This week I am over the general feeling of weepy exhaustion that dominated week 1, over the feeling of rising horror at mass consumerism and unquestioning mall culture that plagued me in week 2, over the dawning realisation of the things that are difficult to reconcile (time alone, living as part of a family; independence, being a house guest; feminism, traditional conservative Malay gender roles; Australian & Malaysian perspectives on respect and authority; Australian & Malaysian perspectives on dissent and debate; caring what people think, wanting to not care; people catching cholera, big shiny mercedes; the benefits of a sheltered youth, the benefits of looking out for yourself; being quiet, piping up; and wanting to buy novelty cartoon Tshirts from market stalls, having boobs that wont fit) you know, all the burning issues...

Week 4? The 'making lists and trying to weave a model that explains it all' phase? Rather than an elegant mathematical model I am thinking shoebox with glue and cellophane.

Just as an aside, 4 is an unlucky number for some Chinese people as the word 'si' (four) is similar to the word 'si' (death). Apparently our apartment was originally 704 but they couldn't sell it with that number so it was changed to 705. There is no 704 on our floor. Some lifts have no 4th floor (which is all a little bit like the start of some creepy Murakami novel if you ask me - whoa, look out for the sheep man!)