Machika flies home! We will miss you!

After a year as an exchange student in Malaysia, it was time for Machika to return to Tokyo.

We met up with Machika and her host from the Rotary Club of Temerloh at KLIA.

She over packed by 10kg and was asked to pay RM400 for the extra load, luckily the ground crew allowed an additional load of 5kg with no additional charges after some persuasion. The rest will be couriered to her.

We had an hour with Machika before her flight

Machika's fully decorated blazer from exchange students around the world.

JY putting graffiti on Machika's t-shirt

Fai's turn

Han got her sleeve

Ean wanted a final smooch

Apart from speaking fluently in English, Machika can now speak a little Malay and Tamil as well as sing Tamil songs. She said it took her a month to adapt to the food in Malaysia, purging daily but now, she can yell "teh o limau, tosai satu" with the best of us. She simply loves mutton curry and teh tarik and was horrified to learn that it contained 100 calories.

She was always ready with a smile, eager to learn and was just wonderful to be with.

Han waving Machika off at the gate.

Goodbye!

1st Beach Cleanup with Machika....more photos..

The girls doing their bit for the environment.

Part of what they amassed.

Machika found lots of mangrove seed pods. JY showed her how to plant them among the rocks.

Beach Cleanup with Machika @PD

The girls clowning around after their first beach cleanup.
One afternoon, Machika came to me asking for big plastic bags. when I asked her what it was for, she said that she was an environmentalist and wanted to clean the beach up. She says there is no unsightly trash in Japan.If there were, it is quickly taken care of. Here in Malaysia, she sees litter by the roadside, on the beach, overflowing garbage bins....

Machika and JY spent 3 hours picking up a garden hose, tap, medicine bottle, plastic bottles, food wrappers. JY said that it was like a mini market buried under the sand.
The managed to convince M KuCheh to cart 3 car boot full of trash to the nearby public bin while they cycled behind and hauled everything into the bin.

Machika and the boys on the 2nd beach cleanup

Ean lending a hand

The boys took it seriously

Searching for more trash

Part of what was picked up

Collection for the day

Ean had enough of picking litter after a while and decided that climbing was more entertaining.

Trash is washed up onto the shore daily and is always left behind by picnickers.

Something must be done to keep our beaches litter free!

Henna @ home

Machika came with bag full of inai.

She was so captivated by this ancient body art since having her hands decorated at Batu Caves, she has big plans for henna art in Japan.

Using a paintbrush

Only JY would think of tranfering the paste and using a piping bag and piping tip instead.

Beautifully decorated hand and foot.

Day 5 with Machika 14March2011

School holiday crowd on the ice. Try spotting JY, Machika and Am.
Machika mentioned that she was an ace on the ice and that her hobbies are singing and dancing. And hiphop was the dance she was in to.
I immediately thought of Sam. After some deft sms thumbing skills, we had a plan! I would take WL's girls ice skating and leave the boys at her house and then head to Sam's hiphop class after dinner.
Machika felt the rink was rather crowded and she wasn't used to having so many spectators. Skating rates in Tokyo is RM50/entry compared to RM13 in SPyramid.

While waiting for the girls I had my cuppa and a slice of cheesecake. Ean let me have some 'me' time by having his afternoon nap.

The boys at WL's, mothering Sam's little kittens. The kittens survived the day.

Machika in Sam's hiphop class.

The boys getting an eyeful as the ladies practiced 'Girls' Dance'
A very feminine dance with lots of swaying of hips and twirling of arms with 'Burlesque' booming in the background. The boys roared with laughter.

Han's art time

Fai, Han and Arian having an art session. Ean enticing Am to play ball with him.

Ean: What's that?
Arian: Hrmmmphhhh
Ean: Heeeeheeeeeheeee
**repeated countless times**

Arian was a great sport.

Fai and Han's first snow ice at 100Yen. They loved it and asked for seconds. Thanks for the treat WL :)

Sam and Machika showing their moves.

Day 4 with Machika 13March2011

JY continued with her Sudoku addiction the next day while Machika was engrossed in a book on worms - 'There is a hair in my dirt' by Gary Larson. A hilarious book about a young worm that learns how a strand of hair got into his dinner dirt.

The boys with their toy soldiers on the Cluedo Junior board.

Fai drawing a dragon with the help of a 3D model still encased in plastic. The boys were forbidden to open it until they are much older.

Ean looking for someone to join him in a game of Twister. No takers.

So he played by himself with mummy as the spinner. Left hand blue, spin, Right hand yellow...spin...

Ean got the rest to join him much later.

Photo by Ean entitled 'A driftwood and my foot'

Machika and JY spent 4 hours under the afternoon sun on their Loch Ness and Castle sand art. Read her sandcastle post.

Taa-dah...their masterpiece.

HYan and WLeong dropped by for a visit. I was hoping for some cooperative raptors and starfish to show my first-time visitors but luck was not on my side. So I had to contend with 2 hermit crabs.

My boys were much better hosts, taking their new friends Shanyang and Xuan to their rock pool. They managed to catch a few shrimps (not prawns, says Fai) and some rock crabs.

Just an hour before their arrival, hundreds of raptors hovered overhead.

I texted to HYan: 200 raptors in Tg Tuan

5 minutes later: 300!

Another few minutes later: Too late...they flew off

HYan texted back: You sounded like you were at an auction...200, 300, going, going, gone.

That was hilarious.

It was wonderful having HYan and family around. Their obvious love of nature makes me appreciate my beach even more. Thanks for sharing your evening with us

Ean absolutely forbids me to step on the sand bubbles created by the tiny crabs. He loves picking the little balls of sand up and would pass them to me for keeps.

Day3 with Machika 12March2011

It was the annual Raptor Watch weekend and the raptors were an awesome sight to behold as they soared in the afternoon sky. These raptors hovered just above my house. We gave the event in Tanjung Tuan a miss and chose to stay home instead.

The first thing Machika asked was "Any shells?" She managed to collect quite a number of sundials, top shells and cowries.
JY and Machika spent the afternoon discovering the beach and building sandcastles.
Machika told us that PD is much better than Hawaii, her family's summer holiday destination. Hawaii, she says, is crowded and the water smells of suntan oil.

Machika's first satay meal.

Machika managed to get JY hooked on Sudoku

We visited the weekly pasar malam and JY introduced peanut pancake (apam balek) to Machika.

Then it was back to the beach to hunt for hermit crabs.

We planned to go to Melaka the next day but Machika and JY decided that they would rather spend another day at the beach instead. So the beach it is. We will keep Melaka for June, when we get to host Machika again before she ends her 1 year as an IYE student.