Things we like

* movies - in Malaysia, all movies that are shown in the theatre are edited for language and sexual content. So it is unheard of here to see a movie with any nudity or sexual innuendo or graphic language. The kids have to be careful because seeing something in the theatre is drastically different than watching it on DVD, for which no editing laws exist. Now if we could only get them to work on the violence content....
* diversity of people - Penang is truly a melting pot of many different cultures and we hear different accents all the time. Being close to Australia and having a strong British influence gives this Asian country a very distinct feel. The downside right now is that Americans are low on the "well liked" list so we are not allowed to wear our American flag T-shirts off campus. The upside is that we have Canadian T-shirts to wear instead.
* nightlife - Penang doesn't come alive until about 8 pm and then goes til well after midnight. McDonald's is busiest around then and its hard to get a seat. Late night markets do a tremendous business after dark. The malls here don't even open til mid morning, some not til noon!
* ocean breezes - no dust in these breezes to put grit in your eyes.
* families together - we see a lot more families with young and old together than we did back home. At the market, in the mall and at church, families spanning three or more generations are often together.
* no drugs - when entering Malaysia, the custom document that has to be filled out has written at the bottom "Drug trafficking is punishable by death." That says it all quite clearly, I think.