Beginning the #AgEd2Malaysia Journey

"The best journeys answer questions that in the beginning you didn't even think to ask."  This quote is very fitting as a group of Agriculture Teachers begins experiencing the culture, customs, and traditions related to Malaysian culture. Even though our group has been preparing for this trip since January, I wondered about our first few days in Malaysia and several questions began running through my mind during our 24 hours of travel from Pennsylvania to Southeast Asia. Would we be able to communicate with the Malaysian students? What will they think of Americans? Will they want to talk to us? Do they want to know about the United States? 

Upon arrival to the Senai Airport in Johar Bahru, I knew something would be special about our time in Malaysia. We were greeted by a group of smiling students and faculty members from the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Even though we were exhausted from over 24 hours of travel, this welcome brought smiles and excitement to our group and set a positive outlook for the next 4 weeks of our journey.

Although this may seem like a traditional airport welcome for some travelers, I felt an instant sense of hospitality, friendship, and camaraderie as our Malaysian hosts made it a point to introduce themselves to each member of our group and offer to assist us with luggage. This sense of instant friendship has continued during each day of our experience as we continue to meet new faculty and students at the Universiti.

Even though we have been on the UTM campus for only 3 days, it seems like we have known our hosts for a week or more as we have talked so comfortably with our hosts about anything from sports, religion, politics, and traditions. As we begin to ask some questions, we find ourselves being very cautious about how we phrase the question because we aren't sure how our UTM counterparts feel about the topic. However, we are often met with the sentiment, "We are happy to tell you what you want to know about anything in Malaysia." In return, the Malaysian students are very curious about our lives in America and how they can learn from us as well. In my past international travels, I've never experienced a shared sense of curiosity and mutual learning that has been demonstrated by our entire #AgEd2Malaysia team a short 3 days into our experience.

I cannot wait to continue asking questions I hadn't even considered before arriving in Malaysia and gaining a sense of how a country 9,000 miles away from Pennsylvania implements Agriculture Education into their school system with the same passion, excitement, and enthusiasm that we have in the United States.