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07/12/07 - Greetings from Malaysia again. It feels nice to be back after my week long trip in India, though I still enjoyed my short stay there. I spent most of my time in Chennai, as Elisha had some preaching to do round there in the outside areas of the city, but fortunately I met another good hearted tour guide, Raju, who showed me round the city and looked after me well.

Along with the tourist spots, he also took me to see some of the roadside slums, which were interesting places. Elisha had just come back from Mumbai a couple of weeks before I arrived, where he had been preaching in the slum areas; they can definitely be an affective place to preach. I also got to meet Raju's family of seven people, who live together in a small, yet cosy, three room house near the hotel I had been staying at.

It was just a shame that I didn't get the spend much time at the God's Garden orphanage. It was nice to see the children again, but I'm not sure what my future holds in regards to going back. I feel that I'm too young to make any worthwhile contribution to them. I need to focus on my studies and my future first, and have my own children to be my primary burden, then I can make an effective impact into a place like that, but right now, I feel I have nothing to offer...

Now I just need to make good use of this month, and get things done before my studies in January. I'm making the most of the time I spend with Ranjita at the moment (now being the school holidays in Malaysia). I'm hoping taking her to church is having a positive impact, I just want to do the best I can for her. I certainly benefit from the time I spend with her, my Tamil improves a little bit every day. The only language difficulty I'm having is adapting back to the 'informal' Tamil that's spoken in India and Malaysia, after using the more 'polite' Sri Lankan Tamil whilst I was at Palmers Green...

14/12/07 - Only two weeks to go till Christmas, though my mood isn't feeling so festive at the moment. On Saturday, the church took it's annual trip to Desa Water Park, and I wasn't put on the invite list, which I was quite annoyed about. I really enjoyed the trip two years ago, as it's nice to just relax with the kids and not have too many responsibilities for them, but this year was not to be. So much for helping the children's ministry...

So to make up for it, I'm spending more time with Ranjita, and trying to pick up more Tamil as I go along. Taking her to KL earlier in the week was a big mistake though, as if an English man with a Tamil girl didn't stand out enough, her being a nuisance didn't help much either. But I still love and care for her, even if she does have a stubborn personality (as others have told me), though I found it hard to watch the severe discipline Jyothi gave her earlier today...

Despite all that though, Jyothi's taking good care of me, along with Anna and Joyce (the women I'm staying with in Petaling Jaya). My time in Malaysia has been quite tame and relaxed at the moment, which has kind of made me miss the chaos of life in India. It's nice not being harrassed by people so much in Malaysia, but I find the scenery of the Indian lifestyle much more interesting and exciting. I'll have to try and possibly going again between the end of my course (end of March) and before my visa for India expires (mid-May).

But one cultural experience I'd rather keep away from is having to visit Tesco. I find it a little surreal being in the environment of Asian people that are acting in a Western style. I think the enivironment of a British supermarket makes children automatically misbehave and adults be less considerate for others. It was never like that when the store was owned by Makro, but their lack of customers was the reason they were taken over...

21/12/07 - Only a few more days till Christmas! And I've promised Rebecca and her family and traditional Christmas roast. Fortunately I'll have her help in the cooking, but I'm only doing the meal with her family because they have an oven, something very few families here have (most just have a stove). The one thing I missed the most on Christmas day when I was here two years ago was the Christmas dinner, so hopefully this will be a good meal.

The big Christmas Service is on the 24th, with one at Taman Wahyu and the other in Petaling Jaya. I've chosen to go to the Taman Wahyu service, as I haven't gotten to know many people at Peatling Jaya. I took Ranjita to church on Sunday, and she was very well behaved (unlike the time I took her to KL), and it felt like she was taking it all in. But the church's relationship with her family makes it difficult for me to bring her without getting myself in trouble. I was hoping she'd be allowed to dance for the Christmas Service, as she joined in the practice on Sunday, but I doubt she'll be allowed.

I'm feeling a little uncertain with my accomodation in Peatling Jaya at the moment. Anna's son, Justin, is a complete feral child, though one that would be deemed normal back in the UK. But it seems all the bad things he does is against his mother, he hasn't disturbed anything in my room, probably because he knows the consequences if he does. He's a typical, under punished, over privileged, young boy, who will fortunately go back to his boarding school next month.

But my biggest concern is getting locked in the house. We have three people, two sets of keys, and a padlock (with only one key), which Anna sometimes locks without thinking where that keys are (they're usually with Theeban, who lives two floors below). We did have three sets of keys, but Anna lost one set after trying to hide them from Justin, and forgetting where she put them. Lets just hope there are no dilemmas when I start making my way to college next month...

28/12/07 - Merry Christmas everyone! I've felt really great this past week, and have done so much. I took seven kids to the Taman Wahyu Christmas Service, and fortunately they were all very well behaved. It was nice to see some familiar faces at the service, especially Eswaren and Shamini, who I haven't seen since I left Malaysia the first time, 18 months ago. For Christmas, I received a book, 'Children of the Storm', from the Palmers Green church, and a holding cross, for when I pray, from my parents (yes, I kept my presents till Christmas Day to open them).

I really enjoyed my trip to Port Dickson with Jyothi's family. It was really nice to meet Ranjita's other sisters. First I met Hema, 9, who I actually briefly met at Jeya's house on the last day of my first trip to Malaysia, and then I met Theeba, 8, who's a very polite and talented girl; she kept drawing and writing in the sand in English, Malay and Tamil. But she's extremely small for her age, she's even slightly smaller than Ranjita, 6, and the clothes she has don't seem to fit her very well...

So 2007 has now come to an end, this year has certainly been better than the last; going to India and Malaysia for two months at the start, then immediately getting a job back in the UK in March, attending the Palmers Green church and their events, then coming back to Asia in mid-November, spending the school holidays with Ranjita, with the trip to Port Dickson as a complimenting end. So all I can say now is that I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and has a Happy New Year and a prosperous 2008...