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05/06/09 - When I came back to Malaysia, I thought everything was just going to be the same as always, but slowly it seems like things aren't ever going to be the same again. I've finally moved out and moved on from Jyothi (real name, Shanthi, for the record), who I've been friends with about two and a half years, but with Ranjita not with her anymore, what use is she to me now anyway? I'll leave her to get on with her life, with her boyfriend and their son.

I'm now living with my step mother, Victoria, who's doing her best to take care of me, firstly by taking care of the Perfect Driving company and getting the remainder of my lessons out of them; I'm actually enjoying my lessons more now that I'm not being cheated by them, even though I should have had it all done a year ago. So I've been enjoying my time in Malaysia so far, with my new step family (even Anita's adopted me as a relative), and being back at the Taman Wahyu church. We even celebrated Dharsini's eighth birthday this week; quite amazing having known her since she was four.

I've spent the last few days with my parents, going round KL. On Wednesday I met them, along with Sam (CELTA), who was a very good tour guide, to go up the Twin Tower Sky Bridge, visited the Eng Tey exhibition at Galeri Petronas, and went up the KL Observation Tower; then today we went to the Batu Caves, where we saw a Hindu wedding (and even one of my old students from Taman Tun), then took my parents out for lunch of Roti Canai, which they quite enjoyed. It's been three and a half years since I visited those three locations, and will probably be another three and a half before I do them again...

12/06/09 - My main intention for coming back to Malaysia was to finish a number of things I started, such as my driving lessons, but I don't recall friendships being on that list. It appears the numbers on my Malaysian contacts list is slowly falling, after some discomfort experienced with the village in Taman Tun (where Ashwini and Theeba stay) this past week. The weekend there was quite good, I took my parents to visit Ashwini's family, where they cooked us a meal and gave us some great hospitality, and we even witnessed a house opposite receive a blessing from the local temple.

On the Sunday, I took my parents to church, along with Ashwini, Theeba and Tharani, where unfortunately quite a few families I wanted my parents to meet were missing (it being the school holidays). Visting via KLCC, I took the girl's home after church, then went back to Victoria's the following day. I had been hearing throughout the week that there was a lot of talk about me visiting Ashwini's place, and Victoria even took me to see one Tamil-Christian aunty to pray for me, telling me that I shouldn't go to that village anymore. Being a disobidient step-son, I still went on the Wednesday, as I had promised I would be there for Tharani's birthday, but after the celebrations I felt a real discomfort walking round the village and decided to leave.

Other than that, it had been a good week; my parents and step-parents went for a meal together (where the talk about Ashwini's being a bad place really started), where we even stumbled across the CPKL gang, who also came to the same restaurant. I met with Sam again, and my old CELTA student, Amir, who's hoping to go finally go to Australia in a couple of months. I even got to see Caleb's family again after three years, and Rose and Rachel had grown up a lot.

And lastly, I even visited Hema (Theeba and Ranjita's sister) and her father's side of the family this week, to find out what's happened to Ranjita. Apparently her father took her from Jyothi (who has never cared for any of her children properly), and sent her to a Christian care home, ironically the same care home the church had recommended me to send Ranjita and Theeba to a year ago. Whether I'll get to see her again or not is another question, but atleast she's in God's good hand now, though I'm sad she's no longer in mine...

19/06/09 - Two and a half years ago, I first met Shanthi, living opposite Mathi's house in Jinjang. I became close with Ranjita, took her to church, then met Shanthi's extended family in Taman Tun, where I began to take Theeba to church too. For so long I thought I was doing a good thing spending time with this family, taking the children to church, but it was all part of a charm, and one that has slowly been broken over the past few weeks. I honestly feel that modern, Western culture underestimates the power of the spirit world, and how quickly it can change people's minds and thinking.

After last week's discomfort, I'm now staying well clear of Taman Tun. Whether it was Christian prayer or the Hindu's themselves that broke the charm, I'm feeling a mix of sadness and relief. It's sad to let go of people I was so close to for so long, without even getting the chance to say goodbye, but I know it's for the best as I was mixing with the wrong people. But their charm had actually stopped me from making new friends outside of their family unit in the time I had been with them, and found that I had very few people to visit after I had split from them.

But now is a time to be moving on, and taking that next step forward in my Christian life. I visited the PETE (Poverty Eradication Through Education) Hostel, run by Victoria, which has two homes to nine teenagers, six girls and three boys. It's a really good project that Pastor Paul and Victoria have set up, and it takes up a huge deal of Victoria's time, so much that she stays at the Girls' Hostel during school time (fortunately she was free to deal with me during the school holidays whilst I was there).

I had a look through some of the old Community of Praise photos before I left, and I really feel I have missed out, and am missing out, on a lot of good things that are going on with this ministry. It's quite dissapointing that most of these photos are sitting on Pastor's hard drive and aren't all online, like my work. I was named official photographer for the Men's Day celebrations at Petaling Jaya and Taman Wahyu, which were held a week earlier than Father's Day (not sure whether it was because of me or not). I'm definitely more wanted and needed in Malaysia than UK.

And so, I arrived in the UK on Wednesday morning, 7am, got home at around 11am, then had to start work at 3pm, and haven't had a bit of jetlag. I really didn't feel the need to waste time 'relaxing' (or doing nothing with my time) in the UK, so made the most of every hour I could spend in Malaysia, then straight back to work. But I'm glad that I've done this three week trip, as I've been able to put a lot of things behind me; my Hindu friends, Perfect Driving, iZZi (my ISP from last year, who still owe me money). It's out with the old now, and hopefully in with the new when I'm back there in November...

26/06/09 - It's my first week back in the UK, and life's back to the way it was, plain and simple. Back at work, back to attending church in London. I was supposed to have a driving lesson this past week, but it got cancelled twice, unfortunately. I was supposed to have my test in Malaysia on Tuesday too, but never mind about that, I've got all I wanted from that company now. All I can do at the moment is sit back and see where the world takes me...