faillulz politics;

…where what these kids probably watch during the weekends is considered pR0n by some of our well-informed journalists;

…and oh yeah, where yaoi is “banned “  (wtf)

for the entire hour. But having to think of an ‘activity’ that’s suitably and conceivably executable with and by these kids in a Japanese mountain camp during the hour is proving rather dumbfounding.

Assam laksa (Noodles in a fish broth of sour spicy goodness)

So like yea, any suggestions, fellow “Boleh-Land”-ians? What could I possibly ‘teach’ a batch of 14-year-olds to do within the hour to represent the Malaysian spirit??? *major snort* As much as our food rocks (practically the only aspect of our country and can say unblinkingly that I am proud of), I can’t cook any of the dishes I’ve been unabashedly sprinkling this post with (all of which I sorely miss, and that’s just the tip of the gigantic iceberg that is Malaysian Cuisine) let alone teach anyone to do it. Somebody suggested I teach them how to play congkak… which would be great if I had the board (and I remember how to play it), and I dont think I’ll use a line of bowls as a replacement

Satay (Meat on skewers)

It’ll be great if someone could help me come up with something besides batu seremban (which I suck at, and these are boys I have to teach) or (lolz) Pepsi Cola (Nothing to do with the drink, it’s a game where we stand around in a wide circle and take turns trying to jump and stamp at each other’s feet which I also suck at).

Steamboat (Basically whatever you can find to put in a hot pot and eat with whole bunch of people)

Or maybe I should just bring a deck of cards and teach them the spirit of Chinese New Year via chor dai di =P (I’m not sure what the school will think of me trying to turn them into gambling addicts. At any rate I find it more fun than pachinko -_-”)

Or maybe in the end, I’ll just print out all these food pics and babble about all my current cravings there. That could work.

Char Koay Teow (Rice noodles fried with seafood and beansprouts – GOD HOW I MISS THIS ONE)

Disclaimer: NONE OF THE GLORIOUS FOOD PICS BELONG TO ME, I just trawled the interwebs for the most mouth-watering examples of Malaysian food (though I’m pretty sure some of them come from Singaporean sites -_-”) I could get my hands on and if for some reason you (as the original owner of one of these photos) feel I’m a lowly thief for that, feel free to tell me and I will try to make amends.

And if you somehow found any of these pictures UNappetizing, you suck that’s probably due to my noob-ish caption descriptions which I realize do nothing to describe all these foodies I am craving right now T.T

Ice Kacang (Shaved ice on top of a bed of assorted sweet beans, jellies etc, topped with assorted syrup and condensed milk)

P.S.: Congrats to lanie-emon, your blog comes up first when I googled “malaysia”+”anime”. You even beat this site