Scuba diving on the east coast of Malaysia....ahhhhh

So for those of you wondering where I was all last week (mom and dad:-), here are a few pictures from my scuba trip. I went to Pulau Perhentian, Terengganu (pronounced Terengganu), Malaysia in the South China Sea. It was a great week of relaxation and scuba diving with a 5-star Padi center called Flora Bay Divers. I usually spent two hours or so a day learning about scuba, then another hour or so would be spent in the water, learning skills seeing fish, etc. To give you an idea of some of the stuff I needed to do: swim without my regulator (breathing apparatus), breathe without my mask (more freaky than it sounds), get accustomed to having my tank of air turned off, and also generally get used to seeing my air bubbles escape my mouth and ascend 16 meters of water. Haha, actually it was incredibly relaxing, fun, and really not too scary.

On almost every dive, I saw some really neat stuff. A school of squid gracefully passed above me, a school of large humphead parrotfish munched on some coral (see an internet picture at http://www.gooddive.com/diving-photos/show.php?start=0&id=672), boxfish--one of my favorites--were a staple of each dive as well as angel and butterfly fish, and one of the coolest was the anemone and clownfish (see Finding Nemo)...just beautiful. Excepting the first dive, the visibility on the east coast was awesome, very clear! Even when I snorkelled I could see a stingray and a large turtle...I tried using my surfer/california accent (see Finding Nemo) on the turtle, but I don't think he was interested.

I included the first pic of the white boat and a small boat frame because a smaller island near Perhentian had about three boat yards that made boats entirely out of wood all by hand. Although the museum-like shop was technically closed, my friend and I managed to get in to the largest of the boats...the shipyard commenced construction in 2004 and hopes to launch in 2006. Though an industry in decline in Malaysia, these boats are spectacular!

The picture of the baby in a mini-hammock I posted because this little monkey was a staple of every day. She would wake up and prance around the restaurant/hotel in her Malay traditional clothing then take a nap in the afternoon:-)

note: The 20 ringgit (USD 6) A-frame huts were nothing spectacular but provided a good night's rest despite the bats outside, the few frogs and cockroaches inside, and the occasional rat (my A-frame didn't have any, but my friend's had many).

You could've been sold into...

Before I begin, let me tell a brief story to illustrate one of the general dispositions of my parents towards their sons. When I was 14 or 15, my mom dropped me off at the barber to get a haircut. The plan was that I would walk home after my haircut, being that I was only 5 minutes away. So my haircut ended and I decided, instead of walking straight home, to stop at the local West Coast to check out some movies. Inevitably, I lost track of time--I think it was an hour I spent there--and decided to walk home. On the way home, my brother suddenly careened around the corner on his bike. Out of breath, he said, "oh Andrew, geez...mom called the police and the state troopers, she has no idea where you are." We booked it home--running up Colony Dr., a cop car pulled up along side us. "Is this the kid?" he said. Dave said that it was in fact me and we finished the sprint home. As soon as I walked in the door, I turned to see my mom clutching the phone with a look of utter anguish and worry on her face. She looked up and said, "Oh thank God...I didn't know where you were! I was worried sick. I called the police and the state troopers, I had everyone looking for you...I had no idea. Andrew, you could have been sold into child prostitution!"
Hatboro: population 7, 393; known for manufacturing tri-cornered hats during the revolutionary war; famous people: during the summer of 1777, George Washington ate once at the Crooked Billet Tavern in Hatboro. "You could've been sold into child prostitution!" No explanation needed.
I thought perhaps these prepubescent days of familial freak-outs would end. To my astonishment, I have another story to tell. This past week I was able to travel to Perhentian Islands (pictures in a following post) on the east coast of Malaysia to scuba dive. I was there to get my open water diving certification which means I can dive anywhere in the world (with a buddy) up to 18 meters. I saw some really cool stuff, but I digress. I informed my parents on the phone that Friday night that I would be involved in a 4-day course then I would travel a few days after. I said I would probably take a night bus back Saturday night or Sunday night. No worries, covered my bases (for the most part) and headed off to Perhentian. The week passed quickly and I found myself on a bus, half-asleep, at 12:30am. Then, my French traveller friend answered his phone and hands it to me. "Uh, its for you." I picked up the phone to hear: "Hi, this is Anastasia Vrachnos." Oh geez, how could this have happened? First of all, what happened?
Apparently, I am now a registered missing person with Princeton Public Safety. Thinking I was on a long weekend trip (and after then not hearing from me for a few days), my parents called Princeton psafety, who called a dean, who called the director of PiA (Anastasia Vrachnos) who remarkably got my friend's number who then handed me the phone. After figuring out that I was fine, Anastasia hung up and I later spoke with my parents. There was some prior miscommunication and after taking some horse tranquilizers, they settled back down :-)

My translator

Recently my phone stopped working for some reason. I checked the pre-paid status; I had 37 ringgit left, plenty to send hundreds of text messages all over malaysia. But for some reason, whenever I made a phone call, a woman speaking Bahasa Malay would defiantly explain something. All I know is that I listened to that recording ten times and had no idea what it meant. So, I decided to get some help.

There are a few Malay guards who work at E-park, my apartment complex. I knew they spoke Bahasa so I asked one for help. He listened to the message, and quickly starting gesticulating and speaking to me. Of course, he spoke to me with few words of English. I nodded a few times and made similar gestures back to acknowledge my understanding, thanked him ("terima kasih!") and walked off. I still did not know what was wrong with my phone.
When I thought about this experience, I thought about the irony of a Malay-English translator who doesn't know English. One who ought to relate in the most familiar way to bring understanding must emulate--if not actually be--that to which he is communicating. In my case, I needed someone who knew how to speak English. It's interesting, too, how this concept separates Christianity from many other religions. The idea that our translator, Jesus Christ, was not and is not a removed deity but rather a personal God who is accustomed to human life. He indeed was human. A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief (as the hymn goes), this is a very real and necessary thing for the Christian faith. We do not need to wonder about forgiveness or redemption; rather, it has been freely given to us by a God who knows the temptations we face, who understands our heartbreaks, who has not failed in any way, and yet loves us beyond limit. Our translator, Jesus, can intimately know and redeem us, because he was human and yet God.