Here is a copy of a letter Ann wrote to our friends.
Hi,
The Dahlén family is saying hello from Kuala Lumpur. As some of you know we are now on one of our most adventures trips of our life to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
Ann has that last couple of year been on working in the Asia Pacific region and Ericsson has now offered us all to be relocated to Kuala Lumpur for a year. This so that Ann does not need to travel so far and be in the same Time zone as the people she is working with.
On the first of September the family left Sweden after a hectic summer renting out the house, packing, cars, insurances, shorts …
We landed in a hot tropical climate. The first week we spent in a hotel and then a month in a service apartment. During this period the main task for Jonas and the boys was to sort out schooling arrangements. Since there are quite a number of expats coming to Malaysia it was hard to get Christoffer and Andreas into a international school. Meanwhile the boys have been taking intensive English and Math lessons (and Jonas driving them back and forth).
Since last week they are now both in the International School of Kuala Lumpur. It is a school run according to the American curriculum. It is hard work to coupe with a new language, another way of schooling, coming in in the middle of term and trying to get some friends. The boys are so tiered in the evenings but even so very eager to do all their homework. From next week Andreas will start singing as after school activities and Christoffer is already in the band (as part of his normal curriculum!)
Next week they will also start taking the school bus, the orange one that we know from the US. It is a ride on 30-45 minutes depending on traffic.
Not having to drive the children will ease of the job for Jonas. The last month he has been the chauffeur of the family. Already first week here he bought a GPS which we call Betty!
She has been our lifesaver since it is so hard to find your way. There are so many highways and flyovers so it feels that you can end up anywhere. The city itself is around 2 million people and there is very little of public transportation so thee are cars everywhere. Those that cannot afford a car are driving motorbikes instead. It sometimes feels that you have a swarm around yourself. Fortunately Ann has got into car pooling to work so the car can stay at home most days. It is about 45 minutes to the office.
Once the chauffeur bit is over for Jonas he will start to concentrate on the university studies that he has signed up for. He will be taking Java and Business English. There are not many men at home but he as got to know a few and of course there are many women! Once a week there is a beer night with all Swedish men that like to join in.
This week we have moved into our "permanent" flat. We are living in a expat area where most Swedes live if they have children. We are living on the 12th floor of a 25 floor building!
It is a bit scary to look over the balcony. The flat is rented furnished since Ericsson did not pay for us taking our furniture with us. We have though been to IKEA and got some things so that we feel a bit more at home. The flat or condo as it is called have very nice facilities like several pools, tennis, badminton, tennis and basketball courts. So there are plenty of things to do if you are not to exhausted with the heat! The flat itself is very comfortable even though it is different from Swedish flats. It is very spacious so we can easily accommodate any visitors.
Of course Ann has not been able to stay put during this first month and been both to Australia and Bangladesh. But while we all have been gathered we have been trying to get to know Kuala Lumpur (or KL as one says here). We have been on sightseeing tours, China town and to several malls. KL is a haven for shopping! Compared with Sweden it is so cheep to eat out so we try new cuisines at least once at the week-end. We are trying to do our own cooking but it is not easy to understand how to use the things found at the groceries.
This coming week-end it is the end of Ramadan and the county is celebrating the festive called Hari-Raja. All Muslims travel home to their families while we understand that the Chinese and Indian hide in their houses because of the traffic. We will not stay at home though since the boys are of school for 4 days we have decided to go jungle tracking.
We will take a bus from KL four hours north and then a boat that takes us into the heart of a several thousand year old rainforest. it is in the national park of Tama Nagara. We will spend 2 nights there going on night tracking to see animals and hopefully bath in the river. We will tell you more about it later.
Jonas is writing a blog on what is happening here around us. So if you fancy you can follow our adventure on:
http://joda58.blogspot.com/
Our address for this year is:
Unit B-12-3
Mont Kiara Aman
Bukit Kiara
50480 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
We welcome you all (maybe not all at once!) to visit us in Malaysia. Take the opportunity to visit a fantastic part of the world!
Welcome and best regards from all of us
Ann, Jonas, Christoffer and Andreas
After about 1½ month the boys started school. International School of Kuala Lumpur (ISKL). is the first international school in Kuala Lumpur that follows the US curriculum. More information can also be found in Wikipedia.
