Visit to our "first" home (USA)

Our "Malaysian My 2nd Home " visa (MM2H) implies we have a first home. In the US our legal/voting residence is in North Carolina, our mailing address is in Indiana, and our condo (different from our mailing address) is in Indiana.  Where is home? Kuala Lumpur, but in the spirit of MM2H we plan to spend several weeks in the US each year.


Before leaving KL for our first trip back we contacted family and friends, identified times to visit that didn't conflict with their work, and investigated public transportation. Public transit saves money, avoids long drives (we are out of practice) with unpredictable gas prices. We flew Singapore Airlines (great entertainment system and seriously hard seats) to JFK via Frankfort, flew to Rochester, NY, took Amtrak to Washington, D.C., rented a car and drove to Pennsylvania and Delaware and returned to D.C., took Amtrak to Raleigh and Charlotte, and flew to Indianapolis where we are now.


What have we observed about traveling in the US?  Immigration and customs at JFK were very professional.  There was no yelling or raised voices (a vast improvement from the past). TSA is still annoying. While they didn't yell at people in line, we were told "no peanut butter, no yogurt," shoes still come off, and the laptop had to be out of its case.  The lines were long (45 minutes) and unorganized. When we departed Charlotte, NC, TSA inspected our checked bags, unlocked the suitcases, didn't bother to put the locks back on, and scrambled the contents of the suitcases.  Extremely annoying having seen German security carefully repack suitcases and assist people putting on their coats.  Maybe TSA needs to take a trip overseas or hire German security consultants.  Amtrak was more relaxed and the trains had wifi and arrived on time. We hadn't driven for the past year - so no problem with driving on the "right side" of the road. On the other hand the drive from Philadelphia airport (where we were staying) and the University of Pennsylvania was terrifying, cars entered the highway and passing from both sides.

RR Station Rochester - 8 a.m.

Penn Station (NYC) 5:00 p.m.

Between visits with friends we dropped in at local events. First we went with a friend to her recorder group's performance for a class of 4th graders. The contra-bass recorder (pictured at the left) was a crowed pleaser. Most questions were directed to its owner  - how much did it (the contra-recorder) cost? How do you clean it? Other questions directed to the entire group included - How much do you practice? When did you start learning to play the recorder?

After the performance we hurried to the Library of Congress for a panel discussion on Women Veterans of the Persian Gulf War. Along the way we passed pro-health care protesters leaving from a protest at the Supreme Court. At the Supreme Court we were in time to walk through an anti-health care protest. By the time we reached the Library of Congress we had missed most of the panel discussion. At the Q & A session we learned that despite the political rhetoric women are assigned to combat units. Women are needed to question and interact with village women. As we left the library school groups arrived so we skipped touring the building, one of my favorite spots in Washington.

Protest in front of the Supreme Court

Springtime on Capitol Hill

In Raleigh we combined business with pleasure. To catch up with some NCSU colleagues we went to a presentation at the Institute of Nonprofits on the NC Museum of Art's branding and marketing activities in connection with the opening of a new building. The theme, "It is not about the building,"  was that the mission, values, and logo should emphasize the public's connection to the museum.  My first thought was that emotional connection to buildings can't be ignored, for example,the Library of Congress and the US Supreme Court. On the other hand I never think of the building in connection with art galleries, such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum. One  panelist noted that some people commented that they weren't sure what to wear when visiting a museum.  This observation resonated as I thought of other occasions where people don't want to expose their ignorance - taking public transportation for the first time or in an unfamiliar city, voting, going to an arts performance (think of the poor soul who claps in after the first movement of a symphony).  And we have seen people mystified by escalators and revolving doors.


To remind ourselves how captivating springtime in Raleigh we went to the Raulston Arboretum. As we strolled through the gardens a woman asked us if we knew where a renewal of vows being held. She wasn't keen on wander around in her 6 inch heels. When I spotted the shoes I recalled "Mommy's Sky High Heels," a 2011 KL Short & Sweet play where a daughter encouraged her mother to wear stilettos and become modern and sophisticated

Spring Flowers at J.C. Raulston Arboretum, North Carolina State University

In Charlotte we visited the Bechtler Museum which housed modern art collected by the Bechtler family. My favorite was Max Ernst's "Projet pour un monument W.C. Fields" (in lower left hand corner). The Bechtler is a small museum with a well arranged collection.

                                                      The Fire Bird (in front of the Bechtler Museum, Charlotte)


On returning to US - logistics and culture shock:
Communications - since we would be in our condo for three weeks we had to decide how to handle the TV and Internet.  In Rochester we changed our T-Mobile phones from a postpaid plan to a prepaid plan (1000 minutes for $100 and one year service).  Perfect for us.  For the TV we bought an indoor antenna. So we get the standard channels but must move the antenna around the room to get all the channels. Since we were used to Malaysia's TV schedule, we have watched very little. For Internet we got T-Mobile myfi prepaid set up on a month to month contract. Doug initially found what he wanted on WalMart's website, but when he went to a local WalMart that had the unit he found it was $50 higher. The store's price was higher and it would not sell it to him for the web price. He could order it over the web and have it sent to the store, but that would take 7 days - too long for us. So he settled on T-Mobile available at Best Buy at a higher price. He told them the WalMart story and the unit was sold to him at the WalMart web price and then gave us a $30 prepaid card. So kiddos to Best Buy. The unit has worked perfectly.


Taxes - we should have returned after 15 April, we would have gotten an automatic extension on our filing date. Most of our tax information was sent to our mailing address so couldn't do in KL and only had a few days to work on our return in Indianapolis


Culture Shock -
Costs - we are charged for both outgoing and incoming calls, instead of just outgoing and for the most part we can call folks in the US cheaper from Malaysia. 


Directions - still easy to look the wrong way and get into a car on the wrong side, but most unexpected heading for the wrong side of automatic doors.


Driving - the further South, at least down to Raleigh, the worse the drivers are. Indianapolis has great drivers - patient, don't run red lights, leave a decent space between cars, and I could go on.


TV - We don't see ads for prescription drugs in Malaysia. but here in the US we are bombarded by car ads, drug ads, and political ads.  The sheer number of ads is almost overwhelming.  I almost prefer watching US tv shows several months late, but get to skip the ads without pushing the skip button on TIVO or the DVR.


Noise - Asia is quiet, very few sirens, no horns honking, no yelling by officials in airports.  We miss the quiet.